William, Priscilla & Leonardo

            I found too many journals online to read, so I had to narrow it down. I first thought I would read journals of famous actors, actresses, artists or musicians that I had a personal draw towards, but instead I chose two people that I had no idea who they were, and someone that I admire but know little about. The first journal I read belongs to William Henry Ashley, who was a fur trader, entrepreneur and politician from 1778-1838. Priscilla Larkin, who lived from 1839-1868, and was a female college student during the civil war, wrote the second journal. Finally, Leonardo Da Vinci, an overall curious being who lived from 1452-1519. Da Vinci was a scientist, mathematician, botanist, engineer, geologist, anatomist, architect, painter and quite a few more others including being a writer. Priscilla Larkin had the most personal journal.

            William Henry Ashley’s journal was more of a travel log than anything personal. He was traveling through territories with Native American Indians, who he often had personal troubles with, and eventually was killed by them with the weapons he gave them. In my opinion, that’s just Darwinism. Of course they did not want him and his other pioneers on their land and hunting their food, so I’m not sure what William Ashley was expecting from his journey. Ashley describes the scenery and weather as well as his directions of travel. He talks about the snow, and lack of food in the areas that they travel, until they find herds of buffalo of course, and they kill four of them.  Indians steal his horses, and he does not go after them because he feels those horses were “indeferent,” which I think means useless and may possibly be the word ‘indifferent.’ He and his crew build canoes to float their supplies down the river, which I found pretty interesting compared to the rest of his journal. He makes supplies list, and also has a translation page of animals in Ute language, a group of Indians that they befriend, or at least temporarily. Overall, his theme seemed to be travel, weather, starvation, progress or lack of, and encounters Native Americans. 

            The Diary of Priscilla Larkin was much more entertaining. She sings, and a friend tells her that the words suit her, which were “sleep when I am drowsy, And tend on no man’s business; Laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humor.” She also writes about God, church and how her Sabbath was that week. Sometimes she writes of books she reads, or things she must memorize for school. She writes, “Sad news this morning… Federals were victorious… yet they were greater losers.” I think that speaks for itself. She goes from candle lights to gas lights, has a friend who lives with her leave,  and talks about the men that court her. She writes, “ ‘tis my misfortune—I cannot conceal my feelings,” since she was very sad that evening and the man was joking with her. She writes, “I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man’s Jest.” She mentions President Davis’s inauguration, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to be alive during this time. Priscilla mentions that a young college girl is dying because she is sick, that soldiers were coming through their town, and how much she misses home and her family. It would be much harder to be away from friends or family during a time that it took days to send a letter and days to hear back. Definitely made people miss each other much more than we do today with texting and skype. That’s also changed dating a lot too. People aren’t chaperoned, and they don’t summon you for a date in a few days expecting you to be ready and waiting for their arrival as if you have nothing better to do. Despite some differences in culture, I could relate to Priscilla a lot.

            I felt a little ridiculous reading Leonardo Da Vinci’s journals, even though it’s all common knowledge now, until I read this: “Though I may not, like them, be able to quote other authors, I shall rely on that which is much greater and more worthy:—on experience, the mistress of their Masters.” I really enjoyed this quote because it emphasizes how much more you can learn from experience rather than just reading, observing or memorizing something. At least in my opinion. He writes about perspectives, their use and importance in drawing and painting, and how the eyes work in relation to this. He talks in detail, and I mean pages, about the pupils and lenses, how they react to light, which changes objects, colors and perspectives. I had no idea that this much work and thought was put into something that is now common knowledge, “The angle of sight varies with distance.” Overall, the part of his journal that I read, on the eye, painting, drawing and perspective was honestly boring since it seems like simple things, but it was impressive that he wrote about it hundreds of years ago. It would be insane if we didn’t have this knowledge! I'm continuing to read more of his journal just for fun, and find more interesting parts than perspective.

       Some journals include drawings, pictures, poems, and others are just a daily log of how far someone has traveled and what their scenery was so that they could find their way back. I enjoy the more personal journals that include someone's thoughts or feelings, even if they don't directly say that, you can pick up on the way the write. That's how Priscilla's journal was. Da Vinci has some parts that showed his feelings, and those were much easier to read than the plain academic writing sections. William Ashley's journal was the hardest to read since he had few opinions and feelings included, but it was still interesting to see what supplies they used back then and have the Ute translation of animal names. Each journal was unique to the individual, and I think that is the most important part to remember when I journal. To keep it for myself, and not think of it as an academic journal.