1878

At Undercliff House, Ventnor, March 24th 1878

I celebrated my Silver-wedding, & it occurred to me that from that event would be a favorable time for keeping a record of the principal occurrences of my daily life; if it should please God to spare me some years longer, to recall them may, & will, be profitable to myself & perhaps interesting to my children. Although I wish to express my thoughts & feelings in reference to those circumstances which I think it worth while to chronicle as freely as if I knew no other eye than my own would rest on what I write, I feel it will not be easy to do this, yet I must be strictly truthful both in reference to myself & those of whom I may have somewhat to record.

With the 25 years that have flown past since my wedding day, I feel the summer of life has gone, but it has been crowded with mercies & its sun-shine far exceeded the clouds & storms. I have under some sort of inspiration for which I can scarcely account (for I know I am no poetess or I should often write verses when I cannot) written some lines, which grew into many more than I intended, but in which, dedicated to my dear Husband, I epitomized better than I can in prose just what our life together thus far has been, & this I think I shall write at the beginning of this journal, hoping & believing that our dear ones may, when they have reached our time of life, find in them some expression for themselves of the same loving kindness & tender mercy which followed their Parents so far on their pilgrimage.

March 27th

With my eldest child over 24 & my youngest on earth 13 years old, it is probable that the most important events of their lives may occur in a much shorter space of time than our married life has been, therefore although over 49 years of age seems late to begin a diary,