John Woolman’s Diary: Journeys, Work, and a Household
Period: 1743–1749
Travel and marriage are presented alongside close attention to the moral consequences of decisions made at work.
Literary reading guide
Work and travel give the ethical questions a practical setting. The narrative repeatedly moves between an action that must be taken and the inward unease that makes the action worth examining. The language can be measured even when the underlying subject is difficult. The presence of a precise journey date does not necessarily make the surrounding retrospective account a single-day diary entry.
A contemporary journal writer can learn to name the circumstances of a difficult decision: who was involved, which alternatives were available and what remained unresolved. Recording the situation accurately is often more illuminating than announcing a moral principle without its cost.
Excerpts from this period
Short excerpts from the public-domain edition named on the guide page. An excerpt that ends mid-sentence is an excerpt, not a whole entry.
5th day of 9th month, 1743 [November 5, Old Style; Julian]
We set out the fifth Day of the ninth Month, in the Year 1743
Travel begins with a dated practical step, not a retrospective declaration of purpose. Source edition
18th day of 8th month, 1749 [October 18, Old Style; Julian]
I was married the eighteenth Day of the eighth Month, in the Year 1749.
A major personal event is treated economically within a narrative of work and faith. Source edition
An essay by the TAEONIA editors. Quotations are limited to texts in the public domain.