Diary Two
The Book of Mormon (Ether 2:3) records, "And they did also carry with them deseret, which, by interpretation, is honey bee. " This symbol captured the imagination of the Mormons, as well it might. Their social ideal resembled a swarm of bees buzzing around the same hive. Indeed, the desert they settled came to be known as the State of Deseret. No one fit the image of honeybee better than Patty Sessions. Approximately a year and three months in the Salt Lake Valley had elapsed when she began her second diary, which reflects a flurry of activities in her personal life and in the settlement. Zion was proliferating as an influx of new persons—babies and emigrants—entered the scene. From the first moment any of the Latter-day Saints arrived, they were caught up in the building of the Mormon kingdom. They sought not only to provide for their families but to establish a stable economy for others who were treading the increasingly well-worn trail west.
Local government emerged during these years, but it was not very distinguishable from the church. The place was building, we can visualize, with a fervor akin to a frantic frenzy. Although the severity of the winters of 1848 and 1849 created trials, although hunger proved to be a major foe, the saints worked unitedly to solve their difficulties. Patty's racing entries reflect the energy expended in Zion.
Virginia Woolf, a dedicated diarist herself, understood that mindset:
"I have just re-read my year's diary and am much struck by the rapid haphazard gallop at which it swings along, sometimes indeed jerking almost intolerably over the cobbles. Still if I stopped and took thought, it would never be written at all, and the advantage is that it sweeps up accidentally several stray matters which I should exclude if I hesitated, but which are the diamonds of the dustheap.
This is such a great description of the diaries of Patty Sessions.
No comments:
Post a Comment