THE DIARY MENACE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Spilt,---I disagree absolutely with " Moth's " criticism on the futility of keeping a diary. A more one-sided view of a subject would be hard to conceive. I have kept one prac- tically all my life—except for a short period when I was in the Army—and have found its record of daily events, again and again, most useful.
I started this reprehensible practice when I was quite young, on the advice of my mother. " It will teach you to observe, and to express your thoughts intelligibly," she told me. Of course, a diary depends on the mentality of the diarist, and his or her general outlook on life. If this latter consists of Mark Twain's friend's daily summary " Got up, washed, and went to bed," the inventory of one's daily activities is certainly not worth while. But one can incorporate far more interesting information than that in a diary : and not wholly personal either.
One can, for instance, select the most stupid observation, or saying of a prominent politician, or from a paper, that comes under your notice that day. Naturally, during a General Election to adjudge accurately such pride of place would be impossible.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Tunbridge Wells. NOGAIL H. S. BARNES-AUSTIN.
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