- Sloane, Eric.
Diary of an Early American Boy.
Mineola, NY: Dover, [1962] 2004.
ISBN 0-486-43666-7.
-
In 1805, fifteen year old Noah Blake kept a diary of his life on
a farm in New England. More than a century and a half later, artist,
author, and collector of early American tools Eric Sloane discovered
the diary and used it as the point of departure for this
look at frontier life when the frontier was still in Connecticut.
Young Noah was clearly maturing into a fine specimen of the
taciturn Yankee farmer—much of the diary reads like:
21: A sour, foggy Sunday.
22: Heavy downpour, but good for the crops.
23: Second day of rain. Father went to work under cover
at the mill.
24: Clear day. Worked in the fields. Some of the corn
has washed away.
The laconic diary entries are spun into a fictionalised but
plausible story of farm life focusing on the self-reliant
lifestyle and the tools and techniques upon which it was
founded. Noah Blake was atypical in being an only child at
a time when large families were the norm; Sloane takes advantage
of this in showing Noah learning all aspects of farm life
directly from his father. The numerous detailed illustrations
provide a delightful glimpse into the world of two centuries ago
and an appreciation for the hard work and multitude of skills
it took to make a living from the land in those days.
July 2005 