Discourse in Time

George Washington (1798)--I have concerns about my son (adopted) George Washington Parke Custis. He left Princeton in September, and I have serious concerns that he will not tend to his studies. Today, I wrote a letter to him which, in part, says, “Rise early, that by habit it may become familiar, agreeable—healthy—and profitable. It may for a while, be irksome to do this; but that will wear off; and the practise will produce a rich harvest forever thereafter; whether in public, or private Walks of Life.”

George Carmack (1896)—What an exciting day my brother-in-law Skookum Jim, Tagish Charlie, and I had in the Klondike River today! We discovered gold nuggets!! In 1881, I heard that others had found gold in Canada’s Yukon Territory, so I moved up here from California. Then, this year Robert Henderson told me about gold in the Klondike River, so I headed up here. And, then, today we saw a gold nugget in the creek bed! We’ll be staking our claim to the gold tomorrow!

Anne Frank (July 8, 1942) -- It's been two days since we hurriedly moved into the secret annex in Amsterdam. The hiding place wasn't really ready, but things were increasingly getting bad for the Jews living here. Our hiding place is accessed by a staircase hidden behind a bookcase. There are businesses on both sides so we have to be very quiet. I have a small red-and-white-plaid diary that I received from my parents last month for my thirteenth birthday. This is what I wrote today:

"Margot told me that the call-up was not for Father, but for her. At his second shock, I began to cry. Margot is sixteen - apparently they want to send girls her age away on their own. But thank goodness she won’t be going; Mother had said so herself, which must be what Father had meant when he talked to me about our going into hiding. Hiding...where would we hide? In the city? In the country? In a house? In a shack? When, where, how...?"