I first read the diaries of Thomas Shone in 1971, when working on manuscripts in the Cory Library, Rhodes University, for the Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles. The diaries were a significant source of South African English; but more than that, they created a moving and vivid picture of one man's life and personality, which made a deep impression. Written daily (unlike many other settler writings, which are reminiscences), the diaries proved to be a journey into the interior life of Thomas Shone, with all his guilt, pain and occasional joys, documented in his idiosyncratic style. Photographs show Thomas to have been a man with a determined, even hard, mouth, and piercing eyes under rather lowering brows. If he was like his son, Thomas junior, he was "erect and bright", and of the "typical Shone build, rather stumpy and fairly broad." His command of language suggests a good education and a sharp intellect, strangely at variance with his description as a labourer. His writing is imbued with the archaic ring of the King James Bible, and much of the charm of the diaries lies in their movement between the sublime and the mundane, as when Shone breaks a discussion of his need to be faithful to God, to note that "Sarah sat a hen on 22 eggs." Shone's diary is an intensely personal document, yet there are signs that he was at times conscious of a possible audience. His use of the phrase "My friends" to address his readers " is likely to have been part of a convention of the time, rather than overt acknowledgement of the presence of an audience; however at the most personal level of all, his relationship with his mistress, he was not explicit, but employed a form of code (.∶.) Furthermore, there is evidence that he kept a rough diary, from which he later made a neat copy. Thomas began his diary in order to record his attempt to stay away from drink, but his writing soon came to mean more to him than this. He gradually introduced notes on his daily activities, and his temptation to drink became just one part of a personal history. From 5 August 1838, when he first wrote of the loss of his wife, the diary became an important outlet for his misery. Despite his unhappiness, Thomas took delight in the use of sarcasm and wry humour to comment on the foibles of humanity. "Me and Billy went to Mandy's; I cut my thumb and three trees", he wrote; and "Indian corn bread makes my belly ache... (My relations have the mind ache; I believe it is worse than the belly ache.)" "Religion is flying away to other parts as fast as it can; the religion here is money, and Cattle and a covetious Spirit for other men's goods ", he grumbled of the Clumber community. The most effective (and prolonged) use of his gift for sharp conment may be found in his description of the watchnight service at Clumber. Shone seems to have possessed a natural flair for language, and used metaphor and simile to good effect, as in the following examples: "Now am I like a dove that as lost his mate"; Every thing seems quiet; I have still a war in my mind"; "Riches very often finds wing and flys away"; and "My mind is like the troubled sea, never at rest". He often showed an affinity for rhythm and alliteration, probably as a result of his familiarity with Biblical English: "These are my days of grief and sorrow"; "poor poverty"; and "Hard is my fate... all things seem to go contrary, strive which way I will." These examples of language provide a strong contrast with his reporting of everyday activities: Shone changes from one linguistic register into another in his movement from introspective to factual writing. At times Shone achieves an extraordinary vividness in his description of small incidents, as in his stories of encounters with monkeys, or his report of an altercation with his son Jack. One of the loveliest passages is his account of a day spent on his old location at Scott's Bottan. Thomas was "political" only insofar as politics touched his own life. For the political historian the diaries are frustrating; except for his descriptions of the War of Mlanjeni, Shone shows little interest in the wider issues of his time. However, the diaries show the complex web of relationships in a small community, and give insights into commercial interaction, domestic activities, marriage ties, religious attitudes, family behaviour and interpersonal conflicts, all set within the political tensions of the frontier society. As the diaries progressed, and Thomas Shone aged, he weed from being an active participant in the life of the frontier, to being an onlooker and commentator. Possessed of a mind (and tongue) which isolated him from many of his neighbours, he was no doubt also separated from his community by his relationship with Ann Hiscock and by his heavy drinking. The diaries became his vehicle for expressing the inexpressible; and in the end it was religion which gave him solace. It is the "interior" diary which provides much of the fascination which Shone's writings hold for the modern reader. Professor Guy Butler has pointed out that writing was a secondary activity for the settlers, whose chief preoccupation was survival in a difficult environment. Shone's diaries certainly reflect his economic struggle; but it is their portrayal of his pilgrimage through life which makes them remarkable.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:2583 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Silva, Penny |
| Publisher | Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, History |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | 530 pages, pdf |
| Rights | Silva, Penny |
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