Almanac of Story Tellers: John Evelyn

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of December 1st.

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    It is the 335th day of the year, leaving 30 days in 2021.

    On this date in 1662, John Evelyn, a premier diarist of his time, recorded how people skated on a frozen lake in St. James's Park in London. He wrote about "the strange and wonderful dexterity of the sliders ... after the manner of the Hollanders, with what swiftness they passed; how suddenly they stopped." 

    In doing so, he helped tell the story of climate change in the "Little Ice Age" era in northern Europe between the 14th to 19th centuries.

    In the days before newspapers, magazines, and other journals, before the blogs on the Internet, diarists recorded the day's events and published their work. Evelyn's writings covered the Great Fire of London, the bubonic plague pandemic in London, and the death of Oliver Cromwell. He told stories about his gardening and the doings of the rorals and the common people..

    He jotted numerous notes about the weather, particularly pointing out strange phenomena, such as drastic cold, the freezing of the Thames, and storms that flooded the land after long droughts.

    Although he did not write daily, his diaries spanned most of his adult life, from around 1640 to 1708. The British Library considers his work "the nost extensive and historically informative records of one of the most momentous periods in English  history."