The Journals of Martha E. McMillan

While MacMillan does travel to the homes of family and friends, commercial businesses in the village and in Xenia, as well as other locales, she spends more time with the Church. She frequently attends the prayer meetings, special services, and traditional sermons held throughout the week. On many occasions, these services lead her to contemplate the spiritual and even political side of life. On one January Sabbath, for example, she considers the sermon topic to be relevant and thought provoking. “If you want to know what God is going to do, read the Bible— but if you want to know what the devil is going to do, read the newspaper,” she records (MacMillan 21). Small notes like this one, in addition to her occasional meanderings about faith and parenting, spread throughout the journals. On more rare occasions, MacMillan produces her own poetry, which usually relates to her faith or an event. Also in January, she composes a poem on the new year. “A happy New Year __? Can make it my dear / by ___ being and doing your best / be cheery and __? the __? months through / so shall the New Year be blest,” she continues, “__ through the days and months of 1894. By being cheery and true and smiling and doing our best” (MacMillan 1) Throughout the rest of the poem, clear theological consideration marks her rhetoric. Contemporary readers should consider the intersection of Church, context, and MacMillan’s journal. During a time when women had a limited voice in both society and church—the Presbyterians refrained from hiring a female pastor until over 100 years after her death—the journal creates a safe space where she can engage in her intellectual and creative pursuits, especially relating to religion. Perhaps the journal even grants us insight into the ‘real’ Martha MacMillan, as opposed to the socially restricted version that her family and friends encountered. The journals, then, offer significant insight into the real life of a 19 th century woman of the Midwest, and of a religious woman who believed in herself and her ideas. The journals act as a 100