late 19th C
the Millbrook Reader:
keeping a daily journal which shall be set down all the trivial routine of one's life is not a good one except when it is:
1. a temporary expedient for training ones memory
2. to record a special purpose
3. to remember a special event, such as a trip
4. jotting down in its proper place any remarkable occurrence whose exact date & description may be a matter of interest at a subsequent time
diary of Catherine Bell Van Norman:
I commenced writing this journal thinking that i would make some improvement in writing but i think it will prove a failure. Well it may make some improvement in my spiritual welfare.