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Few of us know when we are about to breathe--or write--our last, as these diary extracts attest
By Sarah Phelan
--Marjory Fleming, Scotland, 1810
Shortly thereafter, Fleming fell ill of measles, then died of a more severe illness, not yet 9 years old.
--Virginia Woolf, March 8, 1941
With these words the diary of Virginia Woolf ends, though she left a suicide note for her husband. Her body was found floating in the "wild grey water" near her home.
--Captain Robert Scott, March 29, 1912
Scott was found frozen in a tent, only a few miles from his base camp on his return trip from the South Pole. Three diaries were tucked under his arm.
--Anne Frank, July 15, 1944
A few days later, Frank and the other occupants of the secret annex were taken away by the Nazis. Frank died in the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen, in March 1945, three months before her 16th birthday, two months before the liberation of Holland.
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