Knowing How Much Y’all Love Scouting …
… and in honor of their centennial, I thought I’d reproduce the coloring page from the August 1923 Juvenile Instructor for your artistic enjoyment:
Have Courage to Say “I Don’t Know”
Our methods in speculation and reasoning about the things of God may often be harmless; but if we depart from the simplicity of God’s word into a spirit of rationalism, we become the victims of vanity, which endangers the true spirit of worship in the human heart. It is not easy for men to give up their vanities, to overcome their preconceived notions, and surrender themselves, heart and soul, to the will of God which is always higher than their own.
The dangers of religious speculations are as great today as they were in the days of Christ, and if we would avoid these dangers we must adhere to the simplicity of our religious beliefs and practices. When men and women realize they are getting into deep water where their footing is insecure, they should retreat, for they may be sure that the course they have been taking will lead them more and more away from their bearings which are not always easy to regain. The religion of the heart, the unaffected and simple communion which we should hold with God, is the highest safeguard of the Latter-day Saints. It is no discredit to our intelligence or to our integrity to say frankly in the face of a hundred speculative questions, “I do not know.”
One thing is certain, and that is, God has revealed enough to our understanding for our exaltation and for our happiness. Let the Saints, then, utilize what they already have; be simple and unaffected in their religion, both in thought and word, and they will not easily lose their bearings and be subjected to the vain philosophies of man.
– Juvenile Instructor, May 1911, 269.
“Conspicuous Service, at the Risk of Their Lives”: An American Consul Praises LDS Missionaries, 1906
A New York newspaper reported to its readers on 10 March 1906:
Tahiti and the Tuamotu Islands, as already announced by cable, were visited by the most destructive cyclone in their history on February 7 and 8. The wind blew at the rate of 120 miles an hour for nearly sixteen hours, spreading destruction throughout the archipelago. The disturbance was accompanied by a tidal wave, which swept over Papeete, the capital, the streets of which were inundated to a depth of many feet, so that the residents had to swim from their homes. Many of the smaller islands were completely covered, and the inhabitants had to take refuge in the tops of cocoanut trees.
The news of that destructive hurricane had been carried throughout the world by official reports and by private letters, like this one written on February 17, 1906, by William F. Doty, the American Consul on Tahiti, to his Princeton (Class of 1896) classmates:
As I address you, from this remote South Pacific Island, I am somewhat in the mood of a Tahitian overawed by the marvels of the “storm god.”
“A Preparatory School of Intensive Teaching and Training”: The Church’s First Missionary Home
Further to part of our discussion in the comments here about the Salt Lake Missionary Home and its location at various eras, I found this article written by the Home’s first president, LeRoi C. Snow, published in the May 1928 Improvement Era, discussing the earliest history of the Home. It was concise enough, and packed with such detail, that I’ve chosen to post it as is. We might have some fun considering how that first Missionary Home was both like and unlike the current training given at the Missionary Training Center. Or, knowing Keepa’s regulars, we’ll have some fun regardless of what direction the comments go.
The Missionary Home
By Elder LeRoi C. Snow
Practically all who are called to represent the Church as missionaries come first to Salt Lake City. Here they receive instruction, go through the temple, are set apart by members of the Council of the Twelve or the First Council of Seventy, arrange for transportation and leave in groups for their mission headquarters. This policy has been followed for many years.
Sweet! More Extravagant Claims for Sugar
Well, no, not really. What an extraordinary difference between advertising in 1920 and advertising in 1950!
Humane Sermon in Three Parts, 1917
Early in the 20th century, the theme of being kind to animals became a prominent, recurring part of both the Sunday School and the Primary schedules. “Humane Sunday” was observed at least once a year. The magazines carried whole sections of stories about dogs who saved families from house fires, old cart horses who brought unconscious masters safely home, and the loyalty of animals of all kinds to children who were kind to them. Sometimes the teachings given to children were really aimed at their parents — a set of photographs showing the humane and the inhumane ways to hold a check rein on a horse, for instance, no doubt caused a few children to correct their fathers when the wrong method was used. I wouldn’t be surprised if Spencer W. Kimball’s memories of the song “Don’t Kill the Little Birdies” had its roots in some youthful church lesson on the humane treatment of animals.
This page from the Juvenile Instructor of 1917 illustrates one of the ways in which Mormon children were taught to notice and consider the lives of the animals around them. Do you suppose this resulted in shrieks of horror from a scandalized child in some chapel in the weeks after its publication?
How We Taught This Lesson in the Past: Lesson 30: “Come to the House of the Lord”
The stated purpose of this lesson in our current manual is “to inspire each class member to receive the promised blessings that come from temple work and scripture study” and draws from the stories of Hezekiah and Josiah. Those stories do indeed deal with the temple and the written word of the Lord, but to me they seem very poor choices to illustrate a lesson on the beauties of the temple and the scriptures. The entire point of the experiences of those Old Testament kings appears to be that when a people apostatizes, there comes a time when repentance is too late to avoid the consequences of sin. Their stories do not support the current manual’s “open a conduit to the Lord so that living water can flow in our lives” happy-happy feel good message about temple blessings and scripture study. When the seminary program of the church taught the stories of Hezekiah and Josiah in 1937, their lesson seems to fit the scripture much better than the awkwardness of our manual this year. (Haggai would have been a more apt scriptural text to make this point, I think.)
Sorry. Although I have generally avoided expressing judgment about the relative value of one year’s lessons over another in this series, this time I have to say that the current lesson is a misuse of the scripture. IMO.
Funny Bones, 1938 (5th set)
The Improvement Era asked its readers to submit Mormon-flavored jokes this year, mixed with the magazine’s usual brand of humor. Illustrations were provided by the Era’s in-house artist, Fielding K. (“Smat”) Smith.
Phonetically Correct
The class had been studying the Articles of Faith. Upon returning home one little girl was heard to say; “Mother, why do we say we believe in being chased by an elephant?”