Mormon History Coloring Book, 1923: May, “In Times of Distress”
Below are outline drawings — ready to color — and verses printed in the Children’s Friend in May, 1923. The theme for that month’s lessons was “In Times of Distress,” with the motto being “For the Good of All, Each Must Be Generous.” Today seems a timely day to post these pictures, given one running theme of Conference that many of our brothers and sisters are in trouble and need our generosity.
Because the Primary was studying Church history that year, some of these drawings represent stories of the past. Others are contemporary (1923) scenes, teaching the children how they could reflect the self-sacrificing generosity of their people.
The boys and girls throughout the Church
Are glad to give their “bit”
To help support the Children’s Home
And make the place quite fit.
For little children all should have
Good bodies well and strong,
Prepared to take a place in life
And help the work along.
‘Twas in the year of Fifty-Six
That valiant Mormon Band
Was suffering for want of food.
A famine filled the land.
‘Twas then the few who had supplies
Were glad to heed the call
Of neighbors who were in distress.
They shared with one and all.
The day the boys and girls love best
Within each happy year,
Is when they go around the ward
To give their neighbors cheer.
Some take provisions to the sick;
Some chop the neighbor’s wood;
While others plant a garden that
Some widow might have food.
Relief Society sisters kind
Will always give a hand
To help those who are in distress,
The poor throughout the land.
They care not for the summer’s heat,
Or for the winter’s snow,
Just glad to render service sweet.
You’ll ever find it so.
‘Twas not so many years ago –
Perhaps you will recall
Those busy, anxious, fearful days,
Those times when one and all
Forgetting troubles here at home
Were glad to do their share
In knitting socks and sweaters for
Our soldiers “Over There.”
“My dear,” said Brother L.D. Young,
“Our neighbor from the hill
Has come to purchase food supplies.
I told him you were ill.
“But he and others have returned
From service with the band
Of brave and true Battalion boys,
The finest in the land.
“And now they cannot buy supplies.
There’s famine everywhere.”
She said, “Although we’ve none to sell,
We’ll very gladly share.”
Love these. Interesting that this was the message in 1923, a period we usually assume was “roaring” and “booming.” I would expect these in 1933, but maybe wouldn’t guess them in the early ’20s.
What’s the gal holding in the WW1 homefront image? Everyone seems very intent on what’s in her hands, but I can’t tell what it is.
Comment by jeans — April 5, 2009 @ 6:42 am
Good point about the date, jeans.
I don’t know what she’s holding — two cylinders that seem to be connected by a short bar? I can’t imagine. This is going to bother me until I (or a reader) figure it out.
Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — April 5, 2009 @ 8:32 am
oops! I assumed they were cups, and she was providing the refreshments!
Comment by Anne (UK) — April 5, 2009 @ 10:12 am
Maybe she is, Anne — that would certainly account for the interest from the rest of the family!
Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — April 5, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Who is “Brother L.D. Young”?
Comment by Hunter — April 5, 2009 @ 11:07 am
L.D. Young = Lorenzo Dow Young, a brother of Brigham Young, and the first bishop of the ward I live in. From the history written by James A. Little:
I’m not familiar with the role Sister Young may have played in encouraging LDY’s actions, or anything about her sickness. There may have been a story in the Children’s Friend lessons that month that explained it. In any case, LDY is associated with providing food to the needy in times of famine, which must be the inspiration for this drawing and poem.
Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — April 5, 2009 @ 11:31 am
I believe this is the story behind the picture (from Little’s biography):
Comment by Justin — April 5, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
Thanks, Justin. That’s certainly it.
Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — April 5, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
Thanks, Ardis and Justin for the added information. And to think, no redundancy! [wink]
Comment by Hunter — April 5, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
Hey, maybe I can use these for another FHE activity.
Jeans: If I recall, there was a post-WWI economic downturn in the late 1910s and early 1920s. It wasn’t until around the mid-1920s that we really get the economic prosperity we associate with the 1920s. Certainly this wasn’t as severe as the Great Depression. In any event, helping those in need is a Gospel principle at all times, not only when there is an economic problem.
Comment by Steve C. — April 5, 2009 @ 1:11 pm
Here is some background on the Children’s home, shown in the first picture. Prior to 1922, children were cared for in the orthopedic ward at LDS Hospital. In 1922, a large house, known as the Hyde Home, on North Temple Street in SLC was purchased and remodeled for use as the hospital. The first year, 212 children were helped.
In Nov 1922,stakes were asked to send apples to the home and every child was given the opportunity to contribute one apple. The next month the general board sent letters to each ward thanking them for the apples. About this time the practice of collecting birthday pennies for the home was established. Primary children or teachers also sent clothing to the home.
By 1949, the children’s home needed a bigger building. The staff had expanded to include seven orthopedic surgeons, eight pediatricians, three general surgeons, three otolaryngologists, five dentists, two urologists, a neurosurgeon, a thoracic surgeon, and a plastic surgeon. All major surgery was performed at LDS Hospital.
Land was then purchased on Twelfth Avenue and D Street for a new children’s hospital, which became known as the Primary Children’s Hospital.
Comment by Maurine — April 5, 2009 @ 11:41 pm
Thanks, Maurine! I knew the Home was the forerunner of the Primary Children’s Hospital, but hadn’t realized how new it all was when this drawing appeared.
Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — April 6, 2009 @ 5:32 am
Maurine: Great tidbit on the evolution of Primary Children’s Hospital. I guess this is where the practice of donating a penny each week at Primary for PCH came from.
Comment by Steve C. — April 6, 2009 @ 7:23 am
I believe that Mrs. Lorenzo Dow Young is Harriet Page Wheeler Young. She was in the first Pioneer Company that crossed the Plains. They were not going to take any women but Harriet insisted that she be able to go. Her daughter Clara, Brigham Young’s wife and Ellen, Heber C. Kimball’s wife were allowed to go also. They arrived in Utah in July 1847 and Harriet gave birth on September 20, 1847 to a son who died the next year March 22, 1848. She may have been ill that fall and winter. She was forty-four in September 1847. Lorenzo Dow Young was her second husband. She was also already a grandmother. Her two daughters, Lucy Decker Young and Clara Decker Young were married to her brother-in-law, Brigham Young. Her son Charlie Decker married Brigham Young’s daughter Vilate at Winter Quarters. The Deckers and the Youngs came from the same area in New York and knew each other before they had heard of Mormonism.
Comment by Jeff Johnson — April 6, 2009 @ 3:29 pm