After a cool and unprecedentedly rainy June, Utah is gearing up to settle into a hot, dry July. I’d rather not run my air conditioner any more than absolutely necessary to sleep, so I sit here under a ceiling fan, with a desk fan trained on my face. There are only so many layers of clothing that a modest Mormon woman can shed, and only so many glasses of ice water will go down any one throat in a day.

Wouldn’t it be nice, I think, to step outside my door and slip into a pool of water, warmed by the sun yet cool enough to wash all the heat away …

That’s a pleasure the Brigham Young children enjoyed, from the late 1850s onward.

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The Instructor, February 1952

Maybe it’s an unintended consequence of correlation, but it occurs to me that our church magazines just don’t do as good a job as they used to at supplying us with articles on house flies. You know what I mean?

Take, for instance, the fine report on “The House Fly and Disease,” by Prof. John Zimmerman Brown of the University of Utah’s medical department, published in the 1909 Young Woman’s Journal. Now that’s an article providing a dose of everything our young women search for in vain in The New Era.

It’s a delightful article to read over the breakfast table, with its charming opening:

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Juvenile Instructor, July 1915
Lafayette’s Arrival

Thanks to Mormon Matters (where nominations and votes will be registered), with the assistance of Ziff at Zelophehad’s Daughters (who must be losing sleep already with delighted anticipation of numbers to crunch), the Niblets return to the Bloggernacle.

Niblets are a fun way of community building within the Bloggernacle and a way of letting bloggers and commenters know that their 2008 efforts were memorable, even when a post didn’t draw a lot of comments or there was little on-screen response to consistently witty or insightful or peacemaking comments. So register your nominations at Mormon Matters, and remember to vote when the ballots are posted.

And, um, uh, should the spirit so move, remember that Keepa was launched during 2008, and that a complete list of posts can be easily found by clicking the “Topical Guide” link at the top of the sidebar. You know, just in case.

Regular readers will have noticed that our commenter Researcher has referred to herself as a “heart mom” from time to time. Her little boy, who just turned two, has had his third heart surgery this week. He is struggling tonight. Please remember him in your prayers.

The Instructor, January 1954

A Money-Lender

He serves you in the present tense; lends you in the conditional mood; keeps you in the subjunctive; and ruins you in the future.

—oooOooo—

Mother: “To think that my little Ethel should have spoken so impertinently to papa today at dinner! She never hears me talk in that way to him.”

Ethel (stoutly): “Well, but you choosed him and I didn’t.”

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Juvenile Instructor, February 1918

As with earlier entries in this series, these questions and answers come from the pages of the Juvenile Instructor. Some were taken from articles explicitly signed The Editor — meaning George Q. Cannon — while others appeared in unsigned editorial columns presumably written or at least approved by GQC.

Can an Elder officiate in another ward as an Elder in performing any of the ordinances which belong to the office of an Elder when he has been disfellowshipped in his own ward and his case is on appeal to the High Council?

It would be a very improper thing for a man in that position to officiate in any of the ordinances of the Melchisedek Priesthood, because he is not in good standing, and it is too sacred a matter for any man to act in the Priesthood unless he is fully authorized to do so. It would not be reasonable to expect that the Lord would bless anyone in acting in the Priesthood while in that condition.

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South Carolinians, if not most Americans, were mystified in June of 2009 to find that their state governor, Mark Sanford, had gone missing. He had vanished without explanation, leaving behind not only his mystified family but his omnipresent security detail.

For the better part of a week Governor Sanford’s embarrassed staff tried gamely but unsuccessfully to deal with press inquiries. Initially the story was that no one knew where the governor was. Pressed aggressively by reporters, the story morphed into a staff explanation that Sanford must have gone hiking along the Appalachian Trail to recharge his batteries after a stressful legislative session. No one knew on which segment of the Georgia-to-Maine track he had sought renewal or how he could be contacted. Out of the loop, South Carolina’s lieutenant governor was not amused. He commented publicly that “I cannot take lightly that his staff has not had communication with him for more than four days, and that no one including his family, knows his whereabouts.” A state senator asked who would have been able to authorize use of the South Carolina National Guard in Sanford’s absence. On Wednesday, June 24 a bizarre story emerged that Governor Sanford had reappeared in Charleston after returning unannounced from Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, not South Carolina.

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Orestes Utah Bean was a Richfield schoolteacher in the 1890s. He became enchanted with “Corianton,” a tale by Mormon general authority B.H. Roberts, based loosely – very loosely – on a Book of Mormon story about an ancient missionary who succumbed to the wiles of the harlot Isabel.

Bean dramatized the story. He added sword fights and a melodramatic love interest, and framed its speeches in bad imitation of Shakespeare: “Relia dear, thou lovest me; for thy heart speaks when thy lips would fain be mute.”

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An occasional subject for blog discussion is the apparent* difficulties some have with their first attendance at the temple. The highly symbolic/allegorical/representational method of presentation is unfamiliar to those unused to considering symbols, and the limited ritual of our usual weekly worship is so familiar and so often repeated that many don’t even notice its formalism anymore. These discussions sometimes include complaints that the church does little or nothing to prepare first-time temple-goers to understand the presentation.

With that complaint fresh in mind after another such blog discussion, I was interested to discover this lesson taught in 1935 as one of the Book of Mormon Sunday School lessons for high school-age classes. This lesson introduces the ideas of symbols as carriers of thought, emphasizes the need to become familiar with a symbolic system in order to understand its message, and dissects several familiar LDS ordinances to illustrate the functioning of signs and symbols.

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A few weeks ago we read about the sinking of the S.S. Vestris in 1928, with the loss of missionary Keith W. Burt and the dramatic survival of his companion, David H. Huish. Several members of Elder Burt’s family commented, mentioning, among other things, letters of condolence received by the family, including one written by James E. Talmage.

Susan E. Woods, a niece of Elder Burt, compiled a wonderful book about his life, incorporating biographical material, photographs, memories of Elder Burt’s brothers and sisters, and many, many letters. What follows is a small selection from those letters, beginning with some written by the elder in the weeks before his death. (I have chosen, as Sister Woods did, to preserve Elder Burt’s letters as he wrote them, including the terms he used to describe the black men he saw in the East, perhaps the first blacks he had ever seen; we all acknowledge the derogatory and offensive nature of these terms, but I’m asking that comments not dwell on those words in this post.)

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What an odd theme for the Primary lessons of October 1923! Well, the overall theme for the last four months of the year was “The Latter-day Saints, a Progressive People,” and the motto for October was “He Conquers Who Endures.” That may help us understand the place of this lesson within the study of Church history — which, in the perspective of 1923, was inextricably tied to the development of Salt Lake City.

Ironically, all the ultra-modern images illustrating the magnificent progress of 1923 appear as quaint to us as the pioneer pictures do.

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The new Church History Library was dedicated this morning (Saturday, June 20), between 11:00 a.m. and noon.

After the last of the open houses and tours concluded late Thursday evening, workmen removed the display cases holding samples of the materials archived in the library, and carried away all the tables and chairs from the two reading rooms, and all the furniture from the lobby. They erected a raised platform at the north end of the main library reading room, with its podium placed so that everyone in that room and most in the lobby could see it. They moved in an organ, and hooked up speakers and television lighting and large flat-screen televisions in all three rooms so that no matter where guests were seated, they could see and hear. Then they filled all three rooms with chairs, enough to seat several hundred guests.

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If we could see ourselves as others see us, most of us would look the other way.

—oooOooo—

An Auctioneer advertised: For Sale – A large quantity of oil paintings by some of the most ancient masters of the day.

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Large ankles, green vegetables, and ragtime music — is any problem too difficult for the “Girl Query” department of the Young Woman’s Journal to handle? Not at all! Catherine Hurst bravely faces the concerns of girls and young women in 1916:

To “Imogene” who writes of her unpopularity among the boys because she will not allow familiarity.

“Familiarity breeds contempt” is verily true. To be popular a girl must be friendly, agreeable to all, willing to do her best, not claiming her own will, but ready and desirous to please in the proper manner. If you could get the girls together, and influence them to plan a crusade upon all foolishness and undue familiarity with the opposite sex, the boys would soon realize how they should conduct themselves when in company with girls.

Girls can do much to purify and uplift their boy friends. When young men understand the girls’ attitude, if they be boys worthy of friendship, their respect for the modest, refined, virtuous girl will increase.

A young man would be foolish indeed to choose a wife from among the coarse, rude, or immodest girls, What kind of a mother would she make?
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That’s what George Q. Cannon called it – “A Popular American Idol” – and he even provided a portrait to the readers of the Juvenile Instructor:

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I am still struggling with the soon-to-be-ended isolation from my usual reference tools, and have not attempted to identify Annie Abels. If any readers are able to find details about her – her maiden name, her husband’s given name, her dates or children or residence – please share those along with any comments about her story. Thanks!

***

I have often read in the Juvenile Instructor instances of the Lord’s answering the prayers of the Saints. I also have had some experience myself of the goodness of the Lord in answering prayer. And I would like to benefit others and help to promote faith by making a few statements.

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Mormon attitudes toward the never-married adult are of particular interest to me, in part because that’s my own status but also because this is a demographic rarely addressed in a church that sacralizes the married state.

Two months ago, I posted a 1922 lesson on The Destiny of the Unmarried that was, to my mind, surprisingly positive in exploring the reasons for both “voluntary” and “involuntary spinsterhood” and acknowledging that singles can have a positive role in life.

The lesson posted this time is from The Latter-day Saint Family, written by Mormon sociologist Harold T. Christensen. The Latter-day Saint Family was used as the manual for the 1947 family relations class in Sunday School.

Beyond that, I leave all interpretation and commentary to you.

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Lesson 23: “Seek Learning, Even by Study and Also by Faith”

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1933: Gospel Messages

Lesson 4: How We Get Spiritual Knowledge

That young man of whom mention was made three lessons ago as having had an inferiority-complex on the subject of religion, had in reality a far deeper reason for his action than that which he gave to his bishop. He may not have been able to state it in so many words, but it was there none the less.

That reason may be stated thus: The method of religion and the method of science in particular and of life in general are so different from each other that one sometimes finds difficulty in reconciling them. (more…)

Lesson 22: The Word of Wisdom: A Principle with Promise

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1900: Deseret Sunday School Union Leaflets.

Lesson 206: Word of Wisdom

Texts

Revelation given through Joseph, the Seer, at Kirtland … [full text of Section 89]

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This lesson from the 1945 missionary prep Sunday School class describes an important tool in the kit of the missionary in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It follows a similar lesson on “Cottage Meetings” posted here recently.

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The new library opens on June 22, at 9:00 a.m., with public open houses scheduled yesterday and today, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. If you live near enough to Salt Lake City to go to the open house today, stop reading and get going. It will be well worth your time.

The tour begins with a short (15- or 20-minute) video on the importance of history to church life. Its opening could have been taken straight from Keepa’s play book: “The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the story of people,” a narrator says, over a montage of photos of people, modern and antique, from cultures around the world, mostly portraits, a few activities. I recognized many of the historic portraits – there was B.H. Roberts in his hobo disguise, Jane Manning James, (Elijah Abel’s photo appeared later in the movie), and others that you will recognize.

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Here are some more of the jokes appearing in the 1944 Millennial Star at a time when the staff was British, not American:

Too Clever

“When you stepped on that gentleman’s foot, Tommy, I hope you apologised.”

“Oh, yes, indeed I did,” said Tommy, “and he gave me sixpence for being a good boy.”

“Did he? And what did you do then?”

“Stepped on the other and apologised, but it didn’t work.”

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One hundred years ago, Latter-day Saints in England, especially those living in East Anglia and the northern parts of England, were in the midst of the harshest period of anti-Mormon sentiment in English history. Countless articles and public speakers warned the people against speaking with Mormon missionaries, claiming they were there to convert or kidnap young English girls and ship them to Mormon harems in Utah.

Public fears were raised to such a pitch that mob action against missionaries and members resembled the anti-Mormon activities of the Southern States Mission twenty years earlier: Meetings were disrupted by shouting and sometimes by invasion of mobs, stones were thrown through windows and at members and missionaries leaving meetings, one elder was tarred and feathered. To England’s credit, policemen were sometimes assigned to protect meetings and escort missionaries from meetings to their lodgings, and in at least one case mobbers were arrested, prosecuted, and found guilty.

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Blackheads, dangerous hairstyles, and the folly of sudden fascinations – nothing was too small to merit the attention, nor too large to stump the wisdom, of the “Girl Query” Department of the  Young Woman’s Journal in 1914. Witness:

“Mrs. A.J.” many women have attended school or specialized in certain studies at an older age than 40. If you have the opportunity, and a special desire to qualify yourself in the subjects mentioned, there is no reason why you should hesitate. We are never too old to learn.

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Okay, so here is what was expected of the sisters of our clean, well-mannered, prayerful boys of 1941:

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One issue of The Children’s Friend of 1941 included these “Rules” printed on heavy cardstock for boys to cut out and post on their bedroom walls.

Are you a Real Boy?

Want to make any guesses as to what appears in the “Ten Rules for a Real Girl” that was published the next month? (more…)

“The first known baptism in Alaska occurred 25 June 1902, when Edward G. Cannon baptized K. N. Winnie in the Bering Sea near Nome.”

This statement is quoted or paraphrased in a number of histories of the Church in Alaska, sometimes with a comment about Elder Cannon’s tabernacle-on-wheels – oh, how I wish I had a photograph of that! – but without any more detail about these two remarkable men. While a great deal remains to be uncovered about their stories, here is more than you have probably ever heard before:

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