A poem honoring the service of the army nurse during the Civil War claims that “she fought the hardest fight … alone, to the sound of dying groan, the sob of failing breath, the reveille of death.” An estimated 3,000 American women served as volunteer military nurses during the Civil War (not including the uncounted thousands who served outside the formal system).

(more…)

In June, 1873, George Q. Cannon penned a few words about America’s newest holiday:

In this country national holidays, that is, holidays observed by the people of the whole country, are very few in number; hitherto there have only been two of them – the Fourth of July and New Year’s Day. Christmas Day does not seem to be thought near so much of in this country as in Europe; and there, New Year’s Day is not esteemed so highly as in this. But in the United States the great national holiday is the 4th of July, the anniversary of Independence Day – the day upon which, in the year 1776, the colonies composing the thirteen original States of the Union declared their independence and threw off the yoke imposed upon them by British rule. On that ever memorable day the most unbounded enthusiasm of the people of the whole country seems to be called forth, and almost every manifestation of joy and pleasure it is possible to think of is indulged in.

(more…)

Unkind to the Pigs

A minister, spending a holiday in the North of Ireland, was out walking, and, feeling ver thirsty, called at a farmhouse for a drink of milk. The farmer’s wife gave him a large bowl of milk, and while he was quenching his thirst a number of pigs got round about him. The minister noticed that the pigs were very strange in their manner, so he said:

“My good lady, why are the pigs so excited?”

The farmer’s wife replied, “Sure, it’s no wonder they are excited, sir; it’s their own little bowl you are drinking out of!”

(more…)

In Our Ward: Lesson 18: “Be Strong and of Good Courage”

Joshua 1-6; 23-24

Purpose: To encourage each class member to be strong and courageous in living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lesson Development

Introduction

Six months into my mission, our mission president completed his three-year mission and was released. Everybody loved President B. – he was a friendly, outgoing man who treated his missionaries like his own children; his young family had practically grown up in the mission field and were the little brothers and sisters of us all. Sister B. had taken a special interest in us sisters, organizing a yearly conference where we could gather together and discuss the peculiar problems and blessings of being sister missionaries in a world of elders.

(more…)

X. Social Observances in Callings, at Weddings, and Funerals
XII. Conduct in Places of Worship (to be linked when posted)

XI. Picnics, Excursions, Parties and Winter and Summer Outings.

Young people must have pleasure and recreation. Indeed all need it, although young people not only need it but will have it, and it is perfectly right and proper that they should. And in this recreation there is certainly no harm done if they make some noise and a great deal of confusion, with some shouting and laughing, provided it is done at the proper time and in the proper place. And on picnics, on hay-rack rides, on sleighing parties and skating parties, it is expected that they will be more noisy and boisterous than when walking soberly upon the street or in other public places.

(more…)

part 3

Complete your panorama with more scenes of life on the plains and — at last — your first glimpse of the Valley.

(more…)

Saturday morning … rev up your funny bones:

Safely Held

Mrs. Scarponi (standing in swimming pool up to her neck): “My goodness, Tony, where’sa da baby?”

Mr. Scarponi (beside her): “He’s all right. I gotta him by da hand.”

Plain Talk

Mother: “You know, Jeffrey, Norma is nearly 17 years old, so today I had a frank discussion with her about the facts of life.”

Father: “Ah! Did you learn anything new?”

(more…)

(See here for background)

From 1959 –

The Right Circles

Swing the corner like swingin’ on a gate;
Now your own if you’re not too late;
Ring up four with all your might …
All join in and circle right.

Gaily the dancers circle and swing to the beat of the band and the command of the caller … every happy heart in tune.

What wholesome harmony; what wonderful fun … when everybody’s in step and in tune, and when your partners in the dance are clean, healthy, wholesome people like yourself.

And so it is in real life, too. The circle is gay or dull, good or bad, as we find, or fail to find, the right partners and heed, or ignore, the command of the “caller.”

Life is a series of circles, beginning with the family circle. For this happy circle, when love and faith abide in the home, we give thanks to kind and wise parents. Working, playing and praying together, the happy family moves from round to round in perfect rhythm.

Next we widen our circles to include an ever-growing number of casual or close associates;: chums of our youth, neighbors, schoolmates, club, social, business and church friends. Out of these circles come eventually our more enduring friendships, our lovers and sweethearts, and the permanent partners we will choose to help us start new family circles of our own.

These permanent circles of association and affection will become for us, if we choose them wisely and keep in time and tune, the right circles. In them we will find true harmony and happiness.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

The Web Urbanist has recently posted on Old School Vintage Ads We’re Glad Are Gone” (HT: BCC and a number of FB contacts) — sort of like the series of Keepa posts about old-time advertising, but creepy: There’s Santa Claus smoking a cigarette, a cartoon pig cutting slices out of his middle to fill your breakfast plate, and men treating women as if they were disobedient carthorses.

One especially creepy ad shows a little girl with pouty lips dolled up like an adult woman, with the tagline “Because innocence is sexier than you think.” Web Urbanist’s commentary notes that today “child protection groups would get chills if they saw ad images that glorified the ‘sexiness’ of innocence.”

(more…)

In the 1930s, when the genre was still quite young, the Church broadcast radio dramas over KSL Radio. They were intended to sell a missionary moment rather than soap, and they were often broadcast late at night when radio signals carried over greater distances and reached more than an LDS audience. No sound recordings have been preserved to the best of my knowledge, but some scripts do survive.

Try reading with your ears as well as your eyes. Imagine the urgent intensity of the well-spoken announcer, hear the sound effects produced at the microphone in the choir loft, and feel the dramatic swell of the Tabernacle organ as it signals a change from one scene to another. Cue music …

(more…)

My friend Ingrid has recently found and purchased two family photographs on eBay — it’s miraculous what the internet can do, no?

The photos, viewable temporarily here (they’re protected so I can’t just copy them into this post) show two different images of a Prussian military officer, Leopold Ollendorff (1843-1889) of Berlin, in uniform.

(more…)

I was saddened when I read of the recent passing of Karl-Heinz Schnibbe.

Karl-Heinz Schnibbe was the last surviving member of the Helmuth Hübener group, a trio of Latter-day Saint teenagers from Hamburg, Germany who, during World War II, organized an anti-Hitler resistance group. Karl-Heinz, Helmuth and Ruddi Wobbe produced and distributed leaflets throughout Hamburg denouncing the corruption of the Nazi regime. In early 1942 the three were arrested and that August the group went on trial before the notorious Volksgerichtshof (People’s Court) in Berlin. Karl-Heinz received a five-year sentence, Ruddi a ten-year sentence. Helmuth Hübener, the ringleader of the resistance movement, was sentenced to death. His execution—by beheading—was carried out at the infamous Plötzensee prison in Berlin in October, 1942.

(more…)

Back again to 1911, to read the advice of Catherine Hurst to the questions posed by the young ladies of that day. She’s not so much Dear Abby this time as she is a beauty consultant and an early 20th century substitute for Google.

—oooOooo—

What can I do to cure a sty?

Take a bit of lard the size of a pea; work in dry calomel until a thick paste is formed; apply to the eyelid. It has a soothing effect and cures quickly.

—oooOooo—

Would it be proper to give a boy a photo of the girls of their crowd if he is in the same crowd? – Flower.

There would be nothing improper if he desires one.

(more…)

I confess to having had a hard time with this lesson as outlined in the manual. I just don’t think we can wrest out of these chapters the points or purposes outlined. The manual sidesteps obvious questions (who is Balaam and how is he a prophet? how did the Israelites become aware of his story so that it entered the scripture? The manual portrays him as a true prophet and at the same time as a diviner and soothsayer, but doesn’t explore the difficulties). Anyway, I elected to have my class read most of the story out loud, with my asking questions along the way, in a sort of a “these are the kinds of questions we should get into the habit of asking ourselves as we read scripture” way. We really had a good discussion with people willing to consider all kinds of ideas. I especially enjoyed the way we discussed the question of whether Balaam’s ass really did speak with the voice of a man, or whether Balaam only interpreted events that way because he couldn’t see the angel. (more…)

Lesson 20: “All the City … Doth Know that Thou Art a Virtuous Woman”

This lesson from the Sunday School class for teens in 1940 is not a whole lot different from this year’s lesson. The old lesson narrates the story of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz as a great love story; the current lesson extracts the story by having the class read verses (in a tedious way, I think, if you were to follow the lesson manual precisely): “And then what happened? (Read these two verses.) And then what happened? (Read the next two verses.) And then what happened?” The current lesson asks students at regular intervals to relate the story to their own lives, while the old lesson obviously expects students to get the point without explicit questions. But aside from these stylistic differences, the lessons are the same: Ruth was kind, hard-working, loyal, and selfless, and was rewarded with marriage to a good man and posterity that included Jesus Christ.

(more…)

part 2
part 4 (to be added when posted)

Your panorama can now feature scenes of camp life on the plains, as well as scenes of Indian life observed by the pioneers.

(more…)

On the Safe Side

Zealous Sentry: “Afraid I can’t let you go by without the password, sir.”

Irate Officer: “But, confound you! I tell you I have forgotten it. You know me well enough. I’m Major Jones.”

Sentry: “Can’t help it, sir; must have the password.”

Voice from the guard-tent: “Oh, don’t stand arguing all night, Bill; shoot ‘im.”

(more…)

.

.

It’s been a while since we gazed through the glass at the faces of Latter-day Saints of the past. Here are some of the members and missionaries of 1910 who sang many of the same hymns and learned or passed along the same stories  that we share today.

.

.

.

Poe, Kansas

(more…)

These questions were answered by apostle and mission president John A. Widtsoe for the benefit of readers of the Millennial Star:

Q. Did Joseph Smith practice plural marriage?

A. Yes. The revelation permitting plural marriage, dated July 12th, 1843, was taught by the Prophet to several persons, including his own brother Hyrum, who have testified to the fact that the Prophet had more than one wife. Several honourable women have testified under oath that they were wives of the Prophet. There are more than one hundred affidavits to the same effect, by persons “Mormon” and non-“Mormon,” who lived in Nauvoo in the life of the Prophet, on file in the office of the church Historian.

It is an historical fact, not questioned by anyone except those who have personal reasons for so doing.

(more…)

Usually when I find something quaint about the way we Latter-day Saints conducted our lives and worship in the past, I can see how what we did then developed into what we do now. That isn’t the case with the material in this 1885 letter written by Thomas Memmott of Scipio, Millard County, Utah, to the bookstore and publishing firm operated by George Q. Cannon – there just isn’t anything in my experience that connects to this fun little bit o’ history:

Some years ago when taking up a new field here, we took in ten acres of land for the Sunday school for which we now have the deeds. The brethren donated a ten acre water claim, and then another brother donated five acres more land; thus our Sunday school now owns fifteen acres of land and ten of water.

(more…)

The current manual covers the multitude of stories in the Book of Judges by drawing brief lessons from the lives of Gideon, Deborah, and Samson, along with that perennial Sunday School favorite, “the cycle of apostasy.” Because they are individually brief (although collectively a bit long), I’m including here not only the lessons on Gideon, Deborah, and Samson, but others whose stories appear in Judges, taken from the 1933 seminary text Land and Leaders of Israel, by Ezra C. Dalby (Salt Lake City: Church Department of Education, 1933). Also included as a useful overview of the reign of the Judges – and because its take on the period as one of “growth and development” is in contrast to the current manual’s focus on the “cycle of apostasy”; it is a short chapter from another seminary text, J.A. Washburn’s Story of the Old Testament (Salt Lake City: Church Department of Education, 1937).

(more…)

part 1
part 3 (to be added when posted)

This week’s additions will extend your panorama across Iowa to Winter Quarters, as the pioneers build camps at Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah to benefit the Saints following after. They cross the Missouri River and establish Winter Quarters. In the meantime, the United States answers the Mormon plea for assistance in crossing the plains by calling for 500 men to form a battalion for service during the War with Mexico.

(more…)

I dunno — this batch of funnies from the church magazines of 1919 really appeals to me as among some of the most clever we’ve seen –

Reciprocity

“Daddy,” said little George, “I want to get married.”

“Do you, my son?” the proud parent asked. “And may I inquire to whom?”

“I want to marry Granny.”

“Do you, indeed? And do you think I would allow you to marry my mother – eh?”

“Well, why shouldn’t I?” retorted the young logician. “You married mine, didn’t you?”

(more…)

While today’s mothers are as apt to be handed a rose or a pot of primrose, carnations are the flowers originally associated with Mother’s Day. Everyone was supposed to wear a carnation at Sunday School in honor of his mother, regardless of whether she was present or not. To that end, baskets of boutonnieres were provided at the doors. You pinned a red carnation on your dress or jacket if your mother was living; you chose a white one to indicate that she had passed away.

In 1920, a special service honored mothers with this program featuring a marching drill (remember that Primary marching we keep being mystified by?), singing, and poetry:

(more…)

IX. Shopping
XI. Picnics, Excursions, Parties and Winter and Summer Outings (to be added when posted)

X. Social Observances in Calling, at Weddings, and Funerals

There are a great many social duties and obligations which belong to all organized society and which everyone, whether rich or poor, prominent or obscure, must necessarily take his or her share in carrying forward. Our simple pioneer people have not reached the stage of civilization where every duty of calling and receiving calls and even the size of the visitor’s card, is regulated by that arbitrary dame, Fashion, or, as fashion is now called in every sense of the word, “good form”; yet even in the humblest hamlet “Mrs. Grundy” lives and rules, and woe be to the luckless girl who offends the “Mrs. Grundy” residing in her particular locality.

(more…)

(See here for background)

From 1956 –

(more…)

One of my personal articles of faith is that I believe God expects – requires, demands – His children to exercise the gifts that He has given us, including the intellect and reasoning powers that he has granted. Even while we must take many things on faith, we are not excused from the attempt to understand revelation and the coarser methods of learning, to the limits of our abilities. We have admonitions like those in D&C 88:

Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms — that ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you.

and statements like these from Brigham Young:

(more…)

So I came across this poem about Mother in Heaven the other day:

O My Mother, thou that dwellest,
In thy mansions up on high,
Oft I think that I remember
How you bade your child goodbye.
How you pressed me to your bosom,
Bade me a true son to be,
Ere I left my home eternal,
To accept mortality.

(more…)

An abbreviated version of this was published in the Salt Lake Tribune, celebrating the role that hometown newspapers have played in recording the history of ordinary people. Although I did not mention it there, Fred Mack Hamel was a Latter-day Saint — so it’s appropriate to recall his life here on Keepa.

They say that more and more of us are getting our news from TV and the Internet, that the new media are more exciting with a freshness that newspapers cannot match. That may be so. But newspapers have a track record that the new media have yet to challenge: Nothing beats the hometown paper for recording the life of a community and the people who live there.

Consider the life of Fred Mack Hamel, born in Marysvale, Utah in 1918. His local paper, the Piute County News, first took notice of Mack when he graduated from the eighth grade. The News featured Mack again when he graduated from Marysvale High and was awarded a scholarship to Utah State Agricultural College.

Late in 1940, the paper noted Mack’s departure to join the Marines, and the following April reported his transfer to a base in Hawaii.

(more…)

Lesson 18: “Be Strong and of a Good Courage”

The current lesson is based on the life of Joshua, including both his call to leadership (early in the book of Joshua) and his charge to the Israelites at the end of his life to keep their covenants with God. Lessons from the life of Joshua form the basis of a pair of lessons in Ezra C. Dalby’s Land and Leaders of Israel: Lessons in the Old Testament (Salt Lake City: Church Department of Education, 1930), a textbook used by the Seminaries of the church in the 1930s and ‘40s.

(more…)

Lesson 17: “Beware Lest Thou Forget”

A covenant forgotten usually means a covenant broken. This year’s lesson emphasizes the importance of keeping the covenants we have made by noting several episodes during the wanderings of the Israelites when Moses called on the children of Israel to remember the Lord and His sustaining hand.

A group of lessons from a seminary text of 1942 (Maude Beesley Jacob, The Message of the Old Testament, Salt Lake City: LDS Department of Education, 1942) covers in far greater detail than a single Sunday lesson could hope to do the same period of the Israelites’ wanderings to the point where they are ready to enter the Promised Land, and Moses bids them farewell. Although the constant reminder to “remember” is not as much emphasized as in this year’s lessons, the covenants to be remembered, the incidents that will help the Israelites remember, even the same caution on keeping the commandments despite the influence of surrounding cultures, are all present.

(more…)