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From the Children’s Friend,
October 1964

Lesson 43: The Shepherds of Israel

This 1952 lesson from a text used by the seminaries (Roy A. Welker, Spiritual Values of the Old Testament. Salt Lake City: LDS Department of Education, 1952) meshes nicely with the message contained in this year’s lesson manual. The two lessons, however, are written from very different points of view: The 1952 book focuses on Ezekiel’s day and looks forward somewhat to our day, while the current manual stresses behaviors applicable to the church today, drawing lessons from the time of Ezekiel.

A Message to a Discouraged People: Ezekiel

The prophet Ezekiel was a striking character. The richness of his life and work is well known to us through his writings. It is probable that he was born during or just before the early years of the reign of the good king Josiah. If so, he would have been a young man when Josiah died, acquainted with the troublous times of Jerusalem and Judah. He also, in all probability, would have known Jeremiah and listened to his prophecies and been tutored and influenced by him. He, in turn, even in his young manhood, may have had considerable influence with the people of Judah, for one possessed of such energy, purpose and a sense of responsibility could hardly have been idle or silent at any time in his career. His greatest influence, however, was to be exerted at a later time and in another country. The early part of his life in Judah was, no doubt, in large measure one of training for the greater mission he was to fulfill.

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From the Children’s Friend, October, 1951 –

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Back to 1942 for more –

Wrong Degree

A young theologian named Fiddle
Refused to accept his degree,
Saying it’s bad enough to be Fiddle,
Without being Fiddle, D.D.

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A reader who insists on remaining completely and totally and irrevocably and eternally ANONYMOUS sends in this drawing recently found in the papers of her 8-year-old daughter. Yes, a girl. Eight years old.

“I was wondering,” said anonymous reader writes, “where she was exposed to all these images, so I asked, and it turns out that this is a battle between the Nephites and Lamanites. Should I restrict her reading? No more scriptures???”

For your edification, know that the woman behind the gate is saying “Huny be carfle [careful]” and the person in the tower is also saying “Be carfle.”

Be carfle indeed. There is some anatomical correctness going on here.

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From the Children’s Friend,
October 1926

More pressing problems and awesome answers from the “Girl Query” department of the Young Woman’s Journal, 1918:

—oooOooo—

What is the proper length for baby’s first clothes? – Dorothy

Clothes for a new baby are much shorter now than formerly. Twenty-three, twenty-seven and thirty inches, are the lengths most used. It is a matter of personal choice which one is used.

—oooOooo—

“Miss G.B.E.” – It is always proper to politely thank a gentleman for any courtesy extended.

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From the Children’s Friend, October 1935 –

Enemy’s Son

by Margaret F. Bach

Illustrated by Lynnette Moench

The story of a little immigrant who was looking for a home – and love.

Previous Chapter

Chapter 3.

Minnie Madison was in the shop arranging a gold satin bow on a pot of yellow tulips when she heard the whistle of the 4:45. She checked the time with her watch – it was exactly 4:45. That meant that in less than ten minutes Nat would drive into the yard with her nephew. Her lips were pressed in a tight line and there was a firm set to her jaw at the thought.

Miss Minnie, as the townspeople called her, was known as a good woman. She went to church faithfully, she contributed to every worthy cause, and she had cared for her brother when both their parents died.

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When Brigham Young III (1857-1945, called “Bid”) was in his early teens, he ran with a small crowd of neighbor boys who won the privilege from Bid’s grandfather, the Brigham Young, to use his offices, housed in the building between Brigham’s Lion and Beehive family homes, as a sort of clubhouse. The boys met there in the winter in a proto-Mutual Improvement Association, to read the books and newspapers housed there and to engage in formal conversation.

Or at least that was the intended program. Usually, though, after poking a bit through whatever reading material was handy, the boys pulled out the checkerboard and played games.

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HALLOWE’EN

By Irene McCullough

Mr. Burt had just driven in with his Ford truck. He stopped it nearer the house than usual, remembering it was Hallowe’en.

Mrs. Burt was waiting supper, the children were tired and hungry and she was anxious to get them to bed.

“Well, I have had a dandy day, and the Boss says he can keep me busy from early until late tomorrow. Don’t need to worry, mother, we will soon be on top again. Just one more payment on the Ford and that’s cleared up.”

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Mormons, just being ourselves, in 1913 –

Elders Playing Baseball at Joseph Smith Monument, South Royalton, Vermont

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Enemy’s Son

by Margaret F. Bach

Illustrated by Lynnette Moench

The story of a little immigrant who was looking for a home – and love.

Previous Chapter

Chapter 2.

Hans recovered from the shock of finding himself alone on the station platform to discover that it was raining harder by the minute. The drops hit the pavement with such force that they bounced back and skipped around his shoes.

“No wonder there is no one out here,” he told himself as he hurried to the building at the far end of the platform. The blinding rain made it almost impossible to see the doorway and Hans had to grope for the door knob with his free hand. At last his fingers found the smooth porcelain knob and he gripped it tightly. The knob turned easily in his hand but the door did not open. He rattled the knob back and forth but nothing happened. Perhaps it needed a little shove. Hans took a step back and leaned toward the door putting all his weight behind his shoulder. He shoved as hard as he could. All at once the door opened from the other side sending Hans sprawling across the station floor.

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I, like several other regular readers, come from a family where it seems nearly all the temple and genealogy work has been done. I’ve chosen to focus my efforts on recording the stories that previously existed only orally, and verifying them as much as possible. I’m not a professional researcher or historian, but it’s proved to be a fun and fruitful adventure.

Here’s one such story from my great-grandfather, Joseph Andrew Ritchie. According to the life history read at his funeral in 1975, at the age of 25 he was called to leave behind his wife and two young children to serve in the Central States. It reads:
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From the Children’s Friend,
October 1929

The lesson titled “How Girls May Be of Service in the Church,” reproduced below in its entirety – and I do mean every word – was scheduled to be given to the Sunday School class for 10- and 11-year-old boys and girls on July 25, 1937. The lesson was not originally planned as a part of the curriculum, and does not appear in the lesson manual published at the beginning of the 1936-37 church year. It appears only in the Instructor (May 1937).

I think what amazes me most is the consolation prize aspect, the assumption that girls could not be interested in church history lessons on the restoration of the priesthood. Also surprising to me is the brevity (this is a quarter or less of the number of words used to spell out most lessons in that manual), and the lack of any real examples, despite the lesson’s call to “see to it that concrete details are brought out.”

Anyway, the lesson –

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From the Children’s Friend,
October 1951

Lesson 42: “I Will Write It in Their Hearts”

This lesson from 1952, from a book used by the seminary (Roy A. Welker, Spiritual Values of the Old Testament), covers the same ground as our current lesson from Jeremiah.

Courage to Face the Darkest Hour: Jeremiah

The Man. How deep in oblivion many places would lie were it not that some famed character, born within their borders, brings them out to the attention of men. Such a place was the village of Anathoth, three or four miles northeast of Jerusalem. It was the birthplace of Jeremiah. Today the site of it is in question. In Jeremiah’s day it was unattractive, gloomy, dark and slimy when the heavy storms of the rainy season fell upon it. yet because such a great man dwelt there, it has come to be known to many who read of him. There is a similarity between the atmosphere that so characterized this gloomy little town and the mournful nature of its famed son. yet it would be unjust to Jeremiah’s great character to maintain, as some scholars do, that he was largely influenced by the dreary environment of his birthplace. He was too important for that. It took greater and more significant influences to affect the life of such a man.

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From the Children’s Friend,
October 1926

Room for (F) All

Patron: “This is a very large skating rink you have here.”

Manager: “Yes, it has a seating capacity of ten thousand.”

—oooOooo—

Teacher: What is the meaning of the word ‘matrimony,’ Robert?”

Robert: “Father says it isn’t a word; it’s a sentence.”

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From the Children’s Friend,
October 1961

The source of these questions and answers can be found in the first installment of this series. It bears repeating for newcomers that the person(s) answering these questions is/are not identified, and that the answers given here are not necessarily current teaching. The chief value of these columns today is in seeing what issues were on the minds of ordinary Church members 60 years ago, and in noting what has changed since then, or what issues we consider modern concerns were being discussed that long ago.

Q. Are the servicemen’s editions of the Book of Mormon and the Principles of the Gospel available for use in scout and other groups? – E.L.H., Coma, Calif.

A. No. They are reserved for our Church members serving in the military.

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Enemy’s Son

by Margaret F. Bach

Illustrated by Lynnette Moench

The story of a little immigrant who was looking for a home – and love.

Chapter 1.

The giant streamliner streaked through the gray April afternoon, its whistle blaring a warning to the cars at the coming crossing. A long blast ripped the air and was quickly followed by several short ones, then the engine passed between the swinging red signals and hurtled on through the early spring countryside.

The sharp blasts were muffled in the passenger cars, but the dozing young army nurse in the second last car awoke with a start when the engineer sounded his first warning. She glanced anxiously at her slender, dark-haired companion of the past two weeks. After what seemed an endless moment, the final blast died away and Helen Sommers sank back in her seat.

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You ask me to tell you how I received my testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of God. I cannot tell you for I do not know myself. That I have such a testimony, an unquestionable knowledge of the truth of this work, I am most certain; but how or when such knowledge came to me I know not any more than I know the moment which marks the passing away of night and the dawning of day.

Yet my testimony does not remain ever the same; it grows in strength as the years bring additional evidences through reflection and study and prayer.

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The editors of the church magazines don’t publish fiction these days. Even in the Friend, all stories appear to be either taken from the scriptures or “based on a true story” – regardless of the amount of fictionalization that makes up those tales, the stamp of historicity has been placed upon them.

Earlier incarnations of the church magazines relied heavily on fiction. Within my memory, Jack Weyland got his start with short stories in the New Era. The Improvement Era, Instructor, Children’s Friend, Young Woman’s Journal and Relief Society Magazine published much more. Some of the best, or at least best loved and best remembered, stories were serializations running through a year or more of a magazine, each installment ending with the tantalizing “To be continued.”

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One of my favorite seasonal songs remembered from Primary days; from the October 1955 Children’s Friend –

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The Oregon-California Trails Association, one of the premier organizations of western history, presented their 2010 Distinguished Service Award recently to Melvin L. Bashore, a librarian at the Church History Library who has overseen the development of the Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database. Their award recognizes the contribution of Bro. Bashore and his missionary team to western history beyond those whose primary interest is Mormon history.

OCTA’s announcement of the award gives some idea of the scope of the project: “It indexes over 350 known emigrating companies … indexes over 50,000 emigrant names and contains full-text transcriptions to nearly 3,200 Mormon Trail narratives including diaries, reminiscences, reports, letters, and contemporary newspaper reports. … [It] has received 336,520 visits since 2003.”

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This week guest blogger Ron Madson has an outstanding post, Grandpa’s Hat (linked here and also in our sidebar for easy finding) up at BCC, telling what followed after he searched his grandfather’s missionary diary for the original account of a story that practically defines the Madson family’s sense of themselves as Mormons. He explores the story itself and issues of tradition and evidence and truth and compassion for relatives’ feelings. It’s a post tailor-made for Keepa, and I’m a little jealous that I couldn’t write it myself.

My comment to the post was typical for me – “Have you provided a copy to the church archives?” Ron hadn’t yet thought of that, and asked, “Do they even want such journals?? and if so, why?” So I explained why the diary of a missionary was valuable for documenting Mormon life and experience after the well-studied pioneer period and outside of the central stomping grounds of Mormonism. And I ended with a flourish – “Sometimes the owners of diaries don’t have any idea that some apparently trivial sentence on page 84 is exactly what is needed to solve some puzzle.”

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