The Bottle Message

The Adventures of a Boy on a South Sea Island

By Janet Tooke

Previous Chapter

Chapter Five: Secret Disclosed

Synopsis: Tee Totum lives on Waiki-pali, his uncle’s island, after being lost for several years and found through a bottle-message from his father, Captain Jack Tathom, who perished at sea. Tee chums with an island boy who is persecuted by the other boys because of their belief that his mother, Momo, is a witch. For fun Tee repeats a careless remark let fall by Namay, and tells the native boys that Namay is going to turn them into worms and go fishing with them. Later he teases his uncle to tell him the remainder of the bottle-message, which so far has been kept secret.

The soft lap-lap of Lolomo lake conspired with the warm afternoon silence to imbue the three fishermen on Waiki-pali with a pleasant drowsiness. A lazy content heightened, in Tee’s case, by the knowledge of something exciting to come. Something he instinctively felt to be of the utmost importance to himself and this new vivid life that had so surprisingly become his.

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“What Shall I Do?”: Paid Employment for Mormon Girls, 1927

Agnes Lovendahl Stewart

The introduction to this series is posted here.

[IX.] – The Doctor

If you like to do difficult things that few others are able to do, you might choose to be a doctor.

It takes generous quantities of grit, and courage, and perseverance, and determination and stick-to-it-iveness for a man to become a doctor. And it takes all those fine qualities of character in double measure for a woman to become a doctor.

In the first place, you must make up your mind to sacrifice quite a number of the best years of your young life getting started. Before you can obtain a license to practice you must have received an M.D. degree at a recognized medical college, and have served at least one year in a hospital as interne.

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The Bottle Message

The Adventures of a Boy on a South Sea Island

By Janet Tooke

Previous Chapter

Chapter Four: The Home in the Cave

Synopsis: Tee Totum has been adopted by his uncle, Thomas Tathom, and now lives on the island of Waiki-pali. He has become acquainted with Namay, a brown-skinned boy who is disliked by the native boys because they believe him to be the son of a witch. Tee and Namay have been set upon by the native boys, and during a fight in which the friends are being defeated by superior numbers, Peter Malua, Tathom’s head man, appears and scatters their assailants. Peter and Tee then accompany Namay to his home in a cave, where they meet his mother, Momo, a sweet-voiced, kind and clever woman.

The cave where Namay lived with his mother, Momo the Witch Woman, consisted of two rooms, the walls of solid rock, and the floor, carpeted thickly with dry leaves and young branches, was soft as a Persian rug to walk on, and just as pretty. Stone and iron implements leaned against the walls, with water gourds and woven baskets. In a small nook apart from both rooms a hole led straight through the roof to the out-of-doors. This was where Namay and Momo made their fires and did their cooking.

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With the exception of the first clip, which comes from a news account and apparently relates a real occurrence of 1871, this post consists of “Mormon jokes” from newspapers around the world — quips and stories meant to be humorous rather than historical, built on the usual Mormon stereotypes of our first century –

1871

[A serious newspaper account of New Zealand politics ends:]

In the course of the discussion in the House of Representatives on the Permissive Bill, Mr. Bunny said that he considered that the system of “shouting” was one of the greatest objections to the drinking propensities of the colonial population. he thought that it should be put down by every possible means. … He objected to females voting on the prohibitory clauses. “I should like to catch any wife of mine signing such a paper,” said he. The idea was so suggestive that Mr. Bunny had to put in a disclaimer by the announcement that he was not a Mormon.

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For background, see here
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Mistake, Beg Pardon

Teacher: “I am surprised at your not knowing the date of Columbus’ discovery of America. It’s actually at the head of chapter.”

Young Hopeful: “I’m sorry. I thought it was his telephone number.”

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This morning’s Questions from the Grass Roots post included the question “How often does the Church take a census of its members?” Possibly readers are not familiar with the census or know that it is available for searching, or know why it might be useful.

The Church took a census of its members in 1914, in 1920, and each five years thereafter (with the exception of 1945 — the war must have made manpower to take the census scarce, or else members’ locations were too often in flux) through 1960, and in 1962. As the answer to the 1948 question states, the census was chiefly used for verifying ward membership records, and it became redundant in the 1960s as record keeping systems changed. But just as family historians use civil census records for purposes far beyond governmental purpose, there are reasons why you might find the church census just as useful for purposes never contemplated by the Church in 1914.

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The Bottle Message

The Adventures of a Boy on a South Sea Island

By Janet Tooke

Previous Chapter

Chapter Three: Momo, the Witch Woman

Synopsis: Tee Totum, a stranger of the island of Waiki-pali, goes exploring early in the morning before anyone is awake. Watches a brown-skinned boy dive down a waterfall to the pool beneath. The strange boy is not friendly, and a fight ensues, at the end of which they become good friends, and arrange to meet the following morning at the same time.

Though Tee Totum ran most of the way to the swimming pool the following morning, he found that his friend had already arrived.

“Hi!” he shouted. “Can I come in this morning?”

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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. Will you please tell us what instruction the Church gives with respect to our use of copyrighted music or plays? – L.H.Y., Salt Lake City.

A. The use of copyrighted music or dramatic compositions in any of our church buildings without a license subjects the owners of the building to a fine for each performance. Copyrighted music or plays should not be used without first obtaining permission from the author or the owner of the copyright so as to avoid any infringement of the copyright law. If proper explanation is made that any contributions received at the performance are to be used for religious or charitable purposes exclusively, permission may be secured in most instances from the author or copyright owner for use of their plays without cost to the ward.

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