From the Relief Society Magazine, April 1940 –

Moving Again

By Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Gibbons

Eileen hurried in out of the cold spring night, hung her worn fur coat on its own hanger in the far end of the clothes closet and stepped up to the warm fireplace where Don sat thinking.

In the high altitude of the Wasatch Mountains, evenings were cool in spite of the springtime, but Eileen didn’t mind the cold. She was glad they had a home here in this beautiful valley, and there was warmth in her heart for the calmness and peace and security she felt with Don.

He looked up steadily at his wife as she came in – one of those precise, highly ambitious little women who would have arranged the stars in rows and marched them up and down the heavens – and wondered what her reaction to his words would be.

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We’ve all known someone whose smile lights up the room. How about someone whose smile – whose energy and joy and appreciation for life – lights up an entire soccer stadium?

Early this summer Major League Soccer fans were treated to the sight of Jonah Gomez, a 7-year-old LDS boy then living in Taylorsville, Utah (in the Salt Lake Valley), meeting his idols, members of the Salt Lake Real soccer club, as part of a wish granted by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Jonah had already been playing soccer for years, despite having been born with two rare blood disorders (the only child in the world known to have the combination), having undergone open-heart surgery, and requiring regular blood transfusions – as of this summer, some 65 transfusions. Jonah charmed the crowd as he high-fived team captain Kyle Beckerman, sang with David Archuletta, and demonstrated his surprisingly good footwork, unfazed by the cheers of thousands.

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Do you remember Yentl, the 1983 movie with Barbra Streisand as the Eastern European Jewish girl of the early 20th century, who so craves the bookish education that is forbidden to her that she cuts her hair and masquerades as a boy in order to register in a distant yeshiva? While she is still at home in her shtetl, keeping house for her rabbi father, she crosses through a marketplace just as a bookseller cries his wares: “Holy texts for men … Story books for women! Sacred books for men, lovely picture books for women!”

I’ve thought of that scene so many times in the past few weeks as I’ve tried to come to grips with the new Relief Society history, Daughters in My Kingdom. It is a lovely book, indeed, and it is indeed filled with pictures. Not only are there photographs and paintings on virtually every page, there are pull quotes, scrolled embellishments over some pictures (all of which are edged in gold), curlicues around page numbers, and an ornamental “This Book Belongs to …” bookplate on the flyleaf. The edges of all pages are decorated with faint floral or geometric prints, which extend under the pull quotes and in many cases extend into the text columns so that text is printed on colored, patterned backgrounds.

I think that there is some text in the book, too – there’s a pattern of black shapes in rows that serves to frame and separate the pictures – but I keep being distracted by the shiny pictures and haven’t yet been able to read the text.

It is a lovely, lovely picture book.

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On and On

By Lloyd O. Ivie

From our home in the hills –
Zion’s calm, happy vales,
We have come, from the land of the free.
Where true prophets and seers,
Crowned with love, each avails
As a light shining forth on the sea.

Refrain:

On and on is our song
We have come here to win
Not a moment shall pass idly by,
On and on, up and up
With a soul pure within
We may all reach the top if we try.

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September 9, 1928

The Teachings of Christ Applied: Hospitality and Liberality

“For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, –
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.” – Lowell

Basal Readings

Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. – Luke 14:12-14

… Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. … – Romans 12:13

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… Annnndddd part of my readers just clicked away, and another part geared up for battle.

Several years ago on the flight to a Mormon History Association meeting in Tucson, a friend asked me whether I considered myself conservative or liberal. I was uncomfortable with the question. To me those labels meant “Republican” or “Democrat,” and I was and am neither. Years ago I decided that I could be a member of no political party. I have a strong strain of loyalty in my makeup, and loyalty to any party, in my view, means upholding some principles which I might not agree with for the sake of the party’s success. I could not accept that.

Although I rejected (and reject) political affiliation, I told my friend I supposed I was conservative, based chiefly on the recognition that I value and want to preserve the best of the past, and because I tend to work out potential problems slowly before I commit to a new course of action in any part of my life. I conserve; therefore, I’m conservative, right?

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Utah Institutions Celebrate October as Utah Archives Month

All events free and open to the public

For further information, see contact information at the end of this post

EVENTS

Friday, September 30

12 noon – 9 p.m.
LDS Church History Library
15 East North Temple

“Treasures of the Collection”

Displays featuring artifacts related to the history of the Relief Society.

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Miss Pennywell is a lady cast very much in the mold of Mrs. Benson. Right is might!

From the Relief Society Magazine, 1957 –

Miss Pennywell Goes Into Action

Frances P. Reid

Miss Pennywell put down the piece of toast that she was spreading with marmalade. Something was wrong. She pushed the bacon and eggs around on her plate and then peered out the window of the breakfast nook. Across the tidy green fields where bluebells and buttercups bloomed, across the arborvitae hedge and the cobblestone stile where the wild roses climbed, her eyes journeyed to the narrow track that wound in, around, and through the fields on its meandering way from Middleton to Central City.

Peremptorily she rang for Titus, her combination chauffeur and gardener. “Titus,” she rapped her hand sharply on the table, “Titus, what has happened to the Bluebell and Buttercup? It’s late. Never in my fifty years has the Bluebell and Buttercup been late before. I don’t like it, and I won’t have it.”

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George Q. Cannon, who was primarily responsible for answering queries in earlier volumes of the Juvenile Instructor, died in April, 1901. It is unclear who is providing the answers to queries in 1902.

If a sister is sick and desires to be administered to, is it right for another sister to anoint her and call on an Elder who may be present to seal and confirm the anointing?

If it is an ordinary anointing of the head, according to the established ordinances of the Church, it should be done by one holding the Priesthood; not by a sister when an Elder is present. It is clearly out of order to do so. The Scripture says: “is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” James 5:14, 15.

There may be occasions of disease or accident when it is desirable that other parts of the body be anointed. it would be obviously improper for any but a sister to attend to such an anointing; but when this has been done, it is quite consistent for the Elders to anoint the head in the usual form, and then to seal the anointing.

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Night Nurse

By Genevie Goff

I know that God must walk these halls at night with me
And lay a calming hand upon my head.
I often see the glory of his compassionate face
And sometimes hear the firmness of his tread.

For when I encounter alone at night
A human soul stripped bare by fear or pain,
I know the words to speak to comfort him
And realize my prayer for guidance not in vain.

Or when I watch the warfare waged with life and death
I know that God is near, a force to feel and touch,
For I would surely be too small, and without strength,
To witness and to bear alone so much.

(1943)

This is the official lesson used in the Bee Hive program in 1933 to teach young girls about the priesthood:

Priesthood as It Affects Women

There is nothing more essential to the girlhood of to-day than a proper conception of the Priesthood of God as existing upon the earth, and an understanding of her relation and responsibility thereto. As part of a wonderful self-development program Bee-Hive girls give consideration to this subject.

Priesthood is delegated authority to act for God. All men in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints receive the Priesthood if they are worthy. There are 137,540 men holding it in the Church to-day, of whom 68,000 are youths of the lesser Priesthood. The Aaronic or lesser Priesthood is first conferred upon them; this includes power to officiate in temporal activities. As they increase in wisdom and understanding, greater advancement is given them, and, if faithful, the higher Priesthood called after Melchizedek is conferred upon them. The latter gives the right to officiate in all the spiritual offices of the Church.

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Reposted to remind y’all of this event:

The Tanner Humanities Center is proud to present
the 2011 David P. Gardner Lecture in the Humanities and Fine Arts

Please join us for a lecture by
Richard Bushman

“MORMONISM AND THE PUBLIC GOOD”

Recent events in Washington have demonstrated once again how much Americans differ on how to resolve the nation’s problem. The parties to the debate cannot even agree on the nature of the public good. The lecture will argue that these conflicts arise out of basic contradictions in our national values and therefore will perpetually recur. The question the lecture will pose is: Can Mormonism, a religious tradition of particular relevance to Utahns, contribute to the resolution of these fundamental disagreements. Can a religion that is authoritarian in nature help solve the problems of a democracy?

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Mrs. Benson, that intrepid lady who can’t bear to see a neighbor cheated, goes back into action.

From the Relief Society Magazine, October 1936 –

Mrs. Benson Takes a Hand

Religion and Horse Sense

By Ivy Williams Stone

Samson Benson was dead. The news caused a stir of regret all along the street, for there were many friends of the Benson family who had enjoyed happy hours through the kind offices of this faithful old servitor. As the body of the old, blind servant was lowered into the grave under an apple tree in the family orchard, the four sons and two daughters of the family were unashamed as tears trickled down their cheeks. Samson had become a landmark, almost an institution, somewhat like the old jail building erected by Grandfather Pace and the big oak tree.

“We’re glad you tended him, Mother, like you did.” Thus spoke son David whom Samson had once saved from hazardous accident. “Some folks would have given him chloroform long ago, but he was just too human.” The sons filled in and rounded the grave, and the eldest son put up a neatly lettered headboard.

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Clara Jane Lloyd never had any trouble remembering that Utah was admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896 – she was born two minutes after the official moment of statehood. Clara was born to an LDS family and grew up in the south end of Salt Lake Valley. She married Leroy J. Tidwell in 1915. He is harder to identify – I know he was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and he was probably the man of that name who was a deputy sheriff in the mining camps of Salt Lake County; I don’t think he was LDS.

By 1938, the Tidwell family was living in New Madrid, Missouri, a river town located where Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. (Although it has absolutely nothing to do with this story, if you’re trying to place the name “New Madrid” you’re probably recalling having heard about the series of 1811-12 earthquakes centered near there, the most powerful ever recorded in the eastern United States. The shocks were so strong that the Mississippi River apparently flowed backward for a short time, dust filled the air and obscured the sun, and damage was reported as far away as Toronto and Maine.)

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Lesson 35: “Be Ye Reconciled to God”

2 Corinthians

Purpose: To encourage class members to be true disciples of Jesus Christ through applying Paul’s counsel in 2 Corinthians.

LESSON DEVELOPMENT

Introduction and Historical Background

What are your favorite books of scripture, and why?

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The lesson on “Moral Courage” from the 1961 adult Sunday School class is a nice complement to this year’s lesson, the purpose statement of which is “To encourage class members to follow Paul’s example and be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ even in the midst of trials and tribulation.” Both lessons draw from the courage of Paul to be a disciple of Christ. The current lesson is a collection of fairly concrete illustrations of Paul’s courage; the older lesson fills in some of the theoretical background for such a lesson, explaining what it means to be courageous and what courage means in the context of discipleship. The lesson is from Lowell L. Bennion, Teachings of the New Testament, Sunday School Course 27. Salt Lake City: Deseret Sunday School Union, 1953.

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For background, see here
previous episode
next episode (to be added when posted)

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Snappers

“Are the fish biting now?” asked the stranger.

“Yes,” replied the boy. “But you ain’t allowed to catch ‘em.”

“Do you mean to say you don’t fish?”

“I don’t exactly fish. But if a fish comes along and bites at me I do my best to defend myself.”

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“Not to the Swift”

By Deone R. Sutherland

Previous chapter

Chapter 6

Synopsis: Julie Markham, who lived with her widowed mother in Chicago and studied music, became engaged to Professor Craig Carlson, a teacher in the school. Julie’s mother wanted her to have a career, but Julie and Craig went West for their temple marriage and Craig accepted a position teaching in a small college. Their son was born in April, and Julie was so busy and happy that she almost forgot her music. However, she sang for stake conferences and for school programs. She was lonesome for her mother, whom she had not seen since her marriage, and finally Mrs. Markham telephoned to say she was coming for a visit.

Craig and Julie and baby Ralph waited patiently for Mary Markham’s plane. The plane was late, and Ralph was beginning to get tired. They didn’t want to go home because each delay they had been assured it would be but twenty minutes more. The winter weather, Julie supposed. At last the plane was announced, and Julie and Craig hurried to the fence.

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This was Heber J. Grant’s company; some of the ads use his name. These appeared in every issue of the Juvenile Instructor in 1905, as well as other years. (Ads were repeated, but the repeat dates are not shown here.)

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Steven L. Richardson and Benjamin M. Richardson, 3D Atlas of Zion National Park, 2011. Book includes two pairs of 3D glasses. Available through the authors’ 2i3D Stereo Imaging website.

Three or four years ago,  my friend Steve Richardson told me about his work with anaglyphs – stereoscopy – the technique (both art and science) of printing images to trick the eye into believing it is seeing in three dimensions when it is actually looking at a flat surface. Turns out there is a whole lot more to its practical application than some of the gimmicky summer movies.

Steve’s earliest 3D project involves Mormon history, which is my excuse for reviewing his current work – but since that project has not yet reached the market I’m not about to betray his clever idea for someone else to jump on. Sorry. You’ll love it, though, when it is available.

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Death of Teancum

By Benjamin F. Cummings

Teancum, O Teancum! Is this thy form so cold!
Can it be true that thou art dead, O soldier, strong and bold!
Shall we thy comrades ne’er again fight side by side with thee?
And shall we ne’er again be led by thee to victory?

Teancum, O Teancum! How can we part from thee!
How can we spare thee from our ranks! Must such bereavement be!
O father, brother, leader brave! Thy valor never failed;
Though sword point pressed upon thy breast thy stout heart never quailed.

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James Gunn McKay (1881-1941), brother of President David O. McKay, was president of the London Conference of the British Mission during World War I, serving then with his wife, Anna, for a period of more than five years; he had earlier served a mission in South Africa. Among the innovations he instituted was the opening of a training school for missionaries in London. This early Missionary Training Center trained new missionaries in lecturing, tracting, and the performance of ordinances; Elder McKay said “the missionaries are put into the field better prepared in two months than with six months of ordinary experience.” He also cultivated relationships with journalists, resulting in the publication of several favorable magazine and newspaper articles at a time when Mormonism was poorly understood and badly maligned in England. He also reported having done some tracting from an “aeroplane” — I’m still looking for enough detail about that to tell the story.

The London headquarters, including the McKays’ home and the meeting hall of the Saints, called “Deseret,” was a sturdy stone building with a large basement. When German air raids began attacking London during World War I Elder McKay offered Deseret to the British government as a refuge for people living in the neighborhood.

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“Not to the Swift”

By Deone R. Sutherland

Previous chapter

Chapter 5

Synopsis: Julie Markham and her widowed mother lived in Chicago, where Julie was studying music. When her work at the music school was finished, Julie was offered a scholarship in New York City. However, she gave up the scholarship and married Professor Craig Carlson, a teacher at the school. They went West for their temple marriage and Craig began teaching in a small college. In the fall Julie found that she was expecting a child.

Craig’s and Julie’s baby was born in April. Julie told Craig that this beautiful time of the year was the perfect season for babies. The winter had passed quickly. Julie had continued singing with the ward choir and the Singing Mothers because she could sit in the back rows and not feel too conspicuous. But she didn’t have time to feel lonely that winter. There began to be frequent visits to the house from Craig’s students. Finally Craig and Julie decided on definite nights twice a month for the students to come. They also joined a social group composed of the faculty from the music department that met once a month.

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I find myself waiting today (yesterday, by the time you see this) for a couple of hours in a room where the most interesting casual reading consists of 19th century legal reports. (“Interesting” is a relative term, I know, but this stuff ordinarily wouldn’t be interesting even to me.) I’ve just skimmed through United States vs. The Late Corporation, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 8 Utah 310, and while I don’t pretend to understand everything I’ve read, or to know exactly where this case lies  in the long course of legal difficulties between the Church and the federal government, I did extract enough meaning to find interest in the kinds of machinations once used against us, and who our defenders were.

The Church had been incorporated as a legal body in the early days of territorial Utah. One of the key features of the 1887 Edmunds-Tucker Act passed by the U.S. Congress was to disincorporate the Church. Members could continue to meet together and worship and call themselves Mormons and pray and keep the Word of Wisdom and send out missionaries and sing hymns and read the scriptures and act in all ways as a group of believers, but legally they were only a “voluntary association.” The Church had no more legal existence – no legal standing to own property or defend any rights as an organization – than your neighborhood book club has.

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The Vision

By J.M. Pope

“May be sung to the music of Tumbling Tumbleweeds”

In the shady woodland, Joseph sought the Lord,
Kneeling there so prayerfully, waiting for the Word.
Suddenly there a light appeared,
Brighter, by far, than noon-day sun –

Hear the voice of the Lord
As He delivers His word,
Sweetest that ever was heard;
Telling the boy of His wonders so heavenly.

Angels attended him then;
Bringing the Gospel again
For the salvation of men,
If they but learn and obey the commands of Him.

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Pearl Marie Whitlock Peterson (1890-1962) of Gunnison, Utah, wrote this account in 1938.

Having been brought up by Latter-day Saint parents [Charles and Annie Petersen Whitlock, of Sterling, Utah], doubt of God was unknown to me throughout childhood and youth. The foundation thought in our home was that God loves us and, with the help of loving spirits, is taking care of us.

Gradually I learned that the purpose of life is to try us, to see if we will obey the Lord and make ourselves worthy to return to Him where we would continue to go on. This gave zest to life and made the struggle against obstacles happy and worthwhile.

After my [1917] marriage I lived out on a farm with no near neighbors. Although my husband [Clarence] was away much of the time, I never felt all alone, for, even there, I believed God was caring for me. I felt a companionship with my guardian angel.

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“Not to the Swift”

By Deone R. Sutherland

Previous chapter

Chapter 4

Synopsis: Julie Markham and her widowed mother live in Chicago, where Julie is studying music. Near the end of her work at the school, Julie is offered a scholarship in New York City, which her mother expects her to accept. However, Professor Craig Carlson, one of the teachers at the school has asked Julie to marry him and go out West to live. Julie promises to marry Craig.

Spring was a series of showers that turned every growing thing into a profusion of green buds and leaves. The damp was everywhere, but it was not yet hot. Craig and Julie ate their lunches on the rocks along the beaches of Lake Michigan. Craig was busy preparing for his recital, but there was time for long, lazy walks along the paths bordering the lake while he and Julie made plans. Julie had promised her mother to talk to Professor Rossi about the scholarship. After all, he had recommended her most highly. She could not delay too long in mailing back her decision, for someone else surely would receive the opportunity most happily.

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From the Children’s Friend,
September 1926

C.S. Lewis – that teacher, theologian, and thinker that we have practically adopted as an honorary Mormon, so often is he quoted in Mormon sources – preached a sermon in the early days of World War II which has been published as “On Learning in War-Time.” It’s long been my favorite of his writings.

Lewis called on university students to keep their wits about them, to concentrate on their studies, and not to allow themselves to be carried away by the excitements of war while they still had the privilege of focusing on scholarship. They had a duty, he said, not only to themselves, but to the Church and to the world in general.

Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moment that never comes.

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A loud middle-aged man with a clipboard was stopping pedestrians on Salt Lake’s Main Street to take a survey.

When he asked if I was an American citizen, I said, “Yes.”

When he asked if I was a Mormon, I said, “Yes.”

Then he asked, “Which is more important? America or the Mormon Church?”

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