I found the following essay written by my father while I was cleaning out my files. It ends abruptly and as such lets one draw his own conclusion as to how our life compares to that of the pioneer ancestors that we descend from. So this is a letter to each of you from your great grandfather. I have edited the essay and any explanation I have enclosed in brackets[]. I have also italicized all the quotations.
Of course we have our free agency so no matter how applicable the principle is it will not help unless we decide to make it a part of our lives.
Honesty, thrift, abiding faith in God and His goodness, industry, a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and devotion to its principles against all odds characterized the pioneers of Utah and the inter-mountain west, and sets a goal for us at this time.
The youth of the church today are among God's most choice and valiant spirits, held in reserve to come forth at this time to meet some of the greatest challenges the world has ever faced. Drugs, immorality, abortion, dishonesty, cheating, infidelity, pornography, profanity, blasphemy and the break up of the family are everywhere portrayed as the in thing[to do].
Our youth need all the help, encouragement and role models they can have to meet and overcome the problems of a world that has almost lost its sense of moral and ethical values.
Compare our 40-hour workweek with the entry in the journal of Marriner Wood Merrill: “I mowed grass by hand, as there was not such a thing as a mowing machine in Utah in those days. I cut the [wild] grass, which was very light, for one-third in the stack. [This means that it was someone else’s hay that he was cutting and for payment he got to keep one-third of the hay that he cut.] I cut an average of one ton a day and mowed every day except Sunday for 30 days, thus securing 10 tons of good wild hay in the stack. It was worth $100 if I had wanted to sell it. But I did not earn it by working from 7 A.M. in the morning until 6 o’clock in the evening, but I started at 5 o'clock in the morning and worked until dark with time out only for meals which consisted of bread and milk for breakfast, milk and bread for dinner with some greens and mush and milk for supper.”
When I see what many newly wed couples think they need for their first home I am reminded of Marriner Wood Merrill and what he wrote in his journal: "I commenced to build my house. It was in dimensions 16 x 24 feet. I continued working on it until it was finished, working all the daylight hours with Sarah my wife helping me with all her power. On the 16th of September I had my house so we could move into it, with the roof on and the floor down but I needed to make and hang the doors and put in the windows after we had moved into our house. On October 24th, Phoebe Ann was born in our own house.
David S. Stiles with his wife and one child moved into our house on October 26th to stay during the following winter."
From another history: "Marion Joseph Kerr was born 6 Nov. 1864 in Richmond, Cache County, Utah, son of Robert Marion Kerr and Nancy Jane Rawlins. They were among the first settlers in Richmond. Their home was a carpet covered wagon box where Marion Joseph, their first child was born.”
Education has been a matter of interest not only locally, but also nationally and is playing some part in the presidential campaign. From an early history: “One of the first concerns of the parents in Ora, Idaho was a school. There was no county [school] district, so a tuition school was held. William E. Gee was one of the early teachers, He took fence posts, pigs, chickens, garden produce and wheat for pay. There were times when the snow was 4 feet deep and the teacher and pupils had to get to school on skis.”
Many of the early schools had just one room and one teacher and all grades. Textbooks were limited to what was available. In some of the better off schools there was a series of 5 readers [The McGuffey readers]. Pupils did not go from one grade to another but from one reader to another, but somehow they managed to do a much better job of teaching reading, writing and arithmetic than our present school system. Have you recently tried to read the handwriting of high school graduates or had them figure out a simple arithmetic problem without a computer [or calculator]?
From Marriner Wood Merrill's journal we read: "The county where I was born and spent my early childhood was sparsely settled and nearly all the people were very poor. My parents being very poor and schools being scattered and far between is some excuse for my neglect of my early education.”
However his second wife was a daughter of Alexander Scoby Standley, a well educated man and one who was interested in seeing that his children had the best education available. She became Mariner Merrill’s teacher and taught him what he needed to know to be a very successful businessman, apostle of the Lord and first president of the Logan temple.
One of the primary concerns of many of the youth is clothing. They have to have a new dress for every dance, the latest fashions of clothes no matter how unattractive they may be, the latest styles of foot wear or name brand shoes.
Listen to Charles W. Nibely's account of early days in Cache County. “Mother and I gleaned wheat every day so we could have flour for bread. Walking in the wheat stubble gleaning wheat all day bare footed was not altogether a picnic. [To glean wheat one would walk through the field and pick up the individual kernels of wheat or perhaps a head with more kernels that were left after the men with the sickles and scythes had finished cutting and bundling the wheat field.] I had an old pair of home made shoes that first winter but how I got them I cannot remember. I think I was 16 before I got a coat. Previous to that I had nothing but a shirt and pants or overalls. My first pants were made from a tent which we used in crossing the plains and which had grown so stiff and hard being weather-beaten in so many storms and a shirt made of the same material that when it touched my back or sides, it nearly took the skin off but it was the best I had and all that I had.”
Contrast present day entertainment with this entry: “At the time we couldn't get out of town for entertainment. We had to make our own. It was customary at that time for boys and girls to form their own groups of crowd as we called them. Usually on Sunday we would get together at one home. Sometimes it was just the girls and sometimes the boys would join us. We would play the piano and sing, play games and sometimes have a candy pull. Hendricks had a dance hall above their confectionery store and a player piano that would play a few tunes for a nickel. Often after school we would stop there and dance and then go to Maud Stoddard's and have a 5-cent hot dog.”
Here the letter stops. I will let you ponder the comparison. You may yet go through tough and austere times. Remember that if they did hard things you can do them as well.
Love,
Grandpa
No comments:
Post a Comment