Blast from the Past...Relief Society Magazine!

 Relief Society Magazine...Part of our Heritage.

Back to School Issue 1939

 

Did you know that the Relief Society had it's own magazine?  When I was a young girl I remember seeing copies at home and at my grandmothers' houses.  I didn't find them very interesting...since there weren't any comics...but I would look through them now and then

 



This is how I remember the magazine...this is 1963

 

The Relief Society Magazine, including the Relief Society Bulletin of 1914 was the official publication of the Relief Society organization from 1915 to 1970.  It replaced the privately owned Woman's Exponent which began publication in 1872.  The magazine was important to Utah women as a publishing outlet...in fact it was run by women editors.  The magazine featured stories, articles, poetry and tips and outlines for upcoming lessons.  One lesson topic I got a kick out of was about teaching youth the evils of Hallowe'en pranks...with an emphasis on respect for property and seeking out "seasonable and wholesome pleasures."

 



August 1926...one of two issues I own.

 

Susa Young Gates...editor from 1915 to 1922

 

The two issues I found on eBay a few years ago were August 1922 and August 1929.  I bought them because one of the magazines featured a story about hiking up to Timpanogos Cave...which would have been a lot more tricky back in the 20's. The 1922 issue was full of farewells to Susa Young Gates who retired that year.  I don't know if you are familiar with the writings of women in the early 20th century, but it is full of flowery prose and fairly awful poetry.  Sister Gates was lauded as "Thou gifted daughter of a mighty seer" and "From early youth thy pen so free and bold, hath fed the hearts of numbers manifold."  It's a fascinating glimpse into a time gone by.

 

 

Pages of Advertisements...

 

Photo of Alpine Loop in 1926.

 

The article about Timpanogos Cave was titled "The Ante-Room of Heaven."  The author's prose is extra flowery and she gives her companions cutesy names like "The Charming One," "The Little Maiden," and "The Guest-From-Berkley."  She writes, "...in a high-powered Fierce Sparrow, we glided away over the great, broad highway bordered on either side with sunflowers, goldenrod, poplar trees, green fields, ripening grain and clover blossoms, through the thriving town of American Fork, past Utah Lake, shimmering like a sheet of gunmetal in the sunlight, then a little south and east to American Fork Canyon, a savage gorge cut deep in the mountains by a wild stream; scenic grandeur that offers the tourist thrills worth traveling across the continent to enjoy, and where Mount Timpanogos, scarred by age-old torrents, yet majestic in his rugged grandeur, rears his regal head twelve thousand feet above the sea and looks down upon us smilingly, serene, a symbol of the mighty power of the Eternal; reverential joy and an ever increasing love for Utah filled my heart. "  That was one sentence...lol!  There were photos of a few cave features and somebody's baby.  I absolutely loved it!

 

Good old Deseret Book.

Several ads for garments...made by different companies.

For some reason we had a similar one of these...my sisters stored their dolls in the cabinet once we ran out of needles and the records were lost or broken.

 

The December 1970 issue of The Relief Society Magazine" was the last.  The Church discontinued the magazine as part of the implementation of the "Priesthood Correlation Program."  This magazine and several others were combined and replaced the Ensign.

 

Sisters, I hope you enjoyed this little piece of Relief Society History.

 



Provident Living...Crisco Candle!

Crisis Crisco?

I would love to find this can...lol!

I have a whole network of blogs that I enjoy reading every day.  A few of them are LDS ladies who have many of the same interests that I do.  One of my favorite LDS bloggers is a sweet California lady named Maryjane who blogs at The Beehive Cottage.   Maryjane's darling blog is a shabby lover's dream.  She makes the prettiest pink laundry soap as well as wonderful vintage-inspired crafts for her Etsy shop.  Maryjane graciously allowed me to share a tutorial she taught her Relief Society sisters. 

Emergency Candle...From Crisco!

I gave a class for the women of my church in my home on ideas for 
Emergency Preparedness. 
One of the ideas I shared was this candle made out of vegetable shortening 
I have seen on Pinterest over and over again.

It is awesome and works for hours on end!

I bought the wicks on eBay and
the vegetable shortening at Walmart.
The vegetable shortening can I bought is a medium size and 
should burn for 40+++ hours.

 ~INSTRUCTIONS

1. Open can of vegetable shortening. The bigger the can, the longer it will last.

2. Insert candle wick with a dowel or scissors into the center of the can. 

(I pinched the bottom of wick with scissors and pushed the wick to the bottom of can). 

If the can has a large diameter, multiple wicks can be inserted. 

(I used 2 wicks as shown). Leave quarter of an inch of wick showing above the can 

to make sure the flame is a manageable size.

3. Even out the top of the vegetable shortening so the candle is smooth.

4. Light wick and enjoy the candle!

I had it burning the whole class time.
After the class, I blew out the candle 
and
replaced the lid on it that it came with.

Ready to use now in an emergency!

GREAT Christmas gift idea!

I will be making them!

Have a wonderful day and be prepared!

 

 

 

Thank you so much, Maryjane for letting me share this fun preparedness tip with my Highland 12th Ward sisters.  There's no reason for Provident Living to be boring...not with Pinterest around...lol!   Sisters, I am going to put some links on the side bar of my favorite LDS bloggers...one even lives in Alpine and is an amazingly creative person!

 

Father's Day...Holiday Family History Stories!

Tales For Father's Day

"Year You Were Born"  scrapbook page.

Each tan ticket lists historic events and 1934 trivia.

My father just celebrated his 80th birthday!

From time to time our Church leaders admonish us to keep a journal and write our personal histories. When I was a little girl I liked to sit on the porch with my Grandpa Devey and ask him to tell me stories.  I learned a lot about him. Grandpa owned a small fruit farm up Fort Canyon in Alpine, Utah. One of his hobbies was to do a bit of mining in the mountains of American Fork Canyon.  And he was first to discover the wreckage of a plane that crashed on Lone Peak.  I loved to hear his tales...and because I listened, I know a bit more about his life than some of my family members.  My granddaughter Alena has taken an interest in family stories and I have been able to share a few of her great great grandfather's stories with her.  This had me thinking...what will our grandchildren know about us if we don't share our stories?

The house in Alpine.

Grandpa and I sat on that front porch.

He would whittle while he talked.

I write a lot of stories about my life and family history in my blog, "Zetta's Aprons."  This has been a fun way to write my life story because it's not in chronological order, but memories prompted by holidays, vacations and other special events.  I would be bored to tears if I had to start my story from the "I was born..." and write it all in order.  I think this is what keeps many of us from even getting started.

Since Father's Day is fast approaching, I want to share a story about my dad, Thomas A.(Tad) Devey. I feel so fortunate that my father sat himself down and wrote stories about his life.  He wrote about cars he drove, mischief he made, deer hunts and his school years...all sorts of topics.  He has an amazing memory for detail and I hope when I am 80 years old I will be as sharp as he is!

Tad's Tales..."Nelly"

Tad at 5...just a little boy.

 Grandpa Melvin Devey worked on a WPA project called the Draper Tunnel during the winter of 1938-39.  He worked with another man from Alpine who had to move when the project ended.  The man owned a small mare named Nelly.  She was almost as small as a pony and had been fitted with a child size saddle and bridle.  Grandpa bought the mare and gave her to my father in the summer of 1939 when he was five years old.

Dad wrote, "Now when a child turns five years old, he starts Kindergarten in the fall.  This was true, then as well as now; but it had only been true for a couple of years.  Kindergarten started in Alpine about 1937.   Not only was it a new program, but it only operated during a six week period each spring and fall."



The house in Fort Canyon

Dad and his family lived on a fruit farm at the top of Fort Canyon in Alpine. During the winter, Tad's family would often move into town because bad weather and snow on bad roads made travel down the canyon difficult.  He wrote, "The next winter, Dad was not employed off the farm so we did not plan to move from the canyon.  Nelly would be an ideal mode of transportation when I started school. I was not too excited about going to Kindergarten, let alone riding a cantankerous horse."

"Nelly, because of her size, had always been a kid’s horse and she had learned how to have her way with kids.   To get her to go where you wanted to go required a forceful hand on the reins and a small switch to be applied to her behind when she balked.   My five year old hand on the reins was none too forceful; however, I could wield a switch with the best of them." 

Dad spent the summer learning Nelly's quirks.  She wouldn't let him near her if he was carrying a switch...so he learned to stash a switch on top of the fence where she couldn't see it.  Nelly had also learned that she could get ride of unwanted passengers by simply sideswiping a tree or a pole.  Once free, she would head on home...except her idea of home was not "Fort Canyon," but the horse pasture in Alpine where she used to live.

School Starts...

The old Alpine Elementary School.

The rest of the summer Tad worked with Nelly and with the help of an "older and wiser" cousin (he was 7), was able to train her well enough so he would be able to ride her to school.

Kindergarten

Tad wrote, "A few days before classes started, Dad and Mother took me to the school to meet my teacher and become familiar with the building.  While Mother and I were in the school, Dad was talking to Mrs. Booth, an older widowed lady who lived in the house on the corner across the street from the school.  In her back yard, directly south of the school, was an orchard with high grass.  A ditch of water also flowed by.  Dad arranged with Mrs. Booth to let me stake Nelly in her orchard while I was in school.  Not only was the school year limited to six weeks each, in the Spring and Fall, but it was also limited to about three hours each afternoon.  Nelly would be able to put up with three hours."

"Surprisingly, the six weeks were uneventful as far as my mode of transportation was concerned. Dad would saddle up Nelly and I would leave the house about 11 am.  It took about 45 minutes for Nelly to walk to the school.  I was still a little nervous about letting her go any faster. I would tie her up in the orchard with a rope attached to her halter."

"When I came out after school, I would check the cinch, untie the rope and start for home.  Sometimes she became a little difficult when we started the turn up toward the canyon.  She wanted to go "home” by going straight west.   After we got around the corner, she would usually behave and after a few trips she seemed to look forward to getting back to the barn.  I began to let her go at her own pace which seemed to be faster each time.   Dad finally told me to slow her down.  She was coming home in a lather every night."

The barn...not Nelly's idea of "home."

"The six weeks in the fall went by in a flash.  I decided that school wasn’t so bad.  The kids were fun and Miss King was very nice.   Miss King was a brand new teacher from Escalante in Southern Utah. To her, my riding a horse to school each day did not seem to be all that odd."
 

Family stories can be fun!

Until my dad gave me the disk of stories, I did not know about Dad's horse Nelly or his first days of school.  When I see one of my little granddaughters climb onto the school bus heading off to kindergarten for the first time, it is hard to believe my grandma sent her little boy off to school each day riding a horse.  These days we don't let our children out of our sight! 

I had a lot of fun putting this story together for the blog.  Father's Day is June 15...you still have time to write or share a story about your fathers with your families.  Every child should know their grandparents...I still remember mine and I want my grandchildren to know more about them.  We spend a lot of time with family during the holidays...the perfect time to share stories and family holiday traditions.  How did your family spend the summer...parades, picnics, Fourth of July fireworks? Your kids want to know!

Happy Father's Day, Tad!