Journal, 1908-1909

File — Box: 4, Volume: 3

Identifier: III

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

August
"About noon papa hooked up the wagon and took all the women folks up East Fork where the boys were haying. We took dinner with us and spread it out on the grass just as we had finished eating a thunderstorm came up which lasted the rest of the afternoon. The boys got in the hay stack. Some of us got under the wagon and sat facing each other with a quilt over our laps. Soon the rain began to leak through the cracks in the wagon box so we put our hats on and it wasn't long before each of them was shedding a steady stream of water... Coming home the dugways were so slippery that we were afraid to ride and the wagon got stuck on a hill about a mile from camp so we walked the rest of the way. When we reached camp we found our beds and clothing soaking wet, and to make matters worse the pigs had gotten into the provisions. The boys brought in a pile of dead trees and sage brush and made a roaring bonfire. We moved the table outdoors and ate supper by firelight, then we sat up till eleven o'clock trying to dry our quilts etc., by the fire. George Frost favored us with a few tragic ballads."
This was Mary's annual outing every summer when the family would do the haying and tending of sheep and vacation at the same time.
August 16
"Heber and Joe started with the sheep at three o'clock this morning; the rest of us followed about eight. We went careening down the canyon at great speed until Dock stumbled and fell down. We thought at first the poor horse was dead but in a few minutes he got up and we proceeded a little more slowly...We over took Heber & Joe and Hortsville and stopped for dinner at Bro Holt's. We got to Pace's ranch at the mouth of Silver Creek about sundown and got supper ready before the boys arrived with the sheep. We were so tired of pounding old Dock along that we finally made a bargain with the sheep herders. They said if we would feed the horses, watch the sheep all night, put their lunch, and call them at three o'clock they would let us take Kit tomorrow instead of Dock. Herb wouldn't think of letting us girls take our turn sitting up so we went to bed. We were soon awakened by a series of blissful snores and found our Little Boy Blue fast asleep on the hard ground. Ethel and Lucile took pity on him and covered him up with a blanket. They were just trying to get his watch to see what time it was when he woke up. His courage during the remainder of the ordeal was commendable."
In September of 1908, Heber, Mary's brother, is preparing to go on a mission for the Mormon Church.
September 18
"Heber went to Taylorsville to say goodbye to his friends. We were busy till noon packing his trunk and lunch box etc. All of us but mama and Rulon went to the depot with him. There was quite a crowd there... we had made it up before hand that none of us would cry but found it impossible not to. Heber and Fred were the bravest in the whole crowd, and when the train pulled out they were leaning out waving and smiling. The parting was very hard for papa. He needs Heber now more than he ever has before."
October 5
"Late in the afternoon I came home and got ready for the Bennion Reunion...Papa gave incidents in the early life of the Bennion family; some of them very amusing. There were life size paintings of the two Bennion brothers and their wives, hung on the wall above the stand. There was a dance after the program where we proceeded to get acquainted with our relatives."
1909
November 8
"Lucile came nearly getting ready in time for S. S. [Sunday School] but finally I had to go alone. Children were very noisy and rude. I half determined to give up trying to teach them. Ethel and I both had the blues and thought we would go to see Ina Ashton, but she had to go to a funeral. We started to think of some cheerful person who we would visit...and we talked about our childhood experiences. We laughed so hard that the blues were scattered far and wide."
January 5
"Papa has sold 80 acres of Cannan Farm, the part lying south of the road to President Smith"
January 11
"I am nineteen today. I feel quite venerable. Nineteen is so much older than eighteen."
January 18
"Supt. Wells of the L.D.S. Hospital is offering a course in Nursing at the L.D.S.U. free on condition that those taking it will pledge themselves to service in the hospital for the two years following. Today some of our class went with Mrs. Empey to investigate. First we went to the L.D.S. then to undergo physical examinations. Then we went to a specialist on feet. Met papa and came home with him."
January 20
"I have finally decided for the twelth time that I am not going to the hospital...Went to choir practice with Hennie. She is in 'liebe with Herb' remember this is strictly confidential-and he goes with another little 'German madchen'."

Dates

1908-1909

Conditions Governing Access

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