Journal, 1915-1917

File — Box: 4, Volume: 7

Identifier: III

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Mary had returned with Lucile to school in Logan, and one day with another friend, named Willard, she writes:
1915
October 11
"We three made fudge on the chafing dish and talked till a late hour. As soon as Willard left I took a double dose of sleeping pills and went to bed."
December
"The week before Xmas was so much of a strain that I had a genuine collapse after it and was in bed for two weeks. I couldn't stand to have anyone in the room and was so weak that it was an effort just to breathe. My symptoms were novel and numerous but as I am trying to forget them I will refrain from discribing them in detail."
Mary's sister Helen told her about her experiences in Upton and three available bachelors as old or older than Mary who was twenty-five at the time. One of the people mentioned was Charles Powell, Mary's future husband, who was on a mission in England at the time.
1916
Mary gets a glimpse of Charles at Conference time after his return from England:
April
"We were standing up at the back of the gallery when Heber drew my attention to a tall light fellow standing a few feet away. 'Isn't that one of the Powell boys?' he said; and sure enough there was the returned missionary only he was so much more distinguished looking than he used to be that I could hardly believe my eyes."
May
"During the latter part of May I spent most of my time lounging on the grass in a sheltered nook north west of the pond where I absorbed sunshine along with the rest of the weeds. I could feel myself getting stronger from one day to the next which is a great feeling."
Mary went to Pine View with her brother, sister and a woman named Vera and set up a camp. Their nearest neighbors were the Powells and it was during this summer that Mary and Charles became friends. Mary and Helen went to the Powells' home one time and she describes her impression of Charles at this meeting:
June
"A man waved at us from the backyard. I had a suspicion that it was Charles as he seemed too tall and narrow to be the bishop. When we arrived at the front door there was the long lost missionary to welcome us. I was somewhat embarrassed for, although he and Helen are old friends, I couldn't be sure he remembered me from the two or three times he had seen me at Pine Cliff in my early youth. He was sadly altered since I saw him at conference. Missionaries do look so deceptively handsome when they first come home, before they have got thin and sunburned toiling on the farm. And yet it was a relief to know that he was still among us."
One time Charles came by to take Mary snipe hunting.
August
"I had heard about the snipe game but it was so long ago that I couldn't remember just what the trick was so I feigned innocence and let him lead me out into the meadow and leave me there with a big paste board mush box into which the snipes were to fly in answer to my whistle while he went around and scared them up. Of course by this time I had recalled the scheme of things. The thing to do now was to get back to the tent without his seeing me and get there first, but he had already had too much advantage over me to make this possible and he got there just in time to applaud me as I walked ignominously into camp. I can't convince him that I knew the joke before."
Mary's health during this summer improved somewhat, but she still tired very easily. Her symptoms seemed to be psychosomatic for the most part. After a dance she says:
"A delightful ride home. Moon absolutely tipsy. Powells wanted me to stay overnight at their place but I declined, with an eye for the cold grey dawn of the morning after. If I could just get to camp before fainting away thats all I could reasonably expect in the way of good luck. When I couldn't pretend any longer that I wasn't sick I asked C. if he wouldn't draft my will for me."
Mary and Helen prepare to return to Salt Lake as autumn approaches.
September 28
"Spent the morning packing and the afternoon vainly waiting for Uncle John to appear. In the evening we went for a last stroll on the hill and lit a big bon fire up there. When he bade us goodbye we all tried to thank each other for a pleasant summer but gave it up-leaving it to the fairies to settle. Last handshake without looking back!"
Back in Salt Lake:
October 20
"The bishop called and asked if we girls would join the choir and also if Helen would work in relgion class and I in the primary. Helen said she would but I couldn't make any promises."
October 21
"In bed all day."
October 22
"Ditto."
November 18
"Visited Websters as I was passing their house in my daily ramble (which I take about once a week) Came home fired with new resolve to take a correspondence course in place of Summer School and apply for a school next year."
November 19
"In bed suffering from my high resolve."
Another potential suitor appears briefly on the scene and the following is a rather revealing glimpse of Mary's father, Heber, during these years:
1917
January
"Clifford Gerrard came here about seven o'clock in the evening to practice with Ray for a play. To get out of the way I went to Mutual with Helen. But he was still here when we got back so I just had to make myself agreeable. It proved to be worth the effort for we had a very pleasant evening with the exception of a few crowded minutes when father came into the parlor, en dishabille, and called us to family prayers, asking Clifford to pray. I couldn't listen for trying to think of something to say after he should get through. When we arose everyone was embarrassed but father and Clifford. I said 'Isn't it hot in here? Someone open the front door'; while mother exclaimed simultaneously, 'Open the drafts to the stove. This room is freezing cold'. But he [Clifford] settled himself comfortably on the couch and said in his slow, easy way, 'so when I got to my aunts house', and fininshed the sentence that he had begun before father called on him to pray. Wouldn't you say he has a pretty good memory, not to mention poise?"
Mary ends this journal describing a chance meeting with Charles:
April
"Just opposite the Hotel Utah we came face to face with Charles. I stopped to shake hands with him, told him where I had been and then hurried to catch the girls leaving him standing there shouting something after me about having phoned out to Taylorsville to find out where I was. I went home then and shall probably never see him again."

Dates

1915-1917

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