A MELLER DRAMER

Cast of Characters:


Deli Kate - - - a young lady

Harry Man - - - her lover

Tom blackheart - - - a villain

Merry Lee - - - the maid

Epic Reader



Props:

Curtains, chairs, rubber ball, water pitcher, paper, table, toy broom, flat iron, chair, cloth to wring, Cards: SUN, HORIZON, MOMENT, HOUR, Banana peel, Rope



Reader:


Our story is about a beautiful young girl named Deli Kate who has fallen in love with a handsome man named Harry Man. They loved each other deeply and looked forward to their wedding with joy. Alas---They did not reckon with the lovely lady's father. He had decided that his daughter should marry for money, and has arranged with Tom Blackheart, who is very rich, to marry Deli. Now Deli, as all lovely ladies do, decided that she would not marry the rich man and tells her father so. He has secretly arranged with Tom to kidnap her and carry her to his home. Tom has agreed to do this, and when our story opens he has been successful and she is a prisoner in his home.


Our stage is set---and the curtains are parted. (two persons carrying lace curtains for this) The sun slowly rises in the east. (Boy having card with word "Sun" slowly rises from his chair at the back of the stage.) The maid comes tearing up the stairs. (Tears up card and the word stairs written on it.) to prepare for the coming of her master, Tom Blackheart, who will be very angry if all is not as he desires. soon Tom comes bounding into the room (with rubber ball) for he has the beautiful Deli Kate as a prisoner, and he is going to make her his wife. He must attend to his business matters so that he may make some money to please her, so he seats himself at his desk and pours over his papers, (using a water pitcher).


At last his work is done and he may now enjoy the company of his lovely prisoner. He rings for the maid, (wrings a cloth), and when she comes, instructs her to tell deli to come to him at once. He loves her deeply, but she does not return his love. A moment passes. (person with the card "Moment" flits across the stage) and Deli comes sweeping into the room. (with toy broom). She is haughty and proud, but Tom again asks her to marry him. He will give her everything that money can buy. But no---she will not, for that would only bring her unhappiness. Then he becomes very angry and tells her that none other shall have her and she will hang in the tower at sunset. He stroms out of the room. (Lifts his coat collar and shivers.)


Oh sad world--- is there no hope for her? She sits at the table and weeps and weeps. She prays for her lover to come to her rescue. Oh, will no one come? She scans the HORIZON for help.., (person holds it up for her to look over). An HOUR slowly passes (person with card "HOUR" crosses with long delibverate steps.) It is almost time for the villain to return. Her doom is sealed and she weeps more bitterly. The villain returns---and she shrinks from him. No---she will have courage and she makes a lat appeal. (Takes banana peelings and holds it up to him). Once more she cries, "I appeal to you." But he storms, "your appeal is fruitless." (takes the banana peeling and throws it away. "You shall die at sunset." (Throws her from him. She falls to the floor.) Then he leaves her to her fate.


Suddenly, she hears a sound and listening, discovers that it is hoofbeats approaching the castle. Another "MOMENT" passes and her lover, Harry Man, comes dashing (dashing water from bucket) into the room. She is happy and her fears are over, for he will save her. (He takes her into his arms to comfort her.) He tenderly presses her hand. (With a flatiron) He tells her to have courage for all will be well with her now. He cautiously looks around and finds that the villain has gone. Then he leads her from the room (using a rope) and away from the house and the villain. Tom Blackheart is thwarted and our happy couple, liet us hope, will live happily ever after. Our story is finished and the curtains close. (Curtains close together)


Found in Hilda's Scrapbook

Manti Pioneer Settlers Are Plagued By Rattlesnakes

Chief Walker and a band of Ute Indians appeared in Salt Lake City, June 14, 1849 and requested that Brigham Young send settlers to the Sanpitch Valley to teach the Indians to build houses and til the soil. On the following August 20th, Chief Walker and an exploring party reached the present site of Manti and were well entertained by the natives. Favorable conditions for settlement must have been evident, because on November 19, 1849, some fifty families under the spiritual leadership of Isaac Morley and Captain Nelson Higgings, made their camp on the north side of the creek bottom and began what was destined to become Manti City.

All was not so rosy as might at first seem possible. The following winter proved severe and the settlers lost 127 head of their cattle from a band of 240. The male population was forced to shovel snow into winrows to provide shelter for the cattle and to uncover the dry grass for them to eat. even the horns of the cattle were sharpened to enable them to break the snow crust and also as a better protection against the wolves.

The first warm days of spring brought a most unexpected and unwelcome party to the camp. Just after sunset on this memorable occasion, a weird hissing and rattling was evidently heard coming. It seems from all points at once and the very earth appeared to be writhing with spotted backed rattlesnakes which, to the horror of the pioneers were invading the quiet camp. They took quarters in their beds, cupboards and in every accessible place in these outlying domiciles. And among a less hardy band would have created a perfect chaos of confusion. The whole male population with pine tordches casting a lurid light upohn the wierd scene, began an extermination campaign, which resulted in nearly 500 rattlesnakes being killed the first night. Although the fight against the deadly serpents continued for several days, not a single person was bitten.

This article was written by Gerald Henrie for the Salt Lake Trubune in about 1922.
It is taken from Hilda's Scrapbook.

HILDA MAKES A PLEA FOR CITY BEAUTIFICATION

Well, said the chick with a funny little squirm. 

I wish I could find a nice little worm.

Said another little chick, with a queer little shrug,

I wish I could find a nice fat bug.

Said a third little chick, with a shrill little squeel,

I wish I could find a nice yellow meal.

Look here, said the mother from a nice green garden patch,

If you want any breakfast, get busy and scratch !

So it is with city beautification, or any other project.  If we want results we must get busy and SCRATCH !!!

Patriotism as religion and charity begins at home.  And it is the duty of every American Citizen, man and woman to join hand in hand in the making of all America a Beauty Spot.  The beauty of a community depends upon the individuals of that community.  Each common individual is personally responsible for their own as well as rented property, and should in any way possible help to create a sentiment for improvements on public grounds, as well as an interest in the needs of that town in general.

It has been said that a man is the head of the house, but woman is the head of the home.  Attractive home surroundings have a great influence upon the young folks, in creating a love of beauty and love for their hometown.  Home is more than four square walls, even more than a mansion of costly stone.  The most costly mansion would be barren and cold without suitable surroundings.  There is a certain comparison between the interior of a home and the grounds.  When a carpenter finishes a room it is only four bare walls, and does not become a place to live in and enjoy until there are some furnishings, rugs, tables and chairs.

The yard is very much a part of the home life and environment.  When the ground is graded, it is only a barren spot, uninviting and uninteresting. As the room, it requires furnishing.  First a carpet of green, then trees and shrubs; later as in the room other details are worked out.

The home is life's greatest school.  Respect for private as well as public property should be taught by example in the homes.  It is surprising how destructive children and some grown people can be.  I have seen flourishing trees deliberately broken off or marred, supposedly by children.  I have also seen prominent citizens, probably wishing to fill a vase or probably for no reason at all, deliberately break large limbs of shrubs on public grounds.  Thereby, stunting the growth and marring their beauty.  I know these persons would resent the passerby, breaking limbs from plants on their own grounds.

It is not always a mansion that is the most attractive.  And it does not take a great deal of means to make a home an inviting place.  One can make a most beautiful place out of the most humble home with a little careful planting of trees and shrubs for permanent beauty and a few flowers for variety.  Of course, if we are to build a new home, and plan our grounds anew, we have a better chance to get things as we like them.  And yet, even then, later on there are improvements to make.

Every yard and community would benefit with a little careful constructive criticism, backed up with co-operation and ambition.  Sometimes there are things about our yards and community, we have become so used to, we do not notice them and thus take them for granted as a necessary evil.  Yet, they may be outstandingly ugly spots in our neighborhood or community.

Some of the worst conditions in our smaller towns are there because we take them for granted and are unwilling to change.  OUR TOWN IS AS WE MAKE IT !!!

taken from Hilda's Scrapbook

N. S. Nielsen - - - Builder and Financier

click to enlarge

Taken from Hilda's Scrapbook

The first few paragraphs are a little hard to read. Give it a try. We will have more on him another day.

BOBBED HAIR AND SHORT SKIRTS - - - - -a reading by Hilda

We, the old-fashioned long-haired, long skirted women of the modestly dressed school must confess there are times when we do admire and envy our beautifully marceled, well trimmed, brillianteened sisters of the bobbed hair and knee length skirt, and we do fight the temptation to "go and do likewise." And become one of the great masses. We assure you it does take a great deal of will power to say, "Get thou behind me Satan".

***

You will acknowledge it takes a more than ordinary strength to come before so many bobbed heads to tell you of your mistake and sins and to defend our long hair and skirts. But thanks to the teachings of our early innocent childhood when we were taught in school and in Sunday School a verse something like this, "Sin is a monster to be hated, needs to be seen, but seen too often, we first endure, then pity, then embrace.

***

Friends, we may well compare that sin, to the sins of the world, to the sins of the short skirt and the bobbed hair today, and are we not advised from the pulpit to "keep ourselves unspotted from the sins of the world?"

***

We have often heard the bobbed hairdo epidemic defended with the illusion that it makes one look younger. are we not taught to honor and respect old age? Is it honest to look like something you are not? Is it honest to deliberately act out a lie?

***

Only a short time ago, a certain Mt. Pleasant man; (you all know to whom I refer, but we shall call him Bob) was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City, all on account of something that wasn't. He saw at a distance what he thought was a young chicken. He hopped into his automobile and when he overtook the object, he found that it was an old hen and that she was his mother-in-law at that. The result of the meeting was his trip to the hospital. One day while there, there was a knock at the door.

***

The lady sitting by his bedside, who by the way had her hair, bobbed the day before, stepped into the hall and there she saw a sweet young creature with a boyish bob and a short pantilooned skirt that asked to see Bob. Said the first lady to the younger, "May I ask who you are as we do not allow all visitors." "I am his sister." "Oh, said the other, I am glad to know you, I am his mother." Think of that, mother and daughter not knowing each other, not knowing the members of their own family, all on account of looking like what you are not, with bobbed hair and short skirts.

***

The bobbed hair is robbing the women of today of motherly love, of that sacrificing spirit that has made motherhood so hallowed. Compare the long hairdo mother of yesterday with the short hairdo mother of today, for instance. A few days ago a schoolboy asked his patient, red faced, perspiring father, who was busy preparing the midday meal, for some money with which to buy a belt. The poor father sadly replied: "Son, never before have I refused you any of the necessities of life, but since Ma bobbed her hair, it is all I can do to keep her on speaking terms with the barber and the marcellor and attend to the housework. And friends, that poor boy, that son and heir, that representative of the future generation, say perhaps the future mayor of Mt. Pleasant, was forced to go without a belt. And we all know how necessary a belt is to a pair of trousers. Think what might have happened.

***

Now there is an example of following the styles. There was a time when men were blessed with gallowses,then fashion said suspenders. Soon they discarded them and left only a belt. And, Oh what agony the men's belt has caused.

***

We ladies used to have petticoats, underwear and hose supporters. Gone are the petticoats, fast going is the underwear and we roll our hose. We used to wear sweeping long skirts, sometimes with a graceful train. Then they gave us the ankle length, then the eight inch from the ground, then knees and above. Ah, can you not see the inmodesty, the brazenness, and the trickery of it. i warn you. Stop your sinful style-following ways, or yhou, like the men, will only have a belt left.

***

Already a man who often occupies the pulpit, and whose wife is a Relief Society worker has written this verse: Mary had a little skirt, 'twas the latest styles no doubt. But every time Mary got outside, she was more than halfway out."

***

Recently I noticed an ad in a journal to the effect that with the short skirts now in vogue, the hose must match the complexion of the jewelry. And after reading that I stepped into J.C. Penney to see the effect it had had. And there, my friends, I saw old women, young women, grandmothers and stepmothers if you please, clambering to be waited on. One dear old lady was in tears, because they had told her the freckled hose had not arrived. A grandmother rushed in to match some purple beads. Had their skirts been long andmodest, like mine, they could have worn any kind of hose, and avoided that grief and worry.

***

A few days ago, I saw a North Ward Relief Society Teacher in tears. I asked her the cause and she replied, "Lost,yesterday, somewhere between Bart's and Slim's Barber Shops, two golden braids, each set with sixty golden hairs, now reward is offered for they are gone forever." She like so many poor bobbed hairdo women here today, was forced to wear her hat or stay at home. Oh, could they only have had a 10-day free trial, could they only have seen the effects of before and after.

***

The bible tells us, that in bible days, men wore long hair and flowing beards. What have they done? They have cut it off. They have shaved them off, until what do we have now? In Mt. Pleasant alone there are so many bald or almost bald headed men.

***

Oh, what is the world coming to when women, who's doting mothers gave them saint-like names will brazenly parade the streets with bobbed hair and short skirts and unblushingly show their shapely or unshapely calves, I mean limbs?

***

In last week's Pyramid there was the followning verse; Henry Snmith is dead, we loved him so, just what caused it, we did not know, until they cut him open, and there they found, short marcelled hairs, floating round and round. Reason tells us, had they been long hairs, they never would have gotten there, for Henry would have seen them, and taken them out of his gravy, pudding, or pie and saved his life before he died.

***

A short time ago, as I was walking through the cemetery, I saw a mound all heaped up with Job's Tears, Love in the mists, Bleeding hearts, and For-get-me-knots. And I thought there has been a great loss. I stepped nearer and read the inscription. "Here lies Randy Lee, the wife of Gus. She bobbed her hair and it ended thus." now think of it. She might have lived forever had she listened to the dictates or that still small voice and the advice of her husband. On a little father in the same cemetery, I heard a man weeping. I went near him to console him, he turned to me with a knowing light in his eye and said, and "Here lies the body of my bobbed-haired wife. Tears cannot bring her back to life. Therefore, I weep."

***

I was told that a husband, who had not kissed his wife for more than twenty years, did so, after she was bobbed. The examiners for mental trouble, pronounced him incurable.

***

One could go on and on and tell of the sins and sorrows that bobbed hair and the short skirs have caused on the earth. Hee the warning, we are all preparing to be angels bye and bye. Have you ever seen an angel or the picture of an agel with bobbed hair and short skirts? No, they all have flowing robes. Let me plead with you as you are as you shall be. As you sow, so shall you reap. With all the proofs we have offered, with all the sadness that has been caused and all the calamities now existing, how can you unblushingly accept the bobbed hair and the economical short skirt?

***

H.E.L.

A Letter From George Albert Smith - Thank You

from Hilda's Scrapbook

Tragedy at Heating Plant of Hamilton School

Click to enlarge

taken from Hilda's Scrapbook

Passed Off the Stage - - - by James Buschanan

They say I have passed off the stage.
Oh well,it may be true,
I'm not as strong as when I stood six feet, at thirty two.
I know I am getting bent and old, my hair is silvery gray.
But, Oh, 'tis hard to hear it said, "The old man's had his day."
It was not very long ago, it scarcely seems a year,
When I was stronger than a yearling colt and fleeter than a deer.

My arms were like the sinewy root that thrust out from the oak.
And I was straight as the towering pine that tempts the woodsman stroke.
There wasn't one, in all the town, how sad the contrast now,
Could mow a steadier stroke than I, or drive a straighter plow.

And even when my hair turned gray,no whit my strength declined,
I used to race boys afield and leave them all behind.
But now they bring the cushioned chair, and put it in the sun,
And fetch me out my pipe and pouch, as soon as breakfast is done.

And bid me sit an hour or two..."the day'll be long and hot".
And then they go and leave me there, unheeded and forgot.
Sometimes I take my staff, and creep along the orchard wall.
But weary, set me down to rest, where grateful shadows fall.

Far off the meadows swim with heat---fresh smells thenew mowed hay.
But I can go no more afield, for I have had my day.
Oh God, it is a weary thing to live an out-worn life.
To have no further part in manly toil and strife.

To know that all one's active days have passed forever by
And all that now remains is just to rest and die.
I don't know why I dread it so, this passing off the stage.
Some folks think life is mighty hard, and long for smooth old age.

But I'd rather strive and toil, till all my bones are sore.
Than to be sitting useless here,m beside the farm house door.
Oh well, 'tis little use to cry, because the milk is spilt.
'Tis little use to swing the sword, with nothing left but the hilt.

I've done my duty, while I could, and now if needs must be,
That I have done for others, let others do for me.
It is the rule of life I know, and honest turn about.
We help our babies into life, and they in turn must help us out,

Their turn will come too, soon enough, like rolling wave on wave.
The generations pour their tide into a common grave.
One day a babe, the next a man, the next unnamed, unknown,
Save a moss-encrusted line upon a smoldering stone.

Our life is swifter than the take upon the fleeting page-
We've but to learn the play, and then pass off the stage.

1914 Celebration

click photo to enlarge

the Pioneer ---- by C.N. Lund

What faith he had, the Pioneer,
Who planted civilization here!

And how he wrought
And bravely fought

To chase the desert's frown away,
And make for us a better day!

What price he paid
That he might aid

Fair freedom and a home to win
And make a state worth living in.

We honor him,
Let nothing dim

The mem'ry of the Pioneer,
Unto the last we'll it dear!


(taken from Hilda's Scrapbook)

IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE

(A fun walking tour of Main Street found amongst Hilda's Memorabilia)

Next stop is Mt. Pleasant City. As I step from the train, the first sign that meets my eye is "ROOMS 5 BLOCKS EAST 1 BLOCK NORTH". I am next attracted by a road sign that reads: "Fairview - 6 1/2 miles, Thistle - 37 1/2 miles, Provo - 57 miles, Price - 95 miles, Spring City - 5 miles, Ephraim - 15 1/2 miles, Manti- 23 miles, Gunnison - 38 miles. After sizing up the conveyances, I decided to walk up one side of the street and down the other. Between third and fourth west is a red BLACK SMITH SHOP sign with a sign PEARLESS, on the west side and LUCKY STRIKE TOBACCO on the east side. Nearly a block east we notice a blue sign advertising FIRESTONE on the west side of the building, with the sign BENT HANSEN AND COMPANY LUMBER in front. We pass the building painted yellow and two sign boards advertising DODGE BROTHERS and LUCKY STRIKE. As we pass the brick house surrounded by pines we see the sign SWEET CHOCOLATE. In front of the building is a painted sign SANPETE COUNTY COOP GENERAL MERCHANDISE. Next is the Mt. Pleasant Bank Building. On the front is painted 19BANK01. On the front of the LAMONT BUILDING upstairs are the following signs: A. SUNDWALL, M.D., and P.L. HOLMAN, SURGEON AND PHYSICIAN. In the east window, the sign reads W.D. TUELER, DENTIST. In the lower window is MRS. LAMONT MILLINERY and JAMES SQUIRE JEWELRY. Next we come to the GUNDERSON BLOCK. Next is the JAMES F. JENSEN building plainly labeled. Then we pass the CLEANING AND PRESSING and the MAYTAG SHOP. Next a frame building with a lot of CIRCUS posters; then the GOOD YEAR TIRES SERVICE STATION. On the corner of Main and 1st west is the MT. PLEASANT POST OFFICE and SEELY HINCKLEY GARAGE. and next is a BARBER SHOP. And now for a hot dog at REDI-QUICK LUNCH. Now the PYRAMID building, on the west side is the sign UTAH MEAT AND PRODUCE. The next building is the EQUITABLE building occupied by PROGRESS MERCANTILE CO. In the window upstairs is I.O.O.F. HALL. Now we are at SKAGGS', SAFEWAY. The WASATCH BLOCK comes next, L. A. PHILLIPS, DENTIST is located on the second floor, and J.C. PENNEY occupies the ground floor.

More than likely you have not observed the sign POST OFFICE and HENRY GEORGE CIGAR on the side of the building. The NORTH SANPETE BANK BUILDING which is built of stone with larger glass windows now greets the view. The next building we se is occupied by JOHANSEN BROTHERS and the COMPANMOUNTAIN STATES TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH Y upstairs. Now the next building we see is built of stone with large glass windows now greets the view. The building has a sign: PALACE PHARMACY near the top and is occupied by SLIM'S BARBER SHOP. The next building is labeled at the top LUNDBERG BLOCK. In the front on the ground floor is the sign, big enough for near-sighted people to see CONSOLIDATED WAGON AND MACHINE. Over the door is the sign JOHN DEER PLOWS.

My, we are hungry again and here we are at the CITY LUNCH ROOM. On the second floor is the sign, beginning to age DR. A. LUNDBERG, DENTIST. on the ground floor is the RECREATION HALL. Last year the CONSOLIDATED FURNITURE COMPANY built a fine new building, putting the name F. C. JENSEN on a marble plate in front. Over the sidewalk, facing west, is the sign FURNITURE, and facing east, HARDWARE. We won't forget the RED FRONT SHOE SHOP just east and in the old BANK BUILDING is the OPTICAL SHOP and CONFECTIONARY. At the intersection of Main and State is the Doughboy erected by the Service Star Legion in 1926. On the southwest corner of the next block is the sign, MADSEN AND LONGSDORF, and in the front window is the sign, S.D. LONGSDORF. On first east we come to the BISHOP'S STOREHOUSE. Opposite is the PUBLIC SCHOOL, ERECTED IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD 1896. We now turn west and on the opposite side of the street from the one we have just traveled. The next building is the CARNEGIE LIBRARY. Nest we know, although it is not labeled is the Pioneer Monument which was erected on the fiftieth anniversary of the coming of the pioneers in the year 1859.

Going west we pass JOHNSTON DRUG STORE. Two sign boards, advertising PEET GREENALDI SOAP and VELVET CIGARET are set in a distance from the street. A lumber building where cream and eggs are handled is labeled ELECTRIC SUPPLIES. It must be strictly up to date, according to the sign. The next sign west is BJELKE SHOE HOSPITAL. On the red brick building next, appears the sign ERICKSEN MEAT AND SUPPLY. And on an upstairs window reads L.P. NELSON AGENCHY, NOTARY PUBLIC. Across the alley is another cream station.

And now we are almost dead but are not ready for MERZ MONUMENT, although it is near Decoration Day. The beautiful MOBILE OIL HUB service station comes next. After passing a home with a hedge fence, ther is a lumber building with the sign COMMERCIAL PRINTING and in the window is WATCH MAKING AND JEWELRY.

The train now whistles and we only notice the GUNDERSON CANDY SHOP, and on third west a house with the sign ROOMS FOR RENT. just as we arrive at the station, we notice N.P. NIELSEN SERVICE, and R.R. CROSSING. On the depot stands out boldly, AMERICAN RAILWAY and WESTERN UNIION TELEGRAPH AND CABLE OFFICE. We now leave Mt. Pleasant at the elevation of 5857 feet and board the train for Denver, which is 719 mile away.

(Some of you no doubt will remember things differently as to the signs along Mt. Pleasant's Main Street. Different generations remember different things. some may argue that the railroad station was never American Railway, but always the Denver Rio Grande. We have retyped the original document for easier reading purposes. Also, in some cases the penciled in writing was very difficult to read. The original is at the Relic Home in Hilda's Scrapbook.)

Pioneer First Hand Account of Arrival Into the Salt Lake Valley

Taken from Hilda's Scrapbook

Original source "The Utah Farmer" - July 1922

Night On The Town --- A Charming story as remembered and told by Louise F. Seely, first published in Saga of the Sanpitch 1998

It was a beautiful spring day - - - just right to begin housecleaning. Aunt Hilda always worked from the cellar up, so her first chore was to go through the fruit jars on the cellar shelves, selecting the good ones to dust and place on clean papered shelves. The fruit that hadn't kept well, that was showing signs of fermentation or mold, was opened and the contents poured into buckets to be disposed of later.



With the cobwebs swept down, shelves washed and re-papered, floors swept, and stairs scrubbed clean, the room was finally finished, the day almost spent. Hilda looked on the room with satisfaction, picked up the bucket of fruit, but just at that moment her big Plymouth Rock rooster helped himself to a beak-full of fruit. Hilda changed her mind and immediately poured the contents of the bucket into the chicken trough. This taste of fruit might be a nice change from the handsful of wheat she fed her chickens morning and night.



Hilda didn't see her chickens again until evening when she went to feed them. What she saw startled her almost beyond reason. There on the ground lay every one of her chicks; roosters, hens and spring pullets. At first glance she thought a skunk or weasel had been in her flock. On closer inspection she saw them sprawled in every unlikely position possible: some lying with wings widespread; some lying on their sides, others cramped in strange, grotesque positions with their heads under their bodies; some on their backs with legs straight in the air; and some had fallen across another's lifeless body.



Had she killed them? She knelt down and felt a body. It was warm. Then she realized she had a drunken flock of chickens. She knew just how it had happened - - - the fermented fruit, of course.



Since the bodies were still warm, her first thought was to cut their heads off and dress them, but she was too tired after her day of housecleaning. So she decided to leave them in the cool night air and finish the job in the morning.



Bright and early the next day she approached the yard and was startled to see the dead chickens up walking around - - - a little wobbly, to be sure, but up and walking. she gave them plenty of grain and fresh water, and by night they were chipper as ever. Who knows, maybe they enjoyed their "night on the town."

Hilda Madsen Longsdorf

Hilda Electa Madsen was born at Mt. Pleasant, Utah, on November 28, 1877, to Johanna E. Anderson and Andrew Madsen. The youngest of ten children. She attended Mt. Pleasant public schools and received the fullest education offered. She then clerked in the family-owned store, A. Madsen and Sons, at Mt. Pleasant. Later she worked in a new store operated by the family at Scofield, Utah. Residing at the home of her brother, Neil Madsen, she also worked as a telephone operator while in Scofield. Being an accomplished horsewoman, she often rode on horseback from Scofield to Mt. Pleasant, a distance of thirty-five miles, to visit friends and relatives.

She belonged to the L.D.S. Church and served for years in the presidency of the M.I.A. she was also active in the Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Historical Association. When the Association was organized in 1909, she became its first secretary and held this position for thirty-seven years until her death in 1946. A special assignment she looked forward to for many years was the planning of the Pioneer Association's annual meeting. Soon after Christmas she called a committee to her home to complete arrangements for the March Celebration. On the morning, afternoon, and evening before Pioneer Day, Hilda's home was alive with people, bustling in and out, making sandwiches and Danish beer. Hardly was the occasion over, when Hilda called the committee together again to begin plans for the next year's event.

She was interested in the preservation of pioneer relics and worked energetically to keep Mt. Pleasant historical relics in Mt. Pleasant. By carefully studying her father's early history of Mt. Pleasant and his own journal, and by doing extensive research on the subject, Hilda was able to complete the writing of the book, Mt. Pleasant, published under the direction of the Mt. Pleasant Historical Association in 1939. Of the one thousand books printed, all copies have been sold. (the third edition is now on sale) Historians have found Hilda's Mt. Pleasant an important source book for the study of early Mt. Pleasant and Sanpete County.

She was a member of several civic and social clubs. Among them were the O.N.O. (Our Night Out) Club, and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. She served as president of each of these clubs on different occasions.

Hilda loved parties and holidays and prepared well in advance for them. She had costumes and decorations ready for every occasion, neatly labeled in her store room. but of all holidays, she liked Christmas best. Ever mindful of Santa's long journey,she always left him a bowl of candy with a stimulating drink. When the children of her brother Andrew were young, they often stayed at Hilda's house on Christmas Eve. When they awakened early on Christmas morning, they found knots in the legs of their underwear, the sleeves and legs of their outer clothing were mysteriously sewn together. This had been doneto give their mother extra time to light the candles on the tree.

After her own nieces and nephews were no longer Santa believers, she helped Santa in other ways. She made a Mrs. Santa Claus suit and on Christmas Eve or early on Christmas morning, she with her husband, Showman and brother Andrew and his wife Abbie, would ride all over town in a cutter, (later a car). They would gaily ring sleigh bells and undoubtedly bolster the faith of all small children in Santa Claus. Whenever they saw a light, they would stop, ring the sleigh bells, and Hilda with a Merry "Ho! Ho! Ho!" would go in, leave the toy or bag of candy, fruit or nuts. This surpirse would leave the youngsters spellbound and the parents wondering who had visited them.

Hilda loved to entertain and the parties she gave were second to none. A great deal of planning went into these parties. Preparations started with a thorough housecleaning and she and the family worked for weeks. Then the house would be decorated outside as well as inside. A festive atmosphere prevailed everywhere, as mountains of food filled the kitchen. For days afterwards, the family and close friends ate party fare. Her gay humor and instinctive ablity to create rhyming jingles made her parties something special. Everyone who received an invitation was sure to come.

She was a practical joker and her friends never knew just what to expect from her, but it was always fun. One afternoon when Hilda was entertaining the members of a club to which she belonged, each guest was surprised and relieved to find at her place one of her own silver spoons. Many of them had been hunting for that "lost" spoon for months. To this day no one knows how Hilda managed to obtain those spoons, undetected.

She also loved patriotic holidays. On these special days flags would be flying, her home would be decked with red, white and blue bunting, and at least one decorated float would be standing in her back yard. One of her favorite roles in life was being the "Goddess of Liberty" in the annual Fourth of July Parade.

Hilda loved to raise flowers and enjoyed working in her garden. The ground around her home became a community show place. she loved animals and always had several pets, ranging from piglets to parrots. Old Joe, the parrot, a member of her family for nearly forty years, was known for his friendly chatter to most of the town's people and children. Most of all she loved children. Soon after his mother's death she took a young boy, Bill Tomlinson, into her home and cared for him as though he were her own child until he reached maturity.

On October 7, 1919, Hilda was married to Showman Doyle Longsdorf in Salt Lake City. After their marriage, they made their home in Mt. Pleasant, where Showman operated a grocery and implement store. Hilda and Showman were very happy, sharing each other's interests, desires, and activities; always striving to improve Mt. Pleasant.

Unfortunately Hilda suffered from crippling arthritis during the last ten years of life, but kept active all the time. On a Friday night, January 12, 1946, her nephew Bruce found her after she had suffered a stroke. He and a niece, Johannah Hafen, were at her side when she died. Her death was a great loss to her family and the community.

(Hilda's history was taken from the Madsen History book, published by the Lars Madsen family Organization, 1967; pages 316-317.)

Hilda Loved to Entertain Friends and Family

SMALL TOWN MEN - - - by Virginia Scott Miner (found in Hilda's scrapbook)

It takes big men to deal with little towns

And not themselves grow smaller year by year;

To stand the endless flick of envious tongues,

Nor mind too much. To see the reason clear--

The aching need for power or for love;

the bitter emptiness of those who fear

The slipping decades; and slow week by week,

The gentle, awful patience of the meek.

Who know they bear within them some great lack

Of vigor to attack or yet hit back.

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Yet one who truly knows his town will find

It's people not more cruel than they're kind.

He'll see the shining goodness - - - all the care

They give the sick or needy neighbor there;

He'll see the washerwoman's younger son

Out playing with the banker's. They are one.

Small-town folks, that if folks be clean

And pay their bill, they'll wait till it be seen

Which has the better boy.

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But he who does not truly know will see

Only the smallness and the snobbery,

And slowly with the years he will become

The thing he sees - - - the essence of the sum.