As I read lessons and talks from the Relief Society of the early 20th century, I often have an uncomfortable feeling that in that era, Relief Society was an organization for privileged women, not for more humble members of the community. Take for instance this lesson from 1914, which takes it for granted that the sisters will have not only their primary homes in city or town, but also a vacation cabin in the mountains in which to spend their summers. After discussing desirable features, every woman is asked to “design a mountain home for her own family”:
The Mountain Home.
The mountain home should be a porch, or a series of porches, all screened, with at least one room added, that can in stormy weather be closed in and easily and quickly warmed by stove or fireplace, preferably the latter.
The closed room may be provided with a sliding door on one side, that when open will make the room a part of the large porch.
The kitchen should be devised to be open or closed tightly, for in stormy weather the food cools quickly and in hot, dry weather the cook must have the cool breeze that generally stirs in the mountains.
If the cabin is set on a steep slope where the view naturally becomes the theme of interest and is the cause for selection of the site, the building may be set up on stilts, as it were. Back of the house the earth should be shoveled away to make room for a path and from this should descend the path leading to the water supply – the creek.
Two rooms may be built below the porch and if more bedrooms be desired the loft (with screens on either end) may be used as a large sleeping porch.
There is one absolute necessity for comfort and health in a canyon home, that is good screens — no loop-holes left for the curious gnat, horsefly, mosquito, or house-fly. All porches, windows and doors should be screened and even more important than this, the privy should be screened — door, window and vault. An adjustable screen at the back of the vault will save life and prevent sickness.
Let each member design a mountain home for her own family. In this plan provide for a kitchen with stove and work-table and shelves, bathroom, if possible; if not, means for keeping wash basins and bath tub, etc. A protected porch cover for stationary dining table and cupboard for dishes. Place for storing provisions. Clothes presses; book shelves. Suitable place for hammock. Doors leading to creek, privy and necessary windows in kitchen. Screened living porch. Closed room with sliding door on porch.
….yeahh. I do get the impression that cabins were more affordable back then and more ordinary people could have them, but obviously not everybody could. I wonder what 1914 RSPs/teachers did when faced with a lesson like this and a bunch of women who couldn’t afford enough clothes for the kids…
I think it is important to remember the time frame, too. Few women then would have worked outside of the home. Air conditioning was non- existent, so the mountains would have been cooler, by virtue of their elevation. To have a cabin, all one needed was the land. Building codes then would not have prevent a family from building their own, so I see this lesson as trying to help the sisters a bit with basic planning and engineering. I suspect the less affluent sisters would have used the information to help improve the home in which they lived, which in 1914, might not have been that different from a cabin.
My greatgrandparents had a cabin in the mountains. The women and children spent the summer on the mountain tending the cattle and sheep and making cheese while the men stayed in town working the farmer so I don’t think it was much of a vacation. It was more how everyone in the family had to work together so they wouldn’t starve during the winter.
For my hard-working Cache Valley grandmother and great-grandmother this lesson would have been utterly ridiculous. I hope no one had the incredible lack of sensitivity or whatever to present it to either of them. GGma, a widow, raised 4 children by herself while running the farm herself. It took the combined efforts of both Gma and Gpa to make ends meet somehow on the farm in the valley. Neither had any need for this instruction as to either a mountain cabin or improving their valley homes.
I remember hearing Mary Ellen Edmunds talk once about attending a homemaking meeting in Africa. The mini-lesson was on keeping your home neat and organized, and the accompanying picture was of a tidy North American living room. The sisters passed it around – upside down, since they had no idea what they were seeing; then they took everything out of their huts, and redaubed the insides with fresh mud (darker mud at the bottom, lighter mud at the top).
I also remember an edict from a more local level (regional, I think?) about living beneath our means – enjoying the beefsteak tomato rather than splurging on beefsteak, and downsizing our homes. We were encouraged to carry this message to our visiting teachees. I was living in NYC at the time, where homes are notoriously cramped. One person on my route lived with her husband and baby in a studio (one-room) apartment; another lived with her husband and four children in a one-bedroom apartment. I decided I could not possibly tell these women they needed to downsize, and delivered the regular monthly message instead.
All of which is to say, I’m not sure the early 1900s are that far behind us. Although cabin designing could be a useful skill….
This reminded me of my great-grandmother telling me that the difference between city folk and country folk when she was growing up (in the 19-teens) was that the city dwellers had screens on their windows.
Here’s a link to Brandon FLowers singing “The Clock Was Ticking.” If you make it a minute and a quarter into it, you’ll know why I thought of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY47hdblMto
That’s a possibility that never occurred to me, John.
A bazillion years ago in a church manual or magazine that I haven’t been able to locate since, there was a list of things we should be doing for our families, something like this:
Have family prayer.
Attend church.
Read the scriptures together.
Have family home evening.
Ensure that every child has a bathrobe.
Listen to general conference.
Seek the guidance of the Spirit.
My head is still spinning over that one.
Left field, I don’t think anyone has ever told me that each of my children should have a bathrobe…wow.