Friend Tyler Anderson was recently looking over a book that has been in his family since 1888 – Bible Readings for the Home Circle, for use in Protestant Sunday Schools of the late 19th century. The book contained a few pages of advertisements … including this one of interest to Keepa:

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This warped and mean-spirited view of Mormon life provokes sympathy in me for Mormon women of the time – and not in the way the writer of the advertised book intended. Whenever I see something like this, I try to imagine what Mormons of that era thought when they were reminded yet again how the rest of the world viewed them, and in this case, I wonder about the feelings of a Mormon parent who might have bought Bible Readings for his or her own “home circle.”

Thanks, Tyler!

(Keepa’ninnies, if you run across small bits of Mormon history that might be suitable for posting here, please share them. My address can be found at the “Contact” link in the upper lefthand corner of this screen.)