Only one week left!! On the 18th Day of Christmas Past, the question is to be: 18. Which LDS Christmas hymn came to the author/composer through a dream? In a biography called Yours Sincerely, John M. Macfarlane, written and privately printed by his descendant L. W. Macfarlane, we learn the family tradition surrounding the writing of this carol. John Macfarlane was a choir director in St. George, Utah. “As involved as he was in music,” the biography tells us, “John M. Macfarlane even dreamed music, and more than once, it is said, he would spring from his bed in the middle of the night to jot down a melody, lest the light of morning should erase it from his memory.” In the preholiday season of 1869, he decided his choir needed a new carol for their Christmas program. At his request, his friend Charles L. Walker provided a suitable text. But John Macfarlane labored in vain for a suitable melody; the music just would not come. The biography continues: “Then one night it came, suddenly, in a dream. John was awake instantly. He shook Ann [his wife] into wakefulness, crying out, ‘Ann, Ann, I have the words for a song, and I think I have the music too!’ ” He found the next morning that the words he had written were in fact quite different from Charles L. Walker’s text. Even so, he urged Charles Walker to put his name down as author, but the biography gives this as Walker’s reply: “These are not my words, John. I have never seen them before. These are your words. You have written both the words and music yourself, and you must take the full credit.” We have no record of Walker’s original words, and no way of knowing how close to our present text were the lines that served as a catalyst for Macfarlane. He wrote no other hymn texts—music was his talent. The tune name honors Macfarlane’s wife, Ann Chatterley. Visitors to the Holy Land know that Judea’s shepherds herded their sheep on rocky hills rather than on plains. But this error in topography, made by one who had never traveled to Bethlehem, certainly does nothing to diminish the significance of this Latter-day Saint hymn. “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains” was first published in the Juvenile Instructor on December 15, 1889, twenty years after it was written. John Macfarlane and Charles L. Walker collaborated on other hymns, of which “Dearest Children, God Is Near You” (no. 96) is still in our hymnal today. Taken from: Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages, p....
Read MoreANSWER and WINNER 17th Day Christmas Past
On the 17th DAY of Christmas Past, our Church welfare program eventually came to be, from organizing the whole church like the Pioneer Stake was by Harold B. Lee. Harold B. Lee was Stake President of the Pioneer Stake. Over 5,000 of his stake members were out of jobs. He organized things so that all of the families in need would be taken care of for Christmas. Read the whole story on the yesterday’s previous post. Congrats to 17th Day drawing winner, Melanie Sullivan, who won an ornament with the Kirtland Temple painted on...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 17th Day Christmas Past
On the 17th Day of Christmas Past, the QUESTION is to be – 17. What was Harold B. Lee asked to help with after organizing Christmas for more than half of his stake during the depression? “It was Christmas 1931 and Harold B. Lee was serving as a new stake president in the Pioneer Stake in Salt Lake City. The country was in the early years of terrible economic times, now called the Great Depression. His stake had more than seven thousand members, and close to 60% of them were out of work. Few had any money to buy food and other necessities. Many people were facing dire circumstances. But the Lee family had been blessed. That Christmas they enjoyed opening their gifts and feeling all the excitement of a wonderful holiday. Later that morning, two of the Lee’s daughters dashed to the neighbor’s house to share their excitement, but they soon came home crying. “What in the world is the matter?” asked their father. The girls said that the neighbor family had no Christmas! President Lee had forgotten the needs of the family and that the father had been out of work for a long time. The Lee family “tried to make up for [their] lack of thoughtfulness” by sharing what they had, but it seemed too little too late. With others around them in want, their own Christmas was spoiled. Pres. Lee was unhappy about that Christmas, and he didn’t sleep well afterward because he was worried about all the families in his stake. He felt that somehow he had let them down. That night as he knelt in prayer, he said, “God grant that I would never let another year pass but that I, as a leader, will ‘know’ my people. I would know their needs. I would be feeling after the ones who needed most my leadership.” By the time the next Christmas arrived, Pres. Lee was prepared. He had conducted a survey among stake members and found that more than half needed help – almost 5,000 people out of more than seven thousand. He found out that this number included a thousand children under ten years of age who would probably receive little or nothing for Christmas. Armed with this information and with time to solve the problem, he determined that this Christmas would be different. Before December even arrived, Pres. Lee had mobilized all the members of the stake and created a stake welfare program. They began to collect money, food, and broken and used toys. Everything was stored in a warehouse. That warehouse became like Santa’s workshop as parents in the stake donated time and work to repaint, repair, and clean the toys and make them like new. Stake members sewed new clothing and repaired furniture, worked on construction projects, and helped farmers with their crops. Pres. Lee said, “If you wanted...
Read MoreANSWER and WINNER 16th Day Christmas Past
On the 16th Day of Christmas Past, the best gift “Daddy” did get – Was his wife and children going without to pay off their debt. The Rich family decided to make it “Daddy’s Christmas” by going without presents and saving money any way they could to use for paying off their family’s debts during the end of the depression. Story still available at www.mormonheritage.com/blog/ on yesterday’s 16th day post. Congrats to 16th Day drawing winner, Christine Bennett, who won a bell shaped olive wood ornament of the Nativity from...
Read MoreQUESTION and STORY 16th Day of Christmas
On the 16th Day of Christmas Past the question is to be: 16. How did the Rich family make one of their Christmases “Daddy’s Christmas”? Read “Our Pickle-Jar Christmas” below by Wilma M. Rich: When I was a child, it seemed to me that Christmastime always began the day Daddy brought home the Christmas tree. But the year I was five, Christmas for the family began much earlier. Two months before Christmas on a cold October night, Mama rounded up her six children, including me, and sat us down in the long log room that served as kitchen, living room, and bedroom for the family. She lifted three-year-old Benny and me onto the high bed with the crazy-patch quilt and gathered the four older children around us. “Christmas is for surprises,” she began. “How would each of you like to make this a special Christmas by surprising Daddy?” Everyone agreed, and Benny and I squealed and clapped our hands at the prospect of treating Daddy, since he often had special surprises for us in his lunch bucket at the end of a workday. “Sh! Let’s talk quietly so Daddy won’t hear. He’s just on the other side of the door, remember.” We could hear Daddy hammering and sawing in the new living room he was adding onto the room we presently lived in. He was working at home on nights when he worked day shift at the coal mine and mornings when he worked night shift, trying to finish the room before Christmas so we could have our Christmas tree there. “You children know how hard Daddy works for us and how he worries about paying the bills?” Mama asked. The Great Depression was drawing to a close, and though we didn’t understand that, we did know that times were hard. The older children nodded, and taking a cue, I nodded, too, although I had no idea how much Daddy worked or worried. I didn’t even know what a bill was. Mama bent closer so she could speak quietly and make us all hear. “Since Daddy always makes Christmas so nice for us, I thought it would be fun to make this year Daddy’s Christmas.” Getting into the spirit of things, we nodded. We loved keeping secrets, especially a Christmas surprise. “What do you mean, Mama?” asked Sammy, who was two years older than I. “You may not want to surprise Daddy when you find out what I have in mind,” warned Mama. “Yes we will!” promised Eva, the eldest and most magnanimous. Mama continued, “Okay, but you don’t have to decide until I explain.” She quieted us again since we were beginning to fidget. “If this is going to be Daddy’s Christmas, we’ll all have to make a lot of sacrifices.” Benny’s eyes lit up; he loved to make things. “Number one, none of the rest of us...
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