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Show 46 MADELYN CANNON STEWART SILVER escape from living in the tension of that polarity. Her diary reflects the see-saw of her moving toward or away from conventional Mormon and middle class womanly behavior. II On her eighteenth birthday Madelyn'S father and mother gave her a diamond ring. In presenting it, her mother said she must make her life as pure and perfect as the beautiful diamond. "I shall try," Madelyn wrote in her diary. "I will try to make [my life] as many sided, each side perfect, as clear and unblemished, concealing no defect or tarnish, and reflecting back a thousand fold whatever light it receives. I have it always on my finger to remind me." Obviously, she was very idealistic, but in the same paragraph in which she makes this resolve, she reveals that she is still a pretty normal young woman. She is thrilled, she writes, that she had two rivals at the birthday party. One of them, she wrote, was too persistent; the other, she was ashamed to admit, she had pursued too ardently. She had dates with still another, she wrote-one her mother liked and urged her to cultivate because he had "hidden possibilities." Madelyn's response was that if he had such possibilities, "they're hidden rather deep." In September 1919, when Madelyn was eighteen, the family moved into a home Barnard had built at 1153 East Third South, in Salt Lake City. A beautiful rambling home designed by Taylor Woolley, a prominent Salt Lake City architect, it had a ballroom in the basement that the children loved. The cold storage room also in the basement held sacks of potatoes and boxes of apples, pears, carrots, and other vegetables. A quarter of beef hung from the ceiling. There was a keg of apple cider with the spigot ready to pour a glass at any time. Barnard had his own welfare plan a two years supply of vegetables and fruits, not only to protect his own family but also to give to families and individuals in need. In her youth, Madelyn spent many hours delivering food to widows and families with sick husbands. By that time, Madelyn was beyond the stage of infatuation, and her diary reflects serious thoughts about people. Here is a comment of June 25, 1919 about a young man with whom she spent a day at Great Salt Lake: |
