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Show Mile High City 131 Mormons had moved into the area were they able to create the Denver Ward, which was in 1940. Madelyn attended the branch meetings when she could, especially Relief Society, which met Tuesday evenings. Young people met in Mutual Wednesday evenings, Sunday School on Sunday mornings, and Sacrament meeting on Sunday evenings. The small number of members meant that everyone's help was desperately needed. With only a few available men, many of the positions of impor tance were given to women. Some were especially valued, and Madelyn's contributions were significant. Learning of her expe rience at LDS University, branch officers gave Madelyn two jobs-not unusual in a branch with only a few members. Madelyn was asked to teach the girls in Mutual, as she had done in Ogden, and later became president of the Young Women. Because of the small number of girls who attended, Madelyn taught Bee-Hive Girls, Juniors, and Gleaners in such subjects as how to make a speech, the art of telling stories, improved conversation, hospitality, and First Aid. She helped them put on plays, conducted dances, and held speech contests. Her instructional program included biographies of good role models, "What About Religion," "You and Your Light," and "Learning to Live." Her "students" attest to her inspirational instruction and leadership. Madelyn also taught the monthly Relief Society class on liter ature which on the other Tuesdays of the month studied theolo gy, social service, and family relations. Handling these assign ments was as much as Madelyn could do, considering that she had Elizabeth and Barnard to care for, not to mention Harold. And, as we shall see, another baby came along in July 1935. The Relief Society literature lessons in the first half of 1934 focused on the literature of the Bible; Romantic literature: Medieval romance, Tristram and Iseult, Tennyson's The Princess, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and such Spiritual Voices in Modern Literature as Brand and Peer Gynt by Henrick Ibsen, and "Compensation," the well-known essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The 1934-35 groups of lessons were on The Novel, Romantic Poetry, Biography, Drama, and Adventures in Reading. |
