Proverbs That Shaped My Life

My grandmother, Vivian Smith, mother to my mother, loved proverbs--those tiny sharp bites of pithy wisdom--and had one for almost any occasion. I thought, when I was a teen, that they were beneath her intellect. She was a bright woman with mostly A grades all through her early schooling and her college and university educations. Surely, she could come up with an original thought.

This from the girl who said: “See you later alligator,” and “After a while, crocodile.” “What’s life? Life is a magazine.”

Now I have adopted many of her succinct sayings: “A stitch in time saves nine.” “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” “A man’s home is his castle.” “Better late than never.” “A stitch in time saves nine.” “Discretion is the better part of valor.” “He/she also serves who only stands and waits.”

There really is a saying for every occasion. “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” was one of my favorites. Another, that covered the same subject was: “A goat dressed in silk is still a goat.” Perhaps there is a nuance of difference but to a little girl they carried the same impact. “A leopard cannot change his spots.”

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Some of them, as I once pointed out to Grandma, conflict with each other. Such as: “All good things come to he who waits, Vs “All good things must come to an end.” Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer," Vs “There is no such thing as a silly question.” “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” Vs “Home is where the heart is.” Or: “A house is not a home.”

“You can’t judge a book by its cover” was one I heard whenever I found fault with someone else. Along with that went: “Birds of a feather flock together.” The last came into play when I was choosing friends who, according to Grandmother’s standards,  were not good for me. “A person is known by the company he keeps.” “Actions speak louder than words.”

“Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.” “Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas.”

“A word to the wise is enough.” “Still waters run deep.” “Don't cast your pearls before swine.”  “Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.”

Then there is: “Happy is the bride the sun shines on,” 

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

My father also had fun with proverbs. He had a bunch of ball caps made up for his business. He owned an auto salvage yard and vehicle repair shop (and had a trucking and construction business). The caps read, tongue-in-cheek: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” That one may be more true than was supposed. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

“Patience is a virtue,” was a proverb I heard often. So was: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” 

Some of them, I think, were just family sayings. One of those was: “Ask your ma for ten cents to see and elephant dance on a fence.” To us, that meant do not follow the crowd and to, no matter what others did, dress appropriately, as the case may be.

One of my sons quotes: “A train leaves no tracks.” He claims it is a conversation-stopper because it doesn’t make sense but those pondering it often try to make it do so. They will nod wisely and wander away.

“A fool and his money are soon parted.” Now that is a saying we could all benefit from in today’s world what with internet scams and crooks trying to take advantage of the clueless. “All that glitters is not gold.” 

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” “Money doesn't grow on trees.” “Money is the root of all evil.” “Money isn't everything.” “Money makes the world go round.” “Money talks.” “You can’t get blood out of a stone.” “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” “Time is money.”

Then there is:  “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client.” “The shoemaker's son always goes barefoot.”

“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” was meant to remind me that the family was counting on me to do my best. “Blood is thicker than water.” “Charity begins at home.”

“A change is as good as a rest.” Now that one may, or may not, be true. I have had some changes in my life that were truly restful and others, such as a 14-day stay in a hospital bed, that nearly drove me mad.

“A picture paints a thousand words.” “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

I was not a very tidy girl and I often heard: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” When I reached adulthood and was responsible for my own things, I learned that was true. “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” “The devil finds work for idle hands to do.”

“As you make your bed, so you must lie upon it.” “As you sow so shall you reap.”

 

“A prophet is not recognized in his own land.”

“Adversity makes strange bedfellows.” Contrast that with: “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” “Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.” "The best-laid schemes of mice and men often go astray."

The proverb I needed most? “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

Easter Morn

Easter Morn

First Easter morn, a world asleep;

Awake, arise, all you who weep.

For on this holy day we find,

Our Savior, Lord, freed all mankind;

Saved from death all those who wept,

Emmanuel His promise kept. 

By Myrna Trauntvein

Copyright by Myrna Trauntvein, April 24, 2011

Coincidence

Grandma's 1908 Poem

Poetry by the Children of Mt. Pleasant – Printed circa 1908 by the Mt. Pleasant Pyramid. The original copy is from the archives of Betty G. Woodbury & restoration work has been done by David Gunderson. As you read these delightful verses, you will get a glimpse of an era gone by and you might find a verse written by one of your ancestors. Vivian Pritchett (who later married Raymond James Smith), a school girl in Mt. Pleasant at the time, was one of the authors. She is my grandmother.

Utahns opposed to Las Vegas water grab: Snake Valley & Owens Valley

Utahns opposed to Las Vegas water grab: Snake Valley & Owens Valley

Myrna and Sarah Ellen

I am about 6 1/2 months old in this photo. This is my great-great grandmother.  Her name is Sarah Ellen Thompson Prtichett Wilson. The photo was taken in front of her home in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. You cannot tell from the photo but the house is two-story. I remember the huge kitchen, obviously from later visits. It had a huge coal stove where good food was cooked for many years prior to my visits. She was my Grandmother Smith's grandma. After her first husband, Levi Franklin Pritchett was murdered for the money in his safe, she took in borders to make a living and keep a roof over her head. Later, she married a second time and had another child.

A Family That Sings Together

We have quite a musical family. That is true today and it was true in the past.

When I went to the funeral for my cousin (first cousin, once removed), Eva Jane, her children spoke about how much she loved singing and dancing. She loved it so much, in fact, that even though her memories were fading away, she could remember the hymns and sing them word for word, on pitch and in tune. Her father, Tom Smith, my grandfather Raymond's brother, sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The Smith brothers, of which my grandfather was one, often sang together for events in Springville, Utah, where they lived. Another brother, Claude, also sang with the Tabernacle Choir.

My grandfather, Raymond (or Ray to his family) loved singing as he worked in the house, or in the garden, or at his work,  just as Eva Jane did. Grandmother Vivian told how he loved to sing to her: "I Dream of Vivian with the Light Brown Hair." That was his version of "I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair," a song written by Stephen Foster (c. 1854). She played the song for me on the piano and I learned to sing it as a girl. Grandma was always a bit concerned that the case of pneumonia (not his first) he developed after walking her home from a dance they had attended where he sang might have lead to the lung cancer he developed which took his life. "I was cold and he gave me his suit jacket so that I would be warm and then he got sick," she said. "He was overheated from the dance and the singing he had done."

Grandfather Ray also liked to sing "Winter Wonderland" to his Vivian. That song was not published until 1934 and my grandfather died in 1936 so he would not have had long to sing it to her. He was an Irish tenor and was in many musicals in Utah County. We have a photo of him with the cast from "HMS Pinafore" written by Gilbert and Sullivan as it was presented in Springville. We also have a photo of him posing with other members of the lyric choir of Huntington in Emery County. By then, he and my grandmother were living there.

Grandmother Smith was an accomplished pianist. In her teen-aged years she got a job playing piano for the silent movies. The pianists had to come up with their own script of music; it didn't travel around with the movie. If the scene was sad, she would have to play sad music and, if was happy, she would need to play upbeat music. She said she loved the job because she got to see all of the new movies. She also accompanied her sister Jessie, who loved to sing. Grandmother always said Jessie had such a beautiful voice that everyone wanted her to sing.

Grandma's father, John Pritchett, was a pharmacist who built his business in Huntington. But he could also play the violin though much of the music he played was fiddle music. "I loved to hear him play "Turkey in the Straw,'" said Grandma. She said that he often played for dances and could play many types of music including waltzes. In that day, the dance to do in public was the waltz. In fact, the two-step was considered a bit risqué.

My Aunt Renee, my mother's sister, played the trumpet. She was very good. However, the thing I remember most about her musical talent was her ability to whistle. She could do many different bird calls and sounded, at times, like a flute and at others like a horn. It was truly remarkable. I tried to learn from her but I couldn't, and still can't, whistle at all. Aunt Renee could also play the harmonica. She tried to teach me to do that as well and, once again, I failed to learn

On the other side of the family, my grandfather also had a beautiful singing voice. In his early days he sang with and lead choirs. My father and mother were both singers. In fact, the night that my father met my mother, she sang in a quartet for the floor show. They sang, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes." My father saw her at that dance, and told one of his friends, "That is the girl I am going to marry." He asked her to dance, swept her off her feet and, later, did marry her. I didn't ever hear them sing together, that I remember, but I can only imagine that it was beautiful. Even in his later years, Dad sounded like Bing Crosby. My mother was a second soprano and could also sing alto. Dad could also play the harmonica and loved to do so at camp outs. I know, first hand, that my father was a wonderful dancer.

I am not much of a singer. I was always terrified to sing in front of people unless I was singing with a choir or chorus. I did a fair amount of singing for others when I was a child and even took singing lessons. When I was little, I was not afraid but, when I became a teenager, I was horrified. When you try to sing when you are so frightened, your voice will not respond. It shakes and squeaks and you cannot, for all your trying, reach any of the high notes. I decided to write instead of sing.

 My husband, sang in the Danish LDS Choir when he was in Denmark. He sang a bit with church and college choirs after he returned home but he, like me, never sang a lot. He did play the trumpet but, over the years, he has not kept that up.

However, fortunately for me, my life has never been devoid of music. My children and grandchildren all have musical gifts. Many of them play the piano, many play other musical instruments and all of them can sing. Most of them, in fact, sing like angels. None of them are afraid to sing in public. They all have inherited the musical gene. So when it comes time for me to stand with a heavenly choir, after this life, I will just be able to keep my mouth shut and listen to my family singing around me.

If they are singing, I will be in Heaven.

Eva Jane Smith Bjarnson

 Thursday, February 24, 2011 12:50 am 

Eva Jane Smith Bjarnson

Eva Jane

Smith Bjarnson

1924 ~ 2011

Eva Jane Smith Bjarnson, our sweet wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, passed away quietly at home with family on Friday, the 18th of February 2011. She was a valiant strong lady in life and still continues that quest. She was born on the 19th of August, 1924 to Sydney Thomas and Dolly Grey Lewis Smith in Springville, Utah. She was very proud of her heritage. 

On the 12th of June, 1946 she married her sweetheart Leon Gourdin Bjarnson. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple, on the 25th of June, 1954. They raised four children with the goal of an eternal family.

She dedicated herself to her family and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She spent many years in church service with Primary and Relief Society. She and Leon served as guides in the Provo Tabernacle. They also enjoyed service in the Provo Temple. A highlight of her life, second only to marriage and family, was a mission they served together in the Hawaii Visitors Center. They saw many people there and she loved bearing her testimony of the Savior and His church.

She graduated from Springville High School and attended BYU. She enjoyed many hobbies through the years such as reading and sewing. She grew to love dance and music through her parents. One of her great loves was music. She enjoyed outings and trips with Leon for many years. In all her years she loved being with and watching "the little ones", her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The theme of her life was her testimony of her Savior, Jesus Christ. She loves Him and has earned her sweet rewards. She will be missed by all and we look forward to a happy reunion someday.

She is survived by her husband Leon of Springville, Utah and four children; Linda Craig (Jim) of Mesa, Arizona; Karen Miner (Sherl) of Springville, Utah; Diane Poulson (Alan) of Springville Utah; Steven Leon Bjarnson (Margo) of Mapleton Utah; 21 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren; and her sister Dolores Anne Bahr of West Valley City. She was preceded in death by her parents Tom and Dolly Smith and a grandson Marcus Ash.

The family wishes to express their sincere appreciation and love for those special people who treated her like a princess in her last months; Community Nursing Services and Hospice of Utah and especially Virginia and Becca. They were unselfish and tender.

Funeral Services will be held Saturday the 26th of February at 11 am in the Hobble Creek West Stake Center, 555 South 600 East (Averett Ave) Springville, Utah. A viewing will be held Friday evening, the 25th of February, from 6-8 pm at Wheeler Mortuary, 211 East 200 South, Springville, and at the church prior to the service on Saturday morning from 10:00 am to 10:40 am. Burial will be at the Evergreen Cemetery.

A story of hardiness

Our neighbor, Merlene Christensen Collard, who is 95-years old, was supposed to speak in Sacrament meeting today but she did not feel well so our former Relief Society President, Stacy Nielsen, now her visiting teacher, read the talk. At any rate, Sister Collard's talk told a bit of her history.


There is a close connection with those who lived in the same era in Utah. Those hardy stock shared many of the same experiences. The first generation pioneers, so to speak, from any country had many similar circumstances when they arrived. This was especially true of the Danish folk. They came to Utah to live their religion and were, basically a devout people. They learned English because they wanted to. But many of their customs remained intact. My great-grandmother was superstitious to a fault. For example, one did not open an umbrella in the house, for it would bring bad luck. Many of the Danish pioneers were also superstitious.


Sister Collard's parents, like my great-great grandparents, were also first generation Danes who joined the church and came to Utah. She said she always loved it when her mother would pray in the evening for family prayer because she prayed in Danish. The children did not know that language well, but they liked the sound of it when she prayed. Her father was a shoemaker. She was the last of 14 children born to the family and her mother died when she was 57 (Sister Collard was 15). Therefore, Sister Collard cared for her father, and a few of her older siblings, for several years by doing the cooking, cleaning and washing. When she married, she moved to Mills (south of Levan) where her husband was a rancher. They did not have electricity or indoor plumbing. They did not have water. They did have a cistern where they stored water which she had to haul from the railroad tank a few miles away (steam engines used water and so needed a source to refill from). She then would syphon the water into the tank. One time, she sucked on the hose to start the water flowing and a mouse came out. She was certain she was going to get some awful disease but she didn't. However, she did have to empty the cistern and wash the tank and the barrel out with clorox and then start over. She said she knew Heavenly Father loved her or she would never have survived the mice, rats, snakes and spiders that made her home their home, even though she fought them off.


Her story reminded me of my great-grandmother, Mina Ericksen Pritchett, who was also the daughter of immigrant Danes. Both said that their parents wanted their children to be Americans and speak English so they discouraged the use of their native language. The only time the parents spoke Danish was when they did not want the children in the family to know what was being said. That could be convenient. I would have liked to have had another language to use when I discussed something I didn't want my children to know. When I was a child, my grandmother and aunt spelled when they did not want me to know what was being said. That did not work with my children since they were much better spellers than I and at a much earlier age. It also did not work for my cousins who were also good spellers.


Sister Collard said that her father was a strict parent. I don't know if he could have been more strict than my Great-Grandmother Mina's father. When the girls in the home washed and combed their long hair, he had them do so on a piece of paper so that hair would not get all over the floor. When they were done, he would have them roll the paper up and dispose of it. The result was a floor much cleaner than it would have been otherwise. He was a farmer and also believed that things should be tidy about the farm. He would sweep the barnyard and the floor of the barn so that they were clean. Of course, over time, the earth around the barn packed down and it was easy enough to maintain. However, with each winter, I can only imagine that the earth would soften up from the layers of snow which would melt away and the project would begin again.


Of course, being strict was not his only personality trait. He also had a good sense of humor. There were a lot of family jokes that were retold to new gales of laughter. There were new ones added as they happened. The family also delighted in the company of one another. It was a polygamist family. Lars, the father, had two wives which the children called Mommy and Momma. The wives were good friends who had proposed the idea of living in polygamy to Lars when another man wanted Stina or Momma, Mina's mother, to become his wife in a polygamist relationship. She did not want to comply. So the two women persuaded Lars to take Stina as his second wife and the two women were as close, according to my great-grandmother, as any two loving sisters could have been. The children all knew that they were loved by both women and there was no jealousy. In that, I suppose, you could say that the family all learned how to compromise which is, perhaps, what made Mina's brother, Ferdinand Ericksen, such a successful judge when he was an adult.


Great-Grandmother Mina spoke, with great distaste, of two women who lived near them who were always quarreling and contentious. She had a way of twitching her nose slightly from side to side which she did when she did not like something. Her nose twitched when she spoke of those two women. Sometimes, her nose twitched when she was displeased with something I had done. That happened, especially, when I managed to get mud from one end of me to the other without really trying. Honestly, even today, I am surprised that I attract dirt the way I do. But that is another story for another day.

Traveler

Three paths mingled upon the whitened way,

Freshly covered with bright new drifts of snow.

One turned in along path of darkened gray

There just about half-way to mine, I know.

I walked to where my pathway split aside

Next to the other footprints threading yon.

I trudged ahead always stepping beside

Those other prints, then noted they went on

Past my path, imprints beyond my vision

In the moon glow and puddles of streetlight.

I did not care, for my firm decision

Was to snuggle into warmth that cold night.

And yet, I hope a friendly smile was there

To welcome, to greet, the unknown traveler.

Copyright by Myrna Trauntvein. Please credit me as author.