Thoughts on a 1931 YW Lesson

A few years ago I was perusing through the back rooms at a used bookstore in Spanish Fork, Utah, hoping to find old YW manuals to add to my research material. I finally found a YW Manual from 1931. (At some point I am going to trace the development of manuals from the early Brigham Young era--where the girls taught each other, came up with their own themes, etc.--to our current YW program. 1931 is a nice middle point along the way.) There are a lot of interesting things to look at in these old manuals. Who taught who? Who wrote the lessons? How long were they? Are there set questions to ask? How much of the program is focused on personal goals? Are there more lessons on "spiritual" topics or "temporal" topics (like being healthy)? 


Today I want to share my thoughts and get your reactions to a segment from the chapter on Scripture Reading from this 1931 manual:

Have you ever listened to a fine rendition of Handel's "Messiah"? All the splendid words, set to this marvelous music, are taken from the writing in the Bible. Or Haydn's "Creation"? Again the great musician has found all the themes for his music within the written words of this book. How much greater the enjoyment when the words and setting are familiar and the ear of the listener can give itself to the full beauty of the music. What of Easter music? Is it one of your hopes some day to travel through the cathedrals of Europe or to linger in her famous art galleries? With a thorough knowledge of Bible events and characters, and the life of Jesus and his parables, how much greater will your interest in stained glass windows, in statues of the Apostles which adorn these great figures are so often to be seen, and innumerable portraits of the Madonna and child Jesus--of the Holy Family, including Zacharias and Elizabeth and the infant, John the Baptist. Every gallery boasts its treasures. Should you get to Dresden, shall you go to see The Sistine Madonna? Or when you are in Rome, shall you hunt up Michael Anglo's statue of Moses--the Law Giver--and find out why he is adorned with small horns on his head? And what about Michael Anglo's "David"? Do you now the world's most vivid and perfect story of human relations--the Good Samaritan? Can you, sitting on a rock in the mountains, fold your hands and say with understanding, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow **"?

Times have changed from 1931, eh? What hit me first was that the author assumes that all the YW want to be cultured, to be well-informed on great music and painting. She also assumes that enough of the YW have the desire (and the means!) to travel to Europe that this is worth talking about in a lesson. She assumes that if the YW get to Europe, they don't want to embarrass themselves by not appreciating what they see. There is an emphasis on being refined and educated, and not missing out on an opportunity because of laziness. These seem like good Victorian-era values. :) 


I have mixed feelings about this being in a YW lesson. Personally, I would love it if more youth were being taught about great music, art, literature, and traveling to Europe to experience the culture opportunities there. I studied Humanities myself when I got to college but mostly I was trying catch up on knowing the basics. I never had the chance to go to Europe. I barely knew the Hallelujah chorus. I knew who Monet and Renoir were, but knowing their place in the history of art and what the Impressionist painters had to do with sculpture of Rodin was something I only glimpsed at the end of my time at BYU. I'm still playing catch up, compared to the old-fashioned classical education that was the ideal of the Victorian era. I'm hoping my kids get a bit of a head start being homeschooled, but I still don't have the funds to take them to Europe! So I'm a bit star-struck that a teacher could assume that of her students.


To be honest, however, this does feel a bit out of place in a lesson on Scripture Reading. Sure, when you have a mutual night on fine art, show them how the Bible has saturated the themes of great music and painting. But in a lesson on Scripture Reading, do we want to spend 1/5 of the lesson on it? I guess what bothers me is that the author uses this desire to be knowledgeable and cultured as a reason to study the scriptures. It feels like she is trying to talk the YW into reading the Bible by appealing to something they are actually invested in. 


Although I suppose we probably do the same thing. We want the YW to be interested in something "important," but we don't think they really will be, so we have to dress it up a little or appeal to something they're already committed to. The gospel becomes a means to an end, rather than a joyful end in itself.


What are your reactions?