Short Stories

File — Box: 5, Folder: 2

Identifier: III

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This folder consists of three portions of short stories written by Mary, two of which were obviously submitted for a writing class. Short story by Mary Bennion Powell, "The End of Childhood", is an account of Mary's realization that her father was a polygamist. The end of childhood is symbolic of the end of her innocence. She feels shattered and betrayed. She gives a beautiful description of the good life she and the rest of her large family enjoyed, spending two weeks every summer on a camping trip in the pine and sagebrush scented sunlight of the Chalk Creek Canyons where they ran wild and free and all cares faded away.
Mary becomes aware and puzzled by the tension and hostility she senses between her parents. All is not as it used to be. One day she finds a note written to her father signed only "M". She writes:
"Surely I knew about polygamy; that it had in the early years of the Church, been practiced by such men as Brigham Young. But I also knew about the Manifesto. We learned all about the church's history in Sunday School. Papa had not only disobeyed the law of the United States and was not on trial before that law, but he had gone against the advice of President Woodruff who had counseled all the men of the church not to practice that principle any more."
Another short piece is a fictionalized account of incidents in Mary's childhood, involving her siblings. Once her brother was beaten for letting the cows out and once her sister had had her gums lanced to allow new teeth to emerge more easily. Mary was protective of the children and frightened by the adults in her world.
Another beginning of a story is set in an Ogden train terminal and the speaker [Mary] is in the early stages of a first pregnancy feeling overwhelmed with nausea and loneliness, and wondering what will happen if she faints. She reads a newspaper with the Germans in the headlines. It is 1918 and the first World War is raging.

Dates

1844-1949

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.