in defense of history: louis xvii and mormon lore

I had a realization in church today, and unfortunately it had nothing to do with the improvement of my character. Instead, I realized that the reason I am consistently bothered with "Mormon lore" is that such stories are usually untrue in terms of historical events and facts. It's the historian in me that gets bugged when I hear a bit of Mormon lore.

Today I had to refrain from shaking my head in disagreement during sacrament meeting, when a woman stood up to tell a story about Louis XVII (shown on the right in a 1792 portrait by Kucharsky). To give you a little bit of (accurate) historical background: this young prince was the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. During the French Revolution, he and his family members were taken into captivity. Louis XVII was imprisoned in the tower of the Paris Temple from 1792 until his death in 1795.

The speaker in today's sacrament meeting decided to quote a story which seems to have originally appeared (among LDS circles) in a New Era article by Vaughn J. Featherstone (1975). According to this alleged historical account, Louis XVII maintained high standards of morale and character during his imprisonment, despite his captors' attempts to introduce the boy to foul language, lewd women, rich foods, etc. Instead of buckling to slavish appetites and crude ways, the boy defiantly resisted, saying, "I cannot do what you ask, for I was born to be a king." Countless LDS speakers, articles, and church manuals have since used this quote (for example, it appeared last year in a talk by Elaine S. Dalton), and Steven R. Covey apparently references the story in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens. In fact, when I did a Google search for this quote, almost all of the references were from LDS sources - none of them were from scholarly, historical accounts.

Now, for a little bit of accuracy and scholarship: as of yet, I have never come across any historical source that discusses Louis XVII resisting foul language and worldly pleasures. Perhaps he may have resisted at some point, or perhaps this story originated by a group who was sympathetic to the royal family - but I am not familiar with any such account. Actually, the history books I have read (including one that I read just over a year ago) tell quite an opposite story: captors did want to affect the boy's morale, and were delighted to see him using foul and rude language. I remember reading something about a doctor visiting the prince, and noting that the boy had formed uncouth habits (which I will leave to your imagination - you can email me if you want specifics). Louis XVII was taught to say horrible things about his mother and sister (who would have been able to hear the boy say these things from another floor in the tower) and to sing the Carmagnole. The list goes on and on. Really, the story is quite sad, especially since Louis XVII was only seven years old when he was brought into captivity. This was a very young, impressionable boy who died after a few years in his captivity. Despite stories of a "Lost Dauphin" prince who escaped from the prison, DNA testing proved in 2000 that the boy actually died in the Temple tower.

If the "for I was born to be a king" quote and story did not originate from a royalist sympathizer in the late 18th century, it's very likely that it originated in the early 20th century. In 1903, this quote appeared in a book that contained moral stories ("illustrations") which were intended to be used from the pulpit to help "save a sermon from unbroken dulness [sic]."¹ The Princeton Theological Review suggests that this Louis XVII quote might have been "absolutely new" at the time (perhaps inferring the story would have been a new addition those "illustrations" which were currently used in religious sermons, but I think it also could suggest that the story had been concocted around the time of the book's publication). I think that Featherstone became familiar with this Louis XVII story in the 1970s because it had become popular among religious circles and used in sermons. The story obviously continues to be popular, at least among Mormons. And the rest, my friends, is history. Mormon lore history.

P.S. I know that there is a nice sentiment behind the "for I was born to be a king" story, and I don't mind that. If people can derive some type of moral or inspiring message from the story, go for it. But I really dislike propagating or telling these kinds of stories, because they simply are not true or cannot be verified. If we're going to tell a story from the pulpit, can't it just start with "once upon a time?" The meaning of the message will be just as clear, and then we won't be propagating historical inaccuracies.

1 Princeton Theological Seminary, The Princeton Theological Review, vol. 2 (MacCalla & Co. Inc., 1904), 353. Available online here.

fictionist for rolling stone!

Last night, the Jimmy Fallon Show announced that Fictionist (the band that J played with for several years in college) will be competing in the Rolling Stone Cover Competition! This is a huge, huge deal for the band. We are so excited that they are getting such a great opportunity. The band will be competing against 15 other bands and the winners will 1) play on the Jimmy Fallon Show and 2) have their band on the cover of Rolling Stone. Have a listen to their music and rate them here:



I can tell that J's a wee bit sad that he's not part of the band right now. I don't blame him.

And hey, while you're at it, check out their new music video:

h. v. d.

I hope everyone is having a nice Valentine's Day! This morning my friend posted a nice reminder on Facebook: not only is St. Valentine the patron saint of love, but he is also the patron saint of bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, plague, travelers, and young people. So if you don't have a sweetheart this year, don't despair: St. Valentine offers something for everyone!

I'm stuck at home with laryngitis, but I'm making the best of it. I actually was pleased to get some a personal research projects done this afternoon, so I don't feel like the day is a total waste. And I'm making the best of my non-existent voice, too: I told J that I'm heightening the level of intimacy for Valentine's Day by speaking in an ever-constant whisper.

J made me a sweet little Valentine webpage this morning. As you might deduce from the page, we've found a house to rent. We filled out the renter application this morning, and hope to find out soon if we got selected. J has been following the house market for months (ever since knew he was getting a new job this year), and this is the first house that we have really liked. The house isn't perfect (the house has been completely remodeled, but some of the workmanship is a bit shoddy), and we weren't planning on moving until the summer, but this opportunity is too good to pass up. We're really excited to be in our own home, too (even though we have really appreciated the time that we have lived in my in-laws' home). Plus, I think it will be good for J to get a new hobby beside house-hunting online.

The other exciting news (for me, at least) is that a Caravaggio show is coming to the United States! Caravaggio is one of my favorite artists of all time, and this show is a really big deal. There hasn't been a Caravaggio show in the US since 1985. We're going to go to Texas for the show later this fall. (And in case you're wondering, the image that J referenced on my Valentine webpage was Caravaggio's David with the Head of Goliath (1606-07).

I hope this laryngitis goes away soon. I feel like this past year has been a little too busy - it's been hard to keep perfectly on top of things because of unexpected changes to our plans: ear aches, colds, funerals, new houses, etc. I'm ready to settle into a good ol' boring routine.

**Addendum: Sam read his first word today! We have been working on letter sounds for several months, and lately he's been asking how to spell words, too. Tonight we were playing with some letter magnets and he sounded out "D-A-D" without any help. I'm so proud of my little buddy!

dinosaur birthday parties

This past week has been unusually festive at our house. Sam has latched onto the idea of "dinosaur birthday parties" (he throws parties to celebrate the "birthday" of his dinosaur figurines), and we have had several parties each day. Each party consists of the following events:

1) Humans and dinosaurs don party hats.

2) Sam will inform both me (and the dinosaur-of-honor) that it is the dinosaur's birthday. The conversation unfolds something like this:

• Sam: "Today is Mr. Stegasaurus' birthday!"
• Me [in a dinosaur voice of disbelief]: "It is?!?!? How old am I?"
• Sam: "You are [insert number between one and five] years old!"
• Me [as dinosaur]: "I am?!?! Hooray!"

3) We sing "Happy Birthday" to the dinosaur. After singing the song for several hours on Tuesday, I decided to buy a toy birthday cake which would play the song instead. Not only has it given my vocal chords some rest, but it also helps make our party seem more "real." Plus, the toy plays "Happy Birthday" at a fast tempo, which has become essential for me in terms of time (see Step #9).

4) We clap and cheer after the dinosaur "blows out" the "candles."

5) We eat imaginary cake.

6) We give imaginary presents and watch the dinosaur "unwrap" them.

7) We play with party favors.

8) (Optional) We play a game. We either play hide-and-go seek (I hide the dinosaurs and Sam finds them) or do an activity in Sam's dinosaur coloring book.

9) (And this is the most important step) Repeat Step 1 - Step 8 over and over and over.

Although I have gotten tired of parties at various points this week, it's really cute to see Sam so excited. We've had a pretty fun time. Here are some pictures of our recent celebrations:

grandpa art

Some of you may be aware that my paternal grandfather passed away last week. This has been a really hard year for our family: this recent death is the fourth one which we have experienced in just over a year. My mom died a little over a year ago, my maternal grandfather died about six months ago, and J's aunt died only a few weeks ago. I'm so tired of thinking about death, being bombarded with death, and analyzing various coping methods for death - it is tempting to write a whiny, complain-y post about all of the mental and emotional strain that I have experienced over the past year. But I'm trying to not focus on those feelings right now; I don't want to be selfish. I would rather think about my grandfather and honor his memory.

The night that Grandpa passed away, J and I lay in bed, talking about death. J said that during his aunt's memorial service, it occurred to him how much people exist as memories, even when they are alive. When we think of a person, we usually think of our memories associated with that person. And even when a person dies, our memories of that person do not go away. So even though it's terribly sad that we can't make new memories with a person after they die (at least not in the same way as if they were alive), we can be grateful for the memories which we have of that person. Memories don't die unless we let them die.

I wanted to write a few memories that I have of my grandpa:

• My grandpa has a lot of great one-line phrases, like "You bet!" and "How 'bout some ice cream?" He would sometimes throw a "y'all" into his sentences for fun, since he lived in the Deep South for awhile. But my absolute favorite grandpa-ism (which has been my favorite for as long as I can remember), is "It's just you and me, Babe" ("Babe" meaning my grandma). I always thought it was cute that grandpa called grandma a "babe," even when I was as a little girl.
• My grandpa loved COSTCO. He worked in the grocery business for a long time, and he thought COSTCO was the best store: they have the best meat, the best produce, the best prices. I could always count on grandpa to let me know what was on sale at COSTCO. In fact, I think that the first time I ever went to COSTCO as a new member, I ran into my grandpa in an aisle (literally one minute after I had stepped inside the store). I also remember that soon after Sam was born, grandpa showed up at our house with a slew of COSTCO food. I specifically remember a rotisserie chicken and berry cheesecake. Yum.
  
• Grandpa was a great chef. The last time I spoke with my grandpa on the phone, I was asking advice on how to make his "Perfect Chili" recipe. Grandpa used to host a chili party every Christmas for the extended family, and when it became to difficult to host and cook for our ever-increasing numbers, other families began to host the party instead. Last year was my family's turn to host the Chili Party, and I used Grandpa's special recipe to make homemade chili for about 30 people. Although Grandpa wasn't feeling well back then, he made it to the party and gave me a "thumbs up" for my chili batch.
• Grandpa was very involved and interested in the lives of his grandchildren. He liked to sit down with us and talk about how things were going in our lives. After he and grandma moved to Utah, he liked to support us grandkids in our various activities. He and my grandma attended several BYU choir concerts over the recent years (especially for my brother A and sister C). I also remember that he and grandma made it a point to attend my seminary graduation, where I was an invited speaker. That meant a lot to me.

We love you and will miss you, Grandpa. Thanks for being such a good, kind man. Family BBQs won't be the same without you.

perry mason

This past weekend, J and I watched an episode of "Perry Mason." For those of you who aren't familiar with this television show from the 1950s and 1960s, "Perry Mason" is a legal drama which revolves around a famous defense attorney (Mason) who defends clients that are accused of murder. And Mason wins (just about) every single case.

Watching the show was quite a blast-from-the-past for me. My older sister and I used to watch "Perry Mason" on a regular basis. This past Friday I was surprised to see how much I remembered from the show - I could introduce J to each of the main characters. I know that the acting in the show isn't stellar (that was really apparent as I watched the show this past weekend), and that each episode is predictable (i.e. the murderer always dramatically confesses in the courtroom during the last two minutes of the show), but I love it.

J says that now he understands why I love Hitchcock films and murder mystery stories, given that I grew up watching "Perry Mason." In his opinion, Hitchcock is "a step up" from the television series - I guess suggesting that my taste in murder mysteries has refined with age. Hmm. Maybe he's right. I wonder what "a step up" from Hitchcock would be? What murder mystery show/film will I like when I'm fifty?

Has anyone read any of the Perry Mason books? I know that the television series was based on novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner, but I've never read any of them. Should I try them out?

end of fun

I'm a wee bit sad. This morning is our last time with J in his role as "househusband." He's just about to start his new job (which is awesome and exciting), but I'm a little sad that he won't be around so much. We've had a lot of fun during the time that he's been home - even though I know that he has been a little bored at times (but such is the life of a stay-at-home parent, right?).

Our family schedule is slowing morphing and changing. J and I both need get up much earlier (boo!), which means that we need to start going to bed earlier. In turn, that means that J and I won't have so much time together in the evenings (after Sam goes to bed). We're going to have to put Sam to bed earlier too, so that he can wake up in time for his preschool that meets twice a week. (Sam is absolutely thrilled to go to school.) But this is all for the greater good, I suppose. It just means that J, Sam and I need to maximize on the waking hours that we have together.

Really, we are excited for 2011 and the prospects that this new schedule/job will bring. But I am glad that we got to have J around the house for a few months. What a fun time we had.