Comment

Childless Couple

Thank you for printing the article by Larry Cragun, “Please, Father, Bless Us with Children” (Mar. 1980).

It is impossible to put into words the pain and hurt, the anxiety, and the feeling of total helplessness my husband and I have gone through as a childless couple. Knowing there are others of us out there somehow helps. I hope there will be more printed on this subject.

Andrea Emmett
Salt Lake City, Utah

I have just finished reading the article by Larry Cragun. I thought it was especially sad because right now there are 160,000 children in the United States with special needs who are waiting for parents. We have three, and they are not monsters with a million problems and demands; they are beautiful, loving children. There are state subsidies to help with medical bills and an army of programs to help improve the lot of these children. Agencies such as ARENA (Adoption Resource Exchange of North America) can place these children with acceptable parents within a short period of time.

Jacqueline Althoff
Manassas, Virginia

Comment on Church history article

I was thrilled to read the story of the settlement of Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin in the February 1980 Ensign (p. 30). My father, Silas H. Snell, and his father, Rufus P. Snell, and some of my uncles were a part of that group. Incidentally, the Snells formed their own company to cross the plains to Utah, and Rufus P. Snell, as a boy, walked most of the way with a crutch.

Frank R. Snell
Orem, Utah

Elderly Ensign Readers

My wife and I are getting along in years and we do not get out as much as we used to, so we try to have family home evening almost every evening. We listen to the news on TV, then sit down and read an article or a chapter from a good book or magazine, then play a game for a few minutes before we retire. We often read the Ensign, especially the conference reports.

Forrest C. Heath
Seattle, Washington

A “Mormon Journal” fan

One section of the Ensign that means a lot to me is “Mormon Journal.” When you leave it out, there is a void. The first page I read is the contents to see if it’s there. I know it won’t be in the May and November issues, so would you please never leave it out of the others? It gives me comfort, inspiration, and hope.

Lueta V. Larsen
Washington, D.C.

More on cleaners

The “Mix-it-yourself Cleaners” piece, January 1980, prompted me to tell you that sand and wood ashes are effective cleaners too. Sift the sand to remove small pebbles, and use it with a damp cloth as a pot scrubber. Sand may also be used with a damp cloth to clean tarnished silver. Sifted wood ashes, applied with a damp cloth, are a good cleaner for sinks, tubs, and toilet bowls.

Maurine Joens
Cushman, Arkansas

Booklet is praised

We would like to thank those in Church magazines who helped compile the booklet The Church and the Proposed Equal Rights Amendment. It is very enlightening and complete.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the major effect of the recent criticism of the Church and its leaders over the ERA has been to encourage Church members to seek out and find the reasons for the Church’s wise decision to oppose the amendment.

James and Deborah Catano
Orem, Utah

More Cheers for Oma

May I add a few words about Oma, the den mother in “Such Goot, Goot Boys!” (Feb. 1980, p. 17). She was an elementary school teacher before coming to this country, with classes of up to 53 children, and they loved her. In her seventies she was again called as a den mother, and recently, at age 82 she was called to teach the five-year-olds in Primary.

We are all very proud of this special lady, my mother.

Ann Copier
Salt Lake City, Utah

“Ten minutes a room”

I am in my forties. I joined the Church when I was twenty-one, and despite years of counseling in Relief Society, I’ve never been a good housekeeper. I have had so many interests, some days I haven’t even noticed that there was housework to be done.

Then I read Betty Jan Murphy’s article “Ten Minutes a Room” (Dec. 1979, p. 61), and it has moved me to action. Now I think I can gain order and beauty in my home. Thank you for sharing the experiences of other Latter-day Saints.

Amy Ericksen
Otto, Wyoming

Update

February 1980, p. 30: “May I call your attention to a couple of detail errors in quoting from my book With Book and Plow for the article on Cowley? The cash earnings referred to at the bottom of the last column on page 30 were not earned on the twenty-three mile “manna” contract but on another job, a railroad line northeast of Cody. The person identified in brackets (p. 31, col. 2) should have been eyewitness David Robertson. Also, the tunnel mentioned in the caption (p. 32) was probably the tunnel for the Sidon canal where it goes under the end of the sandhill northeast of Byron, since the railroad grade, used by the CB&Q railroad for several years, had no tunnel as part of its construction.

Mark N. Partridge,
Cowley, Wyoming”