Kind friends, as here I stand to sing,
So very [strange] I feel,
That now I’ve made my bow, I fear
I don’t look quite genteel;
But, never mind, for I’m a boy
That’s always full of joy –
A rough and ready sort of chap –
An honest Mormon boy.
A Mormon boy, a Mormon boy,
I am a Mormon boy;
I might be envied by a king,
For I am a Mormon boy.
Scouts from Monroe, Utah, on the sumit of Mount Baldy, 1916
I’m proud to know that I was born
Among these mountains high,
Where I’ve been taught to love the truth,
And scorn to tell a lie;
Yet I’ll confess that I am wild,
And often do annoy
My dearest friends, but that’s a fault
Of many a Mormon boy.
A Mormon boy, a Mormon boy,
I am a Mormon boy;
I might be envied by a king,
For I am a Mormon boy.
My father is a Mormon true,
And when I am a man,
I want to be like him, and do
Just all the good I can.
My faults I’ll try to overcome,
And while I life enjoy,
With pride I’ll lift my head, and say,
I am a Mormon boy.
A Mormon boy, a Mormon boy,
I am a Mormon boy;
I might be envied by a king,
For I am a Mormon boy.
– Evan Stephens
Whether they were Primary boys, Scouts, deacons, young men in MIA, or missionaries, the rough and ready Mormon boys of 1916 and 1917 were busy having a good time, or rendering service, or doing both at once:
Missionaries in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1916
.
MIA Boys’ Band of the Salt Lake 9th Ward, 1916
.
Elder V.L. Pingree of Salt Lake City, serving as a missionary in Pennsylvania
and volunteering labor in a local war garden, 1916
.
Richfield, Utah, scouts practicing first aid, 1916
(Scoutmaster Roy Chidester is named in the original caption. I knew Roy as an old man in the 1960s,
a friend of my grandmother, who let me feed dandelion greens to his pet turtle)
.
Waterloo Ward (Salt Lake) Boy Scouts, 1916
Working in a war garden
.
Deacons and teachers of Idaho Falls, 1917
.
Boy Scouts of Roosevelt, Utah, 1916
.
Boy Scouts of Provo, Utah, hiking to Utah Lake, 1916
.
Trail Builders of Price, Utah, 1916
.
Scouts and Beehive Girls of Sigurd, Utah, 1917
.
A Scout demonstration, 1916, in the Deseret Gymnasium, Salt Lake City
.
High school cadets, most of whom were LDS, marching in a “preparedness” parade in Salt Lake City, June 1916
.
Scouts from Tooele, Utah, in the Great Salt Lake, 1917
.
Waterloo Ward (Salt Lake) Scouts on Temple Square, April 1916.
The Scouts assisted conference visitors in finding boarding places in the city
.
Missionaries, West Virginia, 1916
Each of these four Mormon boys stood over six feet tall
.
Boy Scout rally in the Deseret Gymnasium, 15 February 1917
.
Raft River, Idaho, male quartet, 1916
Winners in Church-wide MIA singing contest
.
The Scouts of Pioneer Stake (Salt Lake) visiting the state capitol
.
Trail Builders of the Richards Ward (Salt Lake), 1916,
displaying a flag they sewed themselves
(with help from the Relief Society in cutting the stars)
.
Maori Agricultural College (1913-1931) football team, 1916
(The MAC was succeeded in 1953 by the Church College of New Zealand
which is scheduled to close this coming November)
.
Scouts of Duchesne, Utah, on a 1916 overnight camping trip
.
Provo, Utah, Scouts learning outdoor cooking, 1916
.
Menan, Idaho, MIA boys studying potato culture, 1916
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