“That Horrid Black Place”

Nicolas Groesbeck Smith

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Nicholas_G._Smith2.jpg/125px-Nicholas_G._Smith2.jpg

When Florence Farr Smith learned of her husband’s (Nicolas Groesbeck Smith-George Albert Smith’s half brother) mission call as a mission president she made the comment, “that horrid black place.” Where was she referring to?

a.            South Africa

b.            Haiti

c.             Southern States Mission

d.            Mozambique

Yesterday’s answer:

C   Mystical

On the re-opening of the Italian Mission in 1965: With its readership’s sensibilities in mind, the article opens with a half-apologetic caveat: that newspapers are a magnet for unusual people and ideas, and the Mormons are making an announcement of something new. The unnamed reporter commented that he had been aware for several days of the two young men of “mystical aspect” who rode motor scooters from street to street and house to house, holding direct discussions about their doctrine with families. Their Italian, he noted is “characteristic” of foreigners but quite “comprehensible.” In identifying their title as “Elder,” the author wryly underscored the irony: “That’s exactly what they said: Elder. And so we see that indeed everything is relative in this world because the first missionary is 25 and the second is even younger so that, adding their ages, it’s not even half a century.”

The article identified Duns [John Jr.] as the presiding officer, observed that the mission headquarters were in Florence, gave the address of the missionaries in Udine, then summarized their message: “We were interested in knowing what, in particular, one must do to be considered a good Mormon. Here it is: one must not smoke, it is prohibited to drink hot drinks, above all tea and coffee. And wine, we asked, can you drink wine? Oh no, they answered. We drew the conclusion that in the next two years—with all the respect that is due to the message and to the two missionaries—there will not be many Mormons in Udine.”

James A. Toronto, The “Wild West” of Missionary Work” Reopening the Italian Mission, 1965-71, Journal of Mormon History, Fall 2014, 57-58.