Keeping the Records
by
Mabel M. Mollard
How faded and yellow is the simulated leather in which it is bound! The age is now fifty-six, and myriad as the pages are the memories it holds. They are very sacred to me. Written in my mother's handwriting are the names and dates of all her descendants, recording each precious child. I can call it sacred for it is a white Bible presented to my late husband and me when we bought our wedding ring from Breslauer & Warren Jewellers in July 1939.
After the first entry in the Record Section, "Our Wedding", it was never opened. Life and time brought us no more "little" entries. We had other Bibles so this one was in practically new shape in September 1962. There had been a fire in the family home in which the old family Bible had been lost. My husband and I decided to present our "Treasure" to my parents on their Golden Wedding Anniversary, to again keep the family records.
The "Record Section" is now filled, along with the flyleaf, with many more extra separate leaves which were added. The dear parents have passed away and so has my dear husband. The Bible has been given back to me to make the entries as they occur. You might wonder at such copious entries, but the parents raised twelve of us children. Two are married without children, one sister died in her teens, and one brother is a bachelor. One sister married a second time after she was widowed, and raised a family of nine who now have produced thirty-seven grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. When spouses are added, it makes a book full of memories. With headings of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, along with Christmases, Thanksgivings and Anniversaries, the Record is precious. My parents are now recorded at their life's ending.