EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS.
Education Promoted.—Adventurers.—Endowment House.—President Young Speaks of the Resurrection.—Death of Judge Schafer.—Provo.—Work in Educational Societies.—In the Legislature at Fillmore.—Words of Confidence from Kanosh, an Indian Chief.—Some Peculiarities of Wilford Woodruff.—Poisoned.
The first day of the year 1855 was observed by a social entertainment which the Governor and the Legislature of Utah gave in the new Social Hall. "It was the most splendid party up to that date ever gotten up in the Territory. The United States judges and military officers were invited. Dancing commenced at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and closed with a supper at mid-night."
These hardy pioneers had grand ambitions in their humble homes, amid humble surroundings. They established a grammar school under the direction of Orson Hyde. They also organized a Universal Scientific Association for the study of science, the promotion of education, and the accumulation of a library and museum. They already had their Philosophical Society and later organized a Horticultural Association for the purpose of encouraging the growth of fruit in the Territory.
On the 4th of February, at the Sunday meeting, some attention was given to the attitude which the Saints had taken toward a host of new comers who were not of their faith. Most of them belonged to an adventurous class and were unscrupulous men. Against them the Saints were warned. This warning created considerable excitement among them. The new comers were angry, but the Saints were firm. In time excitement quieted down. Some of the outsiders soon learned that there was a social barrier which they could not break down. They were not here to establish homes, and many were disappointed when they could not prey upon the homes of the Latter-day Saints.
As spring approached new problems arose. The new country was a kind of experiment station, and the people were anxious to get all kinds of seeds that they might experiment with the soil and climate. Elder Woodruff was among the first to introduce fruittrees. He obtained thirty-one different kinds of choice applegrafts. The future began to look more hopeful. They had in mind a grand commonwealth, which by their faithful industry they would establish. They were spreading out over the Valleys of the Mountains and establishing homes. They were a happy people, full of hope and grand expectations—if the soil responded to their efforts.
The political situation became disappointing. At first Brigham Young had been appointed Governor, and had given satisfaction. He was beloved by his people; and respect for their local self-government and their wishes would have continued him as such, but men were not slow in circulating evil reports and in creating prejudice and hatred in the hearts of those who leaned toward the Latter-day Saints. The word came that another was to succeed Brigham Young as governor.
Announcement was made that on February the 18th President Young would give the views of our people concerning the government of the United States. On that date the Tabernacle was crowded, and there were probably one thousand people on the outside who could not find entrance; but President Young was sick and unable to attend. His statement, however, to the people was read in which he expressed loyalty to the Constitution and laws of the country, but disapprobation towards those who were severe, and towards men in high places who disregarded the rights of the people here. The address was published in theDeseret Newsand later on, in theJournal of Discourses.
On February 18th John Smith received his ordination to the office of Patriarch of the Church, he having been previously called to that high station on the 10th of March, 1853. Elder Woodruff records the death of an old friend, Joseph Russell, who was faithful and true, and who had given nearly all his means amounting to about $7,000.00 to the Church.
The conference of that year began on April 6th, with about 12,000 people in attendance. Times were somewhat exciting, and there was a pronounced demonstration on the part of the Saints in the matter of their adherence to the work of God. At that time about one hundred missionaries were called. A little later on in the same month the Deseret Theological Society was organized.
On May the 15th, the Endowment House was dedicated. To the older of the present generation its sacred precincts, its rites,and ordinances are among the most cherished memories. Apostle Woodruff was present at its dedication; and later in life when the Temple supplanted it, he ordered it removed. On the day following its dedication, Geo, Q. Cannon gave an interesting account of his mission to the Sandwich Islands.
On the same date President Young in speaking of the resurrection, as recorded by President Woodruff, said: "The identical particles of matter in which we have honored our spirits, our tabernacles, in which we have suffered, traveled, labored, and built up the Kingdom of God would be the identical bodies resurrected, and no others. They will be raised from the grave to immortality and eternal lives. Evil was placed upon the earth that man might know the good from the evil, for without an experience in those things, men could not know one from the other. Upon the earth the devil sowed the seeds of death in everything, so that as soon as Adam and Eve began to eat of the fruit of the earth they received into their systems the seeds of mortality—death. Their children thus became mortal and subject to pain, sorrow, and death. By this means they were redeemed and partook of life, peace, and happiness, and they would know how to prize them. Father Adam would never cease his labors to redeem his posterity and exalt them to all the glory they were capable of receiving. Yet man has his agency to act for himself—choose good or evil, and to be rewarded according to his works."
On May the 19th Elder Woodruff set out upon another visit to the southern settlements in company with President Young. At Cedar City they found the iron works in full blast. They were making good iron, casting pipes and other necessary appliances needed by the people. While there, they organized a stake of Zion comprising Iron County. On reaching Lehi on their return they had an interesting visit from Aropene, an Indian chief. This was the latter part of May, and by this time the crops and gardens had almost entirely been destroyed by the grasshoppers.
In his journal of June 30th of that year he records the funeral of Judge Schafer, Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court of Utah. The funeral was held on that day. The Saints turned out in large numbers and showed great honor to the judge whose justice and uprightness were so greatly respected.
On July the 13th Elder Woodruff attended the conferencein Provo with Presidents Young, Kimball, and Grant. During the conference, they had a visit from an Indian chief whose English name was High Forehead. He and others of his tribe addressed the congregation, expressing their confidence in President Young and the people over whom he presided. There was in those days a class of people in Provo whose conduct was not entirely satisfactory. It was a gathering place for many uncouth miners, whose habits of drinking and gambling did not give Provo a very good name. Speaking of the town, Apostle Woodruff says in his journal: "There was a strange spirit in Provo and many had not the spirit of God." Many of the early inhabitants of the town will find in that remark something of the spirit of charity.
On Elder Woodruff's return to Salt Lake City he speaks of the excellent times they had in the Polysophical Society as well as in the Universal Scientific Society. These social gatherings for intellectual improvement afforded the progressive men of those days some opportunity to satisfy their desires for education. Elder Woodruff rarely failed in his journal to give an account of the doings of those societies, and to express the great delight he had had over the information imparted by the lectures. In his journal he says: "On September 13th we met in the Social Hall under the organization of a Pomological Society. The house was well filled and the subject discussed was the organization of a Horticultural Society. A committee was appointed to draft the constitution and by-laws to govern said society. I was chosen chairman of this committee, and subsequently president of the society which did much to promote the culture and growth of fruit in the Territory."
The spirit of Wilford Woodruff was pre-eminently missionary in every aspect of his life. If he raised fruit, it was in fulfillment of a mission to promote an industry. When he sat in the legislative halls, he regarded his work as a grand mission for the establishment and spread of the principles of civil government. It all made him an enthusiastic worker. If he farmed, he did it as much to teach others how to farm as to obtain a livelihood from it. With him, all life and labor was a mission. It was all in the spirit of a teacher and he was conscientious in the extreme about what and how he would teach. In attending aquarterly conference at Farmington in October, 1855, he writes in his journal: "After retiring to bed I prayed to the Lord to show me what we should teach the people, and this I received as an answer. 'Let my servants obtain the Holy Ghost and keep My spirit with them and that will instruct them what to teach the people continually. Instruct the people to keep My spirit with them and they will be enabled to understand the word of the Lord when it is taught unto them.'"
It is quite natural, therefore, that he should keep a careful account of missionary work both at home and abroad. He notes in the fall of that year that Nathaniel V. Jones returned from his mission to Hindoostan, also the appointment of Lorenzo Snow, Ezra T. Benson, and Phineas Young to England.
Elder Woodruff was appointed as a missionary, in connection with Elders Orson Pratt, and Parley P. Pratt, to travel throughout the Territory. He speaks of this event as giving him much pleasure and adds: "It is the first time since the organization of this Church and Quorum that I have had the privilege of being associated with these two men on a preaching mission. We have met but little except in conference from time to time." He mentions about this time the death of Orson Spencer who had died in St. Louis. Of him he says: "Many friends mourn his loss. He was a firm pillar in the Church and Kingdom of God."
Having been again elected to the legislature, Elder Woodruff set out for Fillmore which was then the capital of the Territory. He went in company with Lorenzo Snow, Loren Farr, and Jonathan C. Wright. While in Fillmore, in January, 1856, he reported and wrote in his journal an account of an excellent discourse preached by President Young. The following was taken from his journal: "It is our duty to make every sacrifice (if it may be called a sacrifice) required of us by our Father in Heaven, that He and His holy angels may know our integrity. I see a thousand weaknesses in myself that I now regret, and it is so with all those who have the spirit of God, and they will try to overcome them. People may be guilty of various sins, and do you think they can be forgiven in a moment. No, every Latter-day Saint knows better. This would be sectarianism. The religion of the world is that a man may commit murder, and when on thegallows, he can repent and be forgiven and go straightway to Abraham's bosom. It is a false doctrine. It is not true. Some may say that they cannot overcome their passions when they are tempted and tried, they cannot help scolding, swearing, etc., but I tell you they can help it, and must overcome it sooner or later or they cannot be saved. We should improve day by day, be a better man or woman to-morrow than we are to-day. Mothers, when you are cross and attempt to correct you children, conquer yourselves first. Fathers, when you feel angry passions rise, then you need the grace of God to bring yourselves into subjection to Him that you may gain victory over your feelings. Live so that you may have the revelations of God concerning you in all things—that you cannot be deceived. When Sidney Rigdon claimed to be the leader of the people, the people knew not his voice. Parents are under the greatest obligation to live their religion, so also the young men and women, that when they marry and have a posterity their children may be born in holiness and righteousness, and it will then be hard to make anything out of them but Latter-day Saints."
On January the 16th, Kanosh, an Indian chief, made an address to the brethren, as follows: "I am just beginning to get my eyes opened. I know that President Young's talk is good. What he says is so. He tells us more good, and I am like the sun just rising in the East, and so with my people. We have been in the night, I have had eyes but I could not see, and ears, but I could not hear; and this has been the case with my people. Our hearts could not understand, but now our eyes see, our ears hear, and our hearts understand. All that Brigham and Heber have said is straight; but when I talk with Col. Steptoe and his men, he is not straight, I would not believe, for a tenth part of their talk is not straight, and so it is with the Spaniards, and with all the white men until I saw the Mormons. They are the first to tell me the truth. You are here to make laws. I hope you will make good laws to punish the guilty and spare the innocent. I wish to do right and have my people do right. I do not want them to steal nor kill. I want to plant and raise wheat, and to learn to plough, and do as the white people do. I want to learn to read and to write, and to have my children learn so that we may understand what you say to us." This is beautiful manifestationof the confidence which the better class of Indians had in the Mormon people.
After the adjournment of the legislature, and on the 26th of January, a large mass meeting was held in Salt Lake City to consider the establishment of a mail and passenger service between the Western States and California. Governor Young was chosen chairman. A committee was appointed to draft resolutions regarding the project. About this time theFirst Readerpublished in theDeseret Alphabetwas gotten up. To this work Elder Woodruff gave much of his time. During the month of February he reports in his journal that three boys had been killed by the Indians who had driven off a number of horses and cattle.
On the 3rd of March Elder Woodruff was called on a mission to the East to secure type for theDeseret Alphabet.On the 7th of April, during the spring conference of that year, he was appointed assistant historian of the Church. In those days missionaries were usually called at conference, and that occasion had in it surprises for many who were called to go on a mission without a moment's notice. At this time Elders Orson Pratt and Ezra T. Benson were called to England to preside over the European mission.
There was, too, a humorous side to Wilford Woodruff's nature, notwithstanding the seriousness which he possessed. It seems that in one of the Sunday meetings President Jedediah M. Grant found it necessary to refer to some thefts which had taken place a short time before. Among other things stolen was some flour that had been taken from Elder Woodruff's home. After concluding his rebuke for these things President Woodruff arose and said: "If they have taken the flour because of hunger and will ask the blessing upon the bread when it is made, and send me home the bags, I will bring no accusation against them." The bags were put in a sack and brought to his home next morning.
A circumstance somewhat of the same nature as that referred to, occurred in which the writer was a witness. He and one of his companions were chasing a flock of tame ducks up the street along Elder Woodruff's fence. The latter saw them and came out. He being a nervous, quick-spoken man, the boys expected a scolding. "Boys," he said, "if you will let those ducks alone, Iwill give you some apricots." They hardly knew how to compose themselves—so great was their surprise—but they went with him to the orchard, one of them filling his hat and the other a bucket. Nothing further disagreeable was said, but the boys never thereafter chased the ducks.
On the 22nd of April of that year, the missionaries who were called on missions left the city for their fields of labor. It was a greater effort in those days to take a mission. The sacrifice was greater for all concerned. The dreary plains had to be crossed again, and the expense was naturally very great. At this time George A. Smith and John Taylor went to Washington to urge claims of Utah for admission into the Union. A few days after the missionaries left, Apostle Woodruff was poisoned in consequence of skinning an animal which had been killed by poison. His system became so infected that his life was despaired of, but his faith was so unceasing and so disassociated from all doubt that through administration he was healed. Brother Woodruff records in his journal the blessing which President Young pronounced upon his head, as follows: "Brother Woodruff, I say to you in the name of Jesus Christ, that you shall not die, but you shall live to finish your work which was appointed you to do upon the earth. The adversary has sought many times to destroy your life but the Lord has preserved you, and will preserve you until your work is done."
On his recovery he makes record of a letter received from the chief gardener of Queen Victoria, who desired to open a correspondence with the Horticultural Society of Utah. Such matters were of course highly interesting to the people here, because those were days of experiments.
THE REFORMATION, 1856.
Hard Times Were Difficult for Some To Endure.—Recording Church History.—Dedication of Historian's Office.—First Hand-cart Company.—The Reformation Inaugurated.—Death of Jedediah M. Grant.—Suffering of the Hand-cart Companies.—Heber C. Kimball's Dream.
The year 1856 found the people engrossed in the labors incident to pioneer life. They were beginning to appreciate more than ever the wonderful resources of their new Zion. The growing opportunities to accumulate means were absorbing the more progressive classes. The social life of the people, however, was not neglected, and there were picnics and celebrations. The Fourth and the Twenty-fourth were great days. The out door amusements of those times were more enjoyable because of the general surroundings. This year the Fourth was ushered in by the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells. There were processions and orations that pleased and inspired the people. The canyons were near by and they were agreeable resorts in days when there were few groves. These occasions helped the people to forget many of the hardships incident to pioneer life. Some could not easily endure the trials of those days because they had not sufficient faith to penetrate in the least the future. To them all was darkness and hardship. Some were discouraged.
About this time, one of the chief clerks in the Historian's Office became weary of the hardships of those days, was a victim of despair. He entertained doubts of the truth of the work; and though he was treated well by all the brethren, he was nevertheless unhappy and returned to England to take up again the life in which he had been reared. Apostle Woodruff wrote of him thus: "He could not stand the hard times, and did not know whether Mormonism was true or not, so he returned home. He had taken a very honorable course in all his business dealings." The man was respected and spoken well of. He felt that he had made a mistake, but he was honest and honorable. He never sought to shift the burden of his own unhappiness and discontent on to theshoulders of others. He aimed to be fair and wanted to do what was right. The man had not the faith to support him in the trying ordeals of those early years in Utah. It was one circumstance out of many; and like some others who left the Church, he never felt it his duty to bring reproach upon those whose faith he could neither understand nor appreciate. The man was not hindered in the execution of his wishes. He was wished God speed, and his old-time friends would still be friends, even though there might be a great disparity in the matter of faith.
In those days, Elder Woodruff was occupied largely in the historian's office reading Church history to President Young. From the beginning of the Church in Utah, President Young had felt the importance of keeping an accurate and extended history of God's dispensation in the Valleys of the Mountains. Many important things connected with the Church in its infancy had not been recorded, and were then even becoming matters of hearsay.
On the 6th of September, 1856, a large number of missionaries were set apart and the burden of the instructions to them then was the keeping of a journal. The special instructions on that occasion were given to them by Parley P. Pratt and Wilford Woodruff, the latter outlined in a general way what should make up a journal. The record was to be "full, correct, and proper." Matters were to be so fully given that future generations would not be at a loss to understand them. They should be so correct, that credence could be given to what was written, and so proper that inappropriate and irrelevant matters should not fill up and make a journal tedious and of no consequence, except, perhaps, to the one who wrote it. All official acts in the exercise of the authority of the priesthood should be carefully kept. Whenever it became important for the Church to give a history of any event, it should be able to put its hands on the records of those who took part in them.
Parley P. Pratt said: "I have reflected upon this subject for years to know what a man should write, and have come to the conclusion that he should write his official acts in the priesthood. I am sorry that I have not kept more of a journal than I have. I wish I had written every man's name that I ever baptized, or administered to in any manner. In setting forth the hand dealings of God with this people, the elders of the Church become personalwitnesses for God, and every event which is a manifestation of God's power in their lives and ministry should be recorded." They fully appreciated the fact that though an event may not be of great importance to-day, it may be valuable to-morrow in the light of all that follows it.
On the 10th of September, Apostle Woodruff and the clerks in the historian's office moved to their new office, which was an imposing building in those days, and which still stands on South Temple Street between State and Main Streets. Elder Woodruff was mouth in the dedication of this building on September 15th, 1856. Elder Woodruff records this blessing in his journal and exclaims therein: "Wilt thou bless, O Lord, with thy holy spirit this building, that we may never profane thy name in this house, or dishonor the holy priesthood, or bring approach upon thy cause, or grieve thy holy spirit in any way. Bring to our remembrance all things necessary to be written in the history of the Church, and cause that papers and documents that are necessary may be brought to us that we may be enabled to compile a correct, useful, and proper history."
On the 26th of the same month, the two first hand-cart companies entered Salt Lake Valley. They were in charge of Edmund Ellsworth and Daniel Duncan McArthur, the former was the husband of President Young's oldest daughter. Elder Ellsworth died some years ago, but Elder McArthur, at this writing, 1909, still lives in St. George in the 86th year of his age. For some years he was president of the St. George stake of Zion. These companies of Saints were met at the mouth of Emigration Canyon to the east of the city and were escorted with much display and honor to the city. President Young and the general authorities went out to meet them. Bands of music enlivened the occasion, and the presence of many Saints gave great distinction to the scene. They had pushed and pulled their hand-carts from the Missouri River, over a thousand miles. They had waded the streams, climbed the mountains, and had made better time than either the ox or the horse teams.
This new method of crossing the plains had been first suggested and decided upon in England during the presidency in that mission of Franklin D. Richards. It was, in a measure, an outburst of the enthusiastic desire and spirit of the people thereto gather with their religious comrades in the Valleys of the Mountains. The first companies had fared measurably well, but those who came later, and were the victims of an unusual and extraordinary winter, suffered greatly.
At this place in Elder Woodruff's journal, he records a dream related by Daniel H. Wells and the latter's interpretation of it. He saw in his dream a butcher's cleaver in the heavens, from which he was led to predict the near approach of war and bloodshed in the nation. The time, he declared, was nearer than people imagined.
The completion of the Historian's Office this year was followed by the dedication of the Endowment House on October 2nd. The leading men of the Church met at the baptismal font where the dedicatory prayer was offered by Heber C. Kimball. Elder Woodruff says: "It was full of sublimity and prophecy which found its fulfillment in the history of the font and the building." It would be difficult even to estimate the sacred influence which that building has exercised upon the lives of untold thousands who felt themselves within its sacred precincts in the presence of their God. The purity that went out from that sacred house into the lives of those who were married there has been the guiding star and the savior of thousands of men and women in the Church. How strange, how remarkable, that a place with such sacred and uplifting influence should be made the object of vicious attacks by those who were the enemies of the Church and its persecutors!
The completion of the font signalized the importance of the so-called Reformation in the Church which began in that year. President Young entered the font and baptized his counselors, Heber C. Kimball, and Jedediah M. Grant. Later Elder Woodruff and others were baptized; and the privilege extended to all the Saints throughout the Church to renew their covenants. There was a spirit of trouble brewing; a growing opposition throughout the United States toward the Saints was felt by the leaders, who were impressed by the spirit of reform. It was important that the people should be so upright and chaste in their lives that the Lord should have no occasion to punish them for their shortcomings. It was a time of revival in the observance of the duties and the ordinances in the Church. The people were called uponto repent. Questions touching their morals and the manner of their worship were put to the people both in public places and in their homes. The people generally were asked to renew their covenants by baptism.
An excerpt from the journal of Elder Woodruff illustrates something of the spirit of those times. After explaining to a certain individual that he considered it a privilege to be re-baptized, the man professed his immunity from sin.
"In all the trials incident to the pilgrimage and pioneer life, have you never sworn nor used bad language?"
"No sir," was the prompt reply.
"Have you never broken the Sabbath day?"
"No sir," came the quick response.
"Have you never cheated your neighbor in trade?"
"No sir," thundered the unrepentant man.
"Then, for heavens sake, go off and do something. You are the only perfect man I ever saw, and hope never to see another in this life."
Subsequent events, however, proved that the man who was so self-assertive was the very sort of an individual who was greatly in need of repentance.
From the days of the gold excitement in California, there had been an influx of adventurers into Utah. Most of them were men of reckless lives, men of improper habits. Their influence became greatly detrimental to many of the Saints. It must be counteracted, and the so-called Reformation was to be the means of setting the people right. It was to be a time of repentance. Every responsible position that men held, whether ecclesiastical or civil, called for the most devout obedience to God's law. Men who were legislators observed the ordinance of baptism that they might more conscientiously and more uprightly enact laws for the happiness and welfare of the people.
The October conference which was then at hand was devoted to the proclamation of repentance throughout the Church. The new zeal was felt everywhere, both at home and abroad. There were frequent visits from house to house. The leaders of the Church were foremost in the new move. A special call was put upon Jedediah M. Grant. To him the work of the Reformation was a special mission. He was by nature a most zealous man,and this special call increased his zeal. He gave to the work all his energies and carried more the burden of that mission than any other man of his time. It proved too much for his physical nature, which could not bear the incessant labors, and consequently on the 1st of December, 1856, he departed this life.
Of him Elder Woodruff writes in his journal: "He died December 1st, 1856, twenty minutes past 10 o'clock. He was aged forty years, nine months, and seven days. We went immediately to his house where we found his wives and children weeping bitterly. Jesse C. Little, Leonard W. Hardy, Daniel H. Wells, Doctors Sprague, and Dunyon, and Israel Ivins, stood by him as he breathed his last. As I gazed upon his tabernacle of clay, I felt to exclaim, a mighty man in Zion is laid low, a valiant man in Israel and a great champion of the Kingdom of God is taken from us! We feel his loss deeply. For two months it seemed as though he had been hurried to close up his work. He had been preaching for several months calling upon the people to repent. His voice had been like the trumpet of the Angel of God. He has labored night and day until prostrated by sickness. He called at the Historian's office on the 19th of November which was his last day out. During his sickness, he beheld a glorious vision from which he related to the brethren all he had seen of the spirit world."
Of President Grant, Elder Woodruff records the following testimony by Brigham Young: "We have no cause to mourn for Brother Grant. He is well off. He has lived in advance of his age and is better fitted for eternity in the forty years of his lifetime than many would be in one hundred years."
Elder Woodruff records among the closing events of those years the sufferings and other experiences of the hand-cart companies. He tells of the anxiety about those who were overtaken by the storms in Wyoming. Relief parties were sent out, provisions were forwarded, and at the fire sides of the Saints, there were fervent prayers for the protection of their unfortunate brethren and sisters struggling to reach the land of Zion—the goal of their ambition, and the object of their devotion.
On the 12th of October, 1856, Elder Woodruff records the ordination of Leonard W. Hardy and Jesse C. Little as the first and second counselors to the presiding bishop. Edward Hunter.About this time, Frederick Kesler was ordained bishop of the 16th ward, a position which he held with honor for nearly one-half century.
Through all the latter months of 1856, the work of the Reformation was going on. There was quite a universal spirit favoring the highest and purest standard of life. Men of a sensitive and a religious nature found within themselves an excessive conscientiousness that sometimes made them imagine they were sinners because of a state of perfection they saw, but could not feel. Such a condition brought with it doubts and misgivings. Some of the very best men in the Church felt their unworthiness and shrank from responsibilities which they imagined others could fulfill better than they. President Woodruff records at this time that he and Lorenzo Snow called upon President Young and offered to surrender their apostleship. They had received it at his hands and were willing to give it up in favor of any one that the President might think more competent and more worthy. President Young expressed his perfect satisfaction with them and his confidence in their integrity and labors, and gave them every assurance of his love and blessing.
There were those, however, in those days who were not so conscientious and by nature so upright. They took advantage of the repentant and humble condition of others. They exercised authority that was unjust and harmful. The dangers of the excesses of a certain class began to be felt and restraint was put upon them. When the movement had accomplished the good intended and dangers arose, the Reformation subsided and has gone into history with a mixture of evil with a vast amount of good. Elder Woodruff records his belief that the Reformation had a great effect for good upon the lives and the conduct of the people. It also had a tendency to separate those who were insincere and untrustworthy. It was a judgment upon the Saints that they themselves pronounced in their willingness or unwillingness to be in harmony with the spirit of the times.
The spirit of the leaders at that time when the call to repentance was loudest was one of the most enthusiastic and God-fearing character. They felt themselves in the presence of heavenly beings and constantly answerable to God for the condition of the people Elder Woodruff speaks of a tongue lashing whichhe received from one of his brethren who did not take kindly to the spirit and methods of the times. The man did not care to have his conduct brought into question. He had repented and been baptized once and the repetition of repentance was not in harmony with his feelings, and he resisted the call made upon him by his brethren who did not hesitate and who were not easily brushed aside in their purpose and determination to bring about a reformation. To those who did not take kindly to the spirit of those times, it looked like an invasion of their personal liberty.
In his journal, Apostle Woodruff records a dream related to him by Heber C. Kimball, which reflected not alone the latter's views of the times, but the general spirit among the leaders. The dream runs as follows:
"I dreamed that I was traveling with a companion, and we came to a powerful, rapid stream of water like the Niagara River. The waves were rolling very high and increasing in size. They had been muddy, but were getting clear. As we came to this rushing stream, we did not know how we should get over it. I turned my eyes a few moments from my companion, and when I looked back I saw him on the other side of the river and climbing a steep hill. I did not know how he got there. I wanted to cross, so I called to him as loud as I could to stop and wait for me, but he paid no attention to me, but went on as fast as he could. Then a person came to me and said you have an iron rod in your hand, which I perceived I had. It was several feet long. The angel said to me: 'You must use this rod and feel your way over the river.' Then I awoke.
"I considered my dream and interpreted it as follows: My companion was J. M. Grant, who had suddenly died and left me, and was on the other side of the veil. The waters mean the people. They are increasing in strength and growing better and clearer. The iron rod is the word of God, which I must cling to till I get through life. I consider there are great things awaiting this people."
CELEBRATION OF 24th, 1857.
Words of Brigham Young.—Talk by the Indian Chief, Aropene.—Assassination of Parley P. Pratt.—Return of Thomas B. Marsh to the Church.—Celebration of the Twenty-forth in Big Cottonwood Canyon.—News of the Army's Approach.
The year 1857 made its appearance in the midst of an unusual and extraordinary snowstorm. The ushering in of the new year in such a manner was portentous of the stormy and extraordinary experiences of the Saints. Elder Woodruff records that he passed most of the day in company with President Young and Franklin D. Richards. They were actively engaged in compiling Church history. It is remarkable how completely attached to the leaders of the Church Elder Woodruff was. His trust in them was both complete and sublime. He never found occasion to suppose for one moment that these leaders ever proved unworthy of the trust he imposed in them. In his mind, Brigham Young was a Prophet of God, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, as truly and perfectly as was Samuel of old, or Peter, or Paul. His reverence and respect for the living oracles were as perfect as for the dead. The words of both Joseph and Brigham, he was always careful to write down in his journal. In time when the sermons were recorded by reporters of the Church, he confined his record to sayings that were made when there was no reporter present.
On the 11th of January, in the Eighteenth ward, President Young addressed the people and from his sermon Elder Woodruff records among other things these words: "It is sometimes taught among us that we should follow Brother Joseph or Brother Brigham, or some other leader, and do as they say, and that is all that is required. Now this is in one sense a false doctrine. No man should trust solely the testimony of another. He should have a direct testimony from God for himself. Then obedience is intelligent and not blind. I might have listened to Joseph Smith testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon until I was as old as Methuselah, and in the end I would have gone away in darkness had I notreceived a testimony from God that he was a prophet and that he knew by revelation whereof he spoke. Men should get the spirit of God and then live by it."
In those days there was a strong sympathetic interest in the welfare of the Indians. The better ones among them were feeling constantly greater confidence in the people and in their leaders. They had a real friendship for those white men who treated them, not only kindly, but with high consideration for their rights. The Indian felt that there were reasons why he should command respect as well as receive justice. Aropene seems to have been a chief specially favored among the Indians and respected by the Saints. In the early part of that year, Elder Woodruff records that this chief delivered a strong discourse to the Saints in which he exhorted them to respect the counsel of their leaders and to abstain especially from the use of liquor, and to do right in all things.
On the 17th of February of this year, Elder Woodruff addressed a meeting of the bishops and gives in his journal a brief synopsis of his instructions to them. "No man should boast of the authority and power of the priesthood, or contend about the comparative greatness of a seventy or a high priest. Men should not boast of that power until they have received some manifestation of it, and when they receive it they will not feel like boasting about it. Its power will create humility and not pride. It is seldom that I have seen the power of the priesthood made manifest among the children of men in our day to any very great degree. There are, however, some instances. One was when the Prophet Joseph beheld the sick and the dying in his dooryard, and when they were also strewn along the banks of the river for two miles. He arose and shook himself like an old lion and commenced at his tent door and healed all the people who were not dead on both sides of the river, by the power of God, and his voice was as the voice of God and the earth almost trembled under his feet as he went along commanding the sick to arise and be made whole. It was also made manifest by Joseph while in prison and in chains in Missouri.
"Again, David Patten was taken by an armed mob under a United States warrant. When he was surrounded by about fortysuch men who were acting under the garb of law, and who forbade him to say one word in his own defense, he arose in the power of God and held them fast to their seats until he had addressed them for about one-half hour. He told them that they were cowards, rascals, and villains, and proved it to them and they had not the power to harm one hair of his head, and they let him and Warren Parish go free.
"This power was again made manifest by President Brigham Young on the banks of the Missouri River at Winter Quarters, when the merchants brought up goods to sell to the brethren who were going to the mountains. Old Major Miller, the Indian agent, was there, surrounded by officers. In order to show his great authority, he told the merchants who owned some alcohol not to roll a barrel off the boat or he would knock the head of the barrel in and pour the liquor upon the ground. President Young thereupon stepped up and told the men to roll it out. Miller and his officers turned pale, and the liquor was rolled out and nobody was hurt. Other instances might be named where the power of the priesthood has been strongly manifested. These men never boasted of it, and they never will."
March 1st brought Elder Woodruff to his 50th birthday. About this time he recorded in his journal instructions from President Young upon the importance of keeping a journal. The President quotes from instructions from the Prophet Joseph on the subject. He shows that the written testimony of the things of God is quite as important as the spoken testimony, that the world will be judged by what is written in the books, and that where it is the duty to record the manifestations of the spirit of God and men neglect to fulfil that duty, the spirit will be withdrawn from them. "Were you to be brought before the civil authorities and accused of a crime or a misdemeanor, you may be punished if you cannot prove from your journal that you were somewhere else and are innocent. Your enemies may prevail against you."
These words from the lips of Brigham Young in those early days are significant because of the position the enemies of the Church sought to place him in. How often he was subject to accusations which were laid at his door and which the enemies insisted were true if he could not prove his innocence. How oftenthat has been the case in the history of the Latter-day Saints concerning whom, in the minds of their enemies, there are no presumptions whatever of innocence. The order of proof with them has been different too often from that followed by the world in the administration of law and justice. From these admonitions of the Prophet it may be seen that so far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned, they may often be compelled to prove their innocence, for their enemies will not treat them with the fairness with which they treat one another, and regard men as innocent until they are proven guilty.
Just before the opening of spring conference, on March 23rd, President Woodruff officiated in the dedication of the baptismal font which had been erected by the people of the Fourteen Ward. The semi-annual conference in those days created a great deal of interest as well as anxiety because of those whose names were announced for the first time as missionaries to the nations of the earth. As the list was read at the close of conference, a profound silence fell upon the entire congregation, as wives and mothers, as well as fathers and husbands, never knew when the minute call would come to them or to their household.
This spring the missionaries adopted the hand-cart method of crossing the plains. They were an enthusiastic body of men who on the 23rd of April hitched themselves to their carts and made their way through the canyons and over the mountains to the Missouri River and other terminal points, from which they adopted a more convenient method of travel.
Elder Woodruff records in his journal on June 23rd that the "eastern mail arrived bringing the sad news of the assassination of Elder Parley P. Pratt, who had been killed near Ft. Smith in Arkansas, by a man named McLean."
Apostle Woodruff was always careful in his journal to say something of the lives of men and women whose integrity to God he knew and esteemed. He rarely failed to record his testimony of those who were valiant when anything important occurred in their lives, or when they died. Of a Sister Vose who had just come to the Valleys he said: "She was seventy-seven years of age and rode 1,200 miles in twenty-three days, at least one-half the distance by team. She has been a member of the Church almostfrom the beginning, and has given thousands of dollars to build up the Kingdom and to assist the elders in their ministry."
Just about this time, he records the return of Thomas B. Marsh to the fold. This man had once been president of the Twelve Apostles. He had forsaken the Church and in time he was forsaken by his family and his friends. There still, however, remained within him a lingering testimony of the spirit that had once led him to a higher and better life. He appealed by letter to President Young to be restored to the Church. The request was granted by the President who said: "Let him be baptized and confirmed and then come to the Valleys." This brother reached Salt Lake City, and on the 16th of September, 1857, was presented by President Young to the congregation in their Sabbath meeting. As they gazed upon him, they saw a wreck—a relic of his former self. He was now crippled and palsied in body, miserable and unhappy in his spirit. When he arose, he called the attention of the Saints to himself as an object of pity and commiseration, and warned the Saints against apostasy and asked them to forgive him. President Young put his request to a vote and he was unanimously received into the fellowship of his brethren and sisters. A few years later he died in Ogden.
The approach of mid-summer awakened in the hearts and feelings the patriotic spirit of a devoted body of pioneers, who loved their religion and who consequently loved their country. The Fourth of July was celebrated as usual by a "splendid military performance." The procession disbanded before the Governor's office at noon.
They loved their country and they also loved their religion. Their advent into the Valleys of the Mountains was a mile-stone in what to their minds was the greatest historical event of modern times. That event must not be forgotten. Future generations must hold it in sacred remembrance, for it was God's history which the world some time would recognize by appropriate and almost universal observance. The remembrances of the pioneer journey were green in the memories of all but the little children. The Twenty-fourth of July recalled the scenes at one thousand camp firesides on the plains and in the mountains. It reminded them of suffering, recalled their hopes, and strengthened theirfaith. They were witnesses of God's providence in dispelling fears that human courage could not overcome, and in removing obstacles that seemed to them insurmountable.
On the 22nd of July, 1857, a great procession of people might have been seen wending their way along the eastern hillsides of the Salt Lake Valley on their way to a lake in Big Cottonwood canyon. The night of that day, they camped at the granite quarry from which the rock was then already being hewn for the foundation of the Temple. On the following morning, President Young and the leaders of the Church led the procession up through the canyon to a place selected for the celebration. The first arrived at noon and the last came in about midnight. Of this occasion President Woodruff writes: "This was a great turnout. The company numbered 2,587 persons, 468 carriages and wagons, 1,028 horses and mules, and 332 oxen and cows. Flags were raised upon the highest peaks and the stars and stripes were unfurled upon the highest trees. The surrounding scenes of mountains, valleys, lakes, woods, and meadows made the sight the most interesting I ever beheld. We had prayer at night and an address from President Young. There were five bands in attendance to discourse sweet strains of music."
Next day being the Twenty-fourth, ten years had passed since the faithful pioneers entered the Valleys of the Mountains. The day was to be celebrated in an enthusiastic manner. The program consisted of the firing of cannon, speeches, songs, recitations, and music. They were also there to render their thanks-giving and praise to God for His care over them, and above all for the testimony of His spirit, which burned within them. Some engaged in trout fishing, others roamed over the hills, and there were social pastimes that promised a great day for the Saints.
At noon, Bishop Smoot, Judson Stoddard, Judge Elias Smith, and O. P. Rockwell arrived in camp. The first named two brought the unhappy news with them from the East that the government had withdrawn the mail contract, and were sending a new governor, judges, and 2500 troops to Utah to suppress an insurrection that had never existed. The action of the government was based upon the falsehoods sent broadcast by Judge Drummond and other unprincipled men.
President Young met the issue in a spirit of indignation and with a determination not to submit to another injustice. At day-light, on the 25th, the company broke up and commenced their homeward journey. Their joy and enthusiasm had now been turned to wonderment, anxiety, and sorrow. The approaching army was the theme of their conversation. Dark clouds hovered over them. A new problem had to be solved. What was to be done? Where could they go? What was to be the result of another injustice perpetrated against them? Their faith was again brought to their service. They exercised it by humiliating themselves in prayer and fasting. The spirit of joy had been transformed into one of the greatest solemnity.