Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-07-25

livered the following OfatlOh:
Mr President, Fellow Citizens: II
Is beautiful and time-honored
custom 20 commemorate important
events by celebrating the anniver-
saFiss OF the days on which they &C.
Cured. Stairs and nations, like in
vlduals, have their natal DAYS.
which the people love TO honor. The
day We celebrate is most worthy Of
concentration. II is not only the
birthday Of our commonwealth, but
1t also marks the founding Of q
galaxy Of States in the mountains,
which are destined 10 become the
pride and power Of the Union.
Well may we meet on this suspicious
I occasion TO honor the memory OF
those who made Utah the mother OF
State,
| forty-three years ago today, this
BEAUTIFUL valley, which now teens
with fertility and life, was a scene Of
utter desolaIiou. No sign Of human
life, except the Indian sar4Ee, vas
to lie found in AL tie dreary waste,
extending hundreds OF miles in
every direction. The heat and
drOuth were so intense that in many
places the earth had cracked, leav-
ing deep assures, like open mouths,
| parChed with fever and crying fC-
drink. or vegetation thsse were
the sageUru-h a-c NE greasewOod,
with r-rrow strips Of timber and
willows ringing the .,anEs Of the
streams, and an occasional swami.
or patch Of bulrushes, in the
sw1mpy places. OF animal lie the
bowling coyote. Shiny Lizard and
the deadly rattlssBske were typical
Specimens,
Ipsglrt> Il yJa can. the feelings
OF the Pioneers as they emerged from
I Emigration Canyon, led W Fres,-
dents Brigham yo',ss and Wilford
Woodruff, I'D gazed upon the foI-
bidding scene. How disappointed
they must have felt wI.sn Told that
| this was the u'c:...ised land. Had they
been men OF only ordinary courage,
their hearts would have sunk With.
them at the thought Q. making
homes in such Ia unacceptable de-
I ert, and they would have yearned
f.. the comforts they had left be
hind. But not 4 single murmur or
regret was heard from that hsreic
band. With bleeding feel and
aching limits they had travelled
I Thousand miles over the noun
? iair's and across the plains,
! 10 secure freedom OF conscience,
and religious Utterly. In the midst
II desOlatiOn they saw that for which
they had sIaked their all, and, with
tears Gf joy and songs Of praise for
Gods Preserving care that had
brought thew through the
wilGe-HcS-, they proudly bore
tic stars and stripes to the
top Of Ensign Peak, then Mex
lean territory and planted them there
as an emblem OF freedom.
| shall not attempt TO enumerate
the trials and privatiOrs endured by
these noble souls and those who fol- |
lowed them across the plains, though |
some Of You who are here To-Day |
know 10y experience what they |
were. There is not time to speak |
If the hunger and thirst, the peril
from savage Indians, fercclOus an
inalsand deadly REF tiles, to say Moth |
ing Of the poisonous water, mllig- !
Eant fever and other diseases that |
took many suffering souls TO Gntime-
Is graves. The sId story has never |
been fully told, nor can il be- at
equatuly written by mortal pen. |
is agOnies viii never Ee known IN
Ill that great day when the earth |
and sea give up their secrets and the !
recording angel makes known the !
sacrifices and sufierings OF man
kind.
Nor Is there time TO recount the
hardships endured while establish
ing homes in the desert. anu making /
Utah the paradise Of the mountains.
Much Of the time the people were
without food and obliged 10 dig roots /
and gather herbs fOT su=tenauCe. The
were poorly clad and often without |
shelter. Delicate women and ten
der children suffered from hunger 1
AMI exposure until death brought
them release and all for conscience
sake.
Yet -rli there whispers the small voice
within,
Heard through Gains siience, and DER
glory, din;
Whatever creed he t4uSat or land be ;rod,
Mans conscience Is the oracle Of God.
Tie lesson taught by this sublime
example VI heroic devotion to prin-
cipIe is worthy Of more than passing
mention. II should Ice treasured in
the hearts and practiced in the lives
Of the people. No trait Of charac-
ter Is more noble than that which
causes meu TO live, OF die il need
toe. true 10 their convictions Of right.
The iIius.Ti0us instances Of this
kind Il her0ism that appear in the
worlds history show the golden
thread that runs through the warp
Of life and gives lustre to the fabric
Of humanity.
When, four hundred years ago,
Columbus stood alone before the
sages Of Europe. in the council OF
Salamanca. insisting that the world
was not fiat, Is had always been
supposed, but that il was round and
although he had
proof from heaven in the testimony
Of the moon, he was laughed to
scOrn and denounced rs a hereto.
But lie lived TO mark a way across
the trackless deepand to discover the
new world. Today his name is
sounded with praise in every tongue
and the whole world is preparing
10 pay tribute 70 iis memory in
1892.
When the great refOrmers Of the
sixteenth century threw of the
shackles Of ignorance and supersti-
ton that bound the human mind,
deniei the power Of the Pope to
grant iniulgences fol wrong doing,
and insisted on the right Of man to
think aui act for himself in all mat
tiers Of conscience, they and their
followers Were persecuted, maligned
and killed. But posterity has
awarded them the martyrs crown.
and they are now numbered with
the true nobility Of earth. And Of
such were our ancestors who first
settled America.
When our patriot fathers declared
the sublime principle Of human
equality, aud pledged their
lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor for the establishment
Il civil anu religious liberty in this
free land, they were called traitors
and rebels. But the Unanimous
verdict Of mankind has since placed
them on the very pinnacle of earth
Is cmiuenCc and has written their
names in letters Of shining gold upon
the pages OF history.
80 viii it be hereafter with the
martyrs Of the nineteenth century
anu with the noble men and woman
who fOrsook the popularity Of the
world, the Ease AMI comforts o.
home, and the precious society Of
loved ones, that the rights Of con-
science and religious freedom might
be perpetuated on earth. In the
years that are 10 come, their memoir