The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-15
morable pilgrimage to Chicago:
Lincoln, Neb., March 6, 1896.


Lincoln, Neb., March 6, 1896.
| Mr.. John Edwards:
My Dear Sir and Brother-I assure
| you of my appreciation of the invita-
ton to be present next Saturday even
ing in the reception extended to Mr..
John James of Salt Lake City, by the
! Welsh people of Chicago. | bespeak
for you most pleasant evening.
! Nothing in Chicago / miss like meet
ing the sons and daughters of Cam
bria. The pleasure would be enhanced
! IN meeting a representative of the
chivalrous people of Salt Lake City.
My visit there will be to me a perpet
ual source of pleasant recollections. [
recall wildly the circumstances. The
visit of the tabernacle or Mormon"
choir, and their competition for the
great eisteddfod prizes, was vitality
| important to the success of the eistedd-
! fod. The great fame of the choir, with
its magnificent leader, our country
man, Professor Evan Stephens, would
make the visit one of the greatest at
1 fractions of the eisteddfod. However,
the expectations of the eisteddfod man
ayers seemed to be disappointed; Of
! fetal correspondence with Salt Lake
City had been suspended, and the
! outlook for the visit of the tabernacle
choir was discouraging; but the
! eisteddfod managers never knew when
!
| They began over again, as if they had
/ always been serenely successful. [
! doubt that an .eisteddfod ever had a
! band of more determined, resourceful,
| persevering and ingenious las well as
| ingenuous) men than these managers
were. They were masters of the sit
uation. It was discovered that I was
/ going west as far as Denver, At once
I was summoned to the august pres
! ence of the committee. have for
| gotten just who they were, or how
many. ] was told the condition of
things and asked to go to Salt Lake
City and see whether Professor Steph-
! ems was alive, or dead. or married,
and if possible insure the attendance
of the choir at the eisteddfod Indeed,
the managers rather plainly intimated
that if the mission failed, my life in
| Chicago would be in a precarious risk.
The committee appointed was my eX-
cellent sister, Mrs. e. Griffith of Wa
bash avenue; Professor Conner Jones
and myself a kind of valet to the
other two. Professor Jones was de-
layed a few days, in part owing to a
tender visit $50 reported he made in
Denver. from which it was difficult to
eXtricate himself.
When Mrs Griffith and l arrived in
Salt Lake City we Immediately went
in search of Professor Stephens. 1t
Was NOW SATURDAY, ne was not dC
home; but we learned from his friends
that all plans to come to Chicago had
been dropped, and that Professor
Stephens was starting for Wales the
following week. [ assure you | was
detected, but my sister was courageous
and hopeful. We called on a number
of Welsh Mormon bishops, and were
most kindly received. In the evening
Professor Jones arrived fresh from his
triumph in Denver. Sabbath afternoon
we attended services at the tabernacle,
and at the close of the services Pro-
fessor Stephens met us. We heard,
then, the great choir at its best-in its
unique home; and the singing was in
comparably grand; it was indeed as
the gate OF heaven.
Arrangements were made to meet
the authorities of the Mormon church
and present our mission to the apos-
tolic circle. We were officially re-
ceived and introduced to President
Woodruff, Hon. George @. Cannon,
Joseph F. Smith and others. Our re-
ception was cordial, generous and fra
ternal. We stated our business and
mission. Mrs. Griffith was unusually
efficient and impressive. Conner Jones
was simply eloquent. His Denver
visit had quickened him into a glow
of tenderness and sweet persuasive
ness that was simply irresistible. Sole
dry business questions I endeavored to
answer The visit lasted about an
hour. The Mormon" officials were
thoroughly business, quick and cour-
teous, and ibroad-minded. When the
visit ended, all was settled; Professor
Stephens would give up his trip at
once, and begin to prepare for the
eisteddfo0. We were assured by the
Mormon authorities that their choir
would come and compete for the prize.
n nd no n
the appreciation of the tabernacle Of
ficials to the eisteddfod managers. You
know the rest of the story The COM
mittee returned home to Chicago. Pro-
fessor Jones, however, stopped over in
Denver to finish his visit and con-
tinue it by correspondence. The board
of managers very cordially appreciated
the work of the committee. The tab
ernacle choir did come. Their pres
ence added a great deal to the popu-
larity of that wonderful eisteddfod
they sang magnifcently and won con-
tinental fame. They made themselves
most agreeable to the eisteddfod peo-
pie, and today no choir leader in the
states has more friends than the I'M
assuming, genial and splendid leader,
Professor Stephens.
If there is any credit ITO be enjoyed |
from that famous visit of the Mormon |
choir (and there is a great deaD, it |
belongs, hrSt and foremost, to the en- |
terprising, intelligent. untiring, splen-
did board of eisteddfod managers. |
They were the inspiring energy of the |
whole business.
Second-The Welsh officials of the |
Mormon church in Salt Lake City did I
a great deal to encourage the enter |
prise, and so inclined the minds of the |
high officials favorably to the scheme.
Then Professor Stephens himself in a
quiet way did much to enthuse the
great choir with desire to come,
though he missed his trip to Europe.
Mrs. Griffith and Professor Jones, on
the committee, to my mind, were wise.
insistent and quite diplomatic in their
errand. They Were called on to res
urrect a hopelessly dead enterprise, an
abandoned scheme, a plan which had /
been passed upon as impossible-and
they succeeded fully
The visit of the Mormon choir to the
Columbia eisteddfod was of far-reach-
ing Importance. 1t was certainly a
great advertisement to the eisteddfod
but the visit was also a great benefit
to the Mormon church, to Salt Lake
City and to the territory. It served to
American public. Heretofore
mons was that they were clannish, ex-
elusive, stunning publicity and in bit
ter war with everything and every
BODY not of themselves. The choirs
visit did much to ahate such an i'm
preston. and now we know enough
sibout the Mormons, that however we