The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-12

have awarded the decision to either
Taylor Or Brown, had the matter been
in their hands alone. The decisions on
thought and composition were made. it
appears, before the contest came off.
Audience Was Enthusiastic.
The event opened under the most
pleasant circumstances. there being
many enthusiastic friends of each of
the young men present t. spur their
faVOrite on 10 his hest efforts.
And while the audience expected
something out of the ordinary from
these young Improvement workers,
what they heard and saw far sur
passed these expectations. The SpeeC les
were all carefully prepared and well
delivered, and the worth of them can
not be estimated by summaries. As
one of the judges expressed it, the col
lection would bear reproduction in the
best literary journals Of the country.
President Joseph F Smith presided.
the judges taking an advantageous pO-
SitiOn in the gallery over the front en-
trance The Utahn quartette was pres
ent, and at intervals delighted the Hud-
fence with their soIendid selections.
The contestants, VINO sat on the roS-
tTum before a hank Of beautiful flow
ers, first drew lots to determine the
order in which they should speak, and
it fell to Alma O. Taylor, son of JO-
seph Z. Taylor and representative of
the Thirteenth ward organization, TO
give mis- Grafton first.
Mr.. Taylor's Subject.
Mr.. Taylor's subject was The First
Vision, relative to Joseph Smith. He
proceeded in a calm, even voice. to
treat Of the religious condition of the
world prior to and during the first days
OF the Nineteenth century, and IN al
most every sentence could be detected
an OratOriCaI gem. and the result of
careful thought. Coming down TO the
vision of joseph Smith in the hills Of
Manchester, he drew a beautiful pic
ture of the heavenly beinEs and the
prophet in the woods, his metaphors
being magnificent and his articulation
perfect. Mr.. Taylor was greeted with
a stOrEc Of applause as he finished.
Thomas J. Howe of the Twenty
fourth ward spoke second, having
taken for his subject The Expulsion
From Missouri" He compared the per-
secutions of the Mormon people with
those of the Christians in the dark
ages, and related instances of cruelty
and oppression encountered by the
Saints
Mr.. Howe followed the people
through Caldwell and the far west, his
utterances being noteworthy for the
fOrceful manner in which they We're
given. He made a strong point of the
murder of Thomas Mcbride, a soldier
OF the revolutionary war, by mob at
Hauns Hill during the exodus.
Walter Sloan the Winner.
Thou Shalt Not" was the subject
assigned to Walter J. Sloan, the win
IN
Commandments. To the casual OBJ
server a large per cent Of Mr.. Sloans
good showing was in his absolute com
mand over himself and his good stage
presence. His delivery was considered
fair, MS gestures being excellent, but
unfortunately Mr.. Sloan's voice is not
particularly strong He addressed
himself to his hearers, doing away with
stereOtyped effect. Mr. Sloan brought
out some splendid thought in his ora
ton, based on the ninth command
ment, Thou shalt not bear false wit
ness against thy neighbor." To nearly
all the crimes of the world, he held,
the breaking of this commandment
could be ascribed as the cause.
Mark G. Brown. to whom was
awarded the second prize, a set Of
bound volumes of the Improvement
Era, had for his topic Joseph Smith
His Mission and Persecution"
The boyhOOd of the prophet was well
treated. and when he reached the Ne
roman cruelty OF the mobOcrats.
there was q Yeritable flow of elOquence.
Some of the ground covered in this
Grafton hid received consideration in
it's forerunners, but for strong, con-
Vincing ideas, cohesive and we'll put,
it was the impression that Mr.. Brown
carried off the honOrs. The ovation he
received was more prolonged than any
of the others. he lad the sympathy Of
his audience fr0I IS start.
PHILOSOPHY : Trial"
THE Philosophy of Trial" was g H
Carlquists subject, and pre-eminently
the deepest of the five. It was well
handled. the purport of Mr. Carlquist's
Grafton being that God allows his peo-
pie 10 be prosecuted in the light of
correcting THIN. even as a mother will
correct her erring child.
Two Of his very pretty SMILES were,