Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-08

arid earth. In the towns Of Magrath,
Cardston. Raymond, Sterling and the sur
thousand Mormons. Most of them are doing
well and some are quite prosperous. Things
are at last coming their way.
There are many interesting figures in this
town OF Magrath, not the least being Brig
ham Young, a grandson of the famous
Brigham Young, one time president OF the
Mormon Church. But the way things have
been accomplished in Magrath can perhaps
be best explained by introducing William
Wood, typical Mormon pioneer. Wood Is
veteran of the Crimean war and one Of
Magrath's most active and optimistic citi-
zens He Is seventy years old, and he
me to his three-year-old daughter Ruth,
as pretty a little mischief as can be found
anywhere.
Wood is the father of twenty living chill
one time privilege of his church to marry
by the wholesale. He is a short slender
wiry person. with shrewd bright eyes and
the activity Of a man of fifty. He is first
among the boomers of Magrath, and al
though the boomers Of Canada are first
among their kind. the Mormon boomers of
Mormon towns make the rest walk the
plank.
A Walking Romance.
William Wood is walking romance. an
unbound story book. He was converted to
Mormonism at sixteen that in itself being
considerable Of a jump from the Presbyte-
rianism of his family and the atmosphere Of
the little English village in which he was
born. Then he found himself on H. NJ s.
Retribution. side-wheeler frigate, carry
ing two 5S-pounders and twenty long
twenty-fours. The Retribution performed
at Sebastopol. where it was give and take,
and give some more. and where that strange
combination of Turks. Italians. French and
British filed down the claws Of the Russian
bear.
But the strangest thing about 1t all, as
told to me by Wood, was that Mormonism
then had enough converts in the British
army to warrant the formation of field
church under the walls of Sebastopol. That
worship of the faith founded by the New
Yorker, joseph Smith. in trenches jointly
occupied by the followers of Islam good
children Of the Catholic pope and sturdy
members of the Church of England, while
guns blessed by the Greek Church of Russia
Numbered at their ears, is an experience
upon which Wood looks back as one of the
strangest in his adventurous life.
Wood next found himself on the bridge Of
the Retribution beside Chinese Gordon
while Chinese forts guarding the mouth of
the Yangtse kiang tried to put them out of
business They nearly did, too, for a wan
dering piece of shell sliced a watch fob from
Gordons pocket. And Woods adventures
didn't end here. by long shot. Our own
Commodore Perry had excited the jealousy
of England by opening the ports of that
hiuSuoHi " Tie WOilu some years DeIOre.
Not to be outdone. the English government
built fine steam yacht as a present for the
mikado. Commander Harry Edgerton, then
in command Of the Retribution, was de-
tailed to take this yacht to the city then
called Yeddo. and the boy William Wood,
youthful veteran of the Crimean and the
Chinese wars. was one of the crew. His
were among the first European eyes to look
upon Nippon and her people, and the i'm
pressions this visit made upon him have re-
manned with him to this late day.
Admiration of the Japs.
1--WE could see even then" he said to me
the other day, as we drove along through
the wheat-bound highway, that the Jap
anese were a wonderful people. You can
imagine how interested l have been since
that time in reading Of every step Japan
has taken toward her rightful position in
the front rank Of world powers. Remem-
Der, too, that fought the Russians. And
when war broke out between Russia and
Japan I could see but one end for it, and
that was the final victory which the Japs
won"
In 1862 William Wood was in Salt Lake
City. Those were the strenuous days of
Mormonism, when men Of that faith
fought alternately with the desert wilder
ness and the gentle. 1t was then, while
the Mormons still dreamed Of the indie
pendent empire that had been the goal Of
the trek to Utah, that this people ACQUIRED
that faith in their ability to conquer I'M
friendly nature that finally led them into
Canada. That confidence has remained
with William Wood. Either the bitterness