Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-19

u ~ HE monument in honor of Brigham
Young and the Pioneers. which stands
at the head OF Main street, is almost at
" the entrance OF our office, and passing 1t
several times day. do / am FREE
quently struck by tho spectacle of the tourists.
who stand in groups around the monument with
their note books in hand reading the names of the
pioneer band. which arc inscribed on the pedestal.
Many OF them take an eager interest in picking
out the names TO whether their own are TO
be found there, and tho great work achieved BY
the pioneers is generally recognized, that
these tourists make il matter of pride. il they
can find their own family name inscribed In the
list OF course the old prejudces are stu ram
pant Though I believe less SO than they used to
LEI and IL ono stopped to milglc with these gaz-
ing tourists, he would hear many strange anu
grotcsquc things uttered in regard to the great
character whose figure surmounts tho pedestal,
Brigham Young BY many he is st deemed the
#pcrsontcation of tho tyrnnt. the autocrat, ana
the cnslavcr OF women. and many still believe old
stories which picture him as an avenging angel.
the leader of the "Dancs'' and the enemy of his
country. Flow such people would stare. II they
could only have known Brigham Young as he
vast. I fancy they would be dumb founded If they
were asked half dozen simple questions. and
frequently enjoy the thought OF what their an
swers would be if they could be pinned down ana
made to listen to some imaginary questions 'ite
the following:
rirst-Dd you know that Brigham Young
transplanted from the banks of the Mississippi
to the shores of. tho great Salt Lake. distance
of 1900 mics 20 years before the Pacific railroads
ran into the west fou" such vital agencies of hui
man culture and civilization as, the Press inc
Schools Music and the Drama?
Second-Did you know that the, first wagons
that were pulled by OK team across the plains
we're loaded with printing press ana PRINT
ing outfit. and that Brigham Young issued news
paper in Salt Lake in 1850, before Denver Omaha.
or Kansas City thought of?
Third-Dtd you know that the schools OF Nau-
yor ana Kirkland where Hebrew, Greek and Latin
we're taught were early revived in Utah? That
one school was opened in the old Fort in october.
s1S47 three months after the first company Of pio-
necrs arrived?
Fourtl--D! you know that the drama, IN
modest way tlourished in Nauvoo. and that it I'm
media toly began to refoursh in Utah as soon as
Brigham Young got his bearings here?
And finally did you know that "tlie divine art"
Music both vocal and Instrumental. was eneour-
oEcd that it reached very high condition (tlle
times considcrcd) in Nauvoo. and that 1t i'm
,lediately began be cultivated again as soon as
tpt, pioneers We're settled III Utah?
Doubtless your average tourist would open ms
eyes anew at such statements, SO Conflicting and
so utterly al variance, would they be with his pre-
conceived notions Of what Brigham Young was
Yet everyone of those statements is lnntter OF
familiar history to They ought to be I'M
pressed on our people more thar they are, for
they cast new light on the character of Brigham
Young and cvcn many of the Latter-day saints
who have so long regarded and yenerated him rs
their leader as a trail blazer. founder OF towns
a financial genius, and general in all that the
term mplics--many OF us, perhaps have not ac-
corded him the place he deserves as the great
force in extending culture and education through
the west Assuredly he was pioneer III a
thousand meanings of the term
AS my topic deals only with Music, and Mus
sbo t@r,uSc tho Ot
observing that it would well repay the Daughters
OF the Pioneers. to have Brigham Youngs part
in establishing the press the heart of the Rocky
mountains when he did, in founding schools here
when he did; ana encouraging the drama as he
did dwelt upon exhaustively ana extensively
Many of the younger members would be sur
prised TO note what talented minds and pens weic
employed In Nauvpo far back as 1882 IT Is
recorded that the drama was fixed institution
in Nauvou and that Brigham Young himself oiire
took a part in a play: that he schools of Nanvoo