Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-10-06
DIR. KARL G. MAEsER.

Perhaps no event in the history of
4 the I.atter-day Saints exemplities bet
ter the poets line THAT God moves in
mysterious way his wonders to per
form, than the conversion of Karl G..
Niaeser to 'tMormonisn At time
when the Gospel message was directed
especially to the poor, the humble. and
the #unlearned. and was carried to the
world. moreover, by messengers of q
2 similar type it found him. the learned
professor president Of a notable insti-
tuition of higher education. and drew
Z him irresistibly into the fold Judged
4 by purely human standards, there was
mot one chance In ten.thousand that
the Gospel would appeal to him; es-
pecially when we learn the further fact
that he had been so far biased against
religion In general as TO have become
atheistic in his tendencies OF thought.
But the Lord who touched the heart
OF Saul the prosecutor was able also
to set free the spring Of spiritual life
i In this great modern apostle of cduca-
ton. And in the nature of the new
life thus set free in him is to be found
the ovarpowerinE Impress he has left
,lpon educational ideals in Zion. Just
as our Savior. who might have stood
at the pinnacle of human glory in any
line of achievement. confined His ac-
tivity to the neglected spiritual side of
mans nature, so this man. instead of
repeating the scholastic and purely in
8tellectual ideals of German universities
Originated under Gods daily guidance
4 new order of educa ton: an order that
has crystallized in the motto: "Charac-
ter is power.
The teachers who were with him from
the beginning in the Brigham Young
Academy, can now look back and trace
the gradual unfolding of our present
Church school system OF education. To
their beloved principal trained in Ger
man methods, nothing would have
seemed more natural. than the laying
down of foundation on the lines of
s the secondary schools of his native
country. But here was new prob
lem: how to set free the spring Of
eternal life III his students. as God
had set ii free in him. This great ideal
I engaged nm DURING III ms Waking
hours. Indeed often in the middle of
the night, when he could not rest, he
would kneel down and plead with The
Lord to show him the next step; and
when problems arose in the school,
rooin-and the first few crops of boys
and girls that came to him were PEE
culiarly prolific of probems--he would
retire 10 his little office and ask the
Lord almost With tears and sobs, how
he might touch their hearts. how he
might make them claim their birth
right of the Holy Spirit:
And then, when he returned to his
classes, carrying with him The reyela-
ton OF Gods will. how sublimely un-
compromising WAS the moral attitude
he assumed, His splendid form. tow
cring and quvering with the intensity
of his feeling, his countcnance agIow
4. With haloof spiritual fervor his voice
ringing with absolute conviction.
caused his words To burn their way in
to every heart Cowboys with the mud
In their eyes wore suddenly awed by
a revelation Of virtue and purity and
sought the Lord i'll repentance, for the
first time in their lives. Frivolity and
tlghtmindedneas were scorched. as ii
We're. from the souls OF the goody-good.
and they also became earnest and
deeply spiritual, ..a4..
Nor was his inatchless power in