How Lorenzo spent the interval.--His next mission.--Difficulties
to be overcome.--Lays out a city.--Description of the
premises.--Builds a house.--President Young visits him.--Introduces a
precedent.--Description of it.--Succeeded by railroads.--Gift of the
Gospel.--The Patriarch's promise.--A sick man.--Faith in Lorenzo's
administration.--A handkerchief is sent.--He blesses and dedicates
it.--Is taken to the patient.--Placed upon him.--He recovers.--A
letter.--In memoriam.--To Elder Porter Squires.--Expressions of
gratitude.--Good wishes and blessings.
The interval which succeeded Lorenzo's Italian mission was occupied in
school teaching, and in domestic and legislative labors--occasionally
accompanying President Young in his visits to the settlements and
Stakes of Zion, preaching, administering to the sick, etc., and as a
minute-man, officiating in the various duties of his calling.
The next mission of importance to which he was called was to locate
fifty families in Box Elder County, sixty miles north of Salt Lake
City. There a small settlement had been formed, which, for want of the
right master spirit, had lost every vestige of enterprise and was minus
every aim in the direction of advancement. To diffuse active energies
and a spirit of progress into this stereotyped condition of people,
was not unlike raising the dead; and a man of less strength of purpose
would have faltered. Not so with the one in question. Prompt to the
call, he went to work, laid out a city, naming it Brigham in honor of
the President of the Church, moved his family to the new city, and thus
laid the foundation for the great financial co-operative enterprise
which subsequently he there built up.
When the county was organized by the authority of the Legislature, he
was appointed to preside over it, as a Stake of of Zion. He was elected
member of the Legislative Council, to represent the district composed
of the counties of Box Elder and Weber.
Here follows Lorenzo's own version of the situation: When I arrived
in Box Elder County, I found the location where Brigham City now
flourishes in a very unprosperous condition. Whether its change from a
primitive state should be called improvement, _i. e_., whether it was
better or worse for what had been done on the premises, would puzzle
an antiquarian. Even the log meeting house, with its ground floor and
earth roof, was more extensively patronized as a receptacle for bed
bugs than for the assemblage of Saints.
At first, in locating there, I only took a portion of my family, as a
small and incommodious adobie hut was the only tenement attainable.
During the summer and fall I succeeded in erecting a house, one story
and half in height, thirty feet by forty. It being impossible to obtain
shingles, I covered the building with slabs, and for two winters the
rattling of those slabs, put in motion by the canyon breezes, supplied
us with music in the absence of organs and pianos. I had thus covered
the roof of my house, but before my front door was in, and all my
floors laid, and before any plastering was done, our house was the
stopping place and the home of President Brigham Young and his company
of tourists, whenever they visited these northern settlements. We
sometimes entertained as many as forty at once. As soon as my house
was up and partly finished, I had all of my family with me; and on the
occasion of these visits of the Presidency, my family all united to
make our visitors as comfortable as possible.
To manifest due respect, and a proper appreciation of those visits,
which were productive of a vast amount of good to the Saints scattered
throughout the Territory, I introduced a precedent which was widely
adopted and carried into effect, until railroads superseded those
lengthy carriage drives. To perpetuate a remembrance of this unique
order of reception, I will give a description of the original one, as
follows:
On learning the precise time when the party would arrive, I arranged
a programme for the occasion. In the first place, a set of hands was
detailed to put the roads in good condition for carriages, by clearing
away stones, filling crevices, repairing bridges and causeways, etc.
Much care and labor were devoted to organizing the escort to meet the
President's long train of carriages some miles from the city. We had
not the means in those early days of our history to be very elaborate
in furnishing equipments as would have gratified our vanity, but what
we lacked we supplied in ingenuity and enterprise, in fixing up what
our means and circumstances would admit.
We selected forty or fifty intelligent, interesting looking young
gentlemen, dressed in gray uniforms, each carrying a lance, the top
of which was pointed with shining material, from which gay ribbons
floated gracefully in the breeze. These young gentlemen were mounted
on our finest horses and properly instructed and disciplined for the
occasion. Next, we selected sixteen or twenty fine intelligent young
ladies, had them dressed in white, with corresponding decorations.
These were seated in wagons, each drawn by two span of horses, properly
caparisoned. All the members of the escort were carefully instructed
respecting a proper manner of giving the salute on meeting the visiting
party; the various branches of the escort bearing flags and beautiful
banners with appropriate mottoes. All were preceded by one or two
carriages occupied by the authorities and leading men of the city, the
whole led by a martial band under the direction of the city marshal.
In connection with the foregoing arrangement, the children, in their
Sunday attire, gathered from all parts of the city, and many from
adjacent settlements, were formed into line on each side of the street,
and as the company entered, it was conducted through these long lines
of children to my house, amid loud cheers, the ringing of bells and
waving of banners.
The effect of this display on President Young and party was truly
thrilling. They were taken by a surprise of the most impressive
character. Thus an example was set which has been extensively followed,
until carriage riding has, to a great extent, yielded to that of
railroads.
One of the precious gifts of the everlasting Gospel conferred on
Brother Lorenzo, that of healing the sick by the power of faith and the
instrumentality of the sacred ordinances which God has revealed, is a
prominent one. Early in his experience in the Church, when he received
his patriarchal blessing under the hands of the Patriarch, Joseph
Smith, father of the Prophet, he received a promise of this gift, and
he was told that the sick should even send handkerchiefs to him for his
blessing, by which they should be made whole.
A very striking instance in fulfilment of this prediction occurred
in the winter of 1866. Brother William Smith, of Kaysville, Davis
County, Utah, was taken very sick; his faith centred in God and in
the ordinances of His house, instead of human medical skill; and he
and his wife had, from experience, great faith in Brother Snow as an
administrator, but he was forty miles away. It was winter, the weather
very cold and stormy, and the roads almost impassable, and they thought
it preposterous to send for him, and tried to content themselves with
the services of those present.
But with all the faith that was exercised, with all that patient,
skilful and careful nursing--all that love and affection could do
for him--he continued to grow worse, and gradually sank until his
life was despaired of and his case considered hopeless by all but his
heart-stricken, loving wife. She was hoping and praying with all the
fervor affection inspires, when, by the promptings of the Spirit which
brings "all things to remembrance," she recollected that when Brother
Snow was at her home in Wiberson, England, in reading a copy of his
patriarchal blessing, she was struck with the prediction that the sick
should send handkerchiefs to him, etc. Like a lamp suddenly lighted,
and like the sunbeams streaking forth from under a heavy cloud, her
heart took courage and the light of eternity seemed to spread a halo
around; and the thought was immediately suggested to her that, as
her husband, now almost unconscious, was too far gone to act for
himself, she might act for him, and forthwith she started to carry the
suggestion into effect.
No time was lost in commissioning a messenger to go with all possible
dispatch and take to Brother Snow a new silk handkerchief, with a
note from Sister Smith containing her request, also instructions
relative to, and descriptive of her husband's condition. The messenger
accomplished the trip, to and from, as expeditiously as the state of
the roads would possibly admit.
When Brother Snow was made acquainted with the situation, his
sympathies were much aroused. From long acquaintance, he had full
confidence in their faithfulness and integrity. They had befriended him
when on a mission in a foreign land, and from first acquaintance, with
him and them, confidence was mutual.
We now copy from Brother Snow's journal: I took the handkerchief and
a bottle of perfumery, and on retiring to my closet, I prayed, and
then I consecrated the perfumery and sprinkled it on the handkerchief.
I then again bowed before the Lord, and in earnest supplication
besought Him to remember the promises He made through His servant,
the Patriarch, whom He had now taken to Himself, and let the healing
and life-inspiring virtues of His Holy Spirit be imparted to this
handkerchief, and from thence to Brother Smith when it shall be placed
upon him, speedily restoring him to life, health and vigor.
As soon as the messenger returned, with the handkerchief neatly folded
in an envelope, it was unfolded and spread over the head and face of
Brother Smith, the apparently dying man, with almost instantaneous
effect.
His immediate recovery was observed with surprise and astonishment by
all around, and well might they exclaim: "It is the Lord's doings, and
it is marvelous in our eyes."
IN MEMORIAM.
Out of respect to the family of the departed, who has gone to reap the
reward of the righteous--as a tribute justly due the memory of the
faithful, trustworthy Elder Porter Squires, and as a testimonial of
my brother's recognition and appreciation of true merit, we think the
following extract worthy of insertion:
Legislative Hall, Fillmore City,
Millard County, Utah,
December 21, 1856.
_Elder Porter Squires_:
Dear Brother.--When traveling abroad among the nations of the earth,
I have often thought of your kindness and faithfulness, and the
assistance you have rendered me and my family. And while thinking of
you, my prayers have often been offered up in your behalf, in every
place, and in every nation wherever I have set my feet.
Language fails to express the feelings and the sincere gratitude of
my heart for the interest you have manifested in the many kind and
important services you have discharged in my interest since you came
into my family.
I feel that you are fully entitled to be blest when I am blest, to be
honored when I am honored, to be exalted when I am exalted, and to be
glorified when I am glorified.
I have decreed in my heart that, some day, I shall pay you four-fold,
and with interest, for all you have done for me, but when this will
be, the Lord only knows. Till then, I can only pray for you, that the
Spirit of the Highest may be richly poured out upon you, and that peace
may always dwell with you.
I shall be glad when you find a companion and have a home of your own.
But I say, as I always have said, be not in so much haste as to take
one that your wisdom and judgment will not approve. I declare to you in
the name of the Lord, there are wives in store for you of the Lord's
choosing, that will be given you, and you shall lose nothing, but shall
be crowned and glorified with your brethren in the Kingdom of the Lord
our God, and in the midst of your wives and children, and no power on
earth or in hell shall prevent you receiving this blessing. I say this
in the name of the Lord, and by the spirit of prophecy which is in me,
and it is true and sacred.
I have no time to get away from public business except in the evening,
when I go out into the fields alone by myself, to call upon the Lord to
bless me and my family. I never enjoy myself so well as I do on these
occasions. Men change and circumstances alter, but the Lord is always
the same kind, indulgent and affectionate Father, and will bless those
that will, in childish simplicity, humble themselves before Him, and
ask for what they want. I think of you at such times, and always have
the spirit to bless you in the name of the Lord.
Your brother in the Gospel,
Lorenzo Snow.