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Show Do You Remember? . . . By MAUDE H. EENEDICT Dear Readers: Last week's issue of the column .in the Springville Herald left my father, as a small boy, facing the Indian, who pointed his arrow at the heart of little Thad, who dared him to shoot! The lines left out should read, "The Indian slowly lowered his bow and arrow, shook his head, and said once more, 'Brave boy no scare no more!' And the lunch pail was not stolen again, father told us." Here is a poem written by Rosa Lee Lloyd, entitled "Pioneer Handcart": Hand-cart": I am perched on a pedestal, circled cir-cled in chains, I'm a pioneer relic I crossed the plains. My wheels are creaky, my tongue hangs low And I haven't the push of a dead buffalo. The crowds pass by, they look and say, "Just an old-time relic from yesterday." yes-terday." They hurry on with their busy vacation Not thinking that I" have the slightest relation To these modern times, or that I tell a story Of the old pioneer his strength and glory! I am a handcart I carried the grub And the trinkets and pans and the old wash tub. Young Sarah Grayson pushed me along, I shared her vision, I sang her song. I followed her eyes, I carved the trail, I ached and throbbed in each bolt and nail. We didn't give up when the way was steep I held Sarah's baby and rocked him to sleep. I saw Sarah weep when we buried the dead, But she smoothed out her apron, walked straight ahead. Though my body's creaky, there's a reason I'm here I'm the spirit and soul of the: pioneer! I The week just past was not only j a week of gala days in Utah, but : it will be a week that we look J upon in memory of these pioneers honored by celebration of their entrance into a vast wilderness. In a world where sacrifice and hardship were part of the life of every pioneer; a world that saw handcarts roll across the desert; a world that saw women slowly spin and weave by hand, and that saw men farm with the crudest of machinery. And now, 1942, ninety-five years after the Mormon pioneers came to this valley, their descendants look back at the spinning wheels long silent, the churns, carts, plows, crude furniture, and realize that the hardships endured by the pioneers were far greater than any we are being asked to endure in today's fight for freedom. In our relic halls today may be found many crude and mute evidences evi-dences of the sacrifices our ancestors ances-tors made. An old wooden churn, odd-looking bedsteads, a patchwork patch-work quilt, made 'by fingers long since gone to rest. Made by some woman who was once as young, as full of the joy of living, as any of us are today. It is well for us to ponder the lives of our pioneers no greater history of courage and faith will ever be written than the struggles strug-gles they faced and conquered in a world full of perils and self-denial. self-denial. The old order of things is passing pass-ing a new era is upon us. The world today could profit from a lesson of the Mormons. Of their fights with the Indians as they moved slowly westward until they taught the Indians they meant no harm, that they wanted to be "white brothers." So much hatred in the world today, to-day, one nation hating another, and both defeated and conquered hating each other after the battle. The famed "Mormon Battalion" of 500 men which the L. D. S. pioneers pio-neers made up during one of the darkest hours in the entire history of the church, now has its namesake name-sake in a group of Utahns of Mormon Mor-mon parentage enlisted in a "Mormon "Mor-mon Battalion" organized by the marines. The original Mormon Battalion fought but one minor engagement, but it blazed its name across the pages of history. It was on July 1, 1846, as Council Coun-cil Bluffs, Iowa, that the Mormons, just driven out of their beautiful city, Nauvoo, were asked to muster mus-ter 500 men for service against Mexico in the war against that country. Most of us have read the history of the original Mormon Battalion, and it is very interesting, to say the least Ogden Mormon Battalion enlistees en-listees in this second battalion include: in-clude: James W. Beus, Bazzle Rice, Glen Shupe, John W. Surrage, Paul Taylor, Baker C. Watkins, Max R. Curtis, and Rex Beesley. We wonder what their record will be, but feel sure it will be one of courage, good conduct, and victory. So many things remind us today of the past, of customs and of people we used to know each one leaving a heritage of courage and fortitude we long to be able to emulate. Do you remember? |