Show IN SOLEMN ASSEMBLY s honoring the pioneers thirty ninth anniversary of 0 their entrance into great salt lake valley vahey commemoration services in the tabernacle salt lalie lake city saturday july 1880 was observed as pioneer day the thirty ninth anniversary of the entrance of the pioneers into great salt lake valley the sunday schools of salt lake city had united in a pro gramme of exercises to be given in the tabernacle commemorative of that important event and from a m until a few minutes after 10 the elf ildren from the Lv arious wards of th this L S city filed in procession proc essien into the large building and were seated in the plates places assigned them while parents friends and visitors thronged thron ged the goI gallery lery and vacant seats below until all the available space was occupied there must have been a congregation gation of fully persons the interior of the tabernacle presented a scene in strong contrast to the gay holiday decorations of former occasions ca all of the stands were draped in mourning and conveyed the impression to the con congregation re gation that it was a assembly assembly that had bad convened mottoes were placed over and on the grand organ and on the stands and the extensive decorations in the centre of the building were be decked with the stars and stripes tile the motto over the organ r was in god we put our tr trust ast IT on the front of the magnificent instrument was a large banner on onieh was painted a figure with up fiand apparently in the act of making ia a sacred vow around it was inscribed the words under the everlasting Jo Oven venant alit god must and glorified ave 1 e stands were unoccupied u the rea being explained by the following 61 lowing inscriptions script ions which were pl placed abedin in appropriate positions I 1 vast first presidency in exile tor for sake oft 01 rt the e twelve apostles those are in jeopardy in prison and in foreign lands landa ge because ause they prefer to obey rather than man the presidency of the atao stal having tasted of the their cheif enem enemies les i and kelt their cruel dis disregard rikard of law their labors and visits visit are like the angels seen oy only by those who haye have faith of the presiding bishopric those who are absent choose to be wanderers in their own land in preference ITe ference to being vict victims to those who have selected them for rain on the platform erected for the occasion sion in front of the stand we wera seated three of the pioneers patriarch lorenzo D young bishop millen milieu atwood and elder samuel all who could be present of the nen men n en and three women who composed that noble bind band there were aleso members of the high council high pr priests i ests 1 officers of the young mens and nd ya young ung ladies associations deseret sunday school union and other 0 organizations a eions 21 boys and 21 girls chosen che naro from m the city wards and a number of others while the congregation were being seated captain beesleys Bee martial band played the rage kage an arrangement of home sweet home 11 auld lanz lan syne lyn 11 and other melodies and the sunday un ay school chool union band rendered the dirge irge rest in peace the pro gra grammes ai distributed to the people con tain edhe following introductory THE PIONEERS the entrance of the pioneers into great salt lake valley on OB the of july 1847 was as an event of gr at significance ance and will be forever memorable in our history we fled to this western region to escape the violence of mobs and and a haven of rest where we mi might lit worship god unmolested according to the dictates of conscience the opening up of avast a vast tract of country was not only a matter of great imp importance orEance to the people who accomplished it but was necessarily beneficent in its effects spda the nation whose wealth and magnificence mag were thus increased today to day we commemorate the occasion under distressing auspices the cause which drove th the pioneers to seek aref a ref age in the then undeveloped west is revived in great intensity of bitterness the community are plunged in sorrow because their liberties are ruthlessly assailed by those by whom they should be protected and sustained in consequence of cruel and unwarranted attacks upon our rights our leaders are in enforced exile notwithstanding their loyalty loyally to the principles upon which the government ot this nation was founded and their life labors in the cause of suffering ring au an manity numbers of our brethren languish in prison families have been temporarily broken up and sorrow rests upon the souls of the people hence the emblems of mourning by which the eyes of this great throng throne axe are greeted for these reasons what would otherwise be a day of unalloyed rejoicing is ia tinged with the spirit of sadness yet we cannot consistently pass the anniversary of so grand an occasion without a public recognition of the goodness ok of god in leading the pioneers of this region to a resting place in these beautiful valleys and while engaged in these exercises we can but look up to him with full fall expectation and faith that in his own due clue time he will work out a new and signal deliverance for his people at 10 1030 30 am Superintendent john C cutler called the congregation to order and the sunday school children under the of brother thomas mcintyre sang MARCHING HOMEWARD were marching arching in on to glory were working for our crown well make our armor brighter and never lay it down CHORUS ORUS homeward to that bright land afar we work for lite life eternal it is our guiding star then day by day were marching arching in to heaven we are bound each good act bangs us nearer that iha home thome where well be crowned then with ransoms rans omd children that throng the starry throne well praise our bord ord and savior his and mercy own the opening prayer was offered by bishop millen atwood one of the pioneers the sunday school chil children drea sang BEAUTIFUL ZION beautiful zion builta built above beautiful lul city that I 1 love beautiful gates gales of pearly white beautiful temple god is light he who was siam on calvary opens those pearly gates to me zion zion lovely zion beautiful tul zion zion city of our god beautiful heaven where all is light beautiful angeii clothed in white beautiful strains that never tire beautiful harps chrol all the choir there shall I 1 join the chorus sweet worshiping Worship lug at the saviors teet feet zion zion lovely zion beautiful Beau iol zion city ot our god beautiful crowns on every brow beautiful palms the s show beautiful robes the ransoms rans omd wear beautiful all who enter there thither I 1 pi press ess with eager feet there ahall my restee rest be long and tweet zion zion lovely zion beautiful zion city of 0 our r god passing under the rod eod I 1 was played by the sunday school union brass band bishop orson F whitney made the following PIONEER ADDRESS X my y BreU Bre diren iren and sisters sestet s in addressing a few words to this vast congregation I 1 shall not attempt to dazzle your min minds s by a display ot of oratory even were it in my power I 1 should not deem it proper on this occasion I 1 prefer rather to have my words remembered and made use of to have them understood by all and sink like good seed fertile soil into the hearts of my hearers to bring forth the fruits of life and salvation under binder the blessing of gods holy spirit to his names honor and glory among the noblest heroes and heroines whom history has made immortal are those brave men and women who nave have in indifferent different ages of the world refused to surrender their sacred convictions dictions vict ions and be untrue to the dictates of their consciences the voice of god in the human heart and have left home and country often despoiled of their possessions and have taken their lives in their hands bid adieu to their native land with ail all the associations and ties of kindred and affection and have gone forth to seek out a new land where they might enjoy the rights of conscience unmolested and worship the god of their fathers in his own appointed way such were the children ot israel in ancient times who led by the prophet moses shook off the shackles of egyptian bondage and went forth into the wilde wilderness ruess to worship god according to his command suck such also balso were ite pilgrims pilgrim s of new Ne england who in the seventeenth century of the christian era fled from the tyranny of the old world and planted themselves on the western shores of the atlantic where with their descendants they were instrumental in the hands of providence in establishing the great government under which we are now living in founding a nation whose broad wings ot protection overshadow the oppressed the trampled on and distressed of all nations nation and which f furnishes urnis hes an asylum a place of ref refuge u ge f for or ane weary exiles of every land buch aso also were the pioneers of utah who 0 nine and thir thirty gears years ago emerge emerald fro from yonder onder mountain on I 1 gorge into this then silent and desert valley and lif lifted ted the ensign ot of liberty the flag of our country and auf unfurled its glorious folds from the summit of you lotta peak living as we do amid the results of their labors plucking the fruit from the tree of their planting crossing with safet safety yand and in aase ase toe the chasms they bridged and re even in the midst of sorrow id in the blessings bequeathed thed by heaven as the there reward waid of their coura courage e and industry we can only conceive to a very limited extent the greatness of their toils and sacrifices sacrifices sacr auces made willingly and labors that were patiently performed from yr to year that we their children and d posterity in general might enoy enjoy the rich blessings which then their valor their self denial and industry have cave handed banded down to us utah today to day is the garden of the interior west thirty nine years ago it was a wilderness a desolation scorched by the sun san and trodden by the roving red man whose tood food consisted in part of wild roots dug from the grorud grodum reptiles that crawled and hissed and rattled among the hot rocks of the plain and the crickets and grasshoppers that noisily chirped upon the mountain sides their music was the scream of eagles the melancholy howl of the wolf and the coyote the voice ot 01 the distant torrent mingling with the twitter of the mountain bird then it was the heart of the great american desert now it blooms orchards farms and vineyards is dotted with cities and hamlets the homes of a peaceful prosperous and were it not that the cruel hand of persecution has fastened upon their throats a happy people we can not realize I 1 say the tae grea greatness t nes of f the labors and sacrifices that were necessary pec ec essary to cause this wilderness to bloom as it now does like the garden of the lord we cannot conceive of the toils and trials through which our fathers and mothers passed in order to establish in this chosen land their childrens feet and perpetuate those glorious principles which are destined to redeem and happily the world when the pioneers approached this desolate valley they were met by bv an old mountaineer colonel bridger who on learning ot of their intention to settle in the valley of the great salt lake exclaimed in tones of mingled pity and derision 1 I will give ive a thousand dollars for the first buesnel of wheat you raise in that valley this will serve to show in spite of the envious detractions retractions actions of s small mail so bigots who ano fain would lessen the glory and the honor due to that goa who so si signally nal preserved pre sered and miraculously delivered meliv them the amount of labor courage and perseverance necessary tore to re deem this desert land and make it blossom in m its present fragrance and beauty and who were those pioneers those founders of utah whose children and associates I 1 have the honor of ad dressin dress mgt they were exiles for conscience sake banished from the con fineson n foi foith th from a land of christian churches by mobs led on and inspired by christian priests for daring to have opinions ons of their own and worship in the their i r 0 own wn way the god of their fathers in a land of religious li liberty bertT thrust forth from the homes their industry had won compelled to cross the frozen pi on the ice in the month of february leaving their bloody footprints oo on the ice of the river and upon its frozen shores starving and naked stripped of all their possessions they refused either to die to become discouraged relinquish their rights or to lo 10 losse 8 e for one moment their laith faith in their sublime and glorious destiny leav leaving g I 1 their burning city and ravaged fields in the hands ot their merciless oppressors with their wives and little bues clustered around them dying ding by scores as the result of the inhuman treatment to which they had bad been subjected they drew their shattered remnants out upon the bleak and tru trackless kless prairie r 1 rie A journey of 1500 miles over rr frozen 0 en rivers vers and barren plains pl ainsa a journey marked mile af after ter mile by the graves of their aged parents their delicate wives and tender little ones baroug brought h t them to the rocky mountains and on the twenty fourth of july 1847 thirty nine years ago this day their wagons rolled down yonder slope and encamped upon this silent plain I 1 would have these children remember the works of their noble fathers and heroic mothers I 1 would have hav them ethem remember the lineage through which they have come and strive before god and the world to be worthy of that lineage descended from israel ot shook off the bondage ot of egypt prefer I 1 ing the wilderness with its freedom to civilization with its chains the children too many of them of the pilgrims who came across the mighty deep d e from the tyranny of the old W world 0 ad and laid the foundation upon this chosen land of the great government under which we live I 1 would have them remember also that they are the sons and daughters of patriots whose hearts burn and whose blood tingles with the spirit and genius of liberty that their fathers and ih mothers others even when driven outcast and exiled for the sake of f their religion the free exercise of which is guaranteed under the constitution of our country fleeing from the civilize tion which had refused ref used to protect them that they still remained true and loyal to the principles of liberty thirty nine years ago day after tomorrow to morrow they ascended yonder peak and lifted the ensign of freedom upon mexican soil thereby signifying not only their loyalty to the country which had thrust them from its borders Por borders ders but their determination to td stand by the principles of truth and liberty to maintain the palladium of equal rights the aegis of protection to the outcast out oat cast east of dij al nations this my mv young brethren and sisters foreshadowed foreshadower fore shadowed your destiny the destiny of the children of the pioneers f for dr the same great prophet who predicted that the latter day saints would be driven westward and become a mighty people in the midst of the rocky mountains also declared that the time would come when their sons and daughters would rescue the constitution and the flag the glorious stars and stripes the flag of freedom which symbolizes by its stars the glory and success and by its stripes the sufferings ana trials of our brave ancestors that the children of this people would rescue them from the hands of traitors and tyrants who would trample them in the mire remember therefore your destiny and the great things expected of you you are not the enemies of this land of liberty you yin are not the foes of freedom you are not traitors to |