Show communicated I 1 A NEW BW BUT SAME OLD MOVE I 1 tho the holiday season begins prior to continues this time over and christmas SS new tears day in all christendom aad wherever christians dwell whether ther S they ore are but nominally so or active difference the season but little akee g to one fl te of social extremes famille families 0 far come together presents axe are ex changed conviviality indulges itself and religious ad religious sacrament and ceremony attended with unusual fervor and are re display amon g the latter day saints there Is some gome modification along religious lines partly because the date to is doubted ad and partly because the social side is fit riven given greater prominence hence we see the temples closed and students in the public schools become lively livell evidence on trains running in all di actions there is in utah quite a percept percentage age of absentees who find in the missionary field the realization that for two or more seasons their calling practically bars them prom from participating participation 9 in an those home festivities which have been valued for years both by anticipation and retrospection the writer does not remember that the educational character of this continuous separation and change has ever been noted by the press though personal observation may have insisted on notice during the experience ot of a series of years probably gathering was the first firs t stimulating or broadening feature of the gospel after the consideration of its ita first principles it was a unique movement the element of curiosity prompted enquiry even when the spirit thereof rested upon the believer the designated location where was it hat weve were its ita opportunities ito ita ad vantages its climate its topographical aspects its distance from civilization or from the base of essential supplies the means of transportation indian perils and a thousand pertinent queries sprang to the lips of migrating individuals and became the topic among among companies en route it was the cause of mental quer and activity among co religionists who had the spirit but were short of the means the distance the cost the outfit the trip places en route the months required for the journey and the almost feverish longing for particulars tic ulars from a brother or friend when the land of promise was reached who does not remember the eagerness for news the comments thereupon and the redoubled efforts made to share in the difficulties experiences and blessings as portrayed in such correspondence men as a rule become wedded to locality places become precious by virtue of association and sometimes of things already possessed and enjoyed there is a tie in kindred in surroundings in congenial and abundant employment and the european character at least to is naturally more stable save under great pressure than is the american among the early arrivals in these valleys were those who had been persecuted who had been driven many times and were in search of peace and quietude they wanted rest they were essentially liable to localize loe alize themselves to make homes to labor for comforts long denied for the moment perchance they overlooked the need of missionary work and the stubborn facts of unavoidable colonization the majority had the privilege of so settling and as they located in salt lake city ogden provo and other places these locations became supreme in their thoughts and affections the man of salt lake cared little for the man of provo the northern man cared nothing for the south and vice versa but when the sons or sons in law were called out to st george or logan the old spirit of enquiry again exhibited itself what kind of a country ts is that anyway what are its resources its opportunities or the special trials incident to the new location this separation this newly created interest aided in keeping the people homogeneous their interests were enlarged and isolation was only possible in part then missionary activity became abnormal men were called to foreign lands to nations afar oft off to the islands of the sea to where their native tongue was of very limited advantage and then came enquiry again where is this island chiscon this continent this missionary field what are their morals their religions their products and habits of life the geography was consulted the map the encyclopedia friends were enquired from those who might have been there were interviewed distance was estimated the probable length and possible success of the mission were discussed a certain familiarity became a necessity and letters explanatory were widely read published and commented upon an education was almost unconsciously evolved denmark germany switzerland england became in the mouth as household words hawaii samoa tahiti au str alasia and other countries about which we had been long oblivious and which were a veritable terra term incognita became an actuality and every wanderer who returned whetted the mental appetite of many congregations and gatherings as they narrated their peculiar experiences and many a strange and supernatural manifestation outside of this colonization as to utah and missionary zeal and duty as an to the world large families and limited land in many of the valleys of utah have provoked a certain emulation andi desire for individual independence which utah was powerless to gratify under present social and industrial methods hence arizona nevada colorado idaho mexico and canada are becoming well known to the majority of the mormons cormons in utah any way almost every one has kindred friends or acquaintances in all these states as they have co religionists around the world A reproduction of other than local interest is now in active development through the young mens mutual improvement pro associations some on one hundred and fifty missionaries have this special duty assigned them for the three months of winter young men from the north have gone to the south and young men of the south have gone V to the north in weber county I 1 had the pleasure of meeting with such IL a couple elders franklin of levan juab county and frank hinkley from deseret millard county there Is quite a contrast in the young me men n but both are intelligent earnest workers who are enrolling the laggard element of the rural villages lelL they are making acquaintances and friends they find the hearty sympathy or of bishops counselors officers officer 4 tf the Mutu als and among the families generally without any flourish of trumpets but in quiet unostentatious and earnest ways they are a drawing toward them the young men from 14 ta years old it was reir remarked parked by an invited speaker that in his bin experience with human nature children do not always pay as much attention to father and mother as they might do but the same counsel given by a stranger will some times do good that counsel given by a bishop will sometimes tail fall of its to tent but a home missionary will find response from an apparently ent one to the very balne same counsel A stranger may accomplish in and forthe mutual what its president andr Y associates have failed in by the same earn rule so the visitor from millard or buah from new experience from friction or from observation may find that there to is earnestness and excel excellence lenee in the north and the northern workers in the south may find friends workers worker gir there who are equal to themselves to in theory aspiration love and zeal these the timely visits like the changes heretofore noted will tend to unity to homo geneit yand to good will fraternization fraternisation in a common work and tor for a common end will nay must produce good results and were it on new lines the observer would naturally look on oil waw an interest amounting to intensity but bat on lines demonstrated already by enlarged and often repeated experience it simply but says that abal our living priesthood the authorities of the church are directed by that DIVI divine wisdom which sees the end from the beginning and every where adapts the means to that end it to is evident that abe he forces of zion are today operating on a gran grander dek a broader scale than during any period of its modern history the dying year may not will not see the run full results but the years to come will tell in events in histo history ry in the world as welt as in utah where we may be too apt to become impatient and to ask as k as prophecy indicated where to Is now the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things have continued even as an they were ere this to no not cannot be 81 all I 1 things indicate ind 1 cate a mighty eighty 1 1 preparatory work and ere some ww oft aware the cry may go forth t the bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him what ever the next year or the rounded century may bring every true man will be on the watchtower with inspiration enough withla him blin to discern the signs of the tames |