CHAPTER XIII

SAGE SAYINGS OF THE AUTHOR

[ Note: Unbeknown to father, Pearl has recorded some of his remarks made at different times during his later life. ]

"In July 1930, on our way to Jesse's Mt. Graham cabin, father said, 'This new road being made around Mt. Graham is typical of life. Here powerful machinery rips out old trees, rocks are blasted away and a fine Dew road to the top of the mountain is the result. Old people along the way of life are removed to make room for the younger ones, and all works out for the good of the cause."'

I have always felt that if a man eats wholesome food, enjoys good books and music, has kind friends and family, and plenty of work to do, he has the true foundation for happiness which even financial disappointments cannot destroy."

"It is better to be underestimated than to be overestimated."

"The revelation given to President Wilford Woodruff in 1891, known as 'The Manifesto,' which repealed the requirement previously given as to plural marriage, shook the Church to its very center. The ideas of the old fathers had to be worked out from a different standpoint. If God had not taken a hand in it, the 'Manifesto' might easily have been a rock on which the Church would have split. The Church could not undo what had been done in practicing plural marriage and it did not want to undo it. The Lord took care of us and will continue to care for us. Those who lived that order of marriage righteously will have glory added to their posterity."

"It must have been the Lord's will for us to go through these experiences in St. Johns."

"Perhaps our call to the Arizona Temple is a silent word from Him for us to accept the trials of the past and to be satisfied and quiet in our souls."

"In justice to the people of St. Johns and to our Church their history should be written."

"When I look around me now, July 1930, I ought not to feel sad any more. I see roads, reservoirs, shade trees, orchards, fields, this big home, and above all the men and women and children this country has produced."

"After July 1887, came the filling in of our life's fabric; the warp by then had been strung in the midst of trials that tested the souls of men. Then came the filling in of the woof,

and that too has tested the faith and loyalty of our hearts which were as metal in the crucible. Often it has been 'do right at all hazards' if we knew how to do it. The children's attainments are to me now as a beautiful tapestry which the mothers and I hoped would result from our family weaving ...

"The best we can offer to our family, the Church and our country is none too good." (This was given extemporaneously by father to a group of Boy Scouts in Snowflake in 1935.

"The Saviour said, 'Forgive if ye would be forgiven.' If we fail to repent and to forgive, our lives become complicated and entangled; unhappiness is the result. Asking a brother to forgive me for some unkindness or injustice done to him has warmed my heart many times; it has brought me out of the shadow into sunshine, has changed conflict within me to peace. It would be a wonderful thing to learn 'to forgive everybody every night' as a wise man, Mayor Gaynor of New York City, once said be tried to do."

Pearl states that early one summer morning in St. Johns when the big house was new, she recalls father coming into the kitchen and saying: "I've just been over to Brother Plumb's to tell him I understood he felt hard toward me and would he tell me why, which he did. I decided he was justified in feeling offended, and I apologized to him and asked him to forgive me." One of us asked, "Was it hard for you to do that, father?" His quick reply was, "No, it was not hard. It is easy to say 'I am sorry, please forgive me,' if you follow that plan as a habit. 'To err is human, to forgive divine,' and to hold bad feelings cankers the souls of men while to forgive is a healing balm."

It was quite a trial to father when, in connection with the erection of a new chapel and recreational hall for St. Johns Ward in the year 1937, it became necessary to tear out the east portion of the beloved Old Academy Building, in order that the remaining portion of said building could be remodeled and incorporated into the new structure as classrooms. However, his sorrow was tempered somewhat when he saw the difficulty the workmen were experiencing in getting out the massive foundation rocks laid by the pioneers so many years before. He remarked, "We builded better than the present generation thought we could."

"When the day of judgment comes, and we are told to enter, the past will be blotted out so far as our mistakes and sorrows are concerned. Today Paul and Alma are Dot in mourning because of the wicked things they did on earth. Their repentance was complete and they are happy. It must be so, or why the law of repentance?"

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"My call to Arizona was the word of God to me and Ella. It was so with thousands of mothers and fathers who were sent by President Young to colonize frontiers."

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One evening in David's home in Salt Lake City, father said: I have always loved trees and have planted many of them. When I was but a little boy, I held the saplings for father when he planted our first orchard in Nephi. I planted trees in Kanab and De Motte Park in 1878 and 1879. I planted the trees in our orchard and the shade trees around our home in St. Johns in 1887.I am proud of the elm in our front yard. At the old mill farm in Round Valley we planted fruit trees and black walnut trees and other shade trees. Nearly all were killed by the hard winters. Last of all, in my late seventies I have planted a choice orchard-grapefruit, orange, lemon, plum and peach trees on our lot across the street from the Temple."

(After mother's death at the time of the Stake jubilee (1937),father tore out some old poplars and said be wanted to plant Chinese Elms around the lot like a tree of Brother Farr's across the street.)

Father liked these lines and asked me to include them some place in the story:

And father might have written the following sentence:
 

He further stated:
 

"I always think of David as having been not only a brother, but a father to me. He has told you how be used to look after me. I think of his children with all the affection an uncle could have for nieces and nephews. I hope that a spirit of loyalty and love will always remain with our families here and that you will keep close to each other. We should speak well of each other and watch for the good things that our kinfolk do. That develops family loyalty. I repeat that I am pleased to be with you and pray the Lord to bless us all with His spirit that our lives may be useful and happy."

David K. Udall spoke of his mother whom he remembered, and paid tribute to his brother, Joseph, ten years his junior, who was less than two years old when their mother died. He encouraged the children present to be obedient and dutiful and avoid being precocious.

He encouraged every family to have a "Book of Remembrance" and to keep a brief history to hand on to the generations yet unborn. The Lord has advised us to keep family records.

"Now, my children and my brother's children, there is nothing more sacred and worthy than your blood, your kinsmen, your people. 'Blood runs thicker than water,' it is said. It should be so; we should be true to one another and overlook each other's imperfections and not have a grudge or bad feelings. We want those who marry into, our families to be loyal and true to their own families as well as to ours. In this way we develop a kinship in life that is helpful to all. Let us perpetuate these family gatherings and look forward to them and keep track of each other. Family kinship and blood and fellowship is the most real Heaven we have on earth. Let us all be good and kind to each other."

"As a class the Udalls are not gifted in music and art or literary pursuits. We have been pioneers and farmers, and

elders and High Priests in the Church. It has been our mission to help reclaim the desert and build up Zion, and serve as watchmen on her towers."

Pearl records that in August 1930, in St. Johns Ward, father bore his testimony in Fast meeting. He was a striking figure-erect, alert and goodlooking in his summer clothes of gray and his blue tie which contrasted the pink color in his cheeks and the silver in his hair. The directness of his words, his poise and forcefulness, bespoke maturity, but not old age.

His first remarks were on the need of Latter-day Saints living the Gospel. Before he was well launched into his subject, and almost without warning, lightning flashed and a peal of thunder shook the building. Peal after peal nearly deafened us as zig-zag flashes of lightning filled the room. Children cried and ran to their mothers and even the adults were disturbed, if not frightened by the fury of the storm.

Father stood still and stopped speaking for some minutes until, by raising his voice, he could be heard above the elements. Clearly and convincingly his words rang out above the fury of the wind, rain and hail that beat against the windows, as he told us that keeping the commandments of the Lord works no hardship on people who have formed the habit of serving Him, rather it becomes easy and brings constant joy. As honest men delight in paying honest debts to their fellowmen, so they may find delight in paying honest tithes to God and in meeting other obligations to Him.

The incident touched me as being significant, symbolic of father's life, for bow often he has met the lightning and thunder, the wind and beating hail of an opposing world! Through it all his testimony has remained undaunted, and cheerfully he has carried on regardless of the storms. Today, as always, he stood "four square to all the winds that blow." I wish that every child and grandchild might have seen him and heard his words.