The Sea Gulls and the Crickets

— THE SEA GULLS AND THE CRICKETS. (For the Improvement Era.) With promise of abundant yield Lay ev'ry garden, ev'ry field, A smiling 'neath the summer sun, Where pioneers a home had won. Above, the Wasatch towered in might: Below, the Great Salt Lake was bright: And o'er the foothills far away The sage brush spread its sombre gray, To where the opalescent blue Of distant ranges closed the view. The parched desert ne'er had known A harvest where the seed was sown: And carefully each precious seed By faith was sown in time of need: For, weary months of want had worn Away each scanty store of corn, And yet a thousand miles of plain Lay in between the fields of grain There by Iowa's hill and dale, And these new grain fields of the vale. On bulbs and roots, on fish and game, — Awaiting till the harvest came, From nature's storehouse spread around, Full many their subsistence found; Yet naught man's appetite has led Away from yearning for his bread;

—— THE SEA GULLS AND THE CRICKETS. 657 And hope of harvest filled each breast Within these new homes of the West. No thought of danger lurking near Aroused a dream or qualm of fear: And e'en where poverty held sway Contentment ruled each happy day: And toil and thrift, gave hope full cheer With its reward of harvest near. Then, mustered by some evil head A foe to fill the homes with dread From out the foothills all along The crickets swept, a countless throng, The verdure lay before them green, Behind 'twas like a fire-swept scene. And as thev neared the fields of grain The settlers fought them might and main, Till unavailing efforts gave The proof that none their crops could save. In many a trouble, doubt and care, The Saints had learned the power of prayer; In many an answer God had given, They learned to put their trust in Heaven; And solemn prayers of deep distress Arose then in the wilderness, And God was asked, while faith held sway, To drive the hordes of foes away, Aad save the crops, by his strong hand, To keep a famine from the land. Lo! then, a wonder in the skies To them glad vision brought surprise! Above the low horizon's bound, With wings all fluttering round and round, In cloud-like flocks, the sea gulls flew, In their migration strange and new; And myriads over all the land, As if they came at God's command, Sought for the crickets, as was meet,

€58 IMPROVEMENT ERA. And ate as though compelled to eat, And ate, disgorged, and ate, till then Disgorged, they ate, and ate again; Till, at the sunset, they took flight, And o'er the lake passed out of sight. Again, each morning they returned, As i^about the task concerned Of clearing all the land so clean That not a cricket could be seen. The birds were tame. 'Twas very clear Of men they yet had formed no fear: . They came about the cottage door, 'Mid scenes unknown to them before, And children played with them in glee, Yet left them undisturbed and free. And to this day, the Saints believe The sea gulls came here to achieve A rescue from impending woes Of famine, that these insect foes Most surely would have made, that day, Had not God's power swept them away. And so the law's protecting care Gives to the gulls an ample share; And gratitude we give most fair These winged pilgrims of the air. J. L. Townsend. Payson,JUtah.