--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Grant, Heber J. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 4 published: 1912-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Grant, Heber J., "Tribute to Erastus Snow," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 4 (February 1912): 363–366.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1504unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1504unse start_page: 363 end_page: 366 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1504unse publication_year: 1912 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1912, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Tribute to Erastus Snow Tribute to Erastus Snow BY HEBER J. GRANT, OF THE QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES [Elder Heber J. Grant, being unable personally to attend the Home-coming exercises at St. George last Fall, sent a letter of regret, under date of September 14, 1911, to President Edward H. Snow, of the St. George stake, which contains a well-deserved tribute to Erastus Snow, the colonizer and pioneer, and founder of St. George. We are — permitted to make the following extracts. Editors.] Dear Brother Snow: I cannot tell you how much I regret not being in St. George yesterday morning when your "home-coming" exercise commenced. I have been looking forward lor months. to the pleasure of meeting you. I am with you in spirit, if absent in per.- on. You are going to have a glorious time, and one long to be remembered with pleasure. I hope and pray that nothing may happen to mar the pleasure of the occasion. As a pioneer and colonizer, I look upon your father as having been second only to Brigham Young, among that wonderful body of men who were the early members of the Church, in the settlement of Utah. When I was made one of the leaders of the Church, no words of mine could express the weight of responsibility which came to me. I was grateful to have been so honored of the Lord. My cousin, Anthony W. inns, was in the City of Mexico at the time, and I sent him a copy of the revelation given to President John Taylor, calling Brother George Teasdale and me to the Council of the Twelve, and a copy of the blessing given me in my ordination, and wrote him that I looked upon your father as the ideal apostle in the Council, at the time. He was in very deed the servant of the people, and labored unselfishly for their advancement. During the years of my association with him, from October, 1882, until his death, I saw nothing in his public or opinion I had private life to change, in the least degree, the splendid formed of him prior to my being called to the quorum. No men on our quorum, earth are more intimately associated than the members of and nowhere are men better able to judge their fellow men than in our Council. words Your father was loyal, true, patriotic, devoted. There are no his memory, and pay him the of mine too strong to do full justice to In thought, word, and full meed of praise to which he is entitled. God, his Church, and his fellowmen. Like Nephi deed he was true to brother, you have been born of goodly parents. From of old my dear the bottom of my heart I earnestly pray that you and all of the sons of Erastus Snow may so live that your lives will be and daughters 364 IMPROVEMENT ERA worthy of the noble example of your most splendid father. I could go on writing you of your father's life and labors, which were an inspiration to me, for an hour or two, but I will only pay him one more tribute. I want you to get, if you do not have it, the little pamphlet giving the talks at the funeral of the Prophet Brigham Young. To my mind your father's was the finest tribute to that great man which was paid to him on the occasion of his funeral. Your father was one of the greatest of the men who sat in Utah's legislature, from time to time. * * * * It is a real pleasure to sit here and pay this tribute of love and respect to your father. I said I would mention one item, and then close, but I cannot do justice to my feelings and fail to mention one more of the things which made me love your father. 'Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27. Your father's life was an example of "pure religion and undefiled before God." He came to conference from St. George, twice a year, and there were some ten or fifteen widows whose homes he never failed to visit; and if he could arrange to take a meal with these widows, he did so. My dear mother's home was one of those honored by his visits; and I thank the Lord for this, as but for mother being so honored I should never, in my youth and young manhood, have learned to know and love him as I did. I saw more, by far, of your father, and had more counsel, love and advice given to me by him, notwithstanding he lived three hundred and fifty miles from Salt Lake, and had a ten-days' journey to get to conference, than from any other of the leading brethren in the Church. I have never known a father's love, but many men have given me, as far as this was possible, the love of a father; and your father was one of the chief among the number. Not only did I have your father's love and counsel, in the home of my beloved mother, but I had it often in the home of another of the widows where his love and blessings were extended, and where the young lady, who afterwards became my wife, called him "Uncle Erastus," a title which I, with much pleasure, appropriated after he had married to me my dear departed Lucy. I have always been thankful that I went clear to *St George to have your father seal Lucy to me. Bishop Edwin D. Woolley was a father to me, all the days of his life, and I would love to pay him a tribute. Uncle Israel gave me all the love of his big heart. My mother's sister, Aunt Anna, than whom I have never known a purer, sweeter soul, was second only to my mother in my affections. As a boy, I loved my cousin Caddie, and my love for her grew with my years. I could go on writing for hours in praise of those I loved, and who had so much to do in settling "Dixie," in person, or by their descendants, but I must close. The clock has just struck three a. m., and I will say good morning, and go back 'o ted. I have been rather an early riser this morning. I woke TRIBUTE TO RRASTUS SNOW 365 up a few minutes after one, and my mind and heart were in St. George, and I knew I could not go to sleep for two or three hours, and so concluded to have a visit with you, on paper, which was the next best thing to seeing you in person. May God bless you and yours and all of the posterity of Erastus Snow, and the noble band of men and women who aided him in redeeming "Dixie, is my most earnest and heartfelt prayer. ' Wishing for you, one and all, peace, prosperity and happiness, throughout the journey of life, and an eternity of joy in the life to come, I am, with love, Your affectionate brother, HEBER J. GRANT. Elder Grant at the same time sent a letter to Willard Snow, at Salt Lake City, from which we make these extracts: My Dear Willard: It was a source of keen regret to me to not have the pleasure of attending the "home-coming" at St. George. Yesterday morning, I wrote my regrets to your brother Edward H. I am sure you will read my tribute of love and respect to your dear, departed father with some interest, and therefore, I am handing you a copy. I recall the fact that you are one of the sons who not only had a father second to none in the Church, for devotion to the work of the Lord, but that like myself and my cousin Anthony, you had a mother who was among the most devoted and lovable women I have ever known. Mother, Aunt Anna, and your mother were devoted friends. Josh Billings once said, "Never judge a man by his relatives; he can't help them, they are crowded upon him. But judge him by the company he keeps, because he picks his own." Judging your mother by mine, and Aunt Anna, I do not know a higher compliment that I could pay her. There are a few sermons which I have preached, in my life, that I shall never forget, because of the great liberty that I had in speaking. There is nothing in all the world that I have ever experienced that can equal the supreme joy and satisfaction which one experiences on occasions of this kind. We do not say anything new, or, in case what is said is published, there is nothing which will strike the average reader's mind as being remarkable; but it was the Spirit that gave life to what was said, and that fuled the heart to overflowing with gratitude for the inspiration which we felt. I well remember meetings with the elders, when in the European mission, that lasted for hours, and where the rich outpourings of the good Spirit were so great that nearly every man wa,s melted to tears. One of the brightest spots in my life, at a funeral, came to me in the Eighteenth ward, at the funeral of your dear mother, on account of the blessings of the Lord poured out with a rich portion of his Spirit.Her noble life was an inspiration to me, and in paying my tribute to her, I was blessed of the Lord as I have se'.dom been blessed in my remarks at a funeral. I recall that, after the funeral. Lorenzo D. Young walked up to me; he was not then in the Church, having lost his standing, and with tears running down his face, he expressed his approval of all that I had said, and his deep sorrow that 366 IMPROVEMENT ERA his bad and careless habits had such a hold upon him that he could not live the gospel. He said, "Heber Grant, you no more know the gospel is true than I do." I have never forgotten his deep sorrow, and how my heart went out in love and deep sympathy to my dear childhood, boyhood, and manhood, friend. We had been near and dear friends all our lives, and I could not help loving "Renz" for the big heart he had, although heartily disliking the life he led. His life is a warning to us, one and all, that we must not neglect small duties, as they are sure to lead us to the neglect of larger ones. ****** There is no good thing, no blessing, my dear Willard, which I would not gladly see come to you and yours. Gusta and Dora have always been devoted friends, and I hope their friendship may continue throughout the eternities to come. Gusta and Mary went to St. George to the "home-coming." I am inclined to think Gusta would have backed out when I gave up the trip, had she not been appointed to attend the convention of the Young Ladies, which is being held in connection with the quarterly conference. With love and blessings for you and yours, I am, your affectionate brother, HEBER J. GRANT.