--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Gustave A. Iverson collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 7 published: 1914-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Gustave A. Iverson, "In Honor of President Charles W. Penrose," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 7 (May 1914): 638–642.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1707unse 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: improvementera1707unse start_page: 638 end_page: 642 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1707unse publication_year: 1914 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 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # In Honor of President Charles W. Penrose N — In Honor of President Charles W. Penrose BY GUSTAVE A. I VERSO [The eighty-second anniversary of President Charles W. Pen- rose, February 4, was celebrated in the 20th ward, Salt Lake City, on the evening of February 1, 1914, by the bishopric and members of the ward. The choir, under David J. Watts, director, took a lead- ing part. Hymns written by President Penrose were sung, exclusively. The house was crowded with people who all greatly enjoyed the ser- vices. President Penrose, unfortunately, could not attend the services. The main speaker of the evening was Gustave A. Tverson, who paid him the following splendid and deserved tribute: Editors.] Weare tonight honoring the life and giving some measure of recognition to the labors of a great man. What has been said of art is, with proper modification,- true of life generally: "It does not matter whether a man paint the petal of a rose or the chasm of a precipice, so that love and ad- miration attend him and wait forever on his work." And Presi- dent Penrose has done and is doing his life's work so well that there can be no doubt of his place in the affections of the people. "A man is his own star; Our acts our angels are For good or ill." True greatness has anything, to do with rank or little, if power, and particularly in a world groaning with the unrest of uncertain faith and poorly supported hope. The greatness which counts is that which permits a man to say with one of old: "I am always content with that which happens, for I think that what God chooses is better than what I choose." I am speaking of a greatness of soul which is not subdued by the storm-bird's cry from afar, giving warning of the on-coming tempest, nor yet is discredited or found less strong when the winds have spent them- selves, but a form of greatness which is developed by adversity and strengthened in its exercise with the forces of the world, so that it may the better turn opportunity into the blessing of hu- manity and the uplifting of the race. To behold his works and the works of the men with whom he is intimately associated is to become impressed with the thought that the same spirit moves men to action today that made mighty the Prophet Joseph, of whom it was said : — "He had been a humble farmer lad Divine Author- ity sat so becomingly upon him that men looked at him with reverent awe. He had been unlearned in the great things of art and science — he walked with God until human knowledge was ; IN HONOR OF PRESIDENT CHARLES W. PENROSE 639 to his eyes an open book, and celestial light beamed through his mind. His magnetism was masterful, and his heroic qualities won universal admiration. Where he moved, all classes were forced to recognize in him a man of power. Strangers journeying to see him from a distance, knew him the moment their eyes beheld his person. Men have crossed ocean and continent to meet him, and have selected him instantly from among a multitude." Whence came this greatness ? God touched his soul and "he comprehended the grandeur of his mission upon earth; and with divine fortitude he fulfilled the destiny which God had ordained for him before the world was." So the Creator touched the souls of his successors, endowed them with wisdom and the power of love to overcome the world and the Father of the ob- ; — scure of the earth developed great, strong men scholars, states- men, empire-builders, who, after going through the fires of preju- dice, emerged in the broad light of the present, honored and re- spected by the good and true everywhere. Permit me to suggest that we fail not in our devotion to the great men of the past when we abmonish the world that men as great and good and wise, as unselfish and as strong as any whose names adorn the pages of history, are with us here today. Soldiers, statesmen, patriots, re- formers have their time and place in world activities and influence great men and true teach the lessons of today out of the ex- periences of the past, but the wisdom of God and the power of love combine to make the men whom he has chosen to lead his people today the real exemplars of all that is noblest and best in man. Such is my humble testimony. Time will not permit me to deal minutely with the eventful life of President Penrose. Always active, ever going onward. his life is as full of interest as a romance and as full of beautiful things as a poem from the Infinite. I today picked up Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine, No. 1, Vol. 2, dated April, 1882. It appears therein that at the age of eighteen (1850) he was called into the ministry from the London Conference, and he has never been out of the ministry since that time. In the same article an estimate is made of him as a legis- lator, in 1882, as follows: "He is spirited in defense and attack; is, in his line, one of the most able men that the 'Mormon' Church has produced and whether in the legislature or out of it, ; he is most likely to be for the next twenty years one of the prin- cipal factors in Utah affairs." It is significant that that was thirty-two years ago ; the twenty vears have gone, and twelve more, and he is more than ever "one of the principal factors in Utah affairs." Again, listen :"Taking a personal view of him as he stands upon the floor of the house, and speaking often with considerable 'snap' and point to the questions of the hour, it would be thought : : — 640 IMPROVEMENT ERA that he quite a young man, indeed almost too young a member is to so much of the lead and fire of action; but this is sustain not so, for Charles \Y. Penrose is a veteran who has seen thirty- two years of public service." His legislative career began in 1876 when he was returned from Weber county. In 1880, he introduced a bill to amend a law providing for the qualifications of voters and office-holders in the territory, by striking out the word "male." In support of the proposed amendment he made a stirring and interesting ad- dress "showing the marvelous power of the man in marshaling facts and rounding periods and presenting his case convincingly to his colleagues." The bill passed, too, but the Governor refused to sign it. Me valiantly championed the cause of the American woman, and I fancy I can see him standing on the floor, his fel- low members thrilled, as he said •"Give to the women in Utah — there are none better in the world- — perfect and complete political liberty." full, It is said, "The greatest thing in the world is love.'* Love is inherent in President Penrose, and it has been developed within him until he radiates it like the unclouded sun love of home, love— of fellow-man, love of country, love of God — and he is possessed of a deep and undying loyalty and devotion to the children of God in the land dedicated to the proposition that not only are men created equal and endowed with substantial rights and privileges, but that no human institution has any right to interfere with man's exercise of the right of equality legitimately asserted and to the full enjoyment of individual liberty. Doubtless those emotions brought out the sublime thoughts of the song: "O, ye mountains high, where the clear blue sky Arches over the vales of the free, Where the pure breezes blow and the clear streamlets flow, How I've longed to your bosom to flee. O Zion! dear Zion. land of the free, Now my own mountain home, unto thee have come I All my fond hopes are centered in thee." So many things show the splendor of his character. Pro- found in thought, sublime in his conception of the Infinite, broad in his grasp of what men call social and civic problems, there spring from his soul the things that touch the heart and make it mellow with the thought that God is with His people, and so he sings "Beautiful Zion for me, Down in the valley reclining; Memories sacred to thee, Close around my heart are entwining. Clasped in the mountain's embrace. Safe from the spoiler forever, : : IN HONOR OF PRESIDENT CHARLES W. PENROSE 641 Chased are the tears from thy face, Joy shall depart from thee never. When from thy presence I roam. Midst the world's grandeur, I see Naught like my own mountain home, Beautiful Zion for me!" Strong, courageous, fearless —•unfalteringly he has accepted God and His word. He shows the characteristics of which Em- erson speaks "The great man is he who in the midst of the : crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the serenity of solitude." He has never followed a multitude to do evil, but ''has stood, like Pompey's pillar conspicuous by himself and single in integrity." So out of the wisdom of virtue and the strength of being good and true, he says "Up, awake, ye defenders of Zion! The foe's at the door of your homes; Let each heart be the heart of a lion, Unyielding and proud as he roams. Remember the wrongs of Missouri; Forget not the fate of Nauvoo; When the God-hating foe is before you, Stand firm, and be faithful and true." With sympathies world-wide, no creature under heaven's blue fails to have his attention and awaken his interest so he im-; provises a prayer for the red man : "Great Spirit, listen to the red man's wail! Thou hast the power to help him in his woe, Thy mighty arm was never known to fail: Great Chieftain, save him from the pale-faced foe. His broad, green hunting-grounds, where buff'loes roam, His bubbling streams, where finny thousands play, The waving prairies, once his happy home, Are fast departing to the Christian's sway." But hope, though long deferred, at last is realized in the Chieftan's answer, coming like a burst of sun-light to dispel the red man's doubt. "Come out of the world," has been the burden of many a mes- sage, away from the bondage and strife of peoples and nations to the land where God watches over his people "O would'st thou from bondage and strife be free And dwell in a happier clime? Then away o'er the breast of the beautiful sea, The storm-spirit's breath shall be gentle on thec When he rides in his wrath sublime, Away, though the threatening billows rise, And the thunder-browed clouds look down. : ! 642 IMPROVEMENT ERA Jehovah controls the seas and the skies, He speaks, and the death-laden tempest dies, And the elements cease to frown." Himself calm, always subdued amidst the fire of unjust op- position, serene in the consciousness thatGod lives and influences the destinies of men — able, with beautiful simplicity amidst the crowd, to "keep with perfect sweetness the serenity of solitude," who better than he could admonish as follows "School thy feelings, O my brother, Train thy warm, impulsive soul; Do not its emotions smother, But let wisdom's voice control." How rich and ripe in years and experience, with a rare store of memories —but not old. Four score years and more have — passed over his head, it is said but that is almost unbelievable, for he fulfils the idea expressed by someone that the angels are advancing continually to the springtime of their youth, so that — those who have lived longest are really the youngest with minds as fresh as a child, and of whom it might truly be said, "Age cannot wither nor custom stale Their infinite variety." May the consciousness of duty well and nobly done be the great solace and delight of his remaining days, and may those days go on and on as long as life shall be sweet and desirable to him Welcome, Springtime How sweet to hear the birds again, At early morn, so cheerily, All winter long we've missed their song; The darkened days passed drearily. The robin's chirp, the linnet's lay Amongst the trees so tuneful o, They're welcome as the flowers of May That deck the hills of Utah o. The lily sweet of sego fame, The emblem of fair Utah's state, Will soon again burst forth in bloom T' adorn the hills and decorate. Welcome, springtime, warmth and sunshine, To gladden all that's dormant lain, Welcome, warblers 'mongst the woodbine, Come, dwell with ns and sing again. David L. Murdock