Favorite Hymns

. ;

Favorite Hymns

BY ELDER HEBER J. GRANT, OF THE QUORUM OF TWELVE

Replying to the request of the Era I have pleasure in present-

ing the following on favorite hymns of our people.

"O My Father," by Eliza R. Snow, was written in the home

of Stephen Markham, early in 1843. It was first sung to the tune

of "Gentle Annie" to which melody President Young often used to

have it rendered. In my childhood days it was always sung to

the tune in the American Tune book, entitled "Harwell." In later

years it has almost invariably been sung to the Moody and Sankey

tune, "My Redeemer." The beautiful voice of Robert C. Easton

made the hymn popular to this melody. At my request, at my

wife's funeral, it was sung to a tenor solo from "Martha."

"O Ye Mountains High" was composed in the county of Es-

sex, England, in 1853 or '54, by Charles W. Penrose. He in-

forms me that he was walking on the roads, dusty and weary

•with travel. The picture of Zion's retreat in the tops of the

mountains came before his vision, and he longed to be there.

The hymn now appears as it came to his mind, excepting the

fourth line, which first read, "How I long to your bosom to flee."

This was changed to the present version after his arrival in Zion

and the line, "My own mountain home, unto thee I have come,"

originally stood, "My own mountain home, unto thee would I

come." He sang the hymn on the very evening it was com-

posed, at a meeting of Saints in a small country village to the

tune of "Lilly Dale," by which melody it is still sung. A stir-

ring incident was the singing of "O Ye Mountains High,", by

William C. Dunbar, before the peace commissioners in the Old

Council House, when word was brought by Porter Rockwell to

President Brigham Young, that Johnston's army was moving to-

wards the valley. Brigham Young said : "Stand up and sing

'Zion,' Brother Dunbar."

It was when Johnston's army was coming to Utah that Pres-

ident Penrose composed, "Up, Awake, Ye Defenders of Zion."

He sang it at the meetings of the Saints in London and raised a

purse of six hundred pounds, (three thousand dollars) to aid the

elders then in the mission field to return to the valleys of Utah.

They were all called home at that time by President Brigham

Young. This stirring hymn was the favorite of the late President

John Henry Smith.

"Come, Come, Ye Saints" is more than any other hymn, en-

titled tobe called the great pioneer hymn. It was written at the

request of President Young, by William Clayton, who was asked

778 improvp:ment era

to write somctliini^ that would encourage, comfort and inspire the

Saints in their migration to the Salt Lake Valley. He wrote this

famous hvmn within two hours, to the music of an old English

tune called, "All is well."

THE HYRUM THIRD WARD MEETING HOUSE, HYRUM

STAKE

Located in Hyriim Third ward. Ground was broken for its erec-

tion in March, 1903, and it was dedicated on the 21sl of April, 1912.

The walls are of red brick, and the basement of rock and cement;

cost $24,000; seating capacity abount one thousand. It is 65 by 85

feet in size, 100 feet to the top of the tower, and contains nine rooms.

Carl Schwab, architect. There are one hundred square rods of land

in connection with it. The grounds have recently been fenced and

leveled; water has been installed, and lawns, flow^er beds and trees

were planted this spring. The grounds will mostly be cared for

by representatives of the Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A. The house is

used for ward and all stake purposes.

i

CASSIA STAKE TABERNACLE

This building of Gothic architecture, is located in Oakley, Idaho,

and was completed in 1902, being dedicated in November of that year

by Elder John Henry Smith. It is built of brown and white native

lava rock, with a shingle roof, self-supporting girders and metal ceil-

ing. It cost $12,000, the labor having all been performed by local

workmen. It has a full size basement and measures on the outside

107 by 38 feet, 26 feet to the square, exclusive of the basement. There

are five rooms, a main hall, vestry, council chamber, and two rooms in

the basement. The seating capacity is seven hundred; architect, Wil-

liam Allen, Ogden, Utah. In connection with it there is a ten-acre

plot of ground enclosed with a fence. Five acres are parked, being

laid out for amusements, with a grove, baseball grounds, swings, etc.,

with a fine body of water suitable for bathing, and baptismal purposes

in season, and boating. Two acres are covered with grass, while

various fruit trees mingle with the trees of the grove. A stake jani-

tor has charge of the house and grounds, and he is assisted by dona-

tion work. When any special work is required, work days are desig-

nated, and the number of men asked for who usually respond giving

their work gratis. This building, while attractive in design and

drrable in corstruction, is devoid of unnecessary embellishments

which usually increase the cost of such an edifice without increasing

its usefulness. It is provided with three tiers of pews and choir seats

for fifty singers, has a modern pipe organ, hot-air furnace, electric

lights, etc.

Seldom are all four verse.s of this grand old hyiT'n stmg'. I

think this is compiling the

dtie to the fact that the mtisicians, in

Psalmody, used only three verses of each of the hymns. In the

25th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, it is recorded: "For

my soul delighteth in the song- of the heart, vea, the song- of the

righteous is a prayer unto me, and ft shall be answered with a

blessing upon their heads." I believe there was a great necessity

for some uplifting and clT^ering hymn to he composed for the

benefit of the migrating Saints, and that Brigham Young was

inspired when he asked William Clayton to write such a hvmn. I

also believe that the inspiration to President Young which re-

780 IMPROVEMENT ERA

quested the writing of the hymn, attended Brother Clayton in its

composition. I never hear this hymn sung that my heart does not

go out in deep gratitude and thanksgiving to the Lord for the in-

tegrity and devotion of our pioneer mothers and fathers. They

had a faith which was subUme.

Mark Twain pays to our pioneers the following tribute;

"Neither hunger, thirst, poverty, grief, hatred, contempt nor per-

secution could drive the 'Mormons' from their faith or their

religion, and even the thirst for gold, which gleaned the flower

of the youth and strength of many nations, was not able to entice

them. That was the final test. An experiment that could sur-

vive thit, was an experiment with some substance to it some-

w--er.\

THE BEAR LAKE STAKE TABERNACLE

This building is located in Paris, Idaho, and was erected during

1884-88, and dedicated on September IS, 1889, by Piesident George Q.

Cannon. Tt is built of quartzite formation, trimmed with red sand-

stone, on the corners, sills and steps. The building measures from the

ground to the top of the roof 45 feet, is 70 by 126 feet outside meas-

urement, and cost about $55,000. It has a main hall and a vestry, and

seats two thousand people. Oscar Young, architect. There are six

acres of land connected with it, most of which is in alfalfa. Joseph R.

Shepherd, president of the stake, expresses the determination that

more diligent care will be taken of the grounds in the future than

has been done in the past. Cement walks in front of the tabernacle

are now in course of construction. He adds: "As we now have a

water system in our city, within the next two or three years we ex-

pect to have some very attractive grounds surrounding our taber-

nacle. We feel that we have a beautiful building, and that it de-

serves beautiful surroundings."

RICHMOND WARD TABERNACLE, BENSON STAKE

This building is located in Richmond, and was erected in 1904. It

has not yet been dedicated. It is bnlt of brick and stone and cost

$50,000. There are ten rooms in the building with a main-hall seating

capacity of 1,800. Monson and Schwab, of Logan, are the architects.

The building has a fifty-foot ceiling, and is 70 by 100 feet in size,

outside measurement. Two and a half acres of ground are connected

with the building, which has not yet been improved. The Benson

stake has no stake Tabernacle, but there are six large, modern

ward meeting houses in which stake conferences are alternately held.

Referring- to the omLssion of the fourth verse in singing this

hymn, m}^ faither-in-la\v, the late Oscar Winters, said to me one

day while visiting at my home : "Brother Grant, I do not be-

lieve that the yoimg people today fully appreciate what a marvel-

ous inspiration it was to the Saints in crossing the plains to

sirg-, almost daily, the hymn 'Come. Come, Ye Saints.' If the

young people of the Church todav understood all that it meant

to the earlv pioneers, while crossing- the plains, to sing this hymn

nearly every night around the campfires, I do not believe they

would be guilty of singing only three verses. I have never yet

heard a choir sing more than three verses, and yet to my mind

the fourth verse is the climax to its splendid prayer."

He then related the following incident "One night, as we

:

were making camp, we noticed one of our brethren had not ar-

rived, and a volunteer party was immediately organized to return

and see if anything had happened to him. J^st as we were about

to start, we saw the missing brother coming in the distance. When

782 imi'R(jvi<:aiknt I'Ra

he arrived, he said he had iDeen quite sick; so some of us un-

yoked his oxen and attended to his part of the camp duties. Af-

ter supper, he sat down before the campfire on a large rock,, and

sang in a very faint but plaintive and sweet voice, the hymn, 'Come,

Come, Ye Saints.' It was a rule of the camp that whenever any-

body started this hymn all in the camp should join, but for some

reason this evening nobody joined him he sang the hymn alone.

;

When he had finished, I doubt if there was a single dry eye in

the camp. The next morning we noticed that he was not yoking

up his cattle. We went to his wagon and found that he had died

during the night. We dug a shallow grave, and after we had

covered his body with the earth we rolled the large stone to the

head of the grave to mark it, the stone on which he had been

sittin"- the n''t>ht brfore when he sang:

THE SECOND WARD HOUSE, RAYMOND, TAYLOR STAKE

This is located in Raymond, Alberta, Canada, and was purchased

from the school district, in 1914, and has not yet been dedicated. It is

a frame building 40 by 100 feet, 20 feet to the square with a seating

capacity of six hundred and originally cost $14,000. There are five

rooms. In connection with the building, there are four town lots

which have not yet been improved. The school district needed a

new building, and the ward purchased this one from the school au-

thorities for $3,500. It is now used for both stake and ward pur-

poses. It is especially suitable for class rooms for the Priesthood

quorums, and auxiliary organizations, as well as Tor ward ser-

vices.

—

THE TOOELE NORTH WARD CHURCH, TOOELE STAKE

There being no stake house in Tooele stake, the North ward

Church of Tooele city is now used for stake purposes. This build-

ing was completed February, 1914, and has not yet been dedicated.

It is built of brick and cement, at a cost of $19,500. Thomas D. Hor-

man is the architect. There are eight rooms in the building; main hall

has a seating capacity of from 350 to 400. Size of the building 45

by 65 feet, outside measurements; height, 35 feet. Five by twenty

rods of land are connected with it. The grounds have not yet been

improved, but will be laid out in lawn and tlowers this spring. The

bishopric of the ward were expecting to dedicate the building in April

or the fore part of May, this year.

" 'Andshould we die before our journey's through,

Happy day! all is well!

We then are free from toil and sorrow too ;

With the just we shall dwell.

But if our lives are spared again

To see the Saints their rest obtain,

O how we'll make this cborrs swell

All is well! All is well!'"

I noticed tears in my father-in-law's eyes when he finished

relating this incident; and I imagined the reason he did not relate

to me another far more tonching incident to him was the fear

that he might break down. I snbseanently learned that after he

had been located, for some time in Pleasant Grove, he came

to Salt Lake wdth his team and with a cheerful heart to

meet his mother. When the company arrived, he learned

that she, too. had died before her journey's end. and was sleep-

ins: in an unknown grave on the vast plains between here and the

Missouri river. Some years later when engineers of the Burling-

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784 IMPROVEMENT ERA

ton railroad were surveying the route in Nebraska, they ran

across a piece of wagon tire sticking in the ground with the word

"Winters" chiselled upon it. They immediately surmised, know-

ing that they were on the old "Mormon" pioneer trail, that this

piece of wagon tire must mark the grave of one of the pioneers,

so they very considerately went back several miles and changed

the line of the road so as to miss the grave, and sent an account

of what they had discovered to the Dcscrct Nczvs, asking if any-

one knew about the grave. The railroad company have since built

a neat little fence round the grave, and the Winters' family have

erected a little monument of temple granite on which is chiselled

the fourth verse of 'Come, Come, Ye Saints."

Speaking of "Come, Come, Ye Saints" reminds me of my

arrival in England. The first night we sang several hymns.

President Lyman was having the elders sing from one to six

hymns every night, and one in the morning, intending to have all

the hymns in the book sung before he should leave for home.

After the singing, he said: "Brother Grant, which is your fa-

vorite hymn?"

I answered "I haven't any."

He said :"All the brethren ought to have a favorite hymn."

President Taylor's favorite was, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of

Grief ;" President Young's, I understood, was, "O Ye Mountains

High ;" but Sister Dougall, his daughter, informs me that her

father's favorite hymn was, "When First the Glorious Light of

Truth, Burst Forth in this Last Age." My favorite hymn is,

"Come, Come, Ye Saints," and I feel highly honored to know that

President Young should have chosen the only other hymn in the

hvmn book written by Brother Clayton. "Oh Ye Mountains

High," was President Daniel H. Wells' favorite President Lo-

;

renzo Snow's, "Zion Stands with Hills Surrounded ;" President

Woodruff's, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way His Wonders to

Perform ;" President Lyman's is, "School Thy Feelings, O My

Brother." While President Lyman was still talking I chose my

hymn, bv saying: "Well, it won't take me a minute to decide on

mine. —Fll take, 'Come, Come, Ye Saints.'

"

The hardships and trials of the pioneers in crossing the plains,

and their integrity and devotion, have always been an inspiration

to me. My own father buried one of his two children on the

plains, a little girl, and her body was later dug up and devoured

by the wolves. His wife died in Echo Canyon, and her body

was brought to Salt Lake Valley for burial. No tongue can tell,

nor pen can paint, the hardships endured by the early pioneers

neither can we find language to do justice in paying our tribute

of love and respect to them, for their unswerving integrity, devo-

tion and cheerfulness.

"When First the Glorious Light of Truth, Burst Forth in

THE ONEIDA STAKE TABERNACLE

The Oneida Stake Tabernacle, located i" P'"^^;""^, °heS

f,^'- height

brick and cost $21,000

erected in 1904. It is built of pressed

120 feet, with a seating ca-

40 feet; outside measurements; 60 by

pacity of 1,400. There are nine rooms in the buildmg and Joh

acres of land are connected

Nnffer °s the architect. One and a half

building which latter is taken care of by a janitor.

with the

^

Last Age" was written by Brother Clayton. As long as I

this

never forget the wonderful impression and

the spn-it

live I shall

this hymn, at the funeral of

that accompanied the singing of

Brother Chyton, in the 17th ward, when Brother John Lewis a

writer of the music of some of our

hymns, led tlie choir and the

Saints The congregation arose and sang this hymn, and i

felt that the inspiration of the

Lord and of the man who wrote i

with us. i had

(whose remains were lying before us) was there

have since, been so impressed with any other

'n^ver before, nor I

Brother Clayton s fu-

congregational hymn as with this one at

"^^^

'"'Praise to the Man Who Communed with Jehovah," written

best known of all his com-

bv William W. Phelps, is one of the

"The Spirit of God Like a Fire is

positions, unless we except,

" The former hymn was written soon after the Pi oi^liet s

Burning

favorite of Elder

martyrdom. It is a wonderful hymn, and the

Twelve

Orson F. Whitney, of the Council of the

Charles W.

The hymn "Parting," was written by President It was

music composed by George Careless.

Penrose and the our

composed for the funeral of President

Bngham Young,

pioneer, and was sung by the Tabernacle

foremost and greatest

Choir on that occasion. Sunday, September 2,

18//._

by Emi y

"When Dark and Drear the Skies Appear," written torty

Woodmansee, while not a pioneer hymn, is yet

fully

Hill

786 IMPROVICMI'LNT ERA

years of age, for I can remember it was sung' when I was a child.

It is entitled to be called a pioneer hymn, because Sister Wood-

mansee was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word, having

been a member of a hand-cart company. Often when death has

called members from the households of my friends, I have sent

a copy of this hymn as a consolation to them, with a few words

of comment, expressing my admiration not only for the hymn,

but for the sister who wrote it, for her life was lived in perfect

harmony with its teachings.

"O Say What is Truth," by John Jaques, was written on

Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, when he was visit-

ing the famous place. It was on Aug. 1, 1850, that the hymn

first appeared in the Millennial Star. Brother Jaques crossed

the plains with a memorable hand-cart company. This hymn is,

to my mind, one of the grandest of all the many grand hymns

that we have. When Joe Mitchell Chappie was about to issue the

second volume of Heart Throbs, he asked me for a favorite selec-

tion, and I sent him several of our hymns he selected this poem

;

and "Should you feel inclined to Censure."

"We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" is perhaps sung more

BEAR RIVER STAKE HOUSE

Located Garland, Utah; it was begun Febniar}', 1913, and is

at

yet in the course of construction. It is 'built of red brick trimmed

with white sandstone, and cost $38,000. The size of the building is

65 by 113 feet, 42 feet in height, outside, and about 30 feet on the

inside, with a seating capacity of fifteen hundred people. It has

eight rooms. Shreeve & Madsen of Ogden, architects. One and a

half acres of land with the building. When the building is completed

the grounds will be improved. The builders were at work when the

picture was taken, hence the disorder surrounding.

FAVORITE HYMNS 787

than any other half dozen hymns that we hear in our services, I

have read that it was written between 1855 and 1860, by Brother

Wilham Fowler, but recently, while in the President's ofifice and

referring to the date when this was written, President Joseph F.

Smith said :"That is a mistake. It was written in 1862. I

was on a mission at the time, in England, and it was sung in my

presence in a meeting on the day it was written, by the author, who

was an excellent singer." President Lund remarked that he first

heard it in 1866.

Speaking of the number of times this hymn is sung, reminds

me that upon a six weeks" trip which I took with the late President

John Henry Smith, visiting a number of conferences, and holding

meetings at different towns between conferences, we heard this

hymn at every conference and in every town that we visited.

"The Seer, The Seer, Joseph the Seer," by the late President

John Taylor, was written in Nauvoo soon after the martyrdom of

the prophet. It was fitted to the tune, "The Sea, the Open Sea,"

which was frequently rendered by John Kay, one of the best

remembered of pioneer singers. President Taylor's favorite hymn

Photo by Durrant Studio. Dnggs.

TETON STAKE HOUSE

This building is located in Driggs, Madison Co., Idaho, and was

completed in 1906, and dedicated February 17, 1907. It is built of

Oregon lumber, with stone foundation, and cost $10,000. It is a one-

story structure 45 by 90 feet in measurement, and has a seating

capacity of 600. There are three rooms. J. D. C. Young, of Salt

Lake, architect. There are three city lots of land connected with the

building. This stake house is an all-purpose building, designed to

accomodate both Church purposes and amusements.