Woodruff

“ Brother Taylor was about the only man in the quorum that was not sick.
Soon a brother came along with a wagon, and took us in. As we were driving through the place, we came to Parley P. Pratt, who was stripped to the shirt and pants with his head and feet bare. He was hewing a log, preparing to build a cabin.
He said: "Brother Woodruff, I have no money, but I have an empty purse, which I will give you." ”

“ A fine buck shot out of the woods on the other side, followed at a distance by ten hounds, and the deer nearly ran into Woodruff's boat, then swam to this side, where our boys vainly tried to get a shot. An old darkey said he could have been easily drowned by the man in the skiff; but we are glad that species of murder did not offer attractions to Woodruff. The bars are resonant with the honking of the geese. The natives have no cows, chickens, nothing to sell, not even pecans—which here become "puckawns." ”

“ Ninety per cent. of our crew is brunette. Aft, with the exception of Wada and the steward, who are our servants, we are all blonds. What led me to this discovery was Woodruff’s Effects of Tropical Light on White Men, which I am just reading. Major Woodruff’s thesis is that the white-skinned, blue-eyed Aryan, born to government and command, ever leaving his primeval, overcast and foggy home, ever commands and governs the rest of the world and ever perishes because of the too-white light he encounters. ”

“ A man might rise in the spirit, but how about rising in the world?
Colonel Woodruff’s gray percherons seemed to feel the unrest of their driver, for they fretted and actually executed a clumsy prance 15 as Jim Irwin pulled them up at the end of the turnpike across Bronson’s Slew—the said slew being a peat-marsh which annually offered the men of the Woodruff District the opportunity to hold the male equivalent of a sewing circle while working out their road taxes, with much conversational gain, and no great damage to the road. ”

“ I hardly know when I meet those who have been my brethren in the Lord, who of them are my friends. They have become so scarce." Elder Woodruff felt throughout all the subsequent years of his life a supreme satisfaction over the loyalty he had manifested in those trying times to the Prophet of God. Elder Woodruff was so faithful in the discharge of his duties, so humble in his demeanor, so sincere and devoted that he was rewarded by a discerning spirit which kept him in the path of safety when some of his brethren were struggling in the meshes of misgivings and doubt. ”

“ On the 16th of June, 1877, while on a visit to Pine Valley, southern Utah, Elder Woodruff received the sad news of the death of his son, Brigham Young Woodruff, who was drowned in Bear River. The young man was in point of spirituality very much like his father, and his devotion, therefore, to the Church was a matter of both joy and pride to Elder Woodruff, who looked forward to his son's labors in the Church with great pleasure. The young man was also ambitious in an effort to obtain an education, and devoted himself at home and in the university to diligent study. ”

“ Elder Woodruff on his birthday, March 1st, had a family gathering. Of the 46 members of his family, 39 were present. This included his daughters-in-law and grandchildren. As a token of respect on the part of his family, an address to him was read by his little grandson, Elias Smith Woodruff: "To our beloved Grandfather,—we greet you on this your seventy-seventh birthday. We wish you many happy returns of the day, for this and more we ever pray. We all shall strive to walk in your footsteps and listen to your counsel as you are a man of God. ”

“ And Lone suspected that, given the opportunity, Bob Warfield would have fallen in love with Lorraine. Indeed, he suspected that any man in the country would have done that. Al Woodruff had, and he was noted for his indifference to women and his implacable hardness toward men. ”

“ During the year 1888 Elder Woodruff records the death of a number of prominent men with whom he had been closely associated for many years. Erastus Snow died May 27th at the age of sixty-nine years. On June the 24th Judge Elias Smith passed away, at eighty-three. Horace Eldredge also died on September {564} 6th at the age of seventy-two. Azmon Wodruff died at the advanced age of eighty-six years. President Woodruff was now eighty-two, but still active. He found pleasure in manual labor whenever he could snatch away some time in which to devote himself to his garden and to his field. ”

“ It was just 10 o'clock when the body of President Woodruff was borne into the confines of the square and thence carried down the north aisle of the Tabernacle to its central position on the dais before the stand. As the procession entered, fully ten thousand people with uncovered heads, rose in respect, as the casket passed along its way, and so quiet was the rising that it seemed like the gentle rustling of autumn leaves. ”

“ For if he took the highly indignant line, and it were proved after all that one of his boys was involved in the scrape, how foolish he would look!
“And you really mean to have this boy up before Mr Elliot on a charge of poaching?” he asked.
“What else can I do?” said Lord Woodruff. “His own obstinacy in refusing to tell what he knows is to blame.”
“But supposing that he really knows nothing, how can he tell it? I know the boy well, and he is remarkably truthful and straightforward. ”

“ President Brigham Young, and Wilford Woodruff bore their testimonies and reaped a rich harvest of souls as recompense for their faithful, loving labors.
A lady of wealth, baptized by Elder Woodruff in 1840, died recently in this place. On her death-bed, she sent a message to me, requesting to be sealed to Brother Woodruff.
It is strange how principles of truth spread. A daughter of that woman is now seeking information in regard to the Gospel, the effect of her mother's dying words. The daughter's husband is a wealthy, worldly man, and will not let his wife attend our meetings. ”

“ On the 15th of May that year Elder Woodruff was a member of the company of President Young, who took one of his tours through the southern settlements. Elder Woodruff at the time traveled in company with Ezra Clark of Farmington. The company consisted of forty-eight men, fourteen women, and two children. There were twenty-three carriages, twenty-one horses, and forty mules. During those tours to the settlements the company was frequently met by the mounted militia, and escorted from town to town. ”

“ The apostles continued to act in that position until the April conference in 1889, when the First Presidency was again organized with Wilford Woodruff as President. He selected George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as his counselors. At the time of this organization President Woodruff was 82 years of age, but hale and vigorous. He was born in Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut, March 1, 1807; was baptized December 31, 1833, and ordained an apostle April 26, 1839. President Woodruff was a natural missionary and accomplished a great work in England and various parts of the United States. ”

“ In administering to him Elder Woodruff said: "I told him in the name of the Lord that he should live and not die, for he had not finished his work in the flesh." He began at once to improve, and in a few days was able to attend meeting.
That Wilford Woodruff had a true conception of the message and work of Mormonism, is evinced by the great pleasure which he took in the call of his son Wilford to a mission. It was something to which he had looked forward with great pleasure. No greater honor can come to a man than the privilege of carrying the gospel to the nations of the earth. ”

“ Woodruff shook his head. "Can't get him," he said. "Dominick controls the two southern ranges of counties. He finances his own machine from what he collects from vice and crime in those cities. He gives that branch of the plum tree to the boys. He keeps the bigger one, the corporations, for himself." ”

“ They have not the sanctimonious airs that are so frequently noticed in religious ministers. Wilford Woodruff is the present head of the Church, the fourth man who has occupied that position—his predecessors having been: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor.
"Mr. Woodruff is several years beyond four score, but is hale and hearty, very affable in manner and interesting in conversation. He is a man of sturdy build, with a kindly, honest, intelligent face, and a manner especially winning and agreeable. ”

“ As a bachelor and a member of the club, I feel it a duty to note particularly all the marriages that take place, whereby our society is affected. Therefore, the case of Levi Bennett Woodruff must be commented upon. The bachelors have given him a discharge. Woodruff, in short, is a fine fellow of uncommon attainments, rather interesting than otherwise, in his manners good-natured and good-looking. ”

“ During those trying times men of long standing in the Church and of unsuspected integrity came to President Woodruff in a spirit of anger and babbled like thoughtless children. Happily many of them have seen their folly and have learned that the Church guided and controlled by the hand of God, rolls on constantly and persistently like the earth in the midst of the heavens. ”

“ I did not argue; it is never necessary to puncture the pretenses of men of affairs with a view to saving264 them from falling into the error of forgetting that whatever "right" may mean on Sunday, on week days it means that which a man can compel.
I returned to Fredonia and sent Woodruff East to direct a campaign of calamity-howling in the eastern press, for the benefit of the New York, Boston and Philadelphia "captains of industry." At the end of ten days I recalled him, and sent Roebuck to Wall Street to confirm the fears and alarms Woodruff's campaign had aroused. ”

“ He is going to have it one evening each week in the chapel of our church. Quite a lot of the boys and girls are going, so we were glad when Grandfather gave his consent. Mr. Woodruff wants us all to sing by note and teaches “do re me fa sol la si do” from the blackboard and beats time with a stick. He lets us have a recess, which is more fun than all the rest of it. He says if we practise well we can have a concert in Bemis Hall to end up with. What a treat that will be!
February.—Anna has been teasing me all the morning about a verse which John Albert Granger Barker wrote in my album. ”

“ He subsequently became president of the Sanpete Stake. At Ephraim Elder Woodruff recorded in his journal the following: "I had an interview this morning with a Danish brother by the name of Soren Christensen, a man seventy-five years of age. He had lived under five reigning kings of Denmark and had served as a soldier under Napoleon. He was a very strong man."
The leaders returned for general conference which convened that fall on the 6th of October. "It was the first time for thirty-two years," said Elder Woodruff, "that all the Quorum of the Twelve had been together. ”

“ Woodruff interrupted himself to laugh. "A friend of mine," he resumed, "was on the train with Scarborough when he went East to the meeting of Congress last month. He tells me it was like a President-elect on the way to be inaugurated. The people turned out at every cross-roads, even beyond the Alleghanies. And Burbank knows it. If he wasn't clean daft about himself he'd realize that if it hadn't been for you—well, I'd hate to say how badly he'd have got left. But then, if it hadn't been for you, he'd never have been governor. ”

“ Abram O. Smoot was elected as mayor, and Elder Woodruff with others, constituted the City Council. The town was in need of a new spiritual life. It also needed strong men to guide its destinies and make it a center of one of the leading stakes of the Church. Elder Woodruff, however, did not long remain there, and upon receiving his release returned with his family to Salt Lake City.
When he reached Salt Lake City, he found there a letter from his brother Azmon, who had embraced the gospel when he did in the state of New York. ”

“ Here is President Taylor, and Brother Woodruff, who has spoken, and other men of mature years in those days—they know how it was. They would have shrunk from it if they could, but the very fact that they have embraced it ought to be sufficient to show the world that they are devoted to principle, that they have been willing to lay down their lives, if necessary, to carry out principle. It would be cheaper, no doubt, to discard plural wives and follow the ways of the world. ”

“ They were under the presidency of Elder James D. Ross. Elders Woodruff, George A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow, and F. D. Richards paid them a visit and gave them special instructions relating to their new homes and their duties and labors in Zion. Elder Bonnelli acted as their interpreter. Elder Woodruff recorded the following words from the mouth of Elder George A. Smith, by way of instructions to the Swiss and German Saints: "Be faithful. Repent of your sins and live your religion. Don't be in a hurry to marry men who profess to save women by the wholesale. ”

“ Then I dropped Goodrich a line. 'You can go to hell,' I wrote. 'I travel only with men'."
"Very imprudent," was my comment.301
"Yes," he admitted, "but I had to do something to get the dirt off my hands."
"So Burbank has gone over to Goodrich!" I went on presently, as much to myself as to him.
"I always knew he was one of those chaps you have to keep scared to keep straight," said Woodruff. "They think your politeness indicates fear and your friendship fright. Besides, he's got a delusion that his popularity carried the West for him and that you and I did him only damage." ”

“ Elder Woodruff related in his journal the circumstance of a brother who went three times to President Young to secure his approval of a trip to California for the purpose of making money. Each time, the President counseled him to remain at home, but finally yielding to the man's entreaties he said: "Yes, go if you will against counsel. You will make money but you will lose it before you get home." ”