be healed in body and mind from that moment, and that God would be, oh, so good to me-which he has been. When through, the Patriarch sat down, or, rather, collapsed. He appeared to be entirely exhausted. Now comes the part for which I have thanked God ever since. After the Patriarch had become somewhat composed, he said that he would go and bid Brother Winslow Farr good bye. Brother Farr was my bishop, and was also floor-walker in the Co-op. store, one block away. It seems that Bishop Farr and the Patriarch had been boyhood companions. I told the Patriarch that if he would walk slowly, and rest once in a while, I would go as far as the Co-op. with him, to which proposition he readily assented. After arriving at the store, I bethought me that I had not rested on the way, nor was I troubled about breathing! It came to me with force: "I am well! The Lord, through his servant, has made me whole!" With that I left the store and walked briskly for about a mile and a quarter. On returning to the store, I was neither fatigued nor breathed! To make assurance doubly sure, I started off and walked for two miles briskly. I was and have been free from that trouble from that day to this. I have felt that I owe it to God and to myself to make this confession. REFLECTIONS. A youth one night stood on the bank of a deep river. In serene majesty the moon rose over the mountains, bathing him in its mellow light. Gazing upon the starlit heavens, and filled with awe at the grandeur of the scene about him, he thought of the wisdom manifest in the vast creation, and, with heartstrings aquiver, wondered what the mystery of years had in store for him. In his deep reflection, he asked to know who made the stars, and who the wonderful world! Who caused the trees to grow, the flowers to bloom, the birds to warble their melodious songs? Who fashioned the shady bowers, and who the music of the singing river? What master hand shaped the mountains, gave to the sun its light, and to the wild deer its life? Who causes the refreshing rains to wash the globe, and shapes earth's atoms into form? Who holds the wisdom that created man, and clothed him with speech and reason? But the youth could only answer: "It is God!" And he turned in adoration, breathing this prayer to the All-wise: "Be thou my teacher, O Wonderful Founder and Mighty Builder, and let a ray of thy light and knowledge shine about me. Speak to my troubled heart. Give me power to commence my walk in the pathway of truth that leads to the grandeur of thy knowledge, power and glory. Master, thou art the God of my soul, hide not from me, but unfold the truth, and teach me the plan of thy salvation. Imprint thy mercy and thy love upon my being, that I in turn may teach to my kindred of the nations the way of life. And when my journey ends, let me stand near thy presence in a holy place, nor be thou offended at my coming." WILMER BRONSON, JR. MATERIAL VS. SPIRITUAL. "Material America needs no stimulus," says Hamilton W. Mabie; "its triumph is already at hand. It is spiritual America that needs constant revelation and definition; and it is to be the high service of the literature of the future, as it has been the service of the literature of the past, to hold the ideal of this nobler American clear and beautiful above the dust and tumult of a vast and powerful working community." The man who takes time to raise himself above the "dust and tumult," by reading and communion with his Maker, is wiser than his more strenuous brother who looks upon relaxation and spiritual refreshment of this kind as mere idleness. PUBLIC WORKERS. JOHN JAQUES. Among the men who devoted their time and talents to the public works, in the early days of Utah, John Jaques stands prominently to the front. His portrait, taken in 1900, appears as a frontispiece in this number of the ERA. One of the most famous hymns of the Latter-day Saints, a hymn whose words and music have echoed in all the valleys of the mountains, and sounded in many nations and languages, a hymn that will always live because of its broadness-was written by him: O, say, what is truth? 'Tis the fairest gem Is counted but dross and refuse. Yes, say, what is truth? 'Tis the brightest prize Go search in the depths where it glittering lies, The sceptre may fall from the despot's grasp, Then, say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first, Though the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst, This hymn, and one other work, will cause the name of John Jaques to be long remembered among the Saints. The latter is his Catechism for Children, exhibiting the prominent doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Up to 1888, thirty-five thousand copies had been sold. For years this catechism was used as a religious text book in the Sunday Schools. With all that has been written, there is no work, even at this date, that is more useful, concise and accurate, in the treatment of the doctrines of the Church, for the student and investigator. Other writings and hymns by Elder Jaques have become very popular among Saints and strangers. His last years were spent in the Historian's office of the Church, where he labored as assistant to the historian from 1889 to 1900. He died in Salt Lake City, June 1, 1900. The annals of his life are noted as follows by Assistant Church Historian Andrew Jenson: John Jaques was the son of Thomas Jaques and Mary Ann Heighington, and was born Jan. 7, 1827, at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, England. At the age of seven years he entered the Market Bosworth grammar school, and became at once a bright and diligent student. When about fourteen years old he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a cabinet maker. Becoming a convert to "Mormonism," he was baptized by Thomas Brown Ward, in the fall of 1845, at Gresley, Derbyshire. He was ordained an Elder at Whitwich, Leicestershire, Sunday, Jan. 9, 1848, under the hands of John Fidoe, Thos. Stevens and Wm. Cartwright. the time of his baptism he became a member of the Branstone branch, but was later identified with the Stratford-on-Avon branch, of the Warwickshire conference, in which conference he labored as a traveling elder. Subsequently, he was appointed to labor in the mission office at Liverpool. At While thus engaged, he married Miss Zipah Loader, of Oxfordshire, England, Oct. 31, 1853, at Liverpool. Having received an honorable release from his missionary labors in Great Britain, he emigrated with his family to America, sailing from Liverpool, May 22, 1856, on the packet ship "Horizon," which arrived in Boston, Mass., June 30, 1856. Reaching the frontiers, Elder Jaques made the necessary arrangements for crossing the plains in Captain Martin's handcart company. This was one of the companies that suffered so much in the snow storms on the mountains, and in which so many emigrants lost their lives; among those who succumbed to the hardships of that memorable journey Brother Jaques' eldest child, a daughter, who died near Green River was Nov. 23, 1856. Elder Jaques with family, arrived in Salt Lake City Nov. 30, 1856; and he soon afterwards found employment on the public works. He was ordained a Seventy, Feb. 2, 1857, by Wm. Burgess, and became a member of the 9th quorum of Seventy. When Johnston's army approached Salt Lake City, in 1858, Brother Jaques and family, together with many others, moved to Springville, Utah county, but returned to the city the same year. In the latter part of 1859, he was called by President Brigham Young to labor as a clerk in the Historian's office, where he was employed until September, 1863. Next, by the consent of President Young, he associated himself with Thomas B. H. Stenhouse, and became assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph, a newspaper published in Salt Lake City. Subsequently he located temporarily in Ogden, where the Telegraph was continued in 1869; and Elder Jaques remained with the paper until he was called on a mission to Great Britain. During this mission, which lasted from 1869 to 1871, he labored principally in the Liverpool office as assistant editor of the Millennial Star. After his return from his mission be entered the Deseret News office, where he was employed about eight years, or until he became permanently associated with the Historian's office, where he now labored the remainder of his days. From 1889 till his death, he was sustained as assistant Church historian. Besides the numerous ecclesiastical positions held by him, both at home and abroad, he served two terms in the Utah legislature, was a commissioned captain of topographical engineers of the Nauvoo Legion, and was twice elected school trustee in the Twelfth ward, Salt Lake City, where he resided. For many years he acted as private secretary to President Wilford Woodruff, and was also secretary of the Genealogical Society of Utah. In 1872, he yielded obedience to the law of plural marriage by taking to wife Miss Mary Ann Amott, who bore him two sons. (She died April 24, 1901, in Salt Lake City.) He was the father of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, of whom six sons and one daughter survived him. His oldest son was born on the journey across the plains, near Florence, Nebraska, in 1856. Elder Jaques was set apart as a president of the 8th quorum of Seventy, April 19, 1876, and in December, 1893, he became senior president of said quorum, which position he held till December 31, 1898, when he was ordained a High Priest by Angus M. Cannon. At his death, the following character picture of the man appeared in the Deseret News: John Jaques was a strong man, his abilities rising high above the |