The Arresting Officer

Lucy White Flake mentions in her journal that her husband William did what when an officer appeared at the family home in Arizona to take him away to prison for cohabitation?

a.      Offered him dinner

b.      Hid in the barn

c.       Punched the officer in the nose

d.      Called the elders to teach the officer

Yesterday’s answer

c.     Moses

The following from Cecil B. DeMille’s 1957 BYU commencement address:

     “The name of Brigham Young is great not only in your annals, but in the story of the West and of all America.

     Gracious reference has been made this evening to our production of The Ten Commandments—which is the story of Moses and the birth of freedom under God. Who can fail to be struck by the similarities between Moses and Brigham Young—between the Exodus of the children of Israel and the Mormon trek across the plains and mountains to this land of Deseret? Moses and Brigham Young were both strong leaders of a strong people.

     As the Israelites were brought to Egypt by Joseph, so your people were led to the banks of the Mississippi by another Joseph—but, at Nauvoo and Carthage just as in Goshen, persecution and martyrdom were their lot, until the providence of God a leader arose to band them together and give them hope and courage and lead them to freedom in a new land. For both, the way was hard—but it was blessed.

     When Brigham Young saw the Mississippi River freeze over, letting the ox-carts drive across, how could he fail to think of that earlier time when the Red Sea opened to let the children of Israel walk dry-shod between the walls of water?

     Moses and Brigham Young were men of faith, a virile, driving faith—and that faith sustained their people through every hardship.

     As Marcus Bach has written of the Mormon pioneers, ‘Death and burial, birth and pain, tragedy and terror could not hold them back . . . . They fought the weather in every season, battled hostile Indians in every territory and conquered fear of defeat in every company.’ The children of Israel sang a song of triumph after crossing the Red Sea, when they rested at the oasis that still is called the Well of Moses on the Sinai Peninsula.

     The followers of Brigham Young, as they camped in the mud and often had only the bark of trees for food, still could fill the night air of the prairies with song—for nothing could quench the joy born of their vivid faith. They had read in the Book of Mormon, ‘Men are, that they might have joy’—and to this day that joyousness is one of the most appealing aspects of your faith. . .”

BYU Commencement Address, 31 May 1957, 2-6