Monday, July 18, 2005
LO, the poor CUSSED French
Would y'all please call the prayer chains OFF?!?
--ER
By United Press International (which I didn't know still existed)
via the Washington Times
via The Drudge Report
On top of a severe drought, France is fighting a plague of hundreds of thousands of locusts.
Read all about it.
--ER
By United Press International (which I didn't know still existed)
via the Washington Times
via The Drudge Report
On top of a severe drought, France is fighting a plague of hundreds of thousands of locusts.
Read all about it.
Comments:
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When their rivers run with blood, and they are overrun with frogs, maybe then I will think about calling off the prayers...
Tug, Frog is a derisive term for the French, coined by the British, I believe. So, in that context, France is already overrun by frogs.
I confess, I do not -- not to that level of detail. Sounds like some seagulls took care of a locust plague for 'em back in the day?
Not locusts, but crickets. However, seagulls might like the change. :)
From the LDS church site:
The first pioneers entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake in the summer of 1847. Before winter came, more than 2,000 Saints were in the valley. That was many more than originally planned and probably more than the 1847–48 harvest could feed. The first winter was mild, and the pioneers hoped the harvest would be good, even though it would probably be small. More pioneers were coming, and they would need food.
In 1848, as the grain began to ripen, thousands of crickets came down from the foothills into the fields. For three weeks they ate the precious crops. The people tried to fight them off with brooms, shovels, ropes, water, and even fire, but there were just too many crickets.
President John Smith of the Salt Lake Stake called a special fast day, and the people all fasted and prayed and then continued to fight the crickets. They knew God would have to help them if they were to save the harvest. Their prayers were answered on a clear afternoon when seagulls began to appear in the sky. John R. Young described the event:
“There must have been thousands of them. Their coming was like a great cloud; and when they passed between us and the sun, a shadow covered the field. …
“At first we thought that they, also, were after the wheat and this thought added to our terror; but we soon discovered that they devoured only the crickets” (Memoirs of John R. Young, as quoted in William E. Berrett, The Restored Church [1961], 285; see also 283–84).
The seagulls came from their nesting areas at the Great Salt Lake. They would eat the crickets until they were full, fly to the nearest stream, take a few sips of water, spit out what they had eaten, and then come back to eat more. After about three weeks the crickets were all gone and the crops were safe.
In 1897, after Utah became a state, the people showed their thankfulness to the Lord for the “miracle of the seagulls” by making the seagull the state bird and building a monument to them. The Seagull Monument stands on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
From the LDS church site:
The first pioneers entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake in the summer of 1847. Before winter came, more than 2,000 Saints were in the valley. That was many more than originally planned and probably more than the 1847–48 harvest could feed. The first winter was mild, and the pioneers hoped the harvest would be good, even though it would probably be small. More pioneers were coming, and they would need food.
In 1848, as the grain began to ripen, thousands of crickets came down from the foothills into the fields. For three weeks they ate the precious crops. The people tried to fight them off with brooms, shovels, ropes, water, and even fire, but there were just too many crickets.
President John Smith of the Salt Lake Stake called a special fast day, and the people all fasted and prayed and then continued to fight the crickets. They knew God would have to help them if they were to save the harvest. Their prayers were answered on a clear afternoon when seagulls began to appear in the sky. John R. Young described the event:
“There must have been thousands of them. Their coming was like a great cloud; and when they passed between us and the sun, a shadow covered the field. …
“At first we thought that they, also, were after the wheat and this thought added to our terror; but we soon discovered that they devoured only the crickets” (Memoirs of John R. Young, as quoted in William E. Berrett, The Restored Church [1961], 285; see also 283–84).
The seagulls came from their nesting areas at the Great Salt Lake. They would eat the crickets until they were full, fly to the nearest stream, take a few sips of water, spit out what they had eaten, and then come back to eat more. After about three weeks the crickets were all gone and the crops were safe.
In 1897, after Utah became a state, the people showed their thankfulness to the Lord for the “miracle of the seagulls” by making the seagull the state bird and building a monument to them. The Seagull Monument stands on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
# posted by 
: 12:36 PM
: 12:36 PM
Well, I'll be. I just read a history that got them to Utah, but the writer didn't include this bit -- probaboy he was a heathern unbeliever cynic who wouldn't take such a story seriously. Hey, I leave room for miracles in history.
Well, I can't say much for the author. He probably didn't want to include it because of the religious significance, but it's hard to talk about Utah without bringing the LDS church into it somewhere along the line.
Of course, it was some time ago that I was in fourth grade, in Utah, but we studied it all in a public school in our state history studies.
What history was it that you read?
Of course, it was some time ago that I was in fourth grade, in Utah, but we studied it all in a public school in our state history studies.
What history was it that you read?
# posted by : 1:33 PM
: 1:33 PM
It was Bernard DeVoto's "1846: The Year of Decision." Written in the 1940s. He was decidedly hostile to the Mormons.
Because it is a classic historical study, one of a trilogy that was a standard of the history of the American West for a long time. He wasn't the only one who was hostile to Mormons back then.
Yep, I know that. Did you know about the extermination order on Mormons in Missouri? Yep, pretty hostile, indeed.
# posted by : 12:47 PM
: 12:47 PM
Re the UPI, it's now owned by the Unification Church, which is why Helen Thomas no longer works for them.
moioci
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moioci
# posted by : 6:12 PM
: 6:12 PM << Home
