Comment

Writing Church Hymns

There is an important reason for the long first note in the hymn melody [April, p. 58]. This reason is to give habitual late starters in the congregation an opportunity to begin singing with the first word. The use of a long first note is well known to experienced Church musicians. It is called a “gathering note”—to gather together, as it were, the late wandering sheep in any singing congregation. And the more important purpose of this postscript to my April article is to take the opportunity of reprinting the notes more correctly. The former printing ran into some reproducing difficulties.

Alexander Schreiner
Tabernacle Organist

More Nauvoos

I read the article on the towns named Nauvoo [April p. 21]. Cayuga County, New York, has a Nauvoo Road, running east from the village of Port Byron. It intersects Route 38, which runs through Auburn and Moravia, where in the past there have been branches of the Church. In 1832, meetings were held at Joseph Thorn’s home in Moravia. Later the Covert, Curtis, Haight, Thorn, Van Orden, and other families removed to Nauvoo, Illinois.

Loren V. Fay
Moravia, New York

I would like to direct your attention to Oregon Geographic Names, compiled by Lewis A. McArthur, third edition, 1965, published by Binfords & Mort, Portland. On page 609, under the heading “Troy, Wallowa County,” we read: “The postmaster at Troy informed the compiler in December, 1926, that at the time the post office was established, which was in 1902, several names were suggested, but the Post Office Department rejected them all. Finally, the department suggested a list which included the name Troy. This was adopted. However, in 1931, J. H. Horner of Enterprise told the compiler that the place was probably named for Troy Grinstead, son of A. L. Grinstead. Mormons settled in the locality about 1898, and the place was generally called Nauvoo.”

It may also be of interest to note that there are some other place names in the state of Oregon that relate to the Church. These are generally in the eastern part of the state, close to the Idaho border. There is a Mormon Basin, which is drained by Mormon Basin Creek in Baker and Malheur counties. Also in Wallowa County is Mormon Flat.

Carl E. Muench
Grants Pass, Oregon

I think members of the Church may be interested to know that according to The History of Lambton County and The Great Canadian Mission, an early settlement of Mormons, living in what was then called Gardner’s Mills and what is now called Alvinston, constructed a roadway through dense brush. They called the roadway the Nauvoo Road. The purpose for building the road was to connect up to the main road in order to travel to Nauvoo by way of Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan. The road building took place in 1846.

A monument now stands at the place, erected by members of the Church in Ontario and the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association. The Gardner family had joined the Church as a result of the missionary efforts of John Borrowman, who served as a missionary in this area in the early 1840s. They decided to move when the persecutions of the day befell them.

This is some of the early history of the Church in Canada. Many Saints may not know that the gospel was taught in Canada as early as the winter of 1829–30, when Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page traveled to Toronto in an attempt to raise funds for the publishing of the Book of Mormon.

Joseph Smith himself established a branch of the Church in Eastern Canada, and many of the early leaders carried out missionary work in the area.

Gordon P. Hillman
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

My grandfather, Robert Gardner, came from Scotland and settled in Canada, near Sarnia. He helped pioneer the township of Warwick, Lambton County. The thriving town of Alvinston was originally known as Gardner Mills. Recorded in my grandfather’s journals are these words: “Archibald, my father’s second son, had worked for himself from the time he came to the new country, and having an ambitious mind, he went into a neighboring township called Brook, and there built a flowering mill and afterward a saw mill, which was a blessing to that new country.”

When visiting the locale once while hunting for genealogical information, we were informed that this was the settlement where the Canadian Saints (numbering about 25) gathered in preparation for their journey to Nauvoo, to join with others there as they left for their trek westward. Highway 79, in this area of Canada, runs north and south, directly through the village of Alvinston. We were told this portion of the highway became known as Nauvoo Road and is still called so by local residents.

Annie G. Pulsipher
Logan, Utah

There is a small town by the name of Nauvo (one o) in Finland, where I served on a mission in 1962–65. It is located about 50 miles southwest of Turku, the old capital of that country. Particulars of how that town received its name, I do not know. But I remember seeing more than one Finn perk up when they heard a local name mentioned in the early history of the Church.

Wayne Allgaier
San Francisco

1846: All Is Well

Just a note to correct what you probably now know was a typographical error. On page 54 of the April issue, you refer to 1847 as the date of the writing of “Come, Come Ye Saints.” William Clayton’s Journal for Wednesday, April 15, 1846, says: “This morning I composed a new song—‘All Is Well.’ I feel to thank my heavenly Father for my boy … his life and that of his mother. …” He had that day received word of the birth of a son, Adriel Benoni Clayton.

Richard W. Burton
Los Angeles

Ensign for Visually Handicapped

I have just finished listening to the Ensign on tape, provided for the use of those who are visually handicapped. I would like to express my gratitude to leaders of the Church for this opportunity. I find that all the Church publications for the blind are very helpful.

Wayne Tippets
Kanesville, Utah

Readers may be interested to know that the Church publishes a magazine in Braille, titled the New Messenger, for the visually handicapped. The magazine uses articles from the Ensign. In addition, a pilot project is now under way that provides tapes of the Ensign on a short-term loan basis for the visually handicapped. Interested readers should write to Jesse Anderson, Church Magazines, 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150.

Home Study Response

We want to extend great appreciation for your support in publishing information and articles in the Ensign concerning programs of the Division of Continuing Education. This is the finest thing that has happened for us. You can’t imagine the tremendous response we have had from members who have requested home study material after reading the article “Lighting Fires in Flandreau” [March, p. 60]. Yesterday a gentleman even called from Scotland to request a home study catalogue. Also, hundreds of registrants signed up early for the Eighth Annual Priesthood Genealogical Seminar July 30–August 3. We feel this is attributable to the information you provided concerning our programs.

Ken Robbins
Division of Continuing Education
Brigham Young University

Missions and Life

I would like to share an excerpt from a letter received from our son Michael, presently serving in the France-Belgium Mission. (We also have a daughter, Marjorie, serving a fulltime mission in Hawaii.) I have never heard this analogy expressed before, and would like to share it with others:

“It is amazing how much a mission is like life in miniature. You receive your call, just as we did in premortality. Some of us had two months to prepare (in the Language Training Mission), but others went to their fields of labor after short preparation, as Marjorie did. After your departure you never see your family (except in rare cases) while the mission lasts. You start as a junior and then become a senior. For our earth missions we start as infant juniors and then become parental seniors.

“Even though we don’t see our families back home, we can communicate with them, and each communication brings joy. Life would be very hard, indeed, if we didn’t have this communication with our loved ones back home. Missionaries enjoy their work, but they long to go back home and welcome their releases, for the most part, though they experience sorrow at leaving the people with whom they have labored and learned to love. Even then, the joy of returning home is evident. I am amazed at how people think that death is a bad thing when really it is our release to go home.

“There are many more comparisons that one could make between these two missions, but the point I want to make is that before our mission calls, we were raised and prepared for them by a heavenly mother, as well as Heavenly Father.

“Mom, I think that you are feeling some of what our heavenly mother may have felt as she watched us all leave for our earthly missions. You must realize to some degree that great love, anxiety, and desire to see us grow and succeed that she and our Heavenly Father have. You realize how hard it would be for them to send out communication to their children (letters, if you will) and to not have them answered, and maybe even rejected. You must be feeling some of the joy that our heavenly mother feels as she sees her children growing and following the right paths. You must be thrilled to see Larry return home from his mission honorably and starting his own increase of children. You note that Larry had still more preparation to make after his mission before he was ready to be a father. I think the spirit world is designed to provide that opportunity to further prepare the children of our Heavenly parents. Then, as our eternal successes add glory to our Heavenly Father’s name, so will your children praise their earthly mother and father also, forever.”

Mrs. Dean M. Austin
Provo, Utah

Prison Walls

I was delighted to open my February Ensign and see the article “How Love Scales Prison Walls” [p. 4]. I just returned from Chicago after attending a criminal justice and corrections reform conference sponsored by the American Association of University Women.

At that very informative and action-oriented meeting, we were admonished that “community based corrections” are necessary and a highly effective way to fight crime. The Church’s program is putting that concept into action. I sincerely hope that each of us will examine our feelings and attitudes toward the person who has broken the law, and realize that in order to make the adjustment back to becoming a contributing member of society, he needs our support and understanding. If he has paid a penalty for the consequences, let us not punish him further and unjustly as he attempts to rebuild his life.

Sharon K. Orsund
Austin, Minnesota

Pronunciation Problem

Would you please settle a dispute for us? How do you pronounce the name of your magazine? We have always pronounced it en’sine; however, in this area most people call it en’sun. Which is correct?

Colleen L. Knowles
Montgomery, Alabama

The correct pronunciation is en’sine, with the long i. Both pronunciations are recognized in most dictionaries; however, the Random House Dictionary of the English Language labels en’sun as military usage. The usage we prefer means “sign or token.” In the Church we prefer the long i pronunciation. The word can be found in D&C 64:42: “And she [Zion] shall be an ensign unto the people, and there shall come unto her out of every nation under heaven.” The word is also found in Isa. 11:10, 12.

Cross-Country Miracle

I guess all of us know that every day brings thousands—maybe millions—of little miracles. Someday I’d like to tell how I crossed the country from Phoenix, Arizona, to Nelson, New Hampshire, on $22 and a full tank of gas in a 1951 Chevrolet pickup truck, with my daughter. It was truly a miracle, as I had no gears in the truck by the time I reached my brother’s home in Ohio, and he put seven new gears in the truck. The mechanic also shook his head and said, “Lady, you should never go anywhere with four lugs holding your tire on.” I do have a strong testimony of the Lord’s watchful providence over us.

Judith Teeter
Springville, Utah

Thank you—and you just told your story!

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