THE MUSICAL COMPETITION. or death, come poverty or riches, come evil or good report, come bonds or imprisonment, come all or part of these, O Lord give me faith and Thy Holy Spirit sufficient, that I may continue to serve 199 Thee and assist in building up Thy kingdom." I have not forgotten the spirit I enjoyed while offering up this prayer, and I felt that the Lord had heard my prayer and would answer it. THE MUSICAL AS MALE singing clubs are now being fast organized in the associations in the North and South as well as in Salt Lake City, considerable anxiety is manifested to learn more about the coming competition-the rules, the selections to be sung, the judges, etc. As at first stated in the prospectus, the rule that every member of the club competing must be a member of the ward or association which that club represents, will be strictly adhered to, and any club using outside aid will forfeit the prize. Any member of a ward is, of course, entitled to become a member of the association of the ward in which he resides, and no other, and hence may be a member of the competing club. The same holds good for the quartette and duet. There may, however, be any number of quartettes or duets from one ward. A club competing for the first prize will not be permitted to also compete for the second or third prize; the quartette, duett and solos only being open to members of competing clubs, in addition to the one prize for which they compete. It would be evidently unfair for a club of twenty-five, after competing, and perhaps winning the first prize, to select fifteen of their best men and continue the contest, to the injury of associations where only fifteen could be had, capable of singing. The same applies to members of the clubs contesting for the third prize with eight of their number-hence these restrictions. As quartette singing is a separate branch from chorus singing, we leave them, as also duets, with only the restriction that they be members of one ward or association. Solos are open for competition to all association members. PIECES FOR COMPETITION.-For prizes COMPETITION. one, two, three and four (all the chorus and quartette work) the pieces published in THE CONTRIBUTOR will be used. It is possible that one or two others will be added; if so they will be furnished to competing clubs free of charge in due time. The selection to be sung will be made known not before the day of competition. This will necessitate each club learning all the pieces well. The duet and solos will be named in our next number and can be purchased at either Coalter & Snelgrove's, or Calder's music stores, Salt Lake City. The competition will take place, publicly, in the tabernacle during one night of the Y. M. M. I A. Conference, in June next. Should there be more than five competitors for any one prize, a private competition for that prize will be had during the day, and only the best two or three will renew the contest at night. Three competent judges will be engaged to adjudicate; they will be placed where they can hear perfectly, but not see the competitors, who will be announced only by numbers, unknown to the judges. Competitors have full freedom to engage such aid as they can secure (excepting these three judges) to help train and prepare them for the competition; but such aids-unless a member of the ward and association-must not conduct or take part at the competition. The choruses and quartettes will be sung without accompaniment. There will be a pianist engaged to accompany the duet and solos; but the competitors may choose their own accompanist if they so desire. All parties competing will render their services during the Conference in any way desired by Brother Evan Stephens, who has the whole in charge. The names of clubs and competitors must be sent to la maid-en, Ere with many a grief and care, Thy young heart is dorn-ing, Knowing not what sweets they throw, On the breath of morn THE CONTRIBUTOR. VOL. XII. APRIL, 1891. LIFE AND LABORS OF ORSON PRATT. THE first Sabbath services, after the arrival of the Pioneers, were held July 25th, 1847, within the encircle of the encampment. It was here these brave God-fearing colonists assembled for public worship, and in their expressions of gratitude to the Almighty God who had led them out of captivity to a land destined for the gathering of the Saints, they failed not to acknowledge His goodness in preserving every soul, from the time they left the Missouri River until their arrival at the Great American Basin in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. Like the former day Israel and not unlike the pilgrim fathers, were these gallant Pioneers, in their remembrance of the duties of the Sabbath. On this day, for the first time in the valley, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered and partaken of by the whole congregation, followed by remarks from Elders Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, Lorenzo D. Young, John Pack and others. Elder Pratt gave a powerful address from the following text: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." (Isaiah li: 7, 8.) Appropriating this text to his sermon, Elder Pratt proved that these words of Isaiah were being literally fulfilled in the fact that the Saints were now being located in the valleys of the mountains. President Young, though still feeble, No. 6. gave a few timely remarks, exhorting the brethren to keep holy the Sabbath day; that they must not work on Sunday; that they would loose five times as much as they would gain by it. None were to hunt on that day. He also said, that no man who came here should buy any land; that he had none to sell; but that every man should have his land measured out to him for city and farming purposes. He might till it as he pleased, but he must be industrious and take care of it. On Tuesday, July 27th, the Twelve, accompanied by Samuel Brannan and several others, started, about nine o'clock a.m. on an exploring expedition. "We directed our course west," says Orson Pratt. "Two or three miles brought us to a river called the Utah Outlet. It is about six rods wide and three feet deep at the ford; gravel bottom; its current is not very rapid, and the water not quite so transparent as the mountain streams generally in this valley; its course is north towards the Salt Lake, into which it empties. About thirteen miles further, across a level prairie, with here and their the bed of a lake, now perfectly hard and dry, we came to a north point of a range of mountains which forms the western boundary of this valley. At the foot of these mountains, at the north point, there is a stream of fresh water; very little brackish. We halted here a short time for the horses to feed. About six miles further west, following the emigrant trail, brought us to the Great Salt Lake, which here made up near the base of the mountains. We all bathed in the water, which is fully saturated with |