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| Mormonism History Jokes: Crickets and Seagulls | Arie Van De Graaff |
Many of the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. When they arrived they were poor as pertaining to money, food and clothing. But they had strong spirits. Finally reaching a place where it seemed no one could disturb them they began preparing for the winter that lay ahead. The winter was long and cold and many of the saints died. But eventually the spring came.
With winter behind them the people began planting wheat and other crops. As the wheat grew and was nearing the harvest time a new sort of trouble came upon the Mormons - Crickets! This was not mob persecution or illegal arrests, but this was a plague of crickets. The pioneers fought back as well as they could, trying to kill the crickets, but there were too many.
The saints set a day for fasting and not much later a new surprise came upon the valley - Seagulls! The people at first thought the birds came to eat whatever the crickets left over, but miraculously the seagulls ate all of the crickets and then left.
The following poem was written by Beverly Cochrane, published in the July 2011 Friend magazine:
The Seagulls
When pioneers went way out west,
They planted precious seed.
But when the little plants grew up,
The crickets came to feed.
The pioneers fought crickets off
With hoe and cloth and flame.
They battered hoards of crickets down,
But still more crickets came.
Pioneers prayed for relief,
And Heavenly Father listened.
He sent some hungry seagulls
On a flying rescue mission.
And when the crickets were all gone,
The seagulls flown away,
The pioneers said, 'Thank you,'
As they knelt in the fields to pray.
Want More?
More on the History of Mormonism: http://mormontopics.org/eng/christ
More from the 'Mormon Cartoonist,' Arie Van De Graaff: http://www.mormoncartoonist.com/
Talk to the Mormon Missionaries: http://mormon.org/chat
