President Woodruff made the fol-
lowing remarks:
We are again called to pay our last
respects to the dead. Upon this oc-
casion it is one of the daughters of
the Lord, a mother of Zion who has
filled the measure of her creation.
Sister Cannon was a noble woman,
a noble mother in Israel who has
raised a noble posterity; and she has
now gone to rest after spending her
life in upholding the principles of
truth and making them honorable
in the earth.
There are some things connected
with this funeral that may be con-
sidered unpleasant, I refer to the
absence of the husband of the de-
ceased at Washington, where he is
laboring for the interest and welfare
of the people of this Territory, he,
under the circumstances, not feeling
to leave his post, but to leave
the remains of his companion
in the hands of his friends
and to the mercy of God. And
also in the absence of her two
oldest sons, one of whom is in Eng-
land, the other in Germany, preach-
ing the gospel to the inhabitants of
those respective countries, neither
of whom, therefore, the sons nor the
husband, can be present to pay their
last respects to their noble mother
and companion.
On such occasions when
mourning the loss of our departed
friends, I cannot help but think
that in every death there is a birth:
the spirit leaves the body dead to us,
and passes to the other side of the
vail alive to that great and noble
company that are also working for
the accomplishment of the purposes
of God in the redemption and salva-
tion of a fallen world. And
the spirit of this our deceased
Sister has gone to mingle with her
little ones who have gone before her,
and with her father and mother and
her other family relations, and with
her many friends who, like her, have
wrestled with life and the struggles
and troubles thereof, have overcome
and gone home. All is well with
Sister Cannon. She is satisfied with
her condition to-day. I feel with
regard to her as I have always felt
with regard to faithful Latter-day
Saints, when they have finished
their work and gone behind the vail,
that there are none of them that
would return to their earthly bodies
if they had the opportunity.
In making remarks at funerals,
which I have often been called upon
to do, I have taken the liberty of
speaking plainly my feelings with
regard to the dead. And I will
say here, when I see a man or wo-
man, a true and faithful Latter-day
Saint pass away, I do not feel in my
heart to mourn. Why should we
mourn for the woman whose re-
mains lie before us? She has been
true and faithful to the sacred and
holy covenants that she entered in-
to with God her heavenly Father;
she has received those ordinances in
the house of God that will prepare
her to go into the presence of the best
men and women that have lived up-
on the earth; she has left a noble
posterity to bear her name and to
bear record of and to emulate her
example; she is freed from pain and
suffering and the anxieties of life,
and is now beyond the power of the
enemy of all righteousness; she has
opened her eyes in the spirit world,
among her relatives and friends and
her own little ones, whose death
caused her grief and pain; she has
gone to enjoy the society of those
who have washed their robes and
made them white in the
blood of the Lamb, [Revelation 7:14] and to in-
herit the blessings and glory of
eternal life. No, I cannot feel to
mourn for her. It is hard, of course,
to part with our friends; but after
all it is with regard to them, as one
of old said. It is better to go to the
house of mourning than the house of
feasting. [Ecclesiastes 7:2] It is natural for us to give
expression to our feelings in tears
in laying away the bodies of our be-
loved friends, and there is a degree
to which we may go which is proper
and right; but there are extremes
which are often indulged in, which
is neither proper nor right for Lat-
ter day Saints to copy after. Here,
however, as I have said, we have
nothing to mourn about as far as
Sister Cannon is concerned.
When I say that I have never felt
to mourn for any faithful man or
woman who has died in this
Church, I must make one exception;
I did feel to mourn, and so did all
Israel, the death of our martyred
Prophet and Patriarch, Joseph and
Hyrum Smith. But we did not
mourn on account of them person-
ally, for they had passed through all
that any martyr ever did or could,
but we felt to mourn their loss
to the Church as our leaders
to whom we had learned to
look for counsel and advice
in every hour of trouble and trial,
although there is something very
dreadful in the thought of assassin-
ating men, whether they be Pro-
phets or Apostles, or whether they
be emperors or presidents. With
that exception I have not felt to
mourn for any faithful person who
has gathered up his feet and gone
to sleep with the fathers. I have
felt rather, that they have gained a
victory which but few of the hu-
man family have gained in their
day and generation. For you will
find, my brethren and sisters, there
there are but a very few compara-
tively, either male or female, who
have had independence of mind
enough, as well as honesty of heart
sufficient to receive the Gospel of
Christ. It takes independence of
mind, honesty of heart, faith in
God and firmness of character to
live the life of a Latter-day Saint,
in the face of a frowning world, and
in the midst of trials and troubles
and persecution.
The spirit of Sister Cannon has
left us; her body is here awaiting the
purifying changes it must undergo
in mother earth. But whether her
spirit is present witnessing these
funeral services, or whether she, on
opening her eyes in the spirit
world, would say, "I leave
my body for my friends to bury, I
must enter upon my mission," that
is something we are not able to
speak definitely about. God
not having revealed it unto
us. But this we do know, she
is all right, because she was thor-
oughly prepared for the change that
awaited her; and she has gone to do
all that she can for those of her
kindred and friends that are to fol-
low. And what more can you say?
We are left, and we are doing for
Sister Cannon what our friends,
sooner or later, will be doing for us.
It will not be very long before Bro-
ther Cannon and also the children
and friends of the deceased who re-
remain will join her in the spirit-
world, if it is not until the coming
of Christ. This admonition comes
home forcibly to the living, "Be ye
also ready." [Matthew 24:44] And it applies to us
all. And it is for us as parents and
Elders of Israel to labor in the
cause of God while we are permitted
to tarry; living up to the light and
knowledge that we have been
blessed with. For there is a time
appointed unto all men; and He
takes away many according to the
counsels of His own will. He takes
whom He will take, and spares
whom he will spare for a wise pur-
pose in Himself. These things are
according to the purposes and ordi-
nation of God to man. Some labor
this side of the vail, others on the
other side of the vail. If we tarry
here we expect to labor in the cause
of salvation, and if we go hence we
expect to continue our work until
the coming of the Son of Man. The
only difference is, while we are here
we are subject to pain and sorrow,
while they on the other side are
free from affliction of every kind.
I pray to God to comfort the heart of
Brother Cannon in this his sad be-
reavement, and to sustain him by
the power of His Spirit; and I pray
that his wives and children may be
blessed and preserved in the truth,
that at last he and they, together
with this his companion, whose
voice is now hushed in death, may
come forth in the morning of the
first resurrection, and stand in their
family organization clothed with
glory, immortality and and eternal
lives, to join with the redeemed and
sanctified in exclaiming:
"O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory?" [1 Corinthians 15:55]