It may be well here to record the fact that President Woodruff and John D. T. McAllister, at the early opening of the St. George Temple were baptized for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and for nearly all the Presidents of the United States. The appearance, therefore, in his dream, of Franklin, was to him a satisfying conclusion that he had at least received joyfully the blessings that came to him from the ordinances of the Lord's House.
There is noticeable in the journal of President Woodruff a singular satisfaction which he always took in the missionary labors of his sons. He had been a missionary himself—a zealous, indeed an ideal missionary, like Paul of old. The missionary spirit never left him, he was always zealous for the spread of his faith and rejoiced in the zeal of his sons, when like him they were laboring to spread the truth. He refers with special pleasure to the zeal of his son Owen who was then on a mission in Germany. He liked the spirit of the boy as it manifested itself in letters to his mother. His writings had a wholesome, spiritual ring to them that characterized his own missionary life. Indeed, the young missionary who was devoting himself faithfully to the service of the Master, whether he was of his own household or from some other home, was always a source of pleasure to him and in his journal he pays his compliments to these young ambassadors of the truth.
There is one peculiar characteristic noticeable in the journal of Wilford Woodruff, it is that hopeful, joyful spirit that dwells with ever increasing satisfaction upon the things that are good and uplifting. He had a spirit of appreciation for the good things of life, he loved to dwell upon the good deeds of others, and though now and then he spoke out in prophetic utterance against the evils of the world, he was nevertheless prone to see the good quicker than the evil. He said in his journal of October, that year, that "Aunt Jane," the colored sister, had been to see him. She was anxious to go through the Temple and receive the higher ordinances of the gospel. President Woodruff blessed her for her constant, never changing devotion to the gospel, but explained to her her disadvantages as one of the descendants of Cain.
In after years when President Joseph F. Smith preached the funeral sermon of this same faithful woman he declared that she would in the resurrection attain the longings of her soul and become a white and beautiful person.
President Woodruff's writings generally reflect the spirit of the times. He was always in sympathetic touch with the interests of humanity. In large measure the sorrows of his fellow men were his sorrows, and their joys his joys. It was not in him to live separate and apart in the world and indulge in a selfish life. We may naturally expect him, therefore, in 1894 to feel and sense the troubles that were brooding over the country. There were railroad strikes and there were Coxey's armies; men were suffering for the necessities of life and undergoing great hardship in consequence of the panic of 1893.
One of the events of this year, which was perhaps the most pleasing of anything he enjoyed in those days was the admission of Utah to statehood. The enabling act was signed by President Cleveland on the 17th of July, 1894. Of this event he wrote: "The struggle has been a hard one. It has seemed as though all earth and hell were combined against the Saints having a state government. Now we must give God the glory."
He joined in the general celebrations of that year. Pioneer day brought with it additional joy as it did fuller appreciation. In connection with Utah's prospective admission to statehood he received a lengthy letter from General Clarkson who gave at considerable length the story of Utah's recent admission into the Union. The General gives the names and attitude of those who used their influence against, as well as those who used theirs for Utah's admission into the Union. There were those who labored, no doubt, with sinister motives for statehood. They pressed their claims upon Church authority for recognition, they sought political preferment and some, no doubt, were deeply disappointed.
In October of that year a circumstance took place which revealed the generous and forgiving nature of the subject of this biography. On the 25th of October, Mary Jackson Ross died. She had been the first plural wife of President Woodruff. By him she had one son named James. Through disappointment and dissatisfaction she left her husband and married another man. In her later and declining years she realized the mistake of a hasty and unwise decision. She came to President Woodruff with a desire that he take her back again into his family for eternity. He attended her funeral, laid her away in his own burial lot, and was in every way thoughtful and magnanimous to her and to the children she had borne by her second husband.
Summing up the labors of that year he said that he attended ten conferences, preached twenty-three discourses, wrote nearly one hundred important letters, and traveled twenty-six hundred miles. All this he did in the 87th year of his life.
The beginning of the year 1895 witnessed the continuation of the distressing financial situation throughout the nation. The effects of the panic were not easily overcome and there was considerable suffering throughout the country. To meet the special needs of the suffering poor in Nebraska, President Woodruff in January contributed in behalf of the Church two thousand five hundred pounds of flour. The Church had so grown in its interests and wealth that it was then in a position to take cognizance to some extent of the poverty and depressing conditions throughout the country.