On the Fourth of July of 1851 the Saints joined in a celebration at Black Rock on Salt Lake. "The procession was led by the general authorities with the Nauvoo Legion as an escort. It consisted of 140 wagons which reached Black Rock at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Patriotic speeches were made, and after the meeting, social pastimes were indulged in, and many enjoyed a bath in the lake. It was as pleasant a Fourth of July as I ever spent, and my family was with me. Next day we returned to Salt Lake City." Those were happy days. The simplicity of their faith, the candor of their words, and the friendship of their lives produced a remarkable unity which in itself was both inspiring and joyful. The Twenty-fourth of July was honored by a celebration. There was music by the Nauvoo brass band. The citizens came out in great numbers. There was a procession at the head of which the aged fathers and mothers were placed--men and women whose frames were shaped by the hardships and struggles of those early days. The procession ended at the bowery where there were speeches, instrumental music and singing. "The songs of Zion were sung not in a strange land, nor were our harps hung upon the willows. The shades of evening came over the city and there had been no accident to mar the proceedings of that hallowed day. There were no curses, no drinking, no rabble, no strife to mar the occasion." There was, perhaps, a little Church mixed up with the State in those days. Men had conceived the idea that God should be honored as much in the administration of civil as of religious affairs. The harvest season followed the Twenty-fourth and Elder Woodruff was as enthusiastic and energetic on the farm as he was in a celebration or as he was in preaching the Gospel abroad. He was a model of industry. His little twenty-acre farm just south of the city was under a high state of cultivation. With a cradle in his hands, he went to the work of the harvest with singular pleasure. His restless nature often carried him beyond {348} his strength, but he loved to work. He always worked, and with him one kind of work was as honorable as another; for God honored honest toil. At his home on the farm, there lived with him his aged father. The stepmother had remained with her daughter in Iowa. About this time, he received word that she had died on the 20th of March and that his brother Azmon's wife had also died on the 3rd of January of that year. His brother also wrote him relating the sorrow and trouble he had encountered ever since he had left the Church. His letter bore evidence of humiliation and repentance, much to the joy of his faithful brother Wilford.