Apostle Woodruff was always careful in his journal to say something of the lives of men and women whose integrity to God he knew and esteemed. He rarely failed to record his testimony of those who were valiant when anything important occurred in their lives, or when they died. Of a Sister Vose who had just come to the Valleys he said: "She was seventy-seven years of age and rode 1,200 miles in twenty-three days, at least one-half the distance by team. She has been a member of the Church almost {381} from the beginning, and has given thousands of dollars to build up the Kingdom and to assist the elders in their ministry." Just about this time, he records the return of Thomas B. Marsh to the fold. This man had once been president of the Twelve Apostles. He had forsaken the Church and in time he was forsaken by his family and his friends. There still, however, remained within him a lingering testimony of the spirit that had once led him to a higher and better life. He appealed by letter to President Young to be restored to the Church. The request was granted by the President who said: "Let him be baptized and confirmed and then come to the Valleys." This brother reached Salt Lake City, and on the 16th of September, 1857, was presented by President Young to the congregation in their Sabbath meeting. As they gazed upon him, they saw a wreck--a relic of his former self. He was now crippled and palsied in body, miserable and unhappy in his spirit. When he arose, he called the attention of the Saints to himself as an object of pity and commiseration, and warned the Saints against apostasy and asked them to forgive him. President Young put his request to a vote and he was unanimously received into the fellowship of his brethren and sisters. A few years later he died in Ogden. The approach of mid-summer awakened in the hearts and feelings the patriotic spirit of a devoted body of pioneers, who loved their religion and who consequently loved their country. The Fourth of July was celebrated as usual by a "splendid military performance." The procession disbanded before the Governor's office at noon. They loved their country and they also loved their religion. Their advent into the Valleys of the Mountains was a mile-stone in what to their minds was the greatest historical event of modern times. That event must not be forgotten. Future generations must hold it in sacred remembrance, for it was God's history which the world some time would recognize by appropriate and almost universal observance. The remembrances of the pioneer journey were green in the memories of all but the little children. The Twenty-fourth of July recalled the scenes at one thousand camp firesides on the plains and in the mountains. It reminded them of suffering, recalled their hopes, and strengthened their {382} faith. They were witnesses of God's providence in dispelling fears that human courage could not overcome, and in removing obstacles that seemed to them insurmountable.