Sea Gulls & Crickets
A Mormon Song to Commemorate the Events of Their First Harvest
{1849|
The winter of '49 had passed,
A winter of haunting fears; For famine had knocked at the city gates And threatened the pioneers. But spring with its smiling skies lent grace And cheered the hosts within; And they tilled their fields with a newborn trust And the courage to fight and win. With the thrill of life, the tender shoots Burst forth from the virgin plain; And each day added its ray of hope, The blessing of ripened grain. But lo in the East strange clouds appeared, And dark became the sun; And down from the mountainsides there swept A scourge that the boldest shunned. The crickets by tens of millions came Like fog on the British coast; The finger of devastation marked Its course on the Mormon host. |
With a vigor that desperation fanned,
They battled and smote and slew, But the clouds still gathered and broke afresh Till the fields that waved were few. With visions of famine and want and woe, They prayed from their hearts sincere, When lo from the West came other clouds To succour the pioneers. 'Twas sea gulls feathered in angel-white, And angels they were forsooth; The sea gulls there by the thousands came To battle in very truth. They charged down on the cricket hordes And gorged them day and night; They routed the devastating foe And the crickets were put to flight. All heads were bowed as they thanked their God, And they reaped while the devil raved; The harvest was gathered to songs of praise And the pioneers were saved. |