Treasure books, Elder Holland urges
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ST. GEORGE, Utah — Books didn't mean much to him as a 6-year-old, professed Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who, as a first grader, was grateful that the library was strategically located across the street from the Judd General Store.
But as he advanced through the school years and eventually earned a doctorate from Yale University, he learned to treasure the value of books. He returned to his hometown of St. George Monday, Feb. 19, to dedicate a new $5 million Washington County Library .
Introduced by Douglas Alder, chairman of the Washington County Library Board as one who learned to love books, Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve "rhapsodized" about his childhood memories and the "brainy" classmates who hurried to the library following school to complete their homework before returning home.
"There was simply a wonderful habit in some families that homework was done first before anything else after school," he said.
"We put our money in banks, we put our food in the pantry, we put our clothes in the clothes closet," he said, "but God and great people have put their wisdom and counsel, their caution and best thoughts in books.
"Little wonder," Elder Holland continued, "that the invention of the printing press continues to be seen, as recently as a poll taken this year, as the greatest of all the modern inventions of mankind, the invention that has affected the world the most directly and the most permanently."
Elder Holland recounted from Roxey S. Romney, the librarian of his childhood, the pioneer effort to gather materials for self-improvement.
Three years after the first Latter-day Saint settlers arrived to establish the Cotton Mission, almost before the people were settled and before they had any certain assurance of livelihood and still lacking the necessities of life, they began collecting produce such as a quart of molasses as admission to social activities.
The produce was placed in a 60-gallon barrel. When six barrels were filled, they were transported to Salt Lake City where they were sold or exchanged for books or other reading material.
"Those early beginnings (are) a tribute to the vision and determination of those remarkable first settlers to better themselves and their children," Elder Holland said.
Elder Holland dedicated the building that those "who use it,... might facilitate wise, righteous living and serve to better the lot of mankind...."
"May we take what we can learn and apply it to solving the challenging issues facing ourselves, our families and our friends all over the earth."
The new library is designed in the same architectural style as the Old Dixie Academy constructed in the latter 1880s with its arch entries and sandstone bricks. The library becomes an anchor in this area being designed as a town square.
The St. George area of Washington County is often referred to as Utah's Dixie because of its southwest location, and because it was established to raise cotton, filling a textile role much as the Southern states.
Dedicatory services were held in the St. George Tabernacle. An overflow audience filled the benches on the main floor and the chairs in the balcony, with others lining the walls.
Keeping with tradition that began in the 1870s when Brigham Young was greeted outside of town by a brass band and accompanied into the city, a 10-piece brass band performed such favorites as "Dixieland," and "Are You From Dixie" for the hour-long service. The band then led a parade of people, including Elder Holland and his wife, Patricia, from the tabernacle to the library located about 100 yards around the corner.
E-mail to: shaun@desnews.com
