I had to go through a lot of talk with no references in April of 1972. There's no requirement that a talk have any, of course, and it was fun and interesting to read each of these again.
As far as an online presence, the man is completely lost to time, as are so many others.
It's sad, but somehow, this little couplet is all that is left of him, and it talks on the importance of practicing what we preach - the hardest sermon of all to give.
It was the sermon Christ gave for all of us, every second He lived, in a way that takes years to see and truly appreciate. The most positive example that could have given, and one that I myself am very grateful for.
However lost Hal Chadwick is to us, he's not lost to God.
Finally, in this series from Elder Thomas S. Monson's talk, "With Hand and Heart", we come to the final quote, which in this case is more like a story than a quote. But it also introduces us to a new character from history:
The Quote
Prison
warden Kenyon J. Scudder has related this experience:
A friend of his
happened to be sitting in a railroad coach next to a young man
who was
obviously depressed.
Finally the man revealed that he was a paroled
convict returning from a distant prison.
His imprisonment had brought
shame to his family,
and they had neither visited him nor written often.
He hoped, however, that this was only because they were too poor to
travel
and too uneducated to write.
He hoped, despite the evidence, that
they had forgiven him.
To
make it easy for them, however, he had written them to put up a signal
for him
when the train passed their little farm on the outskirts of
town.
If his family had forgiven him, they were to put a white ribbon in
the big apple tree
which stood near the tracks.
If they didn’t want him
to return, they were to do nothing,
and he would remain on the train as
it traveled west.
As the train
neared his home town,
the suspense became so great he couldn’t bear to
look out of his window.
He exclaimed, “In just five minutes the engineer
will sound the whistle,
indicating our approach to the long bend which
opens into the valley I know as home.
Will you watch for the apple tree
at the side of the track?”
His companion changed places with him and
said he would.
The minutes seemed like hours,
but then there came the
shrill sound of the train whistle.
The young man asked, “Can you see the
tree? Is there a white ribbon?”
Came the reply: “I see the tree. I see not one white ribbon, but many.
There must be a white ribbon on every branch.
Son, someone surely does love you.”
In that instant he stood cleansed by Christ.
His friend said, “I felt as if I had witnessed a miracle.”
A Historical Attempt at Combining Justice with Mercy, and a Song
