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THIRD GRADE.

CHURCH HISTORY.

LESSON XXXIII.

Chapter 31. Young Folk's History of the Church.

BRIGHAM YOUNG, JUNIOR.

Brigham Young, Junior, the son of President Brigham Young, was one of the Twelve Apostles. He was born in Kirtland, Ohio. In his youth he had the reputation of a merry, kind hearted and courageous boy. He was very much attached to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and young as he was at the time of the martyrdom, was utterly cast down with sorrow and anguish at the loss of the two noble leaders of his people.

When the Saints were driven out of Nauvoo and President Brigham Young led the crowd of sorrow stricken people across the river to a place of greater safety, the boy Brigham was off at play, and when his mother and the rest of the children were taken across the ferry, Brigham was left.

When he returned to his home he discovered that everybody was gone, the doors stood open, the furniture was left standing in its place, but there were no friendly voices to welcome him home.

He flew down to the river and there he found a boat ready to pull across the river, it would be the last one that night, somebody told him, the boat was loaded and there seemed to be no room for Brigham, but the boy did not propose to be on one side of the river and his family on the other. There was a barrell in the bow of the boat, and Brigham climbed on top of it and so crossed the ferry.

There were such crowds of people on the other side, so much confusion, families seemed to be hopelessly separated and Brig

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ham searched in vain for his parents. He felt very lonely and very hungry, and was very glad when someone offered him a share of the food which was so scanty for all. At last after three days of searching he found his family, they had camped at Sugar Creek, a place ten miles away from where Brigham had crossed the river

In all the terrible experiences of the Saints after leaving Nauvoo, Brigham helped by driving the oxen, though only twelve years old, he was just as good as a grown man, because he was steady and reliable and yet through it all he was as light hearted and merry as the June sunshine.

Brigham's first years in Great Salt Lake Valley were spent in herding stock, hauling wood from the canyons and in doing all sorts of hard manual labor. He, also, served as guard, to protect the people from the hostile Indians. His whole life was devoted to his people and his religion, and though he was compelled to suffer hardships and privations, to perform many of the most arduous as well as most humble of the duties of life, he lived so as to be worthy of the respect and love of his people and to occupy exalted and dignified positions of trust and responsibility.

LESSON XXXIV.

Chapter 34. Young Folks History of the Church.

DAVID W. PATTEN.

David W. Patten was a great and good man and an Apostle of the Lord. When he was thirty-two years old he was baptized a member of our Church and two days later began to labor in the missionary field. Brother Patten made a powerful missionary, and he was able with the help of the Spirit of the Lord to make many converts, and many signs followed those who believed, the sick being healed in a remarkable manner. One woman who had been afflicted for nearly twenty years, was instantly healed. Margaret Little was lying at the point of death, and when she was administered to, was immediately restored to health, she was not a member of the Church, but said that as soon as she was better she would be baptized. Brother Patten told her the affliction would come back if she did not repent and be baptized. Brother Patten was going away from where Margaret Little lived, but later he returned and found the lady very ill again, she had not been baptized, but begged to be again administered to, and this time she would surely obey the Gospel. The Elders laid hands upon her, and once more she was instantly healed and soon after was baptized.

Brother Patten labored with all his strength and ability for the advancement of his Church and people, and in 1838 was put to death by a cruel mob. Of his last moments, President Heber C. Kimball wrote: "When the shades of time were lowering, and eternity, with all its realities, were opening to his view, he bore a strong testimony to the truth of the work of the Lord and the religion he had espoused. The principles of the Gospel, which were so precious to him before, were honorably maintained in nature's final hour, and afforded him that support and consolation at the time of his departure which deprived death of its sting and horror. Speaking of those who had apostatized, he exclaimed, 'Oh, that they were in my situation! For I feel I have kept the faith; I have finished my course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me.' Speaking to his beloved wife, who was present, and who attended him in his dying moments, he said, 'Whatever you do else, do not deny the faith!" A few moments before he died he prayed thus: 'Father, I ask Thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, that Thou wouldst release my spirit and receive it unto thyself." The brethren committed him to the Lord, and he quietly breathed his last without a struggle or a groan.'

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David W. Patten was the first apostolic martyr in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when the Gospel has again been restored. Joseph, the Prophet, wrote of him: "Brother David W. Patten was a worthy man, beloved by all good men who knew him. He died as he had lived, a man of God, and strong in the faith of a glorious resurrection in a world where mobs will have no power or place."

LESSON XXXV.

Chapter 35. Young Folks History of the Church.

EMILY HILL WOODMANSEE.

Emily Hill Woodmansee, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Slade Hill, was born in the southwest of England, near Warminster, Wilts, March 24, 1836. Quoting her own words:

"Of my pedigree I will simply say that my parents were honorable, hard-working people, too independent in spirit to stoop to mean actions, much less to sully their conscience to curry favor. The youngest living of eleven children, I fully enjoyed the privileges often accorded the youngest member of a family, (i. e.) of

having things my own way.

My parents as well as my brothers and sisters were very kind to me, and I can truly say-slightly reversing a word in the lines of one of our poets, that,

'I never knew what trouble was

Till I became a Mormon.

"When but a mere child I was much concerned about my eternal salvation and felt that I would make any sacrifice to obtain it. I asked all kinds of questions of my mother and sisters, seeking how to be saved, but could get no satisfaction from them nor from the religious body (Wesleyans) to which they belonged:

"Hungry and thirsty for truth, I searched the Scriptures, invariably turning to the lives of ancient apostles or to the beautiful writings of the Prophet Isaiah. I was never weary of reading his prophecies, the glory of a Latter-Day Zion that burthened his inspirations possessed for me a charm irresistible. Truly I was waiting for something, I knew not what, that came to me sooner than I expected.

"When I was about twelve years old, my cousin, Miriam Slade, (afterward the wife of Edward Hanham,) came to visit us; she was very merry-hearted and we had anticipated her visit, expecting a good deal of fun; but she was too full of a 'new religion' to do anything but preach. 'God,' she said, 'had spoken from the heaven to a man named Joseph Smith; the Gospel was restored to the earth, the honest in heart were commanded to gather to the land of Zion for safety, for this was the last dispensation, and the hour of God's judgment had come!'

"Right faithfully she testified to her knowledge of these things, much to the surprise of our family, who were considerably amused at her earnestness as well as at the novelty of her belief,and notwithstanding I listened attentively, I thought her assertions too good to be true. The next Sunday my cousin informed us that the Latter-day Saints had appointed a meeting for that day at an adjoining village called Chalford, and invited us to go.

As it was a distance of five or six miles, making a long walk there and back, none of my brothers cared to go, and my elder sisters considered themselves altogether too respectable (?) to attend an outdoor meeting of such a primitive sect, therefore they declined to go, and no one thought of sending me till I suggested it. Turning to my father, my sisters said, (laughingly,) 'Yes, send Em, she will tell us all about it.'

"In five minutes Miriam Slade and myself were on the road, accompanied by Mr. Wm. Bowring, (brother to Henry E. Bowring of Brigham City,) and by Edward W. Tullidge, then a youth, but now well-known as a talented writer and also as the proprietor and

editor of Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine. Never, never shall I forget that day, surely it was the turning point of my whole life. A few devoted worshippers of truth met together in a small house, to bear their testimony to one another and to worship God! And He was in their midst and that to bless them. Even as in the day of Pentecost, they spake in tongues and prophesied, which pronhecy I have seen fulfilled. Unlike the Jews who were 'pricked in their hearts,' I did not even ask, 'What shall I do to be saved?' "The way' was open before me, and simple and young as I was I instinctively knew that 'I could not err therein.'

"It was indeed as though I had been brought 'out of darkness into marvelous light,' and I could not shut my eyes against it.

"In the evening I attended an out door Mormon meeting,' and though naturally sensitive to ridicule, I did not care the least for the sneers of the crowd but joined in the songs of the Saints as well as I could, for in my childish way I wanted it understood that I was not ashamed to count one with the peculiar people called Latter-day Saints.

"Many a time since, when 'offenses' have come in my way over which with mortal weakness I have almost stumbled, the testimony of that eventful day has been to me a precious recollection which nothing could obliterate. I was so overjoyed at finding what I had so long desired, and so eager to convince my friends that I could hardly wait to get home. As soon as I was inside the house and almost before anyone else could speak, I astounded them all by the emphatic declaration that I knew the Latter-day Saints were the right people; and I would join them as soon as I was big enough. I was never sent to take notes' of the 'Mormons' again, but on the contrary was closely watched lest I should be led away by a 'sect that was everywhere spoken against.' My early study of the Scriptures now stood me in good stead, and I searched the Bible more diligently than ever, so that I might give a good reason for my faith to the hosts that assailed me, (right reverends among the number,) who, finding it easier to cry 'delusion' than tɔ prove it, generally wound up by informing me that I wasn't old enough to know my own mind, and was altogether too young to judge of so grave a matter. Meantime my persistent faith invoked such a tempest of wrath over my head, that I could not even get an opportunity to be baptized, and the Elders did not think it wisdom (because of my tender years) to perform the ceremony without my parents' consent. I well remember looking forward. to a period when I should be old enough to act for myself, and it seemed a lifetime.

"About this time one of the Elders brought Brother John Halliday (brother to Bishop Halliday of Santaquin) to our house, who bore such a powerful testimony of the divine mission of Jo

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