DESIGNED FOR THE INSTRUCTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF YOUNG LATTER-DAYSAINTS.
JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
1881.
Already one of the results which the Editor and Publisher of theFAITH-PROMOTING SERIES anticipated when the first volume was issued,is apparent—namely, a growing desire on the part of men of experienceto write for publication such passages from their lives as will beof interest and benefit to the rising generation. The publication ofthese in this form has not been commenced any too soon. The livesof the early Elders of the Church were crowded with incidents offascinating interest, and it is due to posterity, as well as to theElders themselves, that a record of these should be preserved. But theveterans are fast passing away. It will be but a few years hence untilmen will seek with avidity to obtain information concerning many eventswhich, if not preserved in writing or in print, will be lost to the newgenerations who are crowding into the field.
We give these "GEMS FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS" with the hope that they willprove profitable to every reader. Some of them are brief; but theyembody important principles and lessons.
The "Testimonies for the Truth" were published in pamphlet form by theauthor, the late Bishop Benjamin Brown, while on a mission to GreatBritain. This little work has been rare, and for a number of years ithas been difficult to see, much less obtain, a copy. It contains somuch that is encouraging and stimulating to faith that we think itshould be preserved in this Series.
Within two months we hope to be able to issue the next volume. It willbe a narrative of the personal experience of Elder Jacob Hamblin, asa frontiersman, missionary to the Indians and explorer, disclosinginterpositions of Providence, severe privations, perilous situationsand remarkable escapes.
THE PUBLISHER.
Part from my Father in infancy—His blessing and promise—Death ofmy Mother—My Grandfather apostatizes and sets up a Church of hisown—Bound to be an Uncle—Ill-treatment and ridicule—Prejudicedagainst the "Mormons"—Fear of them—Released from my Uncle'spower—Inducements to go to California—Decide to start.
My Outfit—Dissipation—Start to California—Upbraidings from myUncle—Uncle and Aunt disagree—A startling revelation, I learn that Iam being taken to Utah—Leave my Uncle and join Spicer, to avoid goingto Utah.
Arrival at Parley's Park—Prepare for the worst, and visit Wm. H.Kimball—Favorably impressed with my newly-found relatives—Arrivalin Salt Lake City—Dread at thoughts of falling into the hands of the"Mormons"—Decide to go and see my Father and surrender, expecting tobe captured if I attempted to escape—Odd appearance going up EastTemple Street—Meeting with my Father—Invited to change my clothes.
Ashamed of my appearance—Introduced to my numerous relatives—Allowedto sleep with the boys—Homesick—Set to work and madecontented—Baptized and set apart for a mission—Return to Iowa—Meetmy relatives—My Grandfather's confession and testimony—Hisexhortation and request—Return home with my brother Isaac, thusfulfilling my Father's prediction—The lessons I learned by myexperience.