I hope I shall be able to make

I hope I shall be able to make myself heard to this large circle of 'my brethren and sisters who have gathered about this building this afternoon. ¶

I am thankful to the Lord for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for all that it has done for me. I appreciate sincerely my membership in the Church as a Latter-day Saint. Many honors and privileges have come to me through my associations with my brethren and sisters. I am thankful, I am grateful, to be associated with the good men who preside in this Church. They are men after God's own heart ; men who are full of faith and integrity and who have set me a splendid example; men who are willing to do everything within their power to serve God and to bring about his purposes on the earth. The Lord has established this great Latter-day work. It is a marvelous work and a wonder, wherein the wisdom of the worldly wise shall perish and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught. It is only upon this idea that we grasp or understand the magnitude of the work that the Lord has established in these latter days, so that he may bring about the gathering of the House of Israel and the establishment of his kingdom upon the earth. ¶

It has been my pleasure and privilege, as an officer and an employee of the Church, to become personally acquainted with the late President Joseph F. Smith. I remember him well, from the year 1893, when I was an employee in the Presiding Bishop's Office. I called upon him for counsel, many of the leading brethren being away, and some of the duties of the Presiding Bishop's Office had at that time devolved upon me. I waited upon President Smith and asked his counsel and advice concerning what to me was a very intricate problem, and my first impression of President Smith was that he was sound ¶

in judgment, and had a wonderful comprehension of human nature. It was my first interview with him, and we sat side by side talking on the problem I presented to him. I had looked upon him previous to this as a great man because of his exalted position as one of the First Presidency, but when I had concluded that interview, I had a more profound impression of his greatness than ever before. ¶

At one time I was coming across the continent. I met President Smith and some of his family at Omaha. We traveled westward in the same car. I was sick with something akin to sea-sickness, caused through traveling several days on the train. I appreciated his kindly sympathy. He blessed me, and that blessing I will never forget, because it came from the Prophet of the Lord and his blessing gave me peace and rest for most of the night. That same night, as the train was moving across the plains of Wyoming, President Smith stood at the back of the car taking a rest from a long, tedious day's journey. Any of you who have traveled day after day in a railway train know what relief it is to stand up or move around for awhile. I tell you this incident to show you how President Smith was susceptible to the Still Small Voice. While standing at the back of the train he heard a voice telling him to go into the car, and he did so. Later he was walking up and down the corridor and was told by the same Voice to sit down. He did so. A few moments later the engine ran off the track and tilted the train on an angle which scared us all. Had President Smith been in the back of the train or walking in the corridor he might have been ¶

very seriously injured, but the Lord had regard for him and he was prompted by a Voice which he understood so well, and he acted accordingly. President Smith has always been susceptible to the influence of the Spirit of the Lord. He knew its promptings, and what they meant. As he heard the Still Small Voice directing him and inspiring him, he knew that Voice and knew it well. ¶

President Smith was a kind man, kind to employees as well as to his friends and family. He frequently gathered the employees of the Bishop's Office at the Beehive House and other places, and mingled with them in social gatherings, showing that even with the dignity of his position and calling he was always the same unaffected and kindly-disposed man. ¶

I revere his memory. I revere him for many things. I will never forget as long as I live the blessing he gave to me when he ordained me a bishop. I never want to forget those sweet, kindly words, the admonition and counsel that he gave to me before I assumed my duties as a counselor to Bishop Charles W. Nibley. ¶

I feel today that if he were here and could tell us what he would like us to do, he would say, brethren and sisters, roll on this great work, be prepared to carry the message of the gospel to the nations of the earth who are now being liberated, sustain the presiding brethren of this Church, whom the Lord has sent to preside in the various quorums and departments, sustain them with all your might, mind and strength, and help them to bring about and accomplish the purposes that God has designed to accomplish in these latter days. ¶