Orson Pratt’s Hundredth Anniversary

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RSON PRATT'S hundredth anniversary was fittingly o celebrated by memorial services in the great Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 8, 191 1. He was a man who had but little early opportunity for education, but he became selfeducated. His example in doing' things under difficulty should be an inspiration to all who struggle. He ranks easily among the great literary and religious men of England and America, who were born in the early part of the nineteenth century. Orson Pratt was a deep thinker as well as an industrious and painstaking worker. As a speaker he commanded marked attention and his frequent sermons in the great tabernacle were ;

attractive features of the services, in early days. He had something to say, and his sermons were given in a way to interest and convince. Sometimes, because of their length and his calm deliberation, they wearied the boys and other hearers who were fond of lighter matter, but all are better for having heard them. Orson Pratt devoted his entire life to the cause of God, paying little attention to temporal affairs. Disinterestedness in self marked his whole career. He died poor in things pertaining to this earth, but bounteously rich in patience, gentleness, willingness to obey and abide by counsel, and in spiritual blessings. His name and labors are honored in the Church of Christ, and willmake themselves felt for good in many generations to come. "Orson Pratt," said the Deseret News, at the time of his death, "was truly an Apostle of the Lord. Full of integrity, firm as a rock to his convictions, true to his brethren and to his God, earnest and zealous in defense and proclamation of the truth, ever ready to bear testimony to the Latter-day work, he had a mind stored with scripture, ancient and modern, was an eloquent speaker, a powerful minister, a logical and convincing writer, an honest man, and a great soul who reached out after eternal things, grasped them with the gift of inspiration, and brought them down to the level and comprehension of the common mind. Thousands have been brought into the Church through his preaching in many lands, thousands more by his writings. He set but little store on the wealth of this world, but he has laid up treasures in heaven which will make him eternally rich." Edward H. Anderson.