---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 21
number: 5
published: 1918-03
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, “In Memoriam,” *Improvement Era* 21, no. 5 (March 1918): 379–396."
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2105unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera2105unse
start_page: 379
end_page: 396
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-03)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2105unse
  publication_year: 1918
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# In Memoriam

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In Memoriam

Hyrum Mack Smith, an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints

With the pulpits of the great Tabernacle covered in beautiful flowers,

wtih every seat in the vast building occupied by representative men and

women, not only from in and around Salt Lake City, but from many distant

parts of the Church, the funeral services for Elder Hyrum M. Smith, of the

Council of Twelve Apostles, were held on Sunday, January 27, 1918, at 1

o'clock p. m.

It was a remarkably memorable occasion in which the outpourings of

love and sympathy for the bereaved were freely given, the Holy Spirit was

keenly felt and enjoyed, and just praise for the departed freely expressed

from every heart. The keen grief of President Joseph F. Smith, and .the

mother of Hyrum, Mrs. Edna Lambson Smith, and Hyrum's wife and chil-

dren, must have been sweetly assuaged by the love, sympathy, and homage

paid to them, and to their beloved son, husband, and father, by the speakers,

the vast congregation, and by letters and telegrams of condolence from all

parts of the Church.

Church officials, including presidents of stakes, bishops, and heads of

the auxiliary and temple organizations were seated in bodies, in regular

order.

The floral tributes were exquisite in beauty and arrangement, shedding

a rich fragrance throughout the great building.

Members of the Council of the Twelve, led by President Heber J. Grant,

acted as pallbearers. As they entered with the casket at the north door, the

congregation arose to their feet and remained standing until the family were

seated in front of the flower-bedecked pulpits at the foot of which the

casket was placed in the midst of a wilderness of bloom.

President Anthon H. Lund presided over the services, announcing the

opening hymn, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," which was sung by the

Tabernacle choir.

Bishop Jacob Mauss, of Waterloo, of whose ward Elder Hyrum M.

Smith was a member, offered the prayer, a humble and fervent appeal to

the Lord to bless and comfort, in their grief, the parents, wife and family

of the departed.

The choir sang the hymn, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." Then

followed the announcement, by President Lund, of the speakers whose

eulogies of the departed and whose doctrinal sermons of comfort are given

herewith in full:

President Heber J. Grant

I earnestly desire the benefit of the faith and prayers of the

1^

Ik.

<!-- page:380 -->

380 IMPROVEMENT ERA

avidience, that I may be able to say something encouraging and

comforting to those who mourn upon this sad occasion. I re-

joice in knowing that my Redeemer lives. I rejoice in the

knowledge that our brother, whose body lies before us, had a

perfect knowledge of the divinity of the mission of our Lord

and Savior Jesus Christ. I rejoice in knowing that there were

none of the principles of life and salvation but what he received

with all his heart, and that each and all of the wonderful and

marvelous blessings, which are beyond the language of man to

fully tell, which will come to those who have a knowledge of

the Savior and who live the gospel of Jesus Christ, will come

to our beloved brother. I rejoice in a knowledge that he has

gained the highest of all the blessings that God can give to man,

namely, life eternal in the presence of our Father, and our Re-

deemer, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of the faithful ones

who have died before. I know of none of the brethren, with

whom I have been associated, who had a more perfect and

absolute knowledge of the Gospel, or who took more real pleas-

ure in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know of no one

who was more faithful in the calling that came to him as a

special witness of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, than

was Brother Hyrum M. Smith. It has fallen to my lot, in con-

nection with the other members of his quorum, to travel with

him and to listen to his inspired words in proclaiming the gospel

of Jesus Christ to the Saints, and I have been able to remark

to my family and to others, that in all my travels, week after

week, no man of our quorum has ever fed me the bread of life,

touched my heart, and caused me to rejoice more in the gospel

of Jesus Christ, that you and I have espoused, than did our

dearly beloved brother whose remains lie before us today. His

death comes as a great shock to each and every member of the

Council to which he belonged. Such a thing as his being called

from us, in his young manhood, had never entered our hearts.

We had never thought of anything of this kind. In our thoughts

we had builded for him a future of great labor in this Church,

and this had given us almost perfect faith that his life would be

preserved to the people for many years yet to come.

I pray, with all the power that I possess, that God will com-

fort and bless and strengthen his father, his mother, his wife and

all of his family, and all who mourn upon this occasion. If you

and I can be as faithful, as loyal, as true, from day to day, and

as diligent and willing to labor, as our brother has been, then

our future happiness and salvation in this life and in the life to

come will be assured. That God may help us to so live that

when the battle of life is o'er, we shall be permitted to meet

.4

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IN MEMORIAM 381

Brother Hyrum in our Father's kingdom, is my prayer, and I

ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Orson F. Whitney

I have no words for this occasion. My heart is too full.

Speech seems almost like a desecration. I feel like one who is

wandering in a painful dream and who thinks he will soon

awaken. I wish I could. I was not prepared for the sad event

that has robhed us, for a time, of the society of our dear brother,

Hyrum M. Smith. I loved this man. He was my friend, and I

was his friend; and we are still friends.

I am glad that I could be one of those who were with him

almost in his last hours. I was with him and his brother, Joseph

F., Jr., on Friday, five days before his death. We were asso-

ciated in committee work; and as Hyrum arose to depart, he

complained of a slight pain in the abdomen. But in his genial

way he passed it off with a half jocular remark and proceeded

homeward. That was the last I saw or heard of him until early

Sunday morning, when, with Elder James E. Talmage, I was

summoned to his bedside. It was about one o'clock, and the

message that came stated that Brother Hyrum was seriously ill.

We were the only members of the Council of the Twelve then

available; the others being engaged elsewhere. We hastened to

his home, and found him suffering very intensely. We admin-

istered to him repeatedly the healing ordinance of the Church,

and he became easier and finally slept. We remained with him

until morning. As soon as practicable he was taken to the hos-

pital to undergo an operation, and after I had a little rest 1

went to the hospital for the purpose of blessing him again, but

he had just been taken to the operating room and was even

then under the influence of the anesthetic. I returned in the

evening and gave him my blessing, administering in conjunction

with Elder Joseph F. Smith, Jr. After Sunday night it was not

deemed wise to admit anyone to the sick room. Consequently

that was the last I saw of Hyrum until I looked upon his lifeless

form this morning.

I have known him for many years, first as a lad, or stripling,

a newly fledged elder of the Church. It was in the chapel of

the Eighteenth ward, when I was bishop there, that he made his

"maiden speech" as a home missionary. I remember receiving

a note from his father, President Smith, on that occasion, asking

me to take a kindly interest in his "little boy" who was about to

make his first address in that capacity. I was glad to give him

all the encouragement I could. After that I lost track of him

for a time. He went to foreign lands on a mission. Our paths

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382 IMPROVEMENT ERA

were apart, and I did not know him intimately until I was

called into the Council of the Twelve, in April, 1906, he being

already a member of that body. We soon became acquainted

and learned to love each other. There was a bond of genuine

affection between us. We traveled and preached together; con-

versed and read and served on committees together; and in

various ways were quite companionable.

One thing that drew me to Hyrum was the keen sense of

humor that he possessed. He was anything but frivolous and

light-minded. On the contrary, he was generally serious, and

at times severe. Such was his hatred of vice and wrong»doing,

that he could not look upon it with the least degree of allow-

ance, and he was unsparing in his denunciation of evil in every

form; but he had a kind and noble heart and was not lacking

in charity and brotherly love. There was a rich vein of humor

in him. He could unbend — could see the funny side of things,

and enjoy a good laugh, a good joke, a good story; but those

jokes and stories had to be clean and wholesome, or he would

not countenance them. For he had a pure heart, a clean mind,

and a lovable disposition. I thank God that he found in me

something congenial and companionable. He always said just

what he thought and felt, and was frank and fearless in ex-

pressing himself. Ever respectful to authority, but never a

sycophant, he was fast developing into a great man, and I looked

for big things in his future.

To most of his friends his death will come as a shock. It

will be considered an untimely end, and is so from our human

viewpoint. But we are hardly qualified, with our present knowl-

edge, to pass judgment upon such matters. We must leave them

in the hands of Him who doeth all things well. The length or

brevity of a man's life is not always to be determined by the

number of years he passes in mortality.

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;

In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best."

So said an English poet. Judged by this standard, Hyrum

M. Smith, stricken down in his prime, had lived a long life; for

his thoughts, his feelings and his acts were noble. There are

some natures that are capable of living longer than others in the

same period of time. It was remarked, I believe, by President

Brigham Young, at the funeral of Jedediah M. Grant, his coun-

selor, away back in the fifties, that Brother Grant, with his sen-

sitive nature, his capacity for feeling, his great receptivity, his

comprehension of the principles of truth and righteousness and

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IN MEMORIAM 383

his congeniality therewith — could live in ten years a longer life

than other men could in twenty or fifty years. Perhaps Hyrum

M. Smith was that kind of a man. I believe he was. I believe

he has experienced more in his forty-six years of mortal life,

than many another man now tottering on the brink of the grave,

up among the seventies or eighties. Why he was taken, and

why others remain, is a question we must leave in the hands

of God.

This thing called death — what is it? Charles Frohman,

standing on the deck of the doomed Lusitania, just before she

plunged into ocean depths, remarked: "Why fear death? It

is the most beautiful adventure in life." This from the lips of

a man born and bred in the atmosphere of the theatre, the

Temple of Thespis, the playhouse! Surely a people dwelling

in the shadow of God's Temple, worshiping Jehovah, possessing

the fulness of the gospel, wielding the powers of the eternal

Priesthood and living in the light of divine revelation, which

turns conjecture and surmising into absolute certainty and per-

fect confidence — surely they, of all people, are capable of rea-

sonable, resigned, beautiful and sublime views of life and death.

No people that I know of are so well qualified as the Latter-day

Saints to solve the mysteries of past, present and future. We

are followers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the

world, who proclaimed Himself sent forth from God, and de-

clared that he would return to his Father after he had completed

his work below. We follow him. He is our model. We are

here to do his will, to do the things that we were sent to do, and

then — go home; school being out, the mission ended, and an

honorable release having been earned.

I shall leave doctrinal themes to those who follow me. I

have spoken long enough. I feel for President Smith; God bless

him! I feel for Hyrum's wife; God bless her! And for his

mother, and his children, and all his kindred and friends. With

a heart full of sympathy and love for him and them, I invoke

"the peace that passeth understanding" to descend like the dews

of heaven upon their sorrowing souls. In the name of Jesus

Christ. Amen.

Elder James E. Talmage

This is to me a most solemn and hallowed hour. I, too,

loved our brother. I have watched him develop from the time

he was a student of mine. I have rejoiced in his success in

godliness and in the blessing his life has proved to the people of

the Church; and I feel at this moment as I think I have never

before so intensely felt that, after all, funeral services are not

held for those who go but for us who are left. We could not

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384 IMPROVEMENT ERA

change his status or his record, if we would, and so far as I

know him and of him I would have no desire to change it. I

only hope my own may approach his in devotion, in fearlessness

in proclaiming the gospel as a practical thing and not a mere

theory to please the mind.

He has gone. Elders are needed on the other side, and

apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ are wanted there. Although

I do not bring myself to the thought that lives are cut short,

and men and women taken in their prime, or youths on the

threshold of maturity, because there is a dearth of men and

women beyond, yet I read of the Lord Jesus Christ going, as

soon as his spirit left his pierced and tortured body on the cross,

to minister unto the spirits on the other side. Just as He in-

augurated the missionary service that shall lead men into the

path of salvation, upon the earth, and then left his ordained

servants to carry on the work which He had begun, so in the

spirit world those who have died, bearing the Holy Priesthood,

and worthy thereof, are following in the footsteps of the great

Master in preaching the gospel and declaring the message of

salvation to the disembodied. I cannot think of Hyrum M.

Smith as being otherwise employed. I cannot conceive of him

as being idle. I cannot think of him having no regard for those

among whom he is called to associate.

And where is he now? So far as the revealed word of God

has made the condition of the departed known to us, in ever

so small degree, we are justified in concluding that he has gone

to join the apostles who departed before him, to share with

them in the work of declaring the glad message of redemption

and salvation unto those who for lick of opportunity, or through

neglect, failed to avail themselves of those wondrous and tran-

scendent blessings upon the earth. I do not sympathize with

him, because I know that with him all is well; but my heart

goes out to those who are nearest and dearest to him and who

will feel, as others cannot feel, the loss. For while his father

has not lost his son, while his mother should not feel that she

has lost him, nor his wife that she has lost a husband, nor the

children that they have lost a father, they have lost his associa-

tion and the blessing of his presence, for a time, because he has

gone ahead of them.

With all our assurances concerning the blessing that comes

through advancement which can be made under existing condi-

tions only through the portals of death, I feel that it would be

a sad reflection upon us if we steeled our hearts and did not

mourn for the loss of the presence and companionship of those

who go. The Lord has made plain the fact that the tears shed

under such bereavement as this are sacred in his eyes. He has

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IN MEMORIAM 385

commanded us that we shall have regard for those who go and

that we weep for them because they are not longer with us.

Therefore, let us not be ashamed of emotion and tears on such

an occasion as this, but let our tears be those of resignation and

acknowledgment of the hand of God, in the assurance that he

will bring good out of even this great trouble and burden.

All Israel mourns today, and rightly so, for one of the pre-

siding servants of the Lord placed to minister among the people

has been taken from us in the very prime of his service. I find

comfort in the assurance given of God that all is well with those

who pass away, after all that he has directed be done has been

done.

On Wednesday evening last, with some of my brethren and

his, I took part in administration and prayer. I have acknowl-

edged and confessed to some of those to whom we are most

nearly related in service, that I struggled, with all my power, to

make my desire develop into assurance, and to feel that he

would be raised up; but I did not feel it. On the contrary,

there came into my heart the conviction that he was about to

leave and that all was well. As I pondered and prayed there

came to my mind, with comfort and assurance, the utterance of

the Lord himself that after the ordinances of the Church have

been duly administered unto those who are afflicted and who

seem near unto death, "if they die, they die unto me, saith the

Lord;" and in such wise our brother has passed.

May the peace that God alone can give dwell in the house-

hold that still is his, and be in the hearts of children and wife,

of mother and father, of brothers and sisters, and, since we all

claimed him, may that peace be in the hearts of all of us, to our

betterment and to the glory of God, I humbly ask in the Mas-

tor's name. Amen.

Elder Frank Y. Taylor, President of the Granite Stake of Zion

I pray, my brethren and sisters, that the same good spirit

may accompany my remarks that has characterized the remarks

of my brethren. With you all, I feel and have felt very keenly

the separation from my friend and brother, Hyrum M. Smith. I

have loved him ever since I first knew him, as a boy. It was

Friday, I think, that I was crossing over the city street. Being

on the opposite side, he hurriedly walked over and met me. He

took me by the hand, passed the time of day, and said some

very tender and kind things to me. He walked with me across

the road again and down the street, still holding my hand. I

could not comprehend why he was so solicitous of me on that

occasion, but as soon as I heard of his sickness and operation,

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386 IMPROVEMENT ERA

a cold chill came over me, and I felt in my soul that he was

bidding me good-bye on the street that day. Like Brother Tal-

mage, I felt much concerned, did not have the faith that I ought

to have had, and I felt uneasy all the time he was in the hospital.

I have known Brother Hyrum intimately for many years.

We have been neighbors, and as a neighbor I have known him

best. I would like to speak of this phase of his life. We have

been in the mountains together, fishing and hunting. I have

had the pleasure of entertaining him, numerous times, at our

little place in the mountains, and there is where f knew him

best. We got closer together on occasions of that kind. We

have slept in the same bed. We have told one another our

secrets, our ambitions, and our hopes. I want to say to this

congregation — you already know it — that I never knew a cleaner,

sweeter, more wholesome man than Hyrum M. Smith. I never

knew him to indulge in a frivolity that was unbecoming to his

place and position in the Church and as a father in Israel. I

never knew a more devoted couple than he and his wife. There

were perfect love and union and harmony existing in his home.

We were frequently invited there, and it was a great pleasure

to me to witness his splendid example as a father and as a hus-

band. How he loved his wife, and how tender, courteous and

kind he was, and what deference he always showed her! It

seemed to me that he was anxious, all the time, to be doing

something that would give pleasure to his loved ones.

We shall miss him, down in our stake. He lived in our

midst, and he was a splendid, good example in our community.

Personally I feel that I have indeed lost, for the present — I will

not say that I have lost him altogether — a very dear friend; be-

cause we were close personal friends. It was always a pleasure

to me to meet him and take him by the hand. There was some-

thing so sincere and real about him — nothing put on. I don't

think that Brother Hyrum could dissemble to anybody. He

was a fearless defender of the truth. He upheld it both in ex-

ample and in precept. He loved the work of the Lord, and he

loved those who love the cause of truth in the earth. He did

not seem to have patience with those who were sinning and

doing that which is wrong, but he was anxious for their uplift

and for them to repent and to do better, to do good. We shall

miss him exceedingly, and I am sure all Israel will miss the

presence of this staunch defender of the work of the Lord; but

our heavenly Father's work on the other side will be a gainer

by it.

I have been thinking in my mind why it was necessary that

this splendid, good boy should be taken from our midst and

go to the other side. Yet, we are all here for an experience, for

<!-- page:387 -->

IN MEMORIAM 3fc?

an education; and I have seen men, in my life, who, it seemed

to me, had graduated, so to speak, from this stage of existence

and who were prepared for the work on the other side. I am

sure of this, that there is no one of my acquaintances who is

better prepared to go into the presence of the Lord our God

than this man. I believe that he has graduated; I believe he

has attained the knowledge and experience required of him,

and he has gone to continue his work in the presence of the

Lord our God.

I feel keenly for his wife and the children, for his father

and mother, and the boys and the girls. Whenever I come to

an occasion of this kind I know their aching hearts, their sor-

row, and the grief that is upon them, and I always feel, 0, I

would to the Lord that I had the power to comfort them, and

to bless them, and to heal up their wounds! I do know this,

however, that our Father in heaven is able to comfort and to

bestow his peace, and I am sure he will do so on this occasion.

That he will bless and comfort President Smith and the mother,

the wife, and the children, and I pray that the blessings of our

heavenly Father may rest down upon all the kindred and friends,

and that His comfort and peace may come to all the people in

the Church, because we all mourn today! I ask it in the name

of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The choir sang, "What Voice Salutes the Startled Ear?" solo

sung by Miss Edna Gotberg.

Bishop Charles W . Nibley

This splendid outpouring of the multitudes of Latter-day

Saints, and our friends also who are not members of our Church,

is a great testimonial to the life and character of our departed

brother. The people in this congregation are not here merely

for a show of respect, but they are here with love in their hearts,

with sympathy in their souls, with affection deep and strong

for the family of Elder Hyrum M. Smith, for President Smith

and for the entire family. I know this — and I know that you

feel it is true, and never have I known on any occasion of this

kind, and never have I felt more strongly, at a funeral of one

of our leaders, this feeling of love, of reverence and sympathy

which we experience here today and which is felt everywhere

today, among the Latter-day Saints, throughout the Church ; for

they know, as we all know, that a mighty man has fallen in

Israel. As President Grant has said, most of the people could

see a great future for Hyrum; he was so humble withal, so

earnest, so devoted that everyone who had the honor and pleas-

ure of his acquaintance knew what manner of man he was. 0

<!-- page:388 -->

388 IMPROVEMENT ERA

how much I sorrow for his departure, and yet when I look

around, even on this stand where there are men who are surely

among the best of all Israel, I can see no one more fit and sea-

soned and ready to go to the presence of his Maker than was

Elder Hyrum M. Smith. Yet the parting is sad; we take it as a

great affliction; but it may be counted for good.

I have known Hyrum from his very childhood. I have

lived in the home with his family. Not many men, few indeed,

they who have had the privilege of being reared in a family like

this — a large family. Not many men had as many' mothers, so

to speak, as he had the privilege of having; for he scarcely knew

the difference, as he grew up, between his own mother and Aunt

Julina, or Aunt Sarah, and the others, the wives of President

Smith. It is a united family, and every member is a worker.

I have seen Hyrum, and those who know him have seen him as

soon as he got home, where there was work to do in his garden

or around his place, his overalls and jumper went on, and he

was hard at work, doing manual labor. He loved to work; he

was not an idler — he was a worker; and so you will find it with

every member of this large family ; for, let it be said to the credit

of President Smith and the family, every one of these boys and

girls, too, are workers. They work in the Church; they work

in the fields, and on the farm. Such a family, their like cannot

be found ! Hyrum's home life was ideal — a model to us all. No

one of all my acquaintance can touch it, in its perfection, in its

love, in its beauty and grandeur. In all things, I believe, so far

as I know, he was acceptable to God. He was a brave man, if

the occasion arose and his Church was assailed, or his father

was assailed; and he has proved it, too, — he was ready, with the

strength of his right arm, to make good what he stood for. No

slanderer could treat him or his loved ones in that kind of a

way! So he was a man of courage, a valiant man, a true man

in every sense. I have loved him more than a brother. Happy

the father who can claim such a son — not sorrowful. Happy the

mother who bore and reared such a son as this. Happy the

wife who can say: This was my husband — a model, the paragon

of all. Happy the children who can claim him for a father.

"He was a man, take him for all in all. We shall not look upon

his like again." Amen.

Elder Richard JR. Lyman

My place this afternoon is really not here among the

speakers. I belong among the mourners. It is now almost

thirty years since the mother of this excellent young man shed

tears with me at the grave of my dear mother. His mother and

mine spent their childhood and practically all of their lives in

<!-- page:389 -->

IN MEMORIAM 389

the most intimate kind of friendship. They were bare-foot girls

together, west of the Jordan. In this community, in those

pioneer days, there was in every heart love, in every home pov-

erty, and in every life pleasure. Those who thus lived formed a

love for one another that will last forever. This is why I belong

among the mourners.

We have lying before us this afternoon, a worthy son of a

noble and illustrious sire — a worthy grandson of a noble and

martyred grand-sire. This man, for his conviction, for his

Church, for what he believed to be the right, "could have gone

to the stake without the quiver of an eyelash." Death came be-

cause of the continued fortitude and resistance to pain put forth

by his iron will. Because of the steel that was in his makeup,

he resisted until it was too late.

Nor was his strong nature his most prominent characteristic.

He was a hand of steel with a glove of velvet. Like his distin-

guished father, this young man "in every storm of life was oak

and rock, but in the sunshine, he was vine and flower." His

father possesses what is perhaps a matchless tenderness and

chivalry for children and for women. My father, President

Smith's life-long and intimate associate, has said: "No child —

not even a waif in a foreign land — ever uttered a cry of distress,

or a cry of sorrow, in vain, if that cry reached the ear of Joseph

F. Smith."

From President Joseph F. Smith, I think no woman — no

child, has ever received an unkind look or an unkind word. He

is chivalry itself in its highest form. Find his equal in this

respect, if you can, in any church, in any country, in any clime.

Like his father, Hyrum M. Smith had a tender, loving, gen-

tle nature, which well nigh reached perfection in his home life.

To his wife and children he was affectionately devoted. Than

he and his wife, perhaps no two ever loved each other more.

There was no labor he would not perform, no sacrifice he would

not make, for her sake. His greatest pleasure was giving joy

to her and to their children. .

To Hyrum M. Smith, his wife was a living, a perpetual sup-

port and inspiration. It is said of him that during the recent

trip of the President's party through the south, Hyrum spoke

almost as human tongue was never known to speak. Much of

his inspiration came from that devoted wife who sat before him.

"This is the sixth out of my ten children I have followed

to the grave," said this man's mother; "but," she continued, "I

propose to hold on to the tree of life. God's will, not mine, be

done." Blessed, indeed, the person who possesses such a faith.

May it be in the hearts of all these kindred, now.

Hyrum M. Smith lived in strict conformity with his own

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390 IMPROVEMENT ERA

highest ideals, and in perfect accord with the teachings, the de-

sires, and the wishes of his distinguished father.

"By their fruits," the scriptures say, "ye shall know them."

This man, with his exemplary life, is a product of the "Mormon"

Church. The lives of the other members of his father's family

are much like his. Measured by the world's highest Christian

standards these lives are near perfection. If these are samples

of the products of the "Mormon" Church, I am proud today to

be one of its members.

It is the spirit of the "Mormon" Pioneers and the "Mormon"

Church. — the inspiration of the Great Master — that perfected

this man's life. Let those who are interested in the purity and

the perfection of home life examine this example. And when

they have discovered all its beauty, all its purity, and all its joy,

may they be fair enough and frank enough to acknowledge con-

cerning the lives of the Latter-day Saints, that they have been

mistaken as were those of old who said, "Can any thing good

come out of Nazareth?"

President Charles W. Penrose

This opportunity afforded me is both a privilege and a task.

I appreciate very much the opportunity of saying a few words

on this occasion but feel my inability to say that which is in my

heart. We have heard many very fine things today, during these

services. All have been fitly spoken ; all are expressive of the

feelings of those who have addressed us, and they, in a small

degree, depict the noble character and efficient services and

glorious future of our dear departed brother, Hyrum M. Smith.

One of the poetic writers of the Bible likened words fitly spoken

to apples of gold in pictures of silver. Surely we have had a

display today and a great feast of fine things which should com-

fort our hearts, gladden our souls, and enable us to appreciate

the fact that all things have been done in the wisdom of him

who knoweth all things; not that he, our Eternal Father, is per-

sonally engaged in taking away our dear ones from us, but

that in his providence all these things occur. The eternal laws

of the universe are his laws, and those effects that come from

natural causes are inevitable and in accordance with the things

that are eternal. President Joseph F. Smith appreciates, as I

hope we all do, the words that have been spoken this day in

regard to the life and character of his departed son. He is

thankful for them, also; for all the good things that have been

said for his comfort and consolation, which have come by letter

and by telegraph and by telephone and by personal visitations

from numerous friends. For all these expressions our beloved

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IN MEMORIAM 391

President is grateful today and desires to convey this to the

people, that they may know he does appreciate their efforts for

his consolation.

One of the gems of scripture and of that glorious Sermon on

the Mount, as it is called, among the utterances of Jesus, our

Redeemer, is the saying, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they

shall be comforted." That seems a strange expression to use;

that those who mourn are blessed; but we shall find in our ex-

perience hereafter, if we do not now, that the saying is exactly

correct. It is a blessing for people to have cause to mourn. If

there was no mourning in our hearts our education on this globe

would not be complete. If our sympathies were not drawn out

through the affliction of others we should not be properly de-

veloped. We have in us, as the children of the Most High, those

glorious but undeveloped attributes which shine forth in their

perfection in the personality of Deity. We are the children of

our God, and that we might walk in his footsteps and arrive at

a fit condition to dwell in his presence and enjoy his immediate

society, it is necessary that every faculty and attribute which we

have inherited from him shall receive development; and those

things that are called the laws of life, the sufferings in mortality,

those things that are needful to develop us, come to us as bless-

ings. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be com-

forted;" and how shall they be comforted? How can we be

comforted today, when we think of the life and character of our

brother who has gone, and what we anticipated for him in our

narrow conceptions of the lives of men? When we think that

he is taken from our midst, and that those with whom he was

immediately associated in the family capacity are bowed down

in sorrow because of his absence, the question naturally arises,

how shall those who mourn be comforted? There are a great

many things that might be said in that line, if there were time.

I do not wish to detain this great congregation too long — a con-

gregation that is representative today of the hundreds of thou-

sands of Latter-day Saints who mourn with us the departure of

our beloved brother, who know about his labors in their midst,

who have known of his labors abroad as well as his labors at

home, and of the splendid example that he has set to them, in

the family capacity, in vigorous manhood, in individual char-

acteristics of a true elder in Israel, an apostle of Jesus Christ, a

servant of the Most High God. We come here today and rep-

resent all those masses of members of this Church who mourn

the departure of our brother.

There are a great many things which are very comforting

to us because of that knowledge which has come to us, and has

been mentioned by some of the speakers today. In the first

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392 IMPROVEMENT ERA

place, we know from the revelations of God to us, to say nothing

of the ancient scriptures which have been handed down to us —

the Holy Bible, the Old and the New Testament, the Book ot

Mormon, and the revelations that came to the ancients, but we

know today, by the revelations of God in our own time, that all

does not end with death; that all did not have a beginning with

our birth; that we lived before; that we shall live after, and that

this is but an episode in our great everlasting existence. The

spirit of man is the offspring of God. It came from above. The

body of man is formed out of the earthly elements; it came from

beneath. The spirit and body joined together, inseparably, can

obtain a fulness of joy; but when separated, man cannot receive

a fulness of joy. It takes the body through which pleasure,

joy, power, dominion and increase shall come to the individual,

from material things as we call them; and it takes the immortal

spirit of man to receive from above the rich treasures of knowl-

edge and wisdom and light and intelligence which will develop

us into the full measure of the status of Deity. From the heights

above and the depths below, when the spirit of man and the

body of man are joined together, inseparably, as they will be,

as we have learned, we can receive from all parts of God's great

universe, from every element, from every source, everything that

there is to develop and make great and mighty and glorious the

sons and daughters of the living God.

God has revealed that to us. He has also revealed to us the

eternity of all the elements, spiritual and physical, the elements

that compose the body, drawn from the earth and the air and

the materials around us — all these elements are eternal, without

beginning and without end. The organization began at birth

and, for the time being, it appears to have ended when death

comes; but the elementary particles never had any commence-

ment, and they will never perish. Fire cannot burn them;

water cannot drown them. They may be scattered to the four

winds, but they remain, for they are eternal. That being the

case they can, by the great organizing power of Deity, be brought

together again. They can be separated but still abide and con-

tinue in their elementary condition. This is the beginning of

the philosophy of the resurrection, which our dear brother

whose remains lie here believed in with all his heart. He had

the testimony that when death comes it merely separates the

spirit and the body; that all the essential elements to perfection

in the worlds to come, in worlds without end, are in the human

being, and they can be brought together again upon natural,

eternal principles, to endure forever in their reorganized condi-

tion and state. Christ is the magnet of the resurrection. He

died and lived again. As he died and lived again, so can all

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IN MEMORIAM 393

persons who are in him and upon whom he exercises the power

God gave him, all power on earth and in the heavens, as he

proclaimed when he returned and manifested himself to his

disciples. Life and immortality have been brought to light

through the gospel. They always existed, but they were brought

clearly to light in the personality and life and atonement and

teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth who died

on the cross, who is our great Comforter. Comfort comes to us

when we mourn, if we know these simple facts that I have been

briefly speaking upon; if we know that we are eternal beings

and that the intelligent spirit that dwells in the body is not

mortal; that it came from God; that it will go back to God;

that it is capable of endless development, everlasting progress,

worlds without end. With this knowledge we are comforted

when we see the form of our dear one, young or old as the case

may be, lie before us in death.

Hyrum M. Smith still lives, that brave spirit who has been

spoken of this morning. All the good things said concerning

him I bear testimony to. That bright spirit has gone from the

body with all the experience gained while in mortality, with all

the experiences gained in the sphere before he came here, and

he will have other experinces in the Paradise of God to which

he has gone, to associate with his kind, his class, his quorum,

his proper associates. Greater experiences still will come to

him. He will be prepared, in the morning of the resurrection

day, when "the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in his

wings," to come forth and inherit the glory, power and dominion

promised to him and sealed upon his head in the ordinances

of the House of God. Not only that, but here are the family to

which he belongs. Here is his noble father, whom we all love

and revere, whom we regard with such veneration that we could

not express it in words. He stands at the head of his household.

He knows as well as anvbody knows that he has not lost a son.

He has gone away, but he will come back again. His body will

be placed in the grovind, but the substantial, necessary, funda-

mental elements to the perfection of that body can be and will

be called together in the resurrection of the just, and he will

stand up again upon his feet to inherit the glory of the Re-

deemer's kingdom. He knows that, and he is comforted with

that assurance. Not only that, but Brother Hyrum had and has

a loving wife, as we have heard. I testify to the truth of all

that has been said concerning her as well as him. She is his.

She understands it. She has been sealed to him by a sacred and

holy ordinance, for time and for all eternity, an everlasting bond

that shall not be broken, that cannot be broken except through

transgression. And the offspring of that union belong to them,

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394 IMPROVEMENT ERA

and they will come forth in their place. This family, disrupted

for the present, will be reunited, and it will endure, increase

and multiply forever and ever, worlds without end; and in that

there is comfort and joy. She knows that she will receive her

husband to her bosom again. The father and the mother of

that good son know that they will meet with him again; they

have no doubt about it. The gospel has brought that to light.

Life and immortality have been brought to light through

the gospel, in the latter days, by the revelations of God through

the Prophet Joseph Smith. These things are comforting to us;

and we, his brethren, with whom he labored in council, wherein

he showed forth capabilities that made us believe there was a

wonderful future for him in this life, we who have associated

with him in council, who have traveled with him throughout

the various stakes of Zion, who have known of his work, who

have with him sat in committees where work is done that the

public generally know very little about; in that hard mental

work in those committees we have met with him, and we know

of his qualifications, his patience, his faith, his endurance, his

promptitude, his punctuality, and the fearlessness with which

he was always ready to express his views and opinions, and yet,

at the same time, willing to coincide with his brethren if he

found he was mistaken. He was a noble character, a great man,

and we look for a development of that kind of men in time to

come, that I need not talk about here today.

But he has gone from our midst. Is he dead? Not in the

full sense of the term. He is dead because the body and the

spirit have separated. "As the body without the spirit is dead,"

James the apostle said, "so faith without works is dead." Yes,

the dead body is there ; but the elements that belong to it, that

have had experience in their intercourse and association, that

are fundamental to the body and do not pass away with the

outlets that there are to the human system, they belong to one

another. They belong to him; they are his; and he will have

power to come back, as the Savior did, and receive that body,

quickened by the Spirit of God and glorified by the power of

God. So in these things there is comfort. Comfort comes to

tbo«e who mourn. Shall those that mourn today be comforted

with these? Yes, and many other things that I have not time to

talk about. I know that they believe in them with all their

hearts. It is not a mere theory; it is not an idle dream. The

convictions of it are stamped upon their souls by the revelations

of the Spirit of God to them individually. God bless this family.

I know that he will. I know that he will sustain and comfort

our dear brother who presides over the Church, and the mother

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IN MEMORIAM 395

of this boy that has gone. She will be comforted, because she

understands these things; and that dear wife of his, who has

been so great a comfort and a strength to him, at home and

abroad. She knows it too; and the children, as their minds de-

velop, will come to an understanding of these things. So those

who mourn shall indeed be comforted.

I bear testimony to all the good things that have been said

this morning, concerning Brother Hyrum M. Smith. I hope to

meet him; I believe that I shall, and that we will enjoy each

others' society again. We sometimes sing in one of our funeral

hymns — "Not dead but sleepeth. Amen." It is one of the most

beautiful we have in the collection of hymns. Well, in the true

sense of the term he is not dead, and he is not sleeping. These

mortal remains sleep, and they shall sleep in peace — the peace

of God be upon them — but Hyrum is not sleeping; he could

not be. He will be active; he will be at work. He will carry

with him, as I have said, into the world where he has gone, all

those great qualities exhibited here in mortality, and all the

knowledge that he has accumulated, all the experience he has

had, and all those good characteristics that have been talked

about today. They go with him; they are part of him; they

will be exercised in the world to which he has gone, to aid in

the great work of redemption of the whole human race, under

the direction of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

May this conviction be in the hearts of my dear friends.

God bless them, every one, and all Israel. Let all the people be

comforted who have lost their dear ones for a time. They live;

they are not sleeping. Their bodies slumber in the dust, but

even they shall be awakened in the glorious resurrection day

and come forth, and then shall the broken families be reunited;

for they belong to one another, through the ordinances of God's

House, and there is a future for them all, never-ending, ever

increasing, in life, in glory, in power, in dominioon and exten-

sion. God is over all. He directs all things according to his

will; and all that occur in our history, while we dwell on the

earth, will eventually contribute to our greatness and glory and

our happiness and joy in the presence of our Eternal Father.

May God bless the family and all who are bereaved, and help us

emulate the good works of our dear brother, and may we all

have the joy of meeting him in the world to come, through Jesus

Christ. Amen.

President Anthon H. Lund

In behalf of President Joseph F. Smith and the family, I

desire to thank this great assemblage for this mark of their

sympathy and love for our departed friend and brother, Hyrum

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M. Smith; also the speakers who have given us so many com-

forting words, and have spoken concerning the splendid char-

acter of this our brother. We thank them ; and I can bear testi-

mony to the truth of all they have said. We also thank the

Choir for the beautiful singing, and those who have taken part

in arranging the details of this funeral — the bishopric and the

committees.

The choir sang, "0 My Father," and benediction was pro-

nounced by Elder A. W. Ivins.

At the cemetery the Ariel quartet sang, "Rest on the Hill-

side, Rest," and the grave was dedicated by Elder George Albert

Smith.