History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

72
THE STORY OF MORMOXISM.
and of that fresh, fair innocence which sits only on a
youthful face beaming with high enthusiasm. But it
was more than a boy's soul that was seen through
those eyes of deep and solemn earnestness; it was
more than a boy's strength of endurance that was indicated
by the broad chest and comely, compact limbs;
and more than a boy's intelligence and powers of
reasoning that the massive brow betokened.
Hyrum took the stranger to the house, and they
passed the night in discourse, sleeping little. The
convert's name was Parley P. Pratt. He was a na-
tive of Burlington, New York, and born April 12,
1807. His father was a farmer of limited means and
education, and though not a member of any religious
society, had a respect for all. The boy had a passion
for books; the bible especially he read over and over
again with deep interest and enthusiasm. He early
manifested strong religious feeling; mind and soul
seemed all on fire as he read of the patriarchs and
kings of the old testament, and of Christ and his
apostles of the new. In winter at school, and in
summer at work, his life passed until he was sixteen,
when he went west with his father William, some
two hundred miles on foot, to Oswego, two miles
from which town they bargained for a thickly wooded
tract of seventy acres, at four dollars an acre, paying
some seventy dollars in cash. After a summer's work
for wages back near the old home, and a winter's
work clearing the forest farm, the place was lost
through failure to meet the remaining payments.
Another attempt to make a forest home, this time in
Ohio, thirty miles west of Cleveland, was more successful;
and after much toil and many hardships, he
found himself, in 1827, comfortably established there,
with Thankful Halsey as his wife.
Meanwhile religion ran riot through his brain. His
mind, however, was of a reasoning, logical caste.
"Why this difference," he argued, "between the ancient
and modern Christians, their doctrines and their