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Show PRESIDENT JOS. F. SMITH. !'lt seems but aJUlewliilb pinco Presi-iut Presi-iut Joseph F. Smith, was a i'amiliar figure on the streets of". Salt Lake City. "VVith his alert glance, h'is erect figure, lijjs brisk walk, his benign countenance, his dignified bearing and his cordial greeting, he was a striking personality wherever he went. For many years, oven before ho reached a place of high authority, he was the idol of his people, a zealous champion and a fearless cru-sajlcr, cru-sajlcr, ever ready to meet all comers without counting the odds, believing in himself, in his creed, in his organization, organiza-tion, in its leaders and in the traditions olijj his church. Born eighty years ago, amid the scenes of conflict which marked the f'otced migrations of his relatives, he was thought to have inherited much of K. the bitterness of those times. In his - earlier days he was fiery, fearless, impetuous im-petuous and uncompromising, and was therefore looked upon as a fanatic intolerant in-tolerant of moderation and irreconcilable irreconcil-able to opposition. But with the coming com-ing of age, the assumption of authority, the increase of responsibility and the consequent contact with his fellow men, came a broadening of visioV and a softening of his nature which gained for him a recognition of those sterling qualities for which ho will be remem- ft bcrd longest and best. Joseph F. Smith was sincere and intense in-tense in whatever ho believed; he was . loyal and courageous under whatever banner he marched, whether as a f ''burchman, as a partisan, as an advo- eajo of war or of peace, as a business '" . mssociato or as a porsonal friend..; n later years he made many frierids in I; every walk Qfiffi, in ev;ery circle . of. society, in every 'cult or; eongrega-tidci eongrega-tidci with which he I .came in contact. He ;,"was a preacher of the gospel as he un-derstood un-derstood it, and an orator of excep- tional power and eloquence. He was a leader upon whom his people leaned because be-cause of the simplicity 'of hie character and the frankness of his disposition. Against his doctor's orders he arose from bed during his fatal illness to take his dying 'message" to the general conference of the Mormon people last month., As president of the church f.nd tnvstce-in-trust of its many holdings nndl undertakings, and because of the in $lueuce of this position, Joseph F. Siriith was identified with many com- morcial concerns. He was not regarded - -' by j his closest friends as a business man, in the ordinary understanding of thujt term, but his integrity, his interest! inter-est! and his sympathy made him a wel-f.oiiie wel-f.oiiie and influential member of every board on which he served. Ho will be mourned throughout the weit and missed by all classes of our citizens, because, after all is said and none, he was very much a man, with 1 he; courage of his convictions and a sincere affection for his followers; he exhorted them to obey the laws, to honor the flag, to aid and "defcud the XOernnient in the war just ended,' and he Igoes now to his final rest covered with all 'the earthly glory ho ever sought or that hi's people could bestow. hjven those who differed radically TroCn him in the past have doifbtlcss forgotten it in the presence of death, if it had not already passed from their memories in closer acquaintance through mutual interests and activities of later years. |