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Show AGAIN CONFERENCE. H How swift the years have rolled away, jH 'Tis conference again. H Those are thoopening words as the Writer re-. H calls them, of a Mormon hymn that was sounded with glad acclaim In the olden days when the un- H questioning saints foregathered from all Zlon's H valleys to the great semi-annual Gospolfest In H those days conference was an event almost epo- H dial in the lives of the faithful. They expected flfl to hear in tones of Are the very voice of divinity jH falling from the lips of some revered apostolic iM revelator; to hoar tho fervid - eloquence of a 'H Moses; Thatcher; or to llston, in a rapt devotion, M which no doubt could ever assail, to the calm, H masterful, convincing admonitions of a Brlgham H Young. H But those days of an afflatus almost fanatical M in its intensity have all passed; the average con M foronce visitor of today, oven among the aged, is H quiet and apathetic as the non-believer whom ho H passes on tho highway; all the old flery vehe- M mence born of conviction is gone; he is either H indifferent to the words of the leaders who have M replaced tho prophets of olden days or openly H skeptical of their vaunted divine wisdom. H All this is apparent to those who have been M more or less closely associated with or who have H studiously noted the career of tho Mormon poo- H This is traceable to but one source tho per- jH sonallty and the public utterances of Joseph F. jH Smith. In the highest public court of the great- S ost of nations, which ho covertly despises, the 9 present prophet has denied that ho receives revel- jH Hi1' filHH - - -- mH I'l Hi Ball ations from dloty, Bven as another apostle, St. fl 1 1 JUi flBli ) Peter, denied the Christ many centuries ago. 8i lnln Joseph F. Smith was never trusted or beloved of Blllffif ii B llIs PGPle' Dut when ho made that astounding con- B iff ft! 0 IS f ession, he wrecked the confidence and the hope HI f 1 ill ii III In a tll0Usand Mormon breasts, and no misty ox- HK i Iff JH HI I planations will ever enthrone him with the peo- B V $j Iff ill pie among the earlier prophets. It Is as though R i ill ill ill I some great Idol, thought to be imperishable, lay B f ' FH H I shattered. All the glamour that came with the Hjj J !i Ijl belief in a personal divine guidance; all the hope B ' m if tlmt lookod without terror upon the menace of H f ' ' ill H tlie wildernGSS die(i as tno abashing words left the K U m 8 lips of President Smith; and in eyes that flamed Ib!' !!!! 8 before there is left scarcely a flash of that old IB 'l irllfi H ' stern and relentless faith. HHi j :jy if Conference now is but a specter of the great I' Ml 111 1 " assemblages of earlier days, when to the Mormon i il Hi I people Brigham Young was omnipotence and Jo- 1 ii 111 9 hovah spoke to them through the mouths of his I ll 111 H 1 prophets. Hji & m I I The old song has lost its savor. It is almost a HU f I ffl 9 f dirge when the faltering hosts of the faithful now Hi II II m I Ilt their voices in the old, old hymn: Bij ffl! If B f How swIft the years have rolled away, V t 'NB1 'Tis conference again. B M. rill |