To all I have said in the foregoing, I was an eye and ear witness. All those who are living, who were present at the time this occurred, will remember the truth of what I have inscribed, though at the time we kept it from the world. I have written this experience for the benefit of the young Elders who are now abroad on missions, and for the benefit of the boys who may hereafter be called on to take missions, and any others who may glean any good from its perusal; and also as an evidence of the truth of the promise of Jesus to believers. EARLY EXPERIENCE OF A. O. SMOOT. CHAPTER I. SICKLY CONDITION WHEN YOUNG--HEALED ACCORDING TO ELDER PATTEN'S PREDICTION--LABOR AS A MISSIONARY WITH ELDER WOODRUFF--SEVERE SICKNESS--HEALED UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF MY BRETHREN--A MISSION TO THE SOUTHERN STATES--REMOVAL TO FAR WEST--MISSION TO MISSOURI AND ARKANSAS--OPPOSED BY A BAPTIST DEACON--TERRIBLE JUDGMENT UPON HIMSELF AND FAMILY--JOHN HOUSTON, THE INFIDEL--FAR WEST BESIEGED--TAKEN PRISONER. My life has been an exceedingly active, busy one, but when my experience is compared with that of many of my brethren there is perhaps nothing very extraordinary about it. I have seen the power of God manifested in various ways, and have had all the testimonies that I could ask for of the divine character of the work instituted through Joseph Smith, with which I have been connected for almost half a century. But I have never seen anything that I could call very miraculous, nor have I sought for anything of the kind as an evidence of the truth of God's work. To me everything has seemed to come along naturally. And yet when all things are considered, my whole life might be regarded as miraculous. When I reflect upon the precarious condition of my health when a boy, and the indulgence with which I was then treated, and then upon what I have been enabled to endure and accomplish, through the blessings of God since, there is something rather remarkable about it to me. I was born on the 17th of February, 1815, in Owenton, Owen Co., Kentucky. Both the town and County in which I was born were named after my great-uncle, Abraham Owen, in whose honor I was named. He was killed in the battle of Tippecanoe, while serving under General Harrison, who was afterwards President of the United States. Abraham Owen's sister, my great-aunt, was Stonewall Jackson's mother, so that General Jackson and I were second-cousins.