GEMS FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS. FOURTH BOOK OF THE FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES. DESIGNED FOR THE INSTRUCTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF YOUNG LATTER-DAY SAINTS. JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE, Salt Lake City, Utah. 1881. PREFACE. Already one of the results which the Editor and Publisher of the FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES anticipated when the first volume was issued, is apparent--namely, a growing desire on the part of men of experience to write for publication such passages from their lives as will be of interest and benefit to the rising generation. The publication of these in this form has not been commenced any too soon. The lives of the early Elders of the Church were crowded with incidents of fascinating interest, and it is due to posterity, as well as to the Elders themselves, that a record of these should be preserved. But the veterans are fast passing away. It will be but a few years hence until men will seek with avidity to obtain information concerning many events which, if not preserved in writing or in print, will be lost to the new generations who are crowding into the field. We give these "GEMS FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS" with the hope that they will prove profitable to every reader. Some of them are brief; but they embody important principles and lessons. The "Testimonies for the Truth" were published in pamphlet form by the author, the late Bishop Benjamin Brown, while on a mission to Great Britain. This little work has been rare, and for a number of years it has been difficult to see, much less obtain, a copy. It contains so much that is encouraging and stimulating to faith that we think it should be preserved in this Series. Within two months we hope to be able to issue the next volume. It will be a narrative of the personal experience of Elder Jacob Hamblin, as a frontiersman, missionary to the Indians and explorer, disclosing interpositions of Providence, severe privations, perilous situations and remarkable escapes. THE PUBLISHER. CONTENTS. FINDING A FATHER. CHAPTER I. Part from my Father in infancy--His blessing and promise--Death of my Mother--My Grandfather apostatizes and sets up a Church of his own--Bound to be an Uncle--Ill-treatment and ridicule--Prejudiced against the "Mormons"--Fear of them--Released from my Uncle's power--Inducements to go to California--Decide to start. CHAPTER II. My Outfit--Dissipation--Start to California--Upbraidings from my Uncle--Uncle and Aunt disagree--A startling revelation, I learn that I am being taken to Utah--Leave my Uncle and join Spicer, to avoid going to Utah. CHAPTER III. Arrival at Parley's Park--Prepare for the worst, and visit Wm. H. Kimball--Favorably impressed with my newly-found relatives--Arrival in Salt Lake City--Dread at thoughts of falling into the hands of the "Mormons"--Decide to go and see my Father and surrender, expecting to be captured if I attempted to escape--Odd appearance going up East Temple Street--Meeting with my Father--Invited to change my clothes.