BRIANT STRINGAM STEVENS BECOMES A MISSIONARY TO HIS ASSOCIATES AND BRINGS FOUR BOYS TO BELIEF AND BAPTISM--A GOOD CHILD WHO PASSED AMIDST THE DAILY TEMPTATIONS OF LIFE UNSCATHED. "If there is anything that will endure The eye of God because it still is pure, It is the spirit of a little child, Fresh from His hands, and therefore undefiled. Nearer the gate of Paradise than we, Our children breathe its airs, its angels see; And when they pray God hears their simple prayer, Yea, even sheathes His sword, in judgment bare." These thoughtful words of the poet always recurred to my mind when I met little Briant Stevens. We notice, with most children, how quickly they grow away from the absolute and perfect purity of childhood into the heedlessness of youth; and often, too often, with their experience of life comes experience of wrong. Of all the boys that I ever met, who had reached years of accountability, I think Briant Stevens bore in his face and manner the most evidence of a retention of that saintliness which is the endowment of each of God's little ones. Not that he seemed too solemn for earth: but because there was a fearless grace, and yet a tenderness, which showed that the inherent beauty of his young life was still unsoiled. "You hear that boy laugh?--you think he's in fun; But the angels laugh, too, at the good he has done; The children laugh loud as they troop to his call, And the poor man that knows him laughs loudest of all!" This was the boy, Briant Stringam Stevens. Often have I seen strangers when passing him in the street pause and make inquiry concerning him. His demeanor was so admirable that they could not restrain a desire to know something of him. Distinctly I can remember the first time I ever saw him--when he was about ten years old. He had his books under his arm, and was evidently going to school. His appearance was so attractive that I felt impelled to stop him and ask his name. Without the slightest embarrassment, he lifted his hat and answered me politely and cordially. From that time I never met him without receiving his gentlemanly salutation. Those of our people who knew him can all conscientiously speak of him as "The Little Saint;" scores of worldly people who knew him call him "The Little Gentleman." * * * * * Briant Stringam Stevens was the son of Thomas Jordan Stevens and Maria Stringam Stevens, and the grandson of Briant Stringam. He was born December 24th, 1873, in the Thirteenth Ward of Salt Lake City. He died February 3rd, 1887, at Ogden.