Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Hilton Campbell, Byron Clark, Ben Crowder, Meridith Crowder, Cameron Dixon, Brian Jarvis, Ted Lee. LIFE OF HEBER C. KIMBALL, AN APOSTLE; THE FATHER AND FOUNDER OF THE BRITISH MISSION. ---- BY ORSON F. WHITNEY. ---- It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of his character.--_Emerson_. ---- PUBLISHED BY THE KIMBALL FAMILY, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. PRINTED AT THE JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE. 1888. TO THE MEMORY OF My GRANDFATHER; AND TO THE GREAT Cause of Truth, _For which he lived and died; and to all who love that Memory and that Cause, This Volume is reverently Dedicated by_ THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. In presenting this work to the public, I not only fulfill the desires of my own heart and those of my kindred who have undertaken to publish what is here written and compiled, but likewise, I am persuaded, the wish of our departed ancestor. Laying the foundation for such a work while living (as the copious selections from his own writings will testify), he left its bringing forth as a sacred legacy to his posterity. For many years this duty, unenjoined in words, but accepted by all in the light of a behest, was permitted to lie dormant. The death of President Kimball, on the 22nd of June, 1868, was a calamity so sudden and heavy in its effect upon his family, as to almost paralyze thought and effort. Though trained to independence and self-reliance, under his wise government, and never pampered in ease and luxury, they had ever looked to him for guidance and support, and had never known the weight of responsibility resting upon him as their parent and provider, only as from time to time he had taken certain ones into his confidence and permitted them to share his burdens. In his absence they were as sheep that had lost their shepherd. "Who will provide for us now, and what shall we do to earn a livelihood?" Such were the thoughts presented to their minds, and the questions asked of their secret souls, as they looked around upon their temporal situation. The division of the parental estate had left them comfortable, though far from rich, None of his sons had trades, but all had been brought up to work. Realizing that a city life was no longer their lot, they resolved to separate, and, following the example of their ancestors for generations, go forth and colonize new regions. Some moved north, and others south, but few remaining in the city of their birth, and at the expiration of fifteen years, many had become almost as strangers to each other.