SCRAPS OF BIOGRAPHY. TENTH BOOK OF THE FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE. Salt Lake City. 1883 Copyright applied for at the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C., by A. H. Cannon. PREFACE. There is a gradually increasing interest among the young of this people for reading and study. It is now the ambition of nearly every son and daughter of the Saints to become well educated. Parents, also, are more deeply interested in the intellectual growth of the youth. Thus we are gradually ascending to a higher plane, and our influence is being felt in a more extended sphere. The desire, however, to place matter in the hands of the young for reading and study, should not cause parents to be less careful in the selection of books. Truth expands the mind and quickens the understanding, while fiction dulls the perceptions and impairs the memory. The acquisition of the one is a source of joy to the possessor, while the constant perusal of the other unfits a person for the study of that which endures. That truth is the foundation of all righteousness, and that righteousness is what we desire, no person among this people will deny. Hence our anxiety to teach the child from its earliest infancy the principle of the gospel. In order to assist in this great work of teaching the gospel principles, we have been led to publish the SERIES of which this book forms a part. Whether or not our endeavors have met with any success, we leave for others to say, but we can safely state that all who have read these little works cannot but realize the fact that "Truth is stranger than fiction." That these "SCRAPS OF BIOGRAPHY" may help to instil the great principle of faith in the minds of the rising generation is the earnest desire of THE PUBLISHER. CONTENTS. SKETCH OF AN ELDER'S LIFE. CHAPTER I. Birth and Parentage of Elder John Tanner--Himself and Two Children are Bitten by a Mad Dog--They are Healed--He Becomes Wealthy--Afflicted With Unknown Disease--Physicians Fail to Cure Him--"Mormon" Elders Visit Him--He is Converted--Is Miraculously Healed--Goes to Kirtland--Freely Gives Money for the Benefit of the Church--His Elder's Certificate. CHAPTER II. Receives Blessings in Temple--Assists With "Kirtland Bank"--Starts for Missouri--His Daughter Dies--Is Attacked by Mob--Nearly Murdered--Retained as a Prisoner--Released--Removes to Iowa--Receives the Prophet's Blessing--Goes to the Rocky Mountains--Loses His Property by Fire--Thrilling Indian Adventure--At Death's Door--Remarkable Escape--His Death. INCIDENTS OF EXPERIENCE. CHAPTER I.