PRESIDENT A. F. MCDONALD:
"My first intimate acquaintance with President Kimball occurred in 1868, I being then in charge of the Tithing Office at Provo. He often called into the office to do business. His public discourses about this time were the most earnest and impressive that I had ever heard; and on several occasions in the Provo meeting house, he clearly foreshadowed the time of trial the Saints are now passing through, and to a period still before us. He often used the language 'A test, a test is coming.'
"On one occasion, when he was stopping with us during a two days' conference, he came into the Tithing Yard where I was busy putting up hay, and called me towards him and said: 'Do you want me at your house, or would you rather not have us there?' I answered that it was a pleasure and honor to have him there. Looking intently at me, he said: 'I want to say to you that you have seen your worst days; you have had some hard times and trials in the past, but from this time it will be better for you. In whatever you are called to do, or whatever you put your hands to accomplish, you will be prospered and prevail.' This is true so far in my experience.
"On another occasion in 1863, during a two days' meeting in Provo, I invited several brethren to dinner. Brother Kimball was present. During the chat at the table, conversation turned on the number of children I then had, being at that time six boys; hearing this reply he said: 'Yes, and the next, the seventh, will be a boy also, and he will be the noblest, the most talented, and the greatest you have had.' Brother R. L. Campbell, who I remember was present, said in a free and jocular way: 'If it should come a girl, what then?' Upon which Brother Kimball observed; 'It will not come a girl, but a boy, and you will see it.' One year and four days after, a boy was born, and Brother Kimball, again attending a two days' meeting at Provo, called to see him and directed that he be blessed and given the name of 'Heber,' by which name he is known in our family and has grown to manhood, as we believe to fulfill the words spoken of him.
"On the night of Brother Kimball's accident at Provo, a short time before his death, I was with him. I took a silk handkerchief from my pocket and tied it over his head, and then suggested that I go and call on President B. Young, then at the house of Bishop Wm. Miller, to come and administer to him; but he said: 'I command you to administer to me and anoint me with oil in the name of the Lord; do not be in the least afraid; you hold the same Priesthood and authority from God as President Young or myself, and God hears and answers the prayers of His humblest servants and people.' I administered to him accordingly, and he soon revived, becoming quite free and jocular with us, and about two o'clock in the morning at his suggestion I went home. On the following day, myself and wife called to see him. He was much improved and quite sociable, his conversation being original, incisive, and a continual feast of inspiration. As we were leaving he asked his wife (Lucy W.) to get my handkerchief that I had put on his head the previous night, and addressing my wife he said: 'Here, Betty, take this handkerchief, and be sure that you never wash it, but keep it as it is, and when you have sickness in your family, exercise the prayer of faith, and it will prove a blessing, and will be a bond between you and me for ever!' My wife has sacredly kept that handkerchief."
ELDER JOHN NICHOLSON gives a valued contribution in the following:
"In accordance with your request I furnish you with a brief outline of a discourse delivered by your grandfather, the late Heber C. Kimball, in 1867. The occasion was the usual afternoon service. Whether it was held in the Bowery or the old Tabernacle, I do not distinctly recollect, but think it was the latter. My memory is, however, quite distinct in relation to the subject of the discourse; especially the prophetic part of it, with which I was specially impressed.
"President Kimball opened by stating that there were many within hearing who had often wished that they had been associated with the Prophet Joseph. 'You imagine,' said he, 'that you would have stood by him when persecution raged and he was assailed by foes within and without. You would have defended him and been true to him in the midst of every trial. You think you would have been delighted to have shown your integrity in the days of mobs and traitors.
"'Let me say to you, that many of you will see the time when you will have all the trouble, trial and persecution that you can stand, and plenty of opportunities to show that you are true to God and his work. This Church has before it many close places through which it will have to pass before the work of God is crowned with victory. To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess this personal knowledge or witness will fall. If you have not got the testimony, live right and call upon the Lord and cease not till you obtain it. If you do not you will not stand.
"'Remember these sayings, for many of you will live to see them fulfilled. The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you do not have it, how can you stand? Do you believe it?
"'How is it now? You have the First Presidency, from whom you can get counsel to guide you, and you rely on them. The time will come when they will not be with you. Why? Because they will have to flee and hide up to keep out of the hands of their enemies. You have the Twelve now. You will not always have them, for they too will be hunted and will have to keep out of the way of their enemies. You have other men to whom you look for counsel and advice. Many of them will not be amongst you, for the same reason. You will be left to the light within yourselves. If you don't have it you will not stand; therefore seek for the testimony of Jesus and cleave to it, that when the trying time comes you may not stumble and fall.'
"The main object of the discourse was to impress the people with the importance of having light and knowledge direct from God within themselves. The prophetic part was given as the leading reason why they should be in possession of an individual testimony, as it defined to some extent the character of the trials to which the Saints would be subjected. That Brother Kimball's predictions have been, in part, at least, already fulfilled, must be clear to all who are familiar with the events of the last few years. In the course of his remarks on the occasion in point he several times said: 'You will have all the persecution you want and more too, and all the opportunity to show your integrity to God and truth that you could desire.'
"The foregoing statement is probably not as absolutely correct as could have been given immediately after the delivery of the discourse, but it is so in substance. Probably there are many others who heard it who will remember it when it is brought to their recollection."
ELDER HENRY W. NAISBITT adds this endorsement:
"I was present on the occasion when President Heber C. Kimball delivered the discourse described in the foregoing communication, and the statement as therein given is correct, as I remember it."
WM. H. BEARD ESQ. sends the following from his home in Spiceland,
Indiana:
"In the spring of 1884, I called at the home of your father, the late lamented H. K. Whitney, and while there had the pleasure of viewing a fairly executed portrait of the deceased President Kimball, and having previously read something of him as viewed by Gentile historians, I conceived the idea of learning from his own people, those who had known him long and well, his religious and social standing, during some of the most eventful periods of his life. I conversed with quite a number of persons who claimed to have known him, and the universal expression was 'he was a true, noble and worthy man.' In glancing over the musty pages of a reporter's book used on that occasion I find an account of the following interview with an old-time friend of the deceased, written with an unsteady hand, but still legible, and marked with conspicuous head lines. I give the report just as it appears, thinking, perhaps, you may find in it a few facts worthy of remembrance.
"The gentleman who favored me with this interview, was bending beneath the weight of accumulated years, but he seemed to possess an extraordinarily brilliant mind, coupled with a remarkable gift of memory. After extending the usual courtesies due a stranger, I ventured to ask: 'Will you please tell me what you know of the late Heber C. Kimball?' A pleasant smile lit up his face, and in a calm, steady voice he proceeded in substance as follows. 'I have known President Kimball for more than half a century. I knew him in his youth, through all the changing developments of his early manhood, and when his hair was whitened, and his cheeks furrowed by the approach of age. He was a brave, noble and dignified man, possessing more true virtues than the world will ever know. He was an affectionate husband, a devoted father and a kind and generous friend. He always had consolation for the despondent, a helping hand for the needy, and a tear for the sorrowing and afflicted. In oratory he was not eloquent, but his thoughts were always expressed in such a calm, pleasing and effective manner as to deeply impress his hearers. He was strong in his religious convictions, thoroughly familiar with every tenet of the Mormon faith, and a fervent advocate of the right. He admired true manliness in every relation of life, and was always found on the side of justice and truth. He firmly believed in the ultimate triumph of the church, and often spoke of the wrongs endured by the Latter-day Saints in their continuous struggles for religious freedom. He was a leading light for his oppressed people, and no one ever knew him unfaithful to his trust, or unduly exacting in his official life. He loved to share our sorrows, and enjoy our happiness, for he had a warm and generous heart. His mind was broad and searching, and had he possessed a penchant for military renown, he could have succeeded admirably as a commander of armies. As a statesman he could have been an honor to the republic, and had it not been for his unpopular faith he could have filled almost any position in life to which humanity aspires. In the death of this great man the Church has lost one of its most valued members; but our society through all the coming years, will remember him in their prayers, and continue to contribute sacred tears to his memory and great moral worth.'"
As an appropriate ending for this chapter, we append a truthful tribute from the pen of PRESIDENT GEORGE Q. CANNON:
"Heber Chase Kimball was one of the greatest men of this age. There was a certain nobility about his appearance as well as his disposition that would have made him conspicuous in any community, and the Church of Jesus Christ afforded ample scope for the exercise of his ability, and the trying scenes through which he passed called into play his best powers.
"He was a man of commanding presence, with eyes so keen as to almost pierce one through, and before which the guilty involuntarily quailed. He was fearless and powerful in rebuking the wrong-doer, but kind, benevolent and fatherly to the deserving. He possessed such wonderful control over the passions of men, combined with such wisdom and diplomacy, that the Prophet Joseph Smith called him 'the peace-maker.' His great faith, zeal, earnestness, devotion to principle, cheerfulness under the most trying circumstances, energy, perseverance and honest simplicity marked him as no ordinary man. He possessed great natural force and strong will power, yet in his submission to the Priesthood and obedience to the laws of God he set a pattern to the whole Church. His example throughout life was one of which his posterity may ever think with pride, and which the Saints generally will do well to follow.
"No man, perhaps, Joseph Smith excepted, who has belonged to the Church in this generation, ever possessed the gift of prophecy to a greater degree than Brother Kimball. Although not at all pretentious, he was somewhat celebrated among his acquaintances for his prophetic inspiration. Scores of predictions were made by him and literally fulfilled.
"Brother Kimball was the only one of his father's family who embraced the gospel, but now his is one of the most numerous families in the Church. At the time of his death, he was the father of sixty-five children, of whom thirty males and eleven females were then living. His direct descendants now number nearly two hundred souls."