LEHI AND HIS FAMILY.

So you want me to tell you a story, children. I will gladly do so, for when I was a child like one of you, I loved to listen to stories, too—stories about great and good men and women, and good boys and girls.

The story I am going to tell you this evening is about a good man named Lehi, and his family, who lived many, many years ago in a country far across the sea.

Lehi had a good wife. Her name was Sariah. They had four sons. Their names were Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi. Nephi and Sam were very good boys. They loved their father and mother and were always obedient to them.

But Laman and Lemuel were not at all like their brothers. They did not obey their parents, but often vexed them by doing things that were wrong.

That was displeasing to our Heavenly Father, and He did not love Laman and Lemuel as He loved Sam and Nephi.

The people who lived in the same place as Lehi were wicked. They would not do as the Lord wished, so He said He would have to punish them, to teach them to do better. He told Lehi to go out among them, and to tell them that if they did not stop doing wicked things, He would not bless them as He had done, but would let people from another country come and take them away to be their servants.

Lehi preached many times to the people, but not one of them would believe what he said. Then the Lord told Lehi to gather his family together, and He would lead them to a new and beautiful country, far across great waters. That was to this land in which we now live.

Lehi did as the Lord told him. He left his home and all his riches, and, with his wife and children, started out for the strange land which the Lord had told him about.

I suppose you would like to know how they traveled. Well, I believe they rode on camels. Camels can travel fast and carry heavy loads. Some of them can travel one hundred miles in a day.

There were no houses in the part of the country through which Lehi and his family traveled, so they took tents with them to live in. One day they came to a large river of water. It ran through a beautiful valley. By the side of the river they put up their tents. Then they knelt in prayer, and Lehi gave thanks to God for having taken care of them on the way.

Lehi called the river Laman and the valley he called Lemuel. You know why he gave them those names. Yes, those were the names of his two elder sons.

I told you that Laman and Lemuel were disobedient boys. They were also unkind to their brothers. Their father, Lehi, would often sit down and talk kindly to them. He would plead with them to be good boys. He would tell them that if they would do right, and obey their parents, the Lord would love and bless them; but that He would not do so if they kept on grumbling and getting angry with their brothers.

Then Laman and Lemuel would say to their father, "We don't want to go to a new country. We want to go back to our old home and stay with the people there."

And their father would say, "but you know, my boys, the people there are not good; they do not do as our Heavenly Father wishes them, and He is going to punish them. That is why He told us to come away from them. If we had stayed there after the Lord told us to leave we should be punished also."

Then Nephi would say, "Yes, brothers, that is true. Now, let us be good boys, and do what the Lord and our parents tell us, and after a while we will get to a beautiful country, and we shall be far better and happier than we should be if we were to go back to the place we have left."

But Laman and Lemuel would not do as their father and brothers pleaded with them to do, and you will hear later what happened to them.