It is written that a truly great man is known by the number of beings he loves and blesses, and by the number of beings who love and bless him. Judged by that standard alone, where is his equal to be found in all this world!
I can say of Joseph F. Smith as Carlyle said of Luther, that he was truly a great man, "great in intellect, in courage, in affection, and in integrity. Great, not as a hewn obelisk, but as an Alpine mountain." No heart ever beat truer to every principle of manhood and righteousness and justice and mercy than his; that great heart, encased in his magnificent frame, made him the biggest, the bravest, the tenderest, the purest and best of all men who walked the earth in his time!
"His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, 'This was a Man!'"
—Charles W. Nibley, Presiding Bishop of the Church, Improvement Era, Vol. 22, January, 1919, pp. 191-198.
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
It was John Locke, the great characteristic English philosopher, who, at the age of thirty, wrote:
"I no sooner perceived myself in the world, but I found myself in a storm which has lasted hitherto."
To Joseph F. Smith, who is among the greatest and most unique and notable individualities of that peculiar people, the Latter-day Saints, this sentence of Locke's is especially applicable. Only, his was enveloped in storm before he could perceive. He is the son of Hyrum Smith, the second patriarch of the Church, and brother of the Prophet Joseph. His mother was Mary Fielding, of English origin, a woman of bright and strong mind and of excellent business administrative qualities.