Nor was he one of those who boasted of friendships with the selected few. Every stake of Zion, if not almost every community, contained some special friend or friends, time-honored and true. He loved to throw off the formalities of social restraint and indulge in those heart to heart talks that brought up reminiscences of earlier days. Like others, he was especially attracted by those whose view-points of life were similar to his own, whose spiritual natures reveled in the things of God and ascribed to Him both the honors and the glories of this world.
His friendships were both sincere and lasting; even when friends deviated from the paths of the highest rectitude, he preferred to think of them as they once were, in the enjoyment of divine favor. The good in others was uppermost in his judgment of men, and his friendship was all the more lasting because it was accompanied by a spirit of charity and good-will to all.
It would perhaps be here a little discriminating to speak of any individual friendships of his life. There is one, however, that was so strong and lasting that it illustrates with great clearness the character of the man. Ezra T. Clark of Farmington was a man of simple habits and devoted to industrial life. He loved the soil whose very particles awakened within him a satisfaction and an enthusiasm. These two men developed throughout many years of intimate association a loving regard for each other that was as striking as it was beautiful. Whenever Elder Woodruff could steal away from the duties and responsibilities of life some leisure hours, he sought an evening's pastime in the home of his friend. Their devotion to each other grew with years; and it may be truthfully said that nothing ever came up in life to disturb their confidence and love.
Elder Woodruff was throughout all his life an ideal neighbor. His interest in those about him was one of helpfulness. He was quick to see the needs of a neighbor and generous in his impulse to give and to help. His high regard for the privileges of others never permitted him to trespass on the rights or the property of those about him. The property of others was as sacred to him as his own and its safety elicited his careful attention. He was generous in the contribution of his time and knowledge.
His selection in the early days of Utah as the head of organizations intended to place within the reach of all the best methods of farming and manufacture illustrates the esteem in which he was held by those who intrusted to him matters of such welfare to the people. He was therefore the highest type of a missionary of good deeds as well as of good counsel.
There was never in him a spirit of condescension. He never thought of obligations under which he was placing his fellowmen while doing them a service. He served others because he enjoyed the spirit of helpfulness and found it a part of his God-given nature to be of use in every possible manner to those it was his joy to help on in the world.
The missionary spirit of Elder Woodruff which manifested itself so zealously in the welfare and happiness of others did not permit him to pursue life in the interest of any selfish ambitions or personal aggrandizement. His journal reveals the pride he felt in bringing home to the lives of men the great truths of Mormonism. He was always more interested in what others derived from his services than what came to him. In counsel, therefore, he was never actuated by selfish aims, and he was free from suspicion that the things which others advocated could have any ulterior purpose than that which appeared upon the surface.
By nature he was an unsuspicious man and that made his life free from the jealousies, envies, and misgivings so destructive of human happiness. That nature made him an optimist. He went about life not only looking for the good, but with ability to see it. He had nothing to conceal, nothing to disfigure, therefore the shades and colorings of life with him were true to nature.
Whenever in his judgment it became necessary to offer any criticism upon the lives or conduct of others, it was for the purpose of warning those whom he criticized against the dangers that would befall them, if they pursued such a course. Often throughout his journal he speaks of the apostasy of prominent men and old-time friends. What he wrote is in a spirit of charity; his words are words of regret, and his sentiments are full of brotherly consideration, even toward those who ceased to entertain convictions in harmony with his own.
Though he was a man of a gentle spirit, it must not be supposed that he was wholly incapable of pronouncing judgment upon the wicked or the ungodly. But even his judgments were not accompanied by personal antagonisms. He was both forgetful and forgiving. He was not a man of marked prejudices, and there is no evidence that he ever pursued with malice those in whom he had lost confidence. He was, perhaps, as free from prejudices as any prominent man in his day. This beautiful quality of life made him tractable, easily persuaded, especially when the influence about him was one of brotherly love or kind consideration.