Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith
Prophet, Seer and Revelator

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sailing

Brigham built a boat to sail on the Great Salt Lake. He named it “Timely Gull.” The paddle wheel was powered by horses walking on a treadmill. The Young family sailed the boat only a few times, and then it was dashed to pieces by a storm.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Swimming

There was even a swimming pool behind the schoolhouse that was twenty feet square and five feet deep for them to play in. The pool was also used as a baptismal font. For the girls, bathing suits were made out of linsey dresses (plain cotton and wool) with pantalettes (long pants worn under their dresses) for the girls. The boys wore shirts and overalls. Brigham made them a bath house out of an old band wagon where they could change their clothes. It had benches on each side and a roof on top.


Sometimes Brigham and the children liked to soak in a warm spring about a mile from the house. He also loved to take visitors, along with a few of his children, to the Great Salt Lake. It took a full day to go to the beach and back because it was twenty miles away. Everyone changed their clothes behind a huge black rock – boys on one side and girls on the other. Swimming in the lake was a fun experience because the salty water held them up. They could float or roll in the water without sinking.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Physical Activites for Children

Brigham Young wanted his children to have all the opportunities for physical growth, as well as educational advantages. He remembered his own childhood of hard work and sadness after his mother died, and he wanted things to be better for his children.


Brigham built a gym for his family on the porch at the back of the Lion House that ran the full length of the building. There were ladders and bars to climb, jumping ropes, hoops, roller skates, wooden swords, swings, barbells, and big balls to play with. Teachers came to train the children in the use of the equipment, as well as dancing. The gym was lots of fun and helped the children develop confidence in their physical abilities as well as strong bodies.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

"Become the Best that you can be."

Brigham took time for his children. His daughter Clarissa Young Spencer said of her father, “No child ever loved, revered, and cherished a father more than I did mine.” Another daughter, Susa Young Gates said he was “an ideal father. Kind to a fault, tender, thoughtful, just and firm . . . None of us feared him; all of us adored him.”


Brigham Young wrote to his sons often when they grew up and went away to school. He counseled them to keep the spirit of the Lord with them always. “Cultivate this spirit and you will find that it shall be a wall of fire around you, and your glory in the midst of you.”

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Brigham Loved Children

Brigham delighted in little children, no matter what they said. Once when he was visiting the Saints, he stopped at the home of Anson Call. Brigham asked Anson’s little girl to sit on his knee. He took her head in his hands and turned her small face toward his so he could tell her how pretty she was. She stared up at him and said, “Your eyes look just like our sows!” Her father was embarrassed, but Brigham took her by the hand and led her outside. “Take me to the pig pen. I want to see this pig that has eyes just like mine.”


As a young man, John Poulson drove a yoke of cattle from Sandy to American Fork, riding on a small mule. When he got around the point of the mountain he met a carriage pulled by a pair of fine mules with several coaches following it. John drove his cattle off the road to wait until the carriages passed. The lead carriage stopped when it was even with John, and the man asked his name. John told him, and the man said he was President Young. He talked with John for quite a few minutes and shook his hand. He asked God to bless John. Later, when John was older, he worked on the St. George Temple. Brigham remembered meeting him. He visited with John and gave him great advice.