OCR Text |
Show Page 80 thousands of Latter-day Saints converted out of Scotland, it was ever 10 after "Pratt's Hill." He worked very hard for six months, preaching in the streets seven times each Sabbath in association with Mulliner and Reuben Hedlock. By the time of his release early in 1841, the Edinburgh conference numbered exactly 226 members, all fruits of the apostle's labors. Among them was counted Elder George D. Watt, who would subsequently work with Pratt in the development of Utah's school systems. The Mormons met with the typical resistance, though; they were derided in pulpits, attacked by mobs who pelted them with rocks and rubbish, but the baptisms went on nevertheless in the rivers. While gathering converts, Orson had also turned to writing for publication. His brother's success with tracts combined with his desire to appeal to the more literate populace of Edinburgh produced the first of his works. The city resounded with scientific and philosophical discussion, for the great university there was experiencing a sort of flowering - much of the important work done in physics and astronomy during the Nineteenth Century was then under way in Edinburgh. Hoping to make a noise in the din, he peddled his own thirty-one-page pamphlet in the streets: "Interesting account of several remarkable visions, and of the late discovery of ancient American Records giving an account of the commencement of the work of the Lord in this generation, by Elder Orson Pratt." Published by the firm of Ballantyne and Hughes, the work later known as Remarkable Visions was distinguished as the first recounting in print of the Prophet Joseph Smith's vision of the Father and Son. The prose is simple and discursive, straightforward and literate to a degree that would not be expected of a man with twice Orson Pratt's education. The |