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Show Page 278 emphatically and publicly; however, nearly every attack was mitigated with admiring concessions to Orson's style and the frequent lucidity of his inspiration. In addition, Brigham Young's silent almost covert kindnesses testify to a genuine solicitude for his proud but penurious disciple. On one occasion, for example, Marian Pratt had opened her door to a messenger from the Beehive House carrying an envelope packed with 26 money enough to pay off her home. In that eulogy in Leeds, however, Orson did not seem so overwhelmed with grief that he would devote his entire time to the fallen Brigham - curiously enough, he went on with his dispassionate lecture on the prearranged subject: Pitman's shorthand. Upon Orson's return to Liverpool, the Trans-Atlantic Cable buzzed again, and he found himself summoned to return at once to Salt Lake City. Dropping the publication work, he and Joseph F. Smith took a rough passage home. Orson's arrival in Salt Lake was met with some apprehensive-ness; the Twelve had issued, without concurrence from their missioning members, an epistle declaring senior Apostle John Taylor head of the Church, and many feared the possibility of a contest. Everyone knew that Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt had served much longer than Taylor, and that the 1875 shuffle had overturned expectations of long standing. In addition, while Hyde was old and sick, Orson Pratt bore an international reputation as the leading dogmatician of Mormonism. With his volatile background, Orson was thought to be the perfect potential schismatic - if he chose to exploit his legendary name, Taylor's dignity might not suffice to hold the Church together. Orson dismissed this immediately. Only two days home, he had published a pointed affidavit in the Deseret News - "I unreservedly endorse John 27 Taylor." When the general conference convened, Orson described the rationale of succession in the Mormon Church; he explained the nature of |