months since they had been able to meet together and the terrible disease had taken many of their members. He expressed his gratitude for the blessings the Saints enjoy away from the terror of war and then turned the rest of the meeting to the bishops and heads of organizations. Heartfelt testimonies were expressed by all and a strong spirit of love and peace was present.74 The flu abated during the summer of 1919, but as cold weather arrived the epidemic again spread. At the September Union Meeting, President Heiner asked the bishops to have the deacons make sure that all the widows were supplied with wood for the winter; and he warned the people to be on guard against the flu as it was again in their midst. Again in February 1920 the flu struck, but this time it was of shorter duration. Throughout these years of trial, the sisters in the Relief Society of the Morgan Stake offered countless hours of service. Most of those hours are not recorded except in the hearts of those for whom the service was performed. Challenges to Young and Old Though often suffering hardships, the Saints were constantly seeking for improvement in themselves and the circumstances about them. The Mutual sponsored contests in public address and singing. In one particular year, 1915, the contest involved specifically a male quartet and a female quartet. To participate in the contest, every young man or woman had to be in attendance at five regular class meetings of Mutual before they were allowed to enter.75 A reading course was also involved in the contest. At the 135th quarterly conference in November 1915, Elder Heber J. Grant encouraged the development of public speaking and discussed the joint reading course for young men andyoung women and stated one of the main purposes of the reading course was to get young men to read. Some of the books recommended for the course were: The Strength of Being Clean; The Young Man of the World; The Daughter of the North; and The Salt Lake Theater76 One book in particular which had great influence on two of the young men in Morgan Stake and probably countless others was, From Plowboy to Prophet by William A. Martin. Forde Dickson records in his autobiography that he knew that book spoke the truth even before he went to school. Samuel Hopkin relates a special story. When he was a young boy about five years old, he was kicked in the face by a horse while doing chores. His eyes were badly damaged and for a period of over two years they were bandaged and he saw nothing. During that time his bishop, J. Melvin Toone, gave him the book, From Plowboy to Prophet. Samuel loved the book and his mother and other members of his family read it to him over and over again. Even after he knew it by heart, he still enjoyed having it read to him. He states that time after time, as he lay there listening to the story of the First Vision it seemed as if it were happening right then in his room. An unshakable testimony of the Prophet grew which has endured to this day.78 110