Franklin D White - Mt Pleasant

 In the fall of 1900 I was fifteen years old. I had received all of the schooling that I could at Indianola. A friend offered to give me my board and room if I would live with him and his wife in Mt. Pleasant. It would be my responsibility to take care of the chores and to be company for his family when he was not at home since he had to be in Indianola on his ranch a great deal of the time.  Then I could go to school and complete the eighth grade, which offer I gladly accepted.  So I lived in Mt. Pleasant for nine months and went to school.  It was my first time to be away from home for very long.  But it gave me a great opportunity to learn about the Gospel, as I kept up my practice of attending church regularly.

 At this time I got to wondering about the truthfulness of the Gospel and how I could know for sure that it was true.  All my life I haven't had any use for anything that wasn't the truth.  Then one Sunday evening I went to Sacrament Meeting with a friend.  There was a returned missionary that spoke that night.  I do not know his name or what he talked about.  One thing I do know was that when the meeting closed that night I knew that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the true church and now after nearly sixty years. I still know it.  But, I remember I went there with an open mind seeking the truth and I got it by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

It was at this time that my desires for companionship of the opposite sex took place.  It was during this winter that I had some real girl friends that I went to school with every day and we studied together and talked freely of many things even concerning marriage, and a family.  Although we were not together as lovers, but the closest friends.  I have always been grateful to some of them for the things that they taught me in righteousness.