GEMS OF REMINISCENCE
SEVENTEENTH BOOK OF THE
FAITH PROMOTING SERIES
DESIGNED FOR THE INSTRUCTION AND
ENCOURAGEMENT OF YOUNG
LATTER-DAY SAINTS
COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY
GEO. C. LAMBERT
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
1915
PREFACE
"Gems of Reminiscence," the title selected for this volume, is
sufficiently comprehensive to include incidents from real life on a
wide variety of subjects, so long as the effect is to promote faith.
The articles included in this volume are sufficiently varied as to
subject matter to interest most of those into whose hands it may come.
In making this volume double the size--that is, double the number of
pages--of its predecessors, we have acted upon the suggestion of a
literary friend who has had enough experience in publishing books to
realize how difficult it is to secure any profit from publishing small
editions of books of 96 pages each and binding the volumes separately
at the low price of 25 cents per volume, retail. The opinion was
expressed that most of those whose taste would lead them to buy such
a book would just as willingly pay 50 cents retail for a volume that
contained double the number of pages in the same style of binding.
We decided to try the experiment and if this venture meets with
encouragement, future volumes issued will probably be in the larger
size and the price 50 cents per volume instead of the smaller volumes
at the price of 25 cents each, as in the past.
That there is an abundance of material in the experience of faithful
members of the Church to furnish subject matter for an indefinite
number of volumes, of a faith-promoting nature, and that the young
people of the community may be benefited more by that class of reading
than any other, is as evident now as it ever has been in the past.
We bespeak the interest of all faithful members of the Church in
this work of providing the best of reading matter and at the same
time perpetuating a knowledge of incidents in their lives that might
otherwise be lost to posterity, and trust that all who have had
experience that would be faith-promoting if published, will furnish
us the material to continue the publication of the Faith-Promoting
Series as long as there is need for it. We can not promise them
pecuniary profit for so doing, but to those who will conscientiously
and intelligently help in the manner indicated we can promise the kind
of reward that has thus far encouraged us, that is, a consciousness of
having placed benefits within the reach of young Latter-day Saints that
will be appreciated in the future if not now.
CONTENTS
AMONG CANNIBALS.
CHAPTER I.
James S. Brown's Experience Previous to Being Sent as a Missionary
to the Society Islands--Remarkable Predictions by Presidents Brigham
Young and Willard Richards--Perilous Journey to California--Tragic
Fate of Most of the Company--Arrival in San Francisco--Landing
in Tahiti--Opposition from Priests and Ministers--Governor of
French Protectorate Arrayed Against Him--Elders Scatter Out--Lewd
Women Instigated by Ministers try to Entrap him--His First
Convert--Recognized by a Native who had seen him in a Dream.
CHAPTER II.
Catholic Priests Jealous of his Success--Arrested on a Trumped-up
Charge--Tried Before Governor's Aid-de-Camp--Frightful Scene Among
a School of Whales--Farce of a Trial before the Governor of the
Protectorate--Inspired to Plead his Own Cause--Impression Made
Upon the Governor--American Consul's Friendly Act--Banished from
Tahiti--Befriended by a Queen.
CHAPTER III.
Land Among Cannibals--Denounced as the American Plant--His Destruction
Demanded--Sentenced to be Roasted and Eaten--Fire Prepared--His
Defiance of the Rabid Host--Effect Upon the Wild Horde Who Were Eager
to Roast and Devour Him--Fierce Fight Among His Opponents.
PARKIN REMINISCENCE.
CHAPTER I.
Promise to Pay Money With Only Faith to Back It--How the Money was
Provided--Lesson His Wife Drew From It.
CHAPTER II.
Ashamed to Pay Tithing--Loss of Crop--Lesson He Learned By It--Potatoes
Purchased to Pay Delinquent Tithing--No Loss of Potato Crop Since.
CHAPTER III.
Farming on Shares--A New Vocation--Future Home Shown in Vision--Home
Recognized When First Seen in Utah--Reputation Gained as a Faithful and
Thorough Worker--Providential Fulfillment of Vision--Home Viewed as a
Sacred Heritage.
CHAPTER IV.
Ambitious to Work in a Goal Mine--Day Spent in Mine as a
Spectator--Fatal Accident--His Narrow Escape from Being a Victim.
CHAPTER V.
Resort to Mining--Caught in a Snowslide--Carried a Mile Down the
Mountain As If Fired From a Catapult--Miraculous Escape--Fails to Find
Companion--Return to Mine and Then Home--Companion's Subsequent Escape.
CHAPTER VI.
Father John Parkin a Pugilist--Defends a Mormon Elder--Shelters Him
From a Storm and Learns Something of Mormonism--Whole Family Embrace
the Gospel.
CHAPTER VII.
Selling a Load of Carrots to An Ex-Missionary, Whose Parsimony is
Exhibited--Some Reflections Thereon.
A SAILOR-SAINT'S ADVENTURES.
CHAPTER I.
E. R. S. Schnelle's Belief in a Providence Over His Life--Birth
and Succession of Accidents--Goes to Sea as Cabin Boy--Gruel
Treatment--Pumping Sugar and Water--Ship Crushed Against
Breakwater--Reckless Jump--Woes as a Cook.
CHAPTER II.
Embarks as Ordinary Seaman--Captain's Premonition and Sailors'
Fear--Amazone Wrecked--Dying Sailor's Vision--Grewsome Seat--a
Typhoon--Ship Seized by French--Travel in Russia--Finds A
Wife--Converted to "Mormonism."
CHAPTER III.
Sent to Hospital--Blue Jacket Converted--Warned by Spirit to Leave
Ship--Disobeys Warning--Narrow Escape When Ship Founders--A Dangerous
Fall--Led by Inspiration--Inspired Promise Fulfilled--Work in
Temple--Departure for Mission.
OBTAINING GENEALOGIES.
At Solicitation of Saints in Utah, Engages in Genealogical
Research While Serving as a Missionary--Takes a Special Mission
for Such Work--Impression That He Was Receiving Help from the
Spirit World--Search for Williams' Genealogies--A Sign and a
Mutual Impression--Valuable Data Obtained form a Stranger, Who Was
Evidently inspired--Research of Chamberlain Family Record Helped by a
Stranger Who Was Also Evidently Inspired to Do So--Valuable Records
Providentially Found in Unexpected Place.
WARNED BY THE SPIRIT.
CHAPTER I.
Chauncey W. West Sent on a Mission to Asia--Dreams of the Wreck of a
Vessel Upon Which He had Engaged Passage--Left the Ship, and Afterwards
Learned From the Grew of the Vessel Being Wrecked Just as He Had
Dreamed that it Would be--While Awaiting Another Opportunity to Ship
to California was Prompted to Vacate a House Where He and Companion
Elder Were Staying--House Immediately Afterwards Crushed by Large Stone
Rolling Down From Side of Mountain.
CHAPTER II.
Elder James Lawson Inspired to Quit a Steamboat on Which he was a
Passenger--Jumped on a Flatboat--A Few moments later the Steamboat
Sank, and most of the Passengers were Drowned.
CHAPTER III.
Comforting Assurance Experienced by A. O. Smoot During a Storm at
Sea--His Narrow Escape from being a Victim of the Saluda Disaster--His
Account of the Explosion.
CHAPTER IV.
Series of Escapes Experienced by President Woodruff Through Heeding the
Spirit's Warnings--Instance of Failing to do so.
RECALLED BY ELDER HEBER J. GRANT.
Excerpts from Discourse Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake
City, April 26,1914--Methodist Episcopal Minister Converted to
Mormonism--Goes to England as a Mormon Missionary--Calls Upon His
Former Minister--His Undignified Reception--Anti "Mormon" Assertion
Disproved by Facts--A Minister's Confession--Puzzling Questions
Propounded to Ministers, Unanswered--Attitude of Latter-Day Saints
Thereon--Unseen Evidence of Power--A Prediction by the Gift of Tongues
that was Literally Fulfilled--Truth Only Strengthened by Attempts
to Overthrow it--Karl G. Maeser's Conversion--His Pledge and its
Fulfillment--Ben Butler's Advice.
A BUSY LIFE
CHAPTER I.
Anson Call's Birth and Character--Investigated "Mormonism" to Disprove
it, and Became Converted--Impediment in His Speech Cured When
Administered to--An Anti-"Mormon" Missourian--Buy Farms in Caldwell
County--The Prophet Visits Missouri--Advises Abandonment of Homes--Mob
Tries to Prevent their Removal--Flee by Night--Adam-Ondi-Ahman and Far
West Besieged.
CHAPTER II.
Suffering from Gold Weather--Anson Visits Elk Horn--Captured and
Ill-Treated by a Mob--Treats the Mob to Whiskey, and Escapes--Tiresome
Journey to Far West--Visits His Farm Contrary to Counsel--Finds his
Property in Possession of Mobocrats, who Assault Him--Apostates Try to
Use Anson to Discredit the Prophet--Anson's Fidelity.
CHAPTER III.
Removal to Illinois--A Perilous Journey--Overtaken by the Prophet While
Escaping from Missouri Prison--Anson and Wife Visit in Ohio--Locate
in Macedonia--Remove to Nauvoo--Mission to Ohio--Prophet's Vision and
Prediction as to Saints Locating in West--Judge Thomas' Advice--Service
as a Delegate.
CHAPTER IV.
Judge Thomas' Willingness to Sacrifice the Prophet--Vain Efforts
to See and Report to the Prophet--Perfidy of Reynolds Cahoon and
Alpheus Cutler--Prophet's Last Speech--News of the Martyrdom--Its
Effect--Atrocities of Mob.
CHAPTER V.
Preparations for Abandonment of Nauvoo--Journey Westward--Winter
Near Indian Camp--Test of Fealty--Westward Journey Temporarily
Abandoned--Employment in Missouri--Journey to Utah--Choice
of Home--Mission to Colonize Parowan--Mission to Colonize
Fillmore--Massacre of Gunnison Party.
CHAPTER VI.
Call's Fort Established--Acts as Deputy U. S. Marshal--Mission
to Colonize Carson Valley--Prepares to Burn Home--The "Move"
South--Brother Killed by Indians--Call's Landing Established--His Last
Days.
ELDER BROWN'S EXPERIENCE
Frigid Trip on Lonely Road--Team Exhausted--Agony of Freezing--Prayer
for Deliverance--Friend Inspired to Go to His Relief--Sheep Herder
Inspired to Move Camp--Effects of Freezing on Feet.
CHAPTER II.
Sent on a Mission--Stricken with Chills and Fever--President of
Mission Proffers to Release Him--Unwilling to be Released--Instantly
Healed when Administered to--Twin Boys Healed in Answer to Elder
Brown's Prayer--Elder Brown Has a Relapse--Instantly Healed when Again
Administered to--Again Urged to Accept His Release--Field of Labor
Changed--Health Fails, and He is Sent Home--Reproved by President
Woodruff--Victim of a Street Car Accident--Healed in Answer to Prayer.
REMARKABLE PATRIARCHAL BLESSING.
Dr. Gledhill's Wife Operated Upon Repeatedly for Internal
Tumor--Blessed by a Patriarch--Promised that She Should Recover and
Give Birth to More Children--Scientific Opinions Upset by Fulfillment
of Inspired Promise.
LAMBERT REMINISCENCE.
Applies for Work Upon Nauvoo Temple--Accepts Work Without Prospect of
Pay--His Hat Stoned--Offered Work by Lucifer, who Displays Abundance of
Gold--Journey Westward--Money Providentially Furnished for Completion
of Wagon--Money for Medicine Obtained in Like Mysterious Way--Arrival
in Winter Quarters--Ambition to Go West With Pioneers--Plan Foiled by
Indians Killing Team Animals--President Young's Confidence--New Shoes
Providentially Found--Dislocated Arm Providentially Restored to Use.
A TIMELY WARNING.
Visit to a Volcano--Madam Pele's Hair--Narrow Escape from Falling into
Volcano.
ONE OF NATURE'S GENTLEMEN.
Fine Specimen of Maori--Effect of the Gospel Upon Him--His Excellent
Family.
PRAYING TO DEATH.
Attempt of Hawaiian Priest to Pray Mormon Elder to Death--His Failure
and Hawaiian Discomfiture.
AMONG CANNIBALS
CHAPTER I.
JAMES S. BROWN'S EXPERIENCE PREVIOUS TO BEING SENT AS A MISSIONARY
TO THE SOCIETY ISLANDS--REMARKABLE PREDICTION BY PRESIDENTS BRIGHAM
YOUNG AND WILLARD RICHARDS--PERILOUS JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA--TRAGIC
FATE OF MOST OF THE COMPANY--ARRIVAL IN SAN FRANCISCO--LANDING
IN TAHITI--OPPOSITION FROM PRIESTS AND MINISTERS--GOVERNOR OF
FRENCH PROTECTORATE ARRAYED AGAINST HIM--ELDERS SCATTER OUT--LEWD
WOMEN, INSTIGATED BY MINISTERS, TRY TO ENTRAP HIM--HIS FIRST
CONVERT--RECOGNIZED BY A NATIVE WHO HAD SEEN HIM IN A DREAM.
The late Elder James S. Brown, who for many years was a resident of the
17th Ward of this city, (and who died in 1902) had a most interesting
and eventful life, and a few incidents therefrom, in which a special
providence was manifest, are here given, the facts being mainly culled
from his autobiography published under the title of "Life of a Pioneer."
Elder Brown was a member of the famous Mormon Battalion, and on being
mustered out of service in California in July, 1847, he journeyed to
Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento river, and became one of the original
discoverers of gold in California. After working in California for an
outfit, he with others made a hazardous journey eastward in search of
their friends the Pioneers, who, under the leadership of Brigham Young,
had located, as they understood, somewhere in the rocky mountains, but
just where they were uncertain. He arrived in Salt Lake valley on the
28th of September, 1848, and found the pioneers living in a fort on
what is now Pioneer Square. There he was warmly welcomed by relatives
and friends and settled down to help develop the country.
In the summer of 1849 he witnessed the threatened destruction of the
whole of the crops being raised in the valley by the onslaught of
crickets, and the miraculous saving of the crops by swarms of seagulls
coming from the west and devouring the crickets.
Then he was called to go upon a mission to the Society Islands.
President Brigham Young said to him "I promise you in the name of the
Lord, God of Israel that if you go you will be blessed, and do good,
and be an honor to yourself and to the Church and Kingdom of God.
Although men will seek your life, you shall be spared and return to the
bosom of the Church in safety." President Willard Richards also said to
him "Brother James, when you are upon yonder distant islands, called
to preside over a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, men will seek your life, and to all human appearance there will
be no possible escape; then look unto God, and His angels shall drawn
near unto you, and you shall be delivered to return home unto this
people."
In company with Elder Addison Pratt, who had previously filled a
mission to the Society Islands, he set out, first proceeding to
California by the southern route. They had occasion to feel that
they were providentially preserved on the journey, as, through a
disagreement as to the road they should travel, the majority of the
company (including about 500 emigrants bound for California from
somewhere in the east) and who persisted in going contrary to the
advice of Apostle Charles C. Rich, got lost and nearly all of them
perished from thirst and starvation in Death Valley. The missionaries
were content to follow the advice of Apostle Rich, and, after a
somewhat perilous journey arrived safely in San Francisco. There
they secured passage on the brig "Frederick" and sailed away to the
southwest for Tahiti April 20, 1850.
They landed at Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, the largest island of
the Society group, May 24, 1850, where they were met and welcomed by
a few natives whom Addison Pratt had converted while on a previous
mission.
They soon learned that they would have to meet the combined opposition
of Protestant ministers and Catholic priests, who were determined,
if possible, to prevent them from becoming established there. These
opponents had great influence with the representatives of the French
government that maintained a protectorate over the greater part of the
Society Islands.
They called upon the governor of the French protectorate and tried
to obtain permission to visit Tubuai, a distant island, to which
place they had a chance of obtaining free passage, but were refused
permission, as the governor expressed fear of the effect of their
preaching. He required that they furnish him a detailed statement of
the principles they taught and the methods and policy they pursued in
their missionary work, all of which, however, failed to satisfy the
governor that he could safely trust them. The governor then prepared
a list of questions for the Elders to answer and pledges for them to
subscribe to, all of which they complied with, but all to no avail,
for the governor had evidently determined not to allow them to do any
proselyting.
Elder Brown made the acquaintance of many ministers and missionaries of
other creeds, some of whom professed to have a feeling of friendship
for him and his work, but who secretly exerted all their powers and
influence to oppose him and instigate the government to curtail his
liberties and prevent the spread of the Gospel. Upon one occasion he
was visited by two very pretty young native women who were attractively
dressed and highly perfumed, and who expressed a desire to investigate
"Mormonism." He received them cordially and offered to afford them any
information he could, but was blessed with the spirit of discernment
and impressed with the fact that they were not sincere in their
profession, but had, in fact, come for the purpose of seducing him.
He surprised them by telling them of his suspicion as to the purpose
of their visit, and that certain rival ministers had induced them to
come to him, suggesting to them that Elder Brown was hypocritical in
his profession of religion, and in reality a licentious man who would
readily succumb to the cunning wiles of lewd women and, by being
caught in the trap devised by them, have his reputation blasted and
his missionary work effectually stopped by the exposure that would
follow. The women acknowledged that he had correctly discerned and
described the cause and purpose of their visit and the identity of its
instigators, and on being warned to repent and assured that "Mormon"
missionaries were not such characters as they had been led to suppose,
the women abandoned the scheme to which they had lent themselves, and
left him.
The first baptism in which Elder Brown officiated on the islands was
that of a highly educated and influential young native woman who had
become convinced of the truth of the principles he taught and applied
to him to baptize her. She was so ill that she had to be carried into
the water, but when she was baptized she was immediately healed and
walked out of the water without help. The ministers raised a great
outcry about his endangering her life by immersing her, and soon had
the police searching for him for the purpose of placing him under
arrest. The officers failed to find him, although he made no effort
to evade them, and the excitement over the baptism of the young woman
gradually subsided.
Failing to get the consent of the governor or other officials for them
to engage in missionary labor, and tiring of the restraint of remaining
in comparative idleness in the region of Papeete, the Elders decided to
scatter out and do missionary work as they might find opportunity.
While Elder Brown was on his way to Tubuai, where he was appointed
to preside, the boat upon which he was making the voyage had to put
into the harbor of the island of Laivavai to seek refuge from a storm.
He mentions that the island was only four miles in length and two in
width, and had a population of three hundred and eighty-three people.
He described them as having the wildest and fiercest look of any
that he had ever met. However, he had no cause to complain of their
treatment at the time. His next stop was on the island of Tubuai, which
is only twelve or fifteen miles in length, and had a population of four
hundred. It was upon this island that the gospel was first introduced.
That was in July, 1844, the missionaries being Addison Pratt, Noah
Rogers and B. F. Grouard, who were sent on a mission from Nauvoo by the
Prophet Joseph Smith, in 1843. Knowlton F. Hanks was also one of the
party called to fill this mission, but he died during the voyage to his
field of labor. While attempting to effect a landing, the boat had the
narrowest possible escape from being wrecked upon a coral reef. As it
was, the passengers were spilled into the raging billows among crags
and rocks, but were fortunate in escaping serious injury.
After laboring for awhile on the island of Tubuai, he proceeded to
Anaa, in the Tuamotu group. A somewhat unusual incident occured when
Elder Brown and a number of other passengers were about to land at
Tuuhora on the island of Auaa. As they neared the shore a native came
bounding through the water until he reached the stern of the boat where
Elder Brown was seated. Then he reached out his hand which had in it
five pearls wrapped in a small rag, saying at the same time: "Here, I
have seen you before. You have come to be our president, for you have
been shown to me in a dream. Welcome, welcome to our land!" He then
turned his broad, muscular back towards Elder Brown and invited the
missionary to mount and be carried ashore. The Elder gladly did so,
and notwithstanding he was an unusually large man, he was carried with
ease to the shore, where he was joyfully greeted by a goodly number of
church members who soon prepared a feast of welcome for him.
CHAPTER II.
CATHOLIC PRIESTS JEALOUS OF HIS SUCCESS--ARRESTED ON A TRUMPED-UP
CHARGE--TRIED BEFORE GOVERNOR'S AID-DE-CAMP--FRIGHTFUL SCENE AMONG
A SCHOOL OF WHALES--FARCE OF A TRIAL BEFORE THE GOVERNOR OF THE
PROTECTORATE--INSPIRED TO PLEAD HIS OWN CAUSE--IMPRESSION MADE
UPON THE GOVERNOR--AMERICAN CONSUL'S FRIENDLY ACT--BANISHED FROM
TAHITI--BEFRIENDED BY A QUEEN.
The natives were eager for the Gospel, and he lost no time in
commencing the work of proselyting among them. He also engaged in
conducting day schools among the natives with good effect, the natives
being anxious to attend and quick to learn. The Catholic priests of the
region, however, who were making almost frantic efforts to proselyte
as well as to establish schools in imitation of those of Elder Brown,
were so jealous of his success and so chagrined at their own failure,
that they set about devising schemes to discredit Elder Brown and
gain an advantage over him. They even went to the extreme of taking
forcible possession of a meeting house built and exclusively owned
by the Latter-day Saints, and trying to monopolize the use of it.
They presumed upon their influence with the officers of the French
protectorate to sustain them in this arbitrary and high-handed conduct,
and continued it even in the face of a decision against them, when the
officers could find no warrant even in the rank anti-"Mormon" prejudice
then prevailing for favoring the priests, much as they desired to do so.
While at Putuhara, on the island of Anaa, Elder Brown was arrested
on a trumped-up charge and haled before the governor's aid-de camp,
who had arrived on the French war frigate "Durance." It was soon
evident that the Catholic priests had conspired to entrap him for the
purpose of breaking down his influence with the natives and closing
his schools. When the charges, which were both frivolous and absurd,
were read to him he plead not guilty and asked the privilege of being
tried in the vicinity, where he felt sure he could soon establish his
innocence. This privilege was refused on the plea that his offense
was too great and he was too dangerous to be tried before any less
personage than the governor. He would therefore have to go to Tahiti
and appear before the governor. After being compelled to witness the
most shameless and revolting immorality on the part of the guard who
had him in charge he was thrust into a filthy and foul smelling old
oil boat and thus conveyed to the war frigate, which was lying off
shore, there being no harbor or anchorage at that island. While the
boat was proceeding to the frigate it ran into a school of whales that
numbered hundreds if not thousands. The native oarsmen propelling the
boat were almost paralyzed with fear, and withdrew their oars and
scarcely dared to breath while the whales were passing. Elder Brown
in relating the circumstance admitted that although he had been in a
great many dangerous places he had never felt the hair on his head so
much inclined to stand on end before as while witnessing the passing of
those huge sea monsters, so close as to be touched with the hand, and
having the power if they had chosen to exert it, to smash the boat and
send its passengers into eternity by a mere whisk of the tail.
The voyage ended at the port of Papeete, November 3, 1851, and the
prisoner was soon transferred from the war frigate to a cobblestone
dungeon in the town. From there he was taken before the governor and
arraigned on the charges preferred against him. A native Catholic
was first introduced as a witness. He had evidently been coached in
regard to what he should say, but not sufficiently so to have it clear
in his mind, or else he had scruples against perjuring himself, for
he hesitated and seemed confused. The governor evidently thought his
confusion due to the prisoner looking at him, for he ordered Elder
Brown not to look at the witness, and told him that his "countenance
was so fierce and vivid as to baffle the most substantial witness."
The next person used against him as a witness was a man who had been
brought to Papeete as a prisoner, but never arraigned. He evidently
thought that his own immunity from prosecution depended upon his
furnishing damaging evidence against Elder Brown, and he seemed more
than willing to testify to anything.
Not liking the way the trial was proceeding, if it was a trial, as he
was being given no opportunity to defend himself, Elder Brown arose and
claimed his rights as an American citizen, making as strong a plea as
he could in his own behalf, and quoting international law and treaties
that came to his mind spontaneously upon the occasion, without his ever
having read or heard the same quoted before.
The governor and others present seemed to be profoundly impressed by
what he said, the result being that with much embarrassment the hearing
was closed and he was immediately marched back to his filthy cell.
About this time the American consul, W. H. Kelly, having heard of the
proceedings, called upon the governor in the interest of Elder Brown,
as an American citizen. The governor informed him that the prisoner was
a very dangerous as well as a very learned man, thoroughly familiar
with international laws and treaties, which he was able to quote from
memory, and that he was undoubtedly a military man of no mean ability.
Inquiring what he could do for the relief of the prisoner, he was told
that he could put up a 50,000 franc bond for the good conduct of the
Elder during the remainder of his stay under the jurisdiction of the
French protectorate, in which case he might regain his liberty, but
that he must leave the protectorate by the first out-going vessel,
no more to return on pain of perpetual imprisonment. The consul
accordingly put up the bond and Elder Brown was released and turned
over to him.
The consul advised that he confer with his friends and see what could
be done about complying with the terms of the governor's decree. The
missionaries were accordingly called together and discussed the decree
of banishment, with the result that they decided that Elder Brown had
better sail on the little schooner "Ravai," owned by the Saints and
commanded by B. F. Grouard. It was bound for a cruise among the Tuamotu
group of islands, and to make a final landing at Laivavai, four hundred
miles south-east of Tahiti, and outside of the protectorate. The vessel
was accordingly got ready and he sailed on board of it November 17,
1851.
As the boat was leaving the Tahitian harbor it encountered severe
headwinds and had to beat its way against wind and wave until it became
somewhat disabled. Provisions also ran short, and it became necessary
to change the course of the vessel and head it towards Tubuai. When
within eighty miles of that island, the provisions became utterly
exhausted and a dead calm set in. After severe suffering, Tubuai was
reached on the 29th of November.
When Pitamai Vehene, the queen, heard that Elder Brown had been
banished, she went out to the vessel in her own canoe and invited him
to go ashore with her and partake of her hospitality. She said "this
is my island, and the French have no right here. I will be responsible
for all the trouble that may arise." He accepted the invitation, was
entertained at the queen's mansion for a number of days, and then
continued his voyage to Laivavai, where he relieved Elder Pratt, who
was then presiding there.
CHAPTER III.
LAND AMONG CANNIBALS--DENOUNCED AS THE AMERICAN PLANT--HIS DESTRUCTION
DEMANDED--SENTENCED TO BE ROASTED AND EATEN--FIRE PREPARED--HIS
DEFIANCE OF THE RABID HOST--EFFECT UPON THE WILD HORDE WHO WERE EAGER
TO ROAST AND DEVOUR HIM--FIERCE FIGHT AMONG HIS OPPONENTS.
An intense anti-"Mormon" feeling had developed on that island since
his last previous visit, and he had scarcely landed when his life was
threatened by a leader of the anti-"Mormon" faction named Tabate. These
people had formerly been cannibals, and now when their passions were
aroused, as they frequently were on religious and other questions,
their state bordered very nearly on their original degraded level if it
didn't quite reach it. They not only gloried in their former practices,
but they dwelt with unction upon the hope of returning thereto. They
practiced grimmaces and distortions and incantations, gave free rein
to their wild passions and in anticipation reverted again to their old
lives of crime and cannibalism.
Unfortunately there were persons unscrupulous enough to play upon
the prejudices of the natives in this time of excitement to gratify
their own malicious desires and gain a mean advantage for their
own pet faction. Two young protestant ministers engaged in making
inflammatory speeches against the "Mormons" and especially against
Elder Brown, whose influence among the natives they greatly feared and
saw no prospect of coping with. They alluded to him as "that American
plant" which they predicted would soon grow to such proportions as
to overshadow the land and stifle all other creeds or ministers.
They demanded that the natives give this "American plant" no further
tolerance, but drive him from their midst.
About the 5th of May, 1852, the whole people were called to assemble
at the village of Tatake and prepare a feast, and at the same time to
decide what to do with the "Mormon" minister and his disciples. The
young braves came together armed with muskets, and apparently bent
upon extreme measures. The people brought together an immense quantity
and great variety of edibles, including roast pigs, fish, poultry
and fruits of all kinds known in the region. The food was divided up
according to families and the number in families, and the portion of
ten men was set before Elder Brown with the injunction to eat and get
fat for the roast. Much jesting was indulged in during the banquet,
and many allusions made to the feast of roast missionary which was to
follow, as if it were a good joke, but at the conclusion of the banquet
all became silent as if they had eaten to satiety and required a rest.
But to the friends of Elder Brown this silence was ominous. They
could not believe that the dire plot against the missionary had been
abandoned or forgotten. The silence, they feared, was but the precursor
of a more dreadful and revolting orgie than any they had witnessed.
About 1 p. m. the excitement was renewed. Two great ruffians armed with
clubs entered Elder Brown's apartment and announced that they had been
sent to summon him before the council. If he refused they said they
were under orders to forcibly drag him there. He immediately arose to
go with them, and as he did so the promise of Brigham Young and also
that of President Willard Richards, made to him when he was called to
go upon his mission, came to his mind, with the assurance that the time
had arrived for their fulfillment. As predicted, his life was now being
sought, but his enemies would not succeed, for his life would be spared
to return in safety to his mountain home and friends. He had no feeling
of doubt or depression, but on the contrary he was calmly confident and
cheerful. He walked out to the beach where the people had assembled,
and the few faithful members of the Church upon the island followed
close behind him. As they passed the heap of burning timber which had
such a significance, they faced a formidable row of about fifteen
young athletes with close cropped hair and bodies naked except for a
cloth around their loins, and oiled so that they shone with a savage
fierceness in the firelight, standing with folded arms as if ready for
the word to offer a victim to the flames. As the missionary and his
friends approached the demon-like Tabate stepped forward and commanded
that "all the Britons stand on the right hand with the sheep, and the
'Mormons' stand on the left where the goats are." Among the followers
of Elder Brown was a brave young native named Rivae and his wife who
had an eight-months'-old babe in her arms. With sublime courage this
devoted young husband stepped forward and said "If you are going to
burn this man," pointing to Elder Brown, "you burn me first!" His wife
immediately followed and, holding her babe at arms' length shouted "I
am a 'Mormon' and this baby will be a 'Mormon' if he lives, so you will
have to burn all of us to put a stop to 'Mormonism.'" Rivae and his
wife were ordered to stand aside, and Elder Brown was ordered to take a
position in a space between the two parties. Then Tabate, the spokesman
or judge taunted him with being the cause of all the trouble, and,
pointing to the heap of burning embers, declared the decision to be
that he must there be roasted and eaten.
Yielding to a sudden feeling that came over him at that moment, Elder
Brown stood erect before them, and, with arms raised high in the air,
shouted "In the name of Israel's God I defy the host of you; for I
serve the God who delivered Daniel from the den of lions and the three
Hebrew children from the fiery furnace!"
The change that immediately came over the scene was as if caused by
magic. A spirit of division rested upon the judge who had passed the
sentence, his councilors and the executioners, and they were soon
engaged in a deadly grapple. This seemed to be the signal for the whole
assembly to enter into the fiercest kind of a fight. They used clubs
and stones and any other kind of a weapon they could get hold of;
also pulled hair, bit and scratched and gouged in the most desperate
struggle, inflicting all the damage they could upon one another until
they were compelled to cease from sheer exhaustion at the close of the
day.
In this final conflict some of the Church members seemed impelled to
take a hand. They fought with savage ferocity until the time came
when, as if by common consent, they all ceased to fight and demurely
slunk away to their homes with many sore heads and aching bodies, to
think over, but perhaps without being able to recall, their reason for
engaging in the deadly struggle.
The rest may soon be told.
Elder Brown continued to live upon the small island of Laivavai, for he
had no opportunity to get away, but he was treated with consideration,
and apparently regarded with superstitious awe.
Those who had contemplated roasting and eating him must have been
careful to shun him thereafter, for he never knowingly met any of them.
Upon one occasion he recognized one of them at a distance but noticed
that he almost immediately commenced running from him, as if in fear.
In a spirit of fun Elder Brown pursued him and succeeded in overtaking
him after a long chase. On questioning the man as to his reason for
running away from him, he was told that he was feared because he seemed
to be divinely assisted; that when he defied the populace as he was
about to be sacrificed there appeared to be a pillar of light extending
from the heavens down to his head, and it was regarded as a sign of
divine favor, and those who saw it feared to touch him.
They were not the only ones who gave the Lord the credit for coming to
his relief. Elder Brown did so himself. He acknowledged that it was
only through the mercy and power of the Lord that he was delivered from
that howling mob who had set their hearts upon subjecting him to a most
horrible death and were then intent upon devouring his flesh.
We can imagine how easy it was for the Lord to create the impression
that He did upon the hearts of those ignorant depraved people. James
S. Brown was a magnificent specimen of physical manhood. He was tall
and well proportioned, with a fearless manner about him, betokening
the possession of unusual courage. He had a sonorous voice and a
penetrating look that was well calculated to make cowards quail. When
he stood forth in the majesty of his strength and in the firm belief
that the Lord was going to protect him, even as His prophets had
declared, and defied the superstitious horde that sought his life, it
seems the most natural thing in the world that they should be stricken
dumb with astonishment and terror. It is not detracting any from the
credit due the Lord to explain that His purpose might have been and
probably was accomplished in a perfectly natural way. It was long
before remarked by the Protestant ministers when they sought to have
his liberties curtailed because he had baptized an invalid and she had
been healed of her ailment, that he had "such a fierce countenance and
expressive voice as to excite a person suffering the most excruciating
pain until he would not realize that he had any suffering at all."
The governor of the French protectorate had also complained of his so
terrifying a witness by simply looking at him as to disqualify him
for service. He therefore ordered that Elder Brown cease to look at
the witness, saying his countenance was so "fierce and vivid as to
baffle the most substantial witness." Then too, he had the reputation
of being a man of nerve and resource--a man who did things. He had in
many instances extracted teeth with no better instrument than a bullet
mold or a hammer and chisel, or rusty nail that could be used as a
punch. He had performed surgical operations successfully when he had
found people suffering from carbuncles or abscesses by use only of
a sharp pocket knife. He had acquired the native language and other
dialects with wonderful facility and spoke several dialects fluently;
in fact, he was almost a natural linguist. All these and other things
as well as his appearance caused him to be regarded as a remarkable
man. His unconcern too as to the identity of the people who tried to
sacrifice him was probably also noticed. It was sufficient for him to
know that he was no longer molested. To him the incident was closed.
He probably never thought of it afterwards except in a casual way.
When he returned home after an absence of three and two-thirds years
and had occasion to mention his narrow escape from being burned and
devoured in connection with his various other experiences, he found it
was wholly lacking in corroboration; he could not refer to anyone who
had witnessed it or knew of the facts. And so it continued for nearly
if not quite forty years, when he again found himself upon a mission in
the Society Islands. He was a greatly changed man then, enfeebled by
age and sickness, and under the necessity of walking with crutches as
a result of his having lost a limb through being accidentally shot. He
found only few people then who remembered his former labors upon the
islands and fewer still who recognized him. He casually mentions in his
autobiography that on visiting the island of Laivavai in company with
Elder Wm. A. Seegmiller "we met a man--the fourth on the island--who
was on the island of Laivavai when the natives had built a fire to burn
me, and when I was delivered by the power of God. They claimed to have
been present when I was sentenced, but denied taking any part in the
proceedings."
Elder Seegmiller, who is now a Bishop in Richfield, Utah, remembers
meeting those men as mentioned. He also had the place pointed out to
him where the sacrifice so nearly occurred, and heard the circumstance
incidentally alluded to many times in connection with the folk lore of
the island, or as a legend of the days of heathendom. All that he heard
was substantially in accord with the narrative as here given.
PARKIN REMINISCENSE
CHAPTER I.
PROMISE TO PAY MONEY WITH ONLY FAITH TO BACK IT--HOW THE MONEY WAS
PROVIDED--LESSON HIS WIFE DREW FROM IT.
Brother Wm. J. Parkin, of South Bountiful, tells this story of how the
Lord can and will open up the way for those who have faith to fulfill
their promises and accomplish their righteous desires:
He arrived in Utah in the year 1863, fresh from England, and very poor.
He had not succeeded in accumulating much when, in the following year,
he ventured to get married. While attending conference in Salt Lake
City the following spring he heard President Brigham Young announce to
the assembly that he wanted a collection taken up in the several wards
for the immigration of the poor, and wished every man to subscribe to
the extent of his ability. The following Sunday he attended meeting in
Bountiful and heard Bishop Stoker repeat the call.
Brother Parkin is a man of generous impulses, and felt like doing his
full duty in so worthy a cause, but was absolutely without funds, and
didn't know where or how he would be able to obtain any, but he was the
first man to arise and say what he would do. He said, "Bishop, you may
put me down for $2.50." The money was to be paid within two weeks.
When he returned home from meeting his wife, who had not been at the
meeting, met him at the gate with tears in her eyes. She had already
heard from a neighbor of what her husband had promised to do, and
knew too that he had no money. Her heart was in the work of the Lord,
and she would have been more than willing to help migrate the poor
if she had been able so to do, but her high sense of honor would not
brook the making of a promise she could not fulfill. She greeted him
reproachfully with the exclamation: "What have you done?" He had no
guilty feeling, and asked her what she meant. "You have promised to
give two-and-a-half dollars, and haven't a cent, nor any way of getting
any. Do you know that I had to sit up and wash and iron a shirt for you
after you went to bed last night, so that you might have a decent shirt
to wear to-day?"
"Well, I know that we are very poor," he replied, "but I believe the
Lord will provide a way for me to fulfill the promise. Perhaps he will
make the chickens lay more eggs, or the cow give more milk, so you will
have butter to sell."
"How can you expect that," said she, "when we only have three hens and a
rooster, and the cow is almost dry."
Peace was patched up between the couple by his assurance that what he
had done in the matter of making that promise was done from a strict
sense of duty, and because he had faith that the Lord would somehow
enable him to fulfill it. She knew him too well to doubt his good
intentions, and was too good a woman to further reproach him therefor,
though she did not share his faith about his being able to keep his
promise.
Time passed without his securing any money until the day before he
was to pay it. On the morning of that day when he was out in the yard
attending to his chores he noticed a fairly well-defined path, that he
had not observed before, leading from his chicken coop into a patch
of brush that grew near. Following the path out into the brush, he
there found a big nest full of eggs. Carrying them into the house,
he met his wife at the door, who was just coming out to exhibit to
him a good-sized chunk of butter which she had just taken out of the
churn--ever so much more than she had been in the habit of getting.
Their surprise was mutual when he counted out before her eyes thirty
clean, fresh-looking eggs--all the more surprising because they had
both previously thought they were getting all the eggs their hens
produced.
While they were still beaming with satisfaction over their good
fortune, a knock was heard at the door, and upon opening it a stranger,
an overland immigrant, was met, who inquired if they had any butter and
eggs to sell. The eggs just brought in were pointed out with the remark
that he might have them, and the good wife also produced the lump of
freshly-made butter. The stranger said he would be glad to buy both,
and if they could spare him some buttermilk also he would regard that
as a favor. He was assured that they would be glad to do so, and that
he could have them at his own price.
He produced from his wallet a diminutive coin, such as they had never
seen before, and offered it to them, and Brother Parkin inquired, "What
is that?" "That is a two-and-a-half dollar gold piece," the stranger
replied.
"Well," said Brother Parkin, "I have no change and that is entirely too
much. Have you no small change?"
The stranger told him to keep it. He was welcome to it. That he was
glad to get the butter, eggs and buttermilk at any price, as he had
applied in vain at so many houses for them that he had begun to despair
about being able to get any.
The stranger carried away his small purchase, rejoicing, and Brother
and Sister Parkin were profuse in their thanks to him, and very
grateful to the Lord, for having inspired him to supply them with the
means of fulfilling the promise made to the Bishop.
Sister Parkin was so impressed with the fact that the money had come as
a special providence from the Lord, and so thankful that her husband's
honor could now be saved that she actually shed tears of joy, and
assured him that she would never more reproach him for being too rash
in trying to do his duty as a Latter-day Saint, and hoped never again
to be lacking in faith that the Lord will provide.
The day following, being Sunday, he attended meeting as usual, and
presented the gold piece to the Bishop with the remark that it was his
donation to help immigrate the poor. The Bishop accepted it with a "God
bless you, Brother Parkin; yours is the first money paid of all that
was promised."