CHAPTER VII.

SELLING A LOAD OF CARROTS TO AN EX-MISSIONARY, WHOSE PARSIMONY IS

EXHIBITED--SOME REFLECTIONS THEREON.

Some years after Father Parkin migrated to Utah he rode to Salt Lake

City one day with his son William, who was bringing a load of carrots

to sell. As they rode along the street they met M.... T....,

a man who had served as a missionary in England when they were new

converts, and been entertained many times at their house, and to whom

Father Parkin had been unusually generous when he was released to

return to his home in Utah.

Brother T...., who had the reputation of being among the wealthiest

citizens of Salt Lake, and as stingy as he was thrifty, hailed them

(recognizing them of course) and inquired what they wanted for their

carrots, and was told "25 cents per bushel."

On further inquiry he learned that they had forty bushels in the wagon,

and after some parleying decided to buy the load. The wagon was driven

into his yard, and Brother T.... procured a bushel basket to have

them measured with, evidently not caring to buy them according to the

measurement of Brother Parkin.

Brother Parkin offered no objection to having them measured, knowing

that he had been rather generous in his measurement of the carrots,

but regretted the delay that it would cause, as he and his father both

had some purchases to make before they could leave town, and they were

anxious to get home.

When the wagon was not more than half unloaded Brother T....

was called by his wife to come to dinner, and he asked his old

acquaintances, father and son, to excuse him for a few minutes, and

take a rest while he ate his dinner (leaving them to understand, of

course, that he wanted to see the rest of the carrots measured.)

Work was suspended and father and son cogitated a few moments while

each munched at a carrot, for their appetites were keen enough

to enable them to enjoy a good dinner too if the dinner had been

forth-coming, and soon the father broke the silence.

"My son," said he, "can you imagine Elder M.... T.... when he was

a missionary in England eating a carrot in a barn while I indulged in a

warm meal in the house."

The son responded that he could not imagine such a situation. "On the

contrary," he said, "I remember distinctly that he never called at our

house without being invited to eat, whether it was meal time or not,

and that the choicest cuts of meat were bought to provide him the best

meal possible, and that you paid thirty-six shillings for silk with

which to make a pair of stockings to present him with to bring home for

his wife when he was released from his mission, and that when those

stockings were made they were admired by everyone who saw them and

declared to be fit for any queen or princess to wear."

"Well, my son," the father added, "I don't regret anything I ever did

for a missionary. When I embraced "Mormonism" I did it because I was

sure it was the truth, and I afterwards tried to serve the Lord just

as thoroughly as I had ever served the devil before. The truth is not

affected by men's actions, and men's actions are not always affected

by their knowledge of the truth. Brother T.. probably knows that the

Gospel is true, but it has apparently not changed his nature. I don't

envy him his nature or his possessions. Better live on raw carrots and

retain our love for the truth and our respect for those who have served

with us in its promulgation, than have the wealth of this world and

forget or cease to respect our former friends and associates in the

ministry."

The son was impressed with the change the Gospel had wrought in his

father, for he could easily recall the time when he would not have

looked charitably upon any action that savored of meanness or parsimony

in one of his fellows, and when the more pretentious the person was (be

he preacher or layman) who displayed any such characteristic, the more

bold and ready he would have been to denounce him to his face.

The rumination was ended. Brother T.... returned from the house and

the unloading of the carrots was resumed, Brother T.... keeping

tally with a pencil on a board as the baskets were emptied. When only a

few bushels remained to be measured he exclaimed: "Never mind measuring

any more, I see you have forty bushels, allright."

Then the son decided that it was his turn to speak right out in

meeting. "But, Brother T----, I do mind! It was you that wanted these

carrots measured. I would have sold them to you for forty bushels if

you had been satisfied to take them without measuring. Now we will

finish measuring, and if there are more than forty bushels, we will

take the overplus home, if you do not want to pay 25 cents a bushel for

them."

The measurement of the balance disclosed the fact that there were

forty-two bushels in the load, and Brother T.... rather shamefacedly

handed over $10.50 in payment therefor.

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--CRUEL

TREATMENT--PUMPING SUGAR AND WATER--SHIP CRUSHED AGAINST

BREAKWATER--RECKLESS JUMP--WOES AS A COOK.

According to the old fatalistic saw: "If a man is born to be hung, he

can never be drowned." This is far more trite than true. So far as

it implies that any man is born or predestined to be hung, it is not

true. But that some have been marvelously and repeatedly preserved from

drowning, and that there is evidently some reason for their apparent

immunity, is true.

Brother Ernest R. S. Schnelle has had many narrow escapes from

drowning, and been subjected to very many accidents of other kinds. He

firmly believes that there has been a Providence over his life, and

that his willingness to accept the Gospel and devote his life to the

service of the Master may be the sequel therefor.

He was born on the 25th of May, 1852, in Bremen, Germany. He fell in

the fire when only a few months old, and narrowly escaped burning to

death. He bears the scar of the burn on his forehead even now. He was

almost drowned in a mill race when he was only two years old. Of course

he doesn't remember the incident, but was told so by his parents.

His mother was a consistent member of the Protestant Church, but

his father while nominally of the same creed had a poor opinion of

preachers in general and was never known to attend Church but once,

and that was on the occasion of the confirming of his eldest son; and

then he seized his hat and left in the midst of the sermon, not having

patience to remain longer.

Without explaining her reason for the belief, the mother used to say

that the time would come when one of her boys would believe in the God

of Heaven. Of the parents and seven children which the family included,

Ernest (the subject of this sketch) and one brother are all that are

now alive, and Ernest has had such a checkered career that it is a

wonder that he has survived.

When five years old he accidentally fell from a housetop, and was

supposed to be dead when picked up, but, to the surprise of all his

friends, he soon recovered.

When seven years of age he threw a snowball at a girl in a spirit of

fun. She resented it by taking off her wooden shoe and crushing his

skull in with it.

When nine years old he had an accidental fall, and broke his right arm,

and also fell from a ladder and drove his front teeth through his lip.

When he was fourteen years of age he went to sea, as cabin boy, in a

Spanish barque, called the "Tres Hermanos," of Allicante, Spain, bound

for Havana, Cuba. During the voyage the crew mutinied, some Spaniards

being among them who used their knives quite freely. The chief officer

was beaten most shamefully and almost killed, but the captain finally

brought the rebellious men under subjection.

On reaching Havana, Ernest quit the vessel, and shipped on the Spanish

brig "Michael Angel," bound for Falmouth, England. The very first day

after sailing from Havana he was stricken with yellow fever, a disease

that was so prevalent in Cuba that many ships in the harbors were

unable to sail for want of crews, so many of the sailors having died of

the fever.

Ernest had the fever so badly for nine days that he was not expected to

recover; in fact, no one thought it worth while trying to save him. He

was delirious as a result of the fever, and was fastened in the sail

locker at night, and allowed to lie on the water casks in the day time.

However, he lived in spite of the neglect with which he was treated,

but before he had recovered his strength he fell overboard. The cook

happened to hear the splash as he struck the water, and on looking

around saw him come to the surface and threw a rope to him, by which he

was hauled on board.

On the 8th of December, 1866, the ship encountered a terrific storm in

the Bay of Biscay, during which the starboard bulwarks was washed away,

and the ship sprang a leak. The cargo consisted of crude sugar and

cacao beans, and the sugar became dissolved through the water rushing

into the hold. The crew had to be kept busy for two and a half days,

pumping the sugar and water out of the hold, to keep the ship afloat.

Falmouth was reached in the beginning of January, and the ship was

repaired. On the 18th of January she set sail for London, with a

channel pilot on board. The next day she encountered a severe storm in

which she lost her foremast head, and the pilot thought best to return

to Falmouth, which place was reached the following day. The storm

increased in fury and the ship, dragging both anchors, was being driven

on to the break water. Her signals of distress brought no relief, for

all the ships near by had enough to do to take care of themselves. The

ship struck broadside against the breakwater, damaging it to such an

extent that it sank within a few minutes.

Ernest was standing upon the deck when the collision occurred, and

sprang towards the breakwater. It was a very daring--in fact, foolhardy

thing for him to do, as he had about one chance in a thousand of

escaping death, but fortunately he did escape, by clutching the timbers

of the breakwater, almost as a cat would, and clinging on thereto.

As the ship sank the crew clambered up the breakwater and were saved.

Ernest had been so cruelly treated while on board the brig that he had

little regret at the loss of the vessel. The captain was a Spaniard,

and a most hard-hearted, cruel man. He was the owner of the vessel, and

was so avaricious that he actually begrudged the boy the food required

to keep him alive. He expected him to subsist upon such scraps as were

left from his own meals, and if there were none left, for him to go

without, and would curse him if he asked for food, telling him that he

was a poor Spaniard, and couldn't afford to feed him. When the ship was

lost, not being insured, he was indeed poor. The crew were so incensed

at him, because they couldn't collect the pay due them, that several

of them actually drew their knives and attempted to assault him in the

Spanish Consul's office at Falmouth.

Ernest was kept at the Cornwall Sailors' Home for a few weeks, as he

neither had any means of subsistence nor chance to go home, and then

was told to get out and shift for himself. He began seeking employment

among the ships in port, and soon succeeded in finding a captain who

was willing to employ him as cabin boy at $5.00 per month.

His new berth was soon found to be but little better than his former

one, so far as treatment was concerned. The first job given him to do

was to black the captain's shoes. The shoes were wet, and he didn't

succeed in making them shine as nicely as they otherwise would have

done, and he received a clout for it that almost made him see stars.

However, he had sufficient to eat, and was thankful for that. The

vessel was a Hanoverian brig, the "Lucy von Leer," Captain Jensen

commanding, bound for Antwerp.

He soon found out that, in addition to serving as cabin boy, he was

also expected to cook for the officers and crew. While preparing his

first dinner he was sent aloft to shorten sail, and when he came down

the peas he was cooking were burned, and that brought down upon him the

wrath of all the officers and men who learned of it. The channel pilot

yelled for some one to beat him, and he had to run the gauntlet to

escape the blows aimed at him.

After arriving at Antwerp, while waiting for the crew to be paid off,

and when he had just finished cooking the Sunday dinner, several of

the crew volunteered special praise for the quality of the soup he had

made for them. He was so overjoyed thereat that he forgot to take the

spoons from the water in which he had been washing the dishes, and

threw them and the water together overboard into the dock. The spoons

were not missed until supper time arrived, and then the failure to

find them resulted in his recalling and confessing his forgetful act,

and receiving such a general and merciless beating that the crew of a

Norwegian barque, lying in the dock near by interfered, and threatened

to come to his relief and thrash the Hanoverians if they didn't desist.

They stopped beating him, but the chief officer swore that he would get

even with the boy when he got to sea.

Fearing the threat might be executed, Ernest watched his chance to

escape, and succeeded in getting away two days later, probably saving

his life by doing so, as the boy taken in his place died of yellow

fever in Rio Janiero, whither the ship sailed.

Ernest succeeded in finding a chance to return home by working his

passage on a Hanoverian barque called "Emil," commanded by Captain

Onkier. When he went on board the ship, it being in the night, a big

Newfoundland dog seized him and nearly worried him to death. The dog

not only bit him severely, but so thoroughly frightened him that he

crouched in a corner, not daring to stir until the carpenter discovered

him there the next morning and released him.

Being at the mercy of the crew on the voyage to Bremer Haven, he was

compelled to steal provisions and liquor for them, and was caught in

the act by the Captain who struck him on the side of the head with such

force that it sent him reeling, and he was subsequently beaten by the

crew for his lack of success. During the nine days' voyage he had no

bed to sleep on or cover himself with, and he was about as comfortless

as when he shared the bed of the dog.

He reached home nine months after first embarking, about half clad and

without a cent to show for the time he had been absent.

His parents, however, gave him a hearty welcome, and were horrified at

learning of his narrow escapes and severe treatment.

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."

In April, 1867, he found employment as an ordinary seaman on a German

mail boat, sailing between Bremer Haven and New York, his compensation

being $6.00 per month. He fared so much better on that vessel that he

quite enjoyed his berth, but was ambitious to learn more of seamanship

than he could on the steamer, and after one year's service quit that

and joined the Hamburg barque "Amazone," bound for Cardiff to load

up with coal for Hong Kong, China. As the vessel was leaving the

Geestemunde dock, her owner stood on the quay side, and, as the last

rope was cast off, he placed his hand on the ship's side and said,

"Good by Amazone; I will never see you again!"

Ernest heard the remark, and repeated it to two of his comrades.

Sailors are notoriously superstitious, and the effect was that they

felt sure the vessel was not going to reach her destination. They laid

their plans to desert the ship at Cardiff, and would have succeeded if

some one had not overheard their talk, and reported to an officer. They

had each two suits of clothes on, prepared to make their escape, when

they were apprehended by a policeman and compelled to return. Ernest

plead with the captain to let him go, saying he could keep all his

belongings and wages due if he would only grant him his liberty, but

didn't dare tell why he wanted to escape. The captain however, refused,

saying he had never had a man desert him, and he wouldn't allow him to.

With the exception of alternate head winds and calms, which greatly

retarded the vessel, nothing serious occurred until the Cape of Good

Hope was rounded, when heavy storms and high seas were encountered. The

bulwarks were swept away, the main batch burst in, and six casks of

fresh water were swept overboard. Ernest and a companion were standing

at the steering wheel when the second mate warned them to hold on, as a

heavy sea was about to break over the ship. They both gripped the wheel

with all their strength, but, as the wave passed over, Ernest saw, to

his horror, his companion go with it; then, marvelous to relate, as the

ship bent down under the weight of the second huge wave, the sailor

grasped a mizzen chain and clung on, and shouted until others of the

crew came to his relief and hauled him back to safety.

With nine feet of water in the hold, the ship was unmanageable, and

the captain told the crew they would either have to pump or sink. By

some working the pumps for dear life, and others nailing canvas over

the hatchway, and stanchion holes, and by throwing eighty tons of cargo

overboard to lighten the ship, they managed to weather the storm; but

five nights and four days had passed before they dared cease pumping.

This danger had not long passed when a new horror presented itself--a

scarcity of fresh water. For six long weeks they were dependent upon

the steam from a saucepan or the dew that could be mopped up in the

early morning from the ship's railing to quench their thirst, and

the suffering they endured as a result in that hot, dry climate is

indescribable. At the end of that time the English barque "Virginia"

was sighted, and a casque of water obtained, and also another from

the "Fair Leader" of Plymouth, England, which relieved them until an

uncharted reef was struck in the China Sea, and the vessel, after

hanging amidships for about ten hours, broke in two and foundered. The

officers and crew were saved by taking to the life boats in the night,

but without being able to secure any provisions or stores, as the sea

was high and broke constantly over the vessel as it hung upon the reef.

The breaking asunder and sinking of the vessel was witnessed from a

distance after day had dawned.

The bark "Fair Leader" already mentioned as having furnished a cask

of fresh water, was in the vicinity and saw the signals of distress

after the "Amazone" had struck the reef, and steered in the direction

indicated. When it was light enough to see, the two boats were sighted

and the men picked up. Then it was learned that a member of the crew

of the "Fair Leader," who was dying of dropsy, had evidently seen in

vision the destruction of the "Amazone," and the peril of the crew

afterwards, afloat in the life boats. He told his mates of the very

time of the boats leaving the fated ship, that they were in two white

life boats, and that one had a flag and the other a blanket for a

sail; also that they would come on board the "Fair Leader" and remain

there a long time. Perhaps what he said, even more than the signals of

distress, influenced the officers of the "Fair Leader" in deciding to

remain in the vicinity until morning.

The "Amazone" crew were picked up about nine o'clock in the morning,

and one of the first things Ernest did after getting on board, was to

sit down upon what he supposed to be a roll of sail or blankets, that

he saw on the deck, but which proved to be the body of the sailor who

had seen in vision and told of their wreck and subsequent peril. He had

died soon after telling it, and was buried during the afternoon of the

same day.

A few days later the "Fair Leader" encountered a genuine typhoon, and

the ship sprang a leak and would probably have foundered had it not

been for the extra crew on board, who, by helping man the pumps, kept

her afloat. Ernest, while working at the pumps, was washed away by a

wave and struck with such force against the bulwark that his knee was

severely injured, and he had to be taken to a hospital for treatment on

reaching Shanghai, a month later.

He remained in Shanghai about five weeks, when he shipped on a German

bark "Catherine Jorgensen"--engaged in the China trade. He sailed

first to Nimpo, where a valuable cargo was taken on board and then set

sail for Hong Kong. He had the thrilling experience of being chased by

Chinese pirates, but escaped by a favorable wind propelling the barque

too fast for the pirate boat, with its more limited sailing capacity,

to overtake her.

Ernest sailed the China sea for three years. His last voyage there was

with a cargo of 900 coolies, bound for Singapore, where he quit the

ship and was transferred to a German ship called "Caroline," sailing

for Akiab, India. Four days later the ship was seized by the French

frigate "Dassas," and the crew taken prisoners, as the Franco-Prussian

war was then raging. Ernest and his companion sailors were taken to

a point just outside the Singapore harbor on the man-of-war, their

captors not daring to enter, as that would be considered an act of

hostility against Great Britain. There it was learned for the first

time by the ship's officers that the war was ended, the Germans having

conquered the French, and that the capture of the German ship while the

armistice was pending would subject the French government to a heavy

indemnity. On the arrival at Singapore of the "Caroline" the officers

and crew were liberated with apologies, and allowed to proceed with

their ship to Akiab.

Ernest contracted a virulent fever at Akiab, and would have been left

there by the ship had not the shore doctor forbidden it, declaring that

he never would recover if left there, but that he probably would if

taken to a colder clime. The fever left him when the ship rounded the

Cape of Good Hope. Landing at Falmouth, he proceeded to his old home

at Bremer Haven. As the ship entered the Bremer Haven dock, Ernest saw

his mother on the quay, watching for him, as she had been warned by

inspiration the night previous that he would arrive on that ship, that

day. She had not heard from him for more than two years, and had no

reason other than that mentioned for expecting that he was anywhere in

that region.

He remained home about nine days and then shipped on a Bremen ship

bound for Savannah, Georgia. He remained on that ship until it made a

subsequent voyage to Reval, Russia, where he left it and traveled for

awhile overland, going as far as Cronstadt. He was under suspicion

because of having no passport, and narrowly escaped being transported

to Siberia.

After following the sea for about twelve years, Ernest took up his

residence in England, locating first at Hull and afterwards in South

Shields, but continued to make voyages to various parts of the world,

generally serving as boatswain or steward. On one voyage to his native

land the ship "Thetis" in a violent storm had her bulk-head stove in

and was filled up with water to such an extent that the table was

floating around in the cabin, and, Ernest, with the companion way and

skylight battened down, was shut up like a rat in a trap, and busied

himself at baling the water out. To the surprise of all on board, they

succeeded in floating the ship into Hamburg. There Ernest secured for a

wife one whom he had known as a young girl.

They arranged to be married in England the following April, and, after

the cargo was discharged, he returned to England, where the ship was

thoroughly repaired. The following March, while entering the port of

Blyth, to load coal for Hamburg the "Thetis" was, through error of

judgment on the part of the captain, run on to the rocks and became

a total wreck. Of course, no lives were lost, but this wreck had the

effect of deferring Ernest's marriage. Instead of it occurring in

April, it was postponed till the following November. It took place in

Shields, England, where he established a home and lived for many years,

his six children being born there.

In 1888, while sailing on the ship "Breton," commanded by Captain Ole

Peterson, who was a Latter-day Saint, he first learned of "Mormonism."

He had been investigating Spiritualism, but abandoned it on learning

that the Spiritualists repudiated Christ as a Savior. He had heard of

the "Mormons" as being a bad people, but was anxious to learn from the

captain really what his belief was. He opened up a conversation by

asking the captain his opinion of Spiritualism. The captain replied:

"You are not a spiritualist. You belong to the Church of England, and

have now found what you have been looking for so many years--the true

Gospel. And you will soon become a Latter-day Saint." He then explained

the Gospel to him, and told how it had been restored to the earth

through the ministration of angels.

On hearing this Ernest's heart beat with joy, and he felt certain the

captain was telling the truth. He, being steward, one part of his duty

was to keep the captain's stateroom tidy, and while doing so a copy of

the Millennial Star came into his hands, which he read with avidity,

and learned still more of "Mormon" doctrine.

Adverse winds were encountered on that voyage, and they were twenty-one

days in making the round trip, whereas it should only have taken six

days. Ernest heard the captain make a remark that there must be some

reason for the weather being so against him, and said he wondered if

his wife had neglected to pay the money for tithing he had left with

her for that purpose. Ernest inquired what he meant by that, and had

the law of tithing explained to him, and he felt in his heart then that

it was a correct doctrine. On the captain's arrival in England he found

out that his wife had not paid the tithing.

One year from the time he first had the Gospel explained to him, Ernest

was baptized by Captain Peterson (September 18, 1889) in the North Sea.

Immediately after his confirmation he inquired of the captain where he

should send his tithing to, as he wanted to pay it. He commenced paying

it then, and has been faithful in doing so ever since.

On embracing the Gospel he remarked to Captain Peterson that he

supposed now his troubles were ended, but was told that he was wrong in

that supposition, for his troubles were only commencing; that he should

have the finger of scorn pointed at him, and find opposition even in

his own household; but to be comforted, for the day would come when his

wife would accept "Mormonism" and become a faithful Saint.

He found the captain's prediction to be verily true. While his wife

was at first very much wrought up over his conversion, she afterwards

investigated and embraced the Gospel, and has been faithful ever since.

From the time Ernest was baptized he advocated its doctrines and

was ridiculed and persecuted as a consequence, but the stronger the

opposition the more zeal he manifested. He received the nickname of

"Harry, the Mormon," and was better known by that soubriquet than any

other.

He was ordained an Elder April 5, 1891, and the next day baptized his

wife and her sister.

Ernest continued to follow the sea, and still met with adventures that

satisfied him that the devil had not ceased trying to encompass his

destruction.

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.

While on a voyage from Shields to Plymouth he was stricken with

rheumatic pains in his legs, that rendered him helpless; in fact,

his pain was so excruciating that morphine had to be injected into

him to get him out of his berth. He appealed to the Lord to know why

he should so suffer, when an assurance came to him that there was a

purpose in it, as there was a work for him to do in a hospital. The

captain was anxious to take Ernest back to his home, as he would reach

South Shields in two days' time, and plead with the doctor to give

him something to ease his pain in the meantime. The doctor, however,

positively refused to have him go, and insisted that he be sent to

the Royal Albert Hospital, at Devonport. On arriving there Ernest

soon became satisfied of the purpose of the Lord, for, on looking

around, he discovered that the patient occupying the cot on his left

was a true Israelite. He availed himself of an early chance to make

known the principles of the Gospel to him. The patient got out his

bible and verified by reference to it all the doctrines that Ernest

advanced, after which he declared his conviction that it was the truth.

Considerable excitement among the patients in the ward, as well as

the nurses and matron was the result. Two of the patients recalled

the fact that they had heard "Mormonism" preached and rejected it

forty-six years before. A minister visited the hospital early the next

morning, having evidently been sent for, to controvert what Ernest

had taught, but the converted patient put up such a strong defense of

Ernest and the latter bore such a strong testimony of the Truth, that

the minister was soon glad to retire discomfited. The patient praised

God that the truth had come to him and related this circumstance to

prove that Ernest's visit to the hospital was providential. He said

he was a stoker aboard a British man-of-war in Hong Kong, China, when

he developed hip disease, and was sent to a hospital. His case being

considered a desperate one, it was decided to send him to the Royal

Albert Hospital, of Devonport, England, for treatment, and, after he

and many other patients had been taken on board the ship which was to

convey them to England, the doctor, for some unknown reason, decided

that he alone should be sent ashore again, and make the voyage by a

vessel starting later. That boat with more than 400 passengers was lost

at sea, but he safely landed in England by a later vessel.

He believed the Lord had planned it that he might learn of the Gospel,

and declared his intention of drawing his money ($140.00) out of the

bank, and making his way to London, if he should sufficiently recover

to do so, and there get baptized, if he had to go through fire to

accomplish it, and then migrate to Zion. The poor fellow died in the

hospital three months later, still firm in his belief in the Gospel.

His belongings, including a Book of Mormon and some tracts left with

him by Ernest, were sent to his brother in Ireland.

All the work essential for the salvation of the dead has recently been

done for that man--Samuel Long--in the Salt Lake Temple, by Ernest.

Before leaving the hospital Ernest received a telegram from his old

captain telling him that the "Cramlington" would again be at Devonport

on a certain date, and if he was well enough he would be glad to

take him back home. He accordingly announced his intention to leave

the hospital, although he was still unable to walk, and the doctor

consented reluctantly for him to go.

After getting on board the vessel, the Spirit manifested to him that

he ought to leave the ship, and he proposed to the captain to do so,

offering the plea that he was not fit for service; but the captain

plead so hard for him to stay, offering to hire a man to do all his

work, that he finally yielded.

On the next voyage, which was to Rouen, France, the vessel was all but

lost, off Flambrough Head, by the breaking down of the engines in a

violent storm off the lea shore. Ernest, seeing the plight the vessel

was in, threw up his hands and cried to the Lord to have mercy on him,

and forgive his disobedience; and not suffer the ship to be dashed

against the rocks, which would mean certain death to all on board. The

captain ordered the anchors to be thrown out, but the ship dragged the

anchors, and when it seemed that nothing could save the vessel a cry

of relief was heard from the chief engineer, for the engines had again

started working.

The order was given "Full speed ahead!" and in a few moments the vessel

was free from danger. On reaching Rouen the engines were overhauled,

and the chief engineer was horrified when he saw that it was by the

merest thread that they were saved from a complete collapse.

Notwithstanding this evidence of the dangerous condition of the

ship, as well as the Spirit's warning not to trust himself on it,

Ernest still remained on her, and set forth on a voyage from Blyth to

Plymouth. When off Dover at midnight the ship collided with the Dutch

steamer "Ceres", and sank in six minutes.

Ernest was asleep in his berth at the time, and would have drowned had

not the captain, who was on deck when the collision occurred, rushed

down into the cabin to secure the ship's papers. Seeing Ernest asleep,

he grasped him by the shirt collar and dragged him on deck, thus saving

his life, but losing all his own effects, that he might otherwise have

saved.

Ernest was the last to enter the boat, which had scarcely left the side

of the ship when she foundered.

All hands were saved through the ship "Ceres" picking them up and

landing them in Amsterdam, after they had been supplied with clothing,

some of them having barely escaped with their night clothes on.

If Ernest had listened to the whisperings of the Spirit two weeks

previously, he would not have been aboard at the time of her final

catastrophe.

In the month of July, 1903, Ernest shipped as steward on board the

steamer "Augusta," bound for Hamburg, taking his wife along for the

benefit of her health. Contrary to his original intention he decided

to leave her at Hamburg. On the passage back to England the vessel ran

upon the rocks known as the Velvet Patch, near Marsden Rock. She was

floated at high water of the next tide, with the assistance of three

tugs, and succeeded in making her way to the Tyne, where she was put in

the dry dock at South Shields. Then it was found, that forty two plates

had to come out of her bottom, and that her stern post, rudder post and

propeller were gone. Although no lives were lost, Ernest felt thankful

that he had left his wife in Hamburg.

After the ship was repaired she sailed for Hamburg again. On arrival

there the Spirit prompted Ernest to go ashore and call upon some of

the Saints. On descending the rope ladder to go ashore by boat, he had

one of the narrowest escapes of his life, and concluded that Satan was

trying to prevent him. The ladder had been newly tarred, and his foot

slipped from it as a consequence. He fell a distance of about twelve

feet and saved himself by clutching the last rung of the ladder with

two fingers. Had it not been for that, he would have fallen between the

ship and the lighter and been driven by the tide underneath one or the

other of the vessels.

After landing, and while walking the street, he met one of the local

Saints, Brother Pollock, and learned from him that he was going

to visit some of the Saints as a Teacher. On invitation, Ernest

accompanied him to the home of Brother Blecher, his companion Teacher,

who, however, was not at home, being employed working overtime. Ernest

was then invited to take Brother Blecher's place as a Teacher, and the

two called upon a blind brother named Eitner to accompany them. The

question then arose as to where they should go, and Brother Eitner said

he had heard of a sister being very ill, but he didn't know where she

lived. Ernest suggested that they depend upon the Lord in searching

for her, and the three set out on the quest, without any idea which

direction they should take.

After proceeding some distance, Ernest stopped and said he felt sure

they had passed the place they were searching for, and they retraced

their steps for a short distance, when he stopped and inquired of a

young man who was standing by a terrace if such a person, (mentioning

the sister's name) lived there, and was told that she did. They

entered, and found the sick sister trying to write a letter to one of

the Elders, requesting that he come and administer to her, she being in

a very feeble condition, and also in want of food. Ernest administered

to her, promised that she should recover and soon be able to attend her

meetings, and the three supplied her with money to relieve her wants.

She acknowledged their visit as providential, cried for joy at

receiving the blessing and was able to attend the meeting the second

Sunday following.

While at Hamburg on a subsequent trip he was urged by a widow, Sister

Kratz, whom he met at meeting, to call at her home. On doing so he

inquired if she paid her tithes and offerings, and was told that she

did, although she was extremely poor. He said, before the visit ended,

that he felt like leaving his blessing with her. She was delighted

at the proposition, and when he placed his hands upon her head he

felt prompted to promise her that while she remained faithful and was

careful not to waste even a crust, that her table should never lack

bread--that she should even have enough to feed her poor neighbors.

He heard nothing more from sister Kratz until he visited Hamburg

sixteen months later, when she met him with tears of joy and related

how wonderfully his promise had been fulfilled. She had been in the

habit of buying stale bread because of its cheapness, and when she

called at the baker's for that purpose the same evening he had made the

promise, the baker's wife voluntarily filled her apron with bread and

cakes, and told her to come every evening for more. The widow and her

one child could only eat a fraction of what she got, so she supplied

the rest to her poor neighbors, who highly appreciated the same.

After a while the baker's wife informed Sister Kratz that she did

not know who she was or why she should give her the bread and cakes

that became stale, but she had felt prompted to do so, and that her

husband's business had never so prospered as since she had begun the

practice, and she consequently felt that she had been blessed for doing

so. Sister Kratz told her frankly about sharing what she got with her

poor neighbors, and of her conviction that the baker's prosperity was

due to the prayers offered in his behalf by the recipients of her

generosity.

On the 11th of December, 1907, Ernest was on the ship "Annandale,"

bound from London to Shields. While coming down the Swin the ship

collided with the steamer "Kingscote," which knocked a hole in her

side about sixteen feet long. The engine and boiler room were soon

filled with water, and the ship was gradually sinking inch by inch. The

collision occurred at midnight, and at half past seven the following

morning the ship settled down upon the sand. After much effort she was

finally floated and repaired sufficiently to get her into the dry dock.

This was the last wreck in which Ernest figured. He migrated to Utah

in the year 1908, has since devoted three years to work in the Temple

and has recently started upon a mission to Great Britain, to labor

specially among sea-faring people and emulate the example of Peter in

casting his net upon the waters and becoming a "fisher of men."

Obtaining Genealogies

By B. F. Cummings.

AT SOLICITATION OF SAINTS IN UTAH, ENGAGED 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 FROM 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.

When I was twenty years of age I went on a mission to New England,

and was laboring there when the St. George Temple was dedicated. The

completion and dedication of this sacred structure greatly stimulated

among the Latter-day Saints in the Stakes of Zion a desire to procure

records necessary for Temple work, and a number of brethren and

sisters, who had migrated from New England to Utah, wrote to me and

asked me to procure genealogical data for them.

I was kept too busy at missionary work to do very much record

searching, but I complied with such requests in a number of instances,

and soon came to feel an intense interest in genealogical work, a

sentiment that influenced my course of life for many years, and still

remains with me.

I returned from this mission in September, 1877, and soon after

reaching my home, which was in Salt Lake City, I had a conversation

with Elder Wilford Woodruff, who was then one of the Twelve Apostles,

in which I told him that I felt that it was my duty to return to New

England for the purpose of procuring genealogies for such of the Saints

as might desire to employ me in that work. He approved my sentiments,

and introduced me to President John Taylor, who likewise approved them.

At the April conference, 1878, I was set apart by Elder Orson Pratt to

go on a mission to New England and the Eastern states to preach the

Gospel to the living, but more especially to procure the records of the

dead kindred of Latter-day Saints. I was profoundly impressed by the

blessing Elder Pratt gave me.

Immediately after conference I started on this mission, and was soon

engrossed with my labors in the interest of the dead, labors that

consumed much of my time for many years. Although I was but a youth of

limited education and at the outset of my genealogical work was almost

totally ignorant of those branches of knowledge that are commonly

considered absolutely essential to success in such work, such as local

history, local laws and usages, systems of records in towns, cities and

states, etc. I often met with a degree of success which surprised me.

Many a time I was made to believe that I was receiving assistance from

the other side of the veil, and my faith to this effect has always been

unshaken; and it is my present purpose to relate a few incidents that

tended to create this faith within me.

One of the first genealogies I undertook to trace on this mission was

that of a Williams family. An aged widow named Sister F--employed me

to trace it, and the data she gave me to start from pointed to Newark,

N. J. as the place in and near which her Williams kindred had lived,

and thither I went. At this time I was an utter novice at such work,

with not a soul to teach me the first lesson in it. I made my way to

the surrogate's office and told the clerk in charge that I desired to

trace the genealogy of the Williams family of Newark and vicinity. He

replied to the effect that I had a big job on my hands, and advised

me to call on Judge Jesse Williams of Orange, a town a few miles

from Newark, who, he said, could probably give me some information.

Accordingly I took a car to Orange and soon found myself near the

center of that town. The clerk had given me directions for finding

Judge Williams' residence, and I started to go to it. I soon came to a

marble yard which had a sign extending over the sidewalk. The sign gave

the name of the proprietor. It was Williams. Something seemed to say to

me: "This man belongs to the family you are tracing, and you had better

speak with him."

A lady customer was selecting a gravestone, and the proprietor of

the marble yard was walking about with her, directing her attention

first to one monument and then to another, apparently in an effort to

suit both her taste and her purse. As it would have been impolite to

interrupt them, I waited. The lady could not decide. It was getting

late in the afternoon and I was uneasy at losing time. Mr. Williams had

not noticed me, and I decided to go on to Judge Williams' residence.

But something seemed to say to me: "This is the man you want to see."

"But," I argued with myself, "the clerk in the surrogate's office

advised me to see Judge Williams, and the clerk is likely to know whom

I had better see." For about an hour this debate continued in my mind.

The lady was about that long in choosing a stone and I chafed at the

loss of time. Again and again I started to leave the marble yard, but

each time came the same prompting: "This is the man for you to see; do

not leave until you have talked with him."

Yielding to my unseen adviser, I waited. When the lady had selected a

stone, Mr. Williams approached me and asked what he could do for me.

I told him I desired to trace the genealogy of the Williams family of

that vicinity, and seeing that his name was Williams I had thought he

might give me some information.

"I am the man for you to see," he said promptly. I was struck with his

words. Except that they were in the first person, they were the same

that my invisible monitor had many times repeated to me during the

preceding hour, an hour of impatient chafing on my part. As he spoke

he turned on his heel and without another word walked to a desk some

distance away, opened and took from it two sheets of foolscap paper.

With these sheets of paper in his hands he walked back to where I stood

and proceeded to tell me that he had been desiring to know more about

his ancestors, that he had traced his fathers' line back to the first

settler of the name in New Jersey, that he had arranged the pedigree in

the form of a "broadside," (which was the old fashioned form for such a

record), that he had made two copies of this "broadside," which he held

in his hands as he spoke, and that I was welcome to one of them. So

saying he handed me one of the sheets, to my great surprise and delight.

We conversed a few moments during which I thanked him heartily, and

then I returned to Newark. When I came to examine carefully the record

he had given me, I found it to be of great value to me, or rather to

Sister F--. It embraced her trunk line of ancestry as well as his own.

In fact, they were near cousins. I spent two or three weeks in the

surrogate's office making abstracts of wills left on record by members

of this Williams family, which was very numerous, and collecting other

data; and the pedigree given me by the marble cutter, which contained

some 200 names and six or seven generations, was of great aid to me

in establishing proper connections. I was successful in obtaining and

connecting many hundreds of names of this family, although I was slow

and awkward at the work.

How came the marble cutter to make a duplicate of his record? The only

answer that I can give is this: So that a copy might be in readiness to

give to me for use in the house of the Lord.

Some years later I had another experience of a similar character but

even more striking. I had been employed to complete the genealogy of a

Chamberlain family, of New Jersey. In the court house in the town of

Freehold in that state is an extensive collection of land, probate and

other records dating prior to the Revolution, and rich in genealogical

data. I went to Freehold to search these records for Chamberlain

material, and expected to reap a harvest, as previous searches had made

me familiar with the collection of records there.

A walk of a few minutes took me from the depot to the court house, and

I spoke to no person on the way, nor did I see any person who, so far

as I knew, had ever seen me before. Ascending the steps of the court

house, an old fashioned structure, I entered a wide corridor or hall, I

turned into the first room on my left, which was a rather small office,

across which extended a counter, through which was a gate or passage

way. Behind the counter was a clerk, a young man, to whom I handed my

card, with the remark that I desired to search the oldest land records.

He told me to pass through the gate in the counter and go into the room

next to his office through a door which he indicated. In this door way

I paused a few seconds to survey the room I was about to enter. It was

about 25 by 40 feet in size, had a high ceiling, and its four walls

were lined with iron shelves on which lay the massive volumes of land

records.

I stood thus not more than two or three seconds when a gentleman, who

had been writing at a standing desk near the center of the room, looked

at me and then stepped quickly towards me. At the same time I moved

towards him. When he was near enough to me to speak to me he asked me,

in a pleasant but abrupt manner: "What family are you tracing?" His

question surprised me, and I wondered how he knew I was tracing any

family. Most persons searching the records in that room did so for data

affecting land titles, and at that moment several lawyers and lawyers'

clerks were so engaged. I promptly answered his question by saying

simply: "The Chamberlain family." "Well, here is a branch of it," and

with these words he handed me half a sheet of legal cap paper on which

was written, in ink that was still quite wet, a pedigree giving several

generations of a branch of the Chamberlain family, and showing a

migration of part of this branch from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, thus

establishing an important connection.

As I received the sheet of paper from his hand, the gentleman quickly

turned and walked away from me without saying another word, or giving

me time to do so, and left the building. I was greatly astonished at

the incident. I do not believe I had been in the building more than one

minute by the watch when the sheet of paper was placed in my hand. I

had not spoken to a soul in the building except the clerk in the front

office, and he could not have spoken to any one without my hearing him;

and so far as I had reason to believe, not a soul in the building ever

saw me, or heard of me, or knew my business. Some years had elapsed

since I had been in the town.

The gentleman who gave me the pedigree was about 40 years old, of

medium height, light complexion, had a full, round, smoothly-shaven

face, and wore a pleasant expression of countenance. After he had left

the room I asked a gentleman who he was. The gentleman believed he was

a lawyer, but did not give me his name. I never saw him nor heard of

him again. While I was on the train en route to the town he was working

on that pedigree, and he completed it at the same moment at which I

entered the land record room. But why he spoke to me as he did, and why

he gave me the pedigree, are questions that cannot, in my opinion be

answered without reference to agencies or influences that operate from

behind the veil.

I knew that in colonial days a law required marriage licenses to be

issued and a record kept of all marriages in the jurisdiction of which

Freehold was the seat, and that the books containing these records

ought to be in the court house. But diligent inquiry of clerks and

officials failed to bring these books to light. I had spent several

days searching land and probate records, and was very anxious to

examine these marriage records, because I knew they would yield a large

amount of valuable data concerning the family I was tracing; but in

deep disappointment I gave up all hope of finding them. Preparatory

to leaving the court house for good, I went into a small room in the

center of the lower floor of the building, which had no outside window

and was very dimly lighted, for the purpose of washing my hands, as

there was a wash bowl and towel there.

While thus engaged I cast my eyes around the room. On a shelf near

the floor I saw three ancient looking volumes, and in the dim light

read on the back of one of them the title: "Marriage Record." With the

eagerness of a hawk pouncing on a chicken I pounced on those three

books. On removing the thick and ancient dust that covered them, I

discovered that they all bore the same title. I took them into a better

lighted room and examined them, and to by great joy found that they

contained records of marriages covering a long period of time. They

were the books for which I had been making earnest inquiry among the

clerks and officials of the court house, none of whom had ever seen or

heard of them. I, a stranger had discovered them in an out-of-the-way

place where they had been stored years and years before.

I found in them the rich material I wanted, between 200 and 300

Chamberlain marriages. But I should have left Freehold without this

precious data had not my glance, in the little dimly-lighted room, been

directed just as it was.

Genealogical work was never profitable to me financially, but I always

took great delight in it, and often had experiences which convinced me

that a marvelous providence attended me while so engaged.

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 CREW 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.

Numerous instances have occurred in the experience of the Saints in

this age, and especially of the missionaries, of their lives being

preserved through their heeding the warnings of the Spirit. Bishop

Chauncey W. West, of Ogden, who was sent on a mission to Asia in 1852

relates some instances of this kind in a sketch of his life published

in Tullidge's Histories. The field of labor to which he was assigned

was Siam, but after laboring for some time in India and trying in vain

to secure passage to Siam, he and Elder Dewey took passage as sailors

to China. After a very trying voyage of four months they landed at

Wampoo in China, near the city of Canton. Finding it still impractical

to make their way to Siam, they determined if possible to get back

to San Francisco. Among others to whom they applied for passage was

Captain Deble, of the American Vessel "Hiega." They agreed upon the

terms of their passage, and took their luggage on board on the 11th of

May, 1854. Some difficulty was experienced in getting out to sea, after

which fair winds soon wafted them to Hong Kong, where they arrived

on the evening of the 14th. There they remained until the 23rd. Just

before the time fixed for their departure Elder West had a dream in

which he saw the vessel upon which they had engaged passage wrecked

upon a reef, with hundreds of Chinamen clinging to her hull, while many

more were in the water. The dream was repeated several times during the

night, and made such an impression upon his mind that he determined

to leave the ship. The Elders accordingly effected a settlement for

their passage that far, and were rowed to the shore in a small boat.

After spending some time at Canton and Hong Kong, being entertained at

the latter place at the home of a Mr. Young, with whom they had become

acquainted, Elder Dewey was taken very sick with chills and fever.

Elder West waited upon him with great solicitude and he soon began to

recover. One day Elder West felt impressed to remove his friend from

the house to a vessel called the "Cressy," upon which he was trying to

arrange for their passage to California. He was in such haste to act

upon his impression that their trunks were left in the house to be sent

for later.

It had been raining very hard for several days, and soon after they

left the house a large rock on the mountain side, loosened by the

storm, came rolling down at a terrific speed, striking and demolishing

the house they had just vacated. The inmates fled, in terror from the

house, but not in time for all to escape injury, as one man was killed

and several others more or less hurt. The lives of the Elders were

doubtless saved by their acting promptly on the warning of the spirit,

for had they remained where they were a few minutes longer they would

have been crushed. Elder West also subsequently met the captain of the

"Hiega," who insisted upon knowing why the two Elders had abandoned the

ship after engaging their passage. Elder West told him it was because

of a dream he had of the vessel being wrecked. The captain then asked

why he did not tell him of the dream. Elder West replied that he did

not believe the captain would have had any faith in the warning that

the dream conveyed to him, but would probably have denounced him as a

fool for believing in it. The captain admitted that he was probably

right in his conclusion.

The Elders soon found another chance of engaging passage to California,

and arrived safely in San Francisco on the 7th of September, 1854.

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.

Elder James Lawson, a well known resident of the 16th Ward of this city

until a few years since, narrowly escaped drowning in the Mississippi

river by acting promptly upon the warning of the Spirit under the

following circumstances.

Having migrated from Scotland, his native land, to New Orleans in the

year 1843, he obtained employment there as a ship builder and machinist

until the spring of 1844, when he determined to continue his journey

to Nauvoo, the destination he originally had in view. He secured cabin

passage on a steamboat, but had not proceeded more than about fifty

miles when he was suddenly awakened by a violent quiver of the boat

caused by its hull striking a snag of some kind in the river. Not

knowing the cause of the sensation, but, acting on the impulse of the

moment, he sprang out of bed, hastily dressed, and, rushing on deck,

jumped from the deck railing to the deck of a flatboat that was being

towed alongside the steamboat. A few moments later the steamboat sank,

carrying with it to a watery grave nearly all the passengers. Elder

Lawson and a few other passengers who were fortunate enough to follow

his example by jumping upon the flatboat saved themselves by cutting

loose from the steamer and drifting with the stream until morning,

when, as the flatboat neared the shore the men seized some overhanging

limbs of trees and effected a landing. He leisurely made his way back

to New Orleans, obtained employment and remained there until the fall

of the year, when he again boarded a steamboat for Nauvoo, and in due

time safely landed there.

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.

The blowing up of the steamboat "Saluda" has often been mentioned as

the only really serious catastrophe, resulting in loss of life to a

company of migrating Saints in this age on a voyage. It is certainly

very remarkable, in view of the many thousands of Saints in hundreds

of vessels of all kinds that have crossed oceans and traversed rivers

that so few have lost their lives upon the water. It is a very strong

proof that the protecting power of the Almighty has been over them, for

there have been numerous narrow escapes from disasters at sea. Indeed

it has been so apparent that a special providence has been over the

Saints that others as well as the Saints have been impressed by the

fact. The remark has been made upon many occasions by ship owners and

sea captains that a company of "Mormons," as passengers, was the best

insurance they could have upon a vessel, as it was felt that nothing

serious could happen to the craft while they were on board of it. A

good many instances are on record of Latter-day Saint Missionaries

being solicited to accept free passage on vessels for the protection it

was felt their presence would afford. Doubtless one of the evidences

that tends to convince sea captains that "Mormon" missionaries or

emigrants are the subjects of divine favor and protection is the

feeling of confidence and trust they usually exhibit when beset by

danger, and when others quake with fear. The assurance of divine care

that comes through the Holy Spirit is quite as potent in influencing

their actions as is the warning of danger from the same source. The

late President A. O. Smoot gives an instance of this in connection with

his account of the "Saluda" horror. From the latter it will be seen

that the Saints might have been saved from participating in that had

the spirit's warning to him been heeded.

"On my return from England in 1852, on board the new steamer "Pacific"

we encountered a severe storm, in which the deck was swept clear of

rigging, the deck cabin, one of the wheels, both wheel houses and

the bulwarks. The steamer was entirely submerged in the sea at one

time, and had she not been very well built she would never have come

to the surface again. It looked like a precarious time, but I felt

an assurance that the vessel would be saved, and in the midst of all

the excitement which prevailed among the crew and passengers I felt

quite calm. I had seventeen thousand dollars in gold in my possession,

and I did not even fear that I would lose that. Our preservation,

however, was certainly providential, for the vessel was in a terribly

dilapidated condition, but we finally arrived safely in New York with

the wrecked vessel, after a voyage of sixteen days.

"I subsequently had a very narrow escape on the occasion of the

"Saluda" disaster. I had purchased the supplies for my company to make

its overland journey with, except cattle, at St. Louis, and had decided

to go farther up the river to buy the stock, when Eli B. Kelsey came to

me to consult with me in regard to chartering the "Saluda" to convey

an independent company of Saints up the river. I went with him to

examine the boat, and on finding that it was an old hulk of a freight

boat, fitted up with a single engine, I strongly advised him against

having anything to do with it. He seemed to be influenced in making

choice of it entirely by the fact that he could get it cheaper than a

better one; but in my opinion it seemed folly, for, in addition to the

danger of accident, the length of time likely to be occupied in making

the journey would more than counterbalance what might be saved in the

charge for transit. However, he decided to charter it, and then both he

and the captain urged me strongly to take passage with them, offering

to carry me free of cost if I would only go, but I could not feel

satisfied to do so. I followed a few days afterwards on the "Isabella,"

and overtook them at Lexington, where the "Saluda" was stopped by the

float-ice and was unable to proceed farther. I went on board of her

to visit the Saints (who were in charge of D. J. Ross, Eli B. Kelsey

having gone ashore to purchase cattle,) and left just before the last

plank was drawn in, preparatory to attempting to start. I had not

walked to exceed two hundred yards after leaving the "Saluda" before

the explosion occurred, and on turning to look in the direction of the

ill-fated boat I saw the bodies of many of the unfortunate passengers

and various parts of the boat flying in the air in every direction.

Fortunately for the Saints on Board, they were mostly on the deck of

the boat and pretty well towards the stern, and they consequently fared

better than those who were below, or on the forepart of the boat, which

was blown entirely to pieces. As it was, however, upwards of twenty

of the Saints were lost or subsequently died of their wounds. My own

preservation I can only attribute to the providence of the Almighty,

for if I had remained a moment on the wharf to see the boat start, as

would have been very natural for a person to do, I would have been

blown into eternity as those were who stood there."

CHAPTER IV.

SERIES OF ESCAPES EXPERIENCED BY PRESIDENT WOODRUFF THROUGH HEEDING THE

SPIRIT'S WARNINGS--INSTANCE OF FAILING TO DO SO.

President Wilford Woodruff, who was specially susceptible to spiritual

impressions and guidance, has related many instances of the Spirit

prompting him to do or refrain from doing certain things, with the

results of his action in the premises, from which the following are

culled as samples:

"In 1848, after my return to Winter Quarters from our pioneer journey,

I was appointed by the Presidency of the Church to take my family and

go to Boston, to gather up the remnant of the Saints and lead them to

the valleys of the mountains.

"While on my way east I put my carriage into the yard of one of the

brethren in Indiana, and Brother Orson Hyde set his wagon by the side

of mine, and not more than two feet from it.

"Dominicus Carter, of Provo, and my wife and four children were with

me. My wife, one child and I went to bed in the carriage, the rest

sleeping in the house.

"I had been in bed but a short time, when a voice said to me, 'Get up,

and move your carriage.'

"It was not thunder, lightning nor an earth-quake, but the still, small

voice of the Spirit of God--the Holy Ghost.

"I told my wife I must get up and move my carriage. She asked, 'What

for?'

"I told her I did not know, only the Spirit told me to do it.

"I got up and moved my carriage several rods, and set it by the side of

the house.

"As I was returning to bed, the same Spirit said to me, 'Go and move

your mules from that oak tree,' which was about one hundred yards north

of our carriage.

"I moved them to a young hickory grove and tied them up. I then went to

bed.

"In thirty minutes a whirlwind caught the tree to which my mules had

been fastened, broke it off near the ground and carried it one hundred

yards, sweeping away two fences in its course, and laid it prostrate

through that yard where my carriage stood, and the top limbs hit my

carriage as it was.

"In the morning I measured the trunk of the tree which fell where my

carriage had stood, and I found it to be five feet in circumference. It

came within a foot of Brother Hyde's wagon, but did not touch it.

"Thus by obeying the revelation of the Spirit of God to me I saved my

life, the lives of my wife and child, as well as my animals.

"In the morning I went on my way rejoicing.

"While returning to Utah in 1850, with a large company of Saints from

Boston and the east, on my arrival at Pittsburg, I engaged a passage

for myself and company on a steamer to St. Louis. But no sooner had I

engaged the passage than the Spirit said to me, 'Go not on board of

that steamer; neither you nor your company.'

"I obeyed the revelation to me, and I did not go on board, but took

another steamer.

"The first steamer started at dark, with two hundred passengers on

board. When five miles down the Ohio river it took fire and burned the

tiller ropes, so that the vessel could not reach the shore, and the

lives of nearly all on board were lost either by fire or water. We

arrived in safety at our destination, by obeying the revelation of the

Spirit of God to us.

"In another instance, after attending a large annual conference in Salt

Lake City, and, having a good deal of business to attend to, I was

somewhat weary, and at the close of the conference I thought L would

repair to my home and have a rest.

"As I went into the yard the Spirit said to me, 'Take your team and go

to the farm,' which is some three miles south of the Tabernacle.

"As I was hitching the horse to the wagon Mrs. Woodruff asked where I

was going.

"I said, 'To the farm.'

"'What for?' she asked.

"'I do not know,' I replied; but when I arrived there I found out.

"The creek had overflowed, broken through my ditch, surrounded my home,

and filled my barnyard and pig pen. My wife was wading in the water,

trying to turn it from the lot, to save the home and family.

"Through my own exertions I soon turned it and prevented much damage

that might have occurred had I not obeyed the voice of the Spirit.

"This same Spirit of revelation has been manifested to many of my

brethren in their labors in the kingdom of God, one of which I will

here name.

"Elder Charles C. Rich was going from Sacramento to San Bernardino

with a company of brethren. He had in his possession a large amount of

money to make payment on their land purchase. This was known to some

road agents in the vicinity, who gathered a company of robbers and

went on ahead of Brother Rich and lay in ambush, intending to kill the

'Mormons' and rob them of their money.

"Before reaching the company of robbers Brother Rich came to a by-path

or trail. The Spirit then told him to take that path.

"The brethren with him marveled at his course, not knowing that enemies

awaited them, but they arrived in safety at San Bernardino with their

lives and money, while the robbers wondered why their prey did not

come."

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.

I rejoice in a testimony of the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

as revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in our day. I rejoice in being

able to proclaim to all the world that I know that Joseph Smith was a

prophet of the true and living God; that I know the gospel of Jesus

Christ, commonly called "Mormonism," is in very deed the plan of life

and salvation; that it is that gospel which it was proclaimed should in

the latter-days be restored again to the earth by an angel flying in

the midst of heaven, proclaiming it to every nation, kindred, tongue

and people upon the face of the earth.

"O," says one, "but I do not believe that you have this knowledge."

Yet, the fact remains that individual disbelief regarding some

information and knowledge that another man has cannot change the

knowledge of that man, if in very deed he has it. I know nothing of

chemistry. Therefore, when a chemist tells me certain things in a sugar

factory, his statement may seem absurd to me. When he tells me that

by pouring two half-filled glasses of water together that water will

immediately change to red, blue, green or some other color, it seems

absurd to me because the water appears to me to be perfectly pure and

colorless. But with the knowledge that the chemist has, he knows what

the result will be when he makes this mixture, and he demonstrates

before our eyes the truth of all the statements he makes.

Now, we maintain, as Latter-day Saints, that men and women who will

look into and examine and study the gospel of Jesus Christ, as revealed

in our day through the Prophet Joseph Smith, can demonstrate its truth

to their reasoning faculties; and if they will pray to God for the

inspiration of His spirit to guide and enlighten their minds, they can

also demonstrate by the Spirit of God, the divinity of this work in

which we are engaged.

I call to mind that while presiding over the European mission, one

of the most eloquent preachers, one of the best reasoners upon the

gospel, among the Elders who went out to preach while I was there,

was Benjamin Burchell, who came to Utah as a young man from England,

to be a preacher, if I recollect aright, for the Methodist Episcopal

church. His field of labor was Nephi, Juab county. The superintendent

of his church for this inter-mountain region gave him instructions,

one of which was: "Don't read the Book of Mormon; don't read any of

the 'Mormon' literature;" and the superintendent gave him a great deal

of anti-'Mormon' literature to read and study. The young man loaded

his double-barrelled gun, so to speak, with anti-'Mormon' bullets,

and one of the men that he fired them at was the bishop of one of the

wards in Nephi; and they didn't seem to hurt the bishop any. He said

in substance, "Who filled you full of those lies?" The young man said:

"They are not lies; they are true." The bishop replied: "How do you

know they are true? I have lived here all my life, and I know that

everything you have said is false."

The young man became interested. He said, "Bishop, can I come down to

your house and spend an evening with you?" "Come along and you can

spend a dozen"; and he did spend an evening, two or three evenings,

and bought the Book of Mormon and studied the gospel. He afterwards

resigned his salary received from the Methodist Episcopal church and

went back to England--not for a salary--to preach the gospel, but he

went back without money and without price, and at his own expense, to

proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ which he had found to be true and

which he had embraced. One of the first men that he called on was the

minister of the church that he belonged to before he came to Utah. The

minister was delighted to meet him, and welcomed him back home. He had

heard nothing of his conversion to "Mormonism." The young man took some

"Mormon" tracts out of his pocket, and he said in substance to the

minister: "I wish you would tell me how to answer these claims of the

Latter-day Saints." He then asked a number of questions. The minister

commenced floundering around like a fish out of water, and finally

he turned, and with a word that some people say is not profanity but

only emphasis, he shook his fist at the young man and said "D--n you,

I believe you have joined that church." The young man smiled and said

"Yes." Then he jumped up, and with some more emphasis he ordered him

out of his house. That is the way he answered the arguments of the

young man.

I hold in my hand a letter written by a man who came to Utah,

representing a church here; and he was told that we Latter-day Saints,

commonly called "Mormons," were practically a lot of heathens and

barbarians. He discovered we were an intelligent people; that we were a

God-fearing people; that we had brotherly love one for another; that we

were industrious; that according to the Savior's rule--"By their fruits

ye shall know them"--that this was about the finest community he had

ever lived in. He lived in one of our southern counties. Afterwards he

was transferred to one of our northern counties, and he found that same

state of affairs; and finally he writes:

"You will agree with me that from the position of a regularly ordained

minister to the confession of truth and divinity of the gospel of

'Mormonism' is a long road to travel. It is because I believe that I

have traveled that road that I want to write to you. As I see it now,

this is my confession of faith. I believe that the gospel of Christ

is taught in its purity by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints. I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that his

work is owned of God. I believe in the restoration of the gospel and in

the authority of the priesthood, and I believe that the sects of modern

Christendom are the result of the spiritual darkness in the world. I

know from experience how impossible it is for the blind to lead the

blind."

I remember when I was in Europe--and I have quoted it many

times--reading with a great deal of interest a book entitled, "The

Young Man and the World," written by Senator Beveridge. In this book

the senator said that during an entire summer vacation, a man with

good opportunities to get proper answers, asked of a large number of

ministers through the New England states, three questions:

"Do you believe in God, the Father; God a person, God a definite and

tangible intelligence--not a congeries of laws floating like a fog

through the universe; but God a person in whose image you were made?

Don't argue; don't explain; but is your mind in a condition where you

can answer yes or no?" Not one minister answered, Yes.

The next question was: "Do you believe that Christ was the son of the

living God, sent by him to save the world? I am not asking whether you

believe that he was inspired in the sense that the great moral teachers

are inspired--nobody has any difficulty about that. But do you believe

that Christ was God's very Son, with a divinely appointed and definite

mission, dying on the cross and raised from the dead?" Not one minister

answered, Yes.

The third question was: "Do you believe that when you die you will live

again as a conscious intelligence, knowing who you are and who other

people are?" Not a man answered Yes.

He said that these ministers were particularly high-grade ministers.

Many of them had gained renown for their piety and for their eloquence

in proclaiming the gospel, as they understood it, and yet all of them

were regretting the lack of interest in the gospel and the absence of

audiences to listen to their preaching. Mr. Beveridge says: "How could

such priests of ice warm the souls of men? How could such apostles of

interrogation convert a world?" There are no priests of interrogation

among the Latter-day Saints. The answer by every preacher of the gospel

of Jesus Christ, as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, to these

questions, down to our children that go to Sabbath school, is Yes,

Yes, Yes, without a moment's hesitation. There is no doubt; there is

no dubiety in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints. We have, behind the

shadow of a doubt, the absolute witness of the Spirit that God lives,

that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true

and living God. We know that the gifts and graces that belonged in the

ancient church are to be found here today; we know that the gift of

tongues is enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints; and these are some of the

fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ as enjoyed by the early Saints.

"O, but--" says one, "I don't believe that you have any gift of tongues

by the inspiration of the spirit of God."

As a boy, I once took hold of the ends of an electric battery. They

had some handles for me to take hold of. I was a child at that time.

I had never had any shock of electricity; and the teacher who was

manipulating it was not very well posted, and he turned on altogether

too strong a current, and I could not let go. I hopped around there and

yelled "Turn it off, turn it off!" Well, somebody who did not see, or

feel, or know anything about electricity would say, "What is the matter

with that fool, with a couple of pieces of tin in his hand, yelling

'Turn it off?'"

Could anybody tell me that I did not know, as a boy in old Brother

Doremus's school, that I got a solid shock of electricity? Not a bit

of it. I know that I received the electric shock; there is no doubt

of it in my mind. Likewise, I know that the gift of tongues is in

this church. Why? Because when I was ruined financially, working

till midnight, every night, struggling to maintain my honor and my

credit, when I came home one morning--between 1 and 2 o'clock in the

morning--my wife, whose body now lies in the tomb, was sitting up

waiting for me, and I chided her for it; she turned and by the gift

of tongues, and having the interpretation thereof herself, she gave

me a wonderful and marvelous blessing, every word of which has been

fulfilled. I knew well that she was giving me a blessing, as I sat

there and wept like a child, while she was addressing me, without

understanding a single word that she said, I know that God testified

to me that she was giving me a blessing just as well as I know that I

received the electric shock.

When I was a boy, playing upon the floor in a Relief society

meeting,--my mother being the president of a Relief society, (I grew

up in the Relief society, and I have often said I am entitled to be

a member, a charter member almost)--in that meeting I heard Grandma

Whitney sing some of the most beautiful songs I have ever listened to,

and they were all sung in an unknown tongue. After she finished Sister

Eliza R. Snow (who wrote the famous "Mormon" hymn, "O My Father,"

which refers to our heavenly mother) gave a blessing to each of those

present. I heard President Smith say that he attended a concert given

by our Tabernacle choir at the World's fair, in Chicago; and one of the

songs, "O My Father," was sung by Robert C. Easton. When it came to the

part, "Truth is reason, truth eternal, Tells me I've a mother there," a

man sitting by, said, "I have believed that all my life, but I daren't

say so." Well, we dare say it and have said it all over the world. The

sister who, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, wrote that hymn,

gave to each one of the good sisters in that Relief society meeting a

blessing. Zina D. Young gave the interpretation. After this blessing

had been given to each of the good sisters, Sister Snow turned to the

child on the floor and gave him a blessing, and Aunt Zina interpreted

it, and the blessing was a prediction that I should live to occupy the

position that I am occupying here today as one of the leaders in the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am the recipient of a

blessing predicted by the gift of tongues and fulfilled twenty years

afterward. I could go on and relate incident after incident of a like

character.

In the letter of this man that I referred to, there were some things

that reminded me very much of the conversion of Karl G. Maeser. What

led the former to more thoroughly investigate the gospel, after leaving

Utah, was the reading of an attack on the Latter-day Saints, which

threatened to destroy the whole structure; and he was disappointed

with the attack, and so went on with his investigation. When I was

a youngster--I am getting away from the Maeser incident, but I will

return--when I was a youngster I read the book entitled Nelson on

Infidelity. Mr. Nelson said that he was ready and willing to loan

any young man any number of volumes in favor of the infidel idea, if

the young man would only read the other side; and further he said in

substance: "The reason I am ready and willing to loan any number of

books on the infidel side, is that if the young man will read the

answer he will discover that his champion is lying; and every time a

man discovers that his leader is lying, it weakens his faith in him

even when he tells the truth. During my three years' presidency of the

European mission, I never found any of the ministers over there who

did not warn all their flock against the literature and the teachings

of the Latter-day Saints; yet I never warned our missionaries, some

of whom had never spoken in public before, against the literature of

any religion. In all the world, for eighty years, the ministers of

Christendom have never converted even one poor, down-trodden, ignorant

"Mormon" missionary; but we have captured ministers; we have captured

their divines and their leading men; and Wilford Woodruff captured all

their churches in one community and baptized sixteen hundred people,

including most of their ministers, and all in eight months."

Now, coming back to Karl G. Maeser, who was a professor in a German

university. He had that discriminating, analytical German mind which

searches down to the bottom of things. He read in an illustrated

magazine that the "Mormons" were barbarians, an adulterous, wicked lot

of people; that a man opposed to them, took his life in his hands,

when he walked the streets of Salt Lake. That reminds me of something

else (I will have to leave Maeser for a moment). There was a gentleman

who went to Washington from Utah and tried to get the seat in Congress

belonging to George Q. Cannon. He told all such stories, and when he

had finished all that Brother Cannon said was: "He is still alive. If

what that man has said were true, we would have buried him long ago."

When Ben Butler visited Salt Lake City, the anti-"Mormons" gave him a

dinner (five dollars a plate) and told him that the "Mormons" ought to

be disfranchised; and that all those who opposed them were taking their

lives in their hands. Ben replied in substance: "I believe what you

have said. I have a remedy. The United States is broad. Leave this d--d

country and don't take any chances, gentlemen, of getting killed."

Karl G. Maeser read a vicious attack upon the "Mormons"--about the

"Danites" and the "Destroying Angels," and so on, and so forth. Then

he found in the same article that the "Mormons" were industrious, that

they were frugal, that there was not a poor-house in all the territory

of Utah, that the fifteen per cent of Gentile population, among them

then furnished eighty-five per cent of the criminals, according to

United States statistics, compiled by the Gentiles themselves. He

found that there was not one saloon in the entire territory of Utah,

and that the only place where whiskey was sold was in Salt Lake City;

and, to the disgrace of the city government, they were selling it.

That is what he found on the temperance question. He found that there

was not a single house of ill fame in the whole of Utah. He found that

the people went to bed at night with their front and back doors open.

After reading all this he said to himself: "The man who wrote this

illustrated article for the magazine is a liar. The fruits of honesty,

industry sobriety, and brotherly love do not grow among immoral and

wicked people," so he sent for some tracts, investigated the gospel and

embraced it. On the night of his baptism, which occurred at midnight,

he looked up to heaven and said, in substance: "O, God, if what I have

done tonight meets with your approval, and you will give to me the

witness of the Spirit that this gospel, that I believe, is in very deed

the truth, that I may know it, I pledge my life, if need be, to its

promulgation and its advancement."

From Canada on the north to Mexico on the south there are thousands,

yes, tens of thousands, who can bear witness that this pledge, made

at Dresden, Germany, at midnight, was fulfilled by one of the most

devoted, unselfish, and self-sacrificing mortals who ever embraced the

gospel of Christ. For if any man ever gave his life, his heart, and

his soul for the advancement of this cause, Karl G. Maeser did so.

God heard and answered that prayer. Walking from the river in which

he was baptized, Karl G. Maeser was conversing upon the principles of

the gospel with the late Apostle Franklin D. Richards, and Brother

William Budge was acting as interpreter. Brother Richards talking in

English and Brother Maeser in German. They began their walk of several

miles to return home. After walking a short distance Brother Maeser

announced to Brother Budge that he need not interpret the answers, that

he understood them. Immediately thereafter, Brother Franklin said, "You

need not interpret those questions; I understand them." They walked for

miles, Franklin D. Richards answering questions in English, Karl G.

Maeser asking them in German, neither knowing the other's language, yet

by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, both understanding each other.

Do you tell me that I don't know that we have the gift of tongues in

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? As well tell me that

I do not know that I am standing here before you today. I have this

testimony from the lips of a man, than whom no more honest, no more

upright, no truer man ever drew the breath of life. When these two

men reached the bridge that spans the river Elbe, on their way into

the city of Dresden, they were separated, and when they reached the

other side of the bridge Brother Maeser again began asking questions,

but Brother Richards could not then understand him, nor could Brother

Maeser understand anything further that was said in reply; and they

were obliged to revert to Brother Budge's interpretation. Then Brother

Maeser turned to Brother Richards and said, "What does this mean, we

could understand each other for miles, and now we can't understand?"

"Brother Maeser," said Apostle Richards, "the Lord has given to you

a portion of the fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as restored in

our day. For some wise reason he has allowed you to enjoy one of the

manifestations of the Spirit accompanying the true gospel of Christ."

Brother Maeser told me, with tears rolling down his cheeks, although

it had been nearly 50 years since he had that manifestation, that he

realized that God had heard and answered his prayers. At the close

of the incident I have related, Brother Maeser looked up again into

heaven, and he said: "O God, my Father in heaven, I will fulfil my

promise to give my life to this cause"; and he did it. He became

the grand old man, educationally, of the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints--a man without a thought of personal aggrandizement,

without a thought of seeking honor for himself, personally, but with

only a desire to save souls, to build up the kingdom of God, and to

promulgate this gospel at home and abroad.

I rejoice in the fact that in every land and in every clime, wherever

this gospel message has penetrated, the fruits of the gospel have

been enjoyed--the healing of the sick, speaking in tongues, the

interpretation of tongues, every gift and grace, and every power

that was ever enjoyed by the former-day Saints, are enjoyed by the

Latter-day Saints. I rejoice in knowing that I myself stand here

today a living witness to the healing power of Almighty God, that is

in the Church of Christ. Given up by eight doctors to die, yet under

the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the man who is now the prophet

of God, on the earth, said as he blessed me that I should live, and I

do live, notwithstanding the doctors said that blood poisoning in the

third and last stage had set in, in my case. My family physician told

me to send for my reporter, and tell my last little story, because I

was doomed to die. Did I send for the reporter? No. Perfect faith gave

me to know I should live. Although my doctor told me I should die,

Sister Grant and I knew to the contrary. She received a visit from

my wife, whose body lies in the tomb, the same wife who enjoyed the

gift of tongues and its interpretation. After her death, she came to

my home, before I was operated upon, and told my wife no matter how

seriously ill I was, I should not die, that I should live, because my

mission was not yet ended; that I should yet lift up my voice in many

lands, and many climes, proclaiming the restitution of the gospel to

the earth. So, when the doctors said I must die, Sister Grant and I had

no dear, because we knew better. I asked how long I could live; the

doctors said, "not over three days." At the end of three days, I was

better, and they could not understand it. So they had the poisonous

pus from my body analysed again; and lo and behold, according to their

verdict, I ought to have been dead two days; but I was getting better.

I was promised by the gift of tongues, that I should lift up my voice

in many lands and many climes, proclaiming this gospel. At the time of

this operation, I was promised by the visitation of my deceased wife

that I should not die, that my mission was not ended. Since then I have

been in Japan; I have been in Canada; I have been in Mexico; I have

preached from Portland, Me., to Portland, Or.; from Canada on the north

to Mexico on the south. I have been over the British Isles, England,

Ireland, Scotland, Wales--in Scandinavia, France, Germany, Italy and

Belgium, proclaiming that God lives; and yet, according to the doctors,

I ought to have been dead. I have thus seen fulfilled the promise made

by that visitation of my wife, that I should live and proclaim this

gospel. I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph

Smith is his prophet, and that "Mormonism," so called by the world, is

indeed the gospel of life and salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ,

again restored to the earth. God help us, who have this testimony, to

live in conformity with its doctrines, is my prayer, in the name of our

Lord and Master. Amen.

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.

Anson Call, Counselor to the President of the Davis Stake of Zion,

who died August 31st,, 1890, was extensively known as a pioneer, a

wise counselor and successful man of affairs, and to his intimates

as a man of the strongest convictions and highest courage, who would

risk his life anytime for principle or in defense of his fellows.

His whole career from the time he embraced the Gospel was so full

of self-sacrifice for the cause of Truth that a brief sketch of the

principal events is well worthy of record in the Faith Promoting Series.

He was born in the town of Fletcher, Franklin County, Vermont, May

13, 1810. His ancestors for several generations, had been conspicuous

in the struggle for religious and political liberty, and he probably

inherited the strong traits of character that distinguished them.

When Anson was seven years old his father's family removed to Geauga,

now Lake County, Ohio, then a wild region which offered very few

educational opportunities. But, while he had little chance during his

childhood and youth for schooling his experience was favorable for the

development of industry and self-reliance, qualities that were strong

characteristics in his later life. He married when twenty-three years

of age, his wife, Mary Flint, being the daughter of a wealthy Vermont

farmer who had purchased a valuable farm in Ohio and located his two

daughters thereon with the intention of bequeathing the property to

them, but decided to disinherit them when his son-in-law, Anson Call,

and they, joined the "Mormons."

Most of the Call family were Methodists, but Anson, although he was a

searcher after Truth, could not subscribe to that creed. Brigham Young

and other prominent Elders occasionally preached the newly revealed

Gospel in the region where the Call family lived, and when Anson

found himself unable to cope with them in a discussion of religion

he attributed his failure to his unfamiliarity with the Bible. He

therefore began a critical study of the Bible and Book of Mormon in the

hope of controverting what they taught, but with a different result

to what he anticipated. To his surprise if not regret his three years

hard study for the purpose mentioned resulted in a conviction that

"Mormonism" was true. He accordingly announced in a Methodist meeting

his intention of joining the "Mormons," and started with his wife for

a trip to Kirtland, then the gathering place of the Saints, where he

was baptized by William Smith, brother of the prophet, and confirmed by

David Whitmer, one of the three witness to the Book of Mormon.

Immediately afterwards he was administered to for an impediment in his

speech, and experienced relief, and was promised that his speech should

be natural and proper so long as he used his tongue for the advancement

of truth.

He was also ordained an Elder, and on his return to his home preached

the Gospel to his old associates and neighbors. About thirty persons

in the region of his home, mostly Methodists, joined the Church as

a result of the preaching, his wife and his father's family being

included in the number.

In March, 1838, in company with his father and his brother Harvey,

Anson started to Missouri, whither some of the leading Elders of the

Church had already gone. They journeyed by steamboat part of the

way, and had for companions Asahel Smith, uncle to the prophet, and

George Gee and their wives. While steaming up the Missouri river they

were accosted by a fellow passenger who remarked that he had heard

there were some "Mormons" on board the boat. Elder Smith told him the

rumor was correct, and that he and his companions were "Mormons."

The stranger then inquired to what part they were going, and was

informed that Far West was their destination. "I am sorry to see

such a respectable looking company journeying to that place," was

the rejoinder. Being asked why he felt sorry, he said: "Because you

will be driven from there in less than six months." "By whom" was

asked. "By the Missourians, gentlemen," he replied, and then added, "I

presume you are not aware of the gentlemen you are talking to." "Yes,

gentlemen," was the response, "I am Colonel Wilson, of Jackson County.

I was one of the principal actors in driving the "Mormons" from that

country, and I expect to be soon engaged in driving them from Caldwell

County." He strongly advised them to stop in some other place and not

to venture into Caldwell County, declaring if they did so they would

certainly be butchered; for "Mormonism" must and shall be put down. He

read a letter to the brethren which he said he had just received from

Randerson Newell. He was reminded that it was made up of falsehoods

concerning the Saints in Kirtland, and replied "True or false, Joe's

career must and shall be stopped!" As he turned to depart after this

last remark Anson Call said to him, "If you will wait a moment I will

tell you the way it can be done, for there is but one way." "What is

that, sir?" the Missourian sharply demanded. "Dethrone the Almighty, and

Joseph Smith's career will be ended, and never will it be until then."

The steamer stopped at Jefferson City, and Anson was there introduced

by Colonel Wilson to a dozen or so of the "Jackson County boys," the

notorious Governor Boggs among the number. When informed that Mr.

Call was a "Mormon" on his way to Caldwell County, they indulged in a

sneering laugh.

The boat proceeded to Jack's Landing, where the company left the river.

Anson and his father traveled on foot from there to Far West. They

afterwards purchased land in Caldwell County upon which to establish

homes, and then the father returned to Ohio, to make arrangements for

the removal to Missouri. In July, 1838, Anson started towards Ohio and

met his family journeying to Missouri. After resting and visiting a

few days in Far West he settled his family on his farm on Grand river,

being accompanied by Phinears H. Young, John Snider, Joel Terry and

others.

During the following September the Saints living in that region were

visited by the Prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum and Sidney

Rigdon. On the sabbath after the public services, which were attended

by a number of Missourians, the Prophet notified some of the Brethren

that he wished to see them by themselves to discuss matters of

importance. He quietly retired with about twelve of them to a corn

field, and advised them to abandon their homes and locate in Far West

or Adam-ondi-Ahman, as trouble and difficulties were about to overtake

them, and they ought to be where they could protect themselves and

their families. Being asked if they could have time to gather their

crops and dispose of their possessions, he replied that they had better

not sell their farms, but he thought they would have time to save their

crops. The following day the neighbors assembled and discussed the

counsel they had received. They decided to try to save their crops, and

selected Anson Call to make a hurried trip through Davis, Caldwell and

Ray counties to ascertain the temper of the Missourians and learn if

possible their plans in regard to the "Mormons," and bring them word

as quickly as possible, so they could govern themselves accordingly.

Anson made the trip and returned home without finding any indications

of trouble while absent, but found great excitement in the neighborhood

of his home on his return. The Saints there had succeeded in securing

their crops, and as peace still continued had gone for a bee hunt for

four days, returning with wagons loaded down with honey. Encouraged by

their immunity to still linger, they went on a second bee hunt, but

had little success, as the weather was stormy. On returning home they

found great excitement prevailing. The mobocrats under the leadership

of Neil Gillium were guarding every road to prevent the escape of the

"Mormons," and threatened to kill them if they attempted to leave. They

had attempted to kill Phineas H. Young, but he escaped by hiding in a

bunch of corn stalks, where he remained and was fed for four days by

Anson Call.

Becoming impatient, the Saints determined to make their way to

Adam-ondi-Ahman, thirty miles distant, in spite of the threats of the

mob. Leaving their families, a number of the men started with their

teams loaded with household goods in the evening and succeeded in

reaching Adam-ondi-Ahman about daylight the following morning. There

they learned of the Crooked River battle and of the election riot at

Gallatin. They found also that many Saints from the surrounding region

had assembled at that place and at Far West. No help could be obtained,

but under cover of the next night the brethren from Grand River

returned to their families. The mob there were terribly incensed at the

brethren for having slipped away, and especially at Anson Call for the

part he had taken, and indulged in all manner of threats. However, the

next day quiet preparations were made to again leave. After dark a four

horse team was loaded with such few of their effects as they could take

along, and Phineas H. Young and Daniel Jackson and their wives (both

women being sisters of Oliver Cowdery) and Anson Call and his wife and

her sister, and the children of the three families (seven in number)

also Harvey Call, all crowded into the wagon, while Joel Terry and his

wife and child in a separate wagon drawn by a single horse accompanied

them. Leaving the public road and taking a new route across the

prairies, they escaped the vigilance of the mob under cover of darkness

and arrived in Adam-ondi-Ahman at noon on the following day. Here they

found a few of the people living in houses, but far more under tents

and a variety of other improvised shelters, with very little to protect

them from the elements. Anson selected the top of a fallen oak tree

as a partial shelter for his family, and then conveyed some corn to a

horse mill and returned with some meal for their supper.

The Saints were in fear that the mob might swoop down upon them at

any moment, and placed guards around the settlement to give warning

of the first indication of danger. About one o'clock in the night the

alarm was sounded. "The mob is upon us!" The men rallied and prepared

to offer the best defense they could, while the women hastily dressed

themselves and the children and awaited in terror they knew not what.

But to their surprise and relief the supposed mob proved to be a party

of the brethren from Far West. The relief, however, was only temporary,

for word was brought that the Saints in Far West had been besieged

and had capitulated to save bloodshed; that the Prophet Joseph Smith

and others were in the hands of their enemies; and that the Saints

in Adam-ondi-Ahman were notified that they would be called upon to

surrender about ten o'clock the following morning. True to promise,

Colonel Parks with five hundred Missourians under his command, appeared

before the town, formed a hollow square and demanded that the Saints

march therein and surrender their arms and ammunition within an hour.

The brethren who had come from Far West having brought word that it

was the advice of the Prophet Joseph Smith that the Saints comply with

the demands of the mob without resistance, they did so, but with grave

misgivings.

After disarming them Colonel Parks notified the defenseless Saints

that he would allow them ten days in which to remove from the state,

and detailed 200 of his men to remain "as guards," and to see that his

order of eviction was complied with.

Shortly afterward, while Anson Call and his family were eating their

breakfast in their camp in the fallen treetop, two of these guards

appeared before them and asked a number of questions. The replies

not suiting them, they shocked and frightened the family by the

abusive language they indulged in and leveled their guns at Anson and

threatened to shoot him, which they evidently expected to frighten him,

and seemed chagrined that it did not have that effect.

CHAPTER II.

SUFFERING FROM COLD 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.

The second night after the surrender was extremely cold, and many

of the Saints, including the Call family, who were almost without

protection from the elements, suffered severely. Little Moroni Call had

his fingers so badly frozen that the nails came off shortly afterwards

as a consequence. Anson, fearing the effect of further exposure of

his family to such inclement weather, applied to Colonel Parks for

permission to go to Far West, and received the following permit from

him:

"I permit Anson Call to remove to Far West and thence out of the State."

The "guards" appeared to take a fiendish delight in preying upon the

defenseless Saints. They wantonly killed any of their animals they took

a fancy to, appropriated and used their horses, and displayed their

base natures by insulting women. The people were not allowed to leave

the settlement except to procure wood to burn; and, although they had

been ordered to vacate the State, they were not permitted to go in

search of their horses or cattle to use on the journey.

After locating in Far West, Anson started, on the 23rd of December,

1838, to go to a farm near Elk Horn to make sale of two-thirds of

thirty acres of corn which he had raised on shares. He left without

knowledge of the mob or "guard," and soon after he arrived at the farm

he was taken prisoner by ten armed Missourians who were accompanied by

an old negro. They took him into the back part of a store and ordered

him to give up his weapons. When told that he had none, they thoroughly

searched his person, and, finding that he was defenseless, they

threatened and abused him in a most vindictive manner. He controlled

his natural inclination to resent their indignities, and submitted to

their taunts and abuse, with the result that they gradually grew bolder

and apparently felt more safe in continuing it, and after awhile stood

their rifles up against the wall, and, seating themselves, engaged

in whittling with their bowie knives, at the same time indulging in

tantalizing remarks. Their hope evidently was to goad him beyond

endurance, when, if he resisted, they would have some excuse for

executing summary vengeance upon him. One of their number, James Ogle

by name, more bold than the rest, repeatedly struck him in the face,

declaring that the "Mormons" had wronged him, and that this defenseless

victim must now atone for it. He also proposed to strip him and flog

him on the bare back with hickory withes, which proposition was not

acted upon, as no one else seemed to favor it. He repeatedly dared

Anson to fight with him, and even offered him a knife to defend himself

with, but all in vain; Anson bore it all in stolid silence, mentally

praying to the Lord in the meantime to restrain his tormentors and not

allow them to take his life. After he had endured this treatment more

than two hours, Ogle said "It is getting near night, and we must make

a finish of this business," whereupon Anson was marched out into the

street to the accompaniment of a threat that they would treat him as

they said they had treated a "Mormon" some time previously; strip, tie

and flog him, and leave him tied until morning. With a view of doing

so, the old negro who accompanied the gang was sent off to procure

a rope. While awaiting his return Anson was marched up and down the

street between two files of his "guard," he appearing as unconcerned

as possible, but secretly watching for some opportunity to escape.

Seeing a grocery keeper leaning out of a window watching him the

thought occurred to him that he might treat his captors and thus gain

an advantage. Calling out to the grocer he asked if he would sell him a

bottle of whiskey, and when it and a tumbler were passed out to him he

invited the "guard" to have a drink at his expense, suggesting that as

it was Christmas eve it was an appropriate time for so indulging. The

invitation was readily accepted and the fiery liquor was soon gurgling

down their throats.

Noticing that a thicket of hazel brush was within a few feet of where

he stood, he took advantage of the momentary diversion by dashing into

it. The excitement that immediately followed was intense. The whiskey

was forgotten in the hasty chase that ensued. Anson proceeded only a

short distance into the thicket when he lay down, and was overlooked

by the maddened Missourian who charged past him and on into the dense

brush, while he skirted around in the edge of the brush and made his

way unseen towards Far West.

The circumstances here narrated occurred in the town of Fredricksburg,

in Ray County, a settlement just being established in the edge of the

woods.

Just before nightfall as he was trudging on towards Far West, he espied

the house of a Missourian whose wife was a member of the Church,

and where he had preached a number of times the previous summer. He

hastened to the house and asked for entertainment, explaining briefly

the scenes he had just passed through. The owner of the house feared

to have him stay lest the mob might discover his presence and wreak

vengeance upon the family. Anson offered to relieve the danger by

traveling on, but the good wife insisted upon his eating supper with

the family anyway, and afterwards made a bed for him on the kitchen

floor with the understanding that if the dogs barked, as they would be

sure to do if the mob approached the house, he would run through the

open door out into a corn field, and escape if possible to Far West.

The night passed without any alarm being heard, the kind wife getting

up and preparing breakfast for Anson before daylight. After eating

heartily he made his way to Far West, twenty miles distant, where he

arrived on Christmas day, 1838.

He found his family feeling well and a hearty welcome and breakfast of

parched corn awaiting him, that being the best food available, as the

family had missed their turn at getting corn ground at the horse mill.