In the bleak December two elders came from Zion, the holy city in
Missouri, bringing the history of dire tribulation.
It was a cold night; the first snow was falling upon the wings of a
gale. Susannah was sitting alone quietly working out problems in
algebra, in which study Smith had desired that her elder pupils should
advance. The storm beat upon the window pane, and set the bright logs of
the fireplace now flaming and now smoking, the varnished wooden walls
dimly reflecting light and shadow.
Halsey had been out to see the newcomers, who were staying at the
prophet's house. It was late when she heard his tread, muffled in the
drifted snow. He hardly paused to shake it from his clothes before he
came near. She saw that he was in a mood of strong grief and excitement.
"Angel," she spoke pityingly, "you have had a hard, hard day; you have
stayed so very late at this evening's conference." She held out her hand
to him. "Do not tell me to-night if you can rest before telling." Young
as she was, her countenance, as she lifted it toward him, was motherly.
She remembered what a mere boy he was, fair and hopeful, when she had
first seen him three years before, and now strong lines of purpose and
endurance were written upon the face that was thin and pale, the paler,
it seemed, because of the transient colour that the storm had given a
moment since to the clear skin.
"I would that thou didst not need to hear, but it is not for us to turn
our eyes from that which the Lord hath written for our instruction in
the suffering of our brethren." Then he added, "The elders from Zion
have told us all. There was great joy and prosperity among them, and the
more foolish boasted of their wealth to the Gentiles, saying also that
the Lord had given the whole land to them for an inheritance."
"That, indeed, was very foolish," said Susannah.
"Nay, but it was small blame to them, for that which they said is true.
But among the Gentiles the political demagogues began to be afraid that
we should rule the country by the number of our votes. The Gentiles
gathered together in the town of Independence, and three hundred of them
signed a declaration demanding that every one in Zion should sell all
that he possessed and leave the country within a certain time, and that
none other of us should settle there."
"But forced sale would mean that no fair value would be given for the
property; it would be simple robbery," she cried; "and they call this
the land of freedom!"
"They appealed to the Governor of Missouri, but they found that the
Lieutenant-Governor, a man called Boggs, was among the fiercest of the
persecutors. As for the Governor himself, he advised them to resort to
the courts for damages."
"What next?" She was impatient at a pause he made.
He knelt down upon the floor in front of her, laying a calming hand upon
her shoulder. "Susannah, there is this one great cause for our deep
gratitude to heaven, that this time all our elders with one voice called
upon our people to bear with patience, to cry to God to cleanse their
hearts from all anger and revenge."
"I suppose that was well," she said, but with hesitation.
By the gentle pressure of his hand he still expressed his sympathy for
her pain in listening. "Lawyers were engaged to carry the matter through
the courts. But no sooner was it known that the thing was to be publicly
tried than the Gentiles rose in arms. For three nights they entered the
houses of the Saints, beating the men, burning their barns, and in many
cases unroofing the houses. Some of our brethren went to Lexington for a
peace warrant, but the judge was frightened at the mob, and, moreover,
if he had offended them he would have lost much money, so he told the
Saints to arm and defend themselves."
Halsey had paused again. The moral question here involved was to him of
deep importance.
"If it was only for self-defence, Angel--" she began.
He shook his head. "Nay, it was a fierce temptation, and our people are
not yet sanctified, but God in his great mercy withheld them from
sinning against him. For they had no sooner obtained arms than Lilburn
Boggs, the Lieutenant-Governor, came and disarmed them."
"And then?"
"Our people were driven from their homes. In the cold storms of
November, women and little children and wounded men were forced to flee
out upon the open prairie, and up and down the banks of the Missouri
River. At last they gathered together on the river-side, and many of
them have now crossed it, remaining in the opposite county, and the
others have dispersed, poor and homeless, into less unfriendly parts of
the State. These elders have come here that the prophet may send back
some revelation at their hand, and that we may all gather together what
we can spare from our abundance for the relief of our fugitive
brethren."
His eyes were shining with triumphant faith, even though the close of
his narrative seemed to admit of so little hope.
"And will Mr. Smith still teach them that they must not strike a blow
for their rights?" she asked.
This was fast becoming the critical question of the hour.
In February the snow lay deep on the land. Susannah, like all her
neighbours, spent some days isolated by the drifts, the men only going
abroad. On one of these afternoons the prophet tapped at her door. His
visit in Halsey's absence was unprecedented.
Without preface he began to make a statement as to the affairs of the
Church in Missouri.
"The greater part of our fugitive brethren have at my desire gathered
together upon a large tract of uncleared land that lies just across the
river from Zion. It is the desire of the Lord that they should there
await until it is his will to open the gates of Zion once more."
"It is _your_ desire that they should gather and wait there."
She spoke with no rude emphasis, but he understood. This man could read
her thought before it was expressed. He pushed his thick hair from his
forehead with a heavy hand.
"Understand, Mrs. Halsey, that I _believe_ the voice of the Lord has
spoken, but it is also my desire."
"Does the voice of the Lord ever speak but in accordance with your
desire?"
The answer burst from him with almost hysterical force, "I would to
heaven it did not."
"But in such cases are not your desires divided against themselves? and
the word of the Lord comes perhaps in accordance with one desire and in
contradiction of another?"
He sat for some time looking absently upon the floor.
"The things of the Lord," he said, "are of vast importance, and require
time and experience, as well as deep and solemn thought, to find them
out. And if we would bring the world to salvation it requires that our
minds should rise to the highest, and also search into and contemplate
the lowest abyss"--he paused for a moment, and then added in sad
undertone--"that is within our own hearts."
Susannah was silent, wondering what was the true secret of his elusive
thought.
He went on with an effort. "Accepting your own words, Mrs. Halsey, that
it is at my desire that they are there instead of being scattered among
friendly settlements where they could obtain support, it remains true
that they are naked, hungry, and cold. When I sleep the vision of their
sufferings comes before me." He went on again with more vehemence. "It
is also by obeying my doctrine that they are cast out of their own lands
and from their own hearths. Whether the Lord hath spoken or no, it is by
obeying the doctrines that I have taught that they are in
wretchedness." He rose, pacing the room, apparently unconscious of what
he did.
"I know that this has been weighing upon you, as it has upon my
husband."
He shook his head impatiently, striking his breast suddenly with one
hand. "There is but one heart," he said, "in which the pains and sorrows
of them all are gathered."
She began to see that he had a plan to unfold.
At length he stopped in his pacing, looking toward her. "We must go to
their relief," he said. "We must gather an army and conduct our
suffering brethren back to their homes in Zion."
"By force of arms?" she asked.
"If need be."
He left time for the significance of these words to be fully
comprehended, and then went on speaking as he paced again. "It may be
that we will not need to fight, that if we get ourselves in readiness we
shall need but to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord; and in
plain language to you, who expect no miracle, Mrs. Halsey, I would be
understood to say that if a sufficient number of our strong men, armed
for defence, join our brethren in Missouri, the Gentiles will be afraid
to attack."
At last she asked, not without excited tremor in her voice, "Who? How
many? When?"
These were important questions with regard to the organising of an army,
but the prophet had in mind a point that must previously be determined.
"Your husband," he began abruptly, "he has still upon him the taint of
his Quaker upbringing, for the Lord Christ indeed taught long-suffering,
and he sent them out at first, as we also have sent our missionaries,
with nothing in their hand save a staff only, but afterwards he said,
'Let him that hath a sword take it,' and they said unto him, 'Lord, here
are two swords,' and he said, 'It is enough,' which I take to mean that
where one sword is raised there must be another to ward off a blow or to
strike in return. But your husband is teaching the people that to bear
arms, even in self-defence, is wrong."
Susannah saw that already in Smith's indomitable will the era of armed
defence had begun. Her hatred of the persecution caused her sentiments
to chime with his. She only said in defence of Halsey's meekness, "My
husband would have gone before now to give himself and all that he has
to help these poor people if you had not interfered, Mr. Smith."
A change of expression came in a moment over Smith's hulking form, as if
a different phase of him came forward to deal with a change of subject.
He turned upon her almost sharply, "There is one man in Kirtland who
shall not go to Zion till peace is there. If he went, would he not of
his own accord rush into the forefront, into the hottest of the battle,
not to fight but to receive the sword in his breast and be slain, even
as Uriah the Hittite was slain? Wherefore, I say unto you, he shall not
go."
Susannah, like all good women, had no keenness of scent for scandals,
ancient or modern. She did not remember who Uriah was, and took no
offence.
The prophet had tarried in his pacing by the window; with hands clasped
behind him he was looking absently out upon the driven snow. Upon his
face was an expression which Susannah only sometimes saw, and that in
the moments which she felt to be his best. She believed this man to have
true moments of humility and high resolve; it was only a question with
her how far they permeated his life. In a minute more he turned again
and spoke modestly and sadly enough.
"As I have said before, it is not in me to greatly love our brother
Halsey's manner of thought, but I perceive his holiness and the Church
shall not lack his counsel. I am here to-day to tell you how much it
grieves me to set a constraint upon his conscience, yet I am here also
to ask you to tell him from me that it is not the will of the Lord that
he should continue to preach against the spirit of self-defence."
When he was gone Susannah realised how angry she would have been if she
had heard that Smith had rebuked her husband on this subject, yet now
that the fiat lay in her own hands to impart with all gentleness, the
task, because of her own fierce attitude toward the oppression, was
grateful to her.
When the roof had been set on the white walls of the first great Mormon
temple upon Kirtland Bluff, a small army, well armed, well provisioned,
went out from Kirtland for the deliverance of Zion amid the prayers and
huzzahs of the little community. There were many who, like Halsey,
bewailed in secret this taking of the sword, but the doctrine of
non-resistance was never preached again.