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Show A MISSIONARY. 117 TENNESSEE. " An Interesting Letter From Elder Nephi Savage. concluded. Early morning again found us on our way, and, as it was fast day, we did not ask for breakfast. When dinner time came we partook of an excellent dinner, for which we were very thankful. That night we found entertainment with one of the wealthiest gentlemen of Tennessee, Col. Duncan B. Cooper. When we asked for entertainment, having told him who we were and our business, he replied, "Gentlemen, I have no means of knowing whether or not you may be imposters, if not, all right; but if you are may thei Devil ; get you! I will receive you," and he , did. While supper was preparing, ' his daughter favored us .with some ' excellent music on the piano, while ' we conversed with the Colonel on the verancla. After partaking of an excellent supper with the Colonel and his family, we retired to the library, where we had a conversation conversa-tion with his son-in-law upon Utah, the Mormons and-their faith, and teachings. The Colonel retired earl', but his son-in-law seemed quite interested, and our conversation conversa-tion was continued until nearly midnight. mid-night. Next morning I took a bath, as all the sleeping apartments contained facilities for hot and cold baths at any hour of. the night or ' day A servant came to our room 1 for our shoes and soon returned j with them shining like mirrors. Our room was provided with gas, manufactured manu-factured on the premises. The Colonel also had a reservoir supplied sup-plied with water from a spring near the residence, the water being pumped by an engine to the reservoir, reser-voir, which was located .in the attic of the mansion. Having made our toilets, we descended to the library and spent an hour or two scanning the wagon loads of books, filling the book-cases before us, while waiting for breakfast. Thus we see the varied experience and elder goes through in preaching the gospel from a toll gate cabin to a palace in a day was our lot. Yet with all their luxury and wealth there is a spirit of peace accompanying accom-panying the gospel which the world can never know, because they will not yield obedience to its requirements. require-ments. We continued our labors in Davidson David-son County until the 24th of June, when Pres. Young "and I started to Shady Grove, Hickman County to attend Conference. As the weather was warm, and the journey a rather long one, the president suggested that I go with him on the train, the other elders going on foot. Therefore, There-fore, on the morning of the day above named the president presi-dent and I weot down to the depot where we purchased our tickets and then sat down in the waiting room to await the arrival of the train. As the time table showed some time before be-fore the departure of the train, I decided de-cided to write a letter to my family meantime. I had fairly got started when the thunder of an approaching train aroused me. Seeing it was not train time yet for some ten minutes, I stepped to the door and asked a railway official if thut was the Colnmbia train. He. rrpiied that it was, whereupon I doshed into the waiting room, crumpling my . letter in one hand and seizing my grip and umbrella in tha othernot forgetting to shove my fountain pen in my vest pocket). ' I was out again in much less time than it takes to tell it. The train was just starting, start-ing, and, not seeing the president, I concluded he had boarded the train, 50 I made no delay in doing likewise. like-wise. It was the "CannonbaU", the fastest train on the L. & N. road, and had not a porter reached out and taken my grip I would not have succeeded in boarding her, as there was no elevated platform to step from, and both my hands were full. Having boarded the front passenger coach, I walked through the train, from car to car in search of the president, but lo! no Don Carlos. .... was to be seen,' so I concluded he -had been left. Just then he came in, puffing from the "exertion, 'he being a fleshy man had been taxed to his utmost capacity in getting on board. From him I learned that he was sitting outside when he heard the conductor tell me it was our train and saw me get on, whereupon he took up his ' grip and another bundle and followed, barely succeeding suc-ceeding in mounting the rear platform plat-form of the hindmost car. The excitement being over the president discovered that he had " left the Conference records on the platform, but the train stopped half an hour at the Union depot, and he paid a Negro boy a quarter to go back and get them, a distance of a mile or over. We then went on . to Columbia without further noteworthy incident, where Elder Wm. F. Ogden was waiting for us with a buggy to take us to Shady Grove, a distance of 16 miles. Elder Ogden took us to the home of a kind friend, a Mr-Tanner, Mr-Tanner, where we had a nice dinner. The latter over, we started for Shady Grove where we arrived a short time before sunset. While going down a rocky hill between Williamsport and Shady Grove the horse stumbled and fell, breaking both of the buggy shafts, and, as it was a borrowed vehicle, we all felt very bad, but the president made it right with the owner, by paying for a new pair. We went to the home of William Church where we had supper, after which Elder Sessions and I went to Isaac Emmons Church's who was the president of the Shady Grove branch. Brother Churcn 1 'mi been Continued on lecond page. t A Missionary In Tennessee. Continued from first page. a member of the church for over fifty years and just lately passed to his reward beyond. For many years his home has been open to the elders. Here we remained over night. Conference did not begin until Saturday, the 27th of June, so I spent the remaining two days in, visiting the Saints and assisting in making preparations for Conference. Friday night the elders began to arrive, and I had an enjoyable time in meeting so many of the young servants of the Lord fairly bubbling' over with zeal for the work of God. Saturday morning at 10 a. m. the first meeting began, at which a number num-ber of the elders spoke, including myself. I was appointed secretary and reported all the meetings. Another An-other meeting was held at 2 p. m. and two the following day (Sunday.) Besides the four regular meetings to which the public were invited five or six priesthood meetings were held, at which each elder reported his labors and much excellent instruction in-struction was given by Pres. Elias S. Kimball. He did most of the preaching on Sunday, at which time the Spirit of God rested upon him in power, even to the spirit of prophecy. proph-ecy. One of his predictions was to the effect that within three years we would have a church established on Cane Creek, in Lewis Co., Tenn., where Elders Gibbs and Berry were martyred some eleven or twelve years ago, but since which time our elders have not dared to venture there. As has been said, the public meetings meet-ings closed on". Sunday and the whole of Monday was occupied with priesthood meetings. On Tuesday morning all the elders of the conference con-ference had their pictures taken in a group, after which they began to separate for their new fields of labor. I was appointed to labor in the adjoining (Maury) county with Elder John W. Shawcroft of La Jara, Conejos Co., Colo. The same evening Elder Shawcroft Shaw-croft and I, accompanied by Pres. Young and several other elders, crossed Duck river into Maury, where we held a meeting in the schoolhouse at Greenfield's Bend. Elders Young and Anderson did the preaching. Nephi M, Savage. Next Thursday Grover Cleveland Cleve-land will become a private citizen nnd Major McKinley will become President McKinley, and we hope he will execute the will of the people instead of his own will. |