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Show W OM 114 tn LIFE INCIDENTS. POONT. AN'S EX dishes brought there in Missouri. a people who would so faithfully endure what the Mormons did on that terrible j ourney they even rejoiced and would make the air ring with music, and the glorious songs of Zion composed and sung to suit the different occasions during )Vhere is and drivings BY IIELEX MAR WHITNEY. Among the many who take our Exponent and perchance have read some of my simple but truthful sketches, there may be those who wonder whether it is my own narrative or my father's that I am writing as I have copied considerably from the latter. The history of those who first embarked m this cause and have taken part in the great work of the last dispensation seem so closely connected, and our interests, have been so interwoven with one another that I feel they cannot be separated. When reading the Biographies of Brigham Young, my father and others,it seems as though I was reading my own life, and I am sure that there are many who will enjoy reading tie sketches which have been copied from my father's journal. If I wander a little from those earlier scenes and dwell for a moment upon I hope to be pardoned. the topics of "Variety is the spice of life,"and where is there a jeop!e who enjoy it more than the "Mormons." Life would certainly be dull without it. I should have felt somewhat surprised and disappointed, in reading Prest Hayes late message, had I not seen in it some new scheme gotten up by our enemies to rob and bring us into bondage. It is rather amusing than otherwise, to witness the workings of those hungry land sharks who have been so long maneuvering and watching with their greedy eyes for the chance to swallow up the rich harvest which lays so temptingly before them, for it has always resulted in their own discomfiture. I see no cause for fear if we only keep humble, for, their pilgrimage. friend, Col. Our noble and Kane, best describes the scene of our expulsion from Nauvoo. He says, "The Mormons in Nauvoo and its dependencies had been numberd, the year before,at over twenty thousand. Where kind-hearte- people" asked with curiosity, what had been . what their fortune." or of known been Yes, what would have even cared about'the "Mormons" if the Lord had not raised up a few friends like Col. Kane? When five hundred of our young men wore called for by the United States, who had to redress our wrongs, to go to fight in the Mexican war, they readily responded to the call. g g and a I ask Who but a people would have patiently submitted to all the wrongs inflicted upon them? And who would have thought of settling in this n barren and what seemed country scandalized people? but this much abused and We never came to this isolated spot to obtain gold and silver and precious ores, but came because we desired peace and to find a place where we could enjoy religious liberty and "Worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences." Where we hoped to remain unmolested by our enemies, who like heartless fiends had driven us out-tperish after. having murdered our beloved Prophet and Patriarch, who willingly went like lambs to the slaughter, to save the rest of their people from being, I might say, butchered. Gov. Ford pledged the faith of the state for their protection, but the sequel pro ved how well he kept his pledge. I would ask: Is it anything strange that the Latter-da- y Saints were willing to retire from the world into the deserts or caves of the Rocky Mts., rather than dwell among those who had been filled with bitter hatred from the beginn-ing,anhunted them down like so many bloodhounds in search of their prey? This was before the principle of a plurality of wives had been published to the world and when they declare that the practice of Polygamy is the only thing in "Mormonism" that is obnoxious, it sounds to those who have passed through all the scourgings from the beginning and they are calculated to call up bitter remembrances which we would willingly bury in oblivion if they would let us. The charge of Polygamy against the "Mormons" is only an excuse. Were we not quite so particular on the marriage question or only a little more liberal in our views I think that their pious scruples would not trouble them much, but we are a peculiar people and choose to remain so. If some of us are willing that our husbands should marry more wivea and provide for them and their offspring, I cannot see whose business it Ls but our-owThere is no compulsion in the matter as our judges would make it appear Every Latter-da- y Saint has his or her own freeagancy, if it affects their sensitive morals too much I would advise them to seek homes in a more congenial clime in some other part of the Earth, where they will not infringe upon the rights of others. A life in the plural or celestial order of matrimony is a much happier one than to live in the uncertainty and jeopardy that thousands of the women ofthe wocW are in,and suffer its attendant evils. If I rejected this their file iv-fus- ed '-- God-fearin- God-lovin- We ought to consider it very encouraging to have our enemies acknowledge that the political power of the "Mormon sect," is increasing and extending steadilyinto other Territories and it should stimulate us to greater faithfulness. Their continual threats ' remind me of a little circumstance which came under my notice. A little bright but mischevious girl who was frequently told by her mother that if she ever o did so and so again, she would whip her within an inch of her life, and such like expressions, was one day doing something which vexed her mother, and atrain she reneated what had never been carried into effect, when the child coolly remarked "Oh that's what you say all the time." It is no wonder that "Mormonism" is a puzzle to the unbelieving world,which the more they try to solve the more intricate it becomes. We ought not to feel angry at our persecutors but pity their ignorance, but I would like to ak them, whose fault is it that the Latter-da- y Saints are here in these Territories? Why were ice exiles from the homes that we loved? Were they not just as dear to us as to any other class of people in whose veins runs the proud blood of free-bor-n American citizen-"- , whose grandsircs fought and bled for the liberty which is denied to their children by those who profess hyalty but have proven themselves traitors not only to their God, but to their country? Did we" not suffer enough on that long and dreary journey exposed to the pitiless storms of winter, enduring cold, hunger and weariness and forced much of the time to walk,being short of teams and unprepared for such a journey, and when at night after shoveling and sweeping the snow our beds w ere laid upon the frozen away ground where many a heart, though laden with sorrow was raised in gratitude to . Him who "careth for the sparrows and feedeth the young ravens when they cry " for their deliverance from their foes, who had plundered and robbed them mauy times and had murdered their loved ones, and now had driven them across the Mississippi fiver as exiles from their homes and the graves of their dead, who had fallen victims -- ed d how-absur- n. self-appoint- ed d the rest; instead of its being degrading it L$ ca. culated to purify and exalt the human family and if the good and virtuous portion of tfie Gentile world could but understand it in its purity they would accept it, instead of fighuQ.r against it; because some who have practised ft have acted silly and in a way to disgrace themselves, that does not prove that the principle U than it proves the impure; any more be false, because some to Mormonism of whole meiuueia mc uuuup ui uuvu uccuuue eusanected lost the Holy Spirit, and turned away. For myself and in behalf of my faithful sifters, who have honored this principle, I will sav that," We seek no change, and least of all, such changes as they would bring us." They cud call us fanatics if they please, but I think that we have many times proved to them our courage and fortitude,""Vhen we so willingly abandoned our homes and all that we had labored so long and so hard to gather around us in these valleys, to become exiles again for our religion. We feared nothing for we knew that we were right, and that we were in the hands of'Gud, We were willing to vacate and apply the lurch to our own houses, many of them were newly built and furnished. I had lived in mine but year, but I was only too glad to leave it and follow the rest wherever they went. We would have burned everything that man ur beast could subsist upon rather than allow our houses to be again, inhabited by our rneink'S. Those troops who .were sent here were nothing less than a reckless mob, they had been heard to make their brags what they would d with the Mormons. They had everything cut and dried and had even made choice of the mansions intending to kill off the men and divide their wives and daughters as spoil and take possession of all their wealth, thinking to break up tin: hack polygamic institution but alter being kept considein the cold for a time their ardor had rably cooled down before reaching Salt Like City. How well I remember the day that the tidings came of the coming of Johnson's army. We were enjoying a grand jubilee at Big Cottonwood Lake in honor of the entrance of the Pioneers into this valley ten years previous to that day. Bro. Smoot and Judson Stoddard, had come through frm the states in twenty created days; I can hardly describe the sensation when they rode into our midst and bi eke the news. It was not fear, for the Latter-daSaints had met death in too many forms tu k besides frightened at the puny arm of flesh: had they were not entirely unprepared,for there been a feeling fur a long time among the Saints that there was a crisis of some kind coming; the Lord had said through the Prophet Joseph, that "judgements should begin at the house ot the Lord," and Joseph had also predicted that some day they would see the United' States come against them in war, and that the Lord should deliver them and bring glory to his name. At this moment we realized that thw anv prediction was being fulfilled. Was it suwonder that the spirit of heroism should man. ddenly thrill through the bosom of every woman and child.who had inherited it and a feesire ling of independence from their patriotic of war. kindling within every breast' a feeling we felt We had done nothing to deserve it and we that we would fight for our freedom, before Yould again come under unlawful tyranny ana slanderous oppression brought on us by the officials falsehoods, which wicked and corrupt had set afloat to hide their own infamy. had borne enough and were determined never to submit to be driven from our mountain to the home; and we felt that we were equal from our emergency. We had been taught cradles to love and revere the constitution ot w United States,and the honored stars and g were then waving above us and eu the patriotic airs which fill wn one aGod-forsake- . en-eami- d were tliey? "They had last been seen' Uarry-iiif- r in mournful train their sick and wounded, halt and blind, to disappear behiml the western horizon, pursuing the phantom of another home. Hardly any thing else was known of them; and to-da- y, "Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees." great and noble principle I would reject all on by previous mobbings ' y baaa-playin- |