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Show 2 September ist found us ready to start for Salt Lake City. The weather was cold and the snow made it unpleasant for us. We landed at Kaysville, November ist. We had no home to go to and winter was But we secured two small rooms coming. and settled down. Brother Lay ton was called to go to Salmon river to assist the people from that place, so we were left alone again. Shortly after he started Bishop Allen Taylor came and told us that we must fix up our wagons and be ready to start south in about two or three weeks. We told him that we did not know what to do, but that we would do the best we could to get ready. r Brother Layton came home in about six weeks and when we told him about it he said that he could not get ready to start before early spring, as the teams was not were worn out and there for feed them. much But he finally decided to go and we started not knowing where we This was the move. were going. When we reached Salt Lake City we stopped there a shore time. Our next camping place was at Utah Lake; there the wind and sand made it very unpleasant for us, so we did not stay there very long, but moved on to American Fork. About the last of June word was received for the people to return home. Brother Layton with part of his family returned immediately to see after the things and the remaining part came along about the sixth of July, tired and worn out. On the eleventh I had another son born, whom we called Ezra William. Soon after harvest we bought a place known as the prairie house, to wnich place we moved and Then I went to live lived about a year. alone in Kaysville, where I lived alone In the spring of i860 during the winter. we bought a farm of a man by the name of George Allen, and on the fourth of April I moved to that place and lived there alone October 17, i860, another until the fall. son was born to me and we gave him the name of David Edwin. In the spring of 1 86 1 Brother La y ton built a large house and moved part of his family together. He moved me to Salt Lake where I lived six months and then returned to Kaysville, and then moved down on the old farm where Saiah and I lived, and the other three wives, Isabelle, Caroline and Rose, had homes elsewhere in Kaysville. On Tanuary 25th I had another daughter born and she was named Ann Barnes. That year, October 25, 1863, Sarah Martin Layton died, the cause being a cancer in her breast. That was a hard blow to us all. She left two sons and one daughter, four having preceded her to the grecc beyond. Her death was a very hard thing for me to overcome, as we had been friends from childhood, we had been more than sisters. She was of a kind and gentle disposition, and unselfish in her nature. She suffered untold pain for several months before death came to her relief. She was a very worthy woman and her place has never been filled. After her death I did not live with any of the rest of the family, I had several different homes. Her oldest son lived with me until a short time before his marriage, and when he left his younger brother came and lived with me. They seemed to be peacemakers wherever they went. I lived on the farm about four years. While there in the old home, and on the 4th of September, 1865, my last child, a WOMAN'S EXPONENT. daughter was born, and we called her Sarah Elizabeth. I did some moving around until 1872, when I moved to the fort and have lived there since. But many and varied are the changes I have passed through, but the Lord gave me strength to hold fast to the Iron Rod for which I have ever been thankful. November 25, 1868 my mother died at the age of seventy-four- . Dropsy was the cause of her death. She was buried in the We missed her very Kaysville cemetery. realized we but that parting must much, come to all, though it is hard to part with loved ones. My father lived alone in the old home and cared for his garden, his stock and fowls. He was an early riser and always retired early; he did not know what sickness was, and was always happy and contented. When I settled in Kaysville I began dress making and worked very hard for a At the living and to sustain my family. Relief tte of I was Society organization chosen to be second counselor to my sister She occupied who was chosen president. that position until her death, June 5, 1871. At that time Sister Mary Ann Hyde succeeded her, and I was chosen first counselor. In 1873 my eldest daughter learned telegraphy and took a position in the Utih Central office and worked there five years. In December of that year my eldest son was He lived here married to Mary Egbert. until January 1875 when he went with Lot Smith as a missionary to Arizona. Dress making was my work most of the time, and the Lord blessed me in my work. I made and mended clothes and cared for my I had no one to give me a word children. of encouragement or comfort, for I had long since learned not to put my trust in the arm of flesh. I knew that the principle of plural marriage was true, and that I had entered it of my own free will and choice, with the determination to serve the Lord, and was willing to bear my cross as best I could. Many things crossed my lonely path that were very unpleasant, but I believe that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but to those who endure to the end. Had not my Father in heaven had a watch care over me, I do not know where I might have drifted had not some unseen power watched me. But He knew the. many sacrifices I had made in many ways to hold on to my children, and He has given me the strength as I have needed it so far. Many a time I was tempted to do things that to me seemed would bring happiness, but my own soul told me that they would grieve the Spirit of the Lord, and I was restrained, for I knew that if I did as He commanded He I do not take any would not cast me off. of the credit to myself for not taking the wrong course. The Lord was ever mindful of me and did not suffer any more temptations to come along than He gave me strength to bear up against. In 1878 my daughter Mary Ann married George Swan, and Ann B. took the position in the telegraph office at Woods Cross. My father died on the 9th of September, 1880, at the age of ninety years, an honored and well respected man. Thus one by one my friends dropped off. I felt then that I was as alone in the world, my father, mother and only sister had gone from this world to rest in peace until they should be awakened on the morning of the resurrection. Then we hope to meet to part n more. I could write many pages ttlling of the g scenes that I trials and have passed through; but it would do no WThen I put off mortality they can good. I can say with the all be buried with me. poet: heart-piercin- "But out of all the Lord has brought me by His love, And still He does His help afford to hide my life above." I have learned in my own experience that it is better to suffer wrong than it is to We mast bear our own cross do wrong. and work out our own salvation. Experience is a good teacher, but he is severe. I have many times been sick nigh unto death but through the laying on of hands and the prayer of faith I have been raised up. (To be continued.) LADIES' SEMI-MONTHL- Y MEETING. Minutes of the Ladies' Meeting held in the 14th Ward Hall, March 30, 1901, at 2 o'clock, President M. I. Home presiding. Meeting commenced by singing, "God moves in a mysterious way." Prayer by Sister Elizabeth Webb. Singing, "Let us pray, gladly pray." Minutes read and accepted. President Home said she would like all the wards to pay in the money for the President building as soon as possible. Snow did not want the building begun till $20,000 was received. Said she had visited Granite Stake this morning, and they were a thrifty Stake. Spoke of the vastness of the work of the Relief Society and of the responsibility of women as mothers, we are never too old to learn our duty and do it. Zion is growing and work is inIt is the creasing, be meek and united. wish of my heart to always teach the sis-ttthe truth. Spoke with much feeling of the severe sickness of President George Q. Cannon who was then in California. Counselor Stevenson said she continually prayed to the Lord that she might see her own faults and be blind to others. Read a sketch from a lecture given by Prof. Mutch on "The Wrong Way to Live." Said she felt if the Saints had observed the Word of Wisdom, what a blessed people they would be. Believed tea and coffee made people nervous. Sister Barton said she always felt benefited when she attended these meetings. She was thankful she knew there was a God, and a doubt of such a being was never in her mind. Sisters Corbett, Barnes, Wright, Hardy, Horrocks, Colum, Gunn and, Julia S. Woolley spoke of the Word of Wisdom and the love they had for the Relief Society. Sisters Ball, Ellis and Pond each bore faithful testimonies of the truth. President M. I. Home said she thought it would be a good thing if missionaries could be sent to visit the different branches of the Relief Society. Spoke of the necessity of women not aspiring to places they were not All are required to bring prepared for. what money they have for the building two weeks from today, to the officers meeting. Meeting adjourned for four weeks. Singing, Doxology. Benediction by Annie T. Hyde. J. S. Woou.EY, Sec. Semi-Month- ly rs |