{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_49362/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_49362","id":"gutenberg_49362","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49362","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines","Latter Day Saints"],"text":"HELPFUL VISIONS.\n\nTHE FOURTEENTH BOOK OF THE FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES.\n\n\nIntended for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day\nSaints.\n\n\nJUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE,\n\nSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.\n\n1887.\n\n\n\nCOMBINED FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES,\n\nNos. 1-5, $1.35,\n\nNos. 6-10, $1.25.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nA TERRIBLE ORDEAL.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nRemarkable Spiritual Manifestations--Thrilling Experience of Elder\nDavid P. Kimball, as Narrated by himself.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nAccount of Patten Kimball and Others, Regarding the Search for and\nFinding of his Father.\n\nBRIANT S. STEVENS.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nBriant Stringham Stevens Becomes a Missionary to His Associates and\nBrings Four Boys to Belief and Baptism--A Good Child who Passed Amidst\nthe Daily Temptations of Life Unscathed.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nAccidents to Briant--He is Ordained to the Priesthood--Patient\nEndurance of His Sufferings--He is Blessed to be an Elder and then\nSlumbers in Death.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nA \"Helpful Vision\" to Briant's Stricken Father--the Comforter Brings\nthe Peace which Passes All Understanding--The Funeral of the Little\nMissionary--His Work Lives after Him.\n\nFINDING COMFORT.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nCalled to Australasia--The Modern Imitators of Job's Friends--Our\n\"Special Instruction\" is to \"Build up the Kingdom of God in those\nLands\"--A Disappointment ends in a Blessing--Promises by an Apostle\nwhich were Literally Fulfilled--We Reach Sydney, I am Separated From my\nCompanion.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nLabor which Brought Little Compensation--A Mysterious Call to\nNew Zealand--Attacked by an Evil Spirit--The Visitation Thrice\nRepeated--Meeting the Brother of a Friend--On Board the _Wakatipu_\nBound for New Zealand.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nAn Irreverent Company of Passengers--Sickness and a Horror of Life\nFall Upon Me--A \"Helpful Vision\"--\"Only be True\"--Invoking the\nName of Christ--A Jolly Singer and a Jolly Song--Landing at Port\nLittleton--Strange Recognition of Brother Nordstrand--His Dream\nConcerning Me.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nReason for my Sudden Call to Leave Sydney--The Little Old Lady of the\n_Wakatipu_--She had Waited a Generation to Renew her Covenants--Another\n\"Helpful Vision\"--A Mysterious Half-Sovereign--Saved from Death in a\nSwift River.\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nSome Old Members of the Church--The Spirit Prompts Promises to Them\nwhich are Literally Fulfilled--Help from a Catholic Who is Suddenly\nConverted and Who as Suddenly Apostatizes--A Spontaneous Prophecy--The\nJourney Home--A Careful Observer--Safe in Zion.\n\nTRAITORS.\n\nSolemn Warnings--A Traitor can Never be Anything but\nDespicable--Examples of the Past.\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nThe very encouraging reports we are constantly receiving from various\nparts of the country concerning the vast amount of good accomplished by\nthese small publications, induces us to issue the fourteenth book, with\nthe sincere hope that it may not be less interesting or instructive\nthan those which have preceded it.\n\nThe Visions here recorded will again prove that truth is stranger than\nfiction, and we trust that a perusal of these manifestations will lead\nour young people to seek for the guidance of the Lord in all things,\nand make Him their constant friend. The article on traitors is very\nappropriate reading matter for the present season, and will, it is\nhoped, cause everyone to look upon the men of this class with the\ncontempt they so justly merit, and sustain everyone in shunning as they\nwould poison, any traitorous act.\n\nOur great desire is that this little book may assist in the education\nand elevation of the young people and others who may peruse it.\n\nTHE PUBLISHERS.\n\n\n\nA TERRIBLE ORDEAL.\n\nBY O. F. WHITNEY.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nREMARKABLE SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS--THRILLING EXPERIENCE OF ELDER\nDAVID P. KIMBALL, AS NARRATED BY HIMSELF.\n\nThe following narrative of the experience of the late David Patten\nKimball, who was lost on the Salt River desert, Arizona, in the latter\npart of November, 1881, is taken by permission from a letter written\nby him to his sister, Helen Mar Whitney, of this city, on the 8th of\nJanuary, 1882. Brother Kimball was then a resident of Jonesville,\nor Lehi, three miles from Mesa, where the letter was written. The\nevents described took place while he was returning home from a trip to\nPrescott, the capital of that Territory.\n\nThe experience related was of so remarkable a character as to meet with\ndubiety on the part of some, especially those inclined to be skeptical\nregarding spiritual manifestations. Some went so far as to ascribe the\nsights and scenes through which the narrator claimed to have passed,\nto the fevered fancy of a mind disordered by strong drink. That such\nshould have been supposed, particularly by those who are ignorant of\nspiritual things, is not surprising, when it is remembered that even\nthe Apostles of Christ, on the day of Pentecost, were accused of being\n\"drunken with new wine,\" when the power of the Spirit fell upon them\nand they \"spake with tongues and prophesied.\"\n\nWhat is here presented is the plain and simple testimony of an honest\nman, who adhered to it till the day of his death, which occurred within\ntwo years from the date of his letter, and was in literal fulfillment\nof certain things which he said were shown him in vision, and of which\nhe frequently testified while living.\n\nFor the benefit of such as may not have known Brother David P. Kimball,\nwe will state that he was the fourth son of the late President Heber C.\nKimball, whose wonderful encounter with evil spirits, on the opening\nof the British Mission in 1837, has become a matter of Church history.\nHere is the excerpt from David's letter:\n\n\"On the 4th of November, I took a very severe cold in a snow storm at\nPrescott, being clad in light clothing, which brought on pneumonia\nor lung fever. I resorted to Jamaica ginger and pepper tea to obtain\nrelief and keep up my strength till I could reach home and receive\nproper care. On the 13th I camped in a canyon ten miles west of\nPrescott, my son Patten being with me. We had a team of eight horses\nand two wagons. That night I suffered more than death. The next night\nwe camped at Mr. McIntyre's, about twenty miles farther on. I stopped\nthere two nights and one day, during which time I took nothing to drink\nbut pepper tea. On the 16th we drove to Black's ranch, twenty-eight\nmiles nearer home, and were very comfortably located in Mr. Black's\nhouse.\n\n\"About 11 p. m., I awoke and to my surprise saw some six or eight men\nstanding around my bed. I had no dread of them but felt that they were\nmy friends. At the same time I heard a voice which seemed to come from\nan eight square (octagon) clock on the opposite side of the house.\nIt commenced talking and blackguarding, which drew my attention,\nwhen I was told to pay no attention to it. At this point I heard the\nmost beautiful singing I ever listened to in all my life. These were\nthe words, repeated three times by a choir: 'God bless Brother David\nKimball.' I at once distinguished among them the voice of my second\nwife, Julia Merrill, who in life was a good singer. This, of course,\nastonished me. Just then my father commenced talking to me, the voice\nseeming to come from a long distance. He commenced by telling me of\nhis associations with President Young, the Prophet Joseph, and others\nin the spirit world, then enquired about his children, and seemed to\nregret that his family were so scattered, and said there would be a\ngreat reformation in his family inside of two years. He also told me\nwhere I should live, also yourself and others, and a great many other\nthings. I conversed freely with father, and my words were repeated\nthree times by as many different persons, exactly as I spoke them,\nuntil they reached him, and then his words to me were handed down in a\nlike manner.\n\n\"After all this I gave way to doubt, thinking it might be only a dream,\nand to convince myself that I was awake, I got up and walked out-doors\ninto the open air.\n\n\"I returned and still the spirit of doubt was upon me. To test it\nfurther I asked my wife Julia to sing me a verse of one of her old\nsongs. At that, the choir, which had continued singing, stopped and she\nsang the song through, every word being distinct and beautiful. The\nname of the song was, 'Does He Ever Think of Me.'\n\n\"My eyes were now turned toward the south, and there, as in a large\nparquette, I beheld hundreds, even thousands, of friends and relatives.\nI was then given the privilege of asking questions and did so. This\nlasted for some time, after which the singing commenced again,\ndirectly above me. I now wrapped myself in a pair of blankets and went\nout-doors, determined to see the singers, but could see nothing, though\nI could hear the voices just the same. I returned to my couch and the\nsinging, which was all communicative and instructive, continued until\nthe day dawned. All this time the clock I have mentioned continued its\ncursing and blackguarding.\n\n\"Mr. and Mrs. Black were up in due time and got breakfast. I arose and\nmade my toilet, plain as it was, and took breakfast with my host and\nhostess. When my boy got ready to start, I went to pay my bill, and to\nmy surprise heard a voice say or communicate: 'David Kimball has paid\nhis bill.' When I got into the wagon, my guards, or those who were\naround my bed during the night, were still with me. My father had told\nme that he and President Young and others would visit me the next night.\n\n\"We drove on until about 11 a. m., when a host of evil spirits made\ntheir appearance. They were determined to destroy me, but I had power\nof mind to pay no attention to them, and let them curse all day without\nheeding them any more than possible. Five times they made a rush _en\nmasse_ to come into the wagon, the last one, where I was, but were kept\noff by my friends (spiritual). About 2 p. m. I told my boy to stop and\nwe would water our horses. We used for this purpose barrels that we had\nalong with us. After this I walked to the west side of my wagons, and\nlooking to the east, I saw and heard the evil spirits floating in the\nair and chanting curses upon Brigham Young. I saw two other groups of\nthe same kind, but did not hear them. Then I looked to the south and\nthe whole atmosphere was crowded with fallen spirits, or those who had\nnot obtained bodies. Others who tried to torment me were spirits who\nhad lived upon the earth. Having seen so many and being complimented\nby my guard for seeing so well, I became a little timid and asked my\nspiritual friends if they had any help. The answer was, 'Yes, plenty.'\nI now told my boy to drive on--he was entirely oblivious of all that\nwas taking place with me--and soon after I was so exhausted that I fell\ninto a troubled sleep and must have slept quite a little while.\n\n\"After I awoke I seemed to be left alone, and was lying on my back,\nwhen, all at once, I saw an old man and two young girls. This vision\ncoming on me so suddenly, I was startled, and finding my guard gone, I\njumped out of the wagon and got up on the spring seat beside my boy.\nBut I could not get away from them. I was told in a coarse, gruff voice\nthat the devil was going to kill me, and that he would follow me night\nand day until he destroyed me. I remembered the promise father had made\nme the night before--that he intended to visit me the next evening--and\nI nerved up and tried to pay no attention to my persecutors, but I must\nconfess I was frightened.\n\n\"We arrived at Wickenburg just at sundown. The old man and the girls\nwere tormenting and tantalizing me all the way, but never coming very\nnear to me. We got supper and I took a room at Peeple's hotel and\nretired about 10 p. m. When everything was quiet my spirit friends,\neight in number, returned and my tormentors were required to leave.\nSoon after, a glorious vision burst upon me. There were thousands of\nthe Saints presented to me, many who had died at Nauvoo, in Winter\nQuarters, on the plains and in Utah.\n\n\"I saw Brother Pugmire and many others whom I did not know were dead.\nWhen my mother came to me it was so real and I was so overjoyed that\nI exclaimed aloud. So powerful was this vision that I asked President\nYoung, who seemed to be directing matters, three times to relieve me,\nor I would faint. A great many others passed in regular order; and I\nrecognized nearly all of them, and was told the names of all I did not\nknow. My father sat in a chair with his legs crossed and his hands\nclasped together, as we have often seen him. Those who passed along had\nhidden him from my view till then.\n\n\"This scene vanished, and I was then taken in the vision into a vast\nbuilding, which was built on the plan of the Order of Zion. I entered\nthrough a south door and found myself in a part of the building which\nwas unfinished, though a great many workmen were busy upon it. My guide\nshowed me all through this half of the house, and then took me through\nthe other half, which was finished. The richness, grandeur and beauty\nof it defied description. There were many apartments in the house,\nwhich was very spacious, and they differed in size and the fineness of\nthe workmanship, according to the merits on earth of those who were\nto occupy them. I felt most at home in the unfinished part, among the\nworkmen. The upper part of the house was filled with Saints, but I\ncould not see them, though some of them conversed with me, my father\nand mother, Uncle Joseph Young and others.\n\n\"My father told me many things, and I received many reproofs for my\nwrong-doings. Yet he was loth to have me leave, and seemed to feel very\nbadly when the time came for me to go. He told me I could remain there\nif I chose to do so, but I plead with him that I might stay with my\nfamily long enough to make them comfortable, to repent of my sins, and\nmore fully prepare myself for the change. Had it not been for this, I\nnever should have returned home, except as a corpse. Father finally\ntold me I could remain two years, and to do all the good I could during\nthat time, after which he would come for me; he mentioned four others\nthat he would come for also, though he did not say it would be at the\nsame time.\n\n\"On the 18th of November, about noon, we left Wickenburg (which is\ntwenty-two miles from Black's Ranch where we stopped the previous\nnight) on our journey home. I was exhausted from what I had\nexperienced, and could feel my mind fast giving away, but I had\nconfidence that I would reach home alive. There were no Elders to\nadminister to me and no kind friends to look after my wants except my\nson, who had all he could do in looking after eight horses and two\nwagons. As my mind wandered and grew weaker, I was troubled and led by\ninfluences over which I had no power, and my friends, the good spirits,\nhad all left me.\n\n\"We drove about twenty miles that afternoon, camping about eight miles\nfrom water, on the Salt River desert, which is about fifty miles\nacross. During the fore part of the night I heard the horses running as\nthough they were frightened. My son was asleep, but I got up and put my\novercoat across my shoulders and went out where they were and got them\nquieted down. I was about to return to the wagon, when that same old\nman with gray whiskers, who had tormented me before, stepped between\nme and the wagons. He had a long knife in his hand. I was frightened\nand fled, he pursuing me and telling me he was going to kill me. What\nI passed through I cannot describe, and no mortal tongue could tell. I\nwandered two days and three nights in the Salt River desert, undergoing\nthe torments of the damned, most of the time, which was beyond anything\nthat mortal could imagine.\n\n\"When my mind was restored, and the fever which had raged within me had\nabated, I found myself lying on a bleak hill-top, lost in the desert,\nchilled, hungered, thirsty and feeble. I had scarcely any clothing on,\nwas barefooted, and my body full of cactus from head to foot. My hands\nwere a perfect mat of thorns and briars. This, with the knowledge that\nno one was near me, made me realize the awful condition I was in. I\ncould not walk. I thought I would take my life, but had no knife or any\nthing to do it with. I tried to cut an artery in my arm with a sharp\nrock I had picked up, hoping I might bleed to death, but even this was\ndenied me. The wolves and ravens were hovering around me, anxiously\nawaiting my death. I had a long stick and I thought I would dig a deep\nhole and cover myself up the best I could, so the wolves would not\ndevour my body until I could be found by my friends.\n\n\"On the night of the 21st, I could see a fire about twenty-five miles\nto the south, and felt satisfied that it was my friends coming after\nme. I knew the country where I was; I was about eight miles from houses\nwhere I could have got plenty of water and something to eat, but my\nstrength was gone and my feet were so sore I could not stand up.\nAnother long and dreary day passed, but I could see nothing but wolves\nand ravens and a barren desert covered with cactus, and had about made\nup my mind that the promise of two years life, made by my father, was\nnot to be realized. While in this terrible plight, and when I had just\nabout given up all hope, my father and mother appeared to me and gave\nme a drink of water and comforted me, telling me I would be found by\nmy friends who were out searching for me, and that I should live two\nyears longer as I had been promised. When night came I saw another fire\na few hundred yards from me and could see my friends around it, but\nI was so hoarse I could not make them hear. By this time my body was\nalmost lifeless and I could hardly move, but my mind was in a perfect\ncondition and I could realize everything that happened around me.\n\n\"On the morning of the 23rd, at daylight, here they came, about twenty\nin all, two of my own sons, my nephew William, Bishop E. Pomeroy,\nJohn Lewis, John Blackburn, Wiley Jones and others, all friends and\nrelatives from the Mesa, who had tracked me between seventy-five and\none hundred miles. I shook hands with them, and they were all overjoyed\nto see me alive, although in such a pitiable plight. My own feelings\nI shall not undertake to describe. I told them to be very careful how\nthey let me have water, at first. They rolled me up in some blankets\nand put me on a buck-board and appointed John Lewis to look after me\nas doctor and nurse. After I had taken a few swallows of water, I was\nalmost frantic for more, but they wisely refused to let me have it\nexcept in small doses every half hour.\n\n\"I had about seventy-five miles to ride home. We arrived at my place in\nJonesville on the afternoon of the 24th of November, when my wife and\nfamily took charge of me and I was tenderly and carefully nourished.\nIn a few days I was around again. I told my experience to President\nMcDonald, Bishop Pomeroy, C. I. Robson and others, and most of them\nbelieved me, but my word was doubted by some. The report had gone out\nthat I had been drinking and was under the influence of liquor. This\nwas an utterly false report. I told them I had just two years to live,\nso they could tell whether it was a true manifestation or not.\n\n\"Now, Sister Helen, during the last twelve years I have had doubts\nabout the truth of 'Mormonism,' because I did not take a course to keep\nmy testimony alive within me. And the letter I wrote you last August,\nI suppose caused you to feel sorrowful, and you prayed for me and God\nheard your prayers. And our father and mother plead with the Lord in\nmy behalf, to whom I will give the credit of this terrible but useful\nordeal through which I have passed and only in part described, an\nordeal which but few men have ever been able to endure and relate what\nI have seen and heard.\n\n\"Now, my dear sister, you have a little of your brother David's\nexperience, and let who will think that I had been drinking. I know\nthese things were shown to me for my own good, and it was no dream\nbut a glorious and awful reality. My story is believed by my brethren\nwho have respect for me. I will console myself with the knowledge I\nhave obtained. Let the world wag on, and let hell and the devil keep\nup their warfare against the Saints of God. I know for myself that\n\"Mormonism\" is true. With God's help, while I live, I shall strive to\ndo good, and I will see you before long and tell you all, as it never\nwill be blotted out of my memory.\n\n\"With kind regards, in which my wife and children join, I remain, as\never,\n\nYour Affectionate Brother,\n\nDavid P. Kimball.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nACCOUNT OF PATTEN KIMBALL AND OTHERS, REGARDING THE SEARCH FOR AND\nFINDING OF HIS FATHER.\n\nThe following account is furnished by Elder Solomon F. Kimball, brother\nof David P. Kimball, who was in Mesa at the time of the occurrence\ndescribed and thoroughly conversant with the facts:\n\nOn the morning of November 19th when Patten arose and missed his father\nhe thought probably he had gone out to hunt for the horses, and felt\nno uneasiness concerning him. He made a fire, prepared breakfast and\nwaited some time, but could not see or hear him anywhere. The horses\ncame strolling into camp and were tied up, fed and watered. Patten then\nate his meal and saddled a horse and rode back towards Wickenburg,\nuntil he came to a small place called Seymour on the Hassayampa but\ncould find out nothing of his father's whereabouts. He went back to the\nwagon and hunted the country close around camp but found nothing but\nhis father's overcoat, which was a few hundred yards from the wagon.\nIt being an old camp-ground, it was impossible to find his tracks. He\nfinally came to the conclusion that he had gone towards home, so he\nhitched up his team and drove homeward until he came to Mr. Calderwoods\nat Agua Fria. (Cold Water). At this place there was a well dug on the\ndesert about twenty miles from Salt River. Patten had traveled about\ntwenty-two miles before reaching this point, but was disappointed in\nnot hearing anything of his father. He had traveled all night and Mr.\nCalderwood was up and around when he arrived. He related his story to\nhim and was advised by him to leave his team there and take the best\npair of horses, and hitch them to his buck-board and go on to the\nMesa. Here he could get help to come and hunt for the missing man. The\ndistance was forty miles, which would take all the rest of the day (the\n20th). He acted on the advice, however, and arrived at his destination\nat 9 p. m. The news was circulated, and in less than two hours, twenty\nof the best and most experienced men at Mesa and Jonesville were on the\nroad, taking Patten back with them. They also took a wagon to carry\nwater and provisions, but most of them were on the best of horses.\nThey had sixty miles to ride, before beginning the search, which was\naccomplished by daylight next morning. After feeding their horses and\neating a lunch they held a consultation and agreed to abide by the\nfollowing rule. If any one of the party found his tracks he was to make\na smoke and this would call the others in that direction. They then\nstarted out in different directions. They scoured the country until\nabout noon, when Sern Sornson and Charles Rogers found his tracks.\nThey supposed they were about twelve miles from where he was lost, and\nabout ten miles from Agua Fria, close to the main road on the south\nside. They soon gathered some brush and started a fire, putting on\nplenty of green weeds, etc., to cause a smoke, and soon attracted the\nattention of their comrades. His tracks were followed. They wound round\nand round, going in no particular direction. Some places he would cross\nhis tracks eight or ten times in going one hundred yards, which made it\nquite difficult to follow.\n\nAfter spending a part of the afternoon trailing him up, the tracks\nfinally took a direct course leading to the north. By this time all the\nsearching party were together.\n\nAnother meeting was held and the plan adopted was for eight horsemen,\nfour on each side of his tracks, to ride at a considerable distance\napart, so as to cut off the track if it turned to the right or left,\nand two or three of the best trailers to keep on the tracks, while the\nbuck-board and wagon followed up. These were out of sight most of the\ntime, as very good time was made by the trailers after this plan was\nadopted. The ground was quite soft, and those on the trail would gallop\ntheir horses for miles, but darkness soon put an end to their work for\nthis day, a good thing for both men and animals.\n\nThey had traveled upwards of one hundred miles in about twenty hours.\nThey were working men and had plenty of strength to carry them through\nunder all circumstances. They camped on the highest ground that could\nbe found close by, and made a large fire which was kept up all night by\nthose on guard.\n\nAs soon as it was light enough to see the tracks, every man was at his\nplace moving as fast as he could under the circumstances.\n\nThis was the morning of the 22nd. One great drawback they met with that\nday was that when they would come to a deep ravine where water had run\nduring rainy weather, the tracks would follow up sometimes for miles\nand then continue in the former direction. Places would frequently be\nfound in the sand where the lost one had dug down for water with his\nhands. Now and then they would find a piece of his clothing and see\nplaces where he had run into the fox-tail cactus, cat's-claw and other\nthorny bushes. One place was found where he had broken off the limb\nof a tree for a walking stick. The party followed his tracks all day\nwithout stopping, only as they were obliged to, on account of losing\nthe trail or from some other cause.\n\nDarkness overtook them again, but nothing could be heard or seen of\nthe missing man. They slept on his tracks, keeping up a fire all night\nas before. His sons and others could not rest, and followed his tracks\nafter dark by striking matches and putting them close to the ground\nto see if they might possibly find him. Some thought they could hear\na sound but it was so indistinct they could not discern the direction\nfrom which it came. It was indeed he who called, for they were then\nonly a few hundred yards from him, but he was too hoarse to make them\nhear. On the morning of the 23rd at daylight his anxious friends were\non his tracks, and had gone but a short distance when Charles Peterson\nsaw him. He had a long staff in his hand, and had raised up as high\nas he could get, being on one knee and the other foot on the ground,\nand was stretching himself as far as he could and looking eagerly for\ntheir arrival. The crowd made a rush, and in a few seconds were with\nhim, Bishop E. Pomeroy being the first. He was in his right mind and\nknew all present, and was glad to shake them by the hand, calling each\nby name. He was in good spirits and joked the boys frequently and gave\nthem instructions to be careful in giving him water, etc. There was no\nwater except in a canteen that had been reserved for his especial use.\nThe company suffered themselves for want of water. They had traveled\nupwards of one hundred and fifty miles in less than forty-eight hours.\n\nDavid had dug a deep hole with his stick and had used his hands to\nmove the dirt. He said he was digging his own grave. He was rolled in\nblankets and put on the buck-board. All drove to the nearest houses,\nseven or eight miles distant, on the Hassayampa, where all refreshed\nthemselves with water and something to eat. Soon they were on the road\nhomeward. They drove to Mr. Calderwood's, which was about thirty miles,\nand stayed all night. He was very kind to all and told them to help\nthemselves to any thing he had, such as hay, grain and food. He acted\nthe gentleman in every respect. A large number of men had also left\nPhoenix in search of David, among them being the U. S. Marshal, and\nothers. Men and Indians were riding over the desert in every direction.\nNext morning the company drove to Jonesville, forty miles distant,\nwhere they arrived about 3 p. m.\n\nDavid was carried into his house where he was surrounded by his loving\nwife and children.\n\nWhen he recounted his experience, he said that one thing that kept him\nfrom choking to death for want of water, was the damp pebbles which he\ndug from low ravines and held them in his mouth. The Indians said that\nno human being could walk as far as he did, go without water and live\nfour days and five nights. The party that found him said he must have\nwalked at least seventy-five miles, some said one hundred.\n\nHe testified that on the afternoon of the 22nd, his father and mother\ncame and gave him water and told him that his friends would find him.\nHis clothing was all gone except his under garments, which were badly\ntorn.\n\nBefore leaving home on his trip to Prescott, David had worked several\ndays fixing up his books and accounts, and burning up all useless\npapers, after which he told his wife that he felt different in starting\non this trip from anything he had ever felt before. He said it seemed\nto him that he should never return. He told her that if this proved\nto be the case, he had fixed his business up in such a shape that she\nwould have no trouble, and would know as much about it as himself.\nShe frequently spoke of these curious remarks, and felt considerably\nworried. When the news came that he was lost, all was plain to her, and\nshe never expected to see him come home alive. Nothing could comfort\nher and she watched night and day until he was brought home.\n\n* * * * *\n\nIn the Fall of 1883, Elder David P. Kimball paid a visit to Salt Lake\nCity, to see his sister Helen and others, to whom he confirmed by his\nown lips all that his letter contained, and told some other things\nin relation to his marvelous experience. He declared solemnly to her\nthat he was perfectly sober when he passed through the trying ordeal\nrelated, and bore a powerful testimony to the truth of \"Mormonism.\"\nHe seemed a little reticent to most of his relatives, and talked but\nlittle of his strange experience, feeling pained that so many seemed to\ndoubt his word, and being unwilling to make himself obtrusive. When he\nbade his friends farewell, there was something about him which seemed\nto say that he was taking leave of them for all time. This visit was\nno doubt made with that prospect, for it was almost two years from the\ntime he was lost on the desert. He returned home to St. David, Cochise\nCounty, Arizona, and almost the next news that came from there was the\ntidings of his death.\n\nA letter from his nephew, Charles S. Whitney, who was then living with\nhim, written home on the 22nd of November, 1883, contained this:\n\n\"Uncle David died this morning at half-past six, easily, and apparently\nwithout a bit of pain. Shortly before he died, he looked up and called,\n'Father, father!' All night long he had called for Uncle Heber. You\nremember hearing him tell how grand-pa came to him when he was lost\non the desert, and how he plead for two more years and was given that\nmuch longer to stay. Last Saturday, the day he was so bad, was just two\nyears from the day he was lost, and to-day is just two years from the\nday his father and mother came to him and gave him a drink of water,\nand told him that his friends would find him and he should live two\nyears longer. He knew that he was going to die, and bade Aunt Caroline\ngood-by day before yesterday.\"\n\n\n\nBRIANT S. STEVENS.\n\nA Little Savior in the Midst of His Young Companions.\n\nBY KENNON.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nBRIANT STRINGAM STEVENS BECOMES A MISSIONARY TO HIS ASSOCIATES AND\nBRINGS FOUR BOYS TO BELIEF AND BAPTISM--A GOOD CHILD WHO PASSED AMIDST\nTHE DAILY TEMPTATIONS OF LIFE UNSCATHED.\n\n  \"If there is anything that will endure\n   The eye of God because it still is pure,\n  It is the spirit of a little child,\n   Fresh from His hands, and therefore undefiled.\n  Nearer the gate of Paradise than we,\n   Our children breathe its airs, its angels see;\n  And when they pray God hears their simple prayer,\n   Yea, even sheathes His sword, in judgment bare.\"\n\nThese thoughtful words of the poet always recurred to my mind when I\nmet little Briant Stevens. We notice, with most children, how quickly\nthey grow away from the absolute and perfect purity of childhood into\nthe heedlessness of youth; and often, too often, with their experience\nof life comes experience of wrong. Of all the boys that I ever met, who\nhad reached years of accountability, I think Briant Stevens bore in his\nface and manner the most evidence of a retention of that saintliness\nwhich is the endowment of each of God's little ones. Not that he seemed\ntoo solemn for earth: but because there was a fearless grace, and yet a\ntenderness, which showed that the inherent beauty of his young life was\nstill unsoiled.\n\n  \"You hear that boy laugh?--you think he's in fun;\n   But the angels laugh, too, at the good he has done;\n  The children laugh loud as they troop to his call,\n   And the poor man that knows him laughs loudest of all!\"\n\nThis was the boy, Briant Stringam Stevens. Often have I seen strangers\nwhen passing him in the street pause and make inquiry concerning him.\nHis demeanor was so admirable that they could not restrain a desire\nto know something of him. Distinctly I can remember the first time I\never saw him--when he was about ten years old. He had his books under\nhis arm, and was evidently going to school. His appearance was so\nattractive that I felt impelled to stop him and ask his name. Without\nthe slightest embarrassment, he lifted his hat and answered me politely\nand cordially. From that time I never met him without receiving his\ngentlemanly salutation. Those of our people who knew him can all\nconscientiously speak of him as \"The Little Saint;\" scores of worldly\npeople who knew him call him \"The Little Gentleman.\"\n\n* * * * *\n\nBriant Stringam Stevens was the son of Thomas Jordan Stevens and Maria\nStringam Stevens, and the grandson of Briant Stringam. He was born\nDecember 24th, 1873, in the Thirteenth Ward of Salt Lake City. He died\nFebruary 3rd, 1887, at Ogden.\n\nFew people who have barely lived to enter their fourteenth year have\ndone so much that is worthy of record and emulation as this little boy.\nAfter he had obtained membership in the Church through baptism, he\nbecame deeply impressed with the desire to bring the same blessings to\nothers. Among his playmates were several boys who were his own age and\nsome who were older than himself; and whose parents had failed--either\nthrough carelessness or intention--to have their children baptized.\nWithout a hint from any person, little Briant took upon himself the\nduty to convince these children and their parents of the necessity\nof baptism. What anxious hours the little fellow spent in devising\nmeans to influence his playmates, no one living now can tell; but\nthe subject seemed ever present with him, and after months of labor\namong his companions he had converted four of the boys at least one of\nwhom was older than himself, to a belief in the Gospel, and to desire\nfor membership in the Church of Christ. Briant asked his father to\nadminister the ordinance to these little converts; but Brother Stevens\ninformed the child that he could not baptize any of the boys without\nthe consent of their parents. Still of his own volition, and without\ninstruction or advice from anybody, Briant visited the homes of his\nplaymates, and began a missionary labor with the parents. Nothing could\ndiscourage him; he went bravely to the people and pleaded with them on\nbehalf of their sons.\n\nAnd, after patient and hopeful waiting, Briant gained the consent which\nhe so earnestly sought. It was a happy day for him when he went with\nhis father to the bank of the Ogden River and saw his companions, who\nwere most truly his little brethren, emerge from the water and receive\ntheir confirmation for the gift of the Holy Ghost.\n\nBut Briant's guardianship of these boys did not end when their baptism\nwas accomplished. With a gravity beyond his years, he visited them\none after another at their homes, and instructed them concerning the\nresponsibilities which they had assumed, and the necessity of purity of\nconduct becoming to Saints of God, if they wished to derive blessing\nfrom their obedience to the holy requirement. Whenever and wherever\nhe met them, he was always ready and able to counsel them; and yet he\ndid not trouble them with long sermons, but spoke to them with so much\nfeeling and good-fellowship that they were led day by day to a greater\ndetestation of evil, and to a greater love for good.\n\nHe persuaded them to attend Sunday School, and to take part in the\nexercises of the Preceptor Class; never permitting them to wander very\nlong or very far without giving them his admonition. Older persons who\nhave had experience in this matter will readily understand that his\nwork, even with his four young converts, was a daily one. It was not\nsufficient to bring them into the Church; but, with all the distracting\ninfluences which surrounded them, it was necessary that they should\nlearn to love the truth and to understand it for themselves.\n\nOne of these boys, who lived near to Briant's home and was his frequent\ncompanion, became anxious to hold the Aaronic Priesthood. He had\narrived at years which justified that wish, and he talked with Briant\nupon the subject. Briant consulted with Brother Stevens and learned\nthat it would be possible for his companion to receive the desired\nordinance, but that consent must be gained from the boy's parents.\nAgain Briant took upon himself the responsibility of gaining that\npermission; but the opportunity did not come in this life.\n\nHe was extending his little missionary labors up to the very hour\nthat he was stricken. Several other boys had aroused his interest,\nand sometimes he confided to his father that he hoped to see these\ncompanions do much good, though their ways were not always becoming to\nchildren who believed in the gospel. On more than one occasion when he\nfound these boys lapsing into wrong-doing or carelessness, he confessed\nto his father a fear that he would not be able to do them any good,\nand that he must cease his association with them. And yet he always\nreturned to the labor with renewed hope and courage.\n\nIt is a dangerous experiment to trust one good boy with a number of\nplaymates who are not what they should be; because, as a rule, he\nlearns to partake with them. But Brother Stevens gives a marvelous\ntestimony to the worth of his son when he says:\n\n\"I never felt the slightest fear for Briant. In this matter I knew\nthat he was led by a good Spirit, and I trusted him implicitly and\nwithout requiring him to account for his conduct. He seemed in all\nmatters of goodness to be easily impressed; but evil appeared, if not\nincomprehensible, at least entirely unattractive to him.\"\n\nThe teacher of the Preceptor Class which Briant attended was Brother\nAustin C. Brown; he says that the questions which Briant propounded\nto him occasioned great marvel in his mind. The clearness with which\nthe young boy spoke of the principles of the gospel, the perfect\nunderstanding which he seemed to gain, almost intuitively, of the\ntruth, were as surprising as they were gratifying. In other matters the\nboy was very precocious. He attended the academic department of the\nCentral School of Ogden, and was the youngest, though not the last, in\nhis class. He early developed a talent for drawing and painting, and\nhis parents and friends are now in possession of some exquisite little\ngems produced by him.\n\nBefore he received the Priesthood he was a constant attendant upon\nthe meetings of his young brethren, the Deacons; and he anxiously\nawaited the time when he could be deemed of sufficient age and worth\nto receive an ordination to this calling. He had the highest reverence\nfor the Priesthood, and he believed most firmly in the power of the\ngospel. Whenever he was in pain or illness, his sole desire was for the\nblessing of his father or other Elders of the Church. Several times he\nwas instantly healed from infirmities under the administration of the\nservants of God.\n\nAt home he was perpetual sunshine. From the hour that he was 10 years\nold he never permitted his father to attend to any of the labors in the\ngarden or with the stock which his young hands could perform. He was\nso kind to the horse and the cow, and the other domestic animals, that\nthey learned to know him and to love him perfectly. Even the cat would\nfollow him through the garden, and run to rub her head against his leg.\nThe parrot, when released from its cage, would follow him about the\nhouse like a dog. It would mount to his shoulder and kiss his cheeks\nor lips daintily and tenderly; while with everybody else it showed\nthe crossness for which parrots are proverbial, biting, scolding and\nclawing at the slightest attempt at familiarity.\n\nBriant kept many pigeons--often as many as fifty at one time. They\nknew him and flocked about him fearlessly. He gave many of them away\nto his young friends, but never without exacting a promise from the\nboys that they would be kind to the birds and would not sell them to\nanyone who would abuse them. He had a great horror of the cruelty of\npigeon-shooting matches, and would not sell one of his doves for such\na purpose under any circumstances, or for any amount of money. If\nstrange boys came to him to buy pigeons, he invariably enquired for\nwhat purpose they were purchased. And unless the buyers would give him\na faithful promise not to sell the birds for shooting-matches, he would\nnot part with his pets.\n\nWhenever he received money from the sale of pigeons, he carried it to\nhis father, and offered it with the remark that he cared nothing for\nit, and wanted his father to use it for the best purpose. He had but\none extravagance with money--and that was to give it to the poor. Not\nonly would he part with his last dime for this purpose, but often he\nborrowed money from his relatives and friends to give to the needy.\n\nAbout four years before Briant's death, his little brother, Jordan,\ndied. The two had been inseparable--brothers in the fullest sense.\nThey shared all their possessions equally; and one never felt content\nwithout the presence and happiness of the other. When Jordan passed\nfrom earth, Briant said to his father:\n\n\"I know that my dear little brother is happy and well; but I cannot\nhelp feeling lonesome.\"\n\nHe gathered up Jordan's share of the toys and books which had belonged\nto them, and put them sacredly away. To this hour they remain in the\nplace and in the order where they were put by his loving little hands.\n\nA few months before Briant was stricken he lost a favorite pigeon. It\nwas a snow-white bird which had belonged to Jordan. When Briant found\nthat it was surely gone he shed some tears, and said to his mother:\n\n\"I would have preferred to lose all my other pigeons than to have lost\nWhitey, for that was little Jordie's pet.\"\n\nThen he drew a perfect picture of the lost bird and placed it in a nook\nin the barn, underneath these words:\n\n\"Whitey, nine years old.\"\n\nWith all the many virtues and the thoughtfulness of this little boy, he\nwas not mawkish in his manner. At times, when deeply impressed, he was\nsolemn in word and look; but he was full of healthy sentiment, and was\nbubbling over with energy and brightness.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nACCIDENTS TO BRIANT--HE IS ORDAINED TO THE PRIESTHOOD--PATIENT\nENDURANCE OF HIS SUFFERINGS--HE IS BLESSED TO BE AN ELDER AND THEN\nSLUMBERS IN DEATH.\n\nIn October last, 1886, with a number of companions Briant was playing\non a trapeze at the house of a friend, when he fell and broke his\nright arm. After the accident, Briant did not hurry to his home, which\nwas only a block away; but an hour later his father found him at the\ndoctor's office, where the arm had been set. Briant was perfectly\ncomposed; and, instead of crying as most boys do when a new sympathiser\ncomes, he gave his first thought to his mother, who had been quite ill\nand had not yet entirely recovered. He said to his father:\n\n\"I hope mamma does not know of this. If not, then we will keep it from\nher; because she would worry a great deal, and the anxiety might make\nher worse.\"\n\nWhen they went home Briant bounded into the house with a smile on his\nlips, and in reply to his mother's anxious questions he said:\n\n\"Nothing serious, mamma. I have strained my arm; but it will be well in\na few days.\"\n\nHe kissed her and then ran laughing from the room, although at the time\nhe must have been suffering excruciating pain. Some time elapsed before\nhis mother knew the truth; and then she did not learn it from Briant.\n\nHe had recovered from the outward appearance of his injury to his arm,\nbut it was not yet strong, when he met with another and more serious\naccident. With two of his companions he was jumping from a low roof,\nwhen his foot caught and he fell headlong to the ground. The weak arm\nreceived the weight of the shock; the old break was re-opened and the\nbones were split in a new place, and one of them protruded from a\nbleeding wound in the wrist. He had fallen upon a heap of sand, and\nwhen he rose to his feet he found that in the gash made by the broken\nbone the sand and dirt had penetrated. He sat down and wiped his wrist\nand the bone clean, put back the bone inside the flesh of his arm, and\nthen started for the doctor's office. As in the other instance, his\nhome was only a block away, but he did not wish to alarm his folks.\nFailing to find the doctor he went to a drug store, and, explaining his\ninjury, asked that the physician be sent for. An hour later Brother\nStevens found Briant sitting, pale but complacent, in the doctor's\noffice, awaiting treatment. The necessary operation was long and\npainful, and at its close Briant was very weak. He whispered to his\nfather:\n\n\"I am all right, papa, and will soon be well; but I hope that we can\nget home quickly, because I want you to administer to me.\"\n\nThis second serious accident occurred on the 18th of January, 1887;\na week later--on the 25th day of the month--lock-jaw set in, and his\nsuffering became intense.\n\nBrother Stevens went on the day following to ask the assistance of\nElders George W. Larkin and Moroni Poulter in watching with Briant; and\nthese two brethren remained alternately at the child's bedside, day and\nnight, until he closed his eyes in death. On the morning of the 26th of\nJanuary, before the visit of Brother Stevens, Elder Larkin said to his\nfamily:\n\n\"I had a strange and sad dream about little Briant Stevens last night.\nI wonder if the boy is sick.\"\n\nHalf an hour later Brother Stevens called with the sorrowful message;\nbut Elder Larkin, though amazed at the coincidence, would not relate\nthe nature of his dream, for fear of rending the father's heart. But\nthe dream was later fulfilled to the letter, and was then fully stated.\n\nBishop Stratford had selected Briant, a few weeks before the second\naccident, as a proper subject for ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood;\nbut the ordinance had not yet been attended to. And while Briant was\nprostrated, he was comforted by receiving this blessing under the\ndirection of the proper authorities. At the same time he remembered\nhis promise to his young convert and companion, and he so impressed\nhis anxiety upon his father's mind that--on the very day of Briant's\nfuneral--Brother Stevens visited the other little chap and made an\narrangement for his ordination.\n\nWhen the more serious affliction of lock-jaw came upon Briant, he\nexpressed but one regret: he feared that his misfortunes were bringing\ntrouble and annoyance upon his parents and friends. Beyond this source\nof anxiety, all was peace with him. He never expressed the slightest\nfear for himself. He was always, according to his hopeful words, in a\nstate of improvement: never needing anything except the blessing of\nGod; never enduring much pain; but quite content if the Elders were\npresent to administer to him and to talk with him about the things of\nGod.\n\nOne day he called his father and mother to his bedside and said to them:\n\n\"I am not afraid to die; for there is nothing in death of which I have\nany dread. Only I want to take part in the building of the temple to\nGod in Jackson County.\"\n\nOn another occasion he said to the Elders who were watching with him:\n\n\"I shall get better soon, and then I shall be able to repay you for\nyour great kindness. I want to see the coming of our Lord Jesus; I want\nto go back to Jackson County to help to build the temple there for Him.\nAnd I know that I _will_ aid in this work.\"\n\nOne of the brethren was moved upon by the Spirit of God to administer\nto Briant and to promise that this hope should be fulfilled; that the\nboy should see the coming of Christ and be with the Saints in Jackson\nCounty when they should build the temple.\n\nNight after night the Elders came and watched with Briant, blessing\nhim and ministering to his wants. They esteemed it not a task, but a\npleasure; because, as they all stated, they never before felt such a\nconstant power and influence of the Spirit as they encountered at this\nboy's bedside. So peaceful and joyous was the manifestation to them\nthat everyone felt that no death was in the house.\n\nBut the night before Briant died one of the Elders who had attended\nat the bedside, fell asleep while thinking about the sick child. He\ndreamed that himself and three of his companion Elders, who had also\nwaited on Briant, went upon a journey into a distant and beautiful\ncountry. They seemed to have some definite object in view, but during\ntheir travel this object was not present to their minds.\n\nWhen they reached the fair land of their destination, they saw a superb\nbuilding, which they at once divined to be a temple of the living God.\nIt was not yet completed; but it had assumed such proportions as to\nshow the utmost grandeur. It was constructed of white, shining stone,\nseemingly as hard as granite. Many workmen appeared to be engaged in\nthe building; and one of them, clothed in a white robe, with his head\nand hands and feet bare, stood upon the ground near the entrance to the\nstructure.\n\nIn the white outer wall, at one side of the mighty arched doorway,\nand at the height of a man's head, a monogram seemed to be newly set\ninto the stone. It was composed of three letters; the top one being B,\nclearly distinguishable; and the other two being fainter. At once the\nsojourners knew that this was what they had come after. The Elder who\ndreamed, thought that he reached forward and attempted to take it from\nits place. But the white robed workman stayed his hand, saying:\n\n\"You cannot take it. It has been set here by order of the Master, as an\nornament to this temple.\"\n\nThe Elders then walked around the building, and entered the interior\nthrough a magnificent portal, and saw that much workmanship of fine\npatterns was being used in the adornment of the structure. They walked\nout and once more essayed to pluck the monogram from its place in the\nglittering wall. But again the voice of the guardian workman stayed\ntheir hands. For the second time they walked around the temple, entered\nthrough the archway and gazed at the magnificent interior. Then they\nsaid:\n\n\"Let us try once more.\"\n\nThe third time the Elder stretched out his hand to take the monogram;\nbut, as on the other occasions, he was told to desist. The workman had\nspoken to him each time in perfect kindness, but in a decided tone. On\nthis final effort a voice sounding like a trumpet descended from the\ntop of the building, saying:\n\n\"Brother [calling him by name], you must go back; your wish cannot be\ngranted.\"\n\nThen they withdrew. Soon the Elder awoke, and he felt certain that the\nprayers which had been offered concerning Briant Stevens--though they\nhad reached the throne of the Eternal Father--were powerless to change\nthe decree which had been made in heaven concerning the boy, and that\nBriant must speedily pass from earth.\n\nThe next day this Elder was sitting in Fast meeting, when the dream\nrecurred to his mind; and instantly he felt that Briant should be\nordained to the Melchisedec Priesthood before his death. The Elder\nwould have gone to the house, but a sudden impression came to him that\nhe need have no anxiety, for the matter was already receiving attention.\n\nOn the morning of the 3rd of February, which was Fast-day, Brother\nStevens was prompted to ordain Briant to the Melchisedec Priesthood;\nbut he endeavored to banish the thought from his mind. It constantly\nrecurred to him, each time growing more imperative. He was not alone in\nthis feeling, for several Elders who had watched with Briant felt the\nsame influence at the same time, although they were not all present.\nBut one of them, who was sitting at the bedside, said:\n\n\"Brother Stevens, I have felt for several hours that I ought to speak\nto you about ordaining Briant to be an Elder in the Church. I think\nthat you ought to do this at once.\"\n\nBrother Stevens admitted that the same feeling had been in his mind;\nbut that he had hesitated, for fear that such a course might seem like\ngiving up a hope of Briant's recovery. But after such admonitions\nhe could no longer neglect the warning, and he sent for the Bishop.\nThe messenger, on his way to the Bishop's place, met President\nShurtliff and spoke to him of Briant; and the President seemed to have\nentertained the same thought, for he said that he was led to believe\nthat Briant should receive the Melchisedec Priesthood.\n\nWhen this holy ordination was conferred upon him, Briant became serene,\nthough he had been in great pain for some time preceding, and he sank\nat once into an easy slumber.\n\nHe woke not in this world. In an hour his breathing ceased and his\nspirit left the tortured clay to undergo the transition of nature,\nwhile the noble life went to another realm to perform its destined\nmission.\n\nElder George Larkin was in the room when Briant died; and to him was\nentrusted the sad duty of preparing the wasted body for its burial.\nWhen his solemn task was completed he burst into tears and said to\nBrother Stevens:\n\n\"Now my dream is fulfilled. The night before you called for me, a\nvision came in my slumber. I saw Briant lying dead in this room, and\nmine was the dread duty to wash and dress his deserted tabernacle and\nplace it in the coffin. And so it has come to pass, exactly according\nto my dream.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nA \"HELPFUL VISION\" TO BRIANT'S STRICKEN FATHER--THE COMFORTER BRINGS\nTHE PEACE WHICH PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING--THE FUNERAL OF THE LITTLE\nMISSIONARY--HIS WORK LIVES AFTER HIM.\n\nThere was but one thought produced in the minds of all who knew of the\nlast scene at this good little Briant's bedside: it was that in all\nthe spasms and torture of his dread disease he had been kept alive to\nreceive the power of this ordination; and as soon as the administration\nwas effected, the purpose of his mortal life was fulfilled, and he\npassed from a peaceful slumber on earth into a glorious waking beyond.\n\nThe night after Briant died, Brother and Sister Stevens were crushed\nwith woe. They were not entirely disconsolate; they did not mourn\nas those who have no hope, and yet they seemed unable to reconcile\nthemselves to the loss of their pride and joy. Brother Stevens himself\nsaid to a friend at this hour:\n\n\"I know that Briant is at peace. I know that he is a treasure and a\njoy to his God wherever he is; and I do not repine at the decree which\nhas taken him away, after so many years of blessing in his society;\nbut when I remember that in every nook about our home there is some\nevidence of his handiwork; when I think of all the comfort he has\nbeen--I cannot hold back this feeling of agony.\"\n\nThat night Brother Stevens prayed that the Lord would give consolation;\nand make manifest something of His glory to banish the overwhelming\nsorrow which was in that stricken home. When Brother Stevens fell\nasleep he dreamed; and it became a dream within a dream:\n\nHe thought that he went to bed and dreamed that Briant was dead. The\nfriends and relatives who flocked around were moaning in anguish and\nasking in agonized tones what they could do to bring little Briant back\nto life. The father retired to a room and fell upon his knees, and\nasked the Lord what should be done in the matter; and the voice of the\nSpirit came to him, saying:\n\n\"COVER BRIANT'S BODY WITH CLAY; AND THEN PATIENTLY AWAIT MY PURPOSE. IF\nYOU WILL OBEY THIS COMMAND, I WILL SHOW YOU THE GLORY NOW POSSESSED BY\nBRIANT.\"\n\nWhile he still knelt this command was repeated; and he rose to his\nfeet. Entering the room where the little white-robed figure lay, he\nsaid to the weeping attendants:\n\n\"I know now what I shall do. You need worry no more; because God has\ntold me, and I will fulfill His design.\"\n\nThe father lifted the body in his arms from the bed whereon it lay\nin dread repose, and laid it upon the floor. He took clay and with\nhis hands covered the marble form deeply, until there was visible no\nsemblance of the body. And then he sat down to await God's purpose.\nA long time and patiently he seemed to sit; and at length he saw a\nlight and in this light was little Briant, standing in the air, robed\nin snowy whiteness, with a face transfigured in its light and beauty.\nThe boy smiled at him and moved his hands as if in loving recognition.\nThis ethereal form of Briant moved about in the room without effort. A\nsingle inclination of the shining head seemed to project the body in\nany desired direction.\n\nWhile the father watched and marvelled and felt great joy, he dreamed\nthat he awoke from his dream and found his little Briant still\nconvulsed and tortured by the power of the Destroyer.\n\nAnd then he seemed to weep in agony because of his boy's suffering; for\nnow instead of a familiar face yet transfigured in lovely happiness, he\nsaw a countenance strange and distorted by pain. He wished and prayed\nthat Briant's torture might cease, and that the boy might be translated\nto heavenly radiance.\n\nBut soon in reality the father awoke, and sensed that Briant was\nsurely dead. And back came to his soul the feeling of patient hope\nand unrepining trust which had seemed to pervade the inner dream.\nHe sincerely and submissively praised God's holy name. He told his\nwife what he had seen in this vision of the night, and together they\ntook comfort; and through all the tribulation and loneliness which\nhave followed the loss of their eldest boy, they have felt a comfort\nand sustaining power which nothing on earth can give, and nothing on\nearth can take away. They know that, having covered Briant's body with\nclay, they have now but to patiently await God's purpose, and He will\nsometime restore to them the glorified, the redeemed, the happy child.\n\nThe funeral of this little Elder of the Church was held in the Ward\nMeeting House in Ogden on Sunday, February 6th, 1887, and was attended\nby some hundreds of people, ten of Briant's young companions acting as\npall bearers.\n\nIt was the remark of the majority of those who were present that\nthe Spirit of God seemed to fill the meeting-house and make its\nabiding-place in every heart. Among the speakers were the Elders who\nhad attended Briant in his final act of suffering. They paid a glorious\ntribute to his patience and to his integrity. All felt that it was\nin fulfillment of God's own purpose that Briant had been called from\nearth; and that the agony which he had endured was but the doorway\nthrough which he entered into the Eternal Presence. The Elder who had\npromised in a holy administration to Briant that the child should have\nhis hope fulfilled and engage in the building of the temple with the\nSaints in Jackson County, addressed the congregation in a most feeling\nmanner. It was he who had dreamed of the temple and the monogram of\nBriant's name. And he knew that the hand of God was in the event of the\nboy's death. While this Elder spoke, his face shone with the Spirit\nof God, and his words thrilled every heart. Out of the hundreds who\nwere present, probably there were no Saints who did not see a direct\nmanifestation of the Holy Ghost on this occasion. The Elder renewed the\npromise which he had made to Briant during the child's lifetime; and he\ndid it, unquestionably, by the inspiration of the Almighty. He said:\n\n\"It seems strange to our natural senses that this child should be lying\nhere, stilled in death, and yet we should entertain a belief--nay, a\nknowledge, that he will be with the Saints in his own dear person, at\nthe building of the temple in Jackson County. And yet, my brethren\nand sisters, I know that the promise made to him will be fulfilled.\nWe are drawing nearer to that great day when wondrous things shall be\nmanifested unto us; the veil between us and the eternal abode of our\nAlmighty Father is growing thinner day by day. It is almost ready to\nburst.\"\n\nElders Rodney C. Badger and Robert F. Neslen, of Salt Lake, also\naddressed the congregation. Elder Neslen, in referring to the\nmissionary work performed by Briant Stevens, turned to a number of old\nveterans of the Church who were sitting upon the stand, and said:\n\n\"This dear little boy by his own efforts brought four souls into a\nbelief in the everlasting gospel. His converts are here to day, sincere\nbelievers, full of promise and devotion to the work, and now I doubt\nwhether some of the rest of us whose forms are bowed, and whose hair is\ngray, with all our wanderings up and down the face of the earth, can\ntruly say that we have done more than he.\"\n\nThe little form of Briant Stevens was laid away in the cemetery; but\nhis work did not end with the vanishing of his form from its daily\nassociations. Of him truly it may be said that his work lives after\nhim. Some of his former companions have been changed from the hour that\nthey learned of his death; and if there be any prospect in human life\nwhich can be deemed certain of fulfillment, these children will be his\nimitators in all that was good. Word has come to his parents, even from\ndistant points, that children who knew him have said since his death,\n\"we will try to live like little Briant Stevens, so that if we should\ndie we can be remembered.\"\n\nAnd two of his daily associates--one of them being Fred J. Bluth, was\nwith him on each occasion when he broke his arm, and the other being\nEdgar Peterson, one of Briant's converts, have received a power and\nmanifestation concerning him which is not unworthy of mention.\n\nBriant and Fred attended the Central School together; and each night\nBriant, who was the earlier released from his classes, waited at the\ngate for Fred. In the second night after Briant was buried, Fred had a\ndream which he relates almost exactly in the following words:\n\n\"I thought that Briant was waiting for me at the gate as usual--only he\nwas dressed in white raiment, like that in which he lay in the coffin.\nWhen I came near him, he sprang to my side and threw his arms around my\nneck. He took my hand, and said: 'Come, Fred, with me.'\n\n\"Hand in hand, we ran up town together. We came to a house in which a\nbaby lay dead. We entered the room and looked at the little one. Still\nhand in hand, we came out, and a large wagon stood before the door. The\ndriver came down from his seat, and we got in and drove to a building\nlike a granary. Briant opened the doors. And then I heard a voice\nsaying:\n\n\"'You must fill the wagon with corn.'\n\n\"Briant and I began to shovel corn into the wagon; but soon he stopped.\nI asked:\n\n\"'Is it enough?'\n\n\"And he answered:\n\n\"'Not yet.'\n\n\"I worked a little longer, and again I called to him:\n\n\"'Is it enough, Briant?'\n\n\"And once more he replied:\n\n\"'Not yet, Fred.'\n\n\"After a still longer time, during which I worked diligently, I asked\nhim for the third time:\n\n\"'Is it enough?'\n\n\"And Briant replied:\n\n\"'Yes, it is enough. Now you must come with me, Fred.'\n\n\"I climbed into the wagon with him; and then we drove away together. At\nonce I awoke.\"\n\nLittle Fred felt startled by this dream. He related it to Edgar\nPeterson, when the latter asked:\n\n\"Do you know the meaning of your dream?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Then I will give you the interpretation. It means that your earthly\nwork is not yet finished and that when it is done, Briant will call for\nyou.\"\n\n* * * * *\n\nMy young brethren and sisters, doubtless you all have ambitious moments\nin which you sigh to be noble, and to do some heroic action. Think of\nlittle Briant Stevens. He learned the secret of true greatness. He\nlived in purity, in faith and in prayer to Almighty God.\n\n\n\nFINDING COMFORT.\n\nThe Experience of a Young Missionary in a Lonely Field, 10,000 Miles\nfrom Home.\n\nBY THOMAS A. SHREEVE.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nCALLED TO AUSTRALASIA--THE MODERN IMITATORS OF JOB'S FRIENDS--OUR\n\"SPECIAL INSTRUCTION\" IS TO \"BUILD UP THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN THOSE\nLANDS\"--A DISAPPOINTMENT ENDS IN A BLESSING--PROMISES BY AN APOSTLE\nWHICH WERE LITERALLY FULFILLED--WE REACH SYDNEY, AND I AM SEPARATED\nFROM MY COMPANION.\n\nIf a relation of my missionary experience can give to my young\nbrethren and sisters one tithe of the strength and blessing which\nthat experience itself imparted to me, I shall be more than repaid\nin relating it. From the reading of similar accounts by other Elders\nI have derived much benefit myself; but I realize that words are\npowerless to convey a full description of the events which befall every\nmissionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No man\ncan serve his Savior faithfully in distant lands, among strangers,\nwithout receiving and keeping constantly the Spirit of holiness, and\nwithout experiencing miraculous interpositions in his behalf. At the\ntime of their occurrence they are subjects of wonder and thankfulness;\nbut as years pass by, it becomes extremely difficult to put them into\nwords so expressive that they do not seem either too fanciful for\nreality, or too cold to be interesting.\n\n* * * * *\n\nAt the General Conference on April 8th, 1878, in company with Elder\nFred. J. May, of Salt Lake, I was called to fill a mission in\nAustralasia, comprising Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. A strange\ncircumstance attended this calling. For a week previous to the time\nthat the public announcement was made, some of the authorities who\nhad the matter in charge, and who had my name with the names of other\nmissionaries, had been looking vainly for me, or for someone who knew\nme. Three separate times my name was called in public meeting, and a\nrequest for my attendance at the President's office was made known. I\nheard nothing of the matter, although probably scores of my friends\nand intimate acquaintances were present. But each one thought that I\nhad either heard the notice myself, or would be told by someone else.\nAt last, on Saturday evening, April 6th, 1878, I was informed that a\nmeeting was to be held at the Council House, and that my presence was\ndesired. I was then engaged in the old \"Big Boot\" shoe store in Salt\nLake; and I dropped my work and hastened to the appointment, reaching\nthe Council House just at the appointed hour. I found Brother John Van\nCott there, and asked him what was wanted of me.\n\n\"Wanted of you?\" he asked, in surprise.\n\n\"Yes, I was told that inquiry had been made for me in two or three\nmeetings, and that I was wanted here to-night.\"\n\n\"Oh, are you the man? We have been hunting for you for a week. I have\nknown you for years, but I had forgotten entirely who you were. We want\nto know if you are willing to take a mission. Are you?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\nAt that moment Uncle Joseph Young came in; and Brother Van Cott turned\nto him and said:\n\n\"Uncle Joseph, here's the man we've been looking for so long.\"\n\nAfter President Joseph had looked at me for a moment, he said:\n\n\"Young man, we want to know if you are willing to take a mission.\nIf you have any excuses to make, though, you may take them to the\nPresident's office.\"\n\nI replied, \"Brother Young, I have no excuses to make. I will endeavor\nto go whenever I am wanted.\"\n\nI have since been led to marvel, and to thank my Heavenly Father, that\nthe authorities did not drop my name from the list of missionaries at\nthat time, instead of persisting in the search for me. No doubt it has\nshaped my life, and given me a blessing which will endure beyond this\nmortality.\n\nI could not be present in the Tabernacle on the following Monday when\nthe call was made, and therefore did not know to what mission I was\nassigned, until some over-zealous friends rushed into the place where\nI was employed, and informed me that I was called to Australasia, and\noffered me their sympathy.\n\nDuring the remainder of the week I was the recipient of innumerable\ncondolences. One brother said to me:\n\n\"That is the hardest mission in the world. No Elders are there now, and\nsome of the men who were last called to labor in that field--educated\nand experienced preachers--returned in ten months utterly discouraged,\nand reported that no satisfactory result could be accomplished in that\nregion.\"\n\nAnother brother said:\n\n\"I would rather be called to go into Montana and preach to the miners.\"\n\nAnother said:\n\n\"As good a Mormon as I am, I would rather go to Purgatory and preach to\nthe spirits in prison there than to take your mission, Thomas.\"\n\nAnd finally another one (who has since suffered martyrdom in the\npenitentiary)--a prominent business man of Salt Lake, by the way--said:\n\n\"The kind of missionary needed in that land is a man like Orson Pratt;\"\nimplying very strongly that inexperienced persons like myself might\nbetter stay at home than to make a useless attempt to convert the cold\nand skeptical people in Australia and New Zealand to a knowledge of the\ngospel.\n\nWhile I had made up my mind to endeavor, by the help of the Lord,\nto perform my duty; remarks of this kind could not help but make me\ndespondent. I had been very much surprised, and somewhat shocked,\nI will confess, when the announcement was made to me of the nature\nof my mission; and these injudicious condolences intensified my\nself-distrust, and made me feel as if my trip would be anything but\npleasant to myself and advantageous to the cause. But happily all\nmy friends were not of this class. After a few days, and when I was\nbeginning to feel considerably cast down, Elder John Van Cott met me,\nand said:\n\n\"Thomas, I hear that you have been having some of Job's friends to\ncomfort you. Never mind, my boy; go and fill your mission, and you will\nbe blessed in your labor. When I was called to go to Scandinavia I and\nothers felt that it would be a hard mission for me--if not a useless\none. But the Lord has wrought it into a blessing for me; because I can\ntravel through the length and breadth of this Territory, and in every\nsettlement I can find a friend.\"\n\nWithin a week after the time we were called, Brother May and myself\nwent to the Council House to be set apart for our labor. Fifty-two\nElders, I think, were there the same day to obtain their blessing.\nWe were among the last. In fact all the others had received their\nordination and had gone before any attention was paid to us. Apostles\nCharles C. Rich, Orson Pratt and Lorenzo Snow were there attending to\nthis labor: and when the last of the other missionaries had departed,\nBrother Rich turned to me and said:\n\n\"Well, Thomas, you are going to quit selling shoes, and going to preach\nthe gospel, are you?\"\n\nI answered, \"Yes, sir; I shall try.\"\n\nThey enquired unto what mission we were called; and learning that we\nwere going to distant and abandoned Australasia, they all expressed\ngreat interest in our welfare, and they sat down with us and talked\nvery kindly for some little time.\n\nI had watched the blessings of the other missionaries, and had noticed\nthat the Apostles each took his turn in ordaining the young Elders\nto their calling. I was acquainted with Apostles Rich and Pratt, but\nnot with Apostle Snow; and I earnestly desired that one of the two\nformer should bless me. So I had located myself in the position where I\nthought Brother Rich would reach me in his turn. However, their visit\nwith us had disarranged their plan; and when the conversation was ended\none of them enquired:\n\n\"Whose turn is it to ordain this Elder?\"\n\nThe result was that Brother Snow was called upon to ordain me. At the\nmoment I was disappointed; for I realized how grave a responsibility I\nwas going forth to meet, and I fancied I could gain greater strength\nand blessing under the hands of one of the Apostles with whom I had\nbeen acquainted for years, than under the hands of a stranger. But the\nresult banished that disappointment. Brother Snow sensed our peculiar\nsituation, and he blessed me with a power and spirit which thrilled my\nwhole being. Before he had concluded his words the tears were coursing\ndown my cheeks like rain. As if the words were uttered yesterday, I\nremember some promises which he made to me:\n\n\"From the moment that you leave these valleys until you return, the\nangels of the Almighty shall be with you. When you travel by land or\nby sea, though dangers may beset you on the right hand and on the\nleft, the power of the Almighty shall protect you. Though death may\nstare you in the face, the angels of the Lord will warn you and shield\nyou. Though the enemies of the truth may plot against you, their evil\ndesigns shall be made known to you by the angels of the Lord, and if\nyou heed their warning you shall be protected. When even your brethren\nshall desert you and turn against you, and your way shall seem to be\nhedged up, you will find a blessing given you from the Lord, for He\nwill be your friend. And you will see the day when you will have no\nfriend with the power to aid you, other than your Heavenly Father,\nin all the land where you are sojourning. But we promise you that\nbecause of your faith you shall be brought triumphant through these\ntribulations, and shall be brought to your home again in safety\nand with the approbation of the Priesthood and the blessing of the\nAlmighty. And you shall live to see the day when your labors in that\nfar-off land will bear good fruit.\"\n\nEvery word of that prophetic blessing has been fulfilled in a most\nwonderful manner. I believe that the Lord put these things into Brother\nSnow's mind, and that He gave me these promises to comfort and sustain\nme; and that in the little disappointment which I felt at not receiving\nmy blessing under the hands of Apostle Rich or Apostle Pratt, the Lord\nhad really His own wise purpose to accomplish.\n\nA week previous to the date fixed for our departure we were at\nPresident Taylor's office to learn if he had any special instruction\nfor us. We hoped and expected that he would outline our work or that we\nmight have some particular rule of guidance in that distant and lonely\nland. But the President's only word was:\n\n\"Yes, brethren, we want you to go to Australasia, and build up the\nKingdom of God there.\"\n\nThree times we asked our question:\n\n\"Are there any special instructions for us?\"\n\nAnd three times we received the answer in the President's well-known\nimpressive manner:\n\n\"Yes, brethren, we want you to go to Australasia, and build up the\nKingdom of God there.\"\n\nElder May looked at him with amazement in his eyes; and certainly if my\nface indicated my feeling, it betrayed the utmost surprise.\n\nWas this all? President Taylor was the Prophet of God on earth; and we\nwere inexperienced Elders going to a land nearly ten thousand miles\naway from home, to labor in a mission which had been abandoned by older\nand more learned men than we were. Naturally, we expected to hear what\nwe must do when we reached Australia; how we must live; how approach\nthe people; and how apportion our time to the various districts of that\nvast field.\n\nAnd yet our interview was ended. President Taylor's manner and\nwords--though very kind, and even fatherly, were decisive; and we\nwithdrew in some disappointment. When we got out on the street we\nlooked at each other in a most woe begone manner. I do not know when I\nfelt more forlorn or helpless than at that hour.\n\nBut we lived and learned to bless that significant sentence, which\nPresident Taylor uttered in his wisdom, and by the inspiration of\nthe Spirit. It became to us better, far better, than a book full of\nthe \"special instructions\" which we had coveted. Whenever we were\ndiscouraged, or torn by doubt, or oppressed by fear; we had our guide:\n\n\"Build up the Kingdom of God in those lands!\"\n\nAnd prayer to God invariably showed us the right means to reach that\nresult. If we had been dependent upon a certain method of gospel\npresentation, and less dependent upon our Heavenly Father, I am sure\nthat we would not have been so greatly blessed as we were in our labors.\n\nWe left Zion on Tuesday, May 7th, 1878; and sailed from San Francisco\non Monday, May 13th, 1878, on the steamer, _City of Sydney_. We took\nsteerage passage, and found ourselves in a motley crowd. There were\nabout fifty white passengers and one hundred and twenty-five Chinamen\nin this part of the ship, and we had a perfect Babel. The Chinamen\nkept up their own interminable chattering. And among the whites were\nWelshmen, Irishmen, Scotchmen, Jew, Gentile, Infidel: representatives\nof every race and of every sect. We even had a dynamiter on board--a\nperson who claimed friendship with the notorious O'Donovan Rossa of New\nYork.\n\nThe first port we made was Honolulu; where we met Elder Henry P.\nRichards, of Salt Lake, and Elder Woodbury, of St. George. They took\nus to the houses of the Saints, and we had a dinner of _poi_ and salt\nfish, \"luxuries\" which I tried my best to appreciate.\n\nOn Sunday, June 2nd, we passed Sunday Island, in the South Pacific.\nThat night we retired to rest about ten o'clock. After eight hours\nsleep we arose--and found that it was Tuesday morning at six o'clock.\nWe had sailed across the line which marks the beginning of the day,\nand had lost our twenty-four hours. I greatly regretted this loss of\nMonday, and never felt entirely reconciled to it during the two years\nthat I was away. Fortunately for my peace of mind, on our return we\nmade two Fridays on the same spot; and I allowed my gain of Friday to\ncancel my loss of Monday.\n\nWe entered Auckland harbor on Wednesday, June 5th; and sailed into\nSydney Bay at half past two o'clock on Wednesday morning a week later.\n\nWe remained in the lower bay during quarantine examination; and later\nin the morning the _City of Sidney_ steamed up to the central quay,\narriving at her birth about eleven o'clock. Several hundred people\nwere on the shore awaiting the arrival of the steamer. They were all\ncomplete strangers to me, and I did not expect anyone to meet us. But\nI saw in the crowd one man whom I instantly knew to be a member of\nthe Church. I turned to point him out to Brother May, but found my\ncompanion absent. However, I watched this man attentively, feeling\ncertain that he had come to find us, and that he was one of our\nbrethren. The event proved my supposition to be correct. When he came\non board the vessel he asked the steward for two passengers by the name\nof May and Shreeve. As soon as he spoke I stepped up to him and told\nhim that I was one of the persons wanted. We shook hands; and I found\nhim to be Brother J. Nichols.\n\nWe went to his house in Sydney, and were very kindly received.\nDuring the next several days we were engaged in a reorganization of\nthe branch, which had become somewhat demoralized by neglect and by\ninattention of members.\n\nOn the 16th day of July, Elder May went to Melbourne; and we did not\nmeet again for more than two years. It was not in our original plan\nto be separated for so long a time; but subsequent circumstances made\nthat lengthy separation apparently necessary. When we looked over the\nfield after reorganizing the Sydney Branch we discovered that it was\nentirely too large for us to cover within a reasonable time, if we\nremained together; and, though we disliked to part company, we felt\nthat by taking separate fields we could cover twice as much ground in\na given length of time as by both traveling together. We therefore\narranged that Brother May should go down to Melbourne, where he had\nsome relatives, and thence to Tasmania; while I should remain in New\nSouth Wales until the following December. About the close of the year\nwe should both go to New Zealand and together visit the branch of\nthe Church there, and endeavor to enlarge the work in that locality.\nBut this plan, for good reasons, was never consummated entirely; and\nI was parted from the companion whom I had learned to love, and who\nwas the only close friend that I could hope to have on earth in that\nHemisphere--from the time of his departure from Sydney until the hour\nwhen I set foot on the steamer's deck to return home.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nLABOR WHICH BROUGHT LITTLE COMPENSATION--A MYSTERIOUS CALL TO\nNEW ZEALAND--ATTACKED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT--THE VISITATION THRICE\nREPEATED--MEETING THE BROTHER OF A FRIEND--ON BOARD THE \"WAKATIPU,\"\nBOUND FOR NEW ZEALAND.\n\nI felt very lonely after Brother May's departure. The next day, feeling\nextremely despondent, I walked out to Bondi, a point overlooking\nthe great ocean. There I knelt down among the rocks and prayed most\nfervently to the Lord for comfort and help through all my trials. I\nderived such consolation from the communion with my Heavenly Father\nthat I have ever since felt anxious to advise my younger brethren\nwho go on missions, to frequently seek retired spots and there offer\ndevotion to God and supplication for His blessing.\n\nI then engaged in the work of visiting in Sydney and its suburbs; and\nsucceeded in finding several persons who had once been members of the\nChurch. It was our hope to reunite these persons with the Church and\nget them to renew their covenants and prepare sometime for emigration\nto Zion; but the majority of them were hardened. The people of New\nSouth Wales had no desire to hear or obey the gospel. Many of those who\nhad once had membership in the Church had become Josephites, and these\nand all the others felt that they needed no rebaptism at our hands, for\nthey were quite good enough without.\n\nAlthough I labored willingly, and even anxiously, in this region, I\nnever felt peaceful and contented in the city of Sydney. The very hour\nthat I landed there, I felt a weight upon my shoulders as if something\nwere pressing me to the earth. I was as conscious of that weight as if\nit had really been something physically tangible; and even when I was\nat the house of Brother Nichols, where we received very kind treatment,\nI could not rid myself of this sensation. It was only when I could get\naway from the city itself that I could feel at all light-hearted. I\noften wondered why I felt so ill at ease in Sydney, and why I could\nnot gain greater contentment when visiting with the family of Brother\nNichols there; but this matter was later solved to my understanding, if\nnot to my satisfaction.\n\nNot long after I was left alone I had a strange dream concerning my\nlabors. I thought that I was called to take a mission to the East.\nThe idea was very vivid in my mind, though no steps or time seemed to\nhave been made clear to me. When I awoke, I thought upon the matter,\nand interpreted it as meaning that, after my return to Zion, I should\nhave another mission--probably to Europe. With this view I attempted\nto dismiss the matter from my mind; but I found the effort futile. The\nidea remained persistently with me for three or four days; and then\none afternoon when I took up a book and sought to read, suddenly the\nprinted lines were blurred from me, and these words started out from\nthe page:\n\n\"You must go to New Zealand.\"\n\nI rubbed my eyes, astonished, and looked again. The words had\ndisappeared, and for a few moments I was able to read the book. But\nagain these words came upon the page, shutting out the printed lines\nfrom my sight:\n\n\"You are wanted in New Zealand.\"\n\nThis strange thing was repeated again and again. But I did not permit\nmyself to accept it as a requirement; because I remembered the definite\nunderstanding which I had made with Brother May concerning my labors\nin New South Wales, and the date of our mutual journey to New Zealand\nin December or January following. I dropped the book for a time, and\nthen picked it up again. The strange appearance of this command was\nrepeated. Not only on this day and with this book did I experience\nthis wondrous manifestation; but day after day with any book or\nnewspaper which I attempted to read, was the appearance repeated. Not\nunderstanding that this was a command to me which I ought to obey;\nand feeling in a measure bound by my agreement with my companion, I\ncould not, despite all these repeated instructions, bring myself to a\ncompliance with it. But soon the warning took another and a stronger\nform, and hastened my departure, while explaining to me the strange\nweight which I had felt upon me in Sydney.\n\nOne day I went to Ashfield, one of the environs of Sydney, to visit\nBrother William Armstrong, who resided there with his family. I\nreturned in the afternoon, feeling somewhat weary, and lay down upon\na lounge in the front room of Brother Nichols' house. His wife was\ngossiping with a neighbor in her jocular Irish way, and I felt somewhat\namused in listening to her.\n\nSuddenly I felt myself borne down by a strange and awful power. It\nweighed upon my bosom and seemed to be crushing me, while it pressed\nalso upon my mouth and threw my head over the top of the lounge.\nThe pressure upon my face was as distinct as if it had been made by\na sinewy hand pressing a cloth tightly over my mouth and nose. In\nthe first excitement my heart beat very rapidly, and then stopped,\nmotionless. I struggled to release myself, even reaching out with one\nhand and seizing the edge of the lounge, intending to draw myself down\nto the floor. Every effort was unavailing, and it seemed to me that I\nwas losing myself and must soon die, if I could not obtain relief. Then\nthe thought came to me to pray, and I cried in my inmost soul:\n\n\"Oh, Lord! help me!\"\n\nNo sooner had this petition passed in thought through my mind than I\nwas instantly released. I sprang to my feet, trembling with fear and\nsuffering, but I made no cry and gave no explanation to those who were\npresent.\n\nThe sensation which I experienced at the time I was in the grasp of\nthis power was as distinctly painful as any physical suffering I ever\nendured, and more intense than any ordinary physical pain can be. I\nwondered at it, as I had not been subject to such attacks; I even bit\nmy finger to see if I were really awake, thinking that possibly I\nmight be in a dream. But I found it all too real. Searching my mind\nfor some explanation, I concluded that as I had returned to the house\nhungry and worried, I had possibly taken too much dinner. And with this\nunsatisfactory explanation I forced myself to be content for the time.\n\nA few days later I determined to fast; and in the course of the day I\nwent to the Botanical Gardens. Upon my return, feeling somewhat faint\nand tired, I again lay down upon the couch. In a few minutes the awful\ninfluence once more seized me--this time with even greater power than\nbefore. I was affrighted and helpless. In the midst of my dreadful\nphysical pain and mental torture came the realization that I was in the\ngrasp of an evil spirit. This sudden knowledge intensified my torture.\nFor some seconds--it seemed to me an age, my heart stood still. I felt\nmyself slipping away, but could not move nor cry aloud. Once more the\ninspiration came to me to pray, and I called upon my Heavenly Father\nfor help. At once the influence departed, and I sprang to my feet weak\nand trembling. I felt every hair on my head standing upright.\n\nI recalled the description given by Joseph Smith of the darkness which\nenveloped him when he first prayed in the woods for light; and I knew\nthat I had experienced in some slight degree the same torment which he\nencountered on that occasion. I remembered that the Prophet spoke of\ngiving up under the torture that he was suffering, and of his being\nsaved by the power of God just at the moment when he felt himself\nslipping away into death and perdition. This, though undoubtedly in a\ngreatly moderated degree, was my own experience.\n\nAfter this the feeling that I must go to New Zealand was borne\nirresistibly. The last emphatic warning had shown me that Sydney was no\nplace for me at this hour, and that I must heed the commandments which\nwere given to me. Accordingly, I purchased a ticket for Port Littleton,\ndistant about twelve hundred miles from Sydney.\n\nThe steamer by which I was to sail would not leave for a week, but I\ncould not rest easy until I had secured my passage. The vessel was\ncalled the _Wakatipu_, from two Maori words, waka, meaning canoe, and\ntipu, meaning goods; the union signifying a canoe or ship to carry\ngoods.\n\nAfter purchasing this ticket the feeling of anxiety and unrest which\nhad possessed me departed, and I felt quite content in the full\nconsciousness that I was now in the line of my duty; but I still had a\ndread of the evil influences which I now knew abounded in Sydney and\ninhabited the house at which I was staying.\n\nWhen now I took up a book or a newspaper I could see the words as\ndistinctly as ever, and was no more visited by the commandment which\nhad been so manifest on other occasions.\n\nThe couch on which I had lain when seized by these dark powers was\nmy own bed at night, and I had not been troubled in the evening. But\nfrom the hour of the second seizure I religiously avoided sitting\nor reclining upon the lounge in the day-time. I had a strong horror\nof sleeping upon this couch at night, but I had no alternative; and\nsolaced myself by constant prayer and humility before the Lord, asking\nto be protected from the assaults of the adversary.\n\nPrevious to taking my departure for New Zealand I went out to Ashfield\nto bid Brother Armstrong and his family farewell. Again I returned\nlate in the evening. I thoughtlessly threw myself upon the couch, and\nalmost in the very second I was seized by the destroyer. The experience\nwas the same as on the other occasions, except that it was much more\npowerful and painful. I believed for a moment that I must die; but once\nmore I was restored by my prayer to heaven. The sensations I suffered\nin these seizures I never can forget. To speak of them even at this\nhour causes a chill of horror to pass over my being, and as a rule I\nfeel a dreadful pain attacking my heart.\n\nI did not speak of these experiences to anyone in Sydney, nor to anyone\nelse for a long time. I was inexperienced in these matters, and I\nthought it wise to keep my own counsel. But nearly a year afterward I\nreceived a letter from Brother May, who had returned to Sydney and had\nstopped at the house of Brother Nichols, while I was in New Zealand. He\nhad occupied as a bed the couch whereon I had slept; and he informed\nme that he had been seized by evil spirits in the night, dragged from\nhis bed, and tortured. After this reinforcement of my own views I\nwrote to Brother May, informing him of what had occurred at the house\non three separate occasions when I was lying upon that couch. I felt\nthen that not only was the city of Sydney an oppressive place for the\nElders, but that the house where we had stopped, though occupied by a\nman who professed the faith, offered a welcome to evil influences. Such\nan opinion was substantiated later when Nichols and his wife turned\nBrother May out of the house, and then apostatized and joined the\nJosephites.\n\nAlthough they had treated me very kindly I always felt under a\nrestraint when I was on their premises; and the event showed that they\npreferred association with the powers of darkness to the friendship and\ncompany of the Elders of the Church.\n\nMrs. Nichols and her eldest son are dead; and the man, if alive, leads\nwhat I imagine must be a lonely and unsatisfactory life. I am convinced\nthat he knows the gospel to be true; for I have had proof that he\npossesses this knowledge. Realizing this, I imagine that his mind must\nbe in a dreadful state of remorse and anxiety.\n\nThe day before I was to take the steamer _Wakatipu_ I went to the post\noffice at Sydney to mail some letters. While standing at the stamp\nwindow a man walked quickly up through the crowd, thrust a paper under\nmy face into the window, and cried:\n\n\"Foreign stamp--quick, please!\"\n\nHe laid the paper down, and I saw the address upon it. To my amazement\nit was:\n\n  \"JOHN ALFORD,\n       Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.S.A.\"\n\nI looked at the gentleman and said:--\n\n\"I beg pardon, sir; but do you know the gentleman to whom you are\nsending this paper?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir. My brother, sir. Do you know him?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\n\"Meet me here at twelve o'clock.\"\n\nAnd with these words he was gone like a flash.\n\nIt was then eleven o'clock and I had an hour to wait. I strolled around\nfor a short time, and promptly at twelve o'clock I was on the veranda\nof the post office, awaiting the coming of the very abrupt gentleman.\nOn the stroke of the hour he dodged between the pillars of the veranda,\nrushed through the crowd, and beckoned me to him. Then he started at\na rapid rate down the street, and I followed. After going a short\ndistance he turned and asked me:\n\n\"Had your dinner?\"\n\n\"No, sir.\"\n\n\"Come along, then.\"\n\nWe entered the Free Mason Hotel, the dining room of which was crowded.\nSeating ourselves at a table he gave his order for a beefsteak; and I\nwas too good a Britisher to refuse the same.\n\nWhile we were waiting, he asked if I were acquainted with his brother.\nI answered that I was, having worked for the same institution which\nemployed him, for a number of years.\n\nAt his request I gave him such information as I possessed about Brother\nJohn Alford and his family, and by this time the steaks were ready, and\nhe proceeded to eat his hurriedly.\n\nI saw there was no time for talking, unless I wished to lose my dinner,\nso I plied knife and fork vigorously. When we were through he paid the\ncharge, and we walked out.\n\nThen he asked how long I had been in Australia. I answered:\n\n\"About two months.\"\n\n\"How long shall you stay?\"\n\n\"Until to-morrow at one o'clock, when I leave for New Zealand by the\nsteamer _Wakatipu_.\"\n\n\"Are you a Mormon Elder?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\n\"Do you travel like my brother did when he was preaching in England\nwhat you folks call the gospel--without purse or scrip?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\n\"It is a very strange faith you people have. He never did any work\nwhile he was in England preaching, but he could go anywhere he wanted\nto go--while I, who was always working, never had either time or money\nto go anywhere. Curious, isn't it?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir--our faith is a strange one to the world. But we are placed\nin such a position that we have learned to rely upon God, our Eternal\nFather, whose gospel we are preaching. We know that while we are\nexecuting His commands, He will provide the means.\"\n\nMr. Alford shook his head incredulously, and muttered:\n\n\"Queer faith--strange faith--I can't see it. I am busy now. Come\nto-morrow at twelve o'clock. I will meet you at the post office. I want\nto see you.\"\n\nI replied:\n\n\"I must leave at one o'clock. I will scarcely have time to meet you.\"\n\n\"Nonsense! Come. That steamer won't sail before four or five o'clock.\"\n\nPromptly at the appointed time the next day I was at the post office,\nand again met Mr. Alford. He shook me warmly by the hand and said:\n\n\"I expect, young man, you haven't got very much money.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" I answered.\n\nIn purchasing my ticket to Littleton I had expended my last shilling.\nMy destination was the town of Rangiora, some distance from Port\nLittleton, and I needed means to pay my fare to that place.\n\nMr. Alford pressed ten shillings in my hand, at the same time saying:\n\n\"I do not understand how you folks can travel without purse or scrip.\"\n\nI could have explained to him how his ten shillings had relieved me,\nand enabled me to fulfill the commands of my Master; but I saw that he\nwas a business man--skeptical and unapproachable to the message which\nI was bearing to the world, and I made no attempt to encroach further\nupon his time.\n\nI went on board the vessel during the afternoon, and felt that I was\nobeying the sacred behest which had been so often and so mysteriously\nrepeated to me in Sydney. But the adversary seemed determined to cling\nto me and to fill my mind with evil thoughts. I tried to banish sadness\nby gazing from the deck of the moving vessel at the beautiful city\nof Sydney and the still more beautiful bay. But the effort was vain;\nmy prevailing emotion was one of despondency. The ship, the receding\nlands, the sea into which we were passing--all seemed so vast; and I\nseemed such a lonely mite, that I could not find comfort in that hour.\n\nGradually, as the night came on, the shores grew indistinct. Only a\nmyriad of lights twinkled out to show where the city lay. From vessels\nriding at anchor or moving up the bay to moor after their long voyages,\ncame shouts of masters and songs of men. The azure depths of sky and\nsea held each its countless stars. But the beauty of the scene only\nmade me more impressionable to melancholy; and I took one long farewell\nlook at the light-dotted city and the light-dotted bay--lovely beyond\ndescription--and then went below.\n\nI have never seen Sydney since that lonely hour.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nAN IRREVERENT COMPANY OF PASSENGERS--SICKNESS AND A HORROR OF LIFE\nFALL UPON ME--A \"HELPFUL VISION\"--\"ONLY BE TRUE\"--INVOKING THE\nNAME OF CHRIST--A JOLLY SINGER AND A JOLLY SONG--LANDING AT PORT\nLITTLETON--STRANGE RECOGNITION OF BROTHER NORDSTRAND--HIS DREAM\nCONCERNING ME.\n\nOn board the _Wakatipu_ was a large company of worldly people,\nrepresenting nearly all professions and stations in life. The majority\nof the people were extremely sociable, and very soon after we got out\ninto the open water a number of passengers gathered in the cabin with\nmusical instruments, to while away an hour and to banish sadness. They\nmade a great medley of their pleasures; and some of them were decidedly\nirreverent. A portion of the party wished to dance, and the man who\nsupplied the music claimed to know but one tune. This was:\n\n  \"Sweeping through the gates of the New Jerusalem,\n    Washed in the blood of the Lamb.\"\n\nAnd to this very strange \"schottische\" some of them danced a\nmerry-go-round.\n\nNotwithstanding the gaiety on board, the feeling of dread grew upon me.\nIt seemed to possess my very soul. Probably I had given way too much to\nsadness in gazing upon the distant lights of Sydney, and now I could\nnot banish the evil thoughts which thronged my mind.\n\nAll manner of gloomy forebodings oppressed me. While I remained in\nSydney, I felt that there was some tie between myself and my companion;\nbut now I felt that I had cut myself adrift even from him.\n\nThis was the first time in my life that ever I felt how completely\nalone a man can be when surrounded by joyous company. I tried to\nthink of comfort and companionship at the end of my voyage; but the\nreflection proved to be an unfortunate one, because I knew no soul in\nall New Zealand. Death must actually be something to dread for any\nperson to whom it will bring the appalling loneliness which possessed\nme at this hour.\n\nI retired to my berth, as you may imagine, in no pleasant frame of\nmind. The next morning, Friday, I awoke and found myself in a raging\nfever. I was not sea-sick, and, though I am subject to this trouble,\nduring this entire voyage I felt no touch of it. The fever increased\nduring the day, until it seemed as if my whole body were being consumed\nin a furnace.\n\nNo one came to enquire for me, or to offer aid; for I was not only a\ntotal stranger, but a steerage passenger--two things which, united,\nshut me out from help or sympathy. On Saturday morning I was worse. My\ntongue was swollen until it filled my mouth; it was as dry as a piece\nof tinder. With the intense heat of my body my teeth crumbled at a\ntouch.\n\nOn Sunday morning I was worse; though probably the fever had not\nincreased in intensity, because it could not; but I was very much\nweaker. That afternoon a passenger came to the berth, and offered me a\nglass of water. I took it gratefully; and this was the sole attention I\nreceived during four days.\n\nNaturally I felt dispirited. I had not even the advantage of delirium,\nwhich accompanies most serious fevers; I was constantly awake to the\nfull appreciation of the torture which my mind and body were enduring.\nTempted by the destroyer, I felt that death would have been a welcome\nrelease from my pain. The horror was almost unbearable.\n\nOn Sunday night, the entire company of passengers, with the exception\nof myself, gathered in the main cabin, upon invitation of a jolly\ndoctor, who held what he called:\n\n\"A Saturday Night at Sea.\"\n\nTo every person who could sing or make a speech, some part was assigned\nfor the general amusement. From my berth in the steerage--by drawing\naway the curtains, I could look out upon the festive scene, in which I\ncould bear no part, for I was helpless and speechless.\n\nThe doctor had been a surgeon in the hospitals of England, and also in\nthe Crimean War, and he opened the entertainment by a lecture upon the\nstrange experiences of a British army surgeon and hospital physician.\nWhile he was talking upon this suggestive subject, my mind was led to a\ncontemplation of death. I felt with a kind of listlessness that I would\nsoon be beyond the reach of earthly physicians, unless something could\nspeedily be done for my relief.\n\nAfter a severe struggle I so far overcame the dreadful feeling with\nwhich the adversary had filled my heart that I was able to call upon\nthe Lord in prayer. As I silently communed with Him, I gained power; my\nfaith was restored, and my hope for life was quickened.\n\nI asked Him in the name of the Lord Jesus to be merciful unto me;\nI felt then at perfect liberty to speak to Him as a son would talk\nwith a good earthly father. I said that I had come into this distant\nregion--not to fulfil my own worldly wish, but at the behest of His\nservants, to proclaim His gospel, and to build up His Kingdom. My\ncompanion was hundreds of miles distant from me, and I was beyond the\nreach of earthly help or earthly sympathy. It was my earnest desire to\nbe restored to life, that I might fulfil the mission to which I had\nbeen assigned by His representatives on earth; and to this end I asked\nthat some aid might be given me to rebuke the devil, and to banish the\nhorrors which I felt would soon, if allowed to work their way, bring\ndissolution.\n\nWhen my prayer was ended, I heard the doctor still talking; but under\nthe sound of his voice I fell asleep.\n\nI dreamed that I was back in Sydney, sick in bed. Brother May was at\na table in the room, and we were conversing. Across the room, to the\nright of my bed, was an open door, which I could see without lifting my\nhead from the pillow.\n\nWhile I lay there listening to the words of Brother May, a personage\nclothed in a white robe entered the room. He appeared to be a young\nman, and had a very pleasing countenance. This personage passed around\nthe bed and stood near the table. Brother May rose and offered the\nvisitant a chair, and then withdrew. The young man seated himself at\nthe table and opened a book. He said:\n\n\"Are you ready to report the Sydney Branch?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" I responded.\n\n\"Then proceed.\"\n\nI gave him an account of all our doings in Sydney, beginning with our\nfirst effort of reorganizing, and closing with my last act previous\nto sailing--for all these things seemed plain to my mind. The recital\nseemed to occupy me several minutes, and I continued to speak freely.\nHe wrote in the book rapidly, and never once interrupted me. I felt\nthat he was taking every word I uttered. When I stopped, he asked:\n\n\"Have you anything more to say?\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" I answered.\n\nThen he turned the leaves back, and seemed to read from the beginning.\nHe said:\n\n\"Very well. Now where are you going?\"\n\n\"To New Zealand.\"\n\nHe recorded my answer in the book, and then signed his name--I could\nnot see the words of his name, but I felt that he was writing his own\nsignature. He closed the book and walked around to the right side of\nthe bed, shook hands with me, and said:\n\n\"Good-by; I will be there before you.\"\n\nHe passed from the room, and then I saw the figure of a little child\nstanding at the foot of the bed. I looked closely and recognized my\nlittle brother Teddy, who had been drowned nearly twenty years before.\nI seemed to know that he had come from the spirit world, and in my\nanxiety I sprang from the bed, and, resting one knee upon the floor, I\ngazed intently at him. He stepped near me, and I took one little arm in\nmy hand. Although a spirit, he seemed palpable to my touch. I said:\n\n\"I think you are my little brother Teddy; but it is so long since I saw\nyou that I had almost forgotten how you looked.\"\n\nThen the thought came into my mind that I must ask him some question. I\nsaid:\n\n\"Teddy, have you seen our Heavenly Father yet?\"\n\nHe answered in the sweet voice of a child:\n\n\"No--but I shall see Him.\"\n\nI noticed that he was trembling, and that from his eyes there went a\nglance of fear to the open door. I asked again:\n\n\"Have you brought any message to me?\"\n\nTo this question he answered, \"Yes,\" shaking at the time more violently\nwith fear; but he turned his glance from the door and his eyes looked\nstraight into mine, and he came nestling into my arms. He lifted the\nfore finger of his right hand toward my face and said:\n\n\"Only be true!\"\n\nHe turned his head, still with that frightened glance, at the open\ndoor, and this time I also looked. And I saw an evil spirit standing\njust outside and shaking its fist at the little one, and bearing on\nits face a demoniacal scowl. Its whole bearing and gesture implied the\nwords, \"Don't you dare to give that message!\"\n\nWhen I saw this, I said to Teddy:\n\n\"Have no fear--I know how to drive him away.\"\n\nFor even in my dream I seemed to understand what power the evil one\npossessed and how he could be rebuked. And I seemed now to have got\nback my faith and the power of my calling. I strode to the door and\nstood close to the wicked spirit. I raised my arm to the square, with\nmy hand open and the palm extended toward him, saying at the same time:\n\n\"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of the\nliving God, I command you to be gone.\"\n\nHe looked at me with a hateful glare, but slowly walked three or four\nsteps down the stairway which was there. Then he stopped, folded his\narms, and, looking at me defiantly, cried:\n\n\"I will not go! I will not go! I will not go!\"\n\nI said:\n\n\"You will go.\"\n\nAnd then I followed him down, again standing close to him. Again I\nbrought my arm to the square and repeated my solemn adjuration. He\nwalked down the stairs and took refuge in a corner. This time he\nassumed a most resolute mien. His face expressed intense malice and\nhatred. He cried:\n\n\"I will not go--you shall not drive me away!\"\n\nFor the last time I invoked that supreme name of our Lord Jesus, and\nthen the demon--shaking his hands at me still in a threatening manner,\nfled with a look of baffled rage on his hideous countenance.\n\nI returned to the room and found that Teddy was gone.\n\nWeak and exhausted I climbed back into my bed and seemed to fall\nasleep; and at the very instant when I seemed to lapse into slumber I\nawoke with a start and heard the sound of a jolly song.\n\nInstead of the dry parched feeling which had enveloped my whole being\nwhen I fell asleep, I was now in a delicious perspiration. From my face\nthe sweat was rolling in little streams. This seemed as pleasant to me\nas a flood of water to a thirsty desert.\n\nThe singing came from the cabin. The man who was giving the song\nin a full, manly voice, was so near to my berth that I could have\nreached out and placed my hand upon his shoulder. The chorus of his\nsong went to my heart; and I afterward learned that the young man had\nnot been invited to sing, but had been seized with a sudden impulse,\nunaccountable even to himself. To this hour I have treasured in my\nrecollection the comforting words of that chorus. They were:\n\n  \"Never, boys, give way to sorrow,\n    But be up and act like men!\n  Look with hope for joys to-morrow--\n    Sunny days shall come again!\"\n\nWhen again I fell asleep I was comparatively happy. The following\nmorning when I awoke I was well, except for great weakness.\n\nMany hours subsequently, while I lay wide-awake and comfortable in my\nberth--lulled by the swirl of waters against the ship--I saw, standing\non a step-ladder by the side of my berth and looking down upon me, a\nlittle old lady. She was short and stout, and pleasant-looking. Her\neyes gleamed with kindness, and she smiled in a most friendly fashion.\nHow she came there I knew not, but she seemed to feel perfectly at home.\n\nWhen my eyes met hers, she began to nod at me. She continued her droll\nrecognition for several moments, and then she spoke in a jolly tone:\n\n\"I know you; I know you! And you shall know me when we meet again.\"\n\nThen she disappeared as suddenly as she had come. But her face and\nfigure, her smile and twinkling eyes, and her good-natured voice\nremained long with me as a pleasant memory. Before I had been a very\nlong time in New Zealand, I saw her again; but this next time her\npresence was more than a fleeting fancy.\n\nAt ten o'clock on Tuesday morning we sighted New Zealand. At eight\no'clock that night we arrived at the port of Wellington. It was in\nthe ordinary time of the steamer that we should leave at four o'clock\nthe next morning on the voyage across Cook's Strait to Littleton, my\ndestination--175 miles distant.\n\nInstead, however, of our getting away Wednesday morning at four\no'clock, at that hour a furious gale was coming up the strait. So\nterrific was its power that the captain could not entertain the thought\nof going out of port; so we remained over twenty-six hours, and left\nWellington at six o'clock on Thursday morning.\n\nOn Friday morning, about six o'clock, we reached Port Littleton, from\nwhich place I had learned that a train started for Christchurch, on the\nway to Rangiora, an hour later. It was my intention to go on shore with\nmy luggage and take a seat in this train before seven o'clock.\n\nBut, as I was about to set foot upon the gangway, I felt a sudden\nprompting, as distinct as if it were a voice, speaking to me:\n\n\"Don't go ashore now. You must wait for a time.\"\n\nI learned that another train would leave during the morning, and then I\nwent back into the cabin with my luggage and remained nearly an hour.\nWhile waiting I seemed to hear a voice as of someone speaking behind me:\n\n\"Now is your time to go ashore.\"\n\nI took all my luggage on my shoulders and in my hands, and walked\nacross the deck and gangway, and was just setting foot on the quay,\nwhen a man rushed up to me and said:\n\n\"Excuse me, sir; but do you know of anyone by the name of Shreeve on\nboard this vessel?\"\n\nI dropped my luggage, reached out my hand, and said:\n\n\"You are Brother Nordstrand!\"\n\nHe replied:\n\n\"Yes; and you are Brother Shreeve! Allow me to welcome you to New\nZealand.\"\n\nI did not know at the time why I said \"Brother Nordstrand.\" Of course\nI had never seen the man before, and the only possible acquaintance I\ncould have had with his name, was, that I had glanced once or twice,\nsome weeks previous, at a report which contained the names of the New\nZealand Saints. Paying but little attention to this matter at the time,\nI did not remember that Nordstrand was among these names, even if I\nsaw it. I had no idea that any person would come to meet me. And yet I\nspoke his name and reached out my hand to him with as much confidence\nas if we had been old acquaintances, only separated for a year or two.\n\nIf this experience on my own part seemed marvelous to me, upon\nreflection, I was still more surprised when Brother Nordstrand related\nthe events which caused him to meet the _Wakatipu_ at Port Littleton.\nHe said:\n\n\"I live at Styx. This morning in a dream, a personage--a young man\nof pleasing appearance, clothed in a white robe--visited me and\ninstructed me to go to Port Littleton this morning and meet the steamer\n_Wakatipu_, and find among her passengers a man named Shreeve, who was\na \"Mormon\" Elder coming to visit the Saints in New Zealand. The vision\nwas so vivid that I was roused from my sleep; and, when it was ended,\nI sprang out of bed and looked at the clock. I found the hour to be 4\nA. M. Two hours later I saddled my horse and rode to Christchurch, a\ndistance of six or seven miles. There I took train for Port Littleton,\nnine miles away, and arrived here to meet you.\"\n\nThe sole information and instruction upon which Brother Nordstrand\nacted was that conveyed to him in this dream. In a later conversation I\nlearned that in the same vision he had been shown all the consequences\nwhich would attend upon my ministration in New Zealand. The event\nproved that this dream to Brother Nordstrand was one of the greatest\nblessings of my life. I encountered much tribulation in New Zealand;\nno more from the bigotry of the world than from the perfidy of my own\nbrethren. But through all the trouble Brother Nordstrand was my devoted\nfriend. He had never a moment of doubt, because all which happened had\nbeen by him foreseen.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nREASON FOR MY SUDDEN CALL TO LEAVE SYDNEY--THE LITTLE OLD LADY OF THE\n\"WAKATIPU\"--SHE HAD WAITED A GENERATION TO RENEW HER COVENANTS--ANOTHER\n\"HELPFUL VISION\"--A MYSTERIOUS HALF-SOVEREIGN--SAVED FROM DEATH IN A\nSWIFT RIVER.\n\nElders William McLachlan, Thomas Steed, Charles Hurst and Fred. Hurst\nhad been the last Utah Elders to labor in the New Zealand missionary\nfield previous to the date of my landing there. They had rendered good\nservice to the cause, and I discovered that the foundation which they\nhad laid was broad and deep, and cemented in gospel truth.\n\nAfter a few days visit with Brother Nordstrand at Styx, I went to\nSouthbrook, where I found Elder James Burnett Jr., the young man who\nhad been left in charge of the mission by the brethren about a year\nbefore.\n\nWith him and with others I labored up and down the country in that\nlocality, and in the ensuing three months twenty-five souls were\nbrought into the Church in the Canterbury Province.\n\nOne of my first meetings was held at Prebbleton. While speaking there,\nI felt led to detail the strange succession of circumstances attendant\nupon my coming so early to that field. When I sat down a good sister\nnamed Mortensen arose and said:\n\n\"Brother Shreeve, I can tell you why you received the command to come\nto New Zealand immediately. It was in answer to our fervent prayer.\nFor more than three months previous to your arrival here we had been\nanxiously supplicating the Lord to send us an Elder from Utah.\"\n\nAbout two months after I landed in New Zealand I was traveling in\ncompany with Brother John Walker, when he said to me:\n\n\"There is a woman living in this neighborhood, who, I understand, once\nbelonged to the Church. I am acquainted with her husband. Let us go\nover and see her.\"\n\nI assented to his proposition and went to the house designated. When we\nentered we saw a little old woman sitting by the stove, smoking a pipe.\nShe arose with some embarrassment at receiving visitors. But the moment\nshe fully confronted me, I saw that she was the little old woman who\nhad visited me in imagination on board the _Wakatipu_, while sailing\nacross Cook's Straits.\n\nI learned that her name was Sister Emmas, and in conversation she\nstated to me that she had become a member of the Church a generation\nbefore, in the town of Bristol in England. It was there that the\nmiracle of restoration of sight was performed under the administration\nof Elder John Hackwell, upon the eyes of the children of William and\nElizabeth Bounsell. Sister Emmas had been an eye witness to this\nmiracle. She was then firm in the faith; but the young man whom she\nmarried--being anxious to get her away from the influence of the hated\n\"Mormons\" had carried her to this remote nook in New Zealand, thinking\nthat he had separated her from the Church forever.\n\nShe had often prayed to be visited by members of the Church and to be\nunited with her people. Some years before I met her a man had worked\nfor her husband for a brief time, and then departed. After he was gone\nshe learned that he was a \"Mormon.\" He had interested her greatly while\nhe labored for her husband, and she had been unable to account for the\ninterest she took in him. After he was gone the matter was explained to\nher satisfaction; and she looked anxiously for his return--but in vain,\nfor she never saw him after that hour.\n\nIn later conversations I spoke to her of her appearance to me on\nboard the _Wakatipu_, and by comparison of dates I learned that on or\nabout the very day when she appeared to me, she had been praying most\nearnestly that the Lord would bless her with a visit from a \"Mormon\"\nElder. She had often sat by her window and looked out with straining\neyes and anxious heart for someone to come to her, and bring a renewal\nof the glad tidings which she had heard thirty years before in England.\n\nWhile I remained in that region Sister Emmas was very kind to me. She\nfrequently helped me with money, and I was always a welcome visitor at\nher house.\n\nShe loved to talk about the things of the gospel, but I found that she\nwas but a child. She had heard nothing of the teachings of the Church\nexcept those earliest taught in England, and the sublime doctrines of\nbaptism for the dead, and other things revealed to the Saints later\nthan her day in the Church were entirely new and strange to her. Often\nwhen I was talking she would clasp her hands, and look at me with the\nutmost surprise, saying:\n\n\"Well, well! Now, they didn't teach that when I joined the Church--I\ndidn't understand it that way.\"\n\nBut she seemed always willing to learn, and was indeed a faithful soul.\nHer husband, however, continued bitterly opposed, and after some time\nboth she and I agreed that for the sake of her peace it would be better\nif my visits to their house ceased. But before we finally parted the\ngood old lady said to me:\n\n\"You will know when I am dead--I will let you know; and then, if there\nis anything which you can do for my eternal blessing, I pray you to do\nit.\"\n\nOn the 27th of February, 1879, I went to the North Island, in the hope\nto do some successful labor there. At Wellington I stopped at a hotel\nkept by a Mr. Daville, a relative of Brother C. W. Carter of Salt\nLake. On the night of my arrival I retired to my room, wet and cold. I\nwas wearied, but wakeful, because of my anxiety. I knew that several\nefforts had been made in times past to open the work in this region;\nbut they seemed all to have been unsuccessful, and I doubted my own\nability to accomplish any good. I felt prayerful, but still despondent.\n\nWhile I lay, wide awake, in my bed I suddenly saw a hand and arm,\nclothed in a white sleeve which extended down midway between the elbow\nand the wrist, and holding a torch in its hand--thrust out from the\nside of a dark fireplace which was in the room.\n\nAt first there was but a spark of light at the top of the torch, but\ngradually the flame grew greater and the light stronger, until it\nfilled the whole room; and then from out the darkness behind the arm\nand torch stepped the figure of a little girl.\n\nI recognized it instantly as that of my young sister Sophia, who had\ndied six years before in England, while I was in Utah. At the time of\nher death she was eight and a half years old, and had but recently\nbeen baptized into the Church. She came toward the bed, and I saw that\nshe was dressed in beautiful white raiment. From her whole person a\npleasing light seemed to emanate. She approached the bed and leaned\nover it, placing her arms around my neck and kissing me upon the lips.\nThen, still with her hands clasped, she leaned back and looked intently\ninto my face, saying at the same time:\n\n\"Tom, don't be afraid! Whenever you are in danger I will come to warn\nyou.\"\n\nShe bent forward and kissed me again; afterward leaning back to take\nanother look at my face. Repeating the same words as before, once more\nshe kissed me; and then slowly withdrew her arms and moved back from\nthe bed. She approached the arm, which still held the torch, and as\nshe did so I saw that the light of the torch paled before the greater\nglory which surrounded her person. When she neared the fireplace the\narm stretched out around her, and she stepped back into the darkness.\nShe waved her hand three times with a farewell gesture toward me. Soon\nshe was enveloped in the darkness of the fireplace, and the light of\nthe torch grew for a moment brighter; then suddenly it vanished and I\nfound myself leaning upon my elbow in the bed and gazing fixedly at\nthe blank darkness where the glorious presence and the light torch had\ndisappeared. So real and certain had been the presence of my sister\nthat after she was gone I still felt the pressure of her warm arms\naround my neck.\n\nI remained in that region for a time, but could not find any opening;\nand therefore concluded to return to the South Island. At the time\nI greatly regretted the necessity for this step, for it seemed like\na desertion of the field; but I was later led to thank God for the\nguidance of the Spirit for taking me away from the North Island.\n\nIt had been my purpose to obtain an opening among the Maories, and\nproclaim to them the gospel; but two weeks after my return to the\nSouth Island serious trouble broke out between the government and the\nMaori tribes which I had intended to visit on the west coast. This\ntrouble continued for a considerable time, and during it, whenever my\nmind recurred to the subject, I thanked the Lord that I had been led\naway from that locality; because the people of that region would have\nbeen only too glad to attribute the Maori uprising to the \"incendiary\npresence\" of a Mormon Elder.\n\nOne day after my return, myself and a companion had been baptizing at\nAlfred Forest and it was our desire to reach Templeton as speedily\nas possible. We were very tired, having walked thirty-two miles that\nday, and we concluded to ride from Rakaia to Templeton, provided we\nhad enough money for the purpose. We emptied all our pockets very\ncarefully. I took especial care to feel in every corner of my clothing,\nand I gave all I had to my companion, who said that with his little\nstock this was barely sufficient to purchase the tickets. When we\narrived at Templeton we learned that Brother Walker was quite ill at\nhis home in a little town two or three miles distant.\n\nWhen I arose to dress the next morning, I happened to put my hand in\nmy vest pocket; and to my amazement I drew forth a half-sovereign in\ngold. How it came there I know not to this day: I was possessed of such\na coin so infrequently in those days that I had certainly not placed\nit in my pocket and forgotten it; besides only the night previous at\nRakaia I had searched my pockets carefully and had given every penny\npossessed to my fellow-laborer.\n\nAt the request of my companion, who was too weary to attempt\nthe journey, I trudged down that morning to Brother Walker's\nhouse--although I myself had been so tired that I thought I could not\nwalk a furlong. When I reached the house I found Brother Walker was\nindeed very sick; and that, owing to the confinement occasioned by\nhis sickness, his business had been neglected, and his folks had been\nunable to leave him while they made collections of money due him, and\nthey were for the moment in a very needy state, not having a penny in\nthe house.\n\nWhen I found the situation in which they were placed I said to Sister\nWalker:\n\n\"I have found a half-sovereign this morning, which came to me in some\nunknown way for some unknown purpose; and now I shall be glad to let\nyou have it for your needs.\"\n\nShe thanked me, and told me that she would be grateful if I would hitch\nup their horse and drive over to Christchurch and purchase some bread\nand medicine. I did as she requested. I hitched up the horse and went\nimmediately to Christchurch, a distance of three or four miles.\n\nArrived there I went to the baker's shop and asked for two shillings\nand sixpence worth of bread, giving the baker in payment my\nhalf-sovereign, or ten shilling piece. He gave me the proper change\nI am sure, because I watched it carefully. I placed this change of\nsilver in the empty purse which I had in my hand, and then went to\nthe chemist's shop. Here I purchased medicine to the amount of two\nshillings, and took that much money from the purse and paid the chemist.\n\nThen I hastened back to Brother Walker's, and when I entered the house\nI gave the folks the bread and the medicine, and tossed the purse,\ncontaining as I supposed, five shillings and sixpence in change, to\nSister Walker. She emptied the money into her lap, counted it, and then\nsaid:\n\n\"You did not pay for the bread and medicine which you got at\nChristchurch.\"\n\nI replied that I had paid for them, certainly; because, being unknown\nto the baker and chemist, they would not have trusted me.\n\n\"But,\" she replied, \"you have brought back ten shillings and four\npence--which is more than you carried away with you.\"\n\nI answered that I could not help that--I had certainly paid for the\nbread and the medicine and had received my exact change from the baker,\nwho broke the money for me.\n\nBut whatever I might say, there was the money--four pence more than I\nhad carried away, although I had spent four shillings and sixpence.\n\nSome time afterward I was requested by Jeppe C. Jeppeson to go to\nAlfred Forest to perform for him and his family the ordinance of\nbaptism. I was then at Prebbleton, and Alfred Forest was more than\nseventy miles away.\n\nThe second day of my journey I had thirty-two miles to travel on foot\nfrom the Rakaia River to Alfred Forest. My way lay for ten miles along\nthe bank of the Rakaia; and thence along a level stretch for twenty\nmiles, to the North Ashburton River. This I would be obliged to cross,\nand from the crossing to travel for two miles to the residence of Mr.\nJeppeson. The Rakaia is a broad river flowing between high and steep\nbanks.\n\nThe day was extremely hot, with a north-west wind blowing. This\n\"north-wester\" as it is called in that region is something like the\ndesert simoon--it dries the sap out of everything. It is intensely hot\nand parching in its nature, and quickly enervates any person exposed to\nits influence. Especially is this the case with a person unaccustomed\nto the climate.\n\nWhenever I wanted to moisten my lips I had considerable difficulty in\ndescending to the stream and reascending the steep and high bank. But\nI was soon spared this annoyance; because when I began to cross the\nplain I found no water whatever. There was not a drop to be found for\na stretch of nearly fifteen miles. Several times during this painful\njourney I lay down, feeling utterly exhausted; and once or twice I felt\nthat death would be a relief.\n\nAbout a mile before I reached the north fork of the Ashburton, I saw a\nstick about six feet long and two inches thick, lying across my path.\nI passed it by, but could not help feeling greatly surprised at seeing\nit there; because I had not, during the whole time that I was walking\nacross this plain seen any tree or shrub or even a willow of any kind.\nAfter I had gone some distance, I felt an impression that I ought to\nturn back and get the stick. I endeavored to put this idea from my\nmind, but without avail; and so I returned and picked up the stick and\ncarried it with me.\n\nWhen I reached the river I expected to find someone there to meet me;\nbecause Mr. Jeppeson had promised that his son would await me on the\nnorth side of the river with a horse, and help me across. But I found\nno one there.\n\nThe sun had long gone down, and darkness was swiftly descending upon\nthe earth. The river was rapidly rising for the north-wester was the\nwarning of a storm which had been raging in the mountains. This branch\nof the Ashburton was about a furlong in width, and was naturally a\nrapid though not deep stream. Its fall was so great that an immense\nquantity of water could be carried with a shallow depth. As with many\nother New Zealand rivers, for a single person to cross on foot was a\ndangerous experiment, because the water flows so rapidly that one is\neasily lifted off his feet; and once down he could never get up again.\n\nI was debating in my mind whether I should pass the night on the north\nbank of the river, or run the risk of death in crossing, when I saw a\nrift like a triangle open in the clouded sky to the south. From this\nrift sufficient light came to enable me to see the surface of the\nstream. I looked from the roadway and saw that at various points in the\nriver were shifting sand bars, which I could detect by the rippling\nover them of the rising waters.\n\nI knelt down and prayed for guidance from my Heavenly Father, and when\nI arose it was with a determination to cross the stream. I descended\ninto the water, but some influence immediately forced me back to shore.\nThis influence was so powerful that it lifted me back to the bank like\na cork.\n\nThen I bent over and looked at the stream, and by the aid of the light\nfrom the open space in the sky I saw that where I intended to enter the\nriver was a deep, dark current. Higher up I could see that the light\nshone on a line of ripples, betokening sand bars, extending almost\nentirely across the stream. I ascended to a favorable point and saw\nthat here the light shone at its brightest; and I took this line for my\nford.\n\nI had the stick which I had providentially picked up, and this I put\ninto the water down stream from me, and grounded it on the bottom,\nand then I entered without fear. I leaned up stream as far as I could\nwithout falling, and, although the stream was only up to my knees, the\npressure of the swift current against my body threw it as high as my\nwaist. As soon as I could gain a firm footing upon the bottom, I moved\nmy stick from point to point; and in this way progressed safely to the\nfirst bar. Then I stepped into a hole with my right foot, and caught\nmyself just as I was going down.\n\nA cold sweat broke out on me, because, while I had not had much\nexperience with New Zealand rivers, I knew perfectly well that to lose\nmy footing was to die. I stood a moment to breathe and to recover my\ncomposure, and then I started on.\n\nGuided by the light, and supported by my stick, I was able to zig zag\nfrom one bar to another, until I was within twenty yards of the south\nbank. Then again I missed my footing, and was whirled around and nearly\ncast down. The stick once more saved me, and in a few minutes I was\nsafely landed on the shore.\n\nWet, exhausted with the long battle in crossing the river, my shoes\nfull of sand and my feet raw; I sank down upon the ground, wearied\nbut joyful. I thanked God for the preservation of my life through the\nstruggle with the fierce river.\n\nWhen I rose from my knees I looked up at the sky, and saw that the\nprovidential light (which had undoubtedly been the means of saving my\nlife) had disappeared. I felt convinced from this that there were no\nmore streams; and the result proved the correctness of that idea.\n\nI walked on two miles and found the house of Mr. Jeppeson; but it was\nclosed up, all the people having retired to bed. When I found that they\nhad preferred to retire, rather than to fulfill their engagement with\nme, I went to the house of Brother Olsen, who kindly gave me supper and\na bed.\n\nA few days later, Mr. Jeppeson came to me with profuse apologies, and\nat his request I baptized him and his family.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nSOME OLD MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH--THE SPIRIT PROMPTS PROMISES TO THEM\nWHICH ARE LITERALLY FULFILLED--HELP FROM A CATHOLIC WHO IS SUDDENLY\nCONVERTED AND WHO AS SUDDENLY APOSTATIZES--A SPONTANEOUS PROPHECY--THE\nJOURNEY HOME--A CAREFUL OBSERVER--SAFE IN ZION.\n\nOne day while visiting at a little village called Greytown, I met a\nlady whose name was Mrs. Reid. She had belonged to the Church fifteen\nor sixteen years before, when she was a girl in England. She had been\nquite a devoted member of the Church, and some of the Elders promised\nher that through her faithfulness and her kindness she should be\nenabled to gather to Zion with the Saints. This was the dearest wish\nof her heart, and she fondly anticipated the time. But she was courted\nby a man whom she subsequently married, and he came into the Church\nfor the purpose of gaining her hand. The time was almost set for her\ndeparture to the Valley; but he insisted that they should be married\nin England. The Elders advised her to wait until she and her affianced\ncould reach Zion; but she was persuaded by the pleadings of Mr. Reid,\nand married him in England. No sooner were they united than he took\nher to another part of the country, and later he carried her to New\nZealand. He had not been sincere in his protestations of faith, but had\nmerely joined the Church for the purpose of gaining her hand.\n\nShe had repented bitterly this error of her life, and when I saw her\nshe was a most lonely and miserable creature. Her mother and sisters\nwere in Utah, but she had no hope of ever seeing them. Her husband was\na besotted wretch who made her life one continued agony.\n\nShe unfolded to me all the troubles of her life. She recalled clearly\nall that had been promised to her by the Elders, and she wept when she\nthought of how she had robbed this sacred promise of its fulfillment by\nher own lack of fidelity. She blamed no one but herself, but she said\nto me very sorrowfully before we parted:\n\n\"I know that my husband will not permit me to be rebaptized. He is\nangry because you come here; for he thinks that the \"Mormons\" have\nagain hunted me out. But before you go away I want you to bless me and\nmy children.\"\n\nI complied with her request, and when my hands were on her head I\nfelt led to promise her, in the name of the Lord, that she should be\nreleased from her trouble, and that very shortly. A few months later I\nlearned that she was dead. I did not understand the full significance\nof the promise which I gave, at the time. I only spoke the words in\nobedience to the inspiration of the Spirit; but I am satisfied that\nthis was the only relief which could come to this poor, oppressed\nwoman, and God sent it in answer to her humble and faithful prayer,\nand her reliance on the promise which was made by an Elder of Christ.\nA similar experience occurred to me at Koroira, at which village I\nfound an old man named Eagles. Years before he had lived in Salt Lake\nwith his family; but his wife and children grew dissatisfied, and, in\nfact, apostatized. They departed for New Zealand, and the old brother\nfollowed them away from Salt Lake in the hope to bring them back into\nthe Church, and induce them to return to Zion. But his effort had been\nin vain; and now he was old and fast failing and was the object of\ntheir contempt and persecution. They refused to permit him to observe,\neven in the simplest matters, the religion to which he was honestly\nand irrevocably devoted. I had heard that there was such a man in the\nneighborhood, though I had not seen him, and one day when I was passing\nalong the road I met him. I knew that it was he at once. I called him\nby name, and then explained that I was a \"Mormon\" Elder from Utah.\nBrother Eagles expressed great gladness and soon told me his troubles.\nI asked:\n\n\"You came away without any counsel?\"\n\nHe responded that he had left Utah without counsel; although he had\nmade two or three vain efforts to get a conference with President\nYoung. But he confessed that he had been in too great a hurry; and that\nit had been a bitter misfortune for him that he had ever left Utah\nwithout having counseled with the proper authorities and learned the\nright thing for him to do.\n\n\"I was a Sunday school teacher in Huntsville, and I labored on the\nTemple Block in Salt Lake; and there among the Saints I was well\nrespected--but here I am treated like a dog. I am very sorrowful and\nunhappy.\"\n\nI saw that he was wearied and despondent, and I said to him:\n\n\"Never mind, Brother Eagles. Do not feel bad about your troubles. The\nLord is looking down upon you in mercy. He sees your afflictions,\nand He will soon release you. I am very sorry that you came without\ncounsel; but you will be rewarded for the faith that you have had and\nthe labors you have performed.\"\n\nHe answered me that he really hoped the Lord would soon release him,\nfor his burden was very heavy.\n\nWe parted and I walked away; and after traveling a short distance I\nfelt a sudden regret that I had spoken to the old gentleman in this\nway. I thought to myself that he would feel bad, and my words might\nincrease his despondency. I turned around to look for him, and I saw\nthat he had mounted nearly to the crest of a hill, and that he had\nstopped by the roadside and was leaning upon his stick. The loneliness\nand the unhappiness of the old man came fully to my mind. I thought to\ngo back and recall what I had said; but the moment I started towards\nhim the voice of the Spirit came to me distinctly, saying:\n\n\"Proceed with your journey. Let the old man alone.\"\n\nI went to Alfred Forest, but returned a few days later; and on my\nreturn to Christchurch I called at the post office. The first letter\nI received was from a friend at Koroira. He stated that on the Monday\nfollowing my conversation with Brother Eagles the old man had taken\nto his bed. He had not seemed to suffer any bodily pain, nor to be\nafflicted in mind. He quietly sank away, apparently in perfect peace\nand contentment, until the following Saturday, when he died.\n\nAfter nearly two years of labor in New Zealand, I was preparing to\nreturn home. My release was expected every mail. I had not the money\nwith which to pay my fare from Christchurch even to Auckland; but I\nknew that the way would open and I trusted the Lord implicitly. I had\nbeen directed to proceed northward and perform my final labors in the\nregion of Wellington and Hawkes Bay, and I needed the means with which\nto perform this labor. The Saints in the vicinity of Christchurch were\npoor. Besides, they had just assisted one missionary with the means to\ncarry him home, and I could neither ask anything, nor were they in a\nposition to give.\n\nThe last Sunday but one before I was to start northward, I preached in\nChristchurch on the restoration of the gospel. One listener was a man\nnamed Brownrigg, who was not a member of the Church. He was a man of\nconsiderable means and a Catholic.\n\nA day or two later I went up the country a short distance to bid the\nfolks farewell, and then returned to Christchurch. I found that in the\nmeantime Mr. Brownrigg had become Brother Brownrigg, having requested\nand received baptism at the hands of the Elders during my absence.\n\nOn the last Sunday of my stay in that region I again preached in\nChristchurch and bore my testimony to the assembled Saints. Brother\nBrownrigg was there--an attentive listener. The next day he called me\ninto his business establishment and told me that he had been converted\nby the sermon which I had preached on the restoration of the gospel.\nHe enquired what my means were, and when I answered that I was without\nmoney, he said:\n\n\"You cannot travel without means. Here are five pounds for you. This\namount will help you some.\"\n\nOn the following Friday (the day before I was to start away) he again\ncalled me into his store, and this time presented me with an additional\nsum of three pounds--making a total of eight pounds, or $40, which he\nhad given me within a week.\n\nThis circumstance impressed me very seriously. There was not a Saint in\nthat mission who was able to give me the money needed for my journey\nuntil Brownrigg became a member of the Church; and he was so quick and\ngenerous with his gift that I was enabled to sail on the day appointed,\nwithout any further trouble or annoyance. But if I were impressed at\nthis time, imagine my feeling when I learned shortly after that no\nsooner was I gone than Mr. Brownrigg apostatized, and called the whole\nsystem of the gospel \"a pack of nonsense!\" I then felt ready to admit\nthat I had converted Mr. Brownrigg by the sermon on the restoration of\nthe gospel; because if the Lord had converted him, he would not have\nbeen so ready to deny the truth. I do not like to call such a sordid\nmatter as this a miracle, and yet it seems little short of miraculous\nthat this man should have come into the Church, have given me the money\nnecessary for the fulfillment of the Lord's direction to me--and then\nhave apostatized. He was a Catholic and would not have given me the\nmoney without joining the Church.\n\nI reached Auckland in due time; and on the last Sunday in June, 1880,\nI preached in Orange Hall, in Newton, Auckland, my farewell sermon in\nthe Australasian Mission. I was greatly moved in delivering this final\nmessage of truth; and in the course of my address I bore a sincere\ntestimony to the truth of the gospel, and then the spirit prompted me\nto give to the people assembled a solemn warning. I said:\n\n\"Other Elders will come to you; but you shall reject their testimony as\nyou now reject mine. But after that, and before six years shall pass\naway other testimonies will be sent by the Almighty, which you can\nneither reject nor gainsay. These testimonies will be the testimonies\nof earthquakes and famines and pestilence; and they will continue to\nafflict you until but few of you shall live.\"\n\nWhile uttering these words I felt so strongly impressed, so confident\nof their truth, that I told the people to write my utterance down, and\nwatch for its fulfillment. But when I had finished and the Spirit had\nleft me to my own thoughts, I felt almost horrified at the nature of\nthe prophecy which I had almost unconsciously made. I felt my humility\nand my weakness most vividly, and I also felt almost ashamed, and\ncertainly very fearful concerning the fulfillment of what I had said.\nThat feeling of doubt and almost anger with myself came upon me during\nthe years following, whenever the subject recurred to my mind.\n\nIn June, 1886, I received a visit from a brother who had recently come\nfrom New Zealand. We were talking about the experiences of my mission,\nand I said to him:\n\n\"It is now just six years since I left Auckland on my return.\"\n\nNo sooner were the words uttered than there flashed through my mind a\nrecollection of the strange prediction which the Spirit had uttered\nthrough my lips in Orange Hall; and I thought to myself: \"I must have\nbeen misled. I have watched the papers carefully, and there is no sign\nof any such disaster as that which I predicted. If those people did as\nI requested--if they wrote down the prophecy as it was uttered, some of\nthem now will say, 'There is a falsehood which a Mormon Elder told.'\"\n\nThis thing worried me for a week, but before ten days had elapsed I\nsaw by the newspapers that a few days before the term of six years\nhad expired a mighty and destructive earthquake occurred at Lake\nRotomahana. The effects of this earthquake had been to sink the famous\npink terraces of Lake Rotomahana; to substitute for the lake itself a\nmud volcano and five or six vomiting volcanoes sending forth streams of\nmud, dust, hot water and other debris which covered the country round\nabout for miles in every direction to a prodigious depth; to destroy\nlives and to extinguish one village with most of its inhabitants.\n\nI sailed from Auckland on the steamer _Zealandia_, on the 28th day of\nJune, 1880. On this ship I had the pleasure of rejoining my dear friend\nand companion Elder May, from whom I had been so long separated. He was\non his way home from Australia bringing with him a family of Saints.\n\nOn board the _Zealandia_ were three members of the new South Wales\ncommission, who were going to England on political business. They were,\nHon. Alexander Campbell, Captain St. John and another whose name I did\nnot obtain. Mr. Campbell was a gentleman of great suavity of demeanor,\nfine appearance and wonderful intelligence and information. As soon as\nhe found that \"Mormons\" were on board he became deeply interested in\nthem. In conversation with us he said:\n\n\"I have given some study to your question for the last thirty years.\nI have watched the course of your people; and I am satisfied that\nyou are working out great social problems. To grapple with these\nproblems successfully has been puzzling to the wisest of statesmen for\ncenturies. I am not one of those who look with contempt upon people who\nprofess strange beliefs. I understand that your community is largely\ncomposed of the Anglo-Saxon race; and I know that you cannot find a\nplace on the face of the earth where an enduring community of this kind\nhas been built up for the purposes of lust. Your enemies say that this\nis your motive, but I am convinced to the contrary. The Anglo-Saxons\nnever descend to that. When they unite in great movements they have a\ngrand object in view.\"\n\nA few days later when we were crossing the line he came from the cabin\nwith a newspaper in his hand, sat down alongside of me, and said:\n\n\"Mr. Shreeve, I understand from your jubilee report that you have about\n50,000 children enrolled in your Sabbath School Union?\"\n\nI answered, \"Yes sir--I believe that is about the number.\"\n\nHe said, then, \"Do you know if these children are trained aright that\nyou have growing up in your mountain community a power which the world\nhas not seen since Adam stepped out of the Garden of Eden? I assure you\nthat it is so. These children have not the tradition of ages to combat,\nbut their minds are unhampered and pure, and you can mould them to the\nfulfillment of a great purpose. I repeat it, you have growing up with\nthese children a power which the world has not seen since father Adam\nstepped out of the Garden of Eden.\"\n\nMr. Campbell stopped a brief time in San Francisco; and had intended to\nmake a lengthy stay in order to be in Salt Lake on the occasion of the\ngrand celebration to be given there on Pioneer's Day. He succeeded in\nreaching our beloved city in time, and he was an admiring witness of\nthe exercises in which thousands of the young Saints participated. Mr.\nCampbell watched with sparkling eyes, and he drew a long breath as he\nsaid to a companion: \"My friend, the half of this people's greatness\nhas not been told.\"\n\n* * * * *\n\nI reached my home in July, of the year 1880. Only returning Elders can\nunderstand my joy. By the favor of God I had been enabled to perform\nmy duty; and every blessing pronounced upon my head had been literally\nfulfilled.\n\nI would not to-day exchange the experience and the Helpful Visions of\nmy mission for the wealth of the world.\n\n\n\nTRAITORS.\n\nSolemn Warnings--A Traitor can Never be Anything but\nDespicable--Examples of the Past.\n\nBy Ben E. Rich.\n\nThe traitor is the moral cannibal. He feasts on the mental worth, the\nsocial reputation, the political welfare and the earthly life of his\ntrusting and betrayed friend. He is the human serpent, which nurses and\nrevives at the fire of charity, and then darts his strengthened venom\nat the bosom of his benefactor. What the grub is to the heart of oak,\nthe gnawing rat to the ship's timbers, the flaw to the diamond, the\npoisonous asp to the sheltering flower--all that, aye, and more, is\nthe traitor to mankind. No cause is so sacred, no being is so exalted\nas to be free from the pollution of his betraying touch. Even the\ncelestial legions had their archtraitor. Earth, from the day of Eden,\nhas never been free from his treacherous kiss. Since the hour when man\nfirst learned to owe allegiance to his fellow-man, profane, rebellious\nbetrayers have worked their insidious way, like devastating worms,\nthrough all the pillars upholding holy men and noble causes.\n\nThe traitor is the worst of all thieves; for he steals sacred freedom\nfrom his trusting associates. The traitor is the worst of all\nmurderers; for he plunges the assassin's knife into the back of his\nbelieving friend.\n\nTwo soldiers are standing at the picket post--in the dark night, the\nsilent forest. They are sworn and trusted comrades. The army of the foe\nsurges around them; and they know that ghastly death is grinning at\nthem from every glade which opens from the dark center to the blacker\ndepths beyond, and whispering to them upon every wind that stirs the\nodorous branches. But they fear no blow from a foeman's shaft--that\nnoble death is but the chance of war. Secure in mutual confidence,\nthey tremble not. They speak of country, home; of wives and little,\nprattling babes. And yet, while the words of soft, pathetic love are on\nthe lips of one, the other plunges a traitorous knife, hilt-deep, into\na friendly, loyal heart. And then the assassin sweeps like the shadow\nof a lost soul over the face of the betrayed sentinel; he creeps across\ntender moss and between the trunks of mighty trees--everywhere leaving\nthe crimson, accusing stain--until he reaches a distant campfire; and\nat the feet of the waiting enemy he lays down his reeking knife and\ntakes his purse of gold. This is the traitor. And when the moon comes\nup, stealing amidst the rustling leaves, he looks upon the cold, white\nface of a betrayed friend, whose last word was of confident love told\nto the ear of a hired assassin.\n\nTwo men are joined in a patriotic cause. To the maintenance of the\nprinciple of just freedom they pledge their lives, their fortunes and\ntheir sacred honor. History will call the men who are true to this\ncause loyal and brave. The tyrant whom they seek to overthrow calls\nthem conspirators. They meet in a darkened room, with curtains closely\ndrawn. Soft mats hush the sound of the firm footfall. Stern voices,\nmore used to the vast circumference of the field or the resonant\nheights of the forum, are stilled to a woman's whisper. These two men\nare meeting to sign and yield to each other, for distant comrades, the\npledge of mutual fidelity. The one who is master of the house places\nhis guest at a table and spreads before him for final execution the\nplans of insurrection, the lists of friends and confederates, the oaths\nof reciprocal fealty. As the visitor attaches his name to the solemn\ninstruments, he sighs and says:\n\n\"Oh, trusted friend! I yield to this cause not only my life, my fortune\nand my sacred honor; but I pledge to it and to the integrity of you and\nour allies my sweet wife and my only son--both at once my present pride\nand future joy!\"\n\nWhile the words are uttered, the bold and noble hand traces its way\nin affirmatory signature across parchment and paper. Scarcely has\nthe thrilling whisper of the patriot ceased to agitate the damask\ncurtains, when the hangings are parted by the vulture hand of the other\nconspirator; and between their open folds steal the soldiers of the\ntyrant. These warlike hands grasp the shoulders of the patriot; and as\nthey drag him forth to dungeon and to death, the betraying host cries:\n\n\"Bind him fast, lest he should escape and slay me!\"\n\nThe coward, muffled in a cloak, soon steals from the sombre chamber to\nthe palace of the minister and lays before that waiting officer his\ntrophies of broken plans and fatal lists. He gets in return his patent\nof rank, his gift of confiscated estates, his pledge of his personal\nsecurity. This is the traitor. And when the sun of the third day shall\nrise, its first pitying beams will fall upon the gory block, the black\nexecutioner, the basket with its dread burden, and the headless trunk\nof the patriot whose trust and hope had been in a false friend.\n\n* * * * *\n\nTwo men are joined with others in proclaiming an unpopular but holy\ndoctrine. Hand in hand they go through the earth testifying to men, to\ncities, to nations, the mighty truths. They say to all lands and to all\npeoples:\n\n\"We know that this is the living, burning truth. God has spoken from\nthe heavens, and we are His witnesses.\"\n\nTo each other--in all the sacred friendliness of long association, of\nmissionary labor, and of a communion together when every human law and\nhand seemed against them--they speak in faithful hope of the glorious\ncause which they espouse, and of the divine necessity which they are\nunder to be faithful to God and their brethren. Their views are not in\naccord with public sentiment and suddenly they are dragged before a\ncruel tribunal and charged that they are teaching crime. But the law\nof the land says: \"No man shall be punished because of his sincere\nreligious views or practices.\" And the judge before whom they are\narraigned calls to them:\n\n\"Continue to declare that ye are doing the will of God, and in prison\nye shall rest. But acknowledge that ye are proclaiming a man-made\nsystem, and pledge that ye will cease, and ye shall go free.\"\n\nAnd one of them who are arraigned says:\n\n\"Oh, judge! I acknowledge thy supremacy. I will obey thy law. I will\nnot advise others to break it. So long as thou and thy masters shall\ncommand, I will worship the graven image.\"\n\nAnd then he takes his seal of amnesty, bought at the price of a\npeople's freedom, and creeps from the presence of the court a man--nay,\na creature--inviolable of his fellows, but haunted ever by the shadow\nof Judas. This is the traitor.\n\nAnd when the other prisoner is arraigned he cries:\n\n\"This is my religion! God gave it to me! Ye may take my earthly life,\nbut ye cannot sap my manhood nor strangle my conscience.\"\n\nThen the judge, who has a mission to learn if these people are sincere,\nanswers to the prisoner and for the far-off masters of the court:\n\n\"Thou canst not come within the law; because thou canst not claim\nsincerity. Thy brother and fellow-laborer hath just now recanted, and\nthis is proof that thou art not sincere, but wickedly obstinate. If thy\nbrother had with thee remained firm and immovable I might have believed\nin thy cause. But what man hath done man can do again. Therefore,\nrecant or rest thou within the cold and lonely walls.\"\n\nAnd the sun and moon of another month, stealing through iron-bound\nchinks of rock, see the patriot pacing a dismal cell.\n\nThe traitor calls himself a reformer. He is merely a coward. And of all\nthe wretches whose presence taints the air of earth and heaven, the\ncoward is the worst. Great Caesar said:\n\n\"The coward's fears make him die many times before his death.\n\n\"The valiant never taste of death but once,\n\n\"Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange\nthat men should fear seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when\nit will come.\"\n\nThe traitor professes to believe that his act of betrayal will disrupt\nthe cause which he deserts. This is the coward rebel's wish. How\nabjectly and miserably he fails! Sometimes the traitor lops from the\nsturdy trunk a straggling branch; but does the tree thrive less for\nthat? Nay. The other twigs only bear blossoms the more redolent and\nfruit the more rosy. Sometimes the traitor tears away a cracked, a\nseamed, a shaling stone from the half-completed structure. What if a\nmeasure of disaster follow? Cannot the builder renew? And does he not\nchoose better rock to bear the weight of his fair edifice? Sometimes\nthe traitor only hastens the success which he seeks to avert; sometimes\nhe delays the triumph against which he rebels. But always ultimately\nthe car of destiny moves to its appointed end. And the cowardly\nbetrayer who thought to stop its career by holding back with his puny\narms is dragged by it to his miserable end, while his associates--dead\nor alive go with it to the day of triumph.\n\n* * * * *\n\nThere was once a man of mighty prowess, endowed from his first breath\nwith a wondrous strength. When he grew to manhood, brutes, men and even\narmies fell in the dust at his feet. It had been divinely promised of\nhim that he should be a marvel of strength, and that he should begin\nto deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines, and men and\nchains, and bolts and gates could not prevail against his manly, heroic\nlustiness. But there came a woman, with her soft, betraying touch. She\ncaressed him and begged for love of her that he would reveal the secret\nof his miraculous strength. In a foolish moment he yielded; and then\nwere his Jove-like locks shorn from his head; and he became a blind\nlackey, the serf of the Philistines. Delilah, the betrayer, with her\ntraitorous kiss upon Samson's lips, and her traitorous whisper through\nthe tent to his waiting enemy, could do what no thousand of open foes\ncould accomplish. She made the proud, superb, perfect lion a weak,\nwhining whelp.\n\n* * * * *\n\nA mighty king had a well-beloved son to whom he had given and forgiven\nmore than is usually bestowed upon one of human kind. And yet the son\ntraitorously plotted the downfall and even the murder of his royal\nsire, and the usurpation of the throne. He might have succeeded in his\ncruel, parricidal treason, but that he himself was in turn betrayed\nand finally slain. And when the grand, great-hearted, poetic monarch\nlearned that Absalom, the sweet, the beautiful, the dearly-beloved, was\ndead, he wept before all Israel, and as he went his sorrowful way thus\nhe said:\n\n\"O, my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for\nthee, O, Absalom, my son, my son!\"\n\nIf that arrow-pierced heart of the betraying and betrayed Absalom\ncould have quickened but for one moment, how much sharper than the\nphysical death-thrust would it have felt King David's cry of infinite\nforgiveness! But the past was irrevocable. Israel's lordly king, the\nbeloved of God, was moaning in anguish at the gate of the city; and the\nbeautiful Absalom, with the fatal hair, the beloved of his royal sire,\nwas lying dead in the pit in the deserted wood, with ignoble stone\ncrushing his lifeless body.\n\nWar, murder, exile were powerless to bring such desolation to these\nroyal hearts; but when Absalom, the forgiven murderer, became a\nbetrayer infinite woe fell around the name of the dead prince and the\nbowed head of the living king. But though the great tenderness of the\npsalmist could compass remission for the crime of Absalom, the nation\nand history must be more harsh. When a subject, for self-agrandizement,\nrises against a king, he is a traitor; but he is a thrice-damned\ntraitor when that monarch against whom he rebels is his own father.\n\n* * * * *\n\nWomen are often false to their lovers; subjects to their sovereigns,\nand even sons to their sires. Divinity itself is no invulnerable shield\nagainst betrayal. A merciful Christ came to save mankind from torment\nand lift them into eternal radiance. He chose and trusted His apostles.\nHe ministered to them and with them. They each could give a testimony\nthat their Master was the anointed Savior, the Son of the living\nGod. Persecution came upon Him like the storm cloud lowers upon the\nsnowy mountain and enfolded Him in a gloomy embrace. The prospect of\nsuffering with this God-like Master, whom he had served as purse-bearer\nwhen the danger was not great, made Judas weak unto betrayal. Cowardice\nand avarice worked together in the traitor heart. He kissed and cried:\n\n\"Master, master! Hail, master!\"\n\nThen he took his thirty pieces of silver; and with them he accepted a\nhatred of all mankind.\n\nThe compassionate Redeemer of the world hung upon the cruel cross with\ndrops of agony upon His radiant brow, while his lips were wreathed in\na pained but forgiving smile. And Judas, the traitor, already tasting\nthe infernal torments, called in vain to stay the progress of his dread\nact. The black-hearted deed was done. The mocking trial had passed,\nsentence had been pronounced and executed; and then the betrayer\ngroaned and flung the money from him as a sinful, burning thing which\nhad no worth. Upon the bloody field he cast himself and his bowels\ngushed forth in useless contrition. He died upon the spot which his\nblood-money purchased for the burial of strangers and criminals in the\nland.\n\n* * * * *\n\nA brilliant general fell into disgrace with his military superiors\nand with the civil government of his country. He was impetuous and\nimpatient of restraint. He was proud even to arrogance; he was\nextravagant even to the furthest limit of honesty. Other men had been\nadvanced to higher posts--he felt himself degraded. His disbursements\nupon one of his heroic expeditions were still unsettled--he felt\nhimself defrauded. A tyrant foe invested his country and sought to\nsubjugate her people. He listened to the voice of ignoble avarice, of\nproud passion, of offended arrogance. With deliberate humiliation he\nsought a place of vast trust among the defenders of his country. He\nwas appointed to the command of a great river fortress--the key to the\ninterior, the storage house of munitions dearly bought, highly prized\nand absolutely necessary for the repulse of the invaders. He sold his\nrank, his honor and his interest in his native land. Just at the hour\nwhen his bargain was to be decided, his old friend and admirer, the\nnoble commander-in-chief, said to him:\n\n\"My dear Arnold, I am now forming my army for active operations in the\nfield. I want a fighting general. Come, I offer you the command of the\nleft wing, at once the post of danger and of honor.\"\n\nThe traitor's face flushed with shame. He pleaded an old wound as\nreason why he should not go into the battle-field. Then he went to\nmeet Andre and give the last assurance to his British masters that he\nwas theirs, body and soul. By the interposition of America's sublime\ndestiny his plot was discovered and foiled.\n\nArnold, the traitor, crept away to escape a betrayer's death. He\nreceived his British uniform, his British gold, his British sword. He\neven came back with his mercenary horde to ravage, burn, destroy the\nlittle town in Connecticut where first he saw the light.\n\nYears later, the great Frenchman, Talleyrand, met a\ndistinguished-looking man at an English country inn. The two gentlemen\nwere total strangers to each other; but they soon engaged in\nconversation upon the great question of Democracy. When they were about\nto part, Talleyrand said to his companion:\n\n\"From your knowledge of all that relates to the United States, I am\nsure that you must be an American; my name is Talleyrand, and I am\nabout to visit that country; perhaps you will be kind enough to give me\nletters of introduction to some of your friends there.\"\n\nWhen the illustrious diplomat had finished his request, the other\ngentleman bowed low; and when he looked up his face, even to his lips,\nwas gray as ashes. In a voice which sounded weird and cheerless as the\nmoan of a November wind across a deserted marsh, he answered:\n\n\"Yes, I am an American. I was born in America. I have spent nearly\nall my life there. But I am probably the only American living who can\nsay, 'I have not one friend in my native land.' No, not one. Sir, I am\nBenedict Arnold.\"\n\nTalleyrand turned away from Arnold with a shudder, while the miserable\ntraitor crept silently from the room.\n\nWhen the unhappy wretch was dying in the midst of contempt and poverty\nhe grew delirious. At the last moment of his ruined life he called to\nthe devoted wife who had been the sharer of all his woe:\n\n\"Bring to me, I beg you, the epaulettes and sword knots which\nWashington gave me. Let me die in my old American uniform, the uniform\nin which I fought my battles. May my God forgive me for ever having\nworn any other!\"\n\n* * * * *\n\nThe greatest army which the world ever saw was gathered at Thermopylae\nmore than two thousand years ago.\n\nThis was the Persian host assembled to do battle to the little band of\nSpartans. So intrepidly did the Greeks defend that sacred defile which\ngave entrance to their beloved land that Xerxes became out of all hope\nof forcing his way through the Spartan ranks. This was the moment for\nthe traitor. Before the proud Xerxes could withdraw his myriads, the\nbetrayer came--a Greek, a native of the sublime country. With servile\nwords he flung himself at the feet of the gorgeous Persian. He offered\nto lead the invaders to an eminence overlooking the heroic defenders of\nGreece. His coward wish was granted; and when the next morning dawned\nLeonidas and his followers saw the spears and helmets of their foes\nflashing at them from the heights.\n\nThe rest is the most sublime tragedy of profane history.\n\nAnd the traitor who betrayed the noblest souls of Greece to their death\nreceived his gold and precious stones. He might have died in the honest\nobscurity in which he was born and reared, but for his coward act.\n\nAh! such notoriety is purchased at too high a price. It would be\nbetter for a man to stand modestly and firmly before his country's\nfoe; to fall unrecognized and without praise; to fill a grave over\nwhich the words shall stand cut into ineffaceable granite, \"An unknown\nsoldier, who died in defense of his country.\" Ah, yes! far better thus\nto fall and fill an unknown grave--to be unremembered forevermore of\nmen--than to win a name of infamy, to fill the pages of history and be\nrecollected of all human-kind while men shall hate a traitor.\n\n* * * * *\n\nA prophet of Almighty God came in the full sunlight of this great\nnineteenth century to lead men back to the glory of their Creator. His\nopen enemies sought his life; but for years their murderous effort was\nin vain. He continued his sacred ministry upon the earth, with a power\nwhich was divine, until the hour for the traitorous kiss. When Bennett\nsinned and then through hate betrayed, the shadows of martyrdom began\nclosing around our grand Prophet and Patriarch. When the Laws and the\nHigbees, the Fosters and the Cowles, became traitors and gave their\nefforts to aid the assassin persecutors of their sworn brother and\nleader; then, indeed, was the fate of Joseph and Hyrum sealed.\n\nA governor of a sovereign State betrayed them to a cruel death; and\nCarthage repeated the divine tragedy of Calvary. The Prophet and\nPatriarch have passed to their glorious immortality; their names shall\nfill a thousand hymns of praise on earth and welcome in the heavens.\nBut the traitors--miserable reptiles--will be scorned through countless\nages.\n\nIt is always the same--prince or peasant, apostle or soldier--if a\nman be a traitor he is remembered for that and nothing more. If his\nstation be lowly, he will seek in vain to hide his shame in his native\nobscurity; for it will burst forth in lurid, bloody letters to the\nsight of all the ages that shall come. If his station be exalted he may\ntry and try again, but vainly, to cover his treason with the glory of\nhis rank or wealth; for it will blacken all his brilliance and leave\nhis place a plague spot; his fame, a grinning skeleton of dead despair;\nhis career, an undying infamy.\n\nBut whatever may be the varied circumstances and results attending the\nwretched lives of traitors, there is this lesson which all humanity\nmay draw: Successful or unsuccessful in their treason, betrayers are\nalways execrated; successful or unsuccessful in their treason, they\nalways live long enough to repent; successful or unsuccessful in\ntheir treason, they may never in this life know a waking moment when\ntheir own coward fears do not make them doubt the fidelity of every\nsoul about them; successful or unsuccessful in their earthly treason,\nwhen they shall stand in that other world face to face with their\nbetrayed friends, they will know that the blackest of all offenders are\n_cowardly_, assassin traitors.\n\nAt that great day Judas Iscariot will not be the only traitor to cry:\n\n\"It had been good for me that I had not been born!\"\n\nEvery crisis at every period and with every nation exposes traitors\njust as it exalts to view patriots.\n\nThis Church has seen at every critical point of its career, the\nbetrayer as well as the savior springing to the front. The present\nemergency with the people of Utah is no exception to this rule.\n\nJust as there are men sacrificing comfort and earthly prosperity to\nthe cause, and men who are willing to give life itself to defend God's\nwork from the attacks of its enemies; so there are people who will sell\ntheir own sacred heritage and the freedom of the community, for wealth,\npopularity or personal safety.\n\nAnd more than this--the people are surrounded by men placed here to\nrepresent the government who are false to every trust, and whose\nopposition can be estimated in dollars or coerced by bigotry.\n\nWe have some traitors to ourselves within our homes; we have more\ntraitors to truth and justice outside our walls.\n\nLess than two thousand years ago the great Roman republic was at the\nzenith of its power. Some of the free and enterprising citizens of that\nmighty land emigrated into the cold, mountainous regions of the north\nand established a colony which they called Beville. They set up the\nRoman standard, and claimed the territory in the name of their country.\n\nAfter overcoming untold difficulties, they sent messengers to Rome\nasking for recognition; and saying that, inasmuch as they had given a\ngrand, rich domain to their beloved mother land, they should be placed\nupon an equal footing with their free-born fellow-citizens. But the\npoliticians at Rome would not listen to this request; and Beville was\nkept in the vassalage of a conquered province.\n\nAll the governors, judges and many of the local officers were sent\nfrom some other part of the republic; and they treated the people of\nBeville with the most dreadful severity, while they dispatched to\nRome the most vicious and cruelly false reports concerning the honest\ncitizens of the province or colony unto which they had been sent to\ngovern and to judge. Many of them were most contemptible knaves and\ntraitors. They once had a governor who traitorously violated his oath\nto give a certificate of election to a man who had one vote in a dozen,\nand whose only claim to consideration was his wealth and willingness\nto make loans on desperate political titles; a governor who deprived\na good public unsectarian university of its needed support and then\ndeclared that the people of Beville opposed education; a governor who\nbroke his plighted word in order that he might leave upon the fair land\nthe espionage of an unjust and unaccountable commission; a governor\nwho basely betrayed the consul that maintained him in office by saying\nwith egotism which is bleached white with concentrated lye: \"I wrote\nall of such and such portions of the consul's message;\" a governor\nwho was called a thief upon the floor of the Senate; a governor who\nhad a list of wildcat, highway-robbery mining stocks which bore his\nname and title--all for sale under the glare and glamor of his civil\nposition; a governor whose brains were rattling chestnuts, whose heart\nwas infinitesimal, bearing proof that a single atom can exist, and\nwhose beauty--his only virtue--was that of the painted harlot and the\nwhitened sepulchre.\n\nThen they had one judge, a man who should now be where Deacon Bitters\nwas supposed to be years ago--measuring sulphur to make orthodox hell\nfire; a judge whose class-meeting morality was so dreadfully shocked\nby an advocate's grand conduct that the advocate was disbarred from\npractice because he refused to cast off and make a wanderer of the wife\nwho had loved and honored him, and who had borne him sweet, confiding\nchildren; a judge who could then send lechers forth from his court\ncrowned with bay and laurel and bearing their edicts of license in\ntheir hands; a judge who practically said to the libertine, \"Go your\nway rejoicing. Prey upon virtue without stint. Bring ruin into your\nown home, and then spread disease and deadly desolation wherever else\nyou can gain an entrance. You are free to come and go. My thunderbolts\nof justice, forged at the fire of fanaticism and fanned by the wind of\nprotection for my own son, all these shafts are for our over-scrupulous\nopponents, the people of Beville;\" a judge whose brain was honeycombed\nwith the devious turnings of treacherous thoughts, whose heart was an\nicicle, and whose alleged moral desire--his only virtue--was the great\nenfolding cloak which could cover every prostitute and paramour in the\nland.\n\n* * * * *\n\nThey had another judge: a creature whose miserable physical appearance\nwas but the photograph of the horrid, ugly soul within; a judge who was\nwilling to slay women and children, and to tread over their corpses\nto gain his nomination; a judge who became known within one brief\nyear as an infamous wretch, who practiced cruelty with most Satanic\ningenuity; a judge whose brain was a tape-worm lie, with five hundred\nself-sustaining and specie-propagating joints. Whose heart was a pain\nin his stomach caused by a vacuum, and whose ability to sermonize, his\nonly virtue, was an adulterous union of vanity and falsehood.\n\n* * * * *\n\nThese men were all traitors--traitors to God, to their country and to\nthe parents who vainly tried to endow them with manhood.\n\nBut to-day we in Utah have a few traitors a little nearer home. There\nare men who say:\n\n\"I once loved the cause well enough to die for it; but now I hate the\nwork and the people, because a leading man once did me an injury. I\nwill become an informer.\"\n\nThere are still others--the careless traitors--the men and women\nwho cover their thoughtless treason with a joke, and clothe unmeant\nbetrayal with a smile. These are the people who learn the sacred\nsecrets of a friend, a brother, and then tattle the forbidden words\nhere, there and everywhere. And when the careless gossip reaches the\nears of our persecutors--as it does all too often--it becomes, not\nfriendly joking, but a stern, almost tragic accusation. And when the\nvictim is brought to sad disaster, the very people who have helped the\nwicked betrayal are among the first to say:\n\n\"I am not surprised that he should come to grief; he is so careless.\nThe great wonder is that it did not happen before, because everybody\nhas been talking about his affairs.\"\n\nAh! to-day we see Delilah who betrays her husband; and Absalom, who is\ntraitorous to his father; and Judas, who is traitorous to his father;\nand Judas, who would betray his master for gold or popular approval;\nthe Arnold who says, \"It is a losing cause, and I may as well desert\nwhile there is yet time.\"\n\nYes, there are cowards and traitors in the land. Well, let there be,\nthen, since such are necessary to make the sum of human existence--let\nthem live as hyenas do.\n\nGrand Harry the V., of England--superb, glorious Harry--stood once\nupon the shore of France with his little band of soldiers to face the\ncountless legions of his hereditary foe. He heard a murmur as of fear;\nand turning to his nobles he looked at them from flashing eyes and\nspoke these very significant words:\n\n  \"He which hath no stomach to this fight,\n  Let him depart, his passport shall be made,\n  And crowns for convoy put into his purse:\n  We would not die in that man's company,\n  That fears his fellowship to die with us.\n  I speak not this as doubting any here!\n  For, did I but suspect a fearful man,\n  He should have leave to go away betimes;\n  Lest, in our need, he might infect another,\n  And make him of like spirit to himself.\n  If any such be here, as God forbid!\n  Let him depart, before we need his help.\"\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nSome obvious printer's errors in the original, including numerous words\nwith missing, substituted, or extra letters, have been corrected as\nseemed appropriate. Chapter III of \"Briant S. Stevens\" was missing from\nthe table of contents in the original.","title":"Helpful Visions: The Fourteenth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Intended for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":31846}