{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_49830/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_49830","id":"gutenberg_49830","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49830","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Eskildz, Niels P. L., 1836-","Lambert, Mary Alice Cannon, 1828-","Latter Day Saints","Service (Theology)"],"text":"TREASURES IN HEAVEN\n\n  FIFTEENTH BOOK OF THE\n  FAITH PROMOTING SERIES\n  DESIGNED FOR THE INSTRUCTION\n  AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF YOUNG\n  LATTER-DAY SAINTS\n\n  COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY\n  GEO. C. LAMBERT\n  SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH\n  1914\n\n\n\nOFFICIAL SANCTION\n\n    April 8, 1914\n\n    To the First Presidency, City.\n\n    Dear Brethren:\n\n    I have had a desire for a long time past to resume the publication\n    of the Faith Promoting Series that I originated and published\n    something like thirty-five years ago, but which has been suspended\n    for almost thirty years.\n\n    I received the sanction of the Church authorities when the\n    publication of this series was commenced, and had ample evidence\n    afterwards of the popularity of the volumes issued, and of the\n    general benefit resulting therefrom. I now desire your sanction\n    in what I may do in publishing additional volumes; and hope to\n    subserve the interests of the Church and promote true faith only in\n    what I publish.\n\n    If you deem it necessary to appoint a committee to whom I may\n    refer any matter concerning which there may be a question as to\n    propriety, etc., I shall be glad to have you do so.\n\n    I am prepared to assume all financial responsibility, and believe,\n    with the experience I have had, I shall be able to do effective\n    work in the selection and preparation of the matter.\n\n    I intend to make the volumes about one hundred pages each, and hope\n    to be able to sell them at twenty-five cents per volume.\n\n    I have the matter partially prepared for two volumes, the first to\n    relate to Temple work, and to be called \"Treasures in Heaven,\" the\n    second to contain a variety of incidents and experiences, and to be\n    called \"Choice Memories.\"\n\n    A waiting your kind consideration and reply, and with kindest\n    regards, I remain\n\n    Your Brother,\n\n    GEO. C. LAMBERT.\n\n\n    April 30, 1914\n\n    Elder George C. Lambert, City.\n\n    Dear Brother:\n\n    We learn by yours of the 28th inst. that you desire to resume the\n    publication of the \"Faith Promoting Series,\" discontinued some\n    thirty years ago, and we take pleasure in informing you that you\n    have our sanction to do this, and that we have appointed Elders\n    George F. Richards, A. W. Ivins and Joseph F. Smith, Jr. as a\n    committee to read the manuscript.\n\n    With kind regards,\n\n    Your Brethren,\n\n    JOSEPH F. SMITH, ANTHON H. LUND, CHARLES W. PENROSE,\n\n    First Presidency.\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nNo lesson taught by the Savior during his ministry in mortality was\nmore frequently and thoroughly impressed than that of unselfish\nservice. Of those who labored solely for the things of this world,\nor for praise or the honors that men can bestow, He had a habit of\nsaying: \"They have their reward.\" If they obtained that which they\nstrove for they were already repaid: they were entitled to nothing\nmore. Of the rich He said, \"Ye have received your consolation.\" It\nwas not sufficient that man should seek to benefit or bring happiness\nalone to those they loved. Even that He evidently regarded as a species\nof selfishness, as implied by the saying: \"For if ye love them which\nlove you, what reward have ye?\" \"For sinners do even the same.\" His\nexhortation was: \"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where\nmoth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;\nbut lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor\nrust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.\"\n\nAll this was not intended to imply that wealth itself was intrinsically\nbad, or that poverty had any essential virtue, except as a means to\nan end. The rule was, as expressed by the great Teacher, that \"where\nthe treasure is, there will the heart be also.\" A sublime test upon\nthis point was that made of the young man who applied to the Savior\nupon one occasion to know what good thing he could do to gain eternal\nlife. Though he was able to say that he had kept all the commandments\nfrom his youth up, it was apparent to the Master that his heart was\nset upon the wealth he possessed, as evidence of which he turned away\nsorrowfully when required by the Savior to surrender his possessions,\nfor the benefit of the poor, and follow Him.\n\nThe Gospel as revealed anew in our day has shed a flood of light\nupon the subject of salvation, and the conditions upon which it is\npredicated. The glorious principle of salvation for the dead, as\nrevealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, has awakened a desire in the\nhearts of thousands of earnest seekers after truth to do a vicarious\nwork for the benefit of their dead relatives and friends, that they may\nshare in all the blessings and privileges of the Gospel. In this work,\nas well as in the preaching of the Gospel to the living, have avenues\nbeen opened up for unselfish work, which, as it involves no earthly\nreward, is clearly in the line of laying up treasures in heaven, as\ndistinguished from the work of amassing treasures upon earth which\nabsorbs the attention of so many of the earth's inhabitants. That the\nrecital of some typical examples of sacrifices unselfishly made in\nthe interest of others, and the joy experienced therein, may tend to\npromote faith in those who read the same and incite them also to lay\nup treasures in heaven, this volume is published in continuation of\nthe \"Faith Promoting Series,\" originated and published by the present\nauthor about thirty-five years ago.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nA MODERN STOIC\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nBirth of Niels--Obscure Childhood--Crippled, Helpless Condition--Gospel\nPreached--Taught Needlework--Training in Bible and Lutheran Creed--A\nProphetic Priest--Remarkable Prediction Concerning Niels. Page 7.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nDeath of his Mother--Life in Aalborg--Conversion to Mormonism--Heavenly\nMessage to Elder Kempe--His Obedience thereto--Baptism of Niels--His\nRelatives Ashamed of Him--Proposition to Make Him a Lutheran Preacher.\nPage 12.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nDesire to Migrate--Discouraging Prospects--Help From an Unexpected\nSource--Religious Discrimination--Contends for His Rights--Effects\na Compromise--Characteristics of Niels--Spiritual Impressions and\nPremonitions. Page 17.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nA Vision and its Pre-Mortal Counterpart--Beset by Evil\nSpirits--Deliverance Therefrom--Preparations to Migrate--Long\nVoyage--Toilsome Journey--Lost on the Plains--Help from the Lord. Page\n21.\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nFeat as a Pedestrian--Lessons Learned and Ambition Developed\nWhile Traveling--Arrival in Salt Lake City--Employment Diligently\nSought--Precarious Success--Miraculously Fed. Page 27.\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nInvests in Real Estate--Acquires a Home--Vicarious Work in Logan\nTemple--Consequent Elation--Promise to a Dying Friend--Gratuitous\nFulfillment in Manti Temple. Page 33.\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nCompletion of Salt Lake Temple--His Work Therein--Sister Corradi\nInspired to Apply to Him--Devoted Work for her Kindred--His Severe\nAfflictions--Saving Work for 2200--Graceful Old Age. Page 37.\n\nCHAPTER VIII. Modern Stoic--His Modest Obscurity--What Religion Has\nDone for Niels--Philosophic Way in Which He Views Death. Page 40.\n\nA WOMAN WITH A PURPOSE\n\nPurpose Essential to Success--Birth and Parentage of Carolina\nCorradi--Her Mother's Prescience--Preparation for Future\nCareer--Devoted Work in Behalf of Dead Kindred. Page 47.\n\nAN EXCEPTION\n\nA Rich Man's Handicap--Wealth Not Essentially Bad--But Qualities its\nPossession Develops a Bar to Salvation--Typical Case of a Man Reared in\nAffluence--Unpromising Start in Married Life--How He Became Interested\nin Temple Work--Worthy Example in Recent Years. Page 55.\n\nMY MOTHER\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nPrediction from Malachi Fulfilled--Birth and Childhood of Mary Alice\nCannon--Cannon Family Embrace the Gospel--Migrate--Mother's Death at\nSea--Arrival at Nauvoo--Father's Death--Her Marriage. Page 65.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nStrenuous Life in Nauvoo--City Besieged--Thrilling Experience--Miracle\nof Quails--Run Over by Wagon--Wagon Sinks to Bottom of River--Life in\nUtah--Mission Abroad--Her Posterity. Page 74.\n\nEXAMPLES OF RIGHTEOUS ZEAL\n\nNight Workers Who Serve in the Temple During the Day--Many Women Serve\nat Great Personal Sacrifice--Temple Work a Boon to the Blind. Page 89.\n\n\n\nA MODERN STOIC\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nBIRTH OF NIELS--OBSCURE CHILDHOOD--CRIPPLED, HELPLESS CONDITION--GOSPEL\nPREACHED--TAUGHT NEEDLEWORK--TRAINING IN BIBLE AND LUTHERAN CREED--A\nPROPHETIC PRIEST--REMARKABLE PREDICTION CONCERNING NIELS.\n\nPerhaps no better example of unselfish service in the interest of\nothers, of patience and forbearance under the burden of a serious\nphysical handicap and courage and persistence in a labor of love and\nsacrifice can be found than is afforded in the life of the hero whose\nportrait is herewith presented.\n\nNiels P. L. Eskildz was born May 31, 1836, at Lindholm, County of\nAalborg, Denmark, only a few miles from the city of Aalborg, which\nis celebrated as being the birthplace of President Anthon H. Lund.\nThe parents of Niels were unassuming, country folks, with nothing to\ndistinguish them from their industrious and respectable neighbors\nexcept their rather unusual size and a certain pride of bearing and\ncorrectness of speech, due to their superior education, and the fact\nthat they were both descendants in a direct line from noble, titled\nfamilies.\n\nThey had a small farm, the cultivation of which furnished them little\nmore than a modest living, and the father combined the occupation of\nbutcher with that of farmer, by slaughtering animals and selling meat\nin the village market place every Wednesday and Saturday.\n\n[Image: Niels P.L. Eskildz]\n\nNiels was the youngest of the family, having two brothers of almost\ngigantic stature and a sister who, when grown, was the largest woman\nin that part of Denmark. Niels also, would doubtless have grown to be\nan unusually large man had he not met with an awful accident when ten\nyears of age.\n\nDenmark is a country almost without fences, the farms being separated\none from another by imaginary lines. Instead of the cows and sheep\nowned by the farmers being allowed to range at will in pastures, the\ncustom was and still is to stake them out individually, and lead them\nin at night. As a rule the cows are models of decorum, and one of the\nprettiest as well as commonest sights of the country is to see a boy or\ngirl marching a number of cows, like so many soldiers, in double file\nand close rank from the pasture to the barn.\n\nNiels, having been sent by his parents to thus bring a cow in from the\nfield, the creature, though usually docile, suddenly became fractious\nand, running around the boy, tangled him up in the rope, and then\nfrantically dragged him through a grain field and against numerous\nobstructions before she could be stopped. When released the poor boy\nwas found to have a broken thigh and other serious injuries, from the\neffects of which he was bedfast for more than three years. It was\nfeared he never would recover, but his patient mother gave him the\nmost devoted attention and relieved the tedium of his helplessness by\nteaching him needlework, at which she was an adept, and by reading to\nhim. In course on time he grew strong enough to be propped up in a\nchair and thus carried into the open air, but the exertion was probably\ntoo much for him, as he soon had a relapse, and during the ensuing two\nyears spent most of his time in bed. His spine by degrees became so\ncurved and deformed that, while his legs were nearly of normal length,\nhis body had the appearance of having been crumpled down thereon, and\nhis large, well-shaped head crowded down between his shoulders.\n\nIn the year 1850 Apostle Erastus Snow arrived in Denmark as a\nmissionary. He had not been there long when the Gospel influence began\nto be felt and converts to flock to his standard. One family among the\nresidents of Lindholm embraced the Gospel, and soon found themselves\nsomewhat notorious because of the attention they received from the\nlocal Lutheran priest, near whose chapel the family lived, and his\nfrequent public comments on their abandonment of the Lutheran faith and\nacceptance of the unpopular doctrines of \"Mormonism.\"\n\nIn those days the Lutheran church held almost undisputed sway\nthroughout Denmark, and the invariable rule was for children to be\ndiligently taught the Bible and drilled in a knowledge of the Lutheran\ncreed from their infancy. When the children attain the age of about\nthirteen years they are required to appear before the priest for a\nseries of examinations, as to their knowledge of these subjects before\nbeing confirmed as members of the Lutheran church.\n\nWhen Niels was fourteen years old, and was barely able to hobble about\na little on crutches, he was cited to appear with a class of dozen or\nmore children before the priest, to be catechised. This they did many\ntimes until they were able to answer satisfactorily all the questions\npropounded to them. At about the first of these meetings a young girl\nasked to be excused from the examinations, because her parents had\njoined the \"Mormons,\" and she expected to. She cited in support of\nher plea, that the King of Denmark had granted religious liberty. Her\nrequest was complied with by the priest, who proceeded to comment\non \"Mormonism\" then and at every subsequent meeting in a way that\nindicated that he must have been studying \"Mormon\" literature, and\nNiels very strongly suspected that the priest was really converted to\n\"Mormonism,\" although he either lacked the courage to embrace it, or\nconsidered it impolitic to do so. Whether this surmise was correct or\nnot, the priest seemed to have \"Mormonism\" constantly in his mind, and\nhis frequent allusions to its doctrines and the scripture supporting\nthe same had the effect of converting Niels to \"Mormonism.\" Though he\ndid not then declare his belief in the Gospel, he had not from that\ntime a doubt of its truth.\n\nThat priest, whose name was Holger Christopher Kongslev Thryde, was a\nvery peculiar man, a thorough scriptorian, a keen reasoner and withal\nquite inspirational. When the class of which Niels was a member had\nreceived sufficient training by him to appear for public examination\nand confirmation as members of the Lutheran church, they were all\nnotified to be present at the regular Sunday service in the chapel.\nThere they were separately catechised by the priest in presence of the\ncongregation. Their answers being satisfactory, he asked each in turn\nas to his willingness to enter into covenant to serve God. On being\ntold that he was, the priest said \"then give your heart to God and\nyour hand to me.\" Holding the child by the right hand, he then placed\nhis left hand upon the youthful head, confirmed him as a member of\nthe Lutheran church and exhorted him to faithfulness or indulged in\npredictions concerning his future, apparently as the spirit prompted\nhim. Of one boy he expressed regret that he had been confirmed a\nLutheran, for he would soon abandon the faith. The sequel proved this\nprediction to be true, for the boy soon left his birthplace to live\namong relatives who were Baptists, and accordingly became a Baptist.\n\nWhen Niels was confirmed, the priest proceeded to say: \"The Lord has\nlaid a heavy hand upon you in your youth, which will be a hard cross\nfor you to bear through life; but it was for a wise purpose--to prepare\nyou for a great work that you do not understand now. After you have\ntraveled thousands of miles to a strange land you know not, you will\nthere eventually have a chance to go into the sanctuary of the Lord to\ndo a work for your father's family and your ancestors that they did not\nunderstand or know anything about.\"\n\nThis prediction made a deep impression upon the mind of Niels, who\nremembered every word of it, and felt that somehow it would be\nfulfilled, though he could not then conceive how or when. That he, a\nhelpless cripple and confirmed invalid; without money or influential\nfriends, should ever travel thousands of miles over land and sea,\nseemed very improbable; indeed, it seemed very unlikely that he would\nlive long enough to make such a journey if he were financially able.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nDEATH OF HIS MOTHER--LIFE IN AALBORG--CONVERSION TO MORMONISM--HEAVENLY\nMESSAGE TO ELDER KEMPE--HIS OBEDIENCE THERETO--BAPTISM OF NIELS--HIS\nRELATIVES ASHAMED OF HIM--PROPOSITION TO MAKE HIM A LUTHERAN PREACHER.\n\nIf the details of the life of Niels for the next six years were written\nit would be a record of helpless dependence and privation. To the\nsurprise of all who knew him, he continued to live, and even gain a\nlittle strength. Life at home had become unbearable since the death of\nhis mother, which occurred December 6, 1854.\n\nIn the fall of 1856, when he was twenty years of age, Niels left home\nand went to live among relatives in Aalborg, where he had a checkered\nexperience, often being made to feel that he was in the way and that\nhis welcome was worn out, but occasionally encouraged by real kindness\nand genuine charity. One lady in particular took a great interest in\nhim, and, finding that he had some skill in needle work, encouraged him\nto practice a kind that was much in vogue among ladies, and through\nher kindly efforts he obtained considerable profitable work from many\naristocratic women.\n\nSoon after removing to Aalborg he met and became somewhat acquainted\nwith some \"Mormons,\" a family of Saints being close neighbors to his\naunt. His partial investigation of the Gospel then confirmed his early\nconviction that it was the truth, but his dependent condition, and the\nopposition of his relatives to such an unpopular religion, led him to\ndefer embracing it.\n\nIt was not until November 1, 1862, six years after he first attended a\n\"Mormon\" meeting, that he embraced the Gospel, and then under peculiar\ncircumstances. Christoffer Jensen Kempe, who afterwards became well\nknown in Utah and Arizona, was laboring as a \"Mormon\" missionary in\nthat part of Denmark. One very stormy night he had found lodgings in\na barn, about forty-two miles from Aalborg. Some time after retiring\nto rest he was aroused by feeling a hand laid upon his shoulder and\nhearing a voice tell him to get up and go to Aalborg and baptize the\ncripple, Larsen, whom he had seen at the Saints' meetings--that if he\never joined the church he would have to be baptized the next evening.\nObedient to the voice of the spirit, he arose and set out afoot in the\nstorm. He walked the entire distance, and on his arrival in Aalborg he\ncalled upon Niels at his lodgings and informed him that he had come to\nbaptize him. Niels immediately asked what prompted him to come, as he\nhad not even announced his intention of joining the church. Elder Kempe\nrelated the visitation he had received forty-two miles distant, and\ntold of his journey for the special purpose, and added that he would\nlike while he was at it to baptize Niels' brother and sister-in-law who\nwere then living in Aalborg, and whom he had met and talked with on the\nsubject of religion. Niels ventured the opinion that neither of the\nrelatives mentioned had any serious intention of embracing \"Mormonism,\"\nand that he was sure they would not if they learned their crippled\nbrother intended to do so. \"However,\" he said, \"you may try them, and\nif you succeed in getting their consent you may call back for me, and I\nwill be ready.\"\n\nThe Elder promptly repaired to the brother's house and broached the\nsubject of baptism to the couple, saying he was going to do some\nbaptizing that night, and if they wished he would baptize them. They at\nfirst favored the proposition, but when he, hoping to hasten and make\ncertain their decision, mentioned that Niels was going to be baptized\nthey lost all interest in the subject and refused to be baptized.\n\nReturning to Niels, the Elder informed him of his failure and\ndisappointment. Niels was not at all surprised, and told the Elder he\nshould not be disappointed in him, as he was ready. They accordingly\nmade their way that very night a considerable distance out of town, to\nfind a suitable place for the performance of the ordinance, and Niels\nwas initiated into the Church by baptism November 1, 1862.\n\nSome circumstances of which Niels was in ignorance at the time of his\nbaptism, but which he afterwards learned of, may furnish the sequel to\nwhat was meant by the heavenly warning to Elder Kempe that Niels would\nhave to be baptized that very evening if he ever joined the church at\nall.\n\nSomething like consternation had prevailed among the aristocratic\nmembers of the Lutheran church in and around Aalborg about that\ntime, in consequence of so many of the members being converted to\n\"Mormonism.\" As a rule they were not the wealthy members who accepted\nof the Gospel, as taught by the \"Mormon\" missionaries, but they\nincluded those who had been regarded as among the very best and most\nfaithful members of the church, and they were joining the \"Mormon\"\nranks in such numbers that they seemed for awhile to threaten the very\nexistence of some of the Lutheran congregations.\n\nThe priests and their influential, loyal supporters held numerous\nmeetings, to discuss measures for checking this defection and restoring\nthe waning fealty of their flocks. Among other schemes resorted to was\nthat of organizing a society or club among the wealthy women of the\nChurch, and the collecting by them of a large sum of money, to effect\na kind of revival in the church. The lady mentioned as having taken\nsuch an interest in procuring work for Niels was one of the leaders\nin this movement. She had discovered that Niels was a very observant\nindividual, was a logical reasoner, had a most retentive memory and\na very thorough knowledge of the scriptures. It had been her habit\nwhile Niels was employed at her home to test him upon these points.\nOccasionally she would ask him what the preacher had talked about at\nthe service on the previous Sabbath, or to relate some particular thing\nthat he had heard or read. He would not only be able to repeat, almost\nverbatim what he had heard or read, but to mimic the gestures of the\nspeakers as well.\n\nPossibly she and her aristocratic associates had been impressed with\nhis mental vigor and been led to think that he might be utilized\nin some way in arousing an interest in church affairs. Possibly it\nmay have been sympathy for him and the kindness of their hearts\nthat prompted them to think of him in connection with their revival\nproject. What they did was to get up a numerously signed petition to\nthe bishop of the diocese, to appoint Niels to act as a lay preacher\nor exhorter--a kind of home missionary--to visit the members at their\nhomes, hold semi-private services, etc., and to be paid a regular\nstipend therefor out of the funds they had collected. It could not\nhave been anything attractive about his personality that suggested him\nfor such a position, for in appearance he was repellant rather than\nattractive. Even the very dogs on the street shunned him or snarled at\nhim and refused to be friendly or sociable with him. It could not have\nbeen any zeal that he manifested in the Lutheran church that caused\nhim to be thought of, for although he frequently attended the Lutheran\nservice (more as a matter of policy than otherwise, for he obtained\nhis employment chiefly from the Lutheran ladies) he even more commonly\nattended the Latter-day Saint services, and had several times been\nchided by his Lutheran acquaintances for doing so. Of course Niels was\nnot consulted in regard to the plans of the Lutheran ladies concerning\nhim. His projected appointment was intended to be a surprise to him.\nThe bishop announced to the ladies' society that he had complied with\ntheir petition and appointed Niels to act as lay preacher on the very\nday of the latter's baptism, as already mentioned, and that evening a\nmeeting was held in the local Lutheran church, and the announcement\nwas made public. The inquiry was then made of the congregation as to\nwhere Niels lived, so that the news might be sent to him, but no person\npresent seemed to know. One man, however, arose in the congregation and\nvolunteered the information that he was acquainted with the brother of\nNiels (the same one whom Elder Kempe had hoped to baptize,) and that he\ncould carry the news to him of the honor that had come to Niels. He was\naccordingly commissioned to do so, but when he went to the brother the\nfollowing day he learned to his surprise that he was just one day too\nlate; Niels had embraced \"Mormonism\" the night before. He knew it, for\nhe had witnessed the baptism.\n\nNiels learned, soon after he was confirmed a Latter-day Saint, of\nthe proposition to make him a preacher of the Lutheran religion, and\nof course was surprised thereat. He didn't regret having missed the\nopportunity. Being sure (as he had been ever since he was a child) that\n\"Mormonism\" was true, he would have had to stultify himself to advocate\nany other creed. He was glad, however, that the temptation never was\nsquarely presented to him, lest in his weakness and poverty he might\nhave yielded to it.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nDESIRE TO MIGRATE--DISCOURAGING PROSPECTS--HELP FROM AN UNEXPECTED\nSOURCE--RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION--CONTENDS FOR HIS RIGHTS--EFFECTS\nA COMPROMISE--CHARACTERISTICS OF NIELS--SPIRITUAL IMPRESSIONS AND\nPREMONITIONS.\n\nIn common with all the Saints in Scandinavia at that period, Niels had\na strong desire to migrate to Zion, and was as ready as any of his\ncountrymen to accomplish that end by rigid economy and self denial; but\nhow he was ever going to obtain the price of his fare was a problem\nfor which he could see no solution. His income from charity and his\nown earnings had been so meagre and precarious for years that it had\nbeen his habit from necessity to test how little it required to sustain\nlife. To accumulate anything honestly had practically been out of the\nquestion. How then could he ever hope to save so large an amount as his\nfare to Utah would cost?\n\nIn the face of this discouraging prospect help came to him from a most\nunexpected source, which Niels has ever since regarded as providential.\nHe had become acquainted with a kind hearted Lutheran priest, whose\nsympathy was doubtless excited by his helpless, dependent condition.\nOne day when they chanced to meet, the priest mentioned the fact that\na person had recently died who for several years previous had been\nenjoying a legacy bequeathed to the parish many years before by a\ncharitable person, when about to die. One of the conditions of this\nbequest was that it should be held for the support of some worthy\nperson who was physically helpless and dependent. Niels was reminded\nthat he was physically and morally qualified to benefit by that legacy,\nand encouraged by the suggestion that he might possibly succeed as\nits beneficiary if he made application to the parish officers. He did\nso without delay, and to his great gratification he was granted the\nbenefit of the legacy. It was not very much--it only amounted to about\nten dollars per quarter, or $40.00 per year--but by maintaining the\nsame system of economy he had previously practiced, he managed to save\nthe greater part of it, and began to look forward to the time when his\nsavings would be sufficient to pay for his emigration.\n\nNiels had not enjoyed this legacy very long, however, when the parish\nofficers learned that he was a \"Mormon,\" and stopped payment of the\nstipend. They soon found, though, that Niels was not to be disposed of\nso easily. Friendless and helpless and cripple though he was, he was\nnot lacking in courage and a sense of the justice of his cause. Boldly\nhe went before the parish officers and demanded the payment of the\nstipend that had been withheld, and its continuance while he lived.\nAssuming that the person who made the bequest had not stipulated that\nit should be held exclusively for Lutherans, he charged that they had\nno right to apply any religious test to him, and defended his cause\nso well that his hearers were forced to admit that he was right.\nAfter a very lengthly parley they reluctantly offered to compromise\nby allowing him the benefit of the legacy for a limited time. He\nrefused the offer and contended for his life interest, and reminded\nthem that notwithstanding his weakly condition he was liable to live\na long time, as his ancestors had been noted for their longevity.\nWhen they were thoroughly impressed with this possibility, he offered\na compromise--proposing that the amount of twelve quarterly payments\nbe advanced to him from the funds of the legacy, on condition that he\nsurrender his right to any more, and migrate to Utah. This they finally\nagreed to, and thus Niels was enabled to come to Utah with a company of\nSaints which left Copenhagen May 17, 1866.\n\nBefore mentioning the details of the journey or his life in Utah it\nmay be appropriate to revert to some things that tend to illustrate\nthe character of Niels. He is possessed of a strong and independent\nmind, fixed convictions and marvelous will power for one whose body is\nso frail. His spirituality is highly developed; but one would not know\nit from his manner. He is never exuberant, enthusiastic or talkative,\nbut sedate, reserved and self-possessed. He is a keen observer, a\ngood listener, a logical and discriminating thinker and a thoughtful\nand discreet talker. He has a high sense of honor, a respect for\nothers' rights and feelings, charity for the weaknesses and failings\nof others, and for one who has been so helplessly dependent the\ngreater part of his life, is wonderfully free from servility. He is\ngrateful for kindness and favors shown him, but never truculent or even\nobsequious. He has reasons satisfactory to himself for his actions,\nbut these reasons are not always apparent to others, and because of\nthis his motives have often been misconstrued, even by his friends\nand co-religionists. He has few confidants, and lives as it were in\na world of his own, being reticent to a marked degree, but confident\nand self-reliant as to his course in life. Though diffident about\nadmitting it, his spiritual impressions have largely controlled his\nactions throughout his life. When only ten years old the premonition\nof impending disaster was so strong within him, that just prior to the\ndreadful accident which left him maimed for life, he plead with his\nparents not to send him for the cow, and when they persisted in doing\nso, warned them that they would be sorry for if all their lives. They\ndid not mean to be unkind or heartless; indeed, they had great love\nfor their children, and the father was especially indulgent; but they\nhad strict ideas in regard to family discipline, and when once the\nword of either one was passed as to any requirement on the part of\nthe children, both were unyielding in demanding compliance. They saw\nno danger in his bringing the cow in from the pasture. He had done so\nmany times before, without any harm resulting therefrom, and they saw\nno reason why he should not do so again, with impunity. The sequel,\nhowever, proved that his premonition was correct.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nA VISION AND ITS PRE-MORTAL COUNTERPART--BESET BY EVIL\nSPIRITS--DELIVERANCE THEREFROM--PREPARATIONS TO MIGRATE--LONG\nVOYAGE--TOILSOME JOURNEY--LOST ON THE PLAINS--HELP FROM THE LORD.\n\nHis crippled, helpless condition was a great source of sorrow to Niels,\nand instead of his becoming gradually reconciled thereto, as it might\nbe supposed that he would, he seemed to brood over it more the older\nhe grew. He belonged to a proud and rather dignified family, and was\nnaturally very proud himself, but realized that he did not present\na dignified appearance. He was constantly reminded that people were\nrepelled rather than attracted by him, and this of course wounded his\npride and made him miserable.\n\nDuring the summer preceding his baptism, after a day of extreme\nmelancholy, an incident occurred that produced an entire change in his\nfeelings. While engaged preparing his evening meal a glorious vision\nburst upon his view. It was not a single scene that he beheld, but a\nseries of them. He compares them to the modern moving pictures, for\nwant of a better illustration. He beheld as with his natural sight,\nbut he realized afterwards that it was with the eye of the spirit\nthat he saw what he did. His understanding was appealed to as well\nas his sight. What was shown him related to his existence in the\nspirit world, mortal experience and future rewards. He comprehended,\nas if by intuition, that he had witnessed a somewhat similar scene\nin his pre-mortal state, and been given the opportunity of choosing\nthe class of reward he would like to attain to. He knew that he had\ndeliberately made his choice. He realized which of the rewards he had\nselected, and understood that such a reward was only to be gained by\nmortal suffering--that, in fact, he must be a cripple and endure severe\nphysical pain, privation and ignominy. He was conscious too that he\nstill insisted upon having that reward, and accepted and agreed to the\nconditions.\n\nHe emerged from the vision with a settled conviction that to rebel\nagainst or even to repine at his fate, was not only a reproach to\nan Alwise Father whose care had been over him notwithstanding his\nseeming abandonment, but a base violation of the deliberate promise and\nagreement he had entered into, and upon the observance of which his\nfuture reward depended.\n\nWhatever opinion others may entertain concerning the philosophy\ninvolved in this theory, is a matter of absolute indifference to\nNiels. He does not advocate it; he does not seek to apply it to any\nother case; but he has unshaken faith in it so far as his own case is\nconcerned. Whether true or not, the fact remains that he has derived\ncomfort, satisfaction, resolution and fortitude from it. He has ever\nsince been resigned to his affliction, and, though never mirthful,\nis serene and composed and uncomplaining. He has always felt that\nthe vision was granted to him by the Lord for a wise and merciful\npurpose--that he might, through a better understanding of his duty, be\nable to remain steadfast thereto.\n\nIn striking contrast to this experience was that which occurred during\nthe night following his baptism. Evil spirits seemed to fill the room\nin which he had retired to sleep. They were not only terribly visible,\nbut he heard voices also, taunting him with having acted foolishly in\nsubmitting to baptism and joining the Latter-day Saints. He was told\nthat he had deserted the only friends he ever had, and would find no\nmore among the \"Mormons,\" who would allow him to die of starvation\nrather than assist him. That he had no means of earning a livlihood\nin the far western land to which the Saints all hoped to migrate, and\nhe would never cease to regret it if he ever went there. This torment\nwas kept up incessantly until he sought relief in prayer, and three\ntimes he got out of bed and tried to pray before he succeeded in doing\nso. Then his fervent pleading unto the Lord for power to withstand\nthe temptation of the evil one, and to hold fast to the truth,\nbrought relief to him. The evil spirits gradually, and with apparent\nreluctance, withdrew, and peace came to his soul, with the assurance\nthat the Lord approved of his embracing the Gospel, and that he could\nsafely rely upon the Lord for future guidance.\n\nPreparations were soon made to migrate to Utah, although Niels was\nseriously ill. In addition to his other troubles, he had for years been\nafflicted with asthma, and he had such difficulty in breathing that for\na long time he had not been able to recline, having to sleep, if at\nall, in a sitting posture. He was also so frail and weak at the time\nthat many of his acquaintances expressed a fear that he would not live\nto make the journey, and some even predicted that he would die while\ncrossing the ocean. Not at all daunted, however, by these pessimists,\nhe determined to start with the very first company of migrating Saints,\nand soon arranged with a newly-married couple and a young single man\nwho were ambitious to migrate, to care for him on the journey, carry\nand look after his luggage, etc., in return for certain financial aid\nwhich he was able and willing to afford them. He realized that it would\nbe a long and tiresome trip, and his natural independence was exhibited\nin thus arranging beforehand for the help he might require, lest he\nmight be regarded as a public burden. The journey, as planned, was not\nas direct as those commonly pursued in more recent years, nor nearly so\nexpeditious. The company assembled at Copenhagen, whence they proceeded\nby steamer to Kiel, in Germany, and from there took train for Altonia.\nAt Hamburg, on the river Elbe, they boarded an ocean sailing vessel,\nthe \"Kenilworth,\" bound for New York. The voyage lasted eight weeks,\nlong enough for the passengers to get well acquainted with one another.\n\nThey had expected to proceed westward from New York, (or rather\nfrom the New Jersey side of the Hudson river) by rail, but Thomas\nTaylor, who was the Church Immigration Agent in New York at that\ntime, had learned before their arrival that all the lines of railway\nextending westward from that point had entered into a combine to\ndemand a higher rate for transporting companies of Latter-day Saints\nthan those previously prevailing. Determined not to submit to their\nextortion, he discovered before the company arrived that one line of\nrailway extending westward from New Haven, Connecticut, was not in\nthe combine, and would transport the company at the old rate, and he\ndecided to patronize it. The road was either poorly equipped with cars\nor lacked time before the arrival of the company to make the necessary\narrangements for convenient transportation.\n\nThe accommodations on the train as it was made up were rather meager;\nin fact, it was a cattle car that Niels rode in, and the passengers had\nto sit or he on the floor. The road bed appeared to lack ballast, and\nthe ride was a jolty, tiresome one--particularly hard on Niels, who was\nso painfully affected by the jolting that he sought relief by bracing\nhis hands against the floor on either side of him, thereby partially\nsustaining the weight of his body and easing the jar. The shaking was\nso great that both doors fell off the car, and, to cap the climax, some\nof the cars ran off the track, the one in which Niels rode standing\ncrosswise of the track, and with two of the wheels broken off it, when\nthe train came to a halt. This occurred on the bank of a river in\nSouthern Canada, and the passengers breathed a sigh of relief when they\ndiscovered what a narrow escape they had from being plunged into the\nriver.\n\nFrom New York the company therefore proceeded by coast steamer to New\nHaven, and from there by train to St. Joseph Missouri, where they were\ntransferred to a river boat that during the next two days took them up\nthe Missouri to Wyoming Hills, a few miles from Nebraska City, from\nwhich point they were to be conveyed by ox train to Salt Lake City,\nmore than a thousand miles distant.\n\nBefore leaving Denmark, he had not been able to walk as much as two\nhundred yards without stopping to rest, but he gradually improved while\ncrossing the sea, and, though temporarily prostrated with the heat\nwhile on the river steamer, he rallied before the overland journey was\nundertaken. Before starting from the Missouri river the able-bodied\npassengers were requested to walk as much as possible on the journey,\nas the wagons were heavily loaded and the strength of the oxen had to\nbe conserved, as they had an eight weeks trip before them.\n\nThough far from being able-bodied, Niels determined to do his best at\nwalking. He accordingly set out bravely with the other pedestrians,\nwith whom, however, he was unable to keep up, as his gait was like\nthat of a snail. His habit was to walk until overtaken by the train,\nor until he was so fatigued that he could not proceed further, when\nhe would get into a wagon and ride. Occasionally he succeeded by\nperseverance in walking all day long, and was necessarily most of the\ntime alone. By starting early, as soon as breakfast was over, and\nbefore the teams had been hitched up, he would be able to keep ahead of\nthe train, and yet soon be outdistanced by his more able companions.\nUpon one occasion he got lost as a result of being alone. He arrived\nat a point where the road which he was following diverged into two.\nNot knowing which of the two he should take, he happened to choose\nthe wrong one, and traveled for a long distance without being able\nto see those who had preceded him or the wagons in the rear. Without\napprehension, he trudged along until he arrived at a river which was\ntoo deep and swift for him to wade, and which was spanned by a rude\nfoot bridge, consisting of two or three lengths of a single round pole,\nsupported where the ends joined amid-stream by two poles set up in the\nform of a cross, with the lower ends firmly imbedded in the stream, and\nsecurely lashed with rawhide at the intersection. The swiftness of the\ncurrent and the distance from the foot bridge down to the stream made\nhim dizzy when he looked down, so that he despaired of being able to\ncross the bridge, and yet felt that he must do so to overtake the train\nthat he supposed must have forded at a point much lower down stream. In\nhis emergency he knelt in prayer on the river bank, reminding the Lord\nof his dependence upon Him and appealing unto Him for help. He arose\nwith a feeling of confidence, and without any trepidation or dizziness\nset out and walked along the pole as steadily as if he had been a\ntight-rope performer. Then, following his impression as to the course\nhe ought to take, he walked on until he overtook the train, encamped,\nsome time after nightfall, and when men were about to be dispatched to\nsearch for him.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nFEAT AS A PEDESTRIAN--LESSONS LEARNED AND AMBITION DEVELOPED\nWHILE TRAVELING--ARRIVAL IN SALT LAKE CITY--EMPLOYMENT DILIGENTLY\nSOUGHT--PRECARIOUS SUCCESS--MIRACULOUSLY FED.\n\nThe journey on the whole, though tiresome, was not otherwise\nunpleasant. He enjoyed the society of his fellow emigrants, and felt\nthat he had been blessed of the Lord beyond his most sanguine hopes;\nfor notwithstanding his feeble condition when starting, he succeeded\nin walking more than three fourths of the way across the plains. He\nhad also been cured of the asthma with which he had been so long\nafflicted--not suddenly, but so gradually that he hardly realized that\nhe was outgrowing it.\n\nHe had also been benefited otherwise by the experience gained on the\njourney. His views of life had become broadened by travel, and by the\nevidences of thrift and enterprise which he witnessed on his journey\nthrough the states, as well as by the possibilities of development\nhe could forsee in the great and boundless west. He felt like a bird\nreleased from a cage after a lengthy confinement therein. He enjoyed\nhis freedom and learned to commune with Nature as he never had done\nbefore. His knowledge of human nature had also been very materially\nadded to since leaving his native land. There are few conditions\nunder which human nature can be studied to better advantage than\nwhile making such a journey over sea and land as that which he had\npassed through. The crowding together of a large company in the hold\nof a ship for eight long weeks, with meagre accommodations and food\ngenerally insufficient and frequently bad, is certain to develop\nselfishness, impatience and irritability where these qualities exist\neven in latent form. His fellow passengers were actuated by the noblest\nmotives in migrating. They had accepted the Gospel of the Lord Jesus\nChrist, some of them at the sacrifice of material comforts, and most\nof them at the cost of friends and prestige. Some of them had been\nsneered at and persecuted in their native land, and had their former\nfriends and relatives turn to be their bitter enemies, solely because\nof their accepting of and adhering to such an unpopular creed. They\nhad withstood all that, and, with faith still unshaken, were willing\nto brave other trials and face the hardships of this long voyage and\njourney, and the problems incident to life in a new and wild country,\nto gain religious freedom, and because they regarded it as a divine\nrequirement. But human nature, even though tempered by religious\nconvictions, is apt to assert itself sometimes, and the helpless,\ndependent condition of Niels placed him in the position of a spectator,\nwith ample opportunity to observe all that passed, and to study human\nnature during the voyage as he never had done before.\n\nDisputes occasionally arose among the passengers, which sometimes waxed\nwarm and developed into angry quarrels, all of which Niels noticed but\nnever took part in. Possibly because he was always an observer of but\nnever a participant in these affairs, he was several times appealed\nto as an arbitrator, to decide between the disputants and effect a\nreconciliation. Without making any pretentions to judicial wisdom,\nhe was, through strict impartiality, and tact in offering reproof\nwithout giving offense, and especially by appealing to the religious\nobligations of the parties to the strife, enabled to do effective work\nas a peace-maker, and to gain respect therefor. He couldn't refrain\nfrom indulging in a little mental philosophy on such occasions, and\nmaking note of the fact that the tongue is a dangerous member if\nallowed to wag too freely.\n\nThree times during the voyage the ship had taken fire, always at night,\nas a result of the cook's carelessness, and a general panic among the\npassengers, if nothing worse, was narrowly averted. Upon the first\nof these occasions the fire had gained sufficient headway before it\nwas discovered for a rather large bole to be burned through the floor\nalmost directly above where Niels had his bunk, and when the first\nalarm was sounded Niels looked upward and saw the fire and noticed\nthe presence of smoke in the hold. He was able to \"keep his head\" and\nhelped in some measure in quelling the excitement of his fellows, many\nof whom became almost frantic when they learned that the ship was on\nfire, and that the hatches were fastened down, so that the passengers\nwere shut up in the hold like rats in a trap.\n\nIt occurred to Niels that the hatches had been closed by order of the\nship's officers to prevent a panic. He saw the futility of rebelling\nagainst the measure, and counseled calmness and patience; and was so\ncalm and self-possessed himself that some of the more excited ones\nlistened to him, made a strong effort to control themselves, and seemed\nashamed at having been overcome by alarm.\n\nThe overland journey on the cars and the eight weeks' trip by ox train\nin crossing the plains were not less fruitful in opportunities to\nstudy character under trying conditions, and for the personal display\nof those amenities that distinguish gentility from boorishness and\nChristian charity from heartless selfishness. It was alike creditable\nto the restraining influence of the Gospel upon the company in general,\nand to the fine discernment and keen discrimination of Niels, that\nhe did not lose faith in his fellows because of the weakness they\nexhibited under trying conditions--that he arrived in Utah with a\nkeener appreciation of the Gospel's power to mold human character to\nconform to the divine pattern. He too had been tried as never before in\nhis life, and the consciousness of his own failings made him charitable\nfor those of others.\n\nSome of his experiences on the plains had a peculiarly western flavor.\nAlthough the company of which he was a member never actually came in\nconflict with the Indians, they had a number of thrills due to rumors\nof Indian hostilities before or behind them. One night the ox train\nemigrant company camped on one side of a river which they expected\nto cross early the next morning, while a mule train loaded with\nmerchandise camped on the opposite bank of the same stream. During the\nnight a marauding band of Indians stole and ran off about ninety head\nof mules from the train last mentioned, driving them all right past the\ncamp of the passenger train, and so close to it that Niels heard them\ngalloping by, and wondered at first whether the noise was caused by the\noxen stampeding. Another experience that was new and strange to him was\nseeing a rattle snake dart into a hole over which he was about to make\nhis bed. It didn't produce a very comfortable feeling, but the bed was\nmade right over the hole and the snake created no disturbance during\nthe night.\n\nBefore the journey ended Niels began to feel almost as if he were a\nwestern man himself, so thoroughly had he entered into the spirit of\nall that pertained to it. He had engaged in a struggle with a large\nnumber of fellows for a common goal, and had developed ability that he\nhad never before known himself to be possessed of, and now, on reaching\nit, he was ambitious to be a factor in the further unfolding of God's\npurposes.\n\nOn his arrival in Salt Lake City Niels sought employment by which to\nearn a subsistence, for he could not bear the thought of being always\ndependent upon others. He found, however, that such work as he was\ncapable of doing was neither remunerative nor easily obtained. His\nfirst job was at glove-making. He found two of his fellow country women\nengaged in the business of making and selling buckskin gloves, their\ncustomers in the main being overland travelers. He persuaded them to\nlet him learn the business from them, and then furnish him employment\nwhen they had more work than they could do themselves. The work was\nprecarious at best, and not at all lucrative, but he appreciated\nhaving anything to do, and being able to earn ever so little. After\nattaining to some skill in that line, the demand for buckskin gloves\nfell off until there was no longer any encouragement to make them. Then\nhe learned to sew uppers for ladies' shoes, and obtained a limited\namount of work in that line, but machines soon displaced hand sewing\nof shoes. His means of earning a livelihood seemed to be diminishing\nrather than increasing, but with independence unabated, he sought\nwork at whatever he could do (which was almost exclusively limited\nto sewing) and went without what he could not earn, or which did not\ncome to him voluntarily, without making his wants known. In a land of\nplenty, surrounded by people who were amply able to help him, and who\nwould willingly have shared with him their last meal, he lived almost\nlike a recluse, and sometimes actually suffered for want of food. Two\nor three instances of uncharitableness and lack of sympathy sealed his\nlips against any admission of his real condition or complaint, and\nnerved him up to go without what he could not earn, or die trying. How\nlittle he subsisted upon for certain extended periods is almost beyond\nbelief, and he probably would not have lived to tell it had not the\nLord mercifully and miraculously replenished his larder as He did in\nthe case of the widow of old who fed the prophet Elijah. Many times he\nscraped up the last saucerful of flour to make a cake, only to find as\nmuch more in the sack when hunger again impelled him to search for it.\nAnd so it happened that while his faith in mankind sometimes wavered,\nhis faith in the Almighty grew stronger.\n\nIt must not be supposed from this that he was wholly without friends,\nor that his existence was a cheerless one; but he had an aversion to\ntesting the friendship of his fellows by making known his wants, and\na feeling that his friends would last longer if not used too much. He\nhad entirely too much independence for a pauper, and too little bodily\nstrength to competently make his way in the world without help. His\ncircumstances varied. Sometimes for a considerable period fortune would\nfavor him to a limited extent, his health being such that he could\nsearch for and obtain work and accumulate a little. He had the thrifty\ndisposition that characterized the Scandinavian race, and his natural\nbent was to save some portion of it, however little he might earn.\nHe had the \"home-making\" instinct as it would be termed if he were a\nbird--the disposition to build or acquire a nest of his own, however\nhumble it might be, and so he labored to that end. In this, however,\nhe met with many reverses. Illness would occasionally befall him, and\nhis petty hoard would be exhausted before he could again resume his\nearning and saving. At quite an early stage of his Utah existence he\ninvested five dollars, the savings of a long period, in a city lot in\nwhat is now the Twenty-seventh Ward of Salt Lake City, at a time when\nlots on the north bench, away above the inhabited district, could be\nhad for the price of surveying. He could not afford to build upon it;\nin fact, it was only by heroic effort that he succeeded in paying the\nsmall tax upon it from year to year; but at the inception of the boom\nin real estate in 1888 he succeeded in selling that lot for $500.00.\nThe possibility of owning a home loomed up before him as it never had\ndone before, and from that time he began looking for a bargain in real\nestate.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nINVESTS IN REAL ESTATE--ACQUIRES A HOME--VICARIOUS WORK IN LOGAN\nTEMPLE--CONSEQUENT ELATION--PROMISE TO A DYING FRIEND--GRATUITOUS\nFULFILLMENT IN MANTI TEMPLE.\n\nIn the course of a few years he found an opportunity of buying a small\ncity lot north west of the capital grounds, with a rather old house\nupon it, for the modest sum which his capital represented, and he\nactually became a landlord. He rented part of it to the former owner,\nwho had lost the property through mortgaging it and being unable to\nmeet the payments when his notes fell due. His income from the rental\nwas only $5.00 per month, and it required half of that to pay the taxes\nupon the property; but he had a shelter for himself as well--not very\ncomfortable it was true, but much more so than some of the houses he\nhad occupied--and it was his own. It was all the more appreciated when\nhe thought of the improbability of his ever owning a home of any kind\nhad he remained in his native land. He could now look forward with\nmore hope to his declining years, when age would naturally add to his\ndecrepitude.\n\nWhen Niels accepted of the Gospel in his native land, no feature of\nit was more attractive to him than the promise of salvation for the\ndead contained therein. He found comfort in the assurance he obtained\nof personal salvation through compliance with the Gospel principles,\nand he was anxious to do something if possible that his ancestors and\nfriends who had died without a knowledge of the Gospel should share\nin the Gospel privileges. When the Temple in Logan was completed and\nopened for ordinance work, he joyfully journeyed thither and spent\neight weeks in receiving ordinances for the benefit of dead relatives.\nHe felt that he was coming into his own, that he was accomplishing\nsomething that made life desirable. There was something exalting about\nthe thought that he, deformed and weak and frail though he was, could\ndo all for the salvation of his dead kindred and friends that the most\nable-bodied man in the community could do. He had long admired the\nmissionaries who left their homes in Utah and the surrounding states,\nand, at infinite sacrifice, went forth into the various nations of the\nearth to proclaim the Gospel message, without hope of earthly reward.\nThe sole reason for their doing so was that they had been called by\nthose whom they regarded as the Lord's earthly representatives to so\nlabor, and because they regarded the Gospel as so priceless that they\nwere anxious to have its benefits extended to all humanity. He, too,\nappreciated the Gospel, and his love for his fellows would have enabled\nhim to find joy in laboring as a missionary, but, alas! he could never\nhope to engage in that labor because of his physical disabilities. But\nhere was a labor which had for its object the same purpose, in which in\npoint of ability he measured up to the full stature of the best of his\nfellows; and who should say that the work done in behalf of the dead is\nnot just as important as that done for the living? He had never engaged\nin anything that so increased his self respect and made him feel that\nhe was of some consequence in the world as this work in the Temple,\nand he regretted when necessity compelled him to abandon this labor\nwhich had such a savor of heaven about it and \"come down to earth,\"\nfiguratively speaking, by seeking such employment as he could engage in\nto earn the meagre necessaries of his subsistence.\n\n[Image: Niels and his home]\n\nA considerable period passed afterward with little to relieve the\nmonotony of his existence, during which, however, he again succeeded in\naccumulating something. In the meantime the Temple at Manti had been\ncompleted and ordinance work was being performed therein.\n\nIt happened that an old gentleman named Nielsen with whom Niels had\nyears before, (while he was a resident of Salt Lake City,) been\nsomewhat acquainted, had located at Manti while the Temple was in\ncourse of construction, and indulged in the hope of spending his\ndeclining years in laboring therein for the benefit of his dead\nkindred. Before being able or ready so to do, however, he had been\nstricken with sickness, and, at the solicitation of a daughter who\nwas living in Salt Lake City, and who was the wife of a Catholic,\nhad come up to reside with her and be nursed back to health. Instead\nof recovering, however, he continued to grow worse until his life\nwas despaired of. During his illness he worried constantly over the\nfact that the work in the Temple which his heart had been so set upon\nperforming for his dead kindred had never been done, and there now\nseemed no hope of his doing it, for he felt that he must soon die. In\nhis emergency he thought about Niels as a friend whose services he\nmight enlist, and induced his daughter to send for him to come and\nlisten to her father's dying request. Niels came, and found his old\nfriend almost in the throes of death. Being asked if he would do the\nwork in the Temple which his friend had neglected, he consented without\nhesitancy, to pacify the dying man, and wrote down at his dictation the\nnames of about seventy of his dead relatives, in whose behalf he wished\nthe work performed. He was told that a certain sister living in Manti\nhad promised to perform the work for the females, and could be relied\nupon to do so, and that it would only be necessary for him to see that\nshe did it, and to do himself the work for the males.\n\nAfter receiving the promise from Niels that he would attend to the\nmatter, the old gentleman seemed satisfied, and soon died in peace.\nNiels then realized, as he had not done before, the responsibility\nthat rested upon him, in consequence of his promise. He had never made\na promise even to a person who was well without faithfully fulfilling\nit, and his promise made to a dying man seemed doubly binding. He must\nfulfill that if he never lived to do anything else. With this impressed\nupon his mind he soon journeyed to Manti and called upon the sister\nwho had promised his dead friend to serve in the Temple for the female\nrelatives. He found her so ill that there was little hope of her ever\nbeing able to keep her promise, and so he conscientiously applied\nhimself to the task of fulfilling completely the commission assigned\nhim. He hired sisters to do the work for the female dead, and he spent\nten weeks in the Manti Temple, in constant labor for the male dead\nkindred of his friend Nielsen, and felt satisfaction in having done all\nthat duty and honor could require of him in the matter.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nCOMPLETION OF SALT LAKE TEMPLE--HIS WORK THEREIN--SISTER CORRADI\nINSPIRED TO APPLY TO HIM--DEVOTED WORK FOR HER KINDRED--HIS SEVERE\nAFFLICTIONS--SAVING WORK FOR 2200--GRACEFUL OLD AGE.\n\nNiels looked forward with fond anticipation to the completion of\nthe Salt Lake Temple. He felt that now, that he had found his true\nvocation, he would like to devote all the time to Temple work that his\nhealth and means would permit, and he could do this to much better\nadvantage in his home city than if he had to travel a long distance to\nreach a Temple, and then make special arrangements for his board and\nlodging. He commenced his labors three weeks after the Temple opened\nfor ordinance work. He not only found great comfort and satisfaction in\nthe work, (which he scrupulously devoted his time to whenever able to\ndo so,) but, through the acquaintances he formed there, he obtained a\nconsiderable amount of employment in the sewing line, especially in the\nmaking of temple clothing, at which he became quite an expert. He was\nnot able to work continuously; indeed, he had many spells of illness\nthat confined him to the house and occasionally to his bed for days and\nweeks at a time, but he has long been known as one of the most earnest\nand devoted workers in the Temple. When he had officiated for all his\ndead kindred and friends concerning whom he had sufficiently definite\ninformation, he found others who were anxious to have him officiate\nfor their dead kindred on the usual terms when men are so employed,\n(seventy-five cents per day,) and he so labored whenever able to do\nso. He has, however, officiated gratuitously for hundreds of people at\nthe instance of friends or relatives who were unable to pay therefor.\nA case in point was that of a poor Scandinavian sister who died a few\nyears since in this city. She left a list of fifty dead relatives for\nwhom she had been unable to officiate, and he took up the work for the\nmales and hunted up women acquaintances who were willing to officiate\nfor the females.\n\nA few years since he was called upon by a Sister Corradi, whom he only\nknew by sight, who desired to employ him to officiate for her male\nkindred dead, saying the Spirit had manifested to her that he was the\nperson to whom she should apply. He consented, and has worked almost\nexclusively for her list since, and has enough names left to keep\nhim occupied for about another year. Having a spell of illness some\ntime since, he told Sister Corradi she had better find some one else\nto finish her work, as he feared he might not be able to do so. She,\nhowever, refused to believe that he was going to die soon, or fail\nto finish her work, and said she knew he was going to live to do it.\nShe may be right. Now that he has lived so long (he was seventy-eight\nyears old in May) there is reason to hope that he has several years\nyet to remain in mortality. It will soon be forty-eight years since\nhe arrived in Utah, notwithstanding the predictions that he would not\nlive to make the journey. It is nearly sixty-eight years since he met\nwith the accident that left him deformed and crippled for life, and\nduring that time he has never been free from pain, though it has varied\nin degree, being much more intense at some times than others. For many\nyears hernia was added to his other afflictions, but he was healed\nof that in answer to prayer. About four years ago he lost the use of\nhis voice, and has not since been able to speak above a whisper. In\nspite, however, of all these handicaps he has accomplished a work of\nself-sacrifice for the salvation of others that any able-bodied man\nof his age, desiring the welfare of his fellows, might well be proud\nof. He has officiated for fully twenty-two hundred persons in all the\ntemple ordinances necessary to place them on a par with the living\nwho have received these ordinances in their own behalf. All this in\naddition to the work he has had done in behalf of numerous female dead.\nTruly he has earned for himself the distinction of being a \"Savior\nupon Mount Zion.\" The crucible of suffering to which he has been so\nlong subjected has had a sanctifying and exalting effect upon him, and\neliminated from his character all semblance of sordidness. His struggle\nfor existence has developed the strong traits of his character that\notherwise might have remained dormant, and his beneficent concern for\nothers has helped him to bear with equanimity, if not to forget his\nown troubles. Even age seems to sit lightly upon him. Few who see him\never suspect his advanced age. The peevish, crabbed disposition that so\nfrequently characterizes old age is never manifested by him. Instead,\nhe wears the patient, serene expression of one who lives for a noble\npurpose, and indulges only in clean and wholesome thoughts.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nA MODERN STOIC--HIS MODEST OBSCURITY--WHAT RELIGION HAS DONE FOR\nNIELS--PHILOSOPHIC WAY IN WHICH HE VIEWS DEATH.\n\nOf the many who have witnessed Niels pursuing his toilsome way between\nhis home and the Temple--a distance of about a mile--leaning upon his\ncrutch and moving along at a slow but steady gait, perhaps not one has\nhad a definite idea of what a heroic effort it has required for him to\nwalk at all, and how his constant pain has been increased thereby.\n\nPerhaps none of his fellow workers in the temple, who are in the daily\nhabit of gazing upon his sphinx-like countenance as he silently passes\namong them, ever even dream that he is the best modern example of the\nstoic that this region has ever known, the physical agony that he\nsuffers being never betrayed by word or facial expression.\n\nThough casually known to many, he has scarcely been intimate with any.\nEven the facts pertaining to his life that are herein divulged, had to\nbe fairly pried out of him by degrees, and they will doubtless be a\nrevelation to many of his acquaintances when they read this recital. If\nhis real condition had been generally known in the past, his every want\nwould have been anticipated and supplied by his kind-hearted neighbors\nor the relief society. The chivalrous boy scouts might have adopted him\nas their protege, and done what they could to make his home cheerful,\nor otherwise lighten his burdens, and dyspeptics and other victims of\nluxurious living might have been making pilgrimages to his house to\nlearn the secret of his long and useful life under such unfavorable\nconditions.\n\nPossibly it is as well that he has been allowed to make his own way\nin the world. If he had been petted and pampered, and not had the\nincentive of want to spur him to exertion, he probably would never\nhave accomplished anything worth mentioning, or that would have\ndistinguished him from the great number of unfortunates that only\nexcite our pity.\n\nNiels acknowledges his indebtedness to the Gospel for all the comfort\nhe has experienced in life. Indeed, without its sustaining power, it is\ndoubtful whether he could have lived as long as he has, or retained his\nreason, if he had so lived. Without it, he could have had no desire to\nlive; and, failing to find relief in death, his bodily suffering would\nprobably have made of him a raving maniac or a driveling imbecile. As\nalready mentioned, he was converted to the Gospel some time before\nhe was baptized. He has never since entertained a doubt as to its\ntruth. One might as well try to convince him that the sun does not\nshine, as that the Gospel is not true. Since his baptism he has been\nunwavering in his devotion to his religion. He has doubtless got more\nout of his religion than most adherents do. It has been the controlling\ninspiration of his life. He has been zealous, without being fanatical;\ndevout, without outward expression. He has been a regular attendant\nat meetings (until he became in recent years too deaf to hear the\npreaching,) but never ambitious to take part therein. He feels amply\nrepaid in the joy and satisfaction that have come to him for all the\nlabors he has performed, and all the sufferings he has endured. He has\nno fear of death, but does not court it. He is content to live as long\nas the Lord is willing to have him do so [1]. He seeks no notoriety. He\nis the very personification of modesty. He is willing to be regarded as\na grain of dust, an insignificant atom, and plod on in obscurity during\nthe remainder of his mortal existence, as he has done in the past,\nwithout attracting any attention.\n\nThe author of this sketch has known Niels casually for years, but\nnever discovered his real character until quite recently. For aught\nhe knows, he may be the original discoverer. He regards as a very\ngreat compliment from Niels, the statement that he understood his\ncharacter and motives as no one else had done before. He sought the\nacquaintance and confidence of Niels--was not sought by him. He it\nwas, and not Niels, who conceived the idea of reducing to writing some\nof the incidents of his eventful life, and who surprised him later\nwith a proposition to publish the same. The author is responsible for\nall deductions expressed herein, the facts alone having been somewhat\nreluctantly mentioned by Niels, but he has perused the story and\nendorsed it as correct, with some evident misgiving as to the possible\nresultant notoriety.\n\n[Image: His Tombstone]\n\nIf benefits to the many constitute the true standard by which success\nshould be gauged, the life of Niels has certainly been a successful\none; and the record herein set forth of the adverse conditions which\nhave surrounded him, and his wonderful accomplishments in view thereof,\nshould be an inspiration to every person who feels that his life's\nburden is heavy, and who is privileged to read this simple recital.\n\nIf the unselfish work to which Niels has devoted such a large part\nof his life had no other beneficial effect than to sweeten the lives\nand render lovable the characters of those who engage therein; to\ndevelop in them genuine love for their fellows and true charity--a\nwillingness to benefit others without hope of reward therefor--and to\nmake them cheerful, and hopeful and buoyant when otherwise they might\nbe despondent and gloomy, surely that work is not in vain. Indeed it\nwould even then compare favorably with almost any other that claims the\nattention of mankind.\n\nIf the \"Mormon\" theory be correct, the Gospel ordinances absolutely\nessential to the salvation and exaltation of mankind may be received\nby the living vicariously for the benefit of the dead. The dead, too,\nthrough an intelligent acceptance in the spirit world of the conditions\nof salvation, including the vicarious work voluntarily undertaken in\ntheir behalf on earth, may enjoy all the Gospel privileges.\n\nAssuming that this theory is correct, what more important labor could\na person engage in than that performed in the Temples? Is there any\nwork on earth more free from the taint of selfishness? Is there\nanything a person could engage in that savors more of true Christian\ncharity? Is not the satisfaction experienced by such earnest, sincere,\nconscientious people as Niels a strong evidence of the truth and\nefficacy of the work? Is not the assurance that Niels and thousands\nof others have received through the testimony of the Spirit, as to\nthe work being acceptable to the dead in whose behalf it is done, and\nagreeable to the will of the Almighty, worthy of consideration?\n\nThe work done in the temple in behalf of the dead differs in this\nrespect from other forms of charity--there is no danger of it making\nthe one who performs it vainglorious. He is not open to the suspicion\nthat the Pharisees of old were, in their giving of alms--a desire\nfor applause, or \"to be seen of men.\" Niels has not become puffed up\nbecause of what he has accomplished. He does not pose as anybody's\nbenefactor. He assumes no heroic airs. There is no halo surrounding him\nsuch as \"limners give to be the beloved disciple.\" He is just a modest,\nhumble, obscure cripple, known to his neighbors, who are sufficiently\nacquainted with him to call him by name as Niels Larsen [2]; who is\ncontent to live and die without attaining to any distinction, who\nis advertised for the first time in this recital, and this without\nany desire or request on his part. He was the most insignificant and\nunpromising (not to say despised) of all his kindred, the tag end, as\nit were, of the aristocratic and once powerful families from which he\nhad descended. He is the only one of a numerous kindred (so far as\nknown) who has accepted of the Gospel. Possibly others of them, as well\nas the brother and sister-in-law already mentioned, have rejected the\nGospel because of their shame of him.\n\nIs it not possible that this stone which these builders of the family's\nreputation rejected may yet become the chief corner? That this despised\nof all his race may yet become the head of it? In view of the vast\nwork that he has accomplished in behalf of his progenitors, may we\nnot anticipate the grateful homage that he will receive from them\nin the next world, when he, as a resurrected being, will stand in\ntheir midst--not as a cripple, deformed, and dwarfed, and weak, and\nracked with pain, as he has been during most of his mortal career, but\nresplendent in all the glory of a perfected manhood, his physical body\nconforming in stature and appearance to his spiritual body, a very\nking among his fellows! Imagine, too, the joyful acclaim with which he\nwill then be greeted by the numerous host who are not of his immediate\nkindred, for whose salvation he has unselfishly labored in mortality.\nThen will the pain and suffering and fatigue and humiliation which\nhe endured in this life seem as nothing compared with the treasures\nin heaven which he will receive, and the limits and besetments of\nmortality be forgotten and swallowed up in its fruition--the joys and\nglories of an endless immortality.\n\nFootnotes:\n\n1. Niels has a very confident feeling that he will live to be 82 years\nof age, but whether the call comes to quit this mortal life sooner or\nlater he intends to be prepared for it, and the completeness of his\narrangements for his burial and for perpetuating a knowledge of his\nburial place indicates the complacency with which he regards death.\nSome time since he purchased a quarter of a lot in the cemetery, and\nhad a very substantial granite monument made to his order and erected\nthereon. An inscription upon it gives his name, date and place of\nhis birth, his parentage, and Salt Lake City as the place of his\ndeath, with blank space below upon which to chisel in the date of his\npassing away. He also keeps his burial clothes, made by himself, all\nnicely laundried, in readiness to place upon his body when death shall\novertake him. This too is another illustration of his independence, and\ndisposition to do things himself rather than trust to others.\n\nSince the erection of his tombstone, a lady who was somewhat acquainted\nwith him happened to be in the cemetery and saw it. She read the\ninscription with surprise and sorrow. She failed to notice that the\ndate of his death was lacking, and very naturally concluded that he had\ndied and been buried, and was surprised that it could have happened\nwithout the news of it having reached her. She mourned to think she\nwould never see him again, and that she had not even attended his\nfuneral and manifested the respect she had for one whose suffering and\ninoffensiveness had so strongly appealed to her. In a pensive mood she\nreturned home and told her friends how shocked and sorrow stricken she\nwas at learning for the first time on seeing his monument of the death\nof her friend.\n\nA few days later she was tripping across Main Street without any\nthought of death in her mind, when she suddenly beheld his familiar\nfigure slowly moving down the side walk. She was so startled at sight\nof what she thought must be an apparition that she stood transfixed\nuntil she was aroused by the hoot of an approaching automobile, and\nnarrowly escaped being knocked down and run over.\n\n2. A custom prevails very generally among the peasantry throughout\nScandinavia of changing the surname from generation to generation,\nwhile among the aristocracy the rule is to maintain the same surname\nin a family as one generation succeeds another. An exception to this\nlatter rule sometimes occurs when a branch of an aristocratic family\ndoes not inherit wealth, or through some misfortune becomes financially\nreduced, and has to take rank per force with the peasantry. Then,\nnotwithstanding the aristocratic lineage, the peasant method of\nchanging the surname of the progeny from father to son is followed.\n\nAs already mentioned in this narrative, Niels was of aristocratic\nlineage on both his father's and mother's side. They were, however,\nof minor branches that did not inherit much wealth. The father,\nthough given in infancy the family surname of Eskildz, was known more\ngenerally throughout his lifetime by his given name of Lars Nielsen,\nand called Eskildz more as a nickname than otherwise, or as a means\nof distinguishing him from others having the name of Lars Nielsen.\nWhen Niels was born he was named Niels Larsen, in accordance with the\npeasant custom, and it was not until he commenced his work in the house\nof the Lord that he assumed his rightful ancestral name, and is even\nnow scarcely known outside of the Temple by the name of Eskildz.\n\nNiels' father and mother were second cousins. His mother's maiden\nname was Marie Olesen Myre. As may be inferred from the relationship\nexisting between them before marriage, theirs was not the first\nmarriage between the Eskildz and Myre families. Some branches of these\ntwo families were very wealthy and influential when Niels was a boy,\nwhich fact, however, was of no advantage to their poorer relatives,\namong whom were Niels and his parents.\n\n\n\nA WOMAN WITH A PURPOSE.\n\nPURPOSE ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS--BIRTH AND PARENTAGE OF CAROLINA\nCORRADI--HER MOTHER'S PRESCIENCE--PREPARATION FOR FUTURE\nCAREER--DEVOTED WORK IN BEHALF OF DEAD KINDRED.\n\nFew people have accomplished anything in this life worth mentioning\nwho have not had a definite purpose in view, to which every faculty of\ntheir mind and body is made to bend. People without a purpose abound on\nevery hand, with nothing in appearance to distinguish them from their\nfellows except a kind of mental or physical inertia or a fickleness of\ndisposition, causing them to flit about from one pursuit to another, as\na butterfly does from flower to flower. Their personal lack of purpose\nmay not be apparent to the casual observer, especially if they be\nsufficiently under the influence of strong-minded, decisive friends,\nwho furnish the purpose for them, and manipulate them as if they were\nhuman automatons.\n\nSome people seem to be born with a purpose, or--more properly\nspeaking--with a disposition to form a purpose, and adhere to it. They\nare not only possessed of energy, but of the power of concentration,\nthe ability to apply themselves to the one particular purpose before\nthem until they succeed.\n\nLacking a purpose--either innate or acquired--people are apt to drift\naimlessly through life, like an abandoned boat upon the ocean, subject\nto every wind that blows and every current that flows. With conditions\nfavorable, they may float on indefinitely, even as derelicts at sea\nhave been known to do for years without meeting with any serious\nobstruction. Their course may be so serene, and so attended with good\nfortune, that observers may be almost forced to the conclusion that\nthey have a charmed existence. The real test of their constancy and\nendurance comes to the mechanical derelicts when storms beset them\nand breakers loom up before them, and to their human prototypes when\nobstacles are encountered that only a strong mind can cope with,\nand when no friendly support is at hand, to lean upon. The weak and\nvacillating then flounder in uncertainty, so lacking in self-confidence\nas to be absolutely unable to formulate and execute any purposeful\nplan, while the strong-minded, resolute, self-reliant people carefully\nlay their plans, and then proceed to fulfill them.\n\nOf course the majority of human derelicts are unwilling to admit that\ntheir failure to succeed is due to any fault of theirs. They prefer to\nbelieve that they are the victims of chance, or ill-luck, or lack of\nopportunity. Many of them have no desire to work, and others, if not\nreally lazy, have no pride or interest in the work they do, and are\ntherefore very indifferent workmen, and seldom retain a job long after\ngetting it.\n\nOccasionally a person is found who has sufficient mental grasp to\ndevise, and executive ability to carry out a number of purposes\nsimultaneously, and those who are specially successful in material\naffairs are sometimes called \"Napoleons of finance.\" More frequently,\nhowever, the diffusion of energy due to following too many purposes\nresults in failure. Many of the more conspicuous financial failures\nare made by persons who fairly bristle with purposes. They are like\nthe ambitious but unwise blacksmith who had so many irons in the fire\nat once that he either had to slight his work on all or allow some to\nbecome overheated and spoiled.\n\nIt is infinitely more creditable to have one purpose, and accomplish it\nsuccessfully, than a number and succeed only indifferently.\n\nThe story of which the foregoing is a prelude is not that of a\n\"Napoleon of finance\" or even of a Hetty Green in success in material\nmatters, but of that of a very humble, but altogether worthy woman,\nwhose aspirations are spiritual rather than material.\n\nExamples from the ranks of the humble are more apt to be helpful to\nthe great mass of the people than those taken from other classes, as\nwhat the wealthy and highly educated classes accomplish is apt to be\nattributed to their more favored station in life, and therefore not to\nbe emulated by the poor, illiterate and obscure.\n\nIt will be observed that the example which follows is one that may be\nprofitably emulated by any, regardless of rank in life.\n\nCarolina Corradi was born September 1, 1856, in Mastetlen, Canton\nThurgau, Switzerland. She was the youngest but one of eleven children,\nborn of parents who were only in moderate circumstances, and therefore\nthe help of all the children able to work was required to maintain the\nreputation for thrift which the family had always enjoyed.\n\nThe parents were honest, industrious, intelligent, but not specially\npious people. Her father, Johannes Corradi, was a rather ingenious man,\nable to turn his hand to almost any kind of work, and as kind-hearted\nand self-sacrificing a man as could be found anywhere, and generous\nalmost to a fault. He was greatly beloved by all who knew him, and\nespecially by his children. The mother was an exceptionally good\nhousekeeper, and possessed rare tact as a manager, and developed into\nquite a business woman, especially after her husband's death, when\nit became her duty to manage the material affairs of the family. She\nwas also known by her intimates to possess a gift of prescience, or\nthe ability to see things before they actually transpired. By this\ngift she evidently foresaw something of the future of her daughter\nCarolina while she was yet a young child, and insisted that she learn\nthe French laundry business, as the time would come when she would find\nit an advantage to work at it. Carolina was the only child concerning\nwhom the mother had this impression, although the other daughters were\napparently as well adapted for that kind of work as she was, and there\nwas nothing about her to indicate that she, any more than the others,\nwould ever need to work at it. Like many other branches of knowledge\nor craft, the secrets of French laundry work were only to be obtained\nby sacrifice, and so the parents of Carolina paid a considerable sum\nof money for the privilege, and bound her to serve without pay for a\ncertain period to have her learn from those who were skilled in that\nline.\n\nShe was apt at learning, became a very proficient hand, and followed\nthat line of employment for about three years while her mother still\nlived, (her father having died when she was fourteen years of age.) The\nmother died in 1883, leaving the children, who, however, were all grown\nto maturity by that time, to shift for themselves. Her last words to\nCarolina were that she must not mourn or despair because of her death,\nas there was something great prepared for her, of which she was then in\nignorance, but of which she would learn in due time. She said nothing\nof the kind about the other children, and the family talked about the\nfact after the mother's death and decided among themselves that it\nmeant that Carolina was somehow going to become possessed of wealth.\nThey had faith in their mother's ability to see things that were coming\nto pass, and they couldn't think of anything quite so desirable in\ntheir estimation as wealth.\n\nCarolina went out to service, and was mostly engaged in general\nhousework. While the parents lived the family never learned of the\nGospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints, but some years later it was\nbrought directly to the attention of some of the surviving members of\nthe family, and Carolina alone of all of them was attracted by it.\nShe joined the Church in the year 1889, and was so impressed with the\ndoctrine of salvation for the dead, that she soon afterwards wrote\na letter to the clerk of the parish in which her parents were born,\nto obtain information in regard to their ancestors. This was done\nin the hope that she might, at some time in the future, be able to\nhave a vicarious work done in their behalf. To her gratification,\nthe parish officer proved to be a distant relative, by the name of\nCorradi, and he supplied her with the names of her ancestors for a few\ngenerations--thirty-five or thirty-six names in all. They were all she\nwas able to obtain, or knew where to obtain, before she migrated to\nUtah (which she did in the year 1891,) and she came here with a strong\ndesire that they should have all the privileges of the Gospel that they\nmight have enjoyed had they accepted of it in mortality.\n\nShe inherited enough from her parents' estate to pay for her emigration\nto Utah and leave $35.00 in her pocket when she landed here. That\nwas the amount of her capital at the inception of her career here in\nUtah, less than twenty-three years ago. She had no relatives, and few\nacquaintances, in this land, and was unfamiliar with the language of\nthe country.\n\nShe obtained work in a laundry at the lowest price paid to\ninexperienced hands, and was glad to get it. She was devoted to her\nreligion, was faithful in attending meetings, paying her tithes and\nfast offerings, and never lost sight of the duty that she so early\nfelt to be resting upon her, to do all that was in her power for the\nsalvation of her dead kindred. In the meantime she had been acquiring\na knowledge of the English language, but it was six years after she\narrived in Utah before she began her vicarious work in the Temple.\nShe was not able to follow this work up continuously--only to spend a\nday at a time, but the spirit of the work grew upon her. She was able\nto officiate for the females of her kindred, but she was in doubt as\nto how to proceed to get the work done for her male kindred. While in\nthis state of anxiety the Spirit prompted her to apply to Niels P.L.\nEskildz, with the assurance that he would faithfully serve, and be\nof great assistance to her. She accordingly applied to him, and, as\nalready related, obtained his consent. When all those whose names she\nhad were officiated for, she was favored with an open vision, in which\na person appeared to her and told her that she had a great work yet to\nperform in behalf of her dead kindred--that she would do the work for\nmore than a thousand.\n\nAt that time she did not know where she could get another name, and\nearned so little by her work (she never was paid more than $1.10 per\nday at the laundry, and much of the time only received $1.00 per day)\nthat she couldn't foresee how she could ever afford to pay for having\nher genealogy traced up and obtain more names. She had recently been\ntrying to obtain laundry work (ironing) in private families, with a\nview to earning more than she had been able to at the laundries, but\nhad not yet succeeded to any great extent. She felt, however, that the\nLord had inspired the promise made to her, and that He could and would\nprovide a way for its fulfillment, but how she could not forsee.\n\nSoon afterwards she obtained work in her line in a private wealthy\nfamily, where she was able to earn $2.00 per day, and also learned\nof a man who was engaged in the business of tracing up genealogies,\nwhom she employed to obtain the names of her ancestors. She has since\nobtained several extensive lists of names, including several lines of\nher ancestors, and has now had Brother Eskildz regularly employed for\nseveral years, whenever he has been able to do so, officiating for\nher dead male kindred, while she has employed women, and occasionally\nspends a day in the Temple herself, laboring for her female kindred.\nShe has thus done herself, or hired others to do the work, for almost\n1800, and by the time she completes the work for all the names she has,\nthe number will be increased to fully 1900.\n\nShe has done this as a labor of love, and found great joy and\nsatisfaction in so doing--in fact, feeling repaid as she has proceeded\nby the enjoyment the work has afforded her, for all the labor and\nsacrifice it has involved. While her earnings have never been\nmunificent, she has maintained a decent, respectable appearance,\nkeeping house in from one to three rented rooms, and honestly paid her\nway and done her duty as a church member--all from her own earnings.\n\nShe feels that the Lord has been specially kind to her, in providing a\nway for the gratification of her earnest desire in behalf of her dead\nkindred. She expresses also her gratitude to Brother Eskildz, to whom\ngreat credit is due for classifying the names and providing for the\norderly and complete performance of the work, so that no names have\nbeen duplicated, and none omitted. She says she doesn't know how she\ncould have accomplished what she has without his help. Her genealogical\nrecords are in fine shape, and are a credit to her.\n\nWhen asked how much money she had spent for genealogical research, for\nbooks in which to keep a record of the work done and for the payment of\npeople she had hired to officiate for her kindred, she replied she did\nnot know, and she did not care to know. She was content to know that it\nhad been spent in a worthy cause, gave the Lord the credit for it and\ndid not even seek any personal recognition.\n\nShe has felt sure since embracing the Gospel that her mother must have\nhad a foreknowledge that she would labor in this cause, and she has had\nmany assurances since she first engaged in the Temple work that her\nparents are aware of the vicarious work she has done or caused to be\ndone in behalf of the dead, and heartily approve of the same.\n\nShe has sought no notoriety in what she has done; in fact, was\nrather reluctant about admitting it or giving any information\nconcerning it, but the consciousness of it affords her a great deal\nof satisfaction--infinitely more, she says that the possession of a\nmillion dollars could.\n\nSome women have doubtless done more than she in laboring for the\nsalvation of the dead, numbers considered, but her record offers a\nspecially fine example of a holy purpose faithfully pursued, and\nCarolina Corradi will doubtless stand throughout eternity as the\npersonification of self-sacrifice and filial devotion.\n\n\n\nAN EXCEPTION.\n\nA RICH MAN'S HANDICAP--WEALTH NOT ESSENTIALLY BAD--BUT QUALITIES ITS\nPOSSESSION DEVELOPS A BAR TO SALVATION--TYPICAL CASE OF A MAN REARED IN\nAFFLUENCE--UNPROMISING START IN MARRIED LIFE--HOW HE BECAME INTERESTED\nIN TEMPLE WORK--WORTHY EXAMPLE IN RECENT YEARS.\n\nIt is not an uncommon thing for a poor person to look with envy upon\nthe possessions of the wealthy, and remark how easy it would be for\nhim to be generous, and make sacrifices for a righteous cause, if he\nwere only wealthy. It is hard--perhaps impossible--for such a person\nto realize it (never having been possessed of wealth,) but wealth is\nmore frequently a bar to the service of the Lord than a help therein.\nWe are informed in the gospel according to Matthew that the Savior said\n\"a rich man shall hardly enter the kingdom of heaven;\" and again, \"it\nis easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich\nman to enter into the kingdom of heaven.\" Whether we understand from\nthis that the Savior was indulging in hyperbole--the grossest kind of\nexaggeration, or that the eye of the needle referred to was a specially\nlow gateway in the wall of Jerusalem, through which camels could\nonly pass by crouching down, we must conclude that the rich are less\nsusceptible to the saving influence of the Gospel than the poor. This\nis confirmed by the declaration that \"Blessed are the poor in spirit,\nfor theirs is the kingdom of heaven,\" and numerous passages about the\ndeceitfulness of riches, and of \"the love of money,\" being \"the root of\nall evil.\"\n\nWhen we come to analyze the question, it is not the wealth itself that\nis evil, but the avarice and arrogance that its possession is apt to\ndevelop, for the more one has the more he is apt to want. The person\nwho in his youth is eager to acquire wealth is apt to grow intensely\navaricious if not miserly in his old age. The person who manifests\npride and slight regard for others' rights in youth is apt to become\nunbearably arrogant as he grows older.\n\nHumility is a pre-requisite to the acceptance and practice of those\nprinciples upon which salvation depends, and humility is the very\nopposite of arrogance. Treasures in heaven are apt to look most\nattractive to the person whose view thereof is not obstructed by\ntreasures upon earth; for \"where the treasure is, there will the heart\nbe also.\" A poor person, seeking salvation, is not so apt to have\nhis attention distracted therefrom, as is one who is full of care\nconcerning his earthly possessions.\n\nInasmuch as the work done in the Temple is clearly in the nature\nof seeking treasures in heaven, it is really refreshing to find a\nwealthy person, and especially one who has been reared in affluence,\nmanifesting much devotion in that line.\n\nOne of the most striking examples of this kind noticeable in the Salt\nLake Temple in recent years is that of Brother P . . .\n\nHis parents were descended from aristocratic families of Old Virginia.\nHis father was the owner of two large mercantile establishments and\nother valuable property in his native town before the war, but the war\nbroke him up, and left him comparatively poor. However, he was of that\nclass who cannot be kept down. He was ambitious and enterprising, and\nsoon began to accumulate. Coming to Utah in the year 1864, he engaged\nin school teaching, farming, ran a threshing machine, clerked in,\nmanaged and then owned a store, engaged in banking, etc., wringing\nsuccess out of everything he turned his hand to. By the time the\nsubject if this sketch (who was born in Utah,) was old enough to\nreceive impressions, his was regarded as among the most wealthy,\ninfluential and aggressive families in the state.\n\nNone of the sons (of whom there were several in the family) ever\nserved as a missionary, until recently, when one of the younger sons\nfilled a creditable mission to Germany. This fact is mentioned because\nthe calling of one son from a household to fill a mission frequently\narouses more or less zeal in the whole family.\n\nNor were they conspicuous workers in the quorum and auxiliary\norganizations in the church. This fact is mentioned for the same\nreason. When young people take an active part in these organizations\nthey frequently develop into enthusiastic church members, and\noccasionally arouse an interest in spiritual matters throughout the\nwhole family.\n\nThe eldest son was a successful mining broker, and prominent in\npolitical and business affairs, and the second, (the subject of this\nsketch) studied law, with the intention of becoming a practicing\nattorney. These facts are mentioned also for the reason that they\nare generally understood to tend from rather than towards religious\ndevotion.\n\nAnother circumstance that would rather indicate backsliding than a\ngrowing zeal, was his disregard for the scriptural injunction: \"Be ye\nnot unequally yoked together with unbelievers.\" He married a girl who\nwas not a member of the Church.\n\nIn extenuation, it may be said that he indulged in the hope of\nconverting her; in fact, during the days of their courtship they\nread and discussed \"Mormon\" literature together, and she manifested\nan interest therein; but she hadn't faith enough to join the Church\nbefore her marriage; nor, indeed, for four years afterwards, the fact\nof her parents and most of her relatives being non-\"Mormons\" possibly\naccounting for her hesitancy.\n\nWith this introduction the story may now be given as told by Brother\nP..., of how he became interested in Temple work:\n\n\"On July 20, 1908, Miss H . . . and I were married by an Elder of\nthe Church. Four years later my wife was stricken with hemorrhage of\nthe brain, and her life was despaired of. She was healed in answer\nto prayer, and the faith exercised by herself and others, and gladly\njoined the Church soon afterwards. Later on, she was dying of organic\nBrights disease, and the physician in attendance said there was no\npossibility of her living. However, after an administration of the\nElders, she improved immediately, and lived in peace for four years\nlonger. On April 27, 1908, she died.\n\n\"We had not been to the Temple to receive our endowments, and to have\nthe important ceremony performed whereby we could be united for time\nand all eternity.\n\n\"About one month after my wife's death I was impressed to go to the\n20th Ward sacrament service; although I did not live in that ward,\nand it was my first attendance at a meeting there. Brother Samuel W.\nJenkinson, a blind man, who was a Temple worker, was the speaker.\nTwelve years prior to that time Brother Jenkinson had done endowment\nwork in the Temple for some of my wife's relatives, but he and I were\nnot acquainted. I was so much impressed with his remarks, that I\ninquired and learned his name, and the following morning wrote a letter\nto this blind brother, telling him how pleased I was with his testimony.\n\n\"On receiving the letter, Brother Jenkinson telephoned to me a request\nto come up and see him. My telephone number was 5279.\n\n\"A month passed. One afternoon, on the very day the Temple closed for\nthe summer vacation, as I was sitting at my desk, the telephone rang.\nTaking down the receiver, I heard the voice of Samuel W. Jenkinson,\nsaying `Your telephone number has been coming to me for a week,\nespecially while I was in the Temple. I did not call you up, as I did\nnot wish to disturb you; but today the number '5279, 5279' came to me\nso many times that, on leaving the Temple, I have come to a phone. Now\nI do not know what to say to you.'\n\n\"That evening I called at the home of the blind brother, and talked to\nhim awhile, mainly in regard to my departed wife.\n\n\"Six weeks passed. Three days before the Temple opened, after the\nvacation, Brother Jenkinson telephoned to me, saying: 'I am impressed\nthat your wife wants her Temple work done.'\n\n\"'All right,' I replied, 'I will see to it.'\n\n\"I called upon President Winder, the presiding officer of the Temple,\nand told him what had occurred. He advised that I wait until a year\nhad passed after the death of my wife. This agreed with my feelings\nexactly, and I remarked, `I think so too, President Winder. Besides, I\nwould rather take the rest of the year to prepare to enter the Temple.'\n\n\"Three days later President Winder sent for me, and, when I responded\nto the call, said: `I have taken that matter up with President Smith,\nand we have made an exception in your case; and you can now do the work\nfor your wife any time.'\n\n\"I thanked President Winder, but added that I thought there was no\nhurry, and preferred to wait for awhile.\n\n\"However, my wife knew the great importance of attending to this\nmost sacred work without delay. In her life her rule was, not to\nprocrastinate. She used to say, 'Tomorrow has enough duties of its\nown to attend to. So don't crowd the duties of today on tomorrow.'\nBesides, being in the spirit world, she had a livelier appreciation of\nTemple work than I had, with my earthly environment. She knew there\nwas great danger in delaying to do the vicarious work--a fact that all\nLatter-day Saints should understand who are familiar with the teachings\nof the Prophet Joseph Smith upon the subject. He impressed upon the\nSaints in the strongest terms that there was none too much time left\nin which to do the work for the dead; and one of the strongest desires\nthat he manifested during the last few weeks of his life was, that the\nSaints should proceed to get their genealogies and perform the sacred\nordinances in behalf of their dead kindred without delay. Delays are\ndangerous, and the adversary will always give us abundant reasons for\nprocrastination if we are willing to listen to such counsel.\n\n\"Ten days more passed. I was sitting at my desk when the telephone\nrang. Samuel W. Jenkinson's voice sounded in my ear; `You have let ten\ndays go by, and haven't done that work for your wife yet.'\n\n\"My answer was: `No, I thought I would wait awhile; but I have\npermission from the First Presidency to do the work any time now.'\n\n\"Then came a short and vigorous sermon from the blind Temple worker,\nthat has since proven to be the moving cause in my life in the matter\nof Temple work. Brother Jenkinson in plainness and earnestness said:\n'I am impressed with the feeling that your wife wants her Temple work\ndone, and I always act on my impressions. If her Temple work is done\nshe will have more happiness and greater freedom, can progress faster\nand further, and can accomplish much more for herself and for others,\nand for you right here on earth. But you can do what you want. I hereby\nclear myself from all responsibility, and leave it wholly to you.'\n\n\"'I am convinced, Brother Jenkinson, and will see to it at once.' I\nanswered, and took the next train for Ogden, where I saw my sister and\nasked her to be proxy for my wife.\n\n\"On seeing me, she exclaimed: 'I have been wanting to see you, and was\ngoing to write to you. I had a wonderful dream about your wife this\nmorning.' She then proceeded to relate the dream, which was in line\nwith my wife's wish, as expressed by Brother Jenkinson, that her Temple\nwork should be done.\n\n\"Two days thereafter the Temple work was done, and it was the most\nglorious day of my life. No joy that I had previously felt could\ncompare with the heavenly happiness that I experienced. Tears came to\nmy eyes, and I rejoiced in a spirit of thanksgiving to my Heavenly\nFather for being permitted to enter His holy house and partake of the\nblessings therein bestowed.\n\n\"Since then I have felt that my main mission on earth is to have\nTemple work done for as many spirits as possible; thereby aiding in\nthe release of those departed spirits from their prison houses. I have\nalso taken the opportunity to encourage others to search out their\ngenealogies and do Temple work for their kindred dead.\"\n\nThat is his story, briefly told. Others can testify to the fidelity\nwith which he has fulfilled what he conceived to be his mission. He\nfrequently goes to the Temple himself and receives ordinances in behalf\nof his dead kindred, and he is constantly employing others to do\nlikewise, so that the work for his kindred dead goes on apace. Being\nasked how many he had now had the work done for, he replied that he did\nnot know--he had not taken time to count--but some thousands.\n\nIn addition to all this, he has for the past five years been a worker\non the Temple Block in connection with the Bureau of Information,\nspending much of his time there, and with good effect if the\nvolunteered opinion of hundreds who have listened to him are a fair\ncriterion by which to judge. Though he never filled a foreign mission,\nhe has enjoyed privileges that seldom come to foreign missionaries. He\nhas explained \"Mormon\" history and doctrine and borne his testimony to\nthousands who, as strangers thereto, were seeking the information he\nhad to offer (and many of them willing listeners,) and who could never\nafterwards deny having heard the truth.\n\nIt may be inferred from this that he is working under high pressure,\nto spare so much time from his own absorbing affairs to devote to this\ncharitable work, as well as to be under the financial tribute that he\nis in this connection, and indeed he is. He probably inherits from his\nfather (who was a man of unusual energy, mental and physical,) his\ncapacity for work. There is no doubt about his feeling better for the\nstrenuous life that he is leading, and especially for his gratuitous\nwork. He has been heard to remark that he has found no good and safe\nplace to stop at, as any lessening of his efforts in the voluntary work\nfor the good of others that he has undertaken, results in a perceptible\ndiminution in the good spirit that he has enjoyed in recent years,\nand in his growing worldly-minded in a corresponding degree. His is\na nature that is not satisfied with anything mediocre. He craves the\nbest, and is naturally thorough and whole-hearted in that which he\ndoes, and has a keen sense of both enjoyment and suffering.\n\nHe has learned what many others fail to learn: that happiness depends\nless upon what we receive than what we give, less upon what we have\nthan upon what we do; less upon what others do for us than upon what we\ndo for them; and that we can adopt no more certain means of securing\nhappiness for ourselves than that of seeking to make others happy. Life\nnever was so full and rich and satisfying to him before as it has been\nin recent years, for he never did so much for others, and never before\nexhibited so much unselfishness.\n\nHe objects to being classed as a rich man, because, notwithstanding\nhis interests are rather extensive, he has invested a large amount of\nborrowed money in an industry which involves a good deal of risk, and\nyet, with good fortune in his favor, may yield a handsome profit.\n\nWell, if he is not rich he is certainly enterprising, and deserves to\nbe rich, and never was in less danger from being rich.\n\nWealth is a comparative term, anyhow. If he is not rich compared with\nsome who are very wealthy, he is compared with those who have little or\nnone of this world's goods.\n\nIf, with the risk he is taking, he still finds time to devote so\nmuch unselfish attention to others, dead and living, how much more\ncreditable than if he labored for selfish ends! And how much more of\na sacrifice he is making than if he had converted all his surplus\nproperty into government bonds, the income from which would insure him\na living without care on his part, and then only gave his time to the\ncause of humanity.\n\nHe has again married--this time in God's own appointed way, to one\nwho is full of faith--and two lovely children have come to grace his\nhome--the first living children he has had. He takes an optimistic view\nof life, and never felt that he had so much to live for.\n\nIt may be appropriately mentioned here that six years before his former\nwife died (a. already related,) she wrote a letter to her husband, with\na request that it be opened and read after her death. His present wife\nchanced to read that letter some time after her marriage, and learned\nfrom it that the expressed desire of the deceased wife was that her\nhusband should marry again, and that some time there would be a little\nLuacine (that being the first wife's name.) The first child was a boy.\nThe second was a girl, and the mother, on her own volition, chose for\nher the name of Luacine.\n\nConsider this case from whatever angle we may, Brother P . . . is\nan exception in his class, and a most praiseworthy exception, whose\nexample in recent years is well worthy of emulation.\n\n\n\nMY MOTHER.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nPREDICTION FROM MALACHI FULFILLED--BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF MARY ALICE\nCANNON--CANNON FAMILY EMBRACE THE GOSPEL--MIGRATE--MOTHER'S DEATH AT\nSEA--ARRIVAL AT NAUVOO--FATHER'S DEATH--HER MARRIAGE.\n\n\"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the\ngreat and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of\nthe fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their\nfathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.\"\n\nThus spake the Lord through Malachi, the prophet; but just what was\nmeant by turning the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart\nof the children to the fathers, has been a matter of speculation among\nbible students since time was young. Of course, many have supposed that\nthis prediction was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist; but\nwherein John the Baptist accomplished any such work as that indicated\nis not clear. Whatever the work was that Elijah was to do, there must\nbe something potential about it, to have the effect of appeasing the\nwrath of the Almighty and averting the curse with which the earth (or\npossibly the inhabitants of the earth) would otherwise be smitten.\n\nNot until the doctrine of salvation for the dead had been revealed was\nthe full import of the declaration quoted from Malachi understood even\nby the Latter-day Saints. The anxiety they immediately experienced\nfor the salvation of their kindred who had died without conforming to\nthe Gospel requirements, when they learned that the living might do\na vicarious work in behalf of the dead, that would place the latter\nupon an equal footing with the most favored of the living, was an\nillustration of its effects upon the children.\n\nThe interest that was awakened about that same time in the matter of\ngenealogical research, without any apparent cause for it, more than\nhad existed for ages, may reasonably be considered an evidence that\nthe \"heart of the fathers\" was being turned to the children. Nor was\nthis interest in the tracing of genealogies, and the connecting of one\ngeneration or age to another by kindred links, limited to Latter-day\nSaints, or those familiar with the doctrine of salvation for the dead,\nas newly revealed. It seemed to be a spontaneous feeling, specially\nnoticeable in the more enlightened countries of that age and since. The\ndisposition to engage in this research was not limited to any class or\ncreed. It was manifested alike by people of various religious beliefs\nand by those also of infidel tendencies. Sometimes pride of ancestry\nfurnished the excuse, and at other times the hope of inheritance was\nthe incentive. Whatever the causes that led to the compiling and\npublishing of genealogical works, it is easy for Latter-day Saints to\nbelieve that men so actuated were inspired of the Lord, whether they\nrealized it or not, and that the grand and ultimate purpose of the Lord\nwas that the living believers in that doctrine might do a vicarious\nwork for the salvation of individual dead, and thus connect the present\ngeneration with those of the past.\n\n[Image: Mrs. Mary Alice C. Lambert]\n\nA desire to learn as much as possible about one's ancestors, and\nthen go into the Temple and labor for their salvation, may be really\naccepted as the normal feeling among faithful, sincere Latter-day\nSaints. So generally is it understood to be their duty to labor for\ntheir dead kindred, that it seems quite the natural thing that they\nshould do so. Their obligation in this respect is comparable to that of\nproviding for dependent members of their households.\n\nOne must have a broader feeling of philanthropy or a higher sense\nof duty, to labor as a general worker or officiator in the Temple\nfor extended periods, without hope of earthly reward. Among the more\nconspicuous examples of this kind in the Salt Lake Temple is Mrs. Mary\nAlice C. Lambert, the dean of the women workers, if such a term may\nbe applied to a woman. She was one of those called to so labor when\nthe Salt Lake Temple was completed, and has so served faithfully and\ngratuitously ever since, being still active and efficient, although in\nher eighty-sixth year. Hers is as fine an example of a busy, well-spent\nlife, as could readily be found, and a perusal of the following sketch\ncan hardly fail to be faith promoting:\n\nOn the 9th day of December, 1828, a young married couple, George and\nAnn Cannon, then living in the city of Liverpool, England, rejoiced\nin the birth of their second child--a daughter--whom they named Mary\nAlice. There was nothing about the child or her brother, George Q.,\nwho was two years her senior, or their parents, to distinguish them\nfrom the many thousands of other families who lived in that great city.\nThe father was an intelligent and industrious tradesman--an expert\ncarpenter, or joiner--and the mother a thoroughly domestic woman, whose\nlove for her husband and children was only equalled by the strength of\nher religious fervor. Though England had been the adopted home of this\nbranch of the Cannon family since many years before their marriage,\nthe most of their relatives lived in the Isle of Man, and thither\nthe family went on occasional visits. On one of these visits, at the\nearnest solicitation of her maternal grandmother, little Mary Alice was\nleft to bear her company, and spent five years of her childhood in the\nquaint old town of Peel, for this purpose.\n\nIn course of time the Cannon family was enlarged by the successive\nbirths of other children--Ann, Angus, John, David and Leonora. John,\nhowever, died when three and a half years of age. Prosperity had\nattended the father's labors, the family had a comfortable and happy\nhome, the older children were acquiring an education, and gave promise\nof being like other children among the better class in England--no\nworse than the majority, and not much if any better.\n\nWhen Mary Alice was about 11 years of age, an event occurred that\nwas destined to change the whole current of the family life. If\nthere is any truth in the theory of heredity, it was well for the\nCannon family that their ancestors, for generations, had been hardy\nsea-faring men--some of them captains, conspicuous for their courage\nand adventurous disposition. It was well that their ancestral home\nwas in the Isle of Man, where the inhabitants, largely fishermen, are\ninured to hardship and used to battling with the waves and braving the\ntempest. If any of the traits possessed by their ancestors had been\ninherited by the present generation, and especially strength of will\nand endurance, two of the most prominent characteristics of the Manx\npeople--they must certainly be called into action in the strenuous life\nthat lay before the Cannon family, thenceforward.\n\nSome years previously Leonora Cannon, a sister of George Cannon, had\nmigrated to Canada, and there met and married a young Englishman named\nJohn Taylor. Parley P. Pratt, as a Latter-day Saint missionary, soon\nafterwards visited the part of Canada where the Taylors lived, and\nthey were converted and joined their fortunes with the Saints in Ohio.\nFrom Nauvoo John Taylor was sent on a mission to Great Britain, and\nimmediately upon landing called upon his wife's brother and family.\n\nA profound impression was made by this visit. The visitor had scarcely\nleft the house, after a brief call, when the mother expressed the firm\nconviction she felt that he was a servant of God, although he had not\nthen made known the fact that he was a missionary or explained the\nGospel. After a very short time spent investigating the Gospel, the\nparents were baptized. Little Mary Alice, though so young, greatly\ndesired baptism at the same time, but was too timid to ask for it.\nFrom the time she listened to the first conversation on the Gospel she\nhad felt greatly exercised in regard to it, and earnestly prayed to\nthe Lord for a testimony as to its truth. As a result, she obtained\na strong assurance from the Lord of its truth, that has never since\nadmitted of a doubt.\n\nThe parents had been members of the Church four months when, in June\n1840, Elder Parley P. Pratt visited them in company with Elder Taylor.\nThey had just finished eating breakfast, with the whole family present,\nwhen Elder Pratt, as if moved by a sudden inspiration, said: \"Elder\nTaylor, have you preached the Gospel to these children? Some of them\nwant to be baptized now. Don't you?\" he asked looking straight at Mary\nAlice. \"Yes, sir,\" she promptly replied, her heart so full of gratitude\nto the Lord for the opportunity she had prayed for of having her desire\nmade known, that she could hardly speak. Further questioning resulted\nin immediate arrangements being made for the baptism of George Q., Mary\nAlice and Ann--all the children of the family then old enough for the\nordinance.\n\nIt didn't take the family long to discover that there was no fellowship\nor tolerance for them among their relatives, or indeed among their\nformer friends. Though formerly popular, they were now pitied or\ndenounced, if not thoroughly hated. Whether this fact tended to create\na desire to migrate to America or not, true it was that they soon\nobtained the spirit of gathering. The only social enjoyment the family\nfound was in mingling with members of the church, and the desire soon\ngrew strong to go where the majority of the members could be found. The\nmother especially revolted at the thought of her children growing up in\nan atmosphere of unbelief, and, although she was in delicate health,\nand had a premonition that amounted almost if not quite to an absolute\nfore-knowledge that she would not live to reach America, she insisted\nupon going, and was impatient to start. The father, too, after having\na dream of his wife dying at sea, feared that it might prove true, and\nwould have hesitated about going had the Lord not made known to him, in\nanswer to prayer, that it was his duty to do so.\n\nThe family embarked on a sailing vessel bound for New Orleans in\nSeptember, 1842, and the mother died and was buried at sea six weeks\nlater, after suffering from sea sickness almost if not quite every day\nof the voyage up to that time. The forlorn condition of the family can\nmore easily be imagined than described. The promises held out by the\nGospel seemed to be their only comfort and support. For Mary Alice,\nmere child that she was, there was too much to do in caring for the\nyounger brothers and sisters to admit of her yielding to grief. The new\nresponsibility suddenly thrust upon her had the effect of merging her\nchildhood into womanhood without any interim for youth.\n\nThe sea voyage ended at New Orleans, eight weeks after it commenced,\nthe intention being to proceed immediately by river steamboat to\nNauvoo; but obstacles were soon encountered, the first being the\ngrounding of the boat on a sandbar, resulting in such a tedious delay\nthat severe frost set in and the boat was unable to proceed farther\nnorth than St. Louis because of the river being frozen over. The Cannon\nfamily accordingly spent the winter in St. Louis, the father providing\nhomes and support for two other families, whom he had charitably\nimmigrated from England, besides his own.\n\nNauvoo was finally reached in April, 1843, seven months after the\ndeparture from England. A cordial greeting by the Prophet Joseph Smith\nand a hearty welcome from Aunt Leonora Taylor and family helped to\nreconcile them, and the peaceful home obtained in Nauvoo was all the\nmore appreciated because of the difficulties experienced on the way.\n\nIn February, 1844, the father married a second time, the motherless\ncondition of his children and a desire on his part for their welfare\ndoubtless hastening the event.\n\nThis was a crucial period in the Church's history. Disaffection was\nrife, and the allegiance of many who had formerly been considered\nstalwarts in the faith had become very uncertain. Apostates, secret\nand outspoken, were conspiring with former enemies of the church\nto overthrow the work of the Lord and encompass the death of the\nProphet. The martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch and the very\nserious wounding of Apostle John Taylor occurred, as a result of these\ndiabolical plots, in June.\n\nDuring all these trying times the Church had no more loyal supporters\nthan the Cannon family. The father was among those who cared for the\nbodies of the martyrs when returned to Nauvoo, and he it was who (with\nthe assistance of his friend, Ariar Brower,) made the plaster casts of\nthe faces and heads of the Prophet and Patriarch when the bodies were\nwashed and prepared for burial.\n\nIn the August following, having gone to St. Louis to obtain employment,\nGeorge Cannon suddenly died there. If the children's condition was\nforlorn when their mother died, it was doubly so now. The one fact,\nthat they were located with the body of the Church, rendered their\ncondition more tolerable. What might have been the result, so far as\nthe children were concerned, of their being thus early left orphans if\nthey had remained in England, can only be conjectured. The one supreme\ndesire of the mother, to hasten the departure from England that the\nchildren might be with the body of the Church before being left without\ntheir natural protectors, was now justified.\n\nGeorge Q. and Ann found a home with their Aunt Leonora, the former,\nbeing already in the employ of Elder Taylor as a printer, and Mary\nAlice, though lacking two weeks of being sixteen years old at the\ntime, married in November following, and provided a home for Angus,\nDavid and Leonora. Charles Lambert, the husband, was a thoroughly\ncongenial companion, though twelve years the senior of his wife, and\nwas willing as well as qualified to provide for the three orphans of\nwhom he became the lawful guardian. He was an expert mechanic who, for\nthe Gospel's sake, had given up a lucrative position and sacrificed\nworldly advantages in England to migrate to Nauvoo, where he landed in\nthe early part of 1844. He had offered his services to help build the\nTemple without hope of payment therefor, and remained so employed up to\nthe time the Temple was dedicated and he and his wife received their\nblessings therein, though his devotion thereto involved many hardships\nand severe privations, and almost superhuman self denial.\n\nIn all these trials Mother Lambert, as we now call her, and as she then\nwas too, though not so called, (for her first child, Charles J., was\nborn in Nauvoo in November, 1845, when she lacked one month of being\n17 years old) was a true partner, patient, cheerful, industrious and\nself-sacrificing, and as loyal to the cause of God as the needle to the\npole.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nSTRENUOUS LIFE IN NAUVOO--CITY BESIEGED--THRILLING EXPERIENCE--MIRACLE\nOF QUAILS--RUN OVER BY WAGON--WAGON SINKS TO BOTTOM OF RIVER--LIFE IN\nUTAH--MISSION ABROAD--HER POSTERITY.\n\nThey succeeded in acquiring a fairly comfortable home in Nauvoo, and a\nfarm a short distance outside of the city, but they were not destined\nto long enjoy their possessions. The enemies of the Church were not\ncontent with having killed the Prophet and Patriarch; they were\ndetermined to drive the Saints from the state of Illinois, as they had\npreviously been driven from Missouri. The Saints, especially in the\noutlying settlements, were continually being harassed by the lawless\nmob. Farms were frequently pillaged or their crops burned. Domestic\nanimals were driven off, and the inhabitants in some instances severely\nbeaten and compelled to flee from their homes to save their lives. Many\nof their houses were also set fire to before the owners' sight.\n\nNot only were the Saints the victims of these ruthless depredations,\nbut they were actually accused of being the perpetrators of the same,\nand this made the pretext by the mob for demanding that the Saints\nremove from the state or abandon their religion. Is it any wonder that\nsome of the more weak and faithless of the members chose the latter\nalternative?\n\nAn agreement was finally entered into, between the Saints on one\nside, and state officials and leaders of the mob on the other, that\nthe Saints should leave the state as soon as they could sell their\npossessions. It soon became apparent, however, that they would have to\nabandon their homes instead of selling them, as their enemies, though\nanxious to secure them, showed little disposition to pay for them.\n\nThe majority of the Saints living in Nauvoo left there to journey\nwestward in the early part of the year 1846, leaving those whose\nservices to work upon the Temple were required, or who lacked the\nnecessary equipment for the journey, to follow on afterwards. When the\nApostles returned later to Nauvoo to dedicate the Temple they exacted a\npromise from those yet remaining there, and who possessed the necessary\noutfits to undertake the journey, that they would not abandon any of\nthe less fortunate Saints who might desire to accompany them, but help\nthem out of the state. Before they were ready to depart, however, the\nmobocrats, in far superior numbers, surrounded and besieged the city.\n\nCharles Lambert took a prominent part in the city's defense, helping to\nmanipulate one of the cannons, which, in the emergency, he and others\nhad improvised from an old steamboat shaft, and which had been mounted\nupon a part of the running gear of a wagon.\n\nMother Lambert was an interested and anxious spectator of the battle.\nIn addition to having her own small family to care for, a Mrs. Haines,\na neighbor, who was very ill, had been brought to her home to be\nnursed, her husband being absent from the city. During the bombardment,\nwhich continued for several days, some of the cannon balls fired by the\nmob passed close by, but none of them actually struck the house. In one\ninstance an old gentleman, who felt too feeble to be among the city's\ndefenders, but whose anxiety to see how the battle waged led him to\nascend to the top of the roof of the Lambert house to get a good view,\nwas so alarmed by a cannon ball passing close by his head, that he\nrolled from the roof to the ground.\n\nA flag of truce was finally raised by the mob and a treaty effected,\none of the provisions of which was that the Saints would vacate the\ncity within three days. Such of the household goods possessed by the\nLambert family as could be, were loaded into a wagon box and an attempt\nmade to remove across the river. As they approached the Mississippi,\nhowever, in the lower part of the town, so many other wagons were found\nto be ahead of theirs, waiting to be ferried over, that a temporary\ncamp was made near an abandoned home.\n\nWhile on the way from their home to this point the family had been\nsurrounded by a large posse of the mob and compelled to give up to them\nsuch fire arms as they possessed. Soon after reaching the temporary\ncamp, and while Father Lambert was absent with his team for the purpose\nof hauling John Haines' wagon, with his household goods and his sick\nwife in it, down to the same point, a second mob appeared and demanded\nthat Mother Lambert give up to them whatever fire arms were in the\nwagon. In vain she told them the weapons had already been surrendered,\nand that she did not have the keys to unlock the boxes in the wagon.\nThey used a hammer to forcibly break open the boxes, and proceeded\nto ransack all that the wagon contained, with the result that they\nobtained possession of a sword and bowie knife. These they brandished\nbefore the frightened mother and panic-stricken children, accusing her\nof lying to them when she said she had no fire arms, and threatening to\ncut her head off.\n\nA sister of the Prophet Joseph Smith was a witness of this scene, she\nhaving proffered to remain with Mother Lambert for company while her\nhusband was absent, and expressed regret that she didn't have some\nweapon to shoot the men with while threatening her friend.\n\nIn course of time they succeeded in getting ferried over the river and\nformed a camp on the Iowa side until Father Lambert could fulfill his\npledge to help the poor Saints who had no means of conveyance, across\nthe river, where they would be free from the power of the mob.\n\nWhile engaged in this mission of charity, a party of mobocrats\nrecognized him as one who had been conspicuous in the fight, and, with\nguns aimed at him, ordered his surrender. Then, while the two largest\nmen of the party took him down into the the river and held him under\nthe water three times in succession until his breath was gone, fourteen\nothers, with their guns cocked and ready for action, threatened to\nshoot him if he attempted to resist.\n\nOf course, he did not resist, neither did two brethren who were with\nhim at the time--Thomas Harrington and Daniel Hill--for they were\nunarmed and knew it would be folly to do so. They were silent witnesses\nof the scene, and neither they nor Father Lambert made any response\nto the oaths of their persecutors, nor to the threat that if they\nventured upon that side of the river again they would be shot on sight.\nNotwithstanding the threat, however, Father Lambert was in Nauvoo the\nfollowing day, and continued to go over there until all the poor Saints\nwho cared to be helped across the river had abandoned the city.\n\nOn one of these occasions he was detained in Nauvoo, because of the\npressing nature of what he had in hand, and Mother Lambert, fearing\nthe mob had caught him and executed their threat, walked the bank of\nthe river all night in the greatest agony of suspense, and inquired\nanxiously about her husband of every passenger that crossed on the\nferry boat, but all in vain. However, he showed up the next morning,\nwith an additional yoke of cattle which he had secured on an account\ndue him.\n\nWhile encamped on the bank of the river on the Iowa side, a rain storm\noccurred, which continued without cessation for three days and nights,\nuntil the wagons and their contents, as well as the clothing worn, were\nthoroughly soaked. The sick woman, Mrs. Haines, was placed on a bed\nunder the wagon, that being the most sheltered place available, and\nthere Mother Lambert and others waited upon her as best they could,\neven holding milk pans over her bed to catch the water as it dripped\nthrough the wagon box, until she died--a martyr to the persecution to\nwhich the Saints were subjected.\n\nIt was while encamped on the bank of this river that the Saints, many\nof them suffering for want of food as well as otherwise ailing, were\nvisited by a flock of quails, miraculously rendered so tame that some\nof them alighted on the beds occupied by the sick and were caught by\ntheir hands, and others allowed themselves to be killed with sticks.\nThose persecuted and suffering Saints, the Lambert family among the\nrest, accepted the birds as sent of the Lord, considering themselves\nas much the objects of divine favor as were the Israelites of old when\nfed with manna, and cooked the quail and ate them with the greatest\npossible relish.\n\nThe journey through Iowa was a very difficult one, and not entirely\ndevoid of danger. The country was very sparsely settled, there were no\nreally good roads except occasional stretches of natural prairie, and\nthe numerous streams encountered generally had to be forded because of\nthe absence of bridges. However, they did not travel continuously, a\nstop of some weeks being made at Bonaparte, and employment obtained by\nwhich supplies were earned.\n\nIt was while traveling westward from that point that a very serious\naccident occurred. Mother Lambert was very nervous about riding over\nbad places, preferring to walk when allowed to do so. The fact that\nthe team animals, which consisted of two yoke of steers and one yoke\nof cows, were not well broken--in fact, quite wild when they left\nNauvoo--rendered her more chary about riding. When approaching Soap\nCreek, which she had learned was a difficult stream to cross, she\nalighted from the wagon, and soon afterwards, by some accident, fell in\nfront of the wagon wheel, and, before the team could be stopped, two\nwheels had passed over the small of her back. In addition to the weight\nof the wagon itself, its load amounted to fully 3500 pounds, making\na combined weight sufficient to crush the life out of a person under\nordinary circumstances. Indeed, it was supposed when she was picked up\nthat she was dead. Father Lambert, however, was not willing to admit\nsuch a possibility, and called upon as many of his fellow travelers as\nhad any faith to join with him in administering to her. His wife was\nmiraculously spared, and the journey resumed the following day, but she\nhas suffered more or less ever since from the effects of the accident.\n\nWinter Quarters, on the west bank of the Missouri river, where the\nmain body of the Saints had encamped, was reached late in November,\nand, as soon as Father Lambert had constructed a log house to shelter\nhis family during the winter, he made his way to Missouri and found\nemployment by which he earned supplies, and sent to his wife and\nchildren. He and his family were ambitious to journey westward with the\npioneers in the spring. They were prevented, however, from doing so\nby the Indians killing their team animals after they had been brought\nthrough the winter in good condition, and shortly before the journey\nwas to be undertaken.\n\nIt was a sad disappointment, but only a temporary set back. With\ncourage unabated, the family removed to St. Joseph, Mo., where living\nwas cheap and work abundant, and in February of the following year,\nwith a new team and supplies earned in Missouri, Mother Lambert and the\nchildren were sent forward to Winter Quarters, to be ready to undertake\nthe journey westward, while Father Lambert remained in Missouri to work\nas long as possible before rejoining them.\n\nThat journey of 150 miles in that inclement season was a terrible one,\nbut it was bravely accomplished. In crossing the river from Ferry Point\nto Winter Quarters, however, a new misfortune occurred. The river had\nbeen frozen over for a considerable period, and teams had passed over\nit on the ice with impunity. Even that very morning two heavily loaded\nwagons had gone over. Yet, when the Lambert wagon was being taken\nacross, although the precaution had been resorted to of taking the team\nover first and drawing the wagon over from a distance with a rope, the\nice gave way. There, in that bleak March weather, six weeks before\nher son George was born, Mother Lambert stood upon the bank of the\nMissouri river, with her child in her arms and her two young brothers\nand younger sister clinging to her skirts, and saw the wagon containing\nall the family's earthly substance sink through the ice to the bottom\nof the stream. Sister Jane Dutson, (afterwards Mrs. Alexander Melville,\nof Fillmore) who had accompanied Mother Lambert from Missouri, stood\nbeside her when the wagon disappeared, and the catastrophe almost made\ntheir hearts cease beating.\n\nThey never expected to see the wagon or its contents again. The\naccident, however, didn't prove so serious as that. The occasion served\nto illustrate how spontaneously kind, sympathetic and resourceful\nLatter-day Saints are. Though Mother Lambert had few acquaintances in\nWinter Quarters, the news of her misfortune soon spread, and proffers\nof help and expressions of sympathy came from all quarters. Volunteers\nsoon plunged into the ice-cold water and readily reappeared bearing\nin their hands articles recovered from the wagon, which in turn were\nseized by others standing near the edge of the ice and then loaded\nupon hand sleds and conveyed to the shore. Before night set in most\nof the contents of the wagon had been recovered--damaged, of course,\nbut not completely spoiled, and all done without any intimation of a\nfavor being conferred thereby, much less any kind of remuneration being\nexpected. Depend upon it, though, Mother Lambert was not lacking in\ngratitude, and in her prayers that night as she enjoyed the shelter\nof Brother Harrington's hospitable roof, she thanked God with all the\nfervency of which she was capable that she was a Latter-day Saint, and\nfor the fraternal spirit that abounded among her fellow members.\n\nThe next day, by some method not now remembered, the wagon also was\nrecovered.\n\nVery soon afterwards President Young, who was then at Winter Quarters,\npreparing to start on his second trip to the Salt Lake Valley,\naccompanied by his family, wrote to Father Lambert in Missouri,\nadvising that he remain there another year, promising, as a condition\nof his doing so, that he should lose nothing, but be able to go with\na much better outfit than he otherwise could. Mother Lambert and the\nchildren accordingly returned thither, and awaited the arrival of the\nspring of 1849.\n\nThe journey to the valley, which occupied six months, was full of\nvicissitudes and rich in the experience that tends most to develop\ncharacter. The goal for which the family had longed and prayed, though\na wild region, forbidding in appearance, was hailed with joy, as\npromising exemption from contact with a sinful world, and freedom from\npersecution.\n\nOne thing that was specially disappointing to Mother Lambert and her\nthree proteges was, that their brother George Q., who, with his sister\nAnn had reached the valley in 1847, soon after the pioneers landed,\nhad only the day before started on a mission to California, thence\nto proceed to the Sandwich Islands. This involved a separation, as\nit afterwards proved (counting from the time they parted in Winter\nQuarters,) of almost eight years. He had, in anticipation of the\nfamily's arrival, arranged for the purchase of a lot--the same lot\nwhich was the family's home for so many years, and still in their\npossession, and made some adobes from which they might construct a\nhouse.\n\nAs illustrative of Father Lambert's disposition to follow the counsel\nof the church leaders, it may here be mentioned that President Willard\nRichards, one of the pioneers, and second counselor to President Young,\nwho entertained a very strong friendship for Father Lambert, had saved\na corner lot on Main Street--that which Walker Bros. bank occupied for\nso many years--for his friend, and so informed him on his arrival.\nFather Lambert expressed his gratitude for the kindness, but said, as\nPresident Young's counsel was that no family should have more than one\ncity lot, and his brother-in-law, George Q., had bargained for a lot\nfor him a couple of blocks distant from Main Street (the price of which\nmust be paid) and made some adobes with which to build thereon, he felt\nthat he ought to decline Brother Richards' kind offer. One has only to\nrecall the almost fabulous value of that Main Street lot at the present\ntime to realize what he lost by that declination, and yet, if its\npossession would have made the family become worldly-minded and think\nless of their religion, Father Lambert must even now, if permitted to\nknow anything of mundane affairs, thank God that he did not accept it.\n\nThose early years in Salt Lake Valley were years of desperate toil,\nhardship and privation, of which the Lambert family had their full\nshare--perhaps more than their share; not however, from want of effort\non their part, for none were more industrious or frugal, but largely\nbecause of their willingness to help others.\n\nA more generous man than Charles Lambert probably never lived. He found\nmore pleasure in relieving the wants of others who were in need than\nself gratification ever could have afforded him, and his wife was a\nworthy partner in that same respect. The needy did not have to apply\nto them to obtain assistance; they were sought for and their wants\nrelieved without ostentation. No family ever bore privation with less\ncomplaining. When the crops failed through the ravages of grasshoppers,\nweeks passed without even the children of the household and served\nfirst the were they and bread, tasting the last to go without.\n\nNo woman in Utah probably had the faculty of preparing for her family a\nmore palatable meal from herbs and roots than Mother Lambert, nor more\nwholesome and enjoyable fare when food was more plentiful and varied.\nHow she accomplished the herculean tasks which came to her, and which\nshe performed uncomplainingly, is incomprehensible to the present\ngeneration. Her first three children being boys, and their services\nbeing otherwise required, she had very little help in the household\nthe greater part of the time she was bearing children, and she was the\nmother of fourteen. (She didn't shirk the duties of motherhood.) She\nwas the dressmaker and tailoress for the family, even to the carding\nand spinning of the wool some of the time. Hers also was the task of\ncooking for the family, and not with the present facilities either. The\nopen fireplace with its bake kettle and skillet and frying pan, and the\nadobe oven, were her early culinary conveniences in Utah. These were\nsucceeded by the sheet iron stove, and that by the cast iron stove,\nand so on up to the range. She did the butter making and washing and\nironing and mending for the family too, and it was always a big family,\nfrequently including hired male help. She was the housekeeper also,\nand a good housekeeper too, the house being seldom out of order. It\npresented a cheery welcome to friends and acquaintances from far and\nnear, and many availed themselves of it.\n\nHers was no stinted hospitality. The best she had was at the disposal\nof all who called, and frequently even the floors were taxed to their\ncapacity to find room for the beds of those she entertained.\n\nShe was a good disciplinarian too. All her children as they grew up\nwere taught to work, and in turn bore their share of the burden. She\nwas also a famous nurse, and possessed of considerable skill in the use\nof the simple remedies that served so well to maintain a standard of\nhealth that has not been equaled in more recent years, notwithstanding\nour numerous and high-priced doctors. In these latter respects her\nservices were not limited to members of her own household by any means.\n\nHer own health was never especially robust, though she must have\ninherited a strong constitution and possessed naturally an indomitable\nwill. She was seldom free from pain in her back, as a result of the\naccident before mentioned. Her powers were taxed too, upon numerous\noccasions, and for extended periods, in caring for an ailing husband,\nalthough he was a man who would bear any amount of pain without\ncomplaint. He was a great sufferer from inflammatory rheumatism, which\ncaused a partial loss or his eyesight several times, and for more than\nsix months at one time he was without the use of one arm, through\nhaving his shoulder dislocated.\n\nThe death of her husband, which occurred more than twenty-two years\nsince, added an additional burden to her, but it also called forth her\nself-reliance, and proved that she possessed considerable executive\nability.\n\nIn addition to all the labors and cares and duties mentioned, Mother\nLambert found time throughout a very large part of her career for\na great deal of charity work. For fifteen and a half years she was\nsecretary of the relief society of the 7th ward, and for the succeeding\ntwenty-two years was its president. She filled the last named office\nup to the time she removed from the ward, and her removal was for the\npurpose of being near the Temple, having been called to be one of its\nregular workers at the time that edifice was completed in 1893.\n\nShe filled a mission to England with her husband in 1882-3 and spent\nseveral months visiting different countries in Europe in 1906, mainly\nfor the purpose of obtaining genealogical data. She has performed\nordinances in the Temple for hundreds of her relatives and friends\nwho died without the privilege of accepting the Gospel. She has also\nlabored to a considerable extent as a missionary from the general board\nof the Relief Society, her travels in this capacity extending from\nIdaho in the north to Mexico in the south.\n\nAs an indication of the devotion of Mother Lambert and her family to\nthe cause of truth, it may be said that the missionary work performed\nby herself and direct progeny (including the general work in the\nTemple, by direct call of the Church authorities) amounts in the\naggregate to more than fifty-eight years.\n\nHers has been an unusually busy and useful life, and, according to\nher opinion, a rather happy one. She feels that she has had more real\njoy during her eighty-five and a half years upon earth than usually\nfalls to the lot of mortals. And why not? A faithful adherence to\nduty throughout her life has left her comparatively little to regret,\nand unhappiness is largely the result of regret and remorse for sins\ncommitted and opportunities lost. Happiness depends less upon worldly\npossessions and a life of ease than upon a pure heart and a clear\nconscience. Her present joy is all the more complete for the sorrow she\nhas felt; the peace of her recent years all the more enjoyable for the\ntrials and turmoil of the past, and the comfortable competence she now\nenjoys is all the more appreciated because of her early privations.\n\nIf happiness is at all dependent upon the love of kindred, she ought\nto be supremely happy; for she has a numerous posterity, who almost\nidolize her. She is not able to wholly gratify the wishes of her\nseveral sons and daughters, because of her inability to spend her\nremaining days in mortality as a member of the household of each; so\nuntil recently she maintained her own modest but comfortable home and\nenjoyed a hearty welcome at the home of any of them as often and as\nlong as she chose to visit.\n\nDuring recent years the infirmity of age has led her to give up\nhousekeeping and take up her residence with her eldest daughter. She\nreceives every attention that love and duty can suggest, and is happy\nand contented. She is still a model of industry, seldom being seated\nfor many minutes without having some kind of needlework, writing or\nreading to give her attention to.\n\nIn this connection it may be mentioned that for a great many years\npast it has been her habit to exhibit specimens of her needle work\nproduced during the previous year at the annual State Fair, and has\nalways received recognition, and sometimes the highest prizes, for the\nexcellence of her productions.\n\nAs an indication of her methodical habits, it may be mentioned that\nshe keeps a diary, or journal, in which she daily records, with her\nown hand, passing events of local or general interest, and especially\nhappenings among her own family or progeny, and her financial\ntransactions, as well as how she spends her time and the condition of\nher health. This has been her daily practice ever since shortly after\nher husband's death, and is a continuation of the journal which he kept\nduring the greater part of his life.\n\nIt may be mentioned that Mother Lambert's personal accidents during\nher later years have been somewhat numerous, mainly because of her\nindependence and disposition to do things herself rather than ask\nanyone else to do them for her. She has suffered from broken ribs no\nless than six different times, but she has always rallied wonderfully\nquick from any injury or ailment.\n\nShe takes a great interest in all of her progeny, remembers their names\nand quite generally their birthdays, and frequently visits among them.\nHer children appreciate her wise counsel and motherly interest, and\nfeel, one and all, that whatever of merit they have accomplished in\nlife has been due to the inspiring example and wholesome precepts set\nbefore them by her and their revered father.\n\nTo him not less than to her do they feel indebted, and forever shall\nbe though they become the best and most dutiful of sons and daughters,\nfor he was a model father, as loving, kind, self-sacrificing, honest,\nindustrious and faithful as mortal father ever was. He alone of all his\nfather's family embraced the Gospel as revealed anew, but from him and\nMother Lambert, through the blessing of the Lord, a direct progeny has\nresulted (including three generations) to the number of 201, all of\nwhom are living except 29, and all in the faith for which he sacrificed\nso much, and which was his guiding star through life.\n\nScarcely less remarkable has been the increase from the Cannon family\ngenerally, although the posterity of Mother Lambert outnumbers those of\nany one of her brothers or sisters. The direct descendants of George\nCannon (including the six children already mentioned as having been\nleft orphans, and their sister Elizabeth, born as a product of the\nsecond marriage six months after her father's death) who are living\nnumber almost 700, to say nothing of those who have died. In view of\nthe fact that their numerous relatives left in England and the Isle\nof Man have actually decreased until their known descendents scarcely\noutnumber the fingers on one's two hands, we may well exclaim, \"What\nhath God wrought!\"\n\n\n\nEXAMPLES OF RIGHTEOUS ZEAL.\n\nNIGHT WORKERS WHO SERVE IN THE TEMPLE DURING THE DAY--MANY WOMEN SERVE\nAT GREAT PERSONAL SACRIFICE--TEMPLE WORK A BOON TO THE BLIND.\n\nAmong those who are in daily attendance at the Salt Lake Temple,\nofficiating for the dead, are quite a number of men who are deserving\nof special credit, because of the personal sacrifice the service\ninvolves. Allusion is made to those who earn their living by working at\nnight, and then deny themselves the sleep and rest their tired natures\ncrave, by devoting a good half day's service to Temple work, either\nfor their own kindred dead or others. Indeed, it occasionally amounts\nto considerably more than half a day. They usually form part of the\nmorning company, all the members of which are supposed to be present\nand seated before 9 a. m., when the introductory service commences.\nUnder ordinary conditions, they may expect to emerge from the Temple\nabout two o'clock; but if the company be unusually large, (as it is\nquite frequently,) it may be nearer 4 p. m. before they get out.\n\nMost men object strongly to being deprived of ample and regular hours\nof rest and sleep, and many persons would rather make a financial\nsacrifice than forego the sleep and rest they feel that they require.\n\nIf they had to work all night they would feel that any kind of service\nduring the day, to which they would have to give strict attention for\nseveral successive hours, would be absolutely out of the question.\n\nThe examples in mind are men in humble or moderate circumstances, who\npossibly couldn't very well afford to hire others to officiate for\nthem; so if they failed to do it themselves, by sheer self denial, it\nwould probably not be done.\n\nAugust Roth is employed at the car barn in this city, cleaning out cars\n(which is very tiresome work,) from 6 p. m. to 6. a. m., every night in\nthe week, yet is almost invariably at the Temple two days a week, and\nsometimes three. He and his wife (and a lady friend who occasionally\ncomes with them) have, during the past six years, done the work for\nabout 800 persons, mostly his or his wife's relatives. For a poor\nman, he has also been very generous in his free will offerings to the\nTemple. It has been his habit to contribute fifty cents every time he\ncomes to the Temple.\n\nKarl Niemelka has also been employed at the car barn at night for\nseveral years past, and done a good deal of work in the Temple (though\nnot as much as Brother Roth) for his dead kindred, and has just left to\nfill a mission to his native land. While absent he hopes to engage in\ngenealogical research, and be the better prepared for Temple work on\nhis return.\n\nJohn C. Hoggan is employed as a nightwatchman, having the care of a\nlarge amount of business property, and is required to be on duty and\ngenerally moving about from 8 p. m. until 6:15 a. m. every night in\nthe week. Notwithstanding this, he has averaged fully two days a week\nat the Temple for the past eight years, working mostly for his own and\nhis wife's kindred, but occasionally for others, and all that he has\nreceived for his service in behalf of others he has contributed to the\nmissionary fund, in the ward in which he resides.\n\nAlbert A. Quellmalz is janitor in a large office building and a number\nof stores, to which he has to devote eight hours work between the\ntime business closes at night and opens in the morning. Yet he never\nfails to serve in the Temple on Tuesday, the day devoted to baptisms,\nas well as the three succeeding days of the week. He has during the\npast eight years officiated for about 650 dead relatives and friends.\nBrother Quellmalz is a very studious, methodical man, and enjoys quite\na reputation for efficient service in other capacities in the Church.\n\nJohn N. Swift is employed as a janitor by one of the railway companies\nevery night in the week, being on duty from 5 p. m. until 8 a. m. In\naddition to this, he has served regularly in the Temple during the past\nsix years on Thursday and Friday. Some indication of the sacrifice this\nservice involves is conveyed in the statement that, although his home\nis in Sugar House Ward, not a great distance away, he is necessarily\nabsent therefrom continuously from Wednesday at 4:30 p. m. until\nSaturday at 9 a. m. His service in the Temple has been entirely in the\ninterest of his own relatives.\n\nJohn S. Muir has been employed by the Church for twenty years past as\nnightwatchman, formerly at the tithing office and yards, but since its\nerection at the Bishop's Building, every night in the week. During\nthe past twelve years he has spent from one to two days a week in the\nTemple, having done the work for rather more than 600 persons.\n\nJedediah M. Brown, of South Bountiful, has been janitor at the large\npublic school building in that region for the past twenty years, and\nduring six years of that time was also nightwatchman at the Deseret\nLive Stock Co. Store. Yet during all that period, with the exception of\nfourteen months while he was absent on a mission, he has spent on an\naverage two days a week in the Temple. For a number of years past his\nhealth has been quite poor, having contracted chills and fever while\non his mission, which later developed into chronic rheumatism, from\nwhich he has suffered ever since. Whatever the condition of his health,\nhowever, he has never yet felt willing to give up his service in behalf\nof the dead. In addition to the service mentioned, he is under the\nnecessity of traveling about twenty miles by train or otherwise every\nday he serves in the Temple.\n\nErnest R. S. Schnelle is also employed as a nightwatchman, in an\noutlying business district, and is responsible for a great deal of\nvaluable property, some of which tramps are specially liable to prey\nupon, so that he has to be constantly wide awake and alert for twelve\nhours at a stretch every night, but he is among the most regular and\ndevoted of the Temple workers.\n\nRobert Hunter, who is nightwatchman at Z. C. M. I., is a frequent\nattendant at the Temple, mostly laboring for others, because of lacking\nnames of his own kindred dead, and is in the habit of voluntarily\ncontributing to the Temple expense fund all that he receives for his\nservice.\n\nDoubtless many of the women who are in daily attendance at the Temple,\nso serve at very great personal sacrifice. Self denying women seldom\nexpect or receive full credit in this life for what they do in the\nway of service. Perhaps only the All-seeing Father or recording\nangels know all of the heroism involved in the nightly toil and rigid\nself-denial with which many, possibly most, of the sisters patiently\nand uncomplainingly serve in the Temple for the benefit of those who\nare powerless to repay them in this life. It would be difficult to find\na more devoted and truly charitable class of women than those laboring\nin the Salt Lake Temple.\n\nThe women in attendance at the Temple almost invariably far outnumber\nthe men--sometimes two to one. Another characteristic of the regular\nattendants is that there is a preponderance of foreigners. A very large\nproportion of the regular workers are Scandinavians. The Swiss and\nGermans are also quite largely represented.\n\nOne of the most self-denying and devoted women who ever served in\nthe Salt Lake Temple was Sister Berger, or (as she was known in the\nTemple, by the name of her first husband) Catherina B. Moosheer. She\nwas a native of Zurich, Switzerland, being born January 25, 1823. From\nthe time she embraced the Gospel she was very much concerned about\nthe salvation of her dead kindred, and took care to obtain all the\ninformation possible about her ancestors.\n\nShe arrived in Utah July 4, 1872, accompanied by her son and daughter.\nShe purchased a home and exerted herself to the utmost to make her\nown way in the world by engaging as a nurse, by which she accumulated\nconsiderable property. She had the work done for her immediate\nancestors as early as 1876, in the Endowment House. After that she\nfound an opportunity of having her genealogy traced up by a party who\nwas engaged in that line, and spent money very freely for that purpose.\nShe worked in the Temple almost from the time it opened. In 1895 she\nwas partially paralyzed, and never fully recovered therefrom. This made\nher if possible more anxious than ever to hasten the work for her dead\nkindred. She sold her home to obtain the means necessary to secure\nas many names as possible of her dead kindred, and to employ men and\nwomen to help her in doing the work for them. Her records show that\nin all sixty-five different people were employed to assist her. For a\nperiod of two and a half years she had twelve persons--six men and six\nwomen--constantly employed in helping her in the Temple. She had the\nwork fully done for 1,748 of her dead kindred, and sacrificed all that\nshe possessed in order to accomplish it.\n\nIt may be of interest to note that Sister Moosheer was the first Temple\nworker to complete a record of 1,000 names.\n\nShe died in Salt Lake City June 9, 1899, shortly after completing the\nwork for the last name she had of her dead kindred.\n\nHer son and daughter and their families gave her every possible\nencouragement in the Temple work while she lived, and are now more\nproud of what she accomplished therein than they would be if she had\nleft them fortunes.\n\nAnother very devoted woman in the Temple work is Sister Catherina Z.\nSchuler. She is also a native of Switzerland, having been born in\nGlarus, May 22, 1834. She not only sacrificed her home there for the\nGospel's sake, but left her husband also because of his determined\nopposition to her religion.\n\nBringing her son with her, she came to Utah and located first at Logan,\nwhere she remained for several years, and where her son subsequently\ndied. She was present at the dedication of the Logan Temple, and did\na good deal of work there for her dead kindred, of whom she had or\nsubsequently obtained a very extensive list.\n\nShe removed to Salt Lake City in 1892, and witnessed also the\ndedication of the Temple in this city. She was dependent entirely\nupon her own earnings, and went out sewing as she found opportunity,\nand did Temple work occasionally. Since 1898 she has devoted herself\nexclusively to her Temple work, in which she has been assisted by many\nfriends, and devoted every cent she could save to hiring men to work\nfor her male kindred. In all, she has done, or had done, the work for\nfully 2,400 of her kindred dead.\n\nA look at Sister Schuler's face is sufficient to convince any person\nthat hers is a joyful work. Though she is now past eighty years of\nage, and has always been used to hard work, she is well preserved and\nactive, and, though not mirthful, she is ever good natured, patient\nand contented. As in the case of many others who are active in Temple\nwork, that labor has doubtless added years to her life, and rendered\nher declining days in mortality about the happiest she has ever spent.\nThe consciousness of being a savior of others has brought her more joy\nthan the possession of wealth or worldly honors ever could.\n\nSister Annie Davis Watson, widow of the late Joseph M. Watson, was a\nworker in the Temple for seventeen years, and only gave up the work\nbecause of her hearing growing so bad that she could not continue. Her\nhusband died in the year 1895. She never had any children, and her life\nwould have been extremely lonely if she had not interested herself in\nthe work for the dead. She had a desire to devote herself to working\nfor her husband's dead kindred, and mentioned the matter to President\nSnow, telling him if she could not so labor she had no desire to live;\nalso that she had no genealogy of her husband's kindred farther back\nthan his parents, for whom the work had already been done. He told her\nshe would be able to obtain the genealogical information necessary,\nadvised her to take up the work and promised there should be no end\nto it. He also told her that her husband in the spirit world would\nbe familiar with every circumstance connected with the work as it\nprogressed.\n\nShe has since devoted her life and her income to the work, and either\nofficiated herself, or employed others to officiate, for 15,247 dead\npersons, most of whom are her husband's kindred.\n\nShe says it is the most glorious work she ever engaged in, and she has\nfelt the presence of her husband's spirit upon many occasions.\n\nThere is one special class to whom the vicarious work in the Salt Lake\nTemple must be a very great boon. The blind, of whom there are quite a\nnumber of both sexes, in daily attendance, seem to find special comfort\nin the work. The opportunities people have of making themselves useful\nto their fellows, after being deprived of the priceless gift of sight,\nare extremely limited. People of independent minds dislike to be always\ntreated as objects of charity. They like to feel that they are of some\nuse in the world, and it is doubtful if there is any other work in\nwhich the average blind person can engage with so much satisfaction\nas that in the Temple. It is usually conceded that the loss of sight\nby a normal person has the effect of quickening and strengthening\nhis remaining senses, and it is quite possible that the most of the\nsightless workers in the Temple get more enjoyment out of the work than\nthe average person who retains his sight. He is perhaps able to think\nmore profoundly, and is more susceptible to the impressions of the\nSpirit than if he had the use of his eyes.\n\nPerhaps no man that ever labored in the Temple enjoyed the Spirit of\nthe work more and shed a better influence among his associates than did\nSamuel W. Jenkinson, a blind brother of rather unusual intelligence and\ndevotion, who died about three years since, and of whose experiences\nmore may be said hereafter.","title":"Treasures in Heaven: Fifteenth Book of the Faith Promoting Series, Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":28294}