Chapter III: Part 3

All who are acquainted with the writer of the above autobiographical sketch, can cheerfully add testimony to its concluding paragraph. "Love at Home" might be graven upon a tablet of stone within their door, so indelibly seems that sacred principle to have been impressed upon the hearts within that household.

By example, by attainments, and the spiritual refinement and elegance in bearing which would denote the Christian lady, under any or all circumstances, it seems peculiarly appropriate that Mrs. Elmina S. Taylor was called to preside over the young ladies of Zion. May they emulate their standard, spiritually and socially. The simplicity and modesty of her sketch cannot convey to the mind of the reader those delicate attributes of character, so well understood by those who, like myself, have been recipients of her kindly counsels and encouragement, and recognized in a wider sense by those who have listened to her addresses, dictated by the spirit of our sacred and holy religion.

MARY A. FREEZE.

PRESIDENT OF THE Y. L. M. I. A. OF THE SALT LAKE STAKE OF ZION.

Mary A. Freeze is the daughter of James Lewis Burnham and his wife, Mary Ann, who were born in Vermont. In 1837, with their one child they emigrated to McHenry County, Illinois, where they made them a home, leaving there in 1843 for Beauro County in the same State. In the latter place they heard and obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mr. Burnham was a minister of the Church called Christians, but after hearing the elders explain the principles of this Gospel, could not but acknowledge that he had no legal authority to preach, and consequently was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose doctrines he preached and advocated faithfully until the day of his death, from bleeding of the lungs, caused by preaching in the open air. In 1843, Mr. and Mrs. Burnham had moved to Nauvoo. They there had four children, the youngest, a little girl, died in 1844. Mr. Burnham labored as much as his failing strength would permit, quarrying rock for the Temple. In the summer of 1845 he grew worse. Mrs. Freeze says, "This was four days previous to my birth. This was a trying time for my mother, being left in sorrow and very destitute of worldly goods, with no relatives near to help her; but the Saints were very kind to her in her affliction. Her relatives in the East would gladly have sent means to take her back, but she had cast her lot with the Saints of God and preferred to remain with them in the depths of poverty than to have the wealth of the whole world, elsewhere. After the Temple was finished she entered therein, partaking of the ordinances, and was sealed to President Joseph Young, (brother of President Brigham Young,) he performing this ordinance for my father, who had died before the opportunity of this privilege. She afterwards had two daughters who are now the wives of Robert N. Russell and Jasper Conrad.

"In February, 1846, the famous exodus began, but my mother had no way of going so remained until after the battle took place and the Saints were driven out on pain of losing their lives. Mother received a wagon for her city property and was lent a yoke of oxen, that she might begin that memorable, toilsome journey with her four little children. I have heard her tell of the mobs searching the wagons for arms, the obscene language they used, and how terribly she suffered from fear. She arrived at Winter Quarters late in the fall, where she remained a year and a half, when they were compelled by the Government to move back on the east side of the river, because they were on Indian Territory. Soon after this she let her second and third sons, Wallace and George, go on to the valley with Brother Daniel Woods. This was a severe trial to my loving mother, but there seemed to be no other way for them to be taken care of as the Saints were in the deepest poverty. I have often heard her and Brother Luther also, rehearse the want and distress they endured, sometimes nearly amounting to starvation. We were compelled to remain there until 1852, when through the kindness of the brethren we were enabled in June to cross the plains, arriving in Salt Lake City, October 8th, last day of Conference. I was too young to remember much about the journey, but one circumstance impressed itself upon my mind. While climbing into the wagon I fell, and was run over by both wheels and very badly hurt, but through the administration of the elders was almost instantly healed and felt no bad effects from the injury afterward.

"We located in Bountiful, Davis County, ten miles north of Salt Lake City, where we lived until I was sixteen years old. I was baptized when nine years of age and felt happy in the assurance that I was a 'Mormon' in very deed. At the time of the Reformation, I was full of the inspiration of the times although only eleven years old, and was very much in earnest in repenting of my sins, and making new covenants to serve the Lord more faithfully in the future. During my early years I attended school the entire season, until old enough to assist my mother, when I attended during the winter only. Being very assiduous I acquired a good common school education. In 1861 we moved to Richmond, Cache Valley, my brothers having taken up land and made a home there. It was there I became acquainted with James Perry Freeze, whom I assisted in teaching school six months, not dreaming of the relationship I was destined to sustain to him. My girlhood days were not as happy as might have been, on account of our exceeding poverty, but I have many times since thought that it was for my greatest good that I was reared in want and loneliness; that it was a means of keeping me humble, the good spirit thereby finding a receptacle in my heart, giving me a desire to seek after truth and learn of the things of God. Had I possessed wealth and my mind been filled with the follies and fashions of the world, I might not have had such a desire to make the Lord my friend. At an early age I read in the Doctrine and Covenants, that God is no respecter of persons, but in all countries those who fear Him and work righteousness are accepted of Him. This was a great comfort to me, a guiding star to my whole future life; that by leading a righteous life I should be loved of my Father in heaven equally with the richest and most highly born; that possessing His love and favor I possessed everything worth caring for.

"In March, 1863, I was married to James P. Freeze, whom, I felt assured was a noble man, one that I could trust as the guardian of my life. I am the mother of eight children. We resided in Richmond six months after our marriage, when we came to Salt Lake City, where he has since followed the mercantile business. In 1864, we became identified with the Eleventh Ward where we still live. In 1871, I was called to preside over the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association of this Ward, accepting it with great reluctance, feeling my incapability, but have filled it to the best ability which God has given me, and have proven that all who seek the Lord in humility, will surely receive a blessing at His hand. Through the blessing of the Almighty, I have now the love and confidence of the members who have manifested the same in various ways.

"In the spring of 1871, my husband, a faithful man, desirous of keeping all the commandments of God, saw fit, with my full consent, to take to himself another of the daughters of Eve, a good and worthy girl, Jane Granter by name. It tried my spirit to its utmost endurance, but I always believed the principle to be true, and felt that it was time we obeyed that sacred order. The Lord knew my heart and desires, and was with me in my trial and assisted me to overcome the selfishness and jealousy of my nature. With his help, added to the great kindness of my husband, who has ever stood at the head of his family as a wise and just man, I soon obtained peace. While undergoing the severest trial to my feelings, I was inspired with the following lines which the Lord was not slow to answer:

"'Father, help me to do Thy will,
Command my troubled heart be still;
Cause my soul with peace to flow,
While I sojourn here below,
Help me still to realize
Thou'rt the giver of the prize
That I would win through faithfulness.
Then, Father, O look down and bless
Thine erring child that cries to Thee
For help, amid life's stormy sea.'

"My husband has since taken two other wives, and I praise the Lord that I had so far overcome, that instead of feeling it to be a trial, it was a source of joy and pride that we were counted worthy to have such noble girls enter our family. The two last were my Counselors in the Young Ladies' Improvement Association of our Ward. I have loved the wives of my husband as I would have my own sisters, realizing that the power of the Holy Priesthood that has bound us together for time and eternity is stronger than kindred ties. Sophia lived with me nearly seven years; she died December, 1879, which was one of the greatest trials of my life. I could as willingly have parted with one of my own daughters. She left me a beautiful boy who seems as near to me as my own. I wish to bear testimony to my descendants, and to all who may read this sketch, that I know by the power of the Holy Ghost which bears testimony to my spirit, that the Patriarchal Order of Marriage is from God and was revealed for the exaltation and salvation of the human family, also that I have had peace, joy and satisfaction in living in that Order such as I had never known before; and have had many proofs that God will pour out His blessings upon those who keep His laws, seeking Him with full purpose of heart, for He will be sought after by His children.

"September 14, 1878, the authorities having considered it necessary to institute a Stake Organization of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, I was chosen as President of these Associations in this Salt Lake Stake of Zion. I chose Louie Felt, and Clara Y. Conrad, my half-sister, as my Counselors. We have visited the Associations as far as practicable, have enjoyed the spirit of our mission and feel assured we have been instrumental in the hands of God of doing much good.

"I am striving to purify myself, and keep all of the commandments of God, to be diligent in the performance of every duty assisting to roll forth the great work our Father has established in the last days, that I may be worthy to receive the blessings which have been pronounced upon my head; for they are great and many, and I know I shall receive them if found worthy. I know the fruits of this Gospel are peace, joy and happiness, and all who obey its precepts will have in this life that peace which passeth all understanding, that which the world cannot give nor take away, and having finished their labors, and are called to another sphere, will be crowned with life eternal, which is the greatest of all gifts. It has been the greatest desire of my life that my children should become bright and shining lights in the church of God, and knowing that much depends upon parents, I have ever striven to set them an example worthy of imitation, teaching them true principles, that I might not come under condemnation for my neglect of duty.

"I realize that heaven would not be heaven to me if my children, through sin and transgression, could not have a place there; that my glory would be dimmed forever.

"I will now say good-bye, until we meet where there is neither sorrow nor mourning, but our joy will be perfect; and trust my descendants may all keep the laws of God, and be worthy to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and all the faithful in the kingdom of God, to go no more out."

Mrs. Freeze says, "We have traced our lineage back to the year 1200, and have the record of the same. We descended from the Normans. Our family was at one time very wealthy and numerous in England; there is a town which bears their name. Three brothers came to America at an early date, one settled in Vermont, and two in Massachusetts. Their descendants took part in the Revolutionary War, and among them according to the 'Burnham Record' were many Doctors of Divinity, Doctors of Law, and one Mary Burnham, writes of the 'service of gold, their equipages and household appointments, of that grandeur brought with them from their ancient and noble halls of England.' Several of the Burnham descendants were officers in the late Civil War in America."

Mrs. Freeze is of that class of spirits that (in religion or justice) opposition would animate, persecution, inspire her. I have often thought, looking into her eyes, that in their depths slumbered the embers (scarcely covered by the ashes of dead years) of the fires of patriot's and martyr's souls.

LOUIE FELT.

PRESIDENT OF THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

Louie Felt was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Bouton, was born in South Norfolk, Conn., May 5, 1852. Was baptized when eight years old and came to Utah in September, 1866. On December 29th of same year was married to Joseph H. Felt. At the October Conference of 1867, they were called to go on the Muddy River Mission and started the 9th of November following. They remained there between two and three years, enduring many hardships; the heat in summer being particularly trying to those used to a Northern clime. "Ninety degrees in the shade" is considered high in our eastern cities, but at the Muddy, for months it would rise above one hundred degrees at midnight. The buildings were new, low adobe houses, lumber scarce, and often the wife was asked, "where would you prefer to have the boards, over your head or under your feet?" Those who had babies to rock took the choice of a floor, and put up with a thatched roof. The winds blew with great violence, and the tender shoots of the trees, vines, and other things they planted were often cut off clean by the sharp sand in the driving wind. They were surrounded by friendly Indians who were willing to work and learn civilization, but who were so hungry they could not resist the temptation to pluck the young watermelons and squashes planted by the missionaries, as fast as they approached the size of walnuts. Once, when visiting the Muddy settlement of St. Joseph, the Indian visitors were delighted with the rice my mother was preparing to cook. They called it the "snow-white wheat" and begged for some, saying they would plant and cultivate it with great care. She humored them, but showed them how the germ was destroyed, and advised them to cook it, and plant corn and melons.

In a brief time the Missionaries were short of the good things they had provided; there were no stores, freight trains seldom came that way, and they were a long distance, three day's travel from St. George, itself a pioneer settlement in an alkali desert. President Erastus Snow, with fatherly kindness, sent beef, cattle and flour to the Indians, to stay their increasing instincts for self-preservation by way of appropriation. Another misfortune befell the Missionaries; their dwellings were as dry as tinder, and in some way a fire started, and some lost their all, everyone lost something. President Erastus Snow called upon the people of St. George, and if I remember right, of Washington and Santa Clara also and with all possible haste sent the willing contributions of their brethren and sisters. President Brigham Young had two daughters, a son and a niece on the same mission. He visited them and was filled with compassion for their situation, and as it seemed vain to hope for an amelioration of some of their disadvantages, the Mission was broken up. Mrs. Felt's health was poor but, she says, "I never felt to murmur, but to stay as long as required." In 1869, Mrs. Felt went on a visit to her father in Connecticut, as he was not expected to live. He had gone back for the recovery of his health but was no better. She remained with him three months, then returned to Utah. In 1872 they moved to the Eleventh Ward, "and then," she says, "began some of the happiest days of my life. I soon became a member of the Y. L. M. I. A., and thereby received a better understanding of my religion, which brought me peace and happiness, such as I had never known before. I also became thoroughly convinced of the truth of the principle of celestial marriage, and having no children of my own was very desirous my husband should take other wives that he might have a posterity to do him honor, and after he took another wife and had children born to him, the Lord gave me a mother's love for them; they seemed as if they were indeed my own, and they seem to have the same love for me they do for their own mother." I have witnessed the real mother in this family, rocking her babe to sleep, and the other mother--Louie--would sit beside her and hold one little hand, or lay her own upon its little head, and it would quietly resign itself to sleep, so closely were all these three true hearts united in love. "In September, 1878, I was appointed to the position of President of the P. A. of the Eleventh Ward, which position I still hold. In December of the same year. Mrs. Freeze chose me as her First Counselor, in the stake organization of the Young Ladies' Association, and I immediately started with President Freeze, visiting these wards, and I enjoyed my labor. In September, 1879, I was appointed to fill the position of Territorial President of the Primary Improvement Associations, and have visited the different stakes of Zion as much as circumstances would permit, and now feel more firm in my religion, and more determined to magnify my calling whereunto I have been appointed, hoping thereby to bring honor to the cause of Zion and also to myself."

In person, Mrs. Felt is very tall and slender, her health always being very delicate. Her face is pale, refined and spiritual in its expression; her spirit buoyant and cheerful, and her animated manner and smile as frank as a child's; the beholder would never take her for "a sorrowing Mormon woman," such as we read about. Whether presiding in gentle dignity over a conference of several thousands of parents and children, whether happily mingling in a reunion of cherished and appreciative friends, or whether in that closer, dearer circle of which she is not the least the builder, her face is that of innocence and purity; her heart is an altar to her God; her life a monument to all.

ELLEN C. S. CLAWSON.

PRESIDENT OF THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATION OF THE SALT LAKE STAKE OF ZION.

Ellen Curtis Spencer Clawson was born in Saybrook, Conn., Nov. 1, 1832. She is the eldest daughter of Spencer Clawson, A. B., and Catherine Curtis, and grand daughter of Daniel Spencer, who fought in the Revolutionary War. Her father graduated at Union College, Schenectady, New York, and also at the Theological College at Hamilton, as a minister of the Baptist denomination. He received the gospel when his daughter was seven years old. He immediately sold his effects and went to Nauvoo, where he became intimately associated with the Prophet Joseph. At the age of nine years, she was baptized in the Mississippi river. During the exodus from Nauvoo her mother died from exposure and exhaustion, through leaving a comfortable house to camp out in mid-winter. Six months later her father was sent to Great Britain to take charge of the mission there. It was there he wrote the celebrated "Spencer's Letters," a little volume well known among the church works. He also became editor of the _Millennial Star_, which position he held for three years. He was obliged to leave his five remaining children in Ellen's care, she being now only thirteen years of age. During his absence the little family crossed the plains with ox teams, in President Brigham Young's company, taking five months to complete the journey, and suffering all the privations and hardships with the rest of the Saints.

Miss Ellen C. Spencer was married in March 1850, by President Brigham Young, to Hiram B. Clawson, who soon after became to President Young, business manager, a position he held for a number of years; subsequently superintendent of the Z. C. M. I., and is at present Bishop of the Twelfth Ward, Salt Lake City. Mrs. Clawson is the mother of fourteen children, four sons and ten daughters, seven daughters and two sons of whom are now living. In April, 1879, Mrs. Clawson was called to preside over the Primary Association of the Twelfth Ward, Salt Lake City, and later was ordained to preside over all the Primary Associations of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion.

Think of this noble girl, hardly more than a child, taking upon her young life the duties and cares of a loved and lost, a martyred mother! Surely she was precious in God's sight; and his arm must have sustained her through that long and lonely journey through the wilderness. That same strength of character, that same sweet patience of spirit, gentle manner, have upborne her through later eventful periods. A prominent and beautiful feature in her life, one that has won to her the truest respect, the unperishable love of her friends is the position she has maintained amid her husband's family, like a loving queen mother, in his home circle.

Mrs. Clawson's two sons, H. B. and Spencer Clawson, are in the mercantile business, the latter a wholesale merchant, both men of high social and business standing, and an honor to their parents.

EMMELINE B. WELLS.

EDITOR OF "WOMAN'S EXPONENT."

This lady, like most of our representative women, was born in New England, February 29, 1828, at Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Her maiden name was Woodward. The forefathers of her family came in 1830, settled in and around Boston, were large landowners, and by profession were mathematicians, surveyors, etc. Mrs. Wells' ancestry, both on the father and mother's side, were purely of English extraction, and fought for freedom in the Revolutionary War, as well as that of 1812, some of them being officers of high rank. Her brothers and other relations fought in the late Civil War also. Mrs. Wells has had an eventful history in many respects, and somewhat romantic; were it to be published as a story and strictly true, it would be stranger than fiction.

In her early life she gave promise of unusual talent, her memory was quite wonderful, storing up the many incidents and points of beauty around her to be brought forth in after years in faithful portraiture amid far off valleys and places then unbuilt and undiscovered. It was the expectation of her family and friends that she would make a mark in the world and do them honor; this was to be verified, but in a way undreamed of by them. The place and work God had chosen for her had not in her childhood, even a name. The child of destiny, straying alone yet not lonely, with her busy fancies finding companionship in fields, woods and brooks, the haunts of nature in their rudest, wildest form; listening to the songs of birds and sighing of the forest leaves, touching with caressing hand the flowers and moss-grown rocks, searching through shrubbery and tangled vines, or looking up through alcoves green and dim, feasted her eyes upon the wondrous sky where moving clouds passed on in endless changes 'neath that world, where she was taught the home and throne of God forever are. These surroundings and influences developed and moulded that individuality of character during her childhood to the degree, that at eight years of age she commenced composing in rhyme, choosing instinctively the beautiful and harmonious method of expression which is poetry. This element cannot be possessed by anyone, old or young, but that it casts an influence recognized at once, and men and women gray haired now, say, that watching the thoughtful child they knew there was a special destiny for her, undefined, but nevertheless felt as something grand and great. So, hovered the spirit of her mission around her through her childhood, and at ten years of age she became a member of the church choir, happy in lifting her full heart in hymns of worship and of praise.

How many have found sweet joy in singing; that expression of supplication, faith and gratitude, which in any and every religion is, we feel, true and acceptable adoration.

In November, 1841, the Gospel was preached in her native village; and her mother believed and was baptized. Immediately a branch of the Church was organized and some excitement in regard to Mormonism sprang up among the worldly-wise and learned. Mrs. Wells' mother persuaded her to go and hear the Mormon elders, and told her she knew it was the true Gospel that the ancient Apostles taught, and that she had been looking forward to such a dispensation. She was a woman of very strong mind, of practical capabilities, yet withal very spiritual in her nature, had been for many years a staunch Congregationalist, and had her children brought up in that church. Ministers, lawyers, judges and influential men came with their profound learning and logic to convince Mrs. Wells' mother that Mormonism was a delusion, but all in vain. On the young and inexperienced daughter they expected to be able to make an impression, and no means was left untried. Everything that could be said or done was brought to bear, and when she had decided to receive the ordinance of baptism all the powers of darkness seemed to conspire to hinder it. She affirms that a power she had no knowledge of heretofore, seemed to possess her at this momentous time to help her to withstand the intercessions and pleadings of those who had been her friends, and who now so vigorously sought to keep her from going down into the waters of baptism.

On the 1st day of March, 1842, when a little group of Latter-Day Saints was assembled to perform the ordinance of baptism on her mother's own ground, just near her home, zealous friends sent messengers down to ask her if she was _sure_ she was acting of her own free will and choice, otherwise they would take her by force and she should never lack for means of a higher education, but if she accepted the Mormon faith and gathered at Nauvoo she _must_ renounce not only her friends but also all the advantages of literary culture she had so ardently hoped to attain, and be forever disgraced. Not knowing but that it was true that her hopes for further advancement must be resigned, she laid them on the altar of her faith, willing to yield up her future entirely to the will and care of her Creator. Some power potent indeed buoyed her up and she went through this trying ordeal and though her delicate nerves were somewhat shaken yet she told her mother and friends then what proved true afterwards, that the crisis was past, she had renounced all she had before looked forward to, henceforth she desired to dedicate herself entirely to the work in which she had enlisted.

During the year after her coming into the Church she pursued her studies at the same school, yet she had to endure a great deal of ridicule on account of being a Mormon, and her teacher never wearied of persuading and entreating her to give up such foolish ideas, and resume her place among her associates. But though she was as one alone, for there was not another in the school that believed in the peculiar faith she had embraced, and she understood very little herself, still she had an innate conception of the entire consecration necessary for a Latter-Day Saint. The next year she taught a country school, receiving her certificate as readily as any of the other young ladies; and early in the spring of 1844, in the month of April, she went up to Nauvoo, where she had the privilege of hearing Joseph Smith preach his last discourses. After reaching Nauvoo she received strong testimony, not by any spiritual manifestations, but that which convinced her reason and intelligence.

We cannot attempt to give in detail the changes and trials of Nauvoo, but suffice it to say that through sickness, sorrow and severe trial she kept the faith.

In the winter of 1844-45, she was taught the principle of celestial marriage by Bishop Newel K. Whitney and his wife, whose acquaintance she had formed through having been introduced to the family by a cousin of Sister Whitney's. This cousin was one of the company in which she had traveled to Nauvoo, and who because of her delicate health, her youth and inexperience, had been attracted towards her.

She accepted the principle in its sacred phase and entered into the order or covenant of celestial marriage with the same purity of motive that had influenced her in going down into the waters of baptism. The ceremony was performed by Brigham Young in one of the upper rooms of the Bishop's house in Nauvoo, in the evening of the 14th day of February, 1845, the only witness being the Bishop's first wife, who not only had consented but actually urged the matter, and gave her to her husband; and the most sincere friendship existed forever afterward between the two, who really lived like mother and daughter, and though so intimately associated in the same family, and sometimes under circumstances the most trying, yet no jar or contention ever marred their true friendship for each other. To those who doubt the fact of women living happily together no better illustration can be given than such practical ones as these. Here were two refined, sensitive natures in harmony with that condition of marriage, but it was from the fact that they accepted it from divine authority as a part of their religion, and a higher law which would secure to them a future exaltation; never losing sight of the exalted nature of their mission, having undertaken to live lives of self-sacrifice and purity. The false assertion made by the world that women of marked character and attainments would never submit to live in the order of plural marriage is disproved by such instances as this one. Both were women of high social attainments, and possessing superior qualities of mind and heart.

It is the higher nature that must be aroused to inspire women to carry out practically this exalting, refining principle, and through this crucible many have come forth like gold seven times purified, tried as by fire yet without the smell upon their garments.

Mrs. Wells received the ordinances and the blessings of the Temple with her husband in Nauvoo, and came out in the month of February, crossing the Mississippi River on the ice. Her mother, who had been a staunch Latter-Day Saint from her first hearing the Gospel preached, died of hardships and fatigue when the Saints were driven from Nauvoo.

In Winter Quarters she taught school and came with the Bishop and his family to the valley, leaving the Missouri River towards the last of May, 1845, and arrived in the valley early in October. On the 2nd day of November, after, her eldest daughter was born in a wagon, during one of those cold piercing wind and sleet storms that often occur at that season. September 23, 1850, Bishop Whitney died, leaving her a widow at twenty-two with two children, the eldest not then two years of age, the youngest a babe five weeks old. Many of her friends feared she would sink beneath her trials, but she rallied those forces of her nature, which under a husband's care had never been called into requisition, and turned to the ways and means of providing for her little ones. Left as it were alone, bereft and so helpless, the young mother was like one in a dream, she had trusted to her husband so entirely, and knew so little herself of the practical realities of life; she had not thought he could die. He was one to lean upon, and she had looked up to him as a little child looks up to a true loving parent with a reverence almost more than human. To her he had shown the utmost tenderness, helping and encouraging in times of severe trial, making every burden lighter because of the intense sympathy of his spiritual nature. This was one of the eventful epochs of her life. She awakened to know that for her, duty must be first, and she became in course of time accustomed to acting for herself instead of leaning upon another.

It was a hard lesson, but she studied it carefully, and sought earnestly for divine help upon her efforts; but we are simply giving a few facts and not minute details, therefore suffice it to say after something more than two years of widowhood she married again.

During the Bishop's life, he frequently prophesied to her of the future and what her work would yet be, and although she could not then imagine how such changes could possibly be wrought, (as much on account of the condition of the country and the circumstances of the people,) yet looking back over it now, she realizes how prophetic his words were, and the promises made concerning her future have many of them been fulfilled.

Mrs. Wells often says she was born a woman's rights advocate, inheriting it from her mother, who was a staunch advocate for woman's emancipation, and when left a widow with a large family, realized more fully the injustice of the laws in regard to women, their property rights and guardianship of children. Mrs. Wells has been the mother of six children, one son and five daughters, and during their childhood devoted herself almost exclusively to their care and education.

Mrs. Wells has always had a great desire to see others advance, and in her home before she entered upon public duties ever sought to stimulate those around her to efforts of development of the higher nature. She has given much genuine encouragement to those who would shrink from criticism and would consequently, unless aroused, bury their talents or fold them away in a napkin. She is exceedingly frank in her nature and generous to a fault, and possesses an admirable faculty of entertaining those with whom she is from time to time associated. She has drawn around her people of taste, ability and culture; the secret of her winning friends is perhaps in her almost total forgetfulness of self, and her intense wish to make others happy. Perhaps, among her friends, few are fonder or more sincere than those who have received both sympathy, encouragement and advice from her who has not feared that other lights might dim her own, she has rejoiced in the progress and victories of others as though they were her own achievements.

It is truly wonderful to contemplate the public work accomplished by Mrs. Wells in the comparatively brief opportunity of time since her labors began. In the Eastern States prominent women have pursued these objects for nearly fifty years, but the women of Utah have stood afar and alone with no part in matters of a political nature until about thirteen years ago. They have exercised their privileges with respect, caution and wisdom, holding neither lightly or boastfully the freedom of the ballot. Many have read law and studied parliamentary rules, and have on occasions of public character endeavored to profit by observation in the presentation and discussion of such matters.

Mrs. Wells has traveled much among our people, speaking and assisting in organizing. She has good executive ability and is well adapted to this kind of work.

In political matters she takes great interest, and since the women of Utah have had the ballot she has taken a prominent part in that direction and done much active work.

Mrs. Wells went to Washington as a delegate from the women of Utah in January, 1879, to attend the Convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association, accompanied by Mrs. Zina Young Williams and while there they had the opportunity of speaking before committees of House and Senate, and also had an audience with President Hayes and several of the leading men of the nation on the Mormon question. They also prepared a memorial to Congress and succeeded in getting it presented.

In November, 1874, Mrs. Wells went into the office of the _Woman's Exponent_ to assist the editor, Mrs. Lula Greene Richards, a little in her labors, and gradually grew interested in the work, and in May, 1875, her labors became regular and constant, continuing so until in July, 1877, when she assumed the entire responsibility, Mrs. Richards withdrawing on account of increased domestic cares. Mrs. Wells never seems to tire of journalistic duty.

In November, 1876, she was chosen President of the Central Grain Committee for the storing of grain by women, against a day of famine. At the Mass Meeting in the Theatre to protest against the Woman's Anti-Polygamic Association she took an active part in the proceedings. In September, 1882, Mrs. Wells went to Omaha with Mrs. Zina D. H. Young, to attend the convention of the National Woman's Suffrage Association again. Mrs. Wells was appointed Secretary of the Deseret Hospital Association; in fact her time is almost constantly employed in the performance of public duties and benevolent work.

Looking retrospectively upon the life of Emmeline B. Wells and noting the constant upward progress she has made through the adverse circumstances common to a pioneer life, and the establishing of a new order of religion and social life amid the opposition and persecution of our own nation; the result is calculated to testify strongly against the assertions made that, in our isolation and subservience to religious authority, woman is repressed in her abilities and privileges; for it is in that mental atmosphere which is the very essence of Mormonism, that hers have been developed and brought into prominence as an exemplar to the young. If in the very stronghold of Mormonism the standard of progress is upheld by woman's hand as well as man's, the inference is that the next generation will show a marked advance. Knowledge is power, and this with virtue and wisdom united, guided by inspiration, ignorance and tyranny will alike be impotent against the growing hosts of Israel. And, knowing this, all excellences of acquirements and attainments are stimulated and promoted among the old and young by our leaders, misrepresentation to the contrary notwithstanding.

The quality of statesmanship is of high order and rare among women, but it has been declared by the lips of prophecy that positions of power would await the women of Zion faster than they would be qualified for them. Mrs. Wells is by nature one of those prepared for the advent of such an era.

And still, the songs whispered from nature to the heart of the child chime on, and the woman repeats them in clear, sweet utterances to the world; the intuitions of the Deity and his work she may now declare in knowledge, and the maiden that with timid feet went down at the Gospel's call into the waters of baptism, has become a strength, an inspiration and a guide to women in the same path.

President Young gave Mrs. Wells a mission to record in brief the biographies of the most prominent women of our Church, in the _Woman's Exponent_. A part of this work has already been performed, which is an important addition to our home literature.

I give below one selection from the lady's many beautiful poems:

REAL AND IDEAL.

At times, sweet visions float across my mind,
And glimpses of the unknown bright and fair,
Where all the objects seem so well defined--
Tasteful in color, and in beauty rare,
That I must pause and think if they be real,
Or only what the poets call ideal.

I well remember when a little child,
I had these same strange, wand'ring fancies;
And I was told my thoughts were running wild,
That I must not indulge in such romances.
Wasting in idle dreams the precious hours,
Building air castles and gazing from the towers.

E'en then I seemed to see familiar friends,
Pertaining to a dim, uncertain past;
And to my recollection faintly clings,
A sense of something which the shadows cast,
That showed me what my future life would be,
A prophecy, as 'twere, of destiny.

There was an intuition in my heart,
An innate consciousness of right and wrong,
That bade me choose a wiser, better part,
Which, in rough places helped to make me strong:
And though my path was oft bereft of beauty,
Still urged me on to fulfill ev'ry duty.

O, happy childhood, bright with faith and hope;
Enchantment dwells within thy rosy bowers,
And rainbow tints gild all within thy scope;
And youth sits lightly on a bed of flowers,
His cup of happiness just brimming o'er,
Unconscious of what life has yet in store.

What glowing aspirations fill the mind--
Of noble work designed for man to do!
What purity of purpose here we find--
What longing for the beautiful and true;
Ere know we of the toil, and grief and woe;
Or dream that men and women suffer so.

Though all along life's toilsome, weary way,
We meet with disappointments hard to bear;
Yet strength is given equal to our day,
And joy is of'nest mixed with pain or care;
But let us not grow weary in well-doing,
Still persevere, the upward path pursuing.

Thus ever struggle on, 'mid doubts and fears;
While changing scenes before our gaze unfold,
Till, through the vista of long weary years,
We see Heaven's sunshine thro' its gates of gold;
And feel assured it is an answering token,
Aye! though our earthly idols have been broken.

Tho' those we've cherished most have been untrue,
And fond and faithful ones have gone before,
Still let us keep the promises in view,
Of those who're pleading on "the other shore,"
Whose tender messages are with us yet,
The words of love, we never can forget.

And while we muse and ponder, shadows fall,
And a sweet spirit whispers, "Peace, be still;"
What of the past--'tis now beyond recall:
The future, we with usefulness may fill.
Yet sometime we shall find in regions real
Those dreams fulfilled we only term ideal.

MRS. ROMANIA B. PRATT, M. D.

Romania Bunnell Pratt, daughter of Luther B. and Esther Mendenhall Bunnell, was born August 8, 1839, in Washington, Wayne County, Indiana. In her seventh year she went with her parents to Nauvoo, and had the privilege of visiting the Temple, and went with the Church to Winter Quarters. She says: "While there I well remember being present when the martial band was marching round and the call was made for the Mormon Battallion for Mexico. Although too young to appreciate the severe ordeal our devoted and persecuted people were subject to, I can never forget the feeling of grief which oppressed my little heart, as one after one the brave-hearted men fell into the ranks." From Winter Quarters her parents moved to Ohio where her whole time was spent in attending school, the last year and a half at the Crawfordsville Female Seminary. In 1855, her mother then being a widow, with her family of two girls and two boys and their worldly effects, again joined the Saints at Atchison, now Omaha, where she was first baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, on the last of May, 1855, just before commencing their journey with ox teams across the plains to Salt Lake City, where they arrived September 3d of the same year. The summer journey of these months was a series of changing panoramic scenes as enchanting to the free, careless heart of a child, as it was arduous to those of maturer years. Their arrival in the city of the Saints was during the grasshopper famine, when flour was twenty-five dollars per hundred weight, sugar forty cents per pound and everything in proportion, and although they had left plenty behind them, in the hands of guardians who refused to allow them any money, (the children all being minors) to come away among the Mormons, saying; "They will rob you of it all as soon as you get there." In consequence of this prejudice they arrived in Salt Lake City penniless and at a time when they with thousands of others had to learn the sweetness of the coarsest kind of bread. Romania taught day school and gave music lessons on the piano at intervals until she entered the medical profession. This lady was married to Parley P. Pratt, son of the Apostle, Parley P. Pratt, by President Brigham Young, and has had seven children; Parley P. Pratt, Luther B., Louis L., Corinne T., Mark C., Irwin E. and Roy B. Pratt. Her second son died in infancy, and her lovely daughter died when twenty months old.

Through a love of literary pursuit and surrounding circumstances her attention was turned to the medical profession which she entered in 1873 and graduated in the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia in March, 1877. After graduating she remained in Philadelphia and took special courses on the eye and ear at Wills' Hospital and a dispensary on Chestnut Street, conducted by Dr. George Strawbridge. Leaving Philadelphia she spent a few weeks visiting Hydropathic institutions to learn something of the mode of administration and especially of water treatment.

Immediately on her arrival home she by request commenced giving lectures to ladies and agitated the question of a hospital for women and children, and by counsel on account of great demand of obstetrical aid needed in the numerous settlements, soon instituted a school of midwifery, and has taught two classes a year since, except when absent for special study in the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary where she spent eight months in 1881-2.

In 1874, when Eliza R. S. Smith organized the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association of the Twelfth Ward, Mrs. Pratt was appointed President, which position she held though absent a portion of the time, until professional work compelled her resignation. She now holds the office of Treasurer of the Salt Lake Stake organization of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association, and is also one of the Board of Executors and medical attendant of the Deseret Hospital, organized 1882, beside having a busy practice. Luther B. Bunnell, her father, was the inventor of a repeating fire arm, and at a critical period in the persecutions of the Saints, donated to them five hundred dollars in arms and ammunition. Tracing her family record a few years back, we find in her mother's line the names of Bayard Taylor and Benjamin West among her relatives. About the year 1837, a small pamphlet was published in Philadelphia giving the genealogy of her family, tracing them back to a Russian nobleman. Captain Mendenhall was the grandson of Benjamin, brother to John Mendenhall, the Puritan emigrant. Colonel Richard Thomas, brother to her great grandmother, was a member of Congress from Chester County, Pa., for many years. Of medical members, Dr. Pratt's family certainly has had a goodly number, and of these we select--Dr. Mendenhall, of Richmond, Indiana, her mother's cousin, Dr. Marmaduke Mendenhall, of North Carolina, her cousin, Dr. Paris Mendenhall, her brother, Dr. James R. Mendenhall, of Richmond, Indiana, her cousin, Nereus Mendenhall, professor in New Garden Quaker College, also George D. and William Mendenhall, physicians. Beside these, many others of note occur, too many for less than a special volume. Her eldest son, Parley P. Pratt, also entered the New York School of Pharmacy, from which he expects to graduate in the spring of 1885.

Dr. Pratt is in appearance the very embodiment of health and happiness, her blooming cheeks, abundant loose ringlets without a line of gray, her dark eyes inspiring the dispirited with cheerfulness and hope, the cordial clasp of hand, a hand gentle, but somehow suggestive of the nerve, firmness, self-possession and power the true healer holds, the intuition one receives of her sympathy and benevolence, if needed; all these are conveyed as upon an open page by the very presence of Dr. Pratt. Also, that other influence is felt that she too leans upon a higher power than human skill, the same Giver of life and health as the tenderest child looks up to.

Dr. Romania B. Pratt was the first "Mormon" woman graduate. Following her return as graduate, next came Dr. Ellis R. Shipp, 1878, Mattie Paul Hughes, M. D., 1883, Elvira S. Barney, M. D., 1883, and Margaret C. Shipp, M. D., 1883. Drs. R. B. Pratt, Ellis R. Shipp and Elvira S. Barney are connected with the Deseret Hospital, founded in 1882.

THE LADY DOCTOR.

For her, from darkened rooms
What blessings softly rise,
Who brings relief to pain and fear
And soothes the watcher's cries.

On her, the skies look down
As fearless, swift she goes
Through lonely paths, past rude alarms,
And oft through blinding snows.

'Tis hers, to see the smile
The new blest mother gives;
And hers to hear their answering joy--
"Hush all thy fears, he lives."

The record of her works
In volumes ne'er is known,
'Tis written as on marble carved
In grateful hearts alone.

DR. ELVIRA S. BARNEY.

Although in this book Dr. Barney is classed among the medical fraternity her labors and history have been interwoven with those of the Latter Day Saints from her childhood, in so many varied and useful fields of labor, that I am compelled to pause at the very beginning of this sketch, (necessarily brief) knowing I must omit so many particulars, both valuable and instructive.

If Dr. Barney had, in her childhood, possessed the advantages of obtaining a thorough education, and opportunities for the best development of those many abilities which have manifested themselves under the most dispiriting surroundings, it would be difficult at present to estimate what she might have accomplished. She represents the practical, domestic, experience of a Latter Day Saint; orphaned, and almost alone, but possessing that indomitable spirit that rises above every obstacle, and turns to account every available means no matter how humble, that cultivates every inherent power to its best uses; an upbuilder in everything pertaining to the interests of her people, ready to aid on the right and on the left, forgetful of self.