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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mormon Prophet + +Author: Lily Dougall + +Release Date: December 11, 2005 [EBook #17279] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MORMON PROPHET *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org)) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>The Mormon Prophet</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>LILY DOUGALL</h2> + +<h3>Author of The Mermaid, The Zeitgeist, The Madonna of a Day, Beggars All, +Etc.</h3> + + +<h4>TORONTO</h4> + +<p class="center"> +THE W.J. GAGE COMPANY (<span class="smcap">limited</span>)<br /> +1899<br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1899,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.<br /> +<br /> +<i>All rights reserved.</i><br /> +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p>Transcriber's note. Cotents generated for HTML</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p class="center"> +<a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_I">BOOK I.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_II">BOOK II.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_Ia">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIa">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIIa">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IVa">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_Va">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIa">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIIa">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIIIa">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IXa">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_Xa">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIa">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIIa">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIIIa">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIVa">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVa">CHAPTER XV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIa">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIIa">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIIIa">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Book_III">Book III.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_Ib">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIb">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IIIb">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IVb">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_Vb">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIb">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIIb">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>In studying the rise of this curious sect I have discovered that certain +misconceptions concerning it are deeply rooted in the minds of many of +the more earnest of the well-wishers to society. Some otherwise +well-informed people hold Mormonism to be synonymous with polygamy, +believe that Brigham Young was its chief prophet, and are convinced that +the miseries of oppressed women and tyrannies exercised over helpless +subjects of both sexes are the only themes that the religion of more +than two hundred thousand people can afford. When I have ventured in +conversation to deny these somewhat fabulous notions, it has been +earnestly suggested to me that to write on so false a religion in other +than a polemic spirit would tend to the undermining of civilised life.</p> + +<p>In spite of these warnings, and although I know it to be a most +dangerous commodity, I have ventured to offer the simple truth, as far +as I have been able to discern it, consoling my advisers with the +assurance that its insidious influence will be unlikely to do harm, +because, however potent may be the direful latitude of other religious +novels, this particular book can only interest those wiser folk who are +best able to deal with it.</p> + +<p>As, however, to many who have preconceived the case, this narrative +might, in the absence of explanation, seem purely fanciful, let me +briefly refer to the historical facts on which it is based. The Mormons +revere but one prophet. As to his identity there can be no mistake, +since many of the "revelations" were addressed to him by name—"To +Joseph Smith, Junior." He never saw Utah, and his public teachings were +for the most part unexceptionable. Taking necessary liberty with +incidents, I have endeavoured to present Smith's character as I found it +in his own writings, in the narratives of contemporary writers, and in +the memories of the older inhabitants of Kirtland.</p> + +<p>In reviewing the evidence I am unable to believe that, had Smith's +doctrine been conscious invention, it would have lent sufficient power +to carry him through persecutions in which his life hung in the +balance, and his cause appeared to be lost, or that the class of earnest +men who constituted the rank and file of his early following would have +been so long deceived by a deliberate hypocrite. It appears to me more +likely that Smith was genuinely deluded by the automatic freaks of a +vigorous but undisciplined brain, and that, yielding to these, he became +confirmed in the hysterical temperament which always adds to delusion +self-deception, and to self-deception half-conscious fraud. In his day +it was necessary to reject a marvel or admit its spiritual significance; +granting an honest delusion as to his visions and his book, his only +choice lay between counting himself the sport of devils or the agent of +Heaven; an optimistic temperament cast the die.</p> + +<p>In describing the persecutions of his early followers I have modified +rather than enlarged upon the facts. It would, indeed, be difficult to +exaggerate the sufferings of this unhappy and extraordinarily successful +sect.</p> + +<p>A large division of the Mormons of to-day, who claim to be Smith's +orthodox following, and who have never settled in Utah, are strictly +monogamous. These have never owned Brigham Young as a leader, never +murdered their neighbours or defied the law in any way, and so vigorous +their growth still appears that they claim to have increased their +number by fifty thousand since the last census in 1890. Of all their +characteristics, the sincerity of their belief is the most striking. In +Ohio, when one of the preachers of these "Smithite" Mormons was +conducting me through the many-storied temple, still standing huge and +gray on Kirtland Bluff, he laid his hand on a pile of copies of the Book +of Mormon, saying solemnly, "Sister, here is the solidest thing in +religion that you'll find anywhere." I bought the "solidest" thing for +fifty cents, and do not advise the same outlay to others. The prophet's +life is more marvellous and more instructive than the book whose +production was its chief triumph. That it was an original production +seems probable, as the recent discovery of the celebrated Spalding +manuscript, and a critical examination of the evidence of Mrs. Spalding, +go far to discredit the popular accusation of plagiarism.</p> + +<p>Near Kirtland I visited a sweet-faced old lady—not, however, of the +Mormon persuasion—who as a child had climbed on the prophet's knee. "My +mother always said," she told us, "that if she had to die and leave +young children, she would rather have left them to Joseph Smith than to +any one else in the world: he was always kind." This testimony as to +Smith's kindheartedness I found to be often repeated in the annals of +Mormon families.</p> + +<p>In criticising my former stories several reviewers, some of them +distinguished in letters, have done me the honour to remark that there +was latent laughter in many of my scenes and conversations, but that I +was unconscious of it. Be that as it may, those who enjoy unconscious +absurdity will certainly find it in the utterances of the self-styled +prophet of the Mormons. Probably one gleam of the sacred fire of humour +would have saved him and his apostles the very unnecessary trouble of +being Mormons at all.</p> + +<p>In looking over the problems involved in such a career as Smith's, we +must be struck by the necessity for able and unprejudiced research into +the laws which govern apparent marvels. Notwithstanding the very natural +and sometimes justifiable aspersions which have been cast upon the work +of the Society for Psychical Research, it does appear that the +disinterested service rendered by its more distinguished members is the +only attempt hitherto made to aid people of the so-called "mediumistic" +temperament to understand rather than be swayed by their delusions. +Whether such a result is as yet possible or not, Mormonism affords a +gigantic proof of the crying need of an effort in this direction; for +men are obviously more ignorant of their own elusive mental conditions +than of any other branch of knowledge.</p> + +<p>L.D.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Montreal</span>, December, 1898.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE MORMON PROPHET.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_I" id="BOOK_I"></a><i>BOOK I.</i></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>In the United States of America there was, in the early decades of this +century, a very widely spread excitement of a religious sort. Except in +the few long-settled portions of the eastern coast, the people were +scattered over an untried country; means of travel were slow; news from +a distance was scarce; new heavens and a new earth surrounded the +settlers. In the veins of many of them ran the blood of those who had +been persecuted for their faith: Covenanters, Quakers, sectaries of +diverse sorts who could transmit to their descendants their instincts of +fiery zeal, their cravings for "the light that never was on sea or +land," but not that education by contact with law and order which, in +older states, could not fail to moderate reasonable minds.</p> + +<p>With the religious revivals came signs and wonders. A wave of peculiar +psychical phenomena swept over the country, in explanation of which the +belief most widely received was that of the direct interposition of God +or the devil. The difficulty of discerning between the working of the +good and the bad spirit in abnormal manifestations was to most minds +obviated by the fact that they looked out upon the confusing scene +through the glasses of rigidly defined opinion, and according as the +affected person did or did not conform to the spectator's view of truth, +so he was judged to be a saint or a demoniac. Few sought to learn rather +than to judge; one of these very few was a young man by name Ephraim +Croom. He was by nature a student, and, being of a feeble constitution, +he enjoyed what, in that country and time, was the very rare privilege +of indulging his literary tastes under the shelter of the parental roof.</p> + +<p>In one of the last years of the eighteenth century Croom the elder had +come with a young wife from his father's home in Massachusetts to settle +in a township called New Manchester, in the State of New York. He was a +Baptist by creed; a man of strong will, strong affections, and strong +self-respect. Taking the portion of goods which was his by right, he +sallied forth into the new country, thrift and intelligence written upon +his forehead, thinking there the more largely to establish the +prosperity of the green bay tree, and to serve his God and generation +the better by planting his race in the newer land.</p> + +<p>The thirtieth year after his emigration found him a notable person in +the place that he had chosen, with almost the same physical strength as +in youth, stern, upright, thrifty, the owner of large mills, of a +substantial wooden residence, and of many acres of land. He was as rich +as he had intended to be; his ideal of righteousness, being of the +obtainable sort, had been realised and strictly adhered to. The one +disappointment of his life was the lack of those sturdy sons and +daughters who, to his mind, should have surrounded the virtuous man in +his old age. They had not come into the world. His wife, a good woman +and energetic helpmeet, had brought him but the one studious son.</p> + +<p>Ephraim was thirty-two years of age when a young girl, strong, +beautiful, impetuous, entered under the sloping eaves of his father's +huge gray shingle roof. The girl was a niece on the maternal side. Her +New England mother had, by freak of love, married a reckless young +Englishman of gentle blood who was settled on a Canadian farm. Pining +for her puritan home, she died early. The father made a toy of his +daughter till he too died in the fortified town of Kingston, on the +northern shore of Lake Ontario. No other relatives coming forward to +assume his debts or to claim his child, their duty in the matter was +clear to the minds of the Croom household, and the girl was sent for. +Her name was Susannah, but she herself gave it the softer form that she +had been accustomed to hear; when she first entered the sitting-room of +the grave Croom family trio, like a sunbeam striking suddenly through +the clouds on a dark day, she held out her hand and her lips to each in +turn, saying, "I am Susianne."</p> + +<p>That first time Ephraim kissed her. It was done in surprise and +embarrassed formality. He knew, when the moment was past that his +parents had perceived that Susannah needed more decorous training. He +concurred in believing this to be desirable, for the manners that had +surrounded him were very stiff. Yet the memory of the greeting remained +with him, a thing to be wondered at while he turned the whispering +leaves of his great books.</p> + +<p>Susannah had travelled from the Canadian fort in the care of the +preacher Finney. He was a revivalist of great renown, possessing a +lawyer-like keenness of intellect, much rhetorical power, and Pauline +singleness of purpose. That night he ate and slept in the house.</p> + +<p>The original Calvinism of the Croom household had already been modified +by the waves of Methodist revival from the Eastern States. Finney was an +Independent, but Martha Croom had an abounding respect for him; his +occasional visits were epochs in her life. She had prepared many baked +meats for his entertainment before the evening of his arrival with +Susannah, but while he was present she devoted herself wholly to his +conversation.</p> + +<p>The feast was spread in the inner kitchen. In the square brick fireplace +burning pine sticks crackled, bidding the chill of the April evening +retire to its own place beyond the dark window pane. The paint upon the +walls and floor glistened but faintly to the fire and the small flames +of two candles that stood among the viands upon the table.</p> + +<p>The elder Croom sat in his place. He was burly and ruddy, a wholesome +man, very silent, very strong, a person to be feared and relied on. +Ephraim believed that force went forth from his father's presence like +perfume from a flower. There were many kinds of flowers whose perfume +was too strong for Ephraim, but he felt that to be a proof of his own +weakness.</p> + +<p>Martha Croom, also of New England stock, was of a different type. At +fifty years she was still as slender as a girl—tall and too slender, +but the small shapely head was set gracefully on the neck as a flower +upon its stalk. Her hair, which was wholly silvered, was still abundant +and glossily brushed. Her mind was not judicial. She was more quick to +decide than to comprehend, full of intense activities and emotions.</p> + +<p>"I have heard," said the preacher slowly, "certain distressing rumours +concerning—"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom gave an upward bridling motion of her head, and a red spot +of indignant fire came in each of her cheeks. "Joe Smith?", she cried. +"A blasphemous wretch! And there is nothing, Mr. Finney, that so well +indicates the luke-warmishness into which so many have fallen as that +his blasphemy is made a jest of."</p> + +<p>Ephraim moved uneasily in his chair.</p> + +<p>Mr. Croom made a remark brief and judicial. "The Smiths are a <i>low</i> +family."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom answered the tone. "If the dirt beneath our feet were to +begin using profane language, I don't suppose it would be beneath our +dignity to put a stop to it."</p> + +<p>"It is the Inquisition that my mother wishes to reinstate," said +Ephraim.</p> + +<p>The master of the house again spoke with the <i>naïveté</i> of unquestioning +bias. "No, Ephraim; for your mother would be the last to interfere with +any for doing righteousness or believing the truth."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom's slender head trembled and her eyes showed signs of tears at +her son's opposition. "If God-fearing people cannot prevent the most +horrible iniquities from being practised in their own town, the laws are +in a poor condition."</p> + +<p>"You have made no candid inquiry concerning Smith, mother; your judgment +of him, whether true or false, is based on angry sentiment and wilful +ignorance."</p> + +<p>The preacher sighed. "This Smith is deceiving the people."</p> + +<p>"His book," said Ephraim, "is a history of the North American Indians +from the time of the flood until some epoch prior to Columbus. It would +be as difficult to prove that it was not true as to prove that Smith is +not honest in his delusion. We can only fall back upon what Butler would +call 'a strong presumption.'"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom, consciously or not, made a little sharp rap on the table, +and there was a movement of suppressed misery like a quiver in her +slender upright form. Her voice was low and tremulous. "If you'd got +religion, Ephraim, you wouldn't speak in that light manner of one who +has the awful wickedness of adding to the words of the Book."</p> + +<p>Ephraim continued to enlighten the preacher in a stronger tone. "Whether +the man is mad or false, almost all the immoralities that you will hear +reported about him are, as far as I can make out, not true. He doesn't +teach that it's unnecessary to obey the ten commandments, or beat his +wife, nor is he drunken. He's got the sense to see that all that sort of +thing wouldn't make a big man of him. It's merely a revised form of +Christianity, with a few silly additions, that he claims to be the +prophet of."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom began to weep bitterly.</p> + +<p>The elder Croom asked a pertinent question. "Why do you wilfully +distress your mother, Ephraim?"</p> + +<p>"Because, sir, I love my mother too well to sit silent and let her +think that injustice can glorify God."</p> + +<p>It was a family jar.</p> + +<p>Finney was a man of about forty years of age; his eyes under +over-reaching brows were bright and penetrating; his face was shaven, +but his mouth had an expression of peculiar strength and gentleness. He +looked keenly at the son of the house, who was held to be irreligious. +And then he looked upon Susannah, whose beauty and frivolity had not +escaped his keen observation. He lived always in the consciousness of an +invisible presence; when he felt the arms of Heaven around him, wooing +him to prayer, he dared not disobey.</p> + +<p>He arose now, setting his chair back against the wall with preoccupied +precision. "The spirit of prayer is upon me," he said; and in a moment +he added, "Let us pray."</p> + +<p>Susannah was eating, and with relish. She laid down her bit of pumpkin +pie and stared astonished. Then, being a girl of good sense and good +feeling, she relinquished the remainder of her supper, and, following +her aunt's example, knelt beside her chair.</p> + +<p>The two candles and the firelight left shadowy spaces in parts of the +room, and cast grotesque outlines against the walls. Nothing was +familiar to Susannah's eye; she could not help looking about her. +Ephraim was nearest to her. He was a bearded man, and seemed to her very +old. She saw that his face looked pale and distressed; his eyes were +closed, his lips tight set, like one bearing transient pain. At the end +of the table her uncle knelt upright, with hands clasped and face +uplifted, no feature or muscle moving—a strong figure rapt in devotion. +On her other side, as a slight tree waves in the wind, her aunt's slim +figure was swaying and bending with feeling that was now convulsive and +now restrained. Sometimes she moaned audibly or whispered "Amen." Across +the richly-spread table Susannah saw the preacher kneeling in a full +flickering glare of the pine fire, one hand upon the brick jamb, the +other covering his eyes, as if to hide from himself all things that were +seen and temporal in order that he might speak face to face with the +Eternal.</p> + +<p>It was some time before she listened to the words of the prayer. When +she heard Ephraim Croom spoken of by name, there was no room in her mind +for anything but curiosity. After a while she heard her own name, and +curiosity began to subside into awe. After this the preacher brought +forward the case of Joseph Smith.</p> + +<p>Before the prayer ended Susannah was troubled by so strong a sense of +emotion that she desired nothing so much as relief. It seemed to her +that the emotion was not so much in herself as in the others, or like an +influence in the room pressing upon them all. At length a kitten that +had been lying by the hearth got up as if disturbed by the same +influence, and, walking round the room, rubbed its fur against Ephraim's +knee. She saw the start run through his whole nervous frame. Opening his +eyes, he put down his hand and stroked it. Susannah liked Ephraim the +better for this. The kitten was not to be comforted; it looked up in his +face and gave a piteous mew. Susannah tittered; then she felt sorry and +ashamed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>Two quiet years passed, and Susannah had attained her eighteenth +birthday.</p> + +<p>On a certain day in the week there befell what the aunt called a +"season" of baking. It was the only occasion in the week when Mrs. Croom +was sure to stay for some length of time in the same place with Susannah +beside her. Ephraim brought down his books to the hospitable kitchen, +and sat aloof at a corner table. He said the sun was too strong upon his +upper windows, or that the rain was blowing in. The first time that +Ephraim sought refuge in the kitchen Mrs. Croom was quite flustered with +delight. She always coveted more of her son's society. But when he came +a third time she began to suspect trouble.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom stood by the baking-board, her slender hands immersed in a +heap of pearly flour; baskets of scarlet currants lay at her feet. All +things in the kitchen shone by reason of her diligence, and the windows +were open to the summer sunshine. Susannah sat with a large pan of red +gooseberries beside her; she was picking them over one by one. +Somewhere in the outer kitchen the hired boy had been plucking a goose, +and some tiny fragments of the down were floating in the air. One of +them rode upon a movement of the summer air and danced before Susannah's +eyes. She put her pretty red lips beneath it and blew it upwards.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom's suspicions concerning Ephraim had produced in her a desire +to reprove some one, but she refrained as yet.</p> + +<p>Susannah having wafted the summer snowflake aloft, still sat, her young +face tilted upward like the faces of saints in the holy pictures, her +bright eyes fixed upon the feather now descending. Ephraim looked with +obvious pleasure. Her head was framed for him by the window; a dark +stiff evergreen and the summer sky gave a Raphaelite setting.</p> + +<p>The feather dropped till it all but touched the tip of the girl's nose. +Then from the lips, puckered and rosy, came a small gust; the fragment +of down ascended, but this time aslant.</p> + +<p>"You didn't blow straight enough up," said Ephraim.</p> + +<p>Susannah smiled to know that her pastime was observed. The smile was a +flash of pleasure that went through her being. She ducked her laughing +face farther forward to be under the feather.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Croom shot one glance at Ephraim, eager and happy in his watching. +She did what nothing but the lovelight in her son's face could have +caused her to do. She struck the girl lightly but testily on the side of +the face.</p> + +<p>Ephraim was as foolish as are most men in sight of a damsel in distress. +He made no impartial inquiry into the real cause of trouble; he did not +seek Justice in her place of hiding. He stepped to his mother's side, +stern and determined, remembering only that she was often unwise, and +that he could control her.</p> + +<p>"You ought not to have done that. You must never do it again."</p> + +<p>With the print of floury fingers on her glowing cheeks the girl sat more +astonished than angry, full of ruth when her aunt began to sob aloud.</p> + +<p>The mother knew that she was no longer the first woman in her son's +love.</p> + +<p>It was without doubt, Mrs. Croom's first bitter pang of jealousy that +lay at the beginning of those causes which drove Susannah out upon a +strange pilgrimage. But above and beyond her personal jealousy was a +consideration certainly dearer to a woman into whose inmost religious +life was woven the fibre of the partisan. As she expressed it to +herself, she agonised before the Lord in a new fear lest her unconverted +son should be established in his unbelief by love for a woman who had +never sought for heavenly grace; but, in truth, that which she sought +was that both should swear allegiance to her own interpretation of +grace. In this prayer some good came to her, the willingness to +sacrifice her jealousy if need be; but, after the prayer another thought +entered into her mind, which she held to be divine direction; she must +focus all her efforts upon the girl's conversion. In her heart all the +time a still small voice told her that love was the fulfilling of the +law, but so still, so small, so habitual was it that she lost it as we +lose the ticking of a clock, and it was not with increased love for +Susannah that she began a course of redoubled zeal.</p> + +<p>The girl became frightened, not so much of her aunt as of God. The +simple child's prayer for the keeping of her soul which she had been in +the habit of repeating morning and evening became a terror to her, +because she did not understand her aunt's phraseology. The "soul" it +dealt with was not herself, her thoughts, feelings, and powers, but a +mysterious something apart from these, for whose welfare these must all +be sacrificed.</p> + +<p>Susannah had heard of fairies and ghosts; she inclined to shove this +sort of soul into the same unreal region. The dreary artificial heaven, +which seemed to follow logically if she accepted the basal fact of a +soul separated from all her natural powers, could be dispensed with +also. This was her hope, but she was not sure. How could she be sure +when she was so young and dependent? It was almost her only solace to +interpret Ephraim's silence by her own unbelief, and she rested her +weary mind against her vague notions of Ephraim's support.</p> + +<p>One August day Mrs. Croom drove with her husband to a distant funeral.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon when the sunshine was falling upon the fields of maize, +when the wind was busy setting their ribbon-like leaves flapping, and +rocking the tree-tops, Ephraim Croom was disturbed in his private room +by the blustering entrance of Susannah.</p> + +<p>The room was an attic; the windows of the gable looked west; slanting +windows in the shingle roof looked north and south. The room was large +and square, spare of furniture, lined with books. At a square table in +the centre sat Ephraim.</p> + +<p>When Susannah entered a gust of wind came with her. The handkerchief +folded across her bosom was blown awry. Her sun-bonnet had slipped back +upon her neck; her ringlets were tossed.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Ephraim, my aunt has gone; come out and play with me." Then she +added more disconsolately, "I am lonely; I want you to talk to me, +cousin."</p> + +<p>The gust had lifted Ephraim's papers and shed them upon the floor. He +looked down at them without moving. Life in a world of thoughts in which +his fellows took no interest, had produced in him a singularly +undemonstrative manner.</p> + +<p>Susannah's red lips were pouting. "Come, cousin, I am so tired of +myself."</p> + +<p>But Ephraim had been privately accused of amative emotions. Offended +with his mother, mortified he knew not why, uncertain of his own +feeling, as scholars are apt to be, he had no wish then but to retire.</p> + +<p>"I am too busy, Susianne."</p> + +<p>"Then I will go alone; I will go for a long, long walk by myself." She +gave her foot a defiant stamp upon the floor.</p> + +<p>He looked out of his windows north and south; safer district could not +be. "I do not think it will rain," he said.</p> + +<p>A suspicion of laughter was lurking in his clear quiet eyes, which were +framed in heavy brown eyebrows and thick lashes. Nature, who had stinted +this man in physical strength, had fitted him out fairly well as to +figure and feature.</p> + +<p>Susannah, vexed at his indifference, but fearing that he would retract +his unexpected permission, was again in the draught of the open door.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I will walk away, away into the woods and never come back; what +then?"</p> + +<p>"Indians," suggested he, "or starvation, or perhaps wolves, Susianne."</p> + +<p>"But I love you for not forbidding me to go, cousin Ephraim."</p> + +<p>The smile that repaid him for his indulgence comforted him for an hour; +then a storm arose.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Susannah had walked far. A squatter's old log-house +stood by the green roadside; the wood of the roof and walls was +weathered and silver-gray. Before it a clothes-line was stretched, +heaved tent-like by a cleft pole, and a few garments were flapping in +the wind, chiefly white, but one was vivid pink and one tawny yellow.</p> + +<p>The nearer aspect of the log-house was squalid. An early apple-tree at +the side had shed part of its fruit, which was left to rot in the grass +and collect flies, and close to the road, under a juniper bush, the rind +of melons and potato peelings had been thrown. There was no fence; the +grass was uncut. Upon the door-step sat a tall woman, unkempt-looking, +almost ragged. She had short gray hair that curled about her temples; +her face was handsome, clever-looking too, but, above all, eager. This +eagerness amounted to hunger. She was looking toward the sky, nodding +and smiling to herself.</p> + +<p>Susannah stopped upon the road a few feet from the juniper bush. It +occurred to her that this was Joseph Smith's mother, who had the +reputation of being a speywife. The sky-gazer did not look at her.</p> + +<p>"Are you Lucy Smith?"</p> + +<p>The woman clapped her hands suddenly together and laughed aloud. Then +she rose, but, only glancing a moment at the visitor, she turned her +smiling face again toward the sky.</p> + +<p>Into Susannah's still defiant mood darted the thought of a new +adventure. "Will you tell my fortune?"</p> + +<p>"Who am I to tell fortunes when my son Joseph has come home?" Again came +the excited laugh. "It's the grace of God that's fallen on this house, +and Lucy Smith, like Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias, is the mother of +a prophet."</p> + +<p>"He isn't a prophet," said Susannah, taking a step backward.</p> + +<p>"Seven years ago was his first vision, and all the people trampling upon +him since to make him gainsay it, but he stood steadfast. I dreamed +it—when he was a little child I dreamed it, and it has come true." +Then, seeming to return into herself, her gaze wandered again to the +sky, and she murmured, "The mother of a prophet, the mother of a +prophet!"</p> + +<p>On the other side of the road a few acres of ground were lying under +disorderly cultivation. In one patch the stalks of sweet maize had been +fastened together in high stooks, disclosing the pumpkin vines, which +beneath them had plentifully borne their huge fruit, green as yet. At +the back of this cultivated portion an old man, the elder Joseph Smith, +was digging potatoes; his torn shirt fluttered like the dress of a +scarecrow. Behind him and all around was the green wood, close-growing +bushes hedging in the short trees of a second growth which covered a +long low hill. Above the hill ominous clouds like smoking censers were +being rolled up from the east; the waving beards of the corn stooks +rustled and streamed in wind which was growing colder. Susannah's dress +and bonnet were roughly blown, and the clothes on the line flapped again +around the tall figure of the witch in the doorway.</p> + +<p>Susannah contradicted again with the scornful superiority of youth. "I +don't believe that your son is a prophet."</p> + +<p>Lucy Smith, having the sensitive receptive power of an hysteric, was +sobered now by the determination of Susannah's aspect. She looked almost +repentant for a moment, and then said humbly, "If you'll come in and see +Emmar—Joseph and Emmar have come home—Emmar will tell you the same."</p> + +<p>A gray vaporous tint was being spread over the heavens, folding this +portion of earth in its shadow and darkening the interior of the cabin +which Susannah entered.</p> + +<p>Upon a decent bedstead reclined a young woman. Everything near her was +orderly and clean. She belonged, it would seem, to a better class of the +social order than the other, certainly to a higher type of womanhood.</p> + +<p>"What have you got? Is it a kitten?" asked Susannah. Advancing across +the dark uneven floor, she perceived that the reclining woman was +caressing some small creature beneath her shawl.</p> + +<p>"Emmar, Emmar," said Lucy Smith, "tell Miss from the mill about the +angel that appeared to Joseph."</p> + +<p>Emma Smith was a nobly made, dignified young creature. She looked at +Susannah's beautiful and open countenance, and straightway drew forth +the young thing she was nursing for her inspection. It was an infant but +a few days old. Surprised, reverent, and delighted, Susannah bent over +it. The child made them all akin—the squalid old hysteric, the +respectable young mother, the beautiful girl in her silken shawl.</p> + +<p>Some minutes elapsed.</p> + +<p>"Emmar, Miss here doesn't know nothing about Joseph. She says it ain't +true."</p> + +<p>The young mother smiled frankly. "I suppose it seems very hard for you +to believe," she said, "but it's quite true, and the Lord told Joseph +where to find the new part of the Bible that he's going now to make +known to the world. Shall I tell you about it?"</p> + +<p>Susannah looked at her dazed; she had heretofore heard of the Smiths' +doctrines as of the ravings of the mad. It had not occurred to her that +a sane mind could regard them seriously.</p> + +<p>"It was seven years ago," said Emma, "at the time the big revival was +here and Joseph was converted; but he heard all the Methodists and +Baptists and Presbyterians disputing together as to which of them was +right, and he felt so burdened to know which was right, and he felt a +sort of longing in him to be a great man, bigger than the revival +preacher that had been here that all the people ran after, and Joseph +felt that he could be bigger than that, and preach and tell all the +people what was right, if they would all come to hear him. And he was so +burdened that one day he went out into the woods, and he began crying +and confessing his sins and calling out to God to show him what was +right and make him a great preacher. Well, when he had been crying and +going on like that for a long time, he just fell right down as if he was +asleep, and it was all dark till a light fell from heaven and an angel +came in the light." Emma went on to tell of Smith's vision and first +call, of his backsliding and final commission.</p> + +<p>Susannah stared. The young mother was a reality; the baby was a reality. +Could the statements in this wild story bear any relation to reality? +The old woman stood by, nodding and smiling. The young girl's mind +became perplexed.</p> + +<p>"It was just before he began to translate the gold book that he came to +board at my father's in Susquehannah County, and he told me all about +it, and I believed him; but my father wouldn't, so I had to go away with +Joseph to get married; but since then father's forgiven us; and we've +been back home this last summer, and we've been to Fayette too, living +with a gentleman called Mr. Whitmer, who believes in Joseph, and all the +time Joseph's been translating the book that was written on the gold +plates that he found in the hill. It's been very hard work, and we've +had to live very poor, because Joseph couldn't earn anything while he +was doing it, but it's done now, so we feel cheered. And now that it's +going to be printed, and Joseph can begin to gather in the elect very +soon, and now that baby's come—"</p> + +<p>Emma stopped again; the last domestic detail seemed to involve her mind +in such meshes of bliss that she lost sight of the end of her sentence. +All her words had been calm, and the baby that lay upon the bed beside +her stretching its crumpled rose-leaf fists into the air and making +strange grotesque smiles with its little red chin and cheeks was +undoubtedly a true baby, a good and delightful thing in Susannah's +estimation. Had the Bible in the hill been a true Bible? Susannah +intuitively knew that Emma Smith, bending with grave rapture over her +firstborn, was not trying to deceive her.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," she said, "that it is terribly wicked of you to +believe about this Bible." Her utterance became thick with her rising +indignation. "How can you sit and hold that child and say such terribly +wicked things?" She could not have told why she referred to the child; +the moment before it was spoken she had not formulated the thought. She +was not old enough to reason about the sacredness of babies; she only +felt.</p> + +<p>The tears started to Emma's eyes. She clasped her child to her breast. +"Yes, I know how you feel. I felt that way too myself, and sometimes +even yet it frightens me; but, you see, I know it is true, so it must be +right. But I've given up expecting other people to believe it just yet, +until Joseph is allowed to preach, and then it's been revealed to him +that the nations shall be gathered in. Only you looked so—so +beautiful—you see, I thought perhaps God might have sent you to be a +friend to me. I have no friends because of the way they persecute +Joseph."</p> + +<p>Susannah turned in incredulous wrath and tramped, young and haughty, to +the outer door. The first drops of a heavy shower were falling; she +hesitated.</p> + +<p>"But tell her about the witnesses, Emmar." Old Lucy stood half-way +between the bed and the door, making nods and becks in her excited +desire that Susannah should be impressed. "For when the dear Lord saw +that folks wouldn't b'lieve Joseph, He didn't leave him without +witnesses."</p> + +<p>Susannah, stopped by the weather, felt more willing to conciliate. She +returned gloomily within the sound of Emma's gentle voice.</p> + +<p>"It was Mr. Cowdery and Mr. Whitmer and Mr. Harris," Emma said. "Mr. +Cowdery and Mr. Whitmer saw the gold plates held in the air, as it were +by hands they couldn't see, but Martin Harris he had to withdraw himself +because he couldn't see the vision, and he went away by himself and +sobbed and cried. But Joseph went and put his arm around him and prayed +that his faith might be strengthened, and then he saw it. So they three +have written their testimony in the front of the book that's being +printed."</p> + +<p>A storm had now broken upon the house in torrents. The door was shut. +Emma wrapped her child closer in her shawl. Susannah sat sulky and +disconsolate. She had a vague idea that the vengeance of heaven was +overtaking her for merely listening to such heresy. Over against this +was a shadowy doubt whether it might not be true, roused by Emma's +continued persistency.</p> + +<p>"Is it any easier to believe that those things happened to folks when +the Bible was written? Don't you believe that God appeared to Moses and +Samuel and told them the very words to write down, and showed them +visions; and isn't He the same God yesterday, to-day, and for ever? It's +just what it says in the Bible shall come about in the latter days. It's +because of the great apostasy of the Church, no one really believing in +Jesus Christ, that a new prophet had to appear—that's Joseph."</p> + +<p>"They do believe," Susannah spoke sullenly.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's your aunt, Mis' Croom. Now she's as good as there is in +the modern Church, isn't she? She's doing all she can to save her soul. +She can't do it, for she don't believe. Why the Lord, He said that signs +and wonders should follow them that believe. Have they any signs and +wonders up at your place? And He said that believers must forsake all, +houses and lands and all; what have your people forsook? And as to its +being hard to believe about Joseph—you just take the things in the +Bible, Elisha and the bears, for instance, and Paul bringing back Dorcas +to life, and just think how hard they'd be to believe if you heard they +happened yesterday, next door to you. And with God all times and places +is the same. Souls is only saved by believing; the Lord says so, and +accepting the things of faith to come to pass, and being baptized and +giving up all and following; and it's an awful thing to lose one's +soul."</p> + +<p>At this reiteration of the doctrine of the soul as a thing apart from +the development of reason and character, Susannah rose, ready to cry +with anger. Her aunt's agitation on the subject had left a sore to which +the gentlest touch was pain.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it," she cried. "I don't believe God wants us to do +anything except just good. That's what <i>my</i> father told me. I'm going +home. I don't care how it rains."</p> + +<p>Emma did not hear her. Over her pale young face had come the peculiar +expression of alert and loving listening. She had detected the sound of +a footstep which Susannah now heard coming heavily near.</p> + +<p>A large man of about twenty-five years of age entered from the bluster +of the storm. As Susannah was trying to push out past him into its fury, +he paused, staring in rough astonishment.</p> + +<p>Lucy hung on to her arm. "Stay a bit! Joseph must hold the umbrella over +Miss. Emmar, tell her she can't no wise go alone."</p> + +<p>Susannah fled into the driving sheets of rain, but Joseph Smith, +umbrella in hand, followed her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>The umbrella was a very heavy one. Susannah certainly could not have +held it against the wind. Joseph Smith held the shelter between Susannah +and the blast, looking at her occasionally with a kindly expression in +his blue eyes, but merely to see how far it sheltered her.</p> + +<p>They walked in silence for about a quarter of a mile. The rain swept +upon her skirt and feet; she saw it falling thick on either side; she +saw it beating upon Smith's shoulder, upon one side of his hat, and +dripping from his light hair. The wind was so strong that the very drops +that trickled from his hair were blown backward. His blue coat was +old—not much protection, she thought, against the storm.</p> + +<p>The false prophet had hitherto appeared quite as terrible to her +imagination and as far removed from real life as the wild beast of story +books; now he appeared very much like any other man—rather more kind in +his actions, perhaps, and distrait in his thought. Susannah began to +think herself a discoverer.</p> + +<p>"You are not keeping the rain off yourself."</p> + +<p>"It don't matter about me. I don't mind getting wet."</p> + +<p>His tone carried conviction. After a while gratitude again stirred her +into speech.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you find it awfully hard holding up the umbrella."</p> + +<p>He gave a glance downward at her as she toiled by his side. "Why you're +most blown away as it is. You couldn't get along without the umbrellar." +Regarding her attentively for a minute, he added, "Emmar will be vexed +when she hears that your dress got so splashed."</p> + +<p>They were both bending somewhat forward against the wind; the road +beneath them was glistening with standing water. When they passed by the +woods the trees were creaking and cracking, and over the meadows hung +shifting veils of clouds and rain.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'd better not take you farther than Sharon Peck's. Your folks +would be pretty mad if you walked through the village with Joe Smith."</p> + +<p>The lines round Susannah's mouth strengthened themselves; she felt +herself superior to those whose attitude of mind he had thus described.</p> + +<p>"You have been very kind to come with me. I'd like better to go home +than stop, if it isn't too far."</p> + +<p>"I guess not. If you'd lived here longer you'd know that there was all +manner of evil said about me, and the worst of it is that some of it's +true. I've been a pretty low sort of fellow, and I hain't got any +education to speak of."</p> + +<p>She looked up at him in astonishment; the expression of his face was +peaceful and kindly. "Then why do you go about preaching and saying—"</p> + +<p>"I hain't got nothing to do with that at all. If an angel comes from +heaven and gives me a partic'lar revelation, calling me by name, namely, +'Joseph Smith, Junior,' tain't for me to say he's made a mistake and +come to the wrong man, though goodness knows I hev said it to the Lord +often enough; but now I've come to see that it's my business just to do +what I'm told. But as to the low ways I hed—why, I've repented and give +them up, and as to the education, I'm trying to get that, but it won't +come in a minute."</p> + +<p>Her conscience was not at rest; to be silent was like telling a lie, and +from motives of fear, too! At length she burst out, "I don't believe you +ever saw an angel, Mr. Smith. I think it's very wicked of you to have +made it up, and about the gold Bible too."</p> + +<p>They were still half a mile from the nearest house. Susannah gasped. +When she had spoken her defiance she realised that if she had nothing +worse to fear, she at least deserved to be left alone among the raging +elements. She staggered somewhat, expecting a rebuff.</p> + +<p>"I guess you'd better take my arm," he said. "It ain't no sort of a day +for a woman to be out."</p> + +<p>When she hesitated, flushed and frightened, a smile came for the first +time across his face. "You're almost beat back by the wind. It won't +hurt you to grip hold of my sleeve, you know, even if I am a thundering +big liar. I don't know as I can expect you to believe anything else. +Emmar didn't for a long time, but then, after a spell, she gave up all +the comforts of her father's house just to stand by me, and no one's +ever had a word to say against Emmar."</p> + +<p>They stopped at a farmhouse on the outskirts of the village.</p> + +<p>Smith had said to Susannah, "There's a gentleman I know stopping at +Sharon Peck's. I'll pass the umbrellar on to him, and he'll take you +home. He's been a Quaker, but I guess you'll find him a pretty nice +young gentleman. Mrs. Peck, she isn't to home."</p> + +<p>He left Susannah standing upon the lee side of a wooden house amid +treeless fields. The eaves sheltered her. She stooped down and with both +hands wrung the water from her skirts. She was busy over this when the +promised escort joined her.</p> + +<p>The remnants of his forsaken Quakerism hung around him; his coat was +buff, his hat straight in the brim, his manner prim, and when he spoke +it was in the speech of his people. His complexion was very light, hair, +eyebrows and lashes, and the down on his chin—almost flaxen; his face +was browned by exposure to the weather, but so well formed that Susannah +found him very good to look upon, the features pointed and delicate, but +not without strength.</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt walk as far as thy home with me?" he asked.</p> + +<p>He held Smith's huge umbrella, but he did not hold it with the same +strength, nor did he show the same skill in keeping it against the wind.</p> + +<p>He spoke as they walked. "Thou hast walked a long way. Art weary?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—no—I don't know." What did it matter whether she was tired or +not? Baffled curiosity was exciting her. "You are a stranger here. Are +you a friend of the Smiths?"</p> + +<p>"I have experienced the great benefit of being acquainted with the +prophet for the last fourteen days."</p> + +<p>"But he's not a prophet," said Susannah resentfully.</p> + +<p>"Did'st thou never find thyself to be mistaken when thou wast most sure? +Hast thou not perceived that thy Bible tells thee in many different ways +that God chooses not as men choose?"</p> + +<p>Then with great ardour he preached to her the doctrine of this new +Christian sect. He was a convert; his preaching was rather the eager +recital of his own experience, which would out, like some dynamic force +within him, than pressure brought wilfully to bear upon her.</p> + +<p>He said, "I do not ask thee, friend, if thou art Methodist or Baptist or +Presbyterian, but I do ask thee, canst thou read the promises of thy +Lord to his church and be content with its present low estate?"</p> + +<p>Susannah was habituated to some recognition of her beauty; she missed it +here, not knowing what she missed. Smith had known that it was important +for her to be sheltered from the wind; he was sorry that her skirts were +splashed; his manner, casual as it had been, had at least had in it that +element of "because you are you," the first essential of any human +relationship. But Susannah liked the young Quaker much better than +Smith; he was of finer fibre, and her heart was agape for young +companionship; so, unconsciously, she resented his indifference, not +only as to her sect but as to her sex.</p> + +<p>"My father was an Englishman," she replied with dignity, not knowing why +this seemed sufficient answer.</p> + +<p>The Quaker proceeded eagerly with his own story. He had searched the +Scriptures diligently, and found in them no warrant for believing that +the age of miracles and direct revelations would ever pass from the +church. Then upon the gloom of his deep despondency a star had arisen. +He had heard of a young man, poor, obscure, illiterate, who had dared to +come forth saying again, as St. Peter had once said, "This is that which +was spoken by the prophet Joel." He had come far to hear the word, and, +upon hearing it, he had found rest for himself and a hope for the world.</p> + +<p>His ardour was beginning to tell upon Susannah's mind. The desire awoke +within her for some fellowship with his enthusiasm. Stronger was the +desire to receive personal recognition from the fair-faced youth.</p> + +<p>"I am English," she repeated, "and of course I think it very wicked to +add anything to the Bible; it says so in the Revelation."</p> + +<p>"That to me also was a stumbling-block for a short time; but if thou +wilt consider, friend, that the Book of Mormon is the history of God's +dealing with the wild races of our own continent from the time of Noah +until the time of Maroni, which would be about three hundred years after +the first coming of the Lord, and that this sacred history, so necessary +for the instruction of us who must now dwell in the same land, could not +be given until this continent was known to the world, thou wilt cease to +cavil, and wilt in all humility believe that that which is done of the +hand of the Lord cannot be wrong."</p> + +<p>Faith begging the question is a sight to which the eye of experience +becomes accustomed, but Susannah, standing upon the threshold of life, +blinked and failed to focus her vision, feeling vaguely that during the +last phrase some one had turned a somersault, and that too quickly to be +watched.</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt think upon these things?" The young Quaker stood in the storm +and looked earnestly upon Susannah, who was upon her uncle's doorstep, +within shelter of the brown pent house.</p> + +<p>Susannah smiled. It was a perfectly instinctive smile, not one +self-conscious thought went behind or before. She smiled because the +young man was comely, and because she was young and wanted +companionship.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," she said with perfect frankness; "my aunt will be so +vexed with me when she hears that I've been to the Smiths that I don't +believe I'll be allowed to think of anything this good while."</p> + +<p>Her smile, her girlishness, seemed at last to pierce beneath the armour +of his devout abstraction. Fortune at work chooses her a fine-edged +instrument, and Joseph Smith, with unerring but probably half conscious +instinct, had sent the right messenger. The cloud of serious intent on +the youth's face broke now into a sudden admiring glance, half playful +yet fully earnest. His gray eyes held for a moment gracious parley with +hers. "Wilt thou," he asked, still smiling, "give it as excuse in the +day of judgment that they would not let thee think?"</p> + +<p>"N-n-no." She was more struck with the inadequacy of the excuse than +with the fact that she had a better one if she had chosen to give it.</p> + +<p>He was again grave, but he was not now unappreciative. "Thou art very +fair, and beauty to a young woman is, no doubt, a great snare. I will +wrestle in prayer for thee."</p> + +<p>He was going down the brick walk between the masses of drenched flowers. +"Don't," cried Susannah faintly, "don't do that." But he did not hear +her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>The wind that in the hurly-burly out of doors had been a cheerful if +boisterous enemy, seemed suddenly transformed into a wailing spirit when +Susannah was making her way up the stairs of the darkening wooden house. +Its master and mistress had not yet returned from burying the dead. The +girl made her way up to Ephraim's room. The books were left open upon +the table; no one was there.</p> + +<p>It was a new thing that Ephraim should breast a storm.</p> + +<p>Susannah trudged downstairs again and dried her bedraggled skirts at the +fire—an empty house, a dreary wailing wind, and gathering twilight for +her sole companions.</p> + +<p>At length a step was heard. Ephraim came in bearing Susannah's rain +cloak and goloshes. He was wet, pale, and breathless, but he would not +betray his weakness and excitement by a word.</p> + +<p>"You were looking for me, Ephraim, and some one told you that I had come +home. Did you hear who brought me? O Ephraim! I have been out walking +with the false prophet, and then with one of his disciples." Susannah, +sitting by the fire, looked at him trying to smile through his gloom.</p> + +<p>She began again, then stopped; how to impart the full flavour of that +which had befallen her she did not know. It seemed to her that the +difficulty lay in Ephraim's silence. She was not aware that she had not +even a distinct thought for a certain interest in her late companion +which she most wanted to put into words. "Ephraim, it's all very well +for you to stand there drying your feet, but—but—they were just like +other people, as you told Mr. Finney, you know."</p> + +<p>"Did you expect them to have horns and tails?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think they are very wicked," said Susannah. She looked down as +she said it, speaking with a certain undefined tenderness of tone +begotten of a new experience.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"That's all."</p> + +<p>"How could you know whether they are wicked or not?" he burst out +angrily. "Do you suppose that they would show <i>you</i> the iniquity of +their hearts?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Ephraim, you've always stood up for them before!"</p> + +<p>He gave a sort of snort. "I never stood up for them by making eyes at my +hands and cooing out my words."</p> + +<p>She looked up in entire bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter what I mean," he added. "What did they say? What did +they do? Tell me. If I'd known these fellows had come back, do you +suppose I'd have let you go?"</p> + +<p>"You are so strange," she said. "They did nothing but just bring me home +and hold the umbrella, and Joseph Smith said he knew he'd been a bad man +and didn't know anything. I thought you'd be interested to hear about +them, Ephraim."</p> + +<p>"I should have thought you'd had too much self-respect to allow him to +talk to you like that. Of course he was trying to work on your +feelings."</p> + +<p>"No, he wasn't, Ephraim. You are quite as unjust as my aunt to-day. He +wasn't trying to work on my feelings. He was just—well, he was sorry +that my frock got so wet, and he just happened to say the other thing. I +am sure—"</p> + +<p>Her conviction concerning the naturalness of Smith's conduct and the +Quaker's sincerity had arisen in the presence of each, and was not now +to be ascribed to any particular word or action which she could remember +and repeat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he was sorry your frock was splashed, was he? And the other fellow +they call Halsey, was he concerned about that too?"</p> + +<p>"Who told you that his name was Halsey?" The interest of her tone was +unmistakable.</p> + +<p>"That is his name, and he must be a degraded fellow to take up with +Smith."</p> + +<p>She saw that Ephraim's clothes were very wet; he must have walked far. +She attributed his exhausted look entirely to fatigue, and his +ill-temper to the same cause. "Mr. Halsey seemed quite good and in +earnest, like the people that come to see Mr. Finney when he stays here, +asking about saving their souls, as if their souls were something quite +different from the other part of them; and, Ephraim, I have often wanted +to ask you, but I didn't like to. You don't believe what aunt and uncle +do, do you? Aunt talks as if you didn't believe. Do you think"—her +voice trembled—"do you think that I ought to think about my soul—that +way?"</p> + +<p>Ephraim never perceived the nature of her difficulty. He thought she +questioned the earnestness of life. He leaned back against the jamb of +the chimney, vainly trying to dispel his anger and bring his mind under +the command of reason. He looked at Susannah steadily; she was somewhat +pale with weariness and excitement; she could never be other than +beautiful. How perfect was the moulding of the strong firm chin, of the +curving nostrils! The breadth of the cheek bone, the height and breadth +of the brow, beautiful as they were in their pink and white tinting, +conveyed to him almost more strongly the sense of mental completeness +than of outward beauty. He did not dare to look at her questioning +eyes; his glance travelled over the amber ringlets, damp and tossed +just now, drooping as if to say "Susannah is lonely and perplexed, and +she needs your help." Ephraim, proud, and mortified to think how ill he +compared with her, laughed fiercely within himself. This was a young +woman of distinction, and just now she knew it so little that she sat +looking up with respect at his ill-conditioned self. How long would that +last? How long would she remember any word that he chanced to say to +her?</p> + +<p>"Susannah, I think you are very ignorant. Were you never taught anything +when you were a little girl?"</p> + +<p>"My father and his friends were always polite to me." She spoke with +grave, rather than offended, dignity.</p> + +<p>"She is entirely sweet," he said to himself; "she will never answer me +in anger." Then he went on aloud, "And I am not polite; I am ill-trained +and ill-bred. Well, listen, Susannah. Whatever my mother may or may not +tell you about my peculiar opinions, whatever <i>I</i> choose to believe or +to do, remember this, that I tell you that <i>you have</i> a soul to be +eternally lost or saved, and it behoves you to walk carefully and +concern yourself about your salvation." There was a vibration of intense +warning in his voice. He was thinking of the life that might be so noble +if will and reason sided with God, and of the snares that the world lays +for beauty, and the light way in which beauty might walk into them; +and, as with all dreamy minds, he was too absorbed in his thought to +know how little it shone through the veil in which he wrapped it.</p> + +<p>Susannah grew a shade paler. She had struggled in a blind child-fashion +to maintain a religion that would embrace her manifold life, but now it +appeared that, after all, Ephraim endorsed the general view; his refusal +to comply openly with it came of wilfulness, not unbelief. The +stronghold of her peace was gone. "My papa never spoke to me about +religion in that way, but I don't think he believed that."</p> + +<p>Ephraim thought of the weak and reckless young father, of the careless +life broken suddenly by death.</p> + +<p>"He has learned the truth now," he said shortly.</p> + +<p>After a pause, in which she did not speak, he betook himself to his own +rooms, leaving Susannah to the companionship of the lonely house, the +howling wind, the gathering night, and a new fear of a state eternal and +infernal, into which she might so easily slip. Ephraim said so, and he +would never have proclaimed what he would not comply with unless its +truth were very sure.</p> + +<p>As for him, his self-despite was pain that rendered him oblivious of her +real danger. Where was his boasted justice? Gone before a breath of +jealousy. The neighbours had told him that she had smiled on Halsey, +and the abuse of the Smithites, in which his mother indulged in the +blindness of religious party-spirit, had fallen from his lips as soon as +his own passion had been touched. Had his former candour, then, been the +thing his mother called it, <i>indifference</i> to, rather than reverence for +truth?</p> + +<p>This was the travail of soul that Susannah could have as little thought +of as he had of hers. It held Ephraim in its fangs for many days.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>The return of Smith and his few followers, and the speedy publication of +the first edition of the Book of Mormon, stirred anew the flames of +religious excitement. All other sects were at one in decrying "the +Mormons," as they now began to be called by their enemies. There was +perhaps good reason for intelligent disapprobation, but Understanding +was left far behind the flying feet of Zeal, who, torch in hand, rushed +from house to house. It was related that Joseph Smith was in the habit +of wounding inoffensive sheep and leading them bleeding over the +neighbouring hills under the pretext that treasure would be found +beneath the spot where they would at last drop exhausted; and there were +dark hints concerning benighted travellers who, staying all night at the +Smiths' cabin, had seen awful apparitions and been glad to fly from the +place, leaving their property behind. There was a story of diabolical +influence which Smith had exercised in order to gain the young wife whom +he had stolen from her father's roof, and, worse than all, there were +descriptions of occult rites carried on in secret places, where the +most bloody mysteries of the Mosaic priesthood were horribly travestied +by Smith and his friends, Cowdery and Rigdon, in order to dupe the +simple into belief in the new revelation.</p> + +<p>Ephraim Croom had again withdrawn himself out of hearing of the +controversy. Judging that Susannah was sufficiently guarded by his +parents to be safe, he became almost oblivious of conversation which he +despised. He did not reflect that Susannah knew nothing of his hidden +conflict, that she could only perceive that, after uttering an ominous +warning, he had left her to work out its application alone.</p> + +<p>It was at first not at all her liking for the Smiths, but only her +unbiassed common sense, which convinced her that the wild stories told +concerning them were untrue. When she became enraged at their untruth +she became more kindly disposed toward the young mother, whose baby had +made a strong appeal to her girlish heart, and the big kindly lout of a +man who had sheltered her from the rain. This benevolent disposition +might have slumbered unfruitful but for the memory of the fine and +resolute face of the young disciple who had promised to wrestle in +prayer for her. There was novelty in the thought. The gay witch Novelty +often apes the form of Love. Susannah did not know Love, so she did not +recognise even the vestments falsely worn, but they attracted her all +the same. Her young blood boiled when her aunt, dimly discerning some +unlooked-for obstinacy in her niece's mind, repeated each new report in +disfavour of the Mormons. It was the old story about the blood of the +martyrs, for ridicule and slander spill the pregnant blood of the soul; +but they who believe themselves to be of the Church can seldom believe +that any blood but their own will bear fruit. Every stab given to the +reputation of the Smiths was an appeal to Susannah's sympathy for them. +Mrs. Croom, with a sense of solemn responsibility, was at great cost +bringing all her influence to bear upon the young girl whom her son +loved. She drearily said to herself, after many days, that her influence +was weak, that it accomplished nothing. The strength of it pushed +Susannah, who stood faltering at the parting of the ways, and the +impetus of that push was felt in her rapid and unsteady step for many +and many a year.</p> + +<p>One day, when the men were out cutting the maize, Susannah rode with her +uncle to the most distant of his fields, and found herself on the hill +called in Smith's revelation Cumorah.</p> + +<p>The sound of the men at work and the horses shaking their harness was +close in her ears while she strayed over this bit of hilly woodland. It +is one of the low ridges that intersect the meadows on the banks of the +Canandaigua, and here Smith professed to have found the golden book. It +was because of this that Susannah had the curiosity to climb it now.</p> + +<p>The beech wood grew thick upon it; the afternoon sun struck its slant +sunbeams across their boles. Once, where the beeches parted, she came +upon a fairy glade where two or three maples, fading early, had carpeted +the ground with a mosaic of gold and red, and were holding up the +remainder of their foliage, pink and yellow, in the light. The beauty +wrought in her a dreamy receptive mood. Climbing higher, she came upon a +very curious dip or hollow in the ground. In its narrowest part a man +was lying prostrate; his face was buried in his hat, which was lying +upon the ground between his hands; the whole expression of his body was +that of attention concentrated upon something within the hat. When she +came close he moved with a convulsive start, and she saw that it was +Joseph Smith.</p> + +<p>His look changed into one of deference and satisfaction. He rose up, +lifting his hat carefully; in it lay a curious stone composed of bright +crystals, in shape not unlike a child's foot.</p> + +<p>"It's my peepstone," he said. "It's the stone I look into when I pray +that I may be shown what to do." Exactly as one child might show to +another some worthless object he deemed choice, he showed the stone to +her.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean. How could a stone help you?"</p> + +<p>"All I know is that when I've been lying for a long time, feeling that +I'm a poor fellow and haven't got no sense anyway, and the tears come to +my eyes and gush out, feeling I'm so poor and mean, then when I lie and +look and look into this peepstone, I see things in it, pictures of +things that is to be, and sometimes of things that are just happening +alongside of me that I didn't know any other way. I can't say how it may +be; I only know when I see it that I am 'accounted worthy.'"</p> + +<p>"You couldn't see anything in the stone."</p> + +<p>"No more I couldn't. The stone's nothing, an' I'm nothing, and that's +why, when I do see the pictures, I know it must be either God or the +devil that sends them; and it's not the devil, for I always work myself +up to a mighty lot of praying first, and why should the pictures come +after that if it was the devil?"</p> + +<p>"What do you see?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you one thing I have seen. Mebbe you'll know what it means; +mebbe you won't. I don't know myself rightly yet. I've often to study on +those things a long while before I know what they mean, but lately I've +seen you."</p> + +<p>"Me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you, miss. The things I see are like small tiny pictures inside +the stone. Your bonnet was off. You were inside a room. There was tables +and chairs, and there was a man there. He wasn't very old; he had light +hair."</p> + +<p>"What had he to do with me?" she asked, astonished.</p> + +<p>"I just saw you stand there, and him a-sitting, but a voice in my own +heart seemed to say—"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"It was one of my revelations. If I tell you, you won't believe it. +Howsomever, I think it's my duty to tell you, although you may tell your +folks, and they may persecute me." He paused here, and when he began +again it was in a different tone of voice and with a singing cadence. +"The voice said, 'I say unto thee, she shall see the white stone, and +shall be told the thing that she shall do for the salvation of her soul; +and I say unto thee, Joseph Smith junior, that thou shalt say unto her +to look upon the stone, for she is chosen to go through suffering and +grief for a little space, and after that to have great riches and +honour, and in the world to come life everlasting.'"</p> + +<p>As he spoke he was holding up the stone, which glistened in the +sunlight, before her eyes.</p> + +<p>Susannah stared at it to prove to herself that there was nothing +remarkable about it. The feeling of opposition seemed to die of itself, +and then she had a curious sensation of arousing herself with a start +from a fixed posture and momentary oblivion. That afternoon as she was +going home, and in the following days, phrases and sentences from the +prophecy which Joseph Smith had pronounced in regard to her clung to her +mind. In disdain she tried to tell herself that the man was mad; in +childlike wonder she considered what might be the mystery of the vision +within the stone and the prophecy if he were not mad. She had never +heard of crystal-gazing; the phrase "mental automatism" had not then +been invented by the psychologists; still less could she suspect that +she herself might have come partially under the influence of hypnotic +suggestion. The large kindliness of the new prophet, the steady sobriety +and childlikeness of his demeanour, the absence of any appearance of +policy or premeditation, were not in harmony with fraud or madness. Her +gentle intelligence was puzzled, as all the candid historians of this +man have since been puzzled. Then, tired of the puzzle, she fell again +to contemplating scraps of his speech, which, having a Scriptural sound, +suggested piety. "She shall be told the thing that she shall do for the +salvation of her soul," "She is chosen to go through suffering and grief +for a little space." How strange if, impossible as it might seem, these +words had come to her—to her—direct from the mind of the Almighty!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>Some days after this Susannah sat alone at the window of the family +room, the long white seam on which she was at work enveloping her knees.</p> + +<p>Far off on the horizon the cumulous clouds lay with level under-ridges, +their upper outlines softly heaped in pearly lights and shades of dun +and gray. Beneath them the hilly line of the forest was broken +distinctly against the cloud by the spikes of giant pines. That far +outline was blue, not the turquoise blue of the sky above the clouds, +but the blue that we see on cabbage leaves, or such blue as the +moonlight makes when it falls through a frosted pane—steel blue, so +full of light as to be luminous in itself. From this the nearer contour +of the forest emerged, painted in green, with patches and streaks of +russet; the nearer groves were beginning to change colour, and, vivid in +the sunlight, the fields were yellow. From the top of a low hill which +met the sky came the white road winding over rise and hollow till it +passed the door. Who has not felt the invitation, silent, persistent, +of a road that leads through a lonely land to the unseen beyond the +hill?</p> + +<p>Susannah was again alone in the house; this time Ephraim was absent with +his mother, and her uncle was at the mill. On the white road she saw a +man approaching whose dress showed him to be Smith's Quaker convert, +Angel Halsey, a name she had conned till it had become familiar. He did +not pass, but opened the gate of the small garden path and came up +between the two borders of sweet-smelling box. In the garden China +asters, zenias, and prince's feather, dahlias, marigolds, and +love-lies-bleeding were falling over one another in luxuriant waste. The +young man neither looked to night nor to left. He scanned the house +eagerly, and his eyes found the window at which Susannah sat. He stepped +across the flowers and stood, his blonde face upturned, below the open +sash. Under his light eyebrows his hazel eyes shone with a singularly +bright and exalted expression.</p> + +<p>"Come, friend Susannah," said he, "I have been sent to bring you to +witness my baptism," and with that he turned and walked slowly down the +path, as if waiting for her to follow.</p> + +<p>Susannah, filled with surprise, watched him as he made slowly for the +gate, as if assured that she would come. When he got to it he set it +open, and, holding it, looked back.</p> + +<p>She dropped the long folds of muslin, and they fell upon the floor +knee-deep about her; she stepped out of them and walked across the old +familiar living-room, with its long strips of worn rag-carpet, its old +polished chairs, and smoky walls. The face of the eight-day clock stared +hard at her with impassive yet kindly glance, but its voice only +steadily recorded that the moments were passing one by one, like to all +other moments.</p> + +<p>Susannah went out of the door. The sun drew forth aromatic scent from +the borders of box, and her light skirt brushed the blossoms that leaned +too far over. Outside the wicket gate at which the young man stood was a +young quince tree laden with pale-green fruit. Susannah let her eyes +rest upon it as she spoke: she even let her mind wander for a second to +think how soon the fruit would be gathered.</p> + +<p>"Why should I come to see your baptism?" she asked, with her voice on +the upward cadence.</p> + +<p>The young man blushed deeply. "I am come to thee with a message from +heaven." He glanced upward to the great sky that was the colour of +turquoise, cloudless, serene.</p> + +<p>"It is a strange errand." There was a touch of reproof in her voice, and +yet also the vibration of awe-struck inquiry. Her mind rushed at once to +the memory of Joseph Smith's prophecy.</p> + +<p>"Come, friend," said the young Quaker very gently.</p> + +<p>"I can't possibly go."</p> + +<p>His strange reply was, "With God all things are possible."</p> + +<p>The text fell upon her mind with force.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said gently, and he motioned that he would shut the gate +behind her.</p> + +<p>"Not now; my shoes are not stout; I have no bonnet or shawl."</p> + +<p>"Put thy kerchief over thy head and come, friend Susannah, for 'no man, +putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom +of heaven.'"</p> + +<p>At this he walked on, and she was forced to follow for a few steps to +ask an explanation. She tied her kerchief over her head and the thick +white dust covered her slender shoes.</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to come for?" she asked.</p> + +<p>He looked upon her, colouring again with the effort to express what was +to him sacred. "It has been given to me to pray for thy soul. To-day, as +I prayed, it was borne in upon me that thou shouldst be with me in the +waters of baptism."</p> + +<p>Susannah paused on the road, planting the heels of her shoes deeply in +the dust. "I will not," she cried. "I will never believe in Joseph +Smith."</p> + +<p>"And yet it has been revealed, friend, that thou art one of the elect. +The time will come very soon when thou wilt believe to the salvation of +thy soul."</p> + +<p>He walked slowly onward, and after a minute Susannah, with quickened +steps, followed him, in high anger now. "I do not believe in the +revelations of Joseph Smith," she cried. And because he did not appear +offended she spoke more rudely, catching at phrases to which she had +become accustomed. "If the salvation of my soul should depend upon it, I +would rather lose it than believe."</p> + +<p>But when she had said these last words a little gasp came in her breath, +and her heart quailed in realising the possibility of which she had +spoken. Her own angry words had diverted her attention from questioning +the reasonableness of the new faith to the fearful contemplation of what +might be the result of rejection.</p> + +<p>If she quailed at her own speech, the grief of the young Quaker was more +obvious. He put up his hands as if in fear that she should add to her +sin by repeating her words. Quiet as was his demeanour, the emotional +side of his nature had evidently been deeply wrought upon to-day, for +when he tried to speak to reprove her, grief choked his utterance. It +was not at that time a strange thing for men under the influence of +religious convictions to weep easily. On the contrary, it was accounted +by evangelists a sign of great grace; but Susannah, accustomed only to +the reserve of English gentlemen and her uncle's stern Puritan +self-repression, seeing this young Quaker weep for her sake, was greatly +touched. She became possessed by an excited desire to console him.</p> + +<p>The young man turned, weeping as he went, into a little wood that here +bordered the road. Susannah followed, full of ruth, thinking that he +merely sought temporary shade.</p> + +<p>They had proceeded under the trees a few paces when Emma Smith came up +from the bank of the river to meet them. Halsey controlled himself and +spoke to Emma.</p> + +<p>"She has refused. For this time she has rejected the truth."</p> + +<p>Now to Susannah the matter for amazement was that she had come so far +from home (although, it was not very far), that she had actually +arrived, as it seemed, at an appointed place. The sting that this gave +to her pride was greatly eased by perceiving that she had not by this +fulfilled his hopes.</p> + +<p>Emma Smith had a pale, patient face, which was at this time made +peculiarly dignified by a look of solemn excitement. Young as she was, +she turned to Susannah with a protecting motherly air.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps next time the opportunity is offered the young lady will +embrace it and save her soul." She spoke consolingly to Halsey, but +looked at Susannah with encouraging and respectful eyes. "You will see +this young man baptized?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Under the protection of Emma Smith, Susannah stooped under the willow +boughs and found herself upon the bank of the river in the presence of +Joseph Smith, his mother, and some half-dozen men.</p> + +<p>Lucy Smith was muttering somewhat concerning a vision of angels, and the +suppressed excitement of them all was manifest. Susannah was infected by +it; she was now tremulous and eager to see what was to be seen.</p> + +<p>Joseph Smith advanced into the flowing river and stood in a pool where +the water was well up to his thighs. Standing thus, he began to speak in +the same formal tone and with the same solemn expression that Susannah +had marked when he spoke the revelation concerning herself, but more +loudly. "Behold! we have gathered together according to the revelation +which has been given to me—"</p> + +<p>Here a dark young man called Oliver Cowdery groaned and said "Amen." A +tremble of excitement went through the group upon the shore.</p> + +<p>Loudly the prophet went on—"Knowing well that there is nothing in me, +who was wicked and graceless to a very high degree, and wanting in +knowledge, but was yet chosen, upon this sinful earth and in these last +days, when wickedness and hypocrisy is abounding, to open to all who +would be saved a new church which is such as that which the angel hath +revealed to me a church should be, and all them which shall receive my +word and shall be baptized of me or of Mr. Oliver Cowdery, whom the +angel Maroni, descending in a cloud of light, has ordained with me to +the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of +angels and of the gospel of repentance and of baptism by immersion for +the remission of sins. And this shall never again be taken from the +earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in +the new Jerusalem."</p> + +<p>The loud voice carried with it an impression of strong personal feeling; +the effect on the bystanders was such as the words alone were wholly +inadequate to produce. Cowdery, who during the speech had frequently +groaned and responded, after the Methodist fashion, now shouted and +clapped his hands towards the heavens, whereupon Lucy Smith fell into a +convulsive state between laughter and tears, and the men standing beside +her dropped upon their knees. Emma Smith remained standing; upon her +face was a rapt triumphant expression. She put her arm round Susannah +protectingly, and Susannah did not repulse the familiar action.</p> + +<p>Joseph Smith now in the same voice called upon his father to be +baptized. He addressed him formally as "Joseph Smith senior." The old +man had, as it seemed, a great fear of the water. It took both priests +of the new sect together to lift and immerse him. There was more +splashing than was seemly. The baptism of a farmer named Martin Harris, +which followed, was more decorous.</p> + +<p>The sunlight lay bright on the other side of the flowing river, and the +shadow of the willow tops above them was outlined on the stream. On the +sunny bank opposite there was a thicket of sumac trees reddening to the +autumn heat; the wild vine was climbing upon them, making their foliage +the more dense, and at their roots, by the edge of the stream, the +golden rod was massed. On the bank on which they stood the colouring was +more quiet. A few ragged spikes of the purple aster were all that grew +under the gray green willows, which with every breath turned the silver +underside of their soft foliage to the wind. The place for the baptism +had no doubt been chosen because of the depth of the water, and because +the bank here was comparatively bare.</p> + +<p>It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. The steady sound of the +mattock in a neighbouring field was the only token of the common +bustling world that lay close around the curious isolation of the hour.</p> + +<p>It was time that Angel Halsey should be baptized. In his Quaker clothes +he waded into the water. His manner now was entirely serene, his face +full of joy.</p> + +<p>A thought was struck wedge-like into Susannah's understanding. If +Halsey, who was so manifestly on a higher plane of education and +refinement than these others, could so triumphantly embrace the new +faith, it must surely contain more of virtue and reason than she could +see. The influence of what he was, being so much greater than the +influence of what he had said, caused her mind to work with solemn +earnestness as she followed him in sympathy through the symbol of death +and resurrection.</p> + +<p>When the prophet came back to the shore he appeared for the first time +to recognise Susannah, and stopped before her, but at first with a +distraught manner, as if he were trying to recollect some dream that +eluded him. He still had his hand familiarly on Halsey's arm, for he had +been conducting him out of the water.</p> + +<p>"This is the elect sister?" Smith asked in a hesitating tone, as if +still striving with memory. "Does she desire baptism?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet," answered Halsey, "but I have asked the Lord for her soul, and +I believe that it has been given."</p> + +<p>In Halsey's mind up to this moment there was, no doubt, only the +solicitude of the missionary spirit; but Smith was a man whose mind was +cast in a different mould; he had already marked the solicitude and +given it his own interpretation, and he had already opened his own eyes +upon her beauty. How far this had conscious connection with the +condition of actual trance into which he now fell cannot be known. It is +probable that what the Psalmist calls the "secret parts" are not in +such minds as Smith's open to the man's own eye.</p> + +<p>Smith became wrapped in a sudden ecstasy. Oblivious of all around him, +he looked up into the heavens, and it was apparent that his eyes were +not beholding the material objects around. Those about him gazed +awe-struck, waiting and listening, for he began to speak in a low +unknown tongue, as if holding converse with some one above.</p> + +<p>Susannah shrank back, but was held by Emma's encouraging arm. Halsey +stayed perforce, for the prophet's grasp had tightened convulsively upon +him.</p> + +<p>In a few moments the vision was over, and Joseph Smith opened his eyes +and smiled in his own slow kindly way upon the frightened girl and upon +Angel Halsey, who stood with steadfast mien.</p> + +<p>"It has been revealed to me in heaven that the soul of the elect sister +is indeed given to be united to the soul of this young disciple, that +thereby she may obtain salvation."</p> + +<p>He took Susannah's hand, and she felt no power to resist him; he clasped +Halsey's almost more timid and reluctant hand over it.</p> + +<p>"Wherefore in the sight of God and in the sight of these elect saints +now present I declare that these two are joined together in the mystical +union of a most holy marriage which God himself has revealed from +heaven."</p> + +<p>For some moments Susannah gazed fascinated; then she snatched away her +hand; dignity sought to maintain itself; pride rose up in anger. Her +growing awe of the prophet numbed to a certain extent both these +sentiments, but stronger than pride and self-respect and awe was some +tender shame within her heart which was hurt beyond enduring, so that +she put her hands before her face and wept, and walked away from them +weeping, followed by Emma, who began, as they walked, to weep in +sympathy.</p> + +<p>Tears bring relief to the brain, a relief it is hard to distinguish from +comfort of soul. When Susannah could check her unaccustomed sobs, when +she found herself walking quietly homeward with only the weeping Emma by +her side, the spirit of long suffering and patience stole upon her +unawares.</p> + +<p>"Why do you cry?" she asked gently.</p> + +<p>"I think it must be so hard for you," said Emma; "it's been very hard +for me, although I love Joseph with all my heart; but you are so +childish and so good-looking, it seems someways as if it came harder on +you; and then that Mr. Halsey hasn't got the warmth of heart that Joseph +has."</p> + +<p>To this astonishing reply Susannah found no answer. Emma was too +respectable, too honest in her sympathy, to be derided, but Susannah's +understanding could ill endure the thought that the incident of the hour +was important. As the outcome of honest delusion, she might forgive it; +something in the pathos of Halsey's strained face as she remembered his +look when she turned away weeping, urged her to forgiveness.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Halsey is nothing to me," said Susannah at last; she spoke with a +falter in her voice, for Emma's unfeigned grief touched her.</p> + +<p>"Oh! don't say that. Some judgment might come on you that would be worse +than any suffering that would come from obedience to the word of the +Lord; and besides, it's the will of God, you see; and of course He'll +see that it's done, so you'd be punished for rebellion, and you'd have +to obey all the same."</p> + +<p>Susannah was beginning to be infected by this steady assumption that God +had indeed spoken. Could it be possible?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>How much better humanity might have been had we been at the world's +making we cannot tell, but as it is, the Creator knows that a woman +whose veins are pulsing with youth does not know, as she stands between +her lovers, how far influences not born of reason are affecting her +understanding. Ephraim remained neglectful, and Susannah remembered with +more and more distinct compassion Halsey's wistful face and the touch of +his trembling hand. But the emotion which is deeper than human love was +also in ferment. The shock which she had received, aided by the pressure +at home, had effectually worked religious unrest. She was certain now +that she must do some new thing to obtain peace with God. Long +monotonous days ripened within her this altered mind.</p> + +<p>On one of the warm days that fell at the end of the apple harvest, when +such vagrant labourers as had collected to help the farmers were +loitering at liberty, Smith held his first and last public meeting in +the place where his boyhood had been passed. It was near the cross-roads +on the old highroad to Palmyra, where a small wooden bridge carries +over a creek that runs through the meadow to the Canandaigua. Here in +the leisure time of the afternoon Smith lifted up his voice and preached +to an ever-increasing crowd, composed first of men, and added to by +whole families from most of those houses within touch of the village.</p> + +<p>The elder Croom, his wife, and Susannah were returning from the weekly +shopping at Palmyra's store; they came upon the crowd, and stopped +perforce. Wrath was upon the faces of the elder couple, and nothing less +than terror upon Susannah's white cheeks.</p> + +<p>Susannah would have run far to have been saved the awful interrogation +of opportunity. Perhaps all that she knew just then, in her childlike +bewilderment, was that the slanders of the persecution were wrong, and +her untrained mind jumped to the conclusion that the God of truth must +therefore be with Smith. Beyond this there was unnamed wonder at the +unexplained influence that Smith held over her, and more curious +thoughts, stretching out like the delicate tendrils of an unsupported +vine, concerning Halsey, his prayers and warnings, and the strength of +selfless devotion that she had read in his innocent eyes.</p> + +<p>Old Croom, deacon and magistrate, was not one to tarry at such a +gathering longer than need be. When he perceived that some of the planks +of the bridge had been taken to support the dam he alighted and broke +down a log fence in order to drive his horses through meadow and stream +to join the road nearer home. His women must needs walk over the scanty +beams. Mrs. Croom, stately and well attired, could make her way through +the crowd; no one there was so rapt but that he let her pass when, with +eyes flashing in righteous indignation, she tapped him on the shoulder +and bid him stand aside. Susannah followed in her aunt's wake, the crowd +of neighbours and strange labourers closing behind them again as they +worked their way, of necessity slowly, nearer and nearer the preacher +and the little band of adherents that stood steadfast around him.</p> + +<p>Susannah heard the words of the sermon in which open confession of his +own past sin, bold persuasions to Christianity and righteousness, were +strangely mingled with the claim of the new prophet. She could not +remember one moment what he had said the last. Low hisses and muttered +threats of the angry men about her fell on her ears in the same way, +making their own impression, but not on reason or memory. A sickening +dread of a call that would come before she got away was all that she +fully realised. It came when, in her white gala dress, she stood still +at last near to, and under the eye of, the preacher.</p> + +<p>The sermon was finished. There was a silence at its end so unexpected +that none in the crowd broke it. It seemed for those moments to reach +not only into the hearts of the crowd, but into the wide, empty vault of +sunny blue above them, and over the open fields and golden woods. Then, +before the wrath of the crowd had gathered strength to break into +violence, Smith went down into the water and called loudly to all such +as felt the need of saving their souls to enter upon the heavenly +pilgrimage by the gate of his baptism. His adherents had cast themselves +upon their knees in prayer. Susannah saw the strong, dark face of Oliver +Cowdery looking up to the sky as though he saw the heavens opened, and +she saw Angel Halsey look at herself, and then, clasping his hands over +his fair young face, bow himself in supplication.</p> + +<p>A man, ragged in dress, and bearing the look of ill deeds in his face, +made his way out of the crowd into the water. He was a stranger to the +place, and the spectators looked on in silent surprise. Before Smith had +dipped him in the stream and blessed him another man came forward, pale +and thin, with a hectic flush upon his cheeks. He was a well-known +resident of Manchester; all knew that his days on earth must be few. A +low howl began to rise, loudest on the outskirts of the crowd, but the +fact that the man was dying kept many silent, feeling that the doomed +may surely have their own will.</p> + +<p>Before Joseph Smith had spoken his benediction over this trembling, +gasping creature, when Halsey had left his kneeling to spring forward +and lead him to the shore, Susannah began to move forward to the water. +No one who saw her move at first dreamed of what she sought. Her aunt +had pushed on some distance farther and stood waiting, almost too +astonished at this last baptism to notice that she was separated from +her charge. Now, when she saw Susannah pushing forward, she only +wondered with others what she would be at, and spoke to her +ineffectually, without the shriek and struggle which she made when the +girl was beyond her reach.</p> + +<p>So Susannah, moving like one in an agonised dream, came to the edge of +the pool. Among the praying band there was no doubt as to her intention, +no astonishment; the kneeling men gave instant thanks to God for her +decision, and Halsey, having helped the feeble man to land, led Susannah +down into the water, his face illuminated by the victory of faith.</p> + +<p>Susannah heard now her aunt's wild shrieks; she heard too the surging of +the crowd, but the meaning of neither sound came to her. She waded on to +where Smith stood, with only the dazed sense of a goal to be reached. +She was perfectly passive in his hands as he dipped her beneath the +surface and raised her up, but she listened to the blessing he +pronounced with a sudden leap of the heart, feeling that now at last the +misery of fear was past and the demand of God satisfied—it must be so +because it had cost so much.</p> + +<p>When she came to herself she saw that the crowd, like a wild beast, had +sprung downward upon the disciples. Even in her first terrified glance +she was impressed by the strange and awful difference between the +distorted and hideous faces of the mob and the exalted calm of the few +men who had at this time fixed their minds on the unseen rather than the +seen. She looked up to Smith in the swift appeal of terror, and felt +once for all the huge courage by which his life was marked. His hand, +helping her to the shore, never trembled. He calmly directed her steps +into the quiet meadow before he gave himself to the battle.</p> + +<p>When her person was no longer there to be protected, the Mormons gave +way at once before the gathering strength of the mob. She saw them +beaten down mercilessly; she saw Smith himself beaten and thrown +prostrate in the water. The still, warm air that a few minutes before +had seemed instinct with prayer was now vibrating to the howls and +taunts and curses of the mob. Susannah had no doubt that these, who were +now her friends, were being killed; their sufferings justified her to +herself and produced a fierce exaltation in the step which she had +taken. In her experience of life she thought that the mob would turn +upon her next, and stood waiting, every muscle tense, her hands +clenched, feeling excitedly that she would rather die than live to see +such intolerable wrong.</p> + +<p>This tension of nerve relaxed somewhat when her uncle lifted her +forcibly into the waggon. With eyes wide open with horror and lips +trembling, she asked, "Did they kill them, uncle?"</p> + +<p>"No, child, they only gave them a good trouncing in their own pond." He +choked here, out of pity for her, keeping back the torrent of his anger.</p> + +<p>Even at this early date it was bruited that Joseph Smith exercised some +unseemly force of will by which he distorted the reason of his converts. +This report explained the fact that for the first day after the shock of +Susannah's baptism her aunt and uncle did not lay the blame of it at her +door, did not argue or persuade, only watched her as one recovering from +a strange disease. But in the afternoon of that first day the pent-up +fever of the aunt's wrath against those whom she thought to blame broke +forth, and almost in delirium.</p> + +<p>The last hot weather of the autumn still held; in the same still hour of +the afternoon, the hour in which Susannah's baptism had taken place the +day before, Angel Halsey, pallid with his yesterday's beating and +ill-usage, but steadfast and even joyful of face, walked up to the front +door of the magistrate's house.</p> + +<p>This door opened upon an unfrequented entrance-hall. Susannah heard the +knock, heard her aunt move with the dignity befitting an expected +visitor. Then she heard Ephraim's step on the stair for the first time +that day, and reflected dully that he must have seen the advent of some +important person from his window to be thus answering the call of the +door.</p> + +<p>After that she heard words that had the sound of suppressed screams in +them. She realised that the house mistress was ordering some enemy from +her door. These commands were not obeyed, and Susannah, hearing that the +intruder remained, began in fear to suspect the meaning of the +intrusion. As she rose the report of a fire-arm startled her from all +the remnants of her selfish dulness, causing her feet to fly.</p> + +<p>From within the sitting-room she saw the entrance-hall. Its door was +open to the wide sweep of land that lay in floods of sunshine. In the +light, half turning now to go as he had come, stood Angel Halsey. Her +eager eyes drank in the sight of him, because last night she had thought +to see him die. She saw his quietness even while, it seemed to her, the +gun still echoed, and it was Ephraim who held the gun! Beside Ephraim +her aunt stood, like one in a frenzy, her very garments twitching and +her gray hair fallen loose. None of them looked to see the girl within +the shaded room.</p> + +<p>"Friends," said Halsey, "I came to say 'Peace be with this house,' and +to speak with her to whom God has given the spirit of obedience to his +truth, but it is written that when any house refuses to receive us we +must depart."</p> + +<p>His voice was for some cause growing fainter, but Susannah was certain +that the cause was not fear.</p> + +<p>He took a letter from his breast. "I wrote it," he said, "in case I +might not enter to speak with her."</p> + +<p>He gave the letter to Ephraim, who took it reluctantly, as one impelled +by some strong sense of right.</p> + +<p>Halsey went out. He tottered upon the path, but he opened the gate and +walked on. Ephraim, still holding the gun and the letter, turned and saw +Susannah.</p> + +<p>Ephraim's face was gaunt and haggard as she had never seen it before; +his eyes were large, and she thought she read unutterable distress in +them, but could not understand. She held out her hand for the letter, +but as he gave it both she and he perceived for the first time that it +was stained with blood; they felt mutually the thrill that the sight +gave.</p> + +<p>He put his hand out suddenly and pushed her within the room. "Go," he +entreated, "for God's sake, Susy, go to your own room; take his letter +with you if you will, but go."</p> + +<p>Susannah went amazed, but she began to think that Ephraim's distress had +not been a gracious sorrow, but remorse for his own crime. He must have +shot Halsey as he would have shot at some evil beast. When she had time +to remember that Halsey had tottered when he walked, she fled back, +straining the blood-stained letter to her breast, and tore open the +closed door. Her aunt was sitting in a low chair sobbing. Ephraim, +bareheaded in the sunshine, was standing on the path shading his eyes to +scan the road. Susannah ran out, not to him (her shame and grief for him +were too deep for any word), but with intent to run after the wounded +man and nurse his wound.</p> + +<p>"It can be but a slight flesh wound," said Ephraim mechanically.</p> + +<p>She looked first where he was gazing, and saw that some distance down +the road Halsey was stepping into a chaise. Another man took the seat +beside him and they drove away.</p> + +<p>Then she looked at Ephraim. He did not appear as though he felt his +guilt; he had the mien rather of one who was striving bravely to endure +hardship. Then indeed she felt that the gulf of thought must yawn wide +between them; she could even yet have pitied Ephraim's contrition, but +he was not contrite. In indignation she retired, sitting in the privacy +of her little bedroom.</p> + +<p>It was a strange letter, not alone because the ink was blurred by blood +that, still warm, soaked it through in parts, but because, coming from +a young man to a maid, in the first flush of her strength and beauty, it +offered love and marriage, giving only as his reason, urging only as her +motive, the service of God.</p> + +<p>"If," the letter read, "thou canst see thy way, dear friend, to hold +fast that thou hast in the house of thy friends, if thou canst see thy +way, by steadfast confession and by the grace of thy demeanour, to +strive among them for their conversion, it would be well while thou art +still so young to remain with them for a time—at least so I think. But +our prophet thinks, and I also greatly desire to think, that the strain +upon thy faith would be too great, that thou mightst fail; and +remembering that it has been revealed to him that our union has been +sealed in heaven, he thinks that thou wouldst do well to commit thy +tender life now to my keeping."</p> + +<p>The phrase "and I greatly desire to think" was almost as strong as any +in a long letter to tell which way his delight would lie, and Susannah's +was not a mind upon which this indication of reserve force was thrown +away. She trusted, vaguely in thought but implicitly in heart, to that +which lay behind—something which did not alarm her, which in her inner +vision wore no warm nor obtrusive colouring, but which she knew to be +intense and of enduring quality. And she saw herself alone, beaten by +adverse winds and without other shelter.</p> + +<p>Halsey touched upon the fact that Smith and his disciples (he did not +say himself) had suffered greatly from yesterday's ill-usage, and said +that, having given their message to the people, they were that day +leaving for a place called Fayette, in Seneca county, where it had +previously been determined that the new church should be organised. He +himself would wait either until Susannah saw her way to come with him, +or until he knew that she was at peace, having chosen of her own accord +to remain. He would bring a chaise, in which she could travel if she +would, near her uncle's house at dawn upon the next morning. He would +take her, he said, to the house where the Smiths were in Fayette, but it +was implied through all the letter that the mystic marriage which Smith +had solemnised was considered by Halsey as valid, and that if she joined +her material fortunes now to those of the persecuted sect, it would be +as his wife.</p> + +<p>In speaking of the future he did not gloss over the persecution; he did +not even promise, as Smith had done, a sure and material reward. The +mind of the young Quaker convert was fixed upon the things that are +unseen. This was not hidden from the girl. The thought of being with him +in his faith and resignation gave her peace. Poverty and persecution +seemed as nothing compared with the torture of being surrounded by +people whose thought and actions aroused in her young heart whirlwinds +of passionate opposition. Even Ephraim, instead of rising in his +strength to condemn the outrage of yesterday, had attempted to-day to +wound or kill. Her amazement and dismay at this drove her out as it were +with a scourge.</p> + +<p>Halsey had told her to pray, and she had tried to pray. Halsey had told +her to search the Scriptures for guidance, and she read. Text after text +came home to her heart, bidding her leave her kindred to share the +fortunes of the persecuted children of faith.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>At break of day Halsey was waiting upon the road with a fairly good +horse and a comfortable chaise. Susannah never forgot the light that +came to his eyes when he saw her approach; it was like dawn in paradise.</p> + +<p>Angel Halsey was not without shrewd worldly wisdom. He turned into a +cross corduroy road that led through the woods, passing only some small +clearings to the west of Palmyra, and thus by a detour avoiding that +village, he returned again to the highroad between Canandaigua and +Geneva. The pursuers, upon failing to hear that the chaise had passed +through Palmyra, might turn back, or if they had gone on they might have +outstripped them on the road, and be in front rather than behind. This +danger peopled the long lonely road with possible enemies both before +and behind. The strain upon the imagination was very great. The road was +heavy and rough.</p> + +<p>Susannah perceived that Halsey's apprehension of being overtaken was +almost solely on her account. He was so upborne by his religious +enthusiasm as to be oblivious to the pain which his wound of yesterday +gave him, and was perfectly willing to encounter the violence of her +kindred again if need be, yet, seeing her terror with a quickness of +sympathy which roused her gratitude, he took every possible precaution +that could allay her fears. All through the weary, weary day she hardly +spoke to him, never addressed him by name.</p> + +<p>They reached the new town of Geneva at sundown. When they had set forth +again, it was a great comfort to Susannah that grayness had succeeded to +sunshine. She was weary of the yellow light, of the dull glare from the +stubble fields, of the obtrusive colours of the autumn foliage, of the +blueness of the sky, of everything, indeed, that she had seen and heard +during the wretched hours of the day. They now travelled through a very +flat tract; little of the land was cleared; the road was straight. It is +hard to explain the mental weariness produced by a straight level road. +The hope and interest inspired by undulations or curves are lost. The +distance ever gives a farther reach of the weary way to the view, as if +by a parable it would impress on the traveller the knowledge that the +future was to be barren of delight.</p> + +<p>About two miles from Geneva, before the daylight was quite gone, they +were both startled by hearing a rushing, crashing sound coming toward +them in the woods. Were their pursuers upon them after all? Had they +chosen this, the most lonely part of their road, to fall upon them?</p> + +<p>They did not speak their thoughts to one another. Angel struck the +horse, and it galloped forward perhaps about a hundred yards, and then, +of its own accord, stopped suddenly.</p> + +<p>Upon the side of the road, pushing itself backward among the bushes, the +better to gain space for its run, was a bull. Its eyes were bloodshot, +its head lowered for a long moment to measure its distance ere it made +the attack. The horse seemed palsied with terror. It moved backward with +tottering steps, trembling all over, heedless of whip or rein.</p> + +<p>The backward movement prolonged the hesitation of the bull, which turned +itself to take another aim. The horse uttered an almost human cry. In +the moment of hearing that cry Susannah felt that she had already gone +through some shocking form of death. Halsey brought down his whip, +striking the horse with all his might; it leaped forward, lifting the +chaise almost into the air; then it was rushing madly on, dragging the +wheels behind it with terrible velocity.</p> + +<p>They had caught sight of the rush of the bull. They felt the animal's +heavy side just graze the back of the chaise, and they heard behind them +a bellow of rage that seemed to fill all the solitary place with +diabolical echoes.</p> + +<p>The body of the chaise was bounding upon its leather bands, jolting +cruelly against the axle. Susannah cried out that she should be thrown +from her seat. The swift-falling darkness encompassed their path. Their +hope lay in the straightness of the road, and their chief fear was that +by some greater roughness of the way the chaise, which was now swaying +fearfully, might be overturned.</p> + +<p>Gradually the sound of the bull's galloping became less distinct. The +chaise was still upright. The horse, beginning to falter in his pace, +took more kindly to the accustomed control of the rein. It was then +Susannah found that she had been clinging to Halsey for support, and +that he, by bracing himself with one arm to the side of the chaise and +holding her with the other, had prevented her from being thrown out.</p> + +<p>In gathering her shawl about her she wrapped herself again in a certain +amount of her former reserve, but the excitement that she had been +through made her former silence impossible.</p> + +<p>Halsey at first received her remarks in silence, then as he essayed to +answer, his voice grew low and faint, and a sudden suspicion of the +cause pierced through her mind.</p> + +<p>In another moment he sank, leaning against her. Putting her hand beneath +his coat, she found to her dismay that the strain of holding her had +opened his wound; his clothes were again wet with blood.</p> + +<p>The reins slipped from his hands. Susannah tied them loose to the front +of the chaise and, putting her arms round the fainting man, drew the +bandages tightly but with unskilful hands; she lessened the bleeding and +caused him such acute pain that he lifted his head and spoke.</p> + +<p>"What shall I do?" she asked piteously. The blood, diverted from the +brain, had left it without healthy circulation, but she did not know yet +that this was affecting his mind.</p> + +<p>"Friend," he whispered, "that was in truth no bull; it was the devil +himself."</p> + +<p>"The devil?" she asked faintly.</p> + +<p>"He almost succeeded in his cruel attempt to cause us to be discouraged +from the way."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me he only succeeded in causing us to take the way with +greater vehemence," she replied in some scorn.</p> + +<p>In the next minute she heard him whisper eagerly, "Look up; look between +the branches; quick! Do you not see the face looking at us?"</p> + +<p>The branches of the overhanging tree were black with night. She looked +up in the direction that his feeble hand indicated, and with +indescribable terror scanned the blank spaces in which no human face +could possibly be.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he whispered again impatiently. "Don't you see it? It is the +face of a man. A white face! It is the face of thy cousin as I saw it +yesterday when I was counted worthy to suffer. Look! look! does thou +not see him?"</p> + +<p>His words had the effect of producing in her that maddening fear of the +dark which ghostly tales induce, and now he fainted again. She was +afraid to cry for help, afraid even of the rustle of her own garments. +She did not know how far she was from any house. And it seemed to her +that this lover, who was almost a stranger, was dying in her arms. The +misery of this hour governed her action in the next.</p> + +<p>Halsey in the bottom of the chaise lay with his head against her knee, +and soon, holding the bandages of his wound close upon it with one hand, +she took the reins with the other and urged the horse forward. She had +had no thought all that day but to go, as Halsey had said, to Emma +Smith's protection. She hoped now that there was but one road; that when +she came to the first settlement she would be with the Smiths. This was +not the case. She travelled an hour, obliged to pass more than one +cross-road because she dared not turn down it. At length she found +herself in front of a large house with lighted windows, which was +evidently an inn.</p> + +<p>The door opened, letting out a stream of candlelight. A man stood in the +doorway. "What place is this?" cried Susannah's voice from the darkness.</p> + +<p>"It's John Biery's hotel."</p> + +<p>"Will you have the kindness to tell me if you know of any one called +Mr. Joseph Smith?"</p> + +<p>There was some talking within. "No, we never heard of Mr. Joseph Smith."</p> + +<p>"Or Mr. Oliver Cowdery?" Again there was talking.</p> + +<p>"No, it don't seem that we've any of us heard o' those names before. Be +you alone?" The deep bass voice of John Biery was becoming more +insistent in its rising inflection.</p> + +<p>For some half-minute Susannah did not answer, and then fear of being +compelled to retake the road made irresolution impossible.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, sir, I am not alone. I have in the chaise with me a sick man, +and I fear that he may be dying. I thought to find friends, but it seems +in the darkness I have missed my way. I must beg of you to assist me to +lift him into the house and give us shelter for the night."</p> + +<p>The men had remained perfectly still, drinking in her every syllable +with that fierce thirst for news which is a first passion of dwellers in +such desolate places; then, aroused by what they heard, they came +forward across a rough bit of ground to the road. The burly form of John +Biery came first, and he called for a lantern, which was instantly +produced by one of those who followed. They held it up over Angel's +crouching form and death-like face. Then they held it higher and stared +at Susannah. Her shawl had fallen from off her shoulders. The +handkerchief upon her neck was loose, and underneath the pink border of +her bonnet the ringlets had begun to stray. Her resolute face, so young +and beautiful, startled them almost as an apparition might have done.</p> + +<p>"I'm dead beat," said the hotel-keeper under his breath, "if I ever seed +anything like that!" But with the ready suspicion of a prudent +householder he questioned her. Where had the man come by the wound? For +they saw the blood-stained bandages she clasped.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, she explained, he had received a slight bullet-wound by +accident, and to-day, in their long travel, the loss of blood had +disabled him.</p> + +<p>"Does he belong to you, young lady?"</p> + +<p>Susannah busied herself with the bandages for a moment, but terror had +carried her far. She replied with gentle decision, "He is my husband."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>"It is our fault."</p> + +<p>That evening Ephraim Croom stood in his father's sitting-room, near the +door of the dark stair that led up to his own rooms. His shoulders were +drooping. His face was gray and haggard. Even his hair and beard, damp, +unkempt, seemed to express remorse in their outline. He stood doggedly +facing his father and mother, repeating the thing that he saw to be +true, but with no further words to interpret his insight.</p> + +<p>To his parents his opinions, his attitude, appeared as an outrage upon +reason. His father looked at him with greater severity than he had ever +before exercised upon his only child. "I reckon, Ephraim, that you speak +without using the sense that the Almighty has been mercifully pleased to +give you. You know, Ephraim, the girl has been as a daughter in this +house. When has it been said to her that her father, dying in his +worldly follies, left her destitute, the pittance she gets needing to go +for his debts? She's had about as good a home as any girl should want, +and your mother and the ministers have dealt faithfully with her +concerning her soul."</p> + +<p>Ephraim made a movement of the head as if for a moment he could have +stood upright, feeling in one respect innocent; then again there was +nothing but the droop of shame visible.</p> + +<p>His mother looked at him with eyes that were red with weeping. She had +been wiping them with fierce furtive rubs of her handkerchief; now she +was rubbing the handkerchief, a hard ball, in the palm of one hand. +Perhaps grief at Susannah's loss had been dominant until Ephraim's +accusation had fanned her anger. "She'd better have gone with him openly +from the baptising. I never thought then that it was love-making she was +after." Deep scorn was here expressed. "Religion! 'Twasn't much religion +she had in her mind. And we treated her real kindly, Ephraim, thinking +'twas the hold of delusion they had upon her. 'Twould be very small use +to bring her back even if you or your father could have found out which +way they'd gone. 'Tisn't likely she'd stay long if you fetched her, +seeing she's that sort of a girl, with a hankering for the man. There +isn't a place in this house to lock her into unless it is the cellar."</p> + +<p>It was perhaps the thought of the unspeakable degradation it would be to +the worthy house to hold a girl as prisoner in the cellar, perhaps the +dismal knowledge that that which had already befallen them and her was +not much better than this, that caused his mother here to lose her +self-control entirely and weep bitterly. Ephraim shrank under her words +as if they had been the strokes of a whip striking him. When she had +ended he went on heavily up the dark stair.</p> + +<p>Both the men were in riding-dress. The elder man, when he had comforted +his wife as best he might, laid aside his boots and whip determinedly, +believing that the use for them, as far as concerned the search for his +niece, was at an end. Upstairs, sitting between the three windows that +looked east and north and south, Ephraim sat as long as exhaustion made +rest necessary. He was still equipped for the road, thinking only which +way it behoved him to travel, and when.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>The next day, toward afternoon, Joseph Smith stood by the bedside of +Angel Halsey. Susannah, wan and weary with a long night's nursing, was +sitting beside the pillow. Smith looked upon them both benevolently. It +was some minutes before he spoke. Susannah was too much in awe of him to +say much, but his presence was welcome. Since Halsey's rational self had +been lost in his delirium, loneliness like darkness that could be felt +had pressed upon her.</p> + +<p>"Our brother will be healed," said Smith at length. "It is given to me +to know that he will be healed." He then spread his hands over the sick +man and made a short prayer. There was much fervour in his words and his +voice was loud.</p> + +<p>"Give him to drink," said Smith.</p> + +<p>"Biery's wife told me as long as he was in fever not to give him water."</p> + +<p>Smith looked down upon her kindly, but he spoke in a tone of absolute +authority. "My sister, I say unto thee give him water. It is given to me +to know that he must have water and that he will do well."</p> + +<p>"It is never done in such cases," said Susannah. "I remember when my +father—" She had not the faith that Smith required of her.</p> + +<p>Without a frown, with perfect gentleness, Smith fetched the water and, +lifting the sick man's head, allowed him to drink eagerly. Halsey was +obviously comforted.</p> + +<p>Smith had something else to say. If he had not been who he was Susannah +might have perceived that he was somewhat perplexed, even embarrassed. +Just as a child does not easily attribute to the adult such hindering +emotions, so she supposed him to be upon a plane above them.</p> + +<p>He lingered by the bedside, apparently watching the sufferer. At length +he said, "You set out with this young man—yesterday morning?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, very early."</p> + +<p>There was another pause, then he said, "Did you go before a justice of +the peace?"</p> + +<p>"A justice of the peace?" Then she added inconsequently, "My uncle is a +justice of the peace." She had never heard of a civil marriage; she did +not know in the least what he meant.</p> + +<p>"Or—or a minister?"</p> + +<p>She began to understand now.</p> + +<p>"I married you myself, sister, and it was sealed in heaven, but I +haven't got a license to marry, so that the Gentiles would say—that the +knot wasn't tied, ye know." The last words were a lapse into common +parlance. She had grown accustomed to the hybrid nature of his +mannerism.</p> + +<p>He had expected and feared to see her white face flame into excitement, +but to Susannah it seemed a small thing now what the Gentiles might say. +If the marriage was indeed sealed in heaven, then all was well. And if +it was not, worse could not be. She was too weary now to respond to the +prophet's worldly solicitude for her. Looking at the still unconscious +Halsey, she felt that there was time enough for further action.</p> + +<p>Smith said, "Emma would have come, but the child has spasms."</p> + +<p>"We meant to go to you," said Susannah. "We lost our way. I only heard +to-day where you were."</p> + +<p>After a while he said, "I might stop here with our sick brother and send +you to Emma, but there is a congregation called for to-night. Mr. +Cowdery would have come, but he was at the baptising."</p> + +<p>"Did you leave the baptising just to come and see us?" It occurred to +her that from his point of view two stray disciples such as herself and +Halsey could be of little importance compared with his appearance at the +solemn function.</p> + +<p>Smith busied himself giving Halsey more water. That done, he went away +without further words. Susannah heard his horse gallop from the door. +She knew that he had travelled some five miles to pay this visit, and +she supposed that he desired to return if possible before the converts +had come up from the water. His visit had undoubtedly brought her +comfort. His response to her message had been prompt and kind. She knew +now that his thoughts and Emma's were busy concerning her. And then, +too, the sick man was better. He had gone quietly to sleep.</p> + +<p>The woman of the house brought her for food an unusual delicacy. Smith +had ordered this. Mrs. Biery made some remarks concerning him. She said +that his coat seemed very old, but that he had given her money and bid +her attend diligently upon the sick man and his wife. Susannah, who knew +how little money the Smiths had hitherto possessed, how many things they +must want for themselves, was touched.</p> + +<p>As her spirits revived, her faith and hope in the new sect revived also. +She looked among the few possessions Halsey had brought with him for the +precious copy of the Book of Mormon, and sat reading it by Angel's +bedside while the autumn sun was sinking.</p> + +<p>Sometimes she heard a traveller stop at the inn door and pass on again. +At dusk there was a sounds of horses coming with speed. To her surprise +Joseph Smith came into the room again. He looked as if he had been +riding hard, but he spoke as quietly as though he had gone only from +that room to the next.</p> + +<p>"I have brought a gentleman who can marry you according to the law of +the State." Susannah had gone forward to greet him, but now she looked +suddenly back toward the unconscious man, whose form was almost +indistinguishable in the dusk.</p> + +<p>Smith brought candles and set them at the foot of the bed. He took +Halsey by the hand and lifted him to a sitting posture, telling him in +clear strong tones what was required of him. Halsey understood. He +became completely conscious under Smith's influence, and for the hour +almost strong. He would know where he was and how he came there, who the +minister was that had come. He even required that this stranger should +show his license to marry.</p> + +<p>The minister was a common-looking man, small, shaggy as to the beard, +business-like. He knew nothing of Joseph Smith's prophetical claims, and +cared only to know that Susannah was over eighteen years of age. +Marriage was a thing easily accomplished in that day and region. A few +minutes more and Susannah was a wife.</p> + +<p>In after years, when she used to think of Angel Halsey as having gone +before her into the unseen, Susannah held the belief that the part of +him which she would meet there would be that which shone out in the rare +half-playful smiles he gave, in the glance which, at the moment of +smiling, he bent on her. He was a very grave man, shrewd, in many ways, +in others as simple as a child, but above all greatly religious. His +religion, however deep might be its root, was also always upon the +surface. Only now and then, when, as at their first meeting, he +recognised in his serious way that something else was required if he +would truly hold communion with Susannah, the smile would come as from +some inward part of his spirit, like a dawning light slowly breaking +through the surface, soon withdrawn again by the power of custom. When +he thus smiled, Susannah in those days trusted him absolutely, avowed +herself entirely to his service, and felt within her heart a large +measure of affection.</p> + +<p>Halsey's was the first case of illness in the newly-formed sect that +called itself already "<i>The</i> Church of Christ." Joseph Smith and Cowdery +and a man named Whitmer, with whom the Smiths were now housed, having +consulted upon it, decided that they must begin at once to carry out the +commands of Scripture. They came together, therefore, and anointed +Halsey with oil, laying their hands upon him and praying fervently. +Halsey, believing himself to be healed, got up from his sick-bed, and +his recovery progressed rapidly.</p> + +<p>Full of excitement, fervour, superstition, and faith, the apostles of +the new doctrine were fully persuaded that they might expect a literal +fulfilment of the promise that signs and wonders should follow them that +believe. The fierce opposition and hatred which were roused by the +reports of their doings are easily accounted for when we consider that +their opinions had to encounter that curious distortion of reason which +has caused religious warfare in all times and places to become the worst +sort of warfare, and the fact which Smith himself had acknowledged when +he first saw Susannah, that many evil reports about him had formerly +been true; then also the new sect produced vehement psychical +disturbance wherever it touched the surrounding population, and many +things occurred which might, or might not, be termed miracles, according +to the interpretation of the observer. It was no longer possible for +Joseph Smith to ride, as he had done on the day of Susannah's marriage, +with a minister of one of the older sects. He became very notorious, and +to every one except those who were interested enough in his doctrine to +give him a fair hearing, his name became a synonym for all evil.</p> + +<p>Halsey remained with Susannah at John Biery's hotel. Halsey was one of +the few converts who could afford to live in comparative comfort and to +pay something for the entertainment of destitute disciples. For that +reason the landlord, John Biery, held himself from the religious quarrel +that was shaking the region.</p> + +<p>Even before Halsey had regained his strength he drove Susannah to swell +the congregation at the preachings which were daily taking place in +different places within the township, for such converts as had already +professed themselves were gathered now in the neighbourhood of Fayette.</p> + +<p>Experiences came to Susannah in such quick succession that this was not +a time of reflection. Such part of her husband's religion as she could +appropriate she endeavoured very sincerely to embrace. After the manner +of the thought, of the time she supposed that the sect was either right +or wrong—if right, all right; if wrong, all wrong. Sometimes the +ghastly fear that her growing belief was false would arise with hideous +menace.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>All the doings of the infant sect were directed by those utterances of +Joseph Smith which he held to be revelations. These were confided +sometimes to the elders, sometimes to the converts at large. Susannah +frequently heard of them first through Emma Smith, whose pious heart was +constantly filled with wonder and thankfulness at the thought of the +great honour vouchsafed to her husband. These revelations, sometimes +illimitable in their sweep, and sometimes having reference only to the +most minute practical details, were at this time all in accordance +either with the dictates of common sense or with the severely literal +meaning of some Scripture text. They were therefore easily justified +either to reason or to the eye of faith, but the results of their +application were often startling, and it was facts, not theories, that +chiefly caused Susannah to stagger.</p> + +<p>At length the growing excitement among the congregation seemed to gather +toward some climax. It was then that Joseph Smith was said for the first +time to cast out devils.</p> + +<p>Near to John Biery's hotel lived a family of the name of Knight. The +worthy farmer became a convert, and so also, in appearance, did his son. +Susannah first saw them at their baptism, which took place one cold +bleak day in the margin of Seneca Lake. The horses which had brought the +little company to the edge of the water, having been tied among the +trees, made a constant rustling and trampling among the fallen leaves. +The sharp rustle, the thud of the hoofs upon the ground, were sounds +long connected in her mind with the crisis of her doubt, which then +began. The maples stood above them, tall and leafless; the waters of the +lake were leaden in hue and cold. Looking southward on either side of +its long flood, the snores with their many points and headlands lay +cold, almost hueless, near by, and in the distance blue as tarnished +steel.</p> + +<p>It was a bitter day for baptist and for the immersed. Joseph Smith went +out alone into the water, commanding the other elders to remain upon the +shore. Whatever else the man had or had not, he had splendid courage in +facing physical ills. There were but few candidates. Susannah, standing +apart near the shore, chanced to be in the path by which the younger +Knight descended to the water. He was a young man with strong features +and a thick, unhealthy skin. He was dressed in the wet garments which +another candidate had taken off. Cold he might have been, but as he +passed she heard his teeth chatter so loudly that it almost seemed to +her that his very bones rattled. She drew back with the impression that +some horrible thing had passed by. Before she had time to wonder that +the chill should have had such an effect upon the hardy fellow, his feet +were in the water, and he turned and caught her eye. The look he gave +her became suddenly one of terrified entreaty.</p> + +<p>Susannah did not move; she was spell-bound. He began to wade toward +Smith, who stood in the deeper water. She wondered why he allowed +himself to be immersed. She was certain that he did not desire it, was +certain also that no motives of interest, no physical force, could have +operated to compel, when suddenly she asked herself sharply, what force +had taken her into the waters of this extraordinary baptism?</p> + +<p>To her astonishment, when Newell Knight came up from the water he was +shouting aloud. She thought that his accents were a horrible simulation +of merriment, but by the others they were accepted as an evidence of +holy joy.</p> + +<p>Two days after, when Susannah and her husband were returning from +Smith's preaching through the autumn night, they were met as they were +approaching Biery's hotel by a messenger from Knight's house. The +messenger had been sent to fetch Halsey. He reported that Newell Knight +was in "an awful way." Susannah alighted at once and walked to the +tavern, in order that her husband might drive with all speed to the +afflicted man.</p> + +<p>The lights as they shone from John Biery's windows reminded her vividly +of the first time, a month since, when she had driven to that house at +night. She had grown much older since then, stronger in many ways, +weaker in some, but she was not conscious of this; it was not her way to +give even so much as a passing glance at herself as one of the actors in +life's drama. The road on which she trod was heavy with mud. The +night-winds cried around and through the empty branches of two or three +neglected trees in the clearing. The square wooden tavern stood at the +cross-roads. The light from the door made a pathway through the +darkness, up which Susannah walked.</p> + +<p>When she entered, the heat and fumes from fire, candles, tobacco-pipes, +and steaming mugs met her. She was accustomed to walking through John +Biery's main room to gain the stair that led to her own; on the whole it +was not disorderly, or Susannah had but to appear on the threshold to +reduce it to order. To-night the men did not let her pass with their +usual civil "Good evening"; they assumed that she had an interest in +their talk.</p> + +<p>"Is Mr. Halsey stopping over to Farmer Knight's?" asked Biery. "My! and +they'll be real glad to get him, ye know. Twiced they've been here fur +him. They say that Newell Knight he's possessed with a devil."</p> + +<p>Susannah wrapped her shawl tightly across her breast, a nervous movement +caused not by cold but by the desire to withdraw her real self from the +surrounding circumstance.</p> + +<p>A tall thin man sitting by the table set down his mug with a clatter +upon it. "Wall now, tain't my idea thet thet's exectly what's taken +Newell. I saw a case of a man thet was taken under the preacher Finney. +'Twas over to Ithica. The hull town knew about it. A lot of folks went +in. I jest looked in when I was passing, and seen the man meself. He was +lyin' on the floor. His wife was aholdin' his head, but he didn't know +her. He hedn't no knowledge of any of the folks. He jest lay there +rollin', and his eyes was rollin'. And when Finney was fetched, Finney +he said 'twas 'conviction.' I don't know what the man was convicted of, +but 'twas 'conviction' Finney called it. He didn't say nothing about +being possessed with devils."</p> + +<p>The third speaker was a small fat man. His face was smooth and had the +peculiar boylike appearance that chubbiness gives even to the +middle-aged; he had bright black eyes, and before he spoke he glanced at +Susannah critically.</p> + +<p>"When they're taken that way under Finney," he said, as if meditating, +"'conviction' commonly means conviction of sins—their own sins, ye +know, not other folk's; and when they git up, if they've taken anything +wrongfully they hev to restore it fourfold afore the conviction will +leave off a-worrittin' them. I don't know how 'tis among the Mormons." +The last words were said in an undertone and he had dropped his eyes. It +would have required a brave man to treat Susannah to open sarcasm.</p> + +<p>She stood looking from one to the other. She still wore her girlish +cottage bonnet, and as its fashion was, it had slipped backwards upon +the amber ringlets that hung upon her neck; but the girlish look was +fast passing from the face, the hair parting fell on either side of pale +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Oh, as to thet, 's fur as I know, one religion's as good as another," +said the politic Biery.</p> + +<p>Susannah looked at the fat, bright-eyed man who was no longer looking at +her. "I know" (her voice fell with a strange gentleness through the +thickened atmosphere of the room) "that there are many malicious stories +abroad about the dishonesty of our people which are not true."</p> + +<p>But as she went up the stair she remembered that she had heard of no +case where reformation of character had been followed by the returning +of the fourfold. Most of these saints of the new sect had before their +conversion been, like her husband, already God-fearing and righteous, +but in cases where, like their leader, they had been reclaimed from +evil courses, had they not been satisfied with offering the present and +future to God, leaving the past? She had heard of no case of restitution +such as Finney insisted upon.</p> + +<p>Susannah entered the low, wide room in which she lived. The chimney from +the lower room passed up and was always warm. She went and laid her cold +hands against the rough plaster that covered its bricks, and, being +tired, she leaned, laying her cheek too against its warm surface. The +one candle cast but a faint light upon the chairs, the bed, the table. +The small panes of the window-glass were bare to the darkness without +and the empty tree-branches. The heavy latch of the closed door was +fastened crookedly for lack of good workmanship.</p> + +<p>Her unsatisfied mind ached for counsel, and her thought, roving over the +world, could fix only on Ephraim as she had at first learned to know +him, wise and quiet and kind. The warm chimney seemed a poor thing to +lean her head against while she felt that her faith was failing. Then +the remembrance of the shot Ephraim had fired and his callousness choked +back her tears.</p> + +<p>She waited an hour, two hours; then, becoming anxious on Halsey's +account, she borrowed a lantern and went across the fields to Knight's +farmhouse.</p> + +<p>Quite a number of people had gathered. Susannah met some of them coming +from the house, but others were still there, standing about the fire in +the kitchen. She heard that the later arrivals had all been disappointed +of the sight of Newell Knight in his fit. Halsey had assumed authority, +stating that it was indeed a case of possession, and that none but those +who were strong in faith and in the power of prayer must come near the +possessed. The craving of the visitors for excitement was only fed by +the sound of the young man's voice, heard at short intervals.</p> + +<p>He cried aloud, sometimes shrieking that he was being taken into "the +pit" and that Joseph Smith could alone deliver him, sometimes exclaiming +in a strange voice that he was no longer Newell Knight but a demon, and +sometimes only moaning and gibbering words that no one could understand.</p> + +<p>Halsey came out to Susannah. "Wouldst thou see him?" he asked tenderly. +"The sight will distress thee, for it is truly terrible to see with the +eye of flesh the power of hell, and yet I cannot forbid thee if thou +wouldst come, for perchance the Lord may mean it for our edification."</p> + +<p>Susannah went with him into the inner room, hardly knowing why she went, +but probably impelled by the instinctive desire to relieve suffering +which was part of her womanhood. The young man's father and mother, +together with two or three Mormon converts, were kneeling upon the +floor, saying prayers for the sufferer in more or less audible, more or +less agonised tones.</p> + +<p>The young man lay upon a pallet-bed, in what would have been called by +the medical science of the time "convulsions." His eyeballs were rolled +upwards in a manner most disfiguring to his face. His hands were +clenched. Halsey no sooner entered the room than he, too, fell upon his +knees, lifting his face upward as if in silent and fervent prayer.</p> + +<p>For a moment Susannah felt impelled to follow his example. "But +perhaps," she thought to herself, "cold water upon the patient's head, +or a warm foot-bath—" Such suggestions caused her to resist the impulse +to join the praying band, and, having resisted it, she suddenly +experienced, as one feels a fresh breeze entering a close room, a +strong, clear sense of knowledge that in this matter, at least, her +husband was deluded, that the friends had better rise from their knees +and betake themselves to ruder remedies.</p> + +<p>Susannah had never learned to command; she had never even learned to +advise. She had too much reverence to speak aloud, disturbing those who +were at prayer. She stood hesitating, and then, in very low tones, +whispered her belief in her husband's ear.</p> + +<p>No doubt Halsey was shocked at his wife's unbelief; perhaps by the law +of telepathy, for whose existence some psychical experts vouch, his +thought penetrated the mind of the sensitive upon the bed. Whatever the +cause, Newell Knight sat up and pointed at Susannah, crying aloud that +he saw the devil about to seize upon her. So excited was the mental +atmosphere, so vivid were the sufferer's words and the effect of his +pointing finger, or, perhaps, so substantial was his vision, that more +than one of the saints afterwards averred that they had seen the Evil +One about to embrace Susannah. But they did not agree in the description +of his form.</p> + +<p>Halsey wrapped his arms about his wife, and led her like a child from +the room and from the house. She hardly had time to speak before she saw +the night again about her. He set her down upon an old log that chanced +to lie against Knight's barn, kneeling beside her. There, when they were +alone in the darkness, he invoked that name to which throughout all +Christendom the devils are believed to be subject.</p> + +<p>"Angel," she said gently, "stop praying and listen to me. If you can +command the devil in the name of our Lord, why don't you do that to poor +Newell Knight?" She felt strong sympathy for the young man; she was +moved almost to tears to think they were taking the wrong way with him.</p> + +<p>"I have tried and failed. We have sent for Joseph Smith. My faith is not +strong enough," he added humbly. "This cometh not forth but by prayer +and by fasting. Look! I am even now unfaithful to my charge because I +love thee, friend, more, I fear, than the work of the Lord."</p> + +<p>They were left alone because Halsey in passing out had left the door of +the sick room open to the eager neighbours. Now reluctantly he went back +to his task of guarding the patient, and Susannah, after assuring his +anxious soul that she felt no ill effects whatever from the dire +proximity, went home again across the dark frozen fields with her +lantern. She sat half the night watching and waiting.</p> + +<p>It was in the darkest hour before the dawn that she heard Halsey's step +and crept down through the black house to unlock the door for him. When +they had come again into the room she saw that he was greatly excited, +filled with apparent calm of an exalted mood.</p> + +<p>"We have beheld a most glorious victory, friend; and truly we have been +shown signs and wonders, and a very great miracle has been wrought. I +wish thou couldst have seen with thine own eyes, and yet—"</p> + +<p>She thought that he had been going to say that her lack of faith had +made it more expedient for her to be away, but that he had checked in +himself even the thought that he was more worthy of privilege than she.</p> + +<p>It seemed that Joseph Smith, having been preaching the evening before at +a place some twenty miles away, had not been able to reach Knight's +house until nearly two in the morning.</p> + +<p>"He rode all night," said Halsey, "and lost not a moment in coming to +the inner room; it was like him."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Susannah, "it was like him; he is very kind."</p> + +<p>Halsey went on. "He spread his hands over Newell and commanded the +devils to come out of him."</p> + +<p>"And did they come?"</p> + +<p>"They left him. Joseph said that it was given to him to see that there +were three of them; but they departed, going out into the darkness."</p> + +<p>The wind moaned against the window near which Susannah sat.</p> + +<p>"They left Newell very weak, but at peace like an infant sleeping. But +at first I feared that he was as one dead, for I could not see him +breathe; but Joseph's faith was strong, for he lifted up his voice and +began to give praise, and he took Newell by the hand and bade him rise, +but his hand fell back as if there was no life in it. Then Joseph Smith +knelt with us upon the floor, and Newell lay smiling, but his eyes were +closed, and he seemed dead to this world, although the body was warm. +Afterwards he told us that at the time he was seeing a vision of +unspeakable light and glory. And then, as we watched him, I fearing +because my faith was weak, a marvel happened as a sign and seal to our +faith that Joseph is indeed called to be a great prophet. I wish that +thou couldst have seen it, Susannah, for the miracle has given me a +great uplifting in spirit, but I am come to bear witness to it, that +thou, too, mayest rejoice in the marvel."</p> + +<p>There was a few moments' pause. "What was it?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Newell began to rise from the bed. He did not sit up or move himself, +but he was raised slowly into the air, still reclining as though upon +his pillow. The invisible hands of angels bore him upwards."</p> + +<p>Susannah knit her brows. "Did you see the angels? I don't understand." +And then more vehemently she asked, "What was it that you did see?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, friend, it was not vouchsafed to us to see the blessed spirits, +but surely they must have lifted him, for he rose, soaring upwards, as +thou hast seen the thistledown ascend gently, almost as high as the roof +of the room. As we gazed in great astonishment, and the women fainted +for fear, he sank again as slowly till he rested upon his bed, and he +opened his eyes and spoke to us of the wonderful vision of light which +he had seen, and then he arose in perfect health and walked."</p> + +<p>Susannah sat silent for a minute or two. Her husband was also silent, +wrapped in contemplation. Then Susannah said, "You are very tired, +Angel. You were overwrought last night, even before you were called to +the Knights'; you had better go to sleep now."</p> + +<p>She darkened the window against the coming of the dawn that her husband +might sleep in the day instead of the night. She herself went downstairs +with the earliest stir of footsteps. Because of a whim that seized her, +she helped to prepare the breakfast that was to be served to the +household at sunrise, and then she partook of it heartily, looking out +of a southern window as she ate, watching the red sun ascend behind the +naked boles of the elms. She was glad that the new day had come. Her +heart ached not so much with pure grief now as with mocking laughter. +Her husband was mad, quite mad, or else—and this was the more bitter +belief—he had seen that she was in danger of disaffection, and had told +this lie to dupe her, thinking that because she was a woman she would be +impressed by it. As the sincerity of Angel's look came before her she +said to herself that if that were the case no doubt Joseph Smith had +invented the story, and laid it upon Angel's conscience to tell it. That +or madness was the only explanation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>It was long after the day of her departure before Ephraim again set out +to find Susannah. An illness to which he was subject first came upon +him, and then, when days were past and he was able to leave his bed, +conflicting reports concerning Susannah had been brought to the house, +and Ephraim's courage failed. Why should he go if by seeing her he could +neither give her pleasure nor do her good? It was natural that report, +dwelling on what it could understand rather than on what was +incomprehensible, should magnify Susannah's love for Halsey. No man in +New Manchester who in the past month had chanced to catch sight of any +maid holding secret parlance with any lover but now swore stoutly that +that maid had been Susannah.</p> + +<p>It often happens that schemes least calculated to succeed attain +success. Susannah and Halsey had not gone far, nor had they gone with +great secrecy, yet it had happened that no one had observed them as they +travelled, and as there was at that time of the year little +communication between the towns to the east and west of Geneva Market, +it was long before real news concerning them transpired.</p> + +<p>At length, when many days had passed, it was told in Manchester where +Susannah really was; and as if the mischief Rumour was ashamed of being +caught telling the truth, she hastily added a lie, and one that had a +fair show of evidence in its favour. She declared that Susannah had not +been married except by some mystical Mormon ceremony which was void in +law.</p> + +<p>When Ephraim heard this circumstantial story, and with it many new tales +concerning wicked mysteries practised by the Mormons in Fayette, he +threw down his books, as long ago the fabled fruit that had turned to +ashes was thrown down, and prepared for the road.</p> + +<p>In the first day's journey he reached Geneva, and setting out again +before it was light, he came to John Biery's hotel when the sun was +rising red beyond the gray elm boughs on the morning on which Susannah +breakfasted alone.</p> + +<p>Susannah looked up from her breakfast and saw Ephraim standing beside +her. It was his way to look calm outwardly, but she could see that he +was struggling with the nervous untoward beating of his heart, so that +he could not speak. Susannah did not understand why she could not +immediately rise and speak. She was conscious of a red flush that rose +and mantled her face, but she did not understand the emotion from which +it arose. She only knew that she was glad to see Ephraim, more glad than +she could have thought to be of anything upon a day when her heart had +been set mocking.</p> + +<p>"You have come at last," she whispered, and only knew when the words +were said that she had hoped to see him before. Her whisper was broken +by rising tears, which she checked in very shame.</p> + +<p>"I want to speak to you," said Ephraim briefly.</p> + +<p>So she rose and went out with him. She put her shawl over her head and +walked upon the roadside. The day was mild, the first of the Indian +summer. Ephraim had not put up his horse; he led it by the bridle as he +walked.</p> + +<p>"Sure as I'm alive, it's her uncle as has come after her at last," said +the wife of John Biery, gazing through the small panes of the kitchen +window. And, in truth, Ephraim did look many years older than Susannah, +for his figure was bowed somewhat for lack of strength.</p> + +<p>Susannah did not now think of Ephraim as old, neither did she think of +him as young. To her he was just Ephraim, bearing no more relation of +comparison to any other mortal than if his had been the only soul in the +world beside her own. She was not aware of this; she was only thinking +that if he had not shot Halsey she would have been able to speak freely +to him now. It was so wicked of Ephraim, above all others, to do such a +thing. It was, in fact, unforgivable because of the stain upon Ephraim's +own character more than because of Halsey's blood. But that again she +did not analyse. She only knew that her feeling kept her silent.</p> + +<p>"I am here, Susannah"—in his battle to speak Ephraim economised +words—"to ask you to come back with me."</p> + +<p>Susannah considered. It would be perhaps the best thing that she could +do after she had spoken her mind to Angel. He would not ask her to +remain to join in a service she loathed. But when she thought of her +aunt, and of the voice of an outraged Puritan neighbourhood, her heart +naturally failed her.</p> + +<p>"I cannot."</p> + +<p>"Is this man more to you—I do not say than the ties of kindred, for +that is natural—but more to you than the obligation to live a life of +reason and duty?"</p> + +<p>"No." Susannah spoke the answer aloud because it arose so simply and +strongly within her. Had she not just come to a crisis in which her +desire to abide by reason proved far stronger than the feeling which +bound her to Halsey? And yet, as she thought of his love and his +tenderness for her, she felt only pity for him, even if he had told a +lie.</p> + +<p>Ephraim had grown calmer, but at the clear denial his heart again beat +against the breath he was trying to draw. She did not love Halsey then! +she was not married to him! He could conceive of nothing that could have +brought that word and tone to Susannah's lips if she were bound.</p> + +<p>"Does not duty and reason, does not even mere sanity, call upon you to +come back with me, Susannah, and spend your life where you can exercise +the gifts God has given you among those who abide by law and order?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, Ephraim, it is so; but I am too great a coward. Think of the +shame that I should have to endure from my aunt, and all the world would +taunt me with my folly and madness. I think it would kill what little +good there is in me. For although I should be willing to suffer if I +have done wrong, yet there would be no use in going where my punishment +would be greater than I could bear."</p> + +<p>He was shocked to think of the days that had elapsed before he had come +to her. She had suffered much before she could speak in this way, and +when he saw how mild and sad she was, and, above all, rational, he +longed to comfort her as he would comfort a child with caresses and the +promise of future joys. He could give her neither, because he believed +that she cared for neither caress nor joy from his hand. There was +something he could offer—all that he had to give that she could take, +but the offer was so hard to make that he prefaced it.</p> + +<p>"A way might be found by which you could return to our house, Susannah, +and be troubled by no spoken reproach, and you could live down that +which was unspoken." He paused a minute, and then said, "But I would +know first that you leave all that pertains to your life here freely. +You have found it true, what is so much reported, that the Mormons +follow wicked practices?"</p> + +<p>"No, oh no, Ephraim; that is not true—mad, deluded perhaps, but not +wicked. The stories of wickedness told are malicious even where there is +a colour of truth, and for the most part there is none. In the matter of +daily life they abide by the laws of God and man, and nothing else is +taught."</p> + +<p>It was the thought of the sacerdotal deception that she felt had been so +lately practised upon herself that caused her to put in the reserving +words "in the matter of daily life"; but when she remembered the malice +that had instigated report, the unlovely lives of the malicious +fault-finders, the evil stains that lie even upon the best lives, she +burst out, "There is not one in our community, Ephraim, who would stoop +to a cruel act either in word or deed. There is not one of us, even +among those who have recently repented from very wicked lives, who would +try to take the life of a defenceless man when he was, at a great cost +to himself, pursuing what he thought to be the path of duty—as you did, +Ephraim."</p> + +<p>Before this he had kept his eyes upon the ground; standing still now, he +looked straight into hers. So for a minute they stood, the horse's head +drooping beside his shoulder, the woman upon the roadside erect, +passionate; around them the leafless wood through which the long +straight road was cut. The long level red beams of the sun struck +through between the gray trunks, burnishing the wet carpet of the fallen +leaf.</p> + +<p>"Did you think it was I who fired?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Then he went on with the horse, and she at the side.</p> + +<p>She was utterly astonished. "Who, Ephraim—who fired?"</p> + +<p>He looked straight in front of him again. "It was my mother. She +brandished the gun in his face. She couldn't have intended to shoot."</p> + +<p>From Susannah's heart a great cloud was lifted. She felt no confused +need to readjust her thoughts; rather it was that in a moment her +apprehension of Ephraim's character slipped easily from some abnormal +strain into normal pleasure.</p> + +<p>She pressed her hands to her breast as if fondling some delight. +"Forgive me," she said, "but I am so glad, oh, so very glad." She drew a +long breath as if inhaling not the autumn but the new sweetness of +spring.</p> + +<p>So they went on a little way, he somewhat shy because of her emotion, +she meditating again, and this question pressed.</p> + +<p>"And you think," she asked, "that your mother would receive me if I went +back with you? that I could live at peace with her?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think that whatever I might do she would ever try to shoot +<i>me</i>?" he asked with half a smile. "Do you think that she would ever, by +word or deed, do anything that would hurt <i>me</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Never." Susannah said the word as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>"Or that my father would ever deny me anything that I seriously asked +for, or that he knew my happiness depended upon?"</p> + +<p>"No, surely not; but, Ephraim—"</p> + +<p>"Oh," he continued, growing distress in his voice, "Susannah, is there +any place else in the whole world that you can go for shelter and +comfort but to our house? You have spoken of this madness and delusion; +you are satisfied that you must leave—" He had meant to say "this man," +but he was too shy, and he faltered—"that you must leave these people?"</p> + +<p>She cast her eyes far in among the trunks of the close-growing trees, +upon one side and then upon another, as if looking for a way of escape. +Yes, surely her faith in Angel's creed had been hurt beyond recovery, +and she must free herself, but how? She dallied with Ephraim's offer of +asylum because she could think of no other.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said mechanically; "yes, but how can I?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear cousin, don't you see that it is wrong for you to stay one +day longer here? If you believed at first that the bond that united you +to this man was binding, you do not believe it now. You were so young +when you went, yet the thing cannot be undone on that account. You were +so beautiful that I had hoped a great and prosperous life lay before +you. Now, of course, that cannot be, but—but—at least you can live a +life of peace, live truly and nobly, using your faculties to glorify +God."</p> + +<p>She began to see that he was trying to work up to something else that he +had to say. She followed him heedfully, knowing that with Ephraim the +steps in an argument were important. He saw some way out which she did +not see, and her whole mind paused in eager listening.</p> + +<p>He turned and faced her again, lifting his eyes, holding out his hand; +his voice, usually weak, was strong. She knew that it was a strong man +who spoke to her.</p> + +<p>"Susannah, will you take my name and protection?"</p> + +<p>She gazed at him incredulous, and then, beginning to understand what it +was that he thought, and all that he meant, she leaned against one of +the cold gray tree trunks, weeping weakly like a child.</p> + +<p>"But I am married," the words came with a long sobbing sigh.</p> + +<p>"Not legally?" and then he added, "nor in God's sight."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, oh! you are making a great mistake, Ephraim. Joseph Smith and +my husband are not like that. A minister came and did it. He had his +license, and we have the paper he signed."</p> + +<p>Ephraim set his teeth hard together and kept silence. He said to himself +that he might have known that the rascals would be clever enough to make +the tie secure.</p> + +<p>Susannah wept on, not loudly, but with long convulsive sighs that broke +into the tears she was endeavouring to check.</p> + +<p>"And, Ephraim, my husband is good—oh, very good, and very kind to me, +and up to last night I thought that what he believed might be true. I +was not sure, but I thought that Joseph Smith might be a prophet. I knew +they were far, far better than the other people who despise them, and so +I was glad to be with them; and up till last night" (she repeated the +words, controlling herself to give them emphasis)—"up till last night I +thought that they at least believed everything they said to be true."</p> + +<p>Then, after an interval of unthinking pain, Ephraim perceived that if he +had come under a mistaken belief, he had at least come at the right +moment; if the bond of her marriage held, the bond of her delusion was +broken; she had detected some fraud. His hope, dazed by one blow, now +began to look through the circumstance more clearly. If he could lead +her to renounce the religion in which she had apparently ceased to +believe, and persuade her to return to his father's roof, the Mormon +husband himself might seek the dissolution of the marriage. Therefore +Ephraim made no comment on what had passed, but asked gently, "What of +last night, Susy?"</p> + +<p>With a great effort she stood up, brushing away her tears, brushing back +with both hands the hair that had fallen about her face. In the shock +which Ephraim's proposal had given, in the brief interval of her tears, +she had realised as never before that she could not shake off her duty +to Angel as she had thought to shake off his creed. She spoke +tremblingly.</p> + +<p>"Ephraim, you are so good that you are above us all. You live in some +higher place. You would have made this great sacrifice to help me." (She +never doubted that Ephraim's proposal had been born in self-abnegation.) +"Surely you can tell me what to do, for I am in great distress; but I +want you first to remember that my husband is good, and that he loves me +more than all the world, more than everything except God, and if he has +told me a lie now, it must have been because he thought to save my soul +by it, but I think—I think that the lie could not have been his. I +think it must have been Joseph Smith's." She spoke very wistfully.</p> + +<p>"What was it?" he asked again, tender of the shock she had received, yet +still confident that it would be his part to widen this breach.</p> + +<p>Looking down with burning cheeks, she told him what Halsey's story about +Newell Knight's levitation had been. She remembered it quite clearly and +told it baldly.</p> + +<p>Before she finished it she heard him mutter below his breath that it was +very strange. She was surprised at his tone of perplexity.</p> + +<p>"It is very strange to me," she cried, "because I know my husband, and +up till now he has been so upright and, except that he believed in +Joseph Smith, so sensible and wise."</p> + +<p>"And is this all?" asked Ephraim. "If it were not for this, would you be +content to go on as before?"</p> + +<p>He had begun to walk slowly on with the horse, and she too walked. After +she had answered him the long silence became oppressive, and she knew +that Ephraim was suffering to a degree that she could not understand. At +length when he did speak his words were most unexpected.</p> + +<p>He was looking toward the rising sun, which was still dim and flushed +with the autumn haze. "The Christ whom we all worship," he began +abruptly, "each in our different way, called himself by the sacred name +of Truth. Does he desire, do you think, that we must worship him by +adhering to what we know to be fact, no matter what would seem to be +gained by slighting facts? It is a great temptation to me to conceal +from you, Susannah, a part of my book knowledge which I cannot help +thinking has some bearing upon this case—how much or how little I do +not know."</p> + +<p>He walked on for a little way, and at length, with a great sigh, he +began to speak again, answering her first appeal for advice.</p> + +<p>"I think that your prophet is mad or false, that his Mormonism is utter +folly, but you knew that I thought that long ago. As to this story your +husband has told you, I am bound to say that it has happened before in +the world's history many times that men have seen, or thought they saw, +a man rise into the air. In my opinion it is not the indication of a +sound mind when men see such things, and I feel sure that such a +phenomenon, fact or delusion, whatever it may be, cannot bear any +relation to the religious life. My advice to you is—ah, Susannah, I can +say it truly in the sight of God and of my own conscience—my advice to +you is to be quit of such men and such scenes, but I dare not keep back +from you the truth that this one story, so far from lessening my +confidence in your husband's probity or in Smith's, has rather increased +it; for, being very ignorant men, they could not have heard of these +stories that I have told you, for I have read them only in rare books; +that they have reproduced the same incident seems rather to prove that +they have by accident stumbled upon the same fact—whether a dizziness +of the eyes, or an affection of the brain, or an actual counteraction of +gravity, I cannot tell."</p> + +<p>She listened, drinking in each slow word. After all, then, to-day was +just like yesterday, and that which she had to decide was as to the +reasonableness of the whole new doctrine, as to her willingness to live +among such scenes and such men.</p> + +<p>There had been no sudden madness or deceit to give her reason for sudden +revolt (perhaps her heart said excuse instead of reason).</p> + +<p>Ephraim had grown very pale. After he had watched her for a while, he +said with a sad smile, "You will not come home with me to-day, +Susannah?"</p> + +<p>"I must think over all this again, Ephraim. I don't know how these +things can be, but what you admit is very strange."</p> + +<p>He knew from her tone that the die was cast; he had no heart to discuss +the laws that govern marvels.</p> + +<p>"If at any time, any hour of the day or night, you should wish to come +to us, Susannah, the door is open."</p> + +<p>"You have been very kind, Ephraim. There is not much use in my trying to +say anything about how good you are, but—" She stopped, thinking of her +recovered confidence in his character and her husband's; in this +thought she experienced an elevation of the spirits, a new hopefulness, +which, after the dreary blank of the morning's outlook, was like +sunshine after rain. With this elevation the religious habit of thought +which she had learned from Halsey intermingled. "O Ephraim," she cried, +"I believe that God sent you to give me back my faith."</p> + +<p>He had nothing more to say after that. He rode away leaving her standing +upon the tawny carpet of the fallen leaf, standing in the pink sunshine +under naked trees, and looking after him with tears of gratitude in her +eyes. Ephraim looked back once, but not again.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>When Susannah was returning from her parting with Ephraim Croom, she +found Joseph Smith was walking slowly upon the road not far from John +Biery's hotel. He was holding a small book open before his eyes, conning +a lesson, repeating the words aloud again and again as a schoolboy +might.</p> + +<p>"It has been given to me to see that the Lord hath need of the learning +of this world, Mrs. Halsey. When I have got the Latin and the Greek, I +shall try to find some man who can teach me the Egyptian language, that +I may know how far the ancient Egyptian from which I translated the Book +differs therefrom."</p> + +<p>Susannah had expected to find him excited after the events of the past +night, but instead he was intent only upon committing a portion of the +Latin grammar to memory, learning by rote as children did in those days.</p> + +<p>"My husband told me," she began. She stood in awe of Smith, hardly +knowing how to express herself to him; then she went on, almost roughly, +"I don't see how Newell Knight could have gone up in the air and come +down again; it does not seem to me sensible."</p> + +<p>He clasped his hands behind his back, his large thumb holding his place +open in the lesson-book, and walked beside her, his head bent somewhat +forward in reverie.</p> + +<p>"I am often much taken aback at what happens to me now, Mrs. Halsey, but +I do declare to ye that that was the greatest wonder I ever saw before +my eyes; and it's given to me to see that ye've got the same sort of +difficulty about him as it's natural for me to have." He began to lapse +in his own dialect. "Ye want to see the reason why of things. Well, I +tell ye, I've just got down to this point, that I've give up tryin' to +see why. If ye come to that, why was I chosen to lead this people? I +tell ye when the words of the interpretation of the Book began to pour +through my mind, and I'd no power to stop them, and I just felt as if I +could cry like a baby when I couldn't get any one to write 'em down—I +tell ye, I used often to ask why. But it ain't no use. What I've got to +do is jest to get hold of the guiding that comes to me as clear as I +can, and jest walk straight along those lines."</p> + +<p>She was returning with a heart bruised with the pain of the recent +colloquy at parting, but full too of purpose, feeling that she owed it +to Ephraim to reconsider the evidence for Smith's prophetical claim. She +glanced shrewdly at him as he walked and spoke—young, blue-eyed, +large, and mild. The man seemed to her harder to comprehend if his word +was disbelieved than if it was believed. On either supposition her +understanding faltered.</p> + +<p>"It is very hard for me to believe these things, Mr. Smith. It is very +hard for me to believe, for instance, about the gold plates. How could +they appear only to you and vanish again? It doesn't seem to me +reasonable."</p> + +<p>"No more is it reasonable, but lots of things in the Bible is as lacking +in reason, like the sheet that appeared to Peter with beasts. But about +the plates, I'll tell you just how it was, even though it's not just the +way other folks has got hold of it. This is the truth, and you can think +how hard it was to put it much straighter to folks who didn't believe in +me then as they do now. The night that the angel came down three times +and stood at the foot of my bed, and told me to go and get the plates +and where they were to be found, my brain just seemed to go on fire. I +could see things I never saw any other time. Why, that night I saw +through the wooden wall and into the next room, just as if there hadn't +been any boards there, and I saw all the air about me full of motes, +just as they are in that sunbeam, and it was dark to other people. I +could hear, too, the cocks crowing and dogs barking for miles round; and +when morning came I got up and looked out, and it was as if I had my +eyes to a telescope. I could see the houses for miles and miles. I ran +up the hill and worked into the hole, and there I saw the plates, just +as the angel had said. I'll never forget to my dying day just what they +looked like, and the sort of writing they had. I took them up and +covered them up as the angel had said, and I carried them home and hid +them, and told my folks. That night I was an awful sick man, and the +sickness was on me for some days, and when I looked again at the plates +they just looked like bricks, but the angel told me that they were +really the gold plates with the writing I remembered on them, but were +changed lest any one should see them and die. And I was to keep them +hidden. I know that it was true they were the plates by these two signs; +firstly, whenever I hid myself and took the bricks in my hand, the words +of the Book of Mormon came pouring through my mind, so I was like to cry +out if I couldn't get some one to write them down; and Cowdery he did it +and believed, and Martin Harris he heard me at the dictation and he +believed, and likewise the Whitmers. And the second proof is that after +I had buried the bricks by command, and we was far away from the place +where they lay, Martin Harris and Cowdery and David Whitmer saw the +plates, the very same as I had told them; they were floating in the air +at the time of prayer."</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. Smith, St. Peter saw the sheet in a dream; there isn't +anything in the Bible about things or people floating in the air when +people are awake."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know, sister, about that. There was Philip when he +finished baptisin' the African. Ye see, in going to Azotus he must have +gone up before he went along, or he'd have struck agen the trees; and +our brother Newell, not being as good as Philip, and not having as much +faith, ye see, he jest began to go and had to come back again. Mebbe +when he's engaged in the work for a year or two he'll become an apostle +too. Did ye never think, Sister Halsey, that Providence might take us +up, intending to do great things with us, and jest have to set us down +because we hadn't learned to have faith enough?"</p> + +<p>This spiritual significance of the episode of Newell Knight had not +occurred to Susannah before. It touched her own case.</p> + +<p>He went on. "When I think of the future that is opening before us, +Sister Halsey—why, when I think of how all the nations are to be +gathered in—there's persecutions in store, and we must be tried by +fire, but there's riches and honour and blessing for those as shall be +steadfast; and it's borne in upon me that the Kingdom shall be set up in +the west of this land." He turned and looked at her, becoming elevated +in mind and rising again into finer language. "And the men that are like +unto thy husband, and have the single eye to believe and obey the word +of the Lord, shall become as princes, dispensing bread to the hungry, +and the water of life to them that are athirst; and the beautiful women +who fail not but continue faithful, shall be as princesses driving +behind white horses and wearing silken robes, and comforting the sick in +their sickness, and welcoming the women of the nations as they come from +distant lands, teaching them that which is good—" He drew his breath, +as if about to say more and yet larger words, but remained silent, +looking upon the open space of the fields. Then his mien, which had +become enlarged, contracted somewhat, as if the vision were past.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mrs. Halsey, when I do think of it, it seems as if one day at a +time were'nt enough, and as if I couldn't just set myself to get the +Latin and the Greek, and preach just to a few folks and help a person +that's needing a bit of help; but it's borne right in here upon me that +what we need is the learning of the world, otherwise called the wisdom +of the serpent. I never was a great hand to learn, and father he didn't +make me, so it comes harder now; but I'll see to it that the young ones +of our folks shall take to learning mighty early; and what we want is to +be faithful in small things, and not stumble in our faith if now and +then a man do rise into the air."</p> + +<p>She felt his blue eyes, mild but shrewd, meeting hers as he came to this +last item.</p> + +<p>"Sister, 'twas given to me to know the first time as I saw you that +there was a great work for you to do in comforting and establishing the +elect, and it comes to me now that you'd better be getting some more +education, for although I suffer not a woman to teach, yet she may +establish that which is already taught."</p> + +<p>Inclined to put some question that would bring out more definite +instruction as to her own special function in the Church, she did not +notice two men who were approaching from the other side in a gig until +they were close upon them.</p> + +<p>One of these was a well-to-do farmer, the brother of a woman who had +recently been converted at one of Smith's meetings. Now he was breathing +out revenge. He sprang to the ground, striking at Smith with a heavy +whip. Susannah saw the mildness of the prophet's eye turn into a sharp +glitter. She realised that he was not afraid, although when the other +man also sprang upon him there was not the least doubt but that he must +be worsted in such an assault.</p> + +<p>In the minute that Smith was wrestling with the farmer for the +possession of the whip, Susannah wrung her hands in an agony and ran +forward toward the hotel, screaming aloud for help; then, afraid of what +might befall in her absence, she ran back. By this time the two men had +thrown Smith down. Even then he showed his strength, for they struggled +hard to get the whip, which he had seized from them.</p> + +<p>In her storm of feeling Susannah for the first time came out from the +habits of girlish timidity. Hardly knowing what she said, what she was +about to say, she heard the words of her own fierce indignation ring out +on the air of the mild autumn morning. The scene—the bare road, the +sere weeds and grasses, the prostrate prophet, the flushed faces of the +two burly countrymen upturned to hers as they stooped, crushing him +down—all was photographed on her mind by excitement.</p> + +<p>By the intensity of her upbraiding she arrested the attention of Smith's +enemies for a minute till, as if he revolted against his own weakness, +one of them gave vent to a loud jest, at which the other laughed.</p> + +<p>The words meant nothing to Susannah, nothing more than the Latin words +of the lesson-book that lay torn and muddy at her feet, but Smith no +sooner heard them than he hurled himself from the ground with almost +superhuman strength.</p> + +<p>Both men were forced in self-defence to close upon him. Smith shouted +aloud, although a hand on his throat almost choked him, "Go to the +hotel, Mrs. Halsey; go in to your husband." Susannah knew now that he +was fighting for her, not for himself; the allegiance of his glance gave +her a thrill of loyalty to him which was wholly new.</p> + +<p>Two men ran out from the hotel, and behind them John Biery. When they +neared the place the farmer and his accomplice got into their gig and +called back fierce threats against Smith as they went. John Biery was a +constable, yet, although he saw that Smith had been brutally assaulted, +he made no attempt to pursue and capture the offenders. The other men +contented themselves with picking up his hat and book and remarking that +the men that had run away hadn't had no sort of right, and that Smith +ought to have the law on them. Susannah was the more enraged by this +refusal to interfere.</p> + +<p>Smith wiped his face from dust and blood. It pleased Susannah's love of +dignity to observe that when he spoke it was not in impotent wrath.</p> + +<p>"Go in to your husband, Mrs. Halsey, and tell him to rejoice that we are +accounted worthy to suffer."</p> + +<p>That was not exactly the news that Susannah did bring when she went back +to her husband's room. Her feelings were so upwrought that it was some +time before, in pouring out to Halsey her indignation, she could find +relief. Whatever might or might not be the truth of Smith's heart, it +remained true that in this persecution the many were ranged against the +few, and were lashing each other on by false reports to lawless +brutality. Like the Psalmist, Halsey led her as it were into the house +of the Lord, and pointed out the end of the wicked and the award of the +righteous. He added to the then popular notion of external reward +thoughts which had been working in his own mind under the influence of +that time-spirit which leads such minds as his in the foremost paths. He +spoke to her of the strength of character gained and lost by all that +was done and suffered in the right way or in the wrong.</p> + +<p>Susannah was soothed. She knew that the truth was being spoken to her, +and her heart leaped forth to do reverence, not only to it, but to the +man who could find it in the midst of such insults. Ephraim was good. If +he could only know how good Angel was, he would not have asked her to +return. All thought of deserting the new cause now was gone; the blood +that had trickled from Smith's bruised head, the danger that menaced +Halsey, sustained her. She wrote to Ephraim to that effect.</p> + +<p>Some days after, when driving past Biery's hotel from a meeting he had +been holding in the town of Geneva, Joseph Smith entered and laid before +Susannah books for the cultivation of her mind—a Latin grammar and +exercise book like his own, a Universal History, and a primer of Natural +Philosophy. He told her that in two weeks, when she had mastered their +contents, he would bring her others. He left hastily, the business of +the Church pressing.</p> + +<p>In his idea it seemed that the rudiments of a language would take no +longer to acquire than the contents of an English book written in a +popular style. The man was very ignorant of the things that most men +know, but possibly no other man in the world would have known that +writing Latin exercises would bring contentment to Susannah's heart. +There was nothing in such a request to awake suspicion and antagonism, +and there was much in the regular mental exercise to keep her mind from +brooding on its scepticism or upon Ephraim's kindness. As a child sits +down to an intricate game, she sat down, day after day, to her lesson. +Soon the stimulus of knowing that the prophet had actually mastered his +grammar in two weeks wrought the determination not to lag very far +behind. Her husband, who had had fair schooling, helped her.</p> + +<p>There began to be a strange race between the prophet and Susannah for +the acquisition of knowledge. They learned out of all sorts of +lesson-books, not on any sound principle of work, but with avidity.</p> + +<p>Susannah was the only woman in the new sect to whom Joseph Smith gave +the commandment to become learned. She was not impervious to this subtle +flattery. Rude and poor as he was, Smith was now spiritual dictator to a +large number of souls, and she saw that from herself he sometimes asked +counsel. Parted from Ephraim, having grown accustomed to a husband with +whom self-repression was one of life's first laws, it was not surprising +that under Smith's suggestion a new phase of life began in which her +understanding, not her heart, developed. "Why believe in Moses and the +prophets if not in Smith—in the miracles of yesterday if not in those +of to-day?" was the question with which Halsey prefaced the sermons he +began to preach. The answer that his logic deduced carried conviction to +many of his hearers, but in Susannah's mind the question alone made +way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_II" id="BOOK_II"></a><i>BOOK II.</i></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_Ia" id="CHAPTER_Ia"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>In the next year, 1831, the new church was formally organised, and this +was the "revelation" given for her direction by the mouth of Joseph +Smith—"And now, behold, I speak unto the Church; thou shalt not kill; +thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not lie; thou shalt love thy wife, +cleaving unto her and to none else; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou +shalt not speak evil of thy neighbour, nor do him any harm. Let him that +goeth to the East tell them that shall be converted to flee to the +West."</p> + +<p>The reports of the first missionaries, who had travelled westward, +preaching both to the Indians (called by the "Saints," Lamanites) and to +white men, were received in the beginning of this year, and the point +designated for the first station of the Church on its way westward was a +place called Kirtland, on the banks of the Chagrin River, in northern +Ohio. Thither Halsey was sent, having commands to preach by the way.</p> + +<p>At Halsey's wayside meetings the old hymns and the old tunes were sung. +The new doctrine embraced all that was supposed to be alive in the old; +it repudiated only what was supposed to be dead. It offered that +enlargement of human powers which the belief in wonders implies, a new +form of church government, a new land to live in, a new hope of a +visible and glorious church, and, above all, a living prophet. If the +personality of the prophet seemed more attractive to those who believed, +not having seen him, to Susannah, who knew the baseness of his origin so +well, the sudden increase of his influence over hundreds of people +seemed the greatest of marvels; and it was impossible but that even his +person should gain some added grace from the reflected light of success. +Halsey was only one of a dozen successful Mormon preachers who were +converging with their train of followers upon the first station of the +new church.</p> + +<p>There is no spot in northern Ohio more lovely than the five hills or +bluffs that rise from the banks of the Chagrin River and its tributary +brooks twelve miles to the south-east of what is now the city of +Cleveland. On the shores of the river and its streams lie green levels; +from these the bluffs rise steeply for some one or two hundred feet to +tablelands of great fertility.</p> + +<p>The site for the first Mormon temple was on the highest of these hills +overlooking the three valleys. Its foundations were quickly laid. +Around it upon the slope and tableland, up and down the valleys, and +upon the opposite hills, the wooden houses of the converts began to +spring up, not unlike in colour to a crop of mushrooms, and very like in +the suddenness of their growth.</p> + +<p>Not long after Susannah and Halsey had reached Kirtland, Joseph Smith, +with a convert named Rigdon, went on, with missionaries who were +travelling farther west, in order to find in the wilderness the place +that was appointed for the building of Zion or the New Jerusalem. At the +same time all those men among the converts who were deemed fit were sent +out in couples to preach the new Gospel, some back to the eastern States +whence they had come, some to Canada, some to the south. To Joseph Smith +it was given to know who was to go and who to stay. Halsey was directed +to remain, to receive and establish the new converts who came, to tithe +their property for the building of the temple, and to found, according +to Smith's direction, a school of the prophets.</p> + +<p>"And to thy wife, Susannah, it shall be given to teach the children such +worldly learning as she has herself acquired, until it may be possible +for us to appoint for them a more learned male instructor."</p> + +<p>Joseph Smith spoke these words in the room which served him as business +office and chapel. He was drawing on his gloves, ready to go forth upon +the journey to Missouri.</p> + +<p>Several of the elders and their wives were present, some busy on one +errand and some on another. Susannah, being with Halsey, received the +command in person, although it was not directly addressed to her. She +had observed that since her arrival at Kirtland the prophet never +addressed himself to her directly when in public. In many ways his +manners were becoming gradually more formal, and his relapses into his +native speech less frequent.</p> + +<p>Susannah could not criticise keenly, so much she marvelled at the man. +His activities before starting on this journey were almost incredible. +Every hour he had made decisions, for the most part successful, +concerning the adaptability of men whom he had only seen, for labours of +which he knew as little. He had preached continually. He had baptised +newcomers in the icy floods of the April stream. He had advised as to +the choice of lands and their manner of cultivation, as to the size and +form of houses. He had visited the sick and planned merry-makings for +the young. In addition to all this, even while preparing for the long +journey into an unknown region, he was busy learning three languages, +and was laying plans, not only for missionary campaigns that were to +spread over the whole earth, but for a new translation of the Old +Testament. If the better clothes that he had begun to wear sat somewhat +pompously upon him, if his manners now sometimes indicated an attempt +not only to be, but to appear, a prophet, such small affectations sank +out of sight in the light of such extraordinary ability.</p> + +<p>After Smith and Sydney Rigdon had started westward, Susannah went over +to console Emma. The prophet's wife was at that time living in a +building of which the front part was the general store whence the +material needs of the growing church were as far as possible provided. +Susannah passed through between bales of cloths, boxes, and barrels of +provisions. It was dusk; a young man who served in the store carried a +candle before her, and the odd-shaped piles of merchandise threw strange +moving shadows upon the low beams of the roof and walls. The young man +held the candle to light the way up a straight staircase. "Mis' Smith," +he shouted, "here's Mis' Halsey come to see you."</p> + +<p>At the top of the staircase Susannah was met by a cooing, creeping baby, +who beat with its little fist upon a wicket gate fencing off the stair.</p> + +<p>"It was the last thing he did before setting out, to nail that gate +together and fasten it up with his own hands, so as I wouldn't need +always to be running after the young one, lest he should fall down the +stair." It was Emma Smith who spoke; she emerged dishevelled and tearful +from an upper room. "When he has so much to think about and all, and +Elder Rigdon waiting for him at the office till he'd finished. Mr. +Smith, he's always so kind, and he knew as that would be the thing as +would give me the most help of anything."</p> + +<p>Emma subsided again into tears—tears that were the more touching to +Susannah because Emma was not like most women; she seldom wept.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean to give way," Emma continued, "but if it was your husband +as had gone, you'd know how it was, and it's the first time I've ever +been separate from him so long."</p> + +<p>Susannah sat down with the child in her arms. When the question was +brought home to her she did not believe that temporary separation from +Halsey would cause her tears.</p> + +<p>Emma began again with an effort at self-control. "It's a long way to +Jackson County, quite across Missouri. It's all Elder Rigdon's doing, +his going just now."</p> + +<p>Susannah found something that she could say here in agreement. "It may +be wrong, but I—I don't like Elder Rigdon."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course the way he believed, and all his congregation, when the +word was first preached to them makes Joseph think that he must be full +of grace. Ye know, to see Joseph when he's quite by himself, ye'd be +surprised to see how desponding he is by nature. He's that desponding he +was real surprised, real right down taken by surprise, when he heard +that Mr. Rigdon, so clever a minister as he was, and of the Campbellites +too, had been baptized and a hundred and twenty-seven of his +congregation with him. (That was first off, and ye know how many he's +brought in since.) He could hardly believe it; he says, 'It seems as if +I hadn't any faith at all.' And that night he couldn't sleep, but just +walked up and down, and two revelations came to him before morning, and +one of them addressed to Rigdon, so Joseph knows of course he's got the +right thing in him. Then his education, too; he's got a sight more +education than Cowdery. Joseph thinks a deal of education."</p> + +<p>"I don't like him." Susannah sat upright; her hands were busy with the +baby upon her knee.</p> + +<p>"Well, I dunno." Emma spoke meditatively. "It said in one of Joseph's +revelations that we should dwell together in love."</p> + +<p>Susannah laughed; it was a bright, trilling laugh, and filled the large, +low room with its sudden music. It almost seemed like a light in the +growing darkness.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll light up," said Emma, "it'll be more cheerful."</p> + +<p>Susannah was still playing with the baby, and Emma looked at her +critically. "Joseph thinks a great deal of you, Mrs. Halsey; he's told +ye to teach school?"</p> + +<p>"I have got more time than most of the women, and my husband can afford +to hire a school-room."</p> + +<p>"'Tain't that," said Emma decidedly, "it's the same thing as makes ye +say that you don't talk to any of the other folks except in a civil way. +Ye're a bit above all the rest of us ladies in the way ye hold yerself +and the way ye speak. I guess it comes of yer father's folks having been +somebody, and then being so clever at books—ye see, Joseph sees all +that; there ain't anything that he doesn't see."</p> + +<p>Susannah perceived that there was something behind this. "You're not +vexed, are you?"</p> + +<p>Emma continued with more hesitation in her tones. "No, I'm not vexed. +Why should I be? And besides I like you and Mr. Halsey better than any +of the folks, although I couldn't let it be known."</p> + +<p>"There's something that you are thinking about."</p> + +<p>Emma sighed deeply; her mien faltered; she subsided again into her seat +by the wall and into tears. "It's only that I feel that Joseph's getting +to be such a great man. Why, there's more than a thousand folks now +looking to him all the time to be told what to do, and thousands more +drawing in, and Joseph beginning to wear the kid gloves whenever he goes +on the street."</p> + +<p>There was an interval of sighs and suppressed sobs.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you glad? I thought you were glad about it."</p> + +<p>"I declare papa and mamma were just wild when I ran away and married +Joseph, because they said that he was a low fellow, and poor, and not +good enough for me, and now—and now—I begin to feel that I'm not good +enough for him."</p> + +<p>Susannah went over and sat beside her, chiding indignantly. "You know +very well that nobody could be the same help to him that you are, and +you know very well that there's nobody in the world that he thinks so +much of as you." She did not say all she thought. She considered Emma to +be Smith's superior, but that opinion would have given acute pain.</p> + +<p>The young church worked upon Smith's principles of thrift, temperance, +and co-operation, and Kirtland rapidly assumed the proportions of a +town. Susannah became the mistress of the children's school. Smith was a +good economist; although he helped the needy, nothing that his converts +could pay for was given to them for nothing. Hence it was that +Susannah's private purse was well filled with tuition fees.</p> + +<p>She had already in mind what she would do with this money; she would +write to the booksellers in Boston who fulfilled Ephraim's orders, and +obtain from them some of the books whose names she remembered to have +seen on his shelves. She knew nothing of their contents, she hardly +knew whether she wanted them more for the sake of their contents or for +their familiar appearance, but she thought that if she did not +understand them when reading, she could write to Ephraim and ask for an +explanation. She could not think of any other excuse for writing to him +again. It had taken her a good many months to think of this one.</p> + +<p>Halsey, who had learned to drop the Quaker forms of speech when speaking +to others, still, moved by the remembrances of his early home, used them +in speech to Susannah. He inquired somewhat anxiously concerning the +proposed purchase.</p> + +<p>"Dost think that they will contain what the prophet has called 'sound +learning,' and that there will be nothing in them to distract thy soul?"</p> + +<p>"How can I tell when I do not know what is in them?" She did not speak +with impatience.</p> + +<p>"Art wise, dear heart, in this longing?" he asked wistfully.</p> + +<p>Then he carried away her order and despatched it.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Smith had returned from Missouri, his mind filled and, +as it were, enlarged by the new land which he said was appointed by +revelation as the site of the New Jerusalem. Jackson County, on the +south bank of the Missouri River, was the place. He had already gathered +four or five hundred new converts there, and he was now possessed with +the desire for money to build the new city, and for a million proselytes +to dwell in it. In spite of this, after sending out new relays of +missionaries in all directions, he settled down to the most sober +routine of study. Hebrew was the new language he wished to acquire, and +he felt the call to revise the Old Testament.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIa" id="CHAPTER_IIa"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>Only one unusual incident occurred in Susannah's presently peaceful +life. One day in the golden October she set out to walk some distance up +the valley of the Chagrin River. The object of the walk was a visit to +one of the outlying farmhouses occupied by a family of the Saints; but +Susannah, as was her wont, found more joy in the walk than in the visit. +When she had passed beyond the meeting of the waters, the valley lay +long before her, about a mile in width and quite flat. The stream was +scarcely seen; the ground was covered with flowery weeds, white asters +with their myriad tiny stars, the pale seed feathers of the golden rod, +high grasses, and wild things innumerable which had been turned brown +and gray by the autumn sun, pink clumps of the rice weed, and small +groves of the scarlet stalks of the wild buckwheat. This level sea of +weeds stood so high that when she threaded the narrow path they reached +above her waist. The bees in the white asters were humming as they hum +in apple bloom. The blue jays were calling and flying in low horizontal +flights. The valley stretched to the south-east, then curved; a little +mountain barred the view, upon whose pine-trees the distant air began to +tinge with blue. On the curving bluffs on either side the trees stood in +stately crowds; hardly a leaf had fallen, except from the golden +walnut-trees; the colour of the foliage was for the most part like the +plumage of some green southern bird, iridescence of gold and red shot +through. To her right, where a part of the long hill had been cleared of +trees, the sun shone upon bare gullies in the soap-stone cliffs, making +the colour of that particular brown bit of earth very vivid. Everywhere +a soft autumn haze was lying, and above white clouds were swinging +across the pale blue sky.</p> + +<p>After threading the valley path for a mile Susannah was ascending the +bluff to get to the level of the upper farms, when, much to her +surprise, she came, as once before upon the hill Cumorah, upon Joseph +Smith. He was lying under a group of giant walnut-trees, whose boles +were sheltered from the road by a natural hedge of red dogwood and +brambles. He had apparently been occupied at his devotions, but she only +saw him arising hastily. This time there was no peep-stone; it had long +since been discarded. The prophet had a Bible in his hand, and it was +evident that he had been weeping. It was in those lands the habit of +religious men of all sects to make oratories of the woods. Susannah's +only desire was to pass and leave him undisturbed, but he spoke.</p> + +<p>He began severely, "Sister Susannah Halsey, it is not meet that a woman +should stray so far from home and without companions."</p> + +<p>For a moment Susannah stood abashed. Unaccustomed to censure, she +supposed that she must have done wrong. "I have walked this way before," +she began meekly, "but if—" She stopped here, her own judgment in the +matter beginning to assert itself.</p> + +<p>The prophet had forgotten his reproof. At all times his conversation was +apt to reveal that sudden changes of mental phase took place within him +apparently without conscious volition. He now exclaimed with more modest +mien, "It is, no doubt, by the will of the Lord that you are come, for I +stood in sore need of comfort, for the revelation of the truth is a +trial hard to endure, and at times very bitter."</p> + +<p>"Is it?" asked Susannah intently. It was impossible but that her long +curiosity should find some vent, and yet she shrank inwardly from her +own prying.</p> + +<p>The prophet leaned against a huge bole. The ground at his feet was +covered with yellow walnut leaves and the olive-coloured nuts. The +sunlight fell upon him in patches of yellow light. He opened the Bible, +turning over the leaves of the Old Testament as if making a rapid survey +of its history in his mind.</p> + +<p>"Sister Halsey," he began, "when the favour of the Lord rested chiefly +upon the Jewish nation, at the times of the patriarchs and David, and +when Solomon, arrayed in all his glory and in the greatness of his +wisdom, reigned from Dan to Beersheba, mustn't those have been the times +when the people walked most closely with the Lord?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so, Mr. Smith."</p> + +<p>"It is not enough to suppose, Sister Halsey, for it is clearly written +that when the Jews went contrary to the will of the Lord they were given +over into the hands of their enemies."</p> + +<p>Susannah endeavoured to give a more unqualified assent.</p> + +<p>"Sister Halsey, there has come to my soul in reading this book in these +last days a word, and I know not if it be the word of the Lord or no."</p> + +<p>She saw with astonishment that his whole frame was trembling now. She +began to realise that he was truly in trouble, whether because of the +greatness of the revelation or because of private distress she could not +tell. She became more pitiful.</p> + +<p>"I hope you are well, Mr. Smith, and that Emma is well. There is nothing +to really distress you, is there?"</p> + +<p>In hearing the increased gentleness of her tone he seemed to find a more +easy expression for his pent-up feeling. "It's come upon me in a very +cutting way, truly as the prophets said like a two-edged sword, and at +the time too when I was inquiring of the Lord concerning—" He stopped +here, and she felt that his manner grew more confidential, but he did +not look at her, his eyes sought the ground—"concerning a matter which +has given me no little heart searching." He stopped again, she listening +with a good deal of interest.</p> + +<p>"It's come to me to observe that among the chosen people—there ain't no +gainsayin' it, Sister Halsey, though I trust you to be discreet and not +mention the matter, but in the days when the divine favour rested on +Israel each man had more than one wife; and the Lord Himself says He +give them to Solomon, the only objection being to heathen partners."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean, Mr. Smith, that I'm not to mention what everybody knows +already, that in the Old Testament times polygamy was practised?"</p> + +<p>The now entire lack of sympathy in her tone affected him as an +intentional act of rudeness would affect an ordinary man. The tissue of +his mind, which had relaxed into confidence, grew visibly firmer. He +assumed the teaching tone.</p> + +<p>"No, Mrs. Halsey, the only thing that I asked you not to mention was +that I had any light of revelation on a point on which most of our minds +is already made up."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Smith, you can't possibly be in the slightest doubt but that it +would be very wicked for any man now to have more than one wife."</p> + +<p>"I've heard a great many of the ministers who in times past, in the time +of our bondage we heard and believed, say as it would be very wicked for +any one nowadays to take God at His word and expect Him to do a miracle +or heal the sick; but I've come to the conclusion, Mrs. Halsey, that it +isn't a question of what we in our ignorance and prejudice might think +wicked, but it's a question of what's taught in this book, looked at +without the eye of prejudice and tradition. What we call civilisation is +too often devilisation—<i>devilisation</i>, Mrs. Halsey."</p> + +<p>He tapped the book. He was becoming oratorical. "The idea of one wife +came in with the Romans. 'Twas no institution of Jehovah, Mrs. Halsey."</p> + +<p>Susannah, more accustomed to his oratorical vein than to private +conference, became now more frank and at ease.</p> + +<p>"You said you didn't know that the idea was from the Lord, Mr. Smith, +and I don't think it is. I don't think you'll entertain it very long, +and I don't think, if you did, many of the Saints would stay in your +church."</p> + +<p>She bade him good-day, and went on up the slope. When she was walking +along the brink of the bluff in the open beyond the nut-trees she heard +him call. He came after her with hastened gait, Bible still in hand. She +was surprised to find that what he had to say was very simple, but not +the less dignified for that.</p> + +<p>"I sometimes think, Sister Halsey, that you look down on us all as if we +weren't good enough for you, although you're too kindly to let it be +seen. According to the ways of the world, of course, it's so. If I'm as +rough and uneducated as most of our folks, at least I can think in my +mind what it would be not to be rough, and I can think sometimes how it +all seems to you."</p> + +<p>His words appealed directly to strong private feeling which had no +outlet. While she stood seeking a reply the natural power that he had of +working upon the feelings of others, vulgarly called magnetism, so far +worked in connection with his words that tears came to her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I don't often think about my old life," she said with brief pathos.</p> + +<p>Smith was looking at the ground, as a huge, shy boy might stand when +anxious to express sympathy of which he was somewhat ashamed. "I know it +must be a sort of abiding trial to you." After a moment he added, "I +wouldn't like to make it worse by having you think that I was goin' to +preach any strange doctrine. I'd sometimes give a good deal if the Lord +would raise me up a friend that I could speak to concerning the lights +that come to me that I know that it wouldn't do to speak of in the +public congregations, because of their upsetting nature, and likewise +because I doubt concerning their meaning. And of this matter there was +no thought in my mind to speak in public, for it is for the future to +declare whether it be of the darkness or of the light; but to you I +spoke, almost unwittingly, and perhaps in disobedience to the dictates +of wisdom."</p> + +<p>He looked at her wistfully.</p> + +<p>Susannah leaned her arm upon the topmost log of the snake fence and +looked down the slope. His insight into her own trials caused her to +sympathise with him in spite of his absurdity. She made an honest effort +to assist him to self-analysis. She said, "A great many things come into +our minds at times, Mr. Smith, that seem important, but, as you say, if +we do not speak about them, afterwards we see that they are silly. Of +course with you, if you think some of your thoughts are revelations, it +must make you often fancy that the others may be very important too, but +it does not follow that they are, and, as you say, time will weed them +out if you are trying to do right." She wondered if he would resent her +<i>ifs</i>. She stood looking down the bank in the short silence that +followed, feeling somewhat timorous. The steep ground was covered with +the feathery sprays of asters, seen through a velvety host of gray +teasles which grew to greater height. Through the teasles the white and +purple flowers showed as colours reflected in rippled water—rich, soft, +vague in outline. At one side, by an old stump, there was a splendid +feather, yellow and green, of fading golden rod; yellow butterflies, +that looked as if they had dyed their wings in the light reflected from +this flower, repeated its gold in glint and gleam over all the gray +hillside, shot with the white and the blue. At the foot of the bank lay +the flat valley, and from this vantage ground the river could be seen. +The soft musical chat of its waters ascended to her ears, and among the +huge bronze-leafed nut-trees, whose shelter she had just left, the +woodpeckers were tapping and whistling to one another.</p> + +<p>At length Smith sighed deeply, but without affectation. "Yes, I reckon +that's a good deal how it is. It ain't easy, Mrs. Halsey—I hope in your +thoughts when judgin' of me you'll always remember that it ain't easy to +be a prophet."</p> + +<p>When he had gone, Susannah found herself laughing, but for Halsey's sake +the laughter was akin to tears.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIIa" id="CHAPTER_IIIa"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>Ohio was being quickly settled. Within a few miles of Kirtland, +Cleveland and Paynesville were rising on the lake shore, and to the +south there were numerous villages; but the society of the Saints at +Kirtland was especially prosperous, and so sudden had been the increase +of its numbers and its wealth that the wonder of the neighbouring +settlers gave birth to envy, and envy intensified their religious +hatred. Twice before Smith had left Fayette he had been arrested and +brought before a magistrate, accused of committing crimes of which the +courts were unable to convict him. Now the same spirit gave rise to the +same accusations against his followers. About this time webs of cloth +were taken from a woollen mill near Paynesville, and several horses were +also stolen. The Mormons, whether guilty or not, were accused by common +consent of the orthodox and irreligious part of the community. Hatred of +the adherents of the new sect began to rise in all the neighbouring +country, as a ripple rises on the sea when the wind begins to blow; the +growing wave broke here and there in little ebullitions of wrath, and +still gained strength until it bid fair to surge high.</p> + +<p>About Christmas time there were a number of cases of illness in +Kirtland. Joseph Smith healed one woman, who appeared to be dying, by +merely taking her by the hand, after praying, and commanding her to get +up. After that he went about with great confidence to others who were +stricken, and in many cases health seemed to return with remarkable +celerity. It is hard to understand why the report of this, going abroad +with such addition as gossip gives, should have greatly added to the +rage of the members of other religious sects. Perhaps they supposed that +the prophet arrogated to himself powers that were even more than +apostolic. They threatened violence to Kirtland on the prophet's +account, so that before the new year he took Emma and the child and +established himself with them in an obscure place called Hiram, some +twenty miles to the south. Sydney Rigdon, who by this time was, under +the prophet, the chief leader of the Saints, went also to Hiram to be +beside him. Smith was toiling night and day to produce a new version of +the Hebrew Scriptures, believing that he was taught by inspiration to +correct errors in them. Rigdon was scribe and reviser. These two being +absent from Kirtland, responsibility and work without limit rested again +with Angel Halsey.</p> + +<p>With unsatisfied affections and thoughts wholly perplexed, Susannah +beheld the days of the new year lengthening. Then she fell into the +weakness, to which humanity is prone, of hoping eagerly for some +external circumstance that should lighten the inner darkness. A bit of +stray news one day came to her with the shock of an apparent fulfilment +of her vague expectation. Finney was passing through that part of the +country preaching. Of all human beings she had ever met, this remarkable +evangelist most impressed her as a man who had intimate dealing, awful, +yet friendly, with an unseen power. She had no sooner heard that he was +within reach than her mind leaped to the determination to hear him +preach and speak with him again. She would lay her difficulties before +him; she would hear from him more intelligence concerning the home which +she had left than a thousand letters could convey.</p> + +<p>It was March now. The winter's snow was gone. Finney, as it chanced, was +to come as near to Kirtland as the village of Hiram. Susannah spoke to +her husband.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear that Mr. Finney was going to preach at Hiram?"</p> + +<p>She stood turning from the white spread table in the centre of the room. +The morning light was shining on the satin surface of the planed maple +wood with which walls and ceiling were lined. Halsey was putting on his +boots to go out to his day's round of business and pastoral work. He +knew just as well as if she had explained it to him that a great deal +lay behind what she said. He fell to wondering at once what she could +want. Was it to send a message to the old home by the man whose very +name must recall all its memories?</p> + +<p>"I want to go and hear him preach," Susannah went on.</p> + +<p>Halsey was disturbed. "Thou canst not really have such a desire," he +said severely.</p> + +<p>"Why not? A great deal that he preaches is just the same as what you +preach, Angel."</p> + +<p>He saw that she was in a turbulent mood, and that grieved him; but as +for her request, he could not believe it to be serious.</p> + +<p>"Thou art speaking idle words," he said with a sigh, and he rose to go +out.</p> + +<p>"You have not answered me. Why shouldn't I hear him when you agree that +much that he says is true?"</p> + +<p>"He is in the camp of those whom Satan has stirred up to do us injury. +That which thou callest truth in his mouth is but the form of godliness, +for it is clear that if God be with those who fight against us he cannot +be with us."</p> + +<p>Something in the expression of her face brought him now a more distinct +feeling of alarm. His nature was singularly direct. He had scarcely +finished his meditative argument ere he sought to clinch its purport, +and, stepping near, he laid his hand gently upon her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou doubt, Susannah, that God is with us?"</p> + +<p>The crimson colour mounted from her cheeks and spread over her white +brow. It was as if Angel had asked what he never had asked, whether she +loved him or not, whether all her thoughts and feelings were loyal. She +knew that for him there was no line of separation between life and love, +and love and religion. She was careful for him always, as a mother is +for a delicate child, as a sick nurse is for a patient. She could not +have endured to give him the pain of hearing her denial, even if such +denial would have expressed her attitude truly.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Angel, I—I know that you—" she faltered.</p> + +<p>The trouble in his face was growing. "Has not <i>God</i> made the signs of +his presence clear to us, and even visible before our eyes? If thou +shouldst deny the outward signs, is it not by his grace that we live? +Susannah, dost thou think that it is in me by nature to bear with the +infirmities and murmurings of our people as I bear with them +daily—babes as they are, learning, but not yet having learned, to live +at peace with one another? Or dost thou think that it is in me to +forgive daily the outrageous acts and words of our enemies, trying as +they do to injure our innocent brothers, or even our prophet himself? +Yet, Susannah" (his voice was stirred with emotion), "I would bear +witness to thee that every day, as I pray, the anger is taken out of my +heart, and I can deal with these very men in the spirit of love."</p> + +<p>Standing erect before him, confused and distressed, she made another +effort to soothe, even taking his hand from her shoulder and trying to +caress it between her own, but so tense was the question in his mind +that his fingers were limp and unresponsive to her touch.</p> + +<p>"I know all that you would say, Angel; I know that you are good; I know +that our people, although they have many faults, are trying to do right, +and I believe that the people in other sects around us are far more +wicked, but—Mr. Finney is not like that."</p> + +<p>"Dear heart, thou knowest well that there is no goodness but that which +comes from above, and although this Mr. Finney may have a show of +goodness, as thou or I might have in his place, yet what avail can his +preaching be if God be not with him? So what show of goodness he has +only aideth the devil; for how can it be possible, when two armies are +encamped one against another, that God can fight upon both sides? Is +Christ divided?"</p> + +<p>A loud knock came to the outer door; Elder Halsey was late in getting to +his work; men were waiting for him. He let the sound of the raps die +away before he answered them; his searching look was upon her face, +hungering for some assurance that his words had met and slain her +doubts. Then he was forced to leave her.</p> + +<p>It was easy for Susannah to obtain a horse to go to the village of +Hiram. When the day of Finney's preaching came, after her husband had +gone to his afternoon work, she rode out of Kirtland.</p> + +<p>Since she had made up her mind to disobey she had said nothing further +to Angel. Why inflict upon him the painful attempt to hinder her which +his conscience would demand?</p> + +<p>The last snow-wreath had faded, but there was not as yet a bud or blade +of perfect green. The valley of the Chagrin lay almost hueless in the +cold sunshine. A light wind was blowing over its levels of standing +weeds, and whispering in the bare arms of the huge nut-trees upon its +bluffs.</p> + +<p>When the sun began to sink, Susannah had reached the low rolling ground +that surrounds Hiram. The landscape here had a less distinctive +character, and there was no vapour in the sky to make the sunset +beautiful. She was weary of her horse's rough trot, and still more so of +its slow plodding, but she felt excitement. She had conquered those +forces, part of her womanhood, which urged compliance with her husband's +desire and her own desire to abide by the homely routine whatever it +might be. The thing that she had done seemed so large that her +imagination told her that the event must justify it.</p> + +<p>She had no thought of concealment. She knew only the two families in the +village of Hiram. Her plan was to go first to the Rigdons and ask for +refreshment, thence to the meeting, and after that to ask for the +night's lodging which she knew that Emma Smith would not refuse.</p> + +<p>In the village she saw that people were moving about and talking with an +air of excitement. When she turned to a quiet corner and asked an +elderly man for Mrs. Rigdon's house, he stared at her as if at an +apparition.</p> + +<p>"Is it Sydney Rigdon's wife that you're wanting?"</p> + +<p>Susannah had raised her veil, and he looked at her face with the +greatest curiosity. Flushed with exercise, braced by the sharp air, her +colour was brilliant and her eyes sparkling. Her plain dress and heavy +veil appeared to the man to be a disguise, so surprising to him was the +brilliancy of her face and the modulation of her voice.</p> + +<p>"Do you not know where the Rigdons live?" she asked.</p> + +<p>He was chewing tobacco, and now he spat upon the ground, not rudely, but +as performing an habitual action in a moment of abstracted thought. "Oh, +I know well enough, but if ye won't mind my saying a word to ye, young +lady, I'd advise ye to put up somewhere else. I've got darters of my +own—in course I don't know who ye may be or what ye may be doing +here." This last was added in an apparent attempt to attain to some +suspicion that he felt to be reasonable.</p> + +<p>"You think ill of them because you despise their sect," she said gently, +"but I am the wife of one of the elders."</p> + +<p>"Have ye got hold of some news that ye're carrying to them?" He evinced +a sudden interest that appeared to her extraordinary.</p> + +<p>"What news?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>I</i> don't know. I jest thought 'twas queer, if you'd got hold of +anybody's secrets, that you should be asking where they lived, straight +out and open in the street like this."</p> + +<p>His words suggested to her only the idle fancies of prejudice. Some +other people drew near, and, dropping her veil, she was starting in the +direction in which he pointed when he spoke again in a more determined +voice. "You jest tell me one thing, will you?" He even laid his hand +upon her bridle with authority, "Are ye going to stop at Rigdons' all +night?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Sartin?"</p> + +<p>When he received her reply he let go the bridle, saying in warning +tones, "Well, see that ye don't do it, that's all."</p> + +<p>The incident left a disagreeable impression on Susannah's, mind, but she +did not attach any distinct meaning to it.</p> + +<p>Rigdon and his wife were both within. Rigdon locked the door when +Susannah had entered. Then with crossed arms, standing where he could +watch against intruders from the window, he began to tell her news of +import. His mother, who was an old woman, his wife, and some younger +members of the family, gathered round.</p> + +<p>The light fell sideways upon his thickset form and large hairy face. His +manner was the result of struggle between effort for heroic pose and an +almost overmastering alarm. His matter was the evil conduct of the +surrounding Gentiles toward the Saints. It seemed that in this and +neighbouring places, evangelistic meetings had been held in which +Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists had joined, and Rigdon averred +that the preachers had used threatening and abusive language with regard +to the Saints. A series of such meetings had begun in Hiram, small as it +was; and Joseph Smith, like a war-horse scenting the battle, had set +aside his arduous task of correcting the Old Testament and gone forth to +preach in the open air. At first he had been greeted only with derision +or pelted with mud, but in the last few days he had made and baptized +converts, and now the fury of the other sects was at white heat.</p> + +<p>Susannah's mind swiftly sifted out the improbabilities from Rigdon's +wrathful tale.</p> + +<p>"But the people that gather to such meetings as Mr. Finney holds are for +the most part awaked, for the time at least, to a higher Christian +life. It cannot be they who have used the vile language that you +repeat."</p> + +<p>She almost felt the disagreeable heat of Rigdon's breath as he threw out +in answer stories of coarse and brutal insult which had been heaped upon +himself and Smith. The large animal nature of this man always annoyed +her. There was much of breath in his words, much of physical sensation +always clinging to his thoughts. At present, however, she was not +inclined to judge him too hardly; although visibly unstrung, unwise in +his sweeping condemnation, coarse in his anger, and somewhat +grandiloquent in his pose, there was still much of real heroism in his +mental attitude. Braced by the fiercest party spirit, he stood staunch +in his loyalty to Smith and the cause, with no thought of yielding an +inch of ground to the oppressors.</p> + +<p>"I do not believe," repeated Susannah sturdily, "that it is the more +religious of the Gentiles who have said and done these things. I have +come here to-night to hear and to speak with Mr. Finney, whom I know to +be a very godly and patient man."</p> + +<p>"Why has he come here?" demanded Rigdon. "He who by his preaching can +gather thousands in populous places, why should he ride across this +thinly settled parcel of land, preaching to mere handfuls, if it is not +to denounce us? And he has not the courage to go nearer to the place +where the Saints are gathered in numbers. He will teach his hearers +first to ravage the few sheep that are scattered in the wilderness, that +by that they may gain courage even to attack the fold."</p> + +<p>Susannah drew upon herself their anger, and so strong was Rigdon's +physical nature that even his transient anger seemed to embody itself in +some sensible influence that went out from him and preyed upon her +nervous force.</p> + +<p>The night had fallen. A bell, the rare possession of the largest +meeting-house, had already begun to ring for Finney's preaching. +Susannah went out on foot. The Rigdons, as also the Smiths, were living +some way from the village. She had now a mile of dark road to traverse.</p> + +<p>Closely veiled, Susannah stepped onward eagerly. She felt like a child +going home. The scene which she had left showed up vividly the elements +of Mormon life that were most repulsive to her, the broad assumptions of +ignorance, the fierce beliefs born of isolation, and the growth by +indulgence of such animal characteristics as were not kept under by a +literal morality or enforced by privations. She was going to see a man +who could speak with the voice of the sober past, whose tones would +bring back to her the intellectual delicacies of Ephraim's conversation, +the broad, pure vision of life which he beheld, and the dignified +religion of his people.</p> + +<p>The meeting-house was of moderate size. It was already filled when +Susannah entered, but she was able to press down one of the passage-ways +between the pews and seat herself near the front, where temporary +benches were being rapidly set up.</p> + +<p>Many of the congregation had doubtless come as far as she. Men and women +of all ages, and even children, were there. Some, who it seemed had +followed Finney from his last place of preaching, were talking excitedly +concerning the work of God which he had wrought there. On every face +solemnity was written, and stories were being told of one and another +who in his recent meetings had "fallen under the power of God."</p> + +<p>When Finney ascended the pulpit Susannah forgot all else. The chapel was +not well lighted, but the pulpit lamps shone upon him. He had a smooth, +strong face; his complexion was healthy and weather-beaten; his dark +eyes flashed brightly under bushy brows. His manner was calm; his style, +even in prayer, was that of keen, terse argument; he spoke and behaved +like a man who, having spent the emotional side of his nature in some +private gust of passionate prayer, had come forth nerved to cool and +determined action.</p> + +<p>With her whole soul Susannah hung upon his every word, unreasonably +expecting to find some new and unforeseen solution to the problems of +her life. He had pointed out a straight path to multitudes; she hoped +that he could now show it to her.</p> + +<p>The power of Finney's preaching lay in its close logical reasoning, by +which, accepting certain premises, he built up the conclusion that if a +man would escape eternal punishment he must forsake his sin and accept +salvation by faith in the doctrine of the substitution. He began always +by speaking to the indifferent and the unconvinced; he led them step by +step, until it appeared that there was but one step between them and +destruction, and that faith must make one quick, long leap to gain the +safety of the higher plane, whose joys he depicted in glowing terms.</p> + +<p>For the most part there was intense silence in the congregation, +although sometimes an audible whisper of prayer or a groan of suppressed +emotion was heard. The infection of mental excitement was strong.</p> + +<p>Susannah was experiencing disappointment. Accustomed as she was to +excitement in the meetings of the Saints, her mind easily resisted the +infectious influence. Finney's teaching had not differed in any respect +from the doctrine which she heard from her husband daily, a doctrine +which she knew by experience did not save men from delusion and rancour. +She still listened eagerly to hear of some provision made in the scheme +of salvation against injustice and folly. Surely Finney would say +something more.</p> + +<p>As it happened he did say something more. When for more than an hour he +had explained the great plan of salvation he touched upon the +responsibility that the hearing of such conclusive reasoning imposed. +The sower had sown broadcast; it remained for him to speak with awful +impressiveness of those forces which would be arrayed against the +convicted soul. Under this head he referred at once and with deep +emotion to the devil, who, in the guise of false teachers lying in wait, +caught up the seed.</p> + +<p>There could be no doubt that the Mormon leaders were in his mind, as +they were in the mind of his congregation. It became swiftly evident to +Susannah that Finney was stirred by what he believed to be righteous +indignation, and that he was as content to be ignorant concerning the +doctrines and morals of the people against whom he spoke as were the +rudest members of the outside rabble who now pressed with excitement to +the open doors and windows.</p> + +<p>The righteous Finney had no thought of unrestrained violence. He spoke +out of that deep well of hatred for evil that is, and ought to be, in +every good man's heart, but he had not humbled himself to gain any real +insight into the mingling of good and evil.</p> + +<p>"They are liars, and they know that they are liars," said Finney, +striking the pulpit cushion. "The hypocrisy of their religion is proved +by the lawless habits of their daily lives. Having sold themselves to +the great enemy of souls, they lie in wait for you and for your +children, seeking to beguile the most tender and innocent, that they +may rejoice in their destruction."</p> + +<p>He used only such phrases as the thought of the time warranted with +regard to those who had been proved to be workers of iniquity, but to +Susannah it was clear, in one brief moment, what effect his words would +have when heard by, or reported to, more brutal men. She knew now that +Rigdon's words were true. The so-called Christian ministers, even the +noblest of them, stirred up the low spirit of party persecution.</p> + +<p>She rose suddenly, sweeping back her veil from her face. "I will go +out." She said the words in a clear voice.</p> + +<p>A way was made to a back door by the side of the pulpit. Every one +looked at her. Finney, going on with his preaching, recognised her as +she began to push forward, and he faltered, as if seeing the face of one +who had arisen from the dead. The excited audience felt the tremor that +passed over its leader; it was the first signal for such obvious nervous +affections as frequently befell people under his preaching; before +Susannah had reached the door a stalwart man fell as if dead in her +path.</p> + +<p>There was a groan and a whisper of awe all round. This was the "falling" +which was taken by many as an indubitable sign of the divine power. +Susannah had seen it often under Smith's preaching. She waited with +indifference until he was lifted up.</p> + +<p>Then the sea of faces around her, the powerful voice of the preacher +resounding above, passed away like a dream, and were exchanged for a +small room and a dim light, where two or three people were gathered +round the form of the insensible man. She escaped unnoticed through a +private door into the fields, where the March wind eddied in the black +night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IVa" id="CHAPTER_IVa"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>The house in which the Smiths lived was small. Susannah crossed a +field-path, led by a light in their window. In the living room a truckle +bed had already been made up. By the fire Joseph and Emma were both +occupied with two sick children. These children, twins of about a year, +had been taken out of pity at their mother's death, and Susannah was +told as she entered that they had been attacked by measles.</p> + +<p>Susannah found that the fact that she had been to the meeting had not +irritated the Smiths, although Mrs. Rigdon had called to make the most +of the story. Emma, absorbed in manifold cares for the children, was +only solicitous on Susannah's account lest a night's rest in that house +should be impossible. Smith, pacing with a child in his arms, seemed to +be head and shoulders above the level whose surface could be ruffled by +life's minor affairs. With the eye of his inner mind he was gazing +either at some lofty scheme of his own imagining, or at heaven or at +vacancy. All of him that was looking at the smaller beings about him was +composed and kind.</p> + +<p>One of the twins, less ill than the other, had fallen asleep in Emma's +arms. The other was wailing pitifully upon the prophet's breast.</p> + +<p>"Do you and Mrs. Halsey go in and lie down with that young un, Emmar, +and rest now for a bit while ye can."</p> + +<p>"I can't leave ye, Joseph, with the child setting out to cry all night +like that."</p> + +<p>But he had his way. Long after they had lain down in the inner room +Susannah heard him rocking the wailing babe, or trying to feed it, or +pacing the floor. Emma, worn out, slept beside her. Upstairs the owners +of the house, an old couple named Johnson, and Emma's own child, were at +rest.</p> + +<p>Susannah lay rigidly still in the small portion of the bed which fell to +her share. Her mind was up, wandering through waste places, seeking rest +in vain. The wail of the child in the next room at last had ceased. The +prophet had lain down with it on the truckle bed. Long after midnight +Susannah began to hear a low sound as of creeping footsteps in the +field. Some people were passing very near, surely they would go past in +a moment? She heard them brushing against the outer wall, and gleams of +a light carried fell upon the window.</p> + +<p>In a minute more the outer door of the house was broken open. Emma woke +with a cry; instinct, even in sleep, made her spring toward the door +that separated her from her husband.</p> + +<p>The two women stood in the inner doorway, but the coarse arm of a masked +man was already stretched across it, an impassable barrier. The prophet +lay on the child's bed, so heavy with sleep tardily sought that he did +not awake until four men had laid hold of him. All the light upon the +scene came from a smoking torch which one of the housebreakers held. +Some twenty men might have been there inside the room and out. The women +could barely see that Smith was borne out in the midst of the band. He +struggled fiercely when aroused, but was overpowered by numbers.</p> + +<p>The owners of the house came down from above, huddling together and +holding Emma, who would have thrown herself in the midst of the mob.</p> + +<p>Susannah had not undressed. She threw her cloak over her head and ran +out, determined to go to the village and demand help in the name of law +and a common humanity. She was in a mood to be reckless in aiding the +cause she had espoused.</p> + +<p>By the glow of the torch which the felons held she saw the group close +about the one struggling man as they carried him away. She fled in a +different direction.</p> + +<p>She had gone perhaps sixty rods in the darkness out of sight of Smith +and his tormentors when she was stopped by three men and her name and +purpose demanded. When she declared it in breathless voice they laughed +aloud. In the darkness she was deprived of that weapon, her beauty, by +which she habitually, although unconsciously, held men in awe.</p> + +<p>"Now, see here, sister, you jest sit quietly on the fence here, and see +which of them's going to get the best of it. Your man's a prophet, you +know; let him call out his miracles now, and give us a good show of them +for once. He's jest got a few ordinary men to deal with; if he and his +miracles can't git the best of them he ain't no prophet. Here's a +flattish log now on top. Git up and sit on the fence, sister."</p> + +<p>While she struggled in custody another group of dark figures came +suddenly at a swinging trot round the dark outline of one of the nearer +houses. They brought with them the same kind of lurid torch and a +smoking kettle or cauldron carried between two. The foremost among them +were also carrying the body of a man, whether dead or alive she could +not see. When he was thrown upon the ground he moved and spoke. It was +Rigdon's voice. She perceived that he was helpless with terror. The +prophet had certainly struggled more lustily.</p> + +<p>"Now you jest keep still, sister," said the loudest of her three +companions. "Kill him? not if ye don't make a mess of it by interferin'. +It's only boilin' tar they've got in the pot."</p> + +<p>Susannah covered her face with her hands; then, too frightened to +abstract her mind, she gazed again, as if her watchfulness might hinder +some outrage. The group was not near enough, the light was too +uncertain, for her to see clearly. The shadows of the men were cast +about upon field and wall as if horrible goblins surrounded and +overshadowed the more material goblins who were at work. They were +taking Rigdon's clothes from him. Their language did not come to her +clearly, but it was of the vilest sort, and she heard enough to make her +heart shiver and sicken. They held over him the constant threat that if +he resisted they would kill him outright. If Smith, too, were exposed to +such treatment she did not believe that he would submit, and perhaps he +was now being done to death not far off.</p> + +<p>When they began to beat Rigdon with rods and his screams rang out, +Susannah could endure no longer. She broke madly away from her keepers, +running back along the road towards Emma's house. They essayed to +follow; then with a laugh and a shrug let her go, calling to her to run +quick and see if the prophet had fetched down angels to protect him.</p> + +<p>Susannah ran a long way, then, breathless and exhausted, found that she +had missed a turning and gone much too far. Afraid lest she should lose +herself by mistaking even the main direction in which she wanted to go, +and that while out of reach of any respectable house she might again be +assailed by members of the mob, she came back, walking with more +caution. She had no hope now of being the means of bringing help. She +had come farther from the village instead of nearing it, and what few +neighbours there were, having failed to interfere, were evidently +inimical.</p> + +<p>When she found the right turning she again heard the shouts of some +assaulting party, and, creeping within the shadow of trees, she waited.</p> + +<p>At length they passed her, straggling along the road, shouting and +singing, carrying with them some garments which, in rough horse-play, +they were tearing into fragments. When the last had turned his back to +where she stood she crept out, running again like a hunted thing, +fearing what she might find as the result of their work. To increase her +distress the thought came that it was more than possible that like work +had been going on at Kirtland that night. Tears of unutterable +indignation and pitiful love came to her eyes at the thought that Angel, +too, might be suffering this shameful treatment. Across some acres of +open ground she saw the Smiths' house, doors and windows lit by candles. +Thither she was hastening when, in the black space of the nearer field, +she almost fell upon a whitish form, grotesque and horrible, which was +rising from the ground.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked Joseph Smith.</p> + +<p>He stood up now, but not steadily; his voice was weak, as if he had +been stunned, and his utterance indistinct because his mouth had +apparently received some injury. She thought of nothing now but that he +was Angel's master, and that Angel might be in like plight.</p> + +<p>"What have they done? What is the matter?" she whispered tenderly, tears +in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Is it you?" he asked curiously. He said nothing for a minute and then, +"They've covered me with the tar and emptied a feather-bed on me. If +ye'd have the goodness to tell Brother Johnson to come out to me, Mrs. +Halsey—"</p> + +<p>"They have hurt you other ways," she said tremulously, "you are +bruised."</p> + +<p>"A man don't like to own up to having been flogged, ye see; but Peter +and Paul and all of <i>them</i> had to stand it in their time, so I don't +know why a fellow like me need be shamefaced over it. But if you'd be +good enough, Mrs. Halsey, to go and tell Emmar that I ain't much hurt, +and send Brother Johnson out with some clothes or a blanket—"</p> + +<p>He stopped without adding that he would feel obliged. As she went she +heard him say with another sort of unsteadiness in his tone, "It's real +kind of you to care for me that much."</p> + +<p>In her excitement she did not know that she was weeping bitterly until +she found herself surrounded by other shuddering and weeping women in +Emma's room; for other of the converts in Hiram, hearing of the violence +abroad, had crept to this house for mutual safety and aid.</p> + +<p>It is the low, small details of physical discomfort that make the +bitterest part of the bread of sorrow. Now and afterwards, through all +the persecutions in which she shared, Susannah often felt this. If she +could have stood off and looked at the main issues of the battle she +might have felt, even on the mere earthly plane, exaltation. Yet one +truth her experience confirmed—that no human being who in his time and +way has been hunted as the offscouring of the world—no, not the +noblest—has ever had his martyrdom presented in a form that seemed to +him majestic. It is only those who bear persecution, not in its reality +but in imagination, who can conceive of it thus.</p> + +<p>All night the women were crowded together in the small inner room with +the two sick babes, while Emma and two of the brethren performed the +painful operation of taking the tar from Smith's lacerated skin. The +prophet bore himself well. Now and then, through the thin partition the +watchers heard an involuntary groan, but he was firm in his +determination to be clean of the pitch, and to preach as he had +appointed the next day.</p> + +<p>At dawn Susannah went to get her horse at Rigdon's house. The animal was +safe. When she had saddled it she inquired after the welfare of those +within the house. Rigdon was raving in delirium. He had, it seemed, been +dragged for some distance by his heels, his head trailing over stony +ground. They had not been able to remove the tar and feathers. He lay +upon a small bed in horrible condition. His wife, with swollen eyes and +pallid face, was sitting helpless upon the foot of the bed, worn out +with vain efforts to soothe him. His mother, a thin and dark old woman, +vibrating with anathemas against his tormentors, led Susannah in and out +of the room silently, as though to say, "This is the work of those whose +virtue you extolled."</p> + +<p>The village, the low rolling hills about it, lay still in the glimmer of +dawn. The men of violence were sleeping as soundly, it seemed, as +innocence may sleep. The famous preacher, and all those souls that he +had thrilled through and through for good and evil, were now wrapped in +silence. Susannah rode fast, guiding her horse on the grass by the +roadside lest the sound of his hoofs should arouse some vicious mind to +renewed wrath. Her imagination, possessed by the scenes of the past +night, presented to her lively fear for Halsey's safety. She gave her +horse no peace; she thought nothing of her own fatigue until she had +reached the Chagrin valley, and the walls of the Mormon temple which was +being reared upon Kirtland Bluff were seen glistening in the sunlight, +with the familiar outline of the wooden town surrounded by gray wreaths +of the leafless nut woods. It was high day, and the people were +gathering for morning service when Susannah rode her jaded horse through +the street of the lower village and up the hill of the Bluff.</p> + +<p>As she lifted the latch of her own door Angel was about to come out to +preach. His face was very white and sad. Susannah's glad relief, +fatigue, and excitement found vent in tears.</p> + +<p>"You are safe!" she cried. "Oh, my dear, I will never leave you again +while danger is near—never, never again!"</p> + +<p>In the evening of that day further news came from Hiram. The prophet had +preached long and gloriously in the open air. New converts had been +made, and he himself, scarified and bruised as he was, had gone down +into the icy river and baptized them in sight of all. The mob had +shrieked and jeered, but had been withheld by God, as the messenger +said, from further violence.</p> + +<p>Susannah made no further effort to find new life in the old doctrines. +All her sentiments of justice and mercy combined to make her espouse her +husband's cause with renewed ardour.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_Va" id="CHAPTER_Va"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p>In the summer of that same year, while the wheat in the Manchester +fields was still green, and the maize had attained but half its growth, +while the ox-eyed daisies still stood a happy crowd in the unmown +meadows, and pink and yellow orchids blazed in unfrequented dells, the +preacher Finney, after long absence, chanced to be again travelling on +the Palmyra road. As was his habit, he sought entertainment at the house +of Deacon Croom in New Manchester.</p> + +<p>The preacher remembered always that his citizenship was in heaven. From +the thought he drew great nourishment of peace and hope, but as far as +his earthly affairs were concerned the outlook was at present grievous.</p> + +<p>He was returning from a long and dreary religious convention held in an +eastern town, where one, Mr. Lyman Beecher, had stirred up against him +the foremost divines of New York and Boston. They had asserted that +Finney's doctrine, that the Spirit of God could suddenly turn men from +following evil to pursuing good, was false and pernicious; that his +method stirred up the people to unholy excitements which were productive +of great evil. Now the accusations of these divines (who, thinking that +a man's change of mind must needs be so slow a thing, some of them, +gray-haired, had not as yet produced this change in a single sinner) +were in many points wholly false, in many exaggerated, and where the +article of truth remained in the accusation there was much to be said in +defence of work that had resulted, if in some evil, certainly in much +palpable good. To such groups of priests and soldiers and publicans as +came forth to John's baptism of repentance, the godly Finney, travelling +now east and now west, had appealed, and that the wide land was the +better for the crying of his voice no candid person who knew the result +of his labours could deny. He that had two coats had imparted to him +that had none; the extortioner had returned his unfair gains, and some +rough men had become gentle. But in the assembly from which Finney had +just come the larger numbers and the greater power of rhetoric had been +on that side which appeared to show least faith in God and least zeal +for men, and Finney had come out from the combat bruised in spirit.</p> + +<p>Some natural comfort the weary man experienced from the sweet charm of +the summer afternoon, from anticipation of the welcome and sympathy +which would soon be his. He heard, but could not see, the Canandaigua +water as it ran under its canopy of willows, over whose foliage the +light wind passed in silver waves. On the height of the hill above the +mill-dam he turned his horse into the yard of the Croom homestead. The +stalwart deacon in overalls, his excitable, slender wife, her +cap-strings flying, came forth, the one from the barn, the other from +her bake-house.</p> + +<p>It was not to either of these worthy souls that Finney intended first to +confide the story of his glimpse of Susannah. It said much for the +sterling truth of this man's soul that, accustomed as he was to demand +from himself and others public confession of those experiences most +private to the individual soul, he had not lost delicacy of feeling or +reverence for individual privacy in human relationships. He had not been +at this house since the month after Susannah's departure, when +excitement and wrath still raged concerning her. He judged that in the +hearts of the older members the wound had healed, leaving only the +healthy scar that such sorrows leave in busy lives. He knew, too, that +in Ephraim's heart the blade of this grief had cut deeper.</p> + +<p>The supper over, the full moon already gilding the last hour of the +summer daylight, Ephraim donned his hat to take the solitary evening +stroll to which he had become accustomed. He thought to leave the trio +who were in complete accord of sentiment to talk longer over the +persecution which Finney endured, but on the little brick path between +the flower-beds the evangelist came up with him.</p> + +<p>Ephraim was but half pleased. It was in this brief evening hour that he +set his thoughts free, like children at playtime. Like other students +forced to live in invalidish habits, he had established a rule of +thought more strict than men of active callings need. At certain hours +he would study his country's social, political needs; at others he would +help in his father's farm management; at others he would study some +exact science. But when the measured hours of his day were over, and +before he lit his student's lamp, for a while he turned his fancies +loose, and they ran all too surely to play about Susannah's charms, +about the circumstances of her life. This was not his happiest hour. The +eternal advantage of love was lost for the time in its present distress. +Hateful thoughts were the results of this self-indulgence, yet he hated +more anything that came as interruption. During these years the lover in +him had not grown what the world calls wise.</p> + +<p>For some minutes Finney, controlling the briskness of his ordinary pace, +walked by Ephraim's side and contented himself with the gracious scene, +passing remarks upon weather and crops. Soon, for the value of time +always pressed upon him, his business-like voice took a softened tone, +and he began preaching a heart-felt sermon to his one listener.</p> + +<p>The subject of the sermon was "the fire God gave for other ends," and he +ventured to point out to Ephraim, in his plain, logical way, that it was +wrong to waste on a woman that devotion which God intends only himself.</p> + +<p>Ephraim smiled; it was a good-tempered, buoyant smile. "Did it ever +occur to you, Finney, to reflect that, with your opinions, had you been +the Creator, you would never have made the world as it is made? What +time would you ever have thought it worth while to spend in developing +the iridescence on a beetle's wing, in adjusting man's soul till it +responds with storm or calm, gloom or glory, to outer influence, as the +surface of the ocean to weather?"</p> + +<p>Finney was puzzled, as he always was, by Ephraim's <i>bonhomie</i> and his +strange ideas. "But what have you to advance against what I have already +said, Ephraim?"</p> + +<p>"Advance? I advance nothing. I even withdraw my painted insects and the +storms of emotion by which I had perhaps thought that God did his best +teaching; I withdraw also my exaltation of that strait gate of use +without abuse for the making of which I had almost said Heaven hands us +the most dangerous things. I withdraw all that offends you, Finney, in +order to thank you for having spoken her name. No one else has spoken it +in my hearing since they knew of my last parting with her, and I—I am +fool enough half the days to wish the clouds in their thunder-claps +would name her."</p> + +<p>The voice of the whip-poor-will complained over the tops of the woodland +in near and far cadence through the warm moonlit air. Beside this and +the throb of insect voices there was no sound. "I came out this +evening," said Finney, "to tell you that last March in Ohio I saw +<i>her</i>." His voice fell at the pronoun in sympathetic sorrow.</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"When I was about to return from Cincinnati I was advised to go +northward to the Erie Canal, in order that I might pass through that +part of the State which has been sorely infected by the cancer of that +hypocrite's teaching."</p> + +<p>There was no need in the district of Manchester for Finney to explain +what hypocrite he meant. In his own country Smith was commonly held to +be the arch-hypocrite.</p> + +<p>"The devil has surely espoused that cause in earnest, for the number of +deluded souls in that part of Ohio and in southern Missouri, and +scattered as missionaries up and down the country, is, I hear, between +three and four thousand."</p> + +<p>"And always among those who worship the letter of the Scripture," +remarked Ephraim, "for their missionaries give chapter and verse for all +they teach."</p> + +<p>"I was told that their customs were peculiarly evil. Even among +themselves they lie and steal and are violent and licentious; and they +teach openly that it is a merit to steal from the Gentiles, as they call +those not of themselves; and, furthermore, they aim at nothing less +than setting up a government of their own in the west."</p> + +<p>"Who told you all this?"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to say that I had it on good authority. Some of the western +brethren had it from a poor fellow who had been deluded into entering +the Mormon community, and had barely escaped with his life when he +desired to withdraw."</p> + +<p>"Would you consider a pervert from your own sect the best witness of its +tenets? But you say that you saw my cousin?"</p> + +<p>Finney told what had led him to the village of Hiram, and said, "When I +spoke of the sins of the Mormons, a young woman seated near the front of +the congregation rose up. It was your cousin. I saw at once by the +pallor of her face that the Lord was having direct dealing with her +soul. The 'power' was indeed very great; a strong man fell as dead near +her, who before the night was over gave testimony of sound conversion. +After he and your cousin had been led out, many others in different +parts of the building cried to God for mercy. When the sermon was over I +sought for your cousin, but when I told who she was, the people of the +place said that no doubt Mormon messengers had come while she was +waiting, and forced her to depart. That night there was a disturbance in +the place; some of the more hot-headed men had the leaders out, and +tarred and feathered them—a dastardly deed! I have been threatened +myself with being rid on a rail and tarred when the devil stirred up the +people against my preaching, but the Lord mercifully preserved me. 'Tis +a shameful practice, but I hear it was done to these men to intimidate +them from the more violent crimes which they had conspired to commit. In +the morning I was forced to go, as I was advertised to preach at many +stations farther on, or I would have denounced the violence from the +pulpit. I could not find out anything more concerning your cousin, but +the Lord has never allowed me to doubt that the many prayers which we +have offered on her behalf were answered that night, for I could see by +the expression of her face that she, like those upon the day of +Pentecost, was cut to the heart."</p> + +<p>At the garden gate, under the boughs of the quince-tree, which had +increased its branches since the day in which Susannah had last passed +under them, Ephraim now stood in the moonlight, barring the entrance. At +length with a sigh he said, "Alas! Finney, I believe that there are few +souls under heaven more true and more worthy than your own; but as for +the power of God, 'His way is in the sea and his path in the great +waters, but his footsteps are not known.'"</p> + +<p>Out of his breast Ephraim took a thin leather book, and from out of the +book gave Finney a letter much worn with reading.</p> + +<p>Finney took the letter reverently, and read it by the light of his +bedroom candle. In those days letters were more formally written; this +one from Susannah to Ephraim began with wishes concerning her aunt and +uncle and the prosperity of the household. The fine flowing writing +filled the large sheet.</p> + +<p>"I write to you, my dear cousin, rather than to my aunt, to whom I fear +my letter would not be acceptable, for although I can say that I regret +my wilfulness and the manner of my disobedience, still I can never +regret that, having been forced to choose, I threw in my lot with those +who can suffer wrong rather than with those who have it in their hearts +to inflict wrong, for if there be a God—ah, Ephraim, this is another +reason why I address you, for I am in sore doubt concerning the +knowledge of God, as to whether any knowledge is possible. My husband, +who denies me nothing, has allowed me to send for some of your books +whose names I remembered. I thought at first to write to you about them, +but I distrust now my own understanding too much to venture. I would +like you to know that they have helped me somewhat, for I do not now say +to myself in hard, tearless fashion that I know there is no God, to +which thought I was driven by the reflection that most of those who seek +him most diligently sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.</p> + +<p>"But the more immediate occasion of this letter is to tell you that a +month since Mr. Finney held a meeting not far from us. I went, thinking +to gain some help from him, and to hear news of you, but I was greatly +disappointed, and made very angry. He preached as my husband and many of +our elders preach, and there were among the crowd the same signs of +excitement and peculiar manifestations that we have constantly among us. +But toward the end of his sermon Mr. Finney spoke of my husband's +Church, and he lent the weight of his influence to very evil slanders +that are constantly repeated about us by those who have not sought to +know the truth. He did us great injury by stirring up the roughest of +the people to violence. Mr. Finney will, I suppose, visit you and repeat +those lies, which no doubt he believes, but is most culpable in +believing, because he has not investigated the scandal against us as he +would have investigated scandal against any who are orthodox. I write +now to tell you that that which he says is not true. For although there +are a few criminals amongst us, as in every community, evil is not +taught or condoned."</p> + +<p>As Finney read this letter by his lonely candle he was so far stirred by +what he deemed the merely human side of the incident as to say to +himself, "Poor Ephraim! She has never even known that he loved her." But +next day, in speaking to Ephraim, he pointed out that in the worst +communities there were always pure-minded women who knew little or +nothing of the evil around them, and said he believed that his message +would still be the means of bringing home the truth to Susannah's heart.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIa" id="CHAPTER_VIa"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>In the meantime an interval of comparative peace had come to Kirtland. +The Gentiles, because they discovered that the town was a good market +for the produce of more fields than the Saints could till, allowed their +religious zeal to slumber.</p> + +<p>A female relative of Halsey, having lost her friends by death, came from +the east to Kirtland upon his invitation.</p> + +<p>Susannah went down the hill one summer day to meet the travelling +company of new converts which brought Elvira Halsey. That young lady had +seen about twenty-five years of life's vicissitudes, and had sharpened +her wits thereon. Slight, pretty, and dressed with an effort at fashion +that was quite astonishing in the Kirtland settlement, Elvira sprang +from the waggon.</p> + +<p>"I've come to be a Mormon. How do you begin?" With these words she +presented to Susannah a new type of character, fresh, and in some ways +delightful.</p> + +<p>There was quite a crowd at the stopping place of the waggons. Halsey, +with other elders and Smith, came to welcome the newcomer. Elvira stood +on tip-toe, peeping about, pressing Susannah's arm with whispers. +"Which is Joe Smith, do tell me? Do you go down on your knees to him, +and does he pat your head?"</p> + +<p>Guided by keen instinct, Elvira did not make remarks in Halsey's hearing +which would have shocked him, but perhaps by the same instinct she at +once claimed Susannah as a confidante in spite of some feeble +remonstrance.</p> + +<p>"Are you not wrong to speak so lightly of our religion?" asked Susannah, +feeling that she was an elder's wife.</p> + +<p>"First let me be sure that you have any religion to speak of." She +looked up prettily in Susannah's face. "What a beautiful creature you +are!" she cried. "And is it to please my cousin Angel that you wear a +snuff-coloured dress and a white cap and a neckerchief like an old lady +of seventy?"</p> + +<p>As they proceeded together up the white curving road, over the crest of +the verdant bluff, Elvira announced her further intentions.</p> + +<p>"I am not going to live with you. I am going to board with the Smiths. I +want to get to the bottom of this business, and see the apparitions +myself."</p> + +<p>"There are no apparitions," said Susannah gently.</p> + +<p>"Gold books, you know, flying about in the air, and the angel Maroni and +hosts of the slain Lamanites."</p> + +<p>"You expect too much. Such visions as Mr. Smith had came but at the +beginning to attest his mission and give him confidence."</p> + +<p>"Tut! I should think he had sufficient of that commodity. It is I who +require the confidence, and have I come too late?"</p> + +<p>"I would question, if it did not appear unkind, why you have come at +all?"</p> + +<p>"Bless you, it's relations, not revelations, that I came after."</p> + +<p>"I fear that Angel will not be satisfied with that attitude," Susannah +sighed. She supposed that Elvira represented all too well the attitude +of educated minds in that far-off world whose existence she tried to +forget.</p> + +<p>"Therefore," said Elvira, "I will board with the Smiths."</p> + +<p>Elvira's whim to be received into the prophet's family could not be +carried out, but by persistency she succeeded in establishing herself in +the household of Hyrum Smith, where she distinguished herself by two +peculiarities—a refusal to marry any of the saintly bachelors who were +proposed to her, and a perpetual good-natured delight in all that she +saw and heard. She resisted baptism, but to Susannah's surprise, +remained on perfectly friendly terms with the leaders of the sect.</p> + +<p>The next two years passed quietly in Kirtland. Susannah, imbued, as +indeed were all Smith's friends, with his belief that the peace was but +for a time, cherished her husband as though death were near, and grieved +him by no outward nonconformity to pious practices. Many chance comments +which she made were straws which might have shown him the way the +current of her thought tended underneath her habitual silence, but they +showed him nothing. It was mortifying to her to observe that Smith, +rarely as he saw her, was always cognisant of her mental attitude, while +her husband remained ignorant.</p> + +<p>Susannah gave up the girlish habit of fencing with facts that it +appeared modest to ignore. She was perfectly aware that she exercised a +distinct influence over the prophet, of what sort or degree she could +not determine. Little as she desired this influence, she could not +withhold a puzzled admiration for Smith's conduct. He rarely spoke to +her except in the most meagre and formal way, and all his decrees which +tended for her elevation in the eyes of the community or for her +personal comfort were so expressed that no personal bias could be +detected.</p> + +<p>She asked herself if Smith practised this self-restraint for conscience' +sake, or from motives of policy, or whether it was that several distinct +selves were living together within him, and that what appeared restraint +was in reality the usual predominance of a part of him to which she bore +little or no relation. There was much else in his character to admire +and much to condemn. He had steadily improved himself in education, in +mental discipline, and in personal appearance and address. He could +hardly now be thought the same man as when he had first preached the new +doctrine in Manchester. This bespoke an intense and unresting ambition, +and yet the selfishness that is the natural result of such ambition was +absent. As far as his arduous work would permit, he gave himself +lavishly to wife and child, to all the brethren, rich and poor, when +they asked for his ministrations. The motherless babies whom he had +helped Emma to nurse through their infancy had gone back to their +father's care, but there was never a time when some poor child or +destitute woman was not a member of his household. On the other hand, +many of the actions of his public life were questionable. He had +established a bank in Kirtland, of which he was the president. Even +Halsey admitted to Susannah that this was a great mistake, that the bank +ought to have been under the control of some one who understood money +matters; the prophet did not. He had also set up a cloth mill, and +undertaken to farm a large tract of land in the public interest. The +prophet showed to much better advantage when instituting new religious +ceremonies, of which there were now many and curious, or when giving +forth "revelations" which had to do with the principles of economy +rather than its practical details. Susannah thought that the voice of +the Gentiles all around them, shouting false accusations of greed and +dishonesty, would sooner or later find much apparent confirmation if no +financier could be found to lay a firm hand upon the prophet's sanguine +tendency toward business speculation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIa" id="CHAPTER_VIIa"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>In the bleak December two elders came from Zion, the holy city in +Missouri, bringing the history of dire tribulation.</p> + +<p>It was a cold night; the first snow was falling upon the wings of a +gale. Susannah was sitting alone quietly working out problems in +algebra, in which study Smith had desired that her elder pupils should +advance. The storm beat upon the window pane, and set the bright logs of +the fireplace now flaming and now smoking, the varnished wooden walls +dimly reflecting light and shadow.</p> + +<p>Halsey had been out to see the newcomers, who were staying at the +prophet's house. It was late when she heard his tread, muffled in the +drifted snow. He hardly paused to shake it from his clothes before he +came near. She saw that he was in a mood of strong grief and excitement.</p> + +<p>"Angel," she spoke pityingly, "you have had a hard, hard day; you have +stayed so very late at this evening's conference." She held out her hand +to him. "Do not tell me to-night if you can rest before telling." Young +as she was, her countenance, as she lifted it toward him, was motherly. +She remembered what a mere boy he was, fair and hopeful, when she had +first seen him three years before, and now strong lines of purpose and +endurance were written upon the face that was thin and pale, the paler, +it seemed, because of the transient colour that the storm had given a +moment since to the clear skin.</p> + +<p>"I would that thou didst not need to hear, but it is not for us to turn +our eyes from that which the Lord hath written for our instruction in +the suffering of our brethren." Then he added, "The elders from Zion +have told us all. There was great joy and prosperity among them, and the +more foolish boasted of their wealth to the Gentiles, saying also that +the Lord had given the whole land to them for an inheritance."</p> + +<p>"That, indeed, was very foolish," said Susannah.</p> + +<p>"Nay, but it was small blame to them, for that which they said is true. +But among the Gentiles the political demagogues began to be afraid that +we should rule the country by the number of our votes. The Gentiles +gathered together in the town of Independence, and three hundred of them +signed a declaration demanding that every one in Zion should sell all +that he possessed and leave the country within a certain time, and that +none other of us should settle there."</p> + +<p>"But forced sale would mean that no fair value would be given for the +property; it would be simple robbery," she cried; "and they call this +the land of freedom!"</p> + +<p>"They appealed to the Governor of Missouri, but they found that the +Lieutenant-Governor, a man called Boggs, was among the fiercest of the +persecutors. As for the Governor himself, he advised them to resort to +the courts for damages."</p> + +<p>"What next?" She was impatient at a pause he made.</p> + +<p>He knelt down upon the floor in front of her, laying a calming hand upon +her shoulder. "Susannah, there is this one great cause for our deep +gratitude to heaven, that this time all our elders with one voice called +upon our people to bear with patience, to cry to God to cleanse their +hearts from all anger and revenge."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that was well," she said, but with hesitation.</p> + +<p>By the gentle pressure of his hand he still expressed his sympathy for +her pain in listening. "Lawyers were engaged to carry the matter through +the courts. But no sooner was it known that the thing was to be publicly +tried than the Gentiles rose in arms. For three nights they entered the +houses of the Saints, beating the men, burning their barns, and in many +cases unroofing the houses. Some of our brethren went to Lexington for a +peace warrant, but the judge was frightened at the mob, and, moreover, +if he had offended them he would have lost much money, so he told the +Saints to arm and defend themselves."</p> + +<p>Halsey had paused again. The moral question here involved was to him of +deep importance.</p> + +<p>"If it was only for self-defence, Angel—" she began.</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "Nay, it was a fierce temptation, and our people are +not yet sanctified, but God in his great mercy withheld them from +sinning against him. For they had no sooner obtained arms than Lilburn +Boggs, the Lieutenant-Governor, came and disarmed them."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"Our people were driven from their homes. In the cold storms of +November, women and little children and wounded men were forced to flee +out upon the open prairie, and up and down the banks of the Missouri +River. At last they gathered together on the river-side, and many of +them have now crossed it, remaining in the opposite county, and the +others have dispersed, poor and homeless, into less unfriendly parts of +the State. These elders have come here that the prophet may send back +some revelation at their hand, and that we may all gather together what +we can spare from our abundance for the relief of our fugitive +brethren."</p> + +<p>His eyes were shining with triumphant faith, even though the close of +his narrative seemed to admit of so little hope.</p> + +<p>"And will Mr. Smith still teach them that they must not strike a blow +for their rights?" she asked.</p> + +<p>This was fast becoming the critical question of the hour.</p> + +<p>In February the snow lay deep on the land. Susannah, like all her +neighbours, spent some days isolated by the drifts, the men only going +abroad. On one of these afternoons the prophet tapped at her door. His +visit in Halsey's absence was unprecedented.</p> + +<p>Without preface he began to make a statement as to the affairs of the +Church in Missouri.</p> + +<p>"The greater part of our fugitive brethren have at my desire gathered +together upon a large tract of uncleared land that lies just across the +river from Zion. It is the desire of the Lord that they should there +await until it is his will to open the gates of Zion once more."</p> + +<p>"It is <i>your</i> desire that they should gather and wait there."</p> + +<p>She spoke with no rude emphasis, but he understood. This man could read +her thought before it was expressed. He pushed his thick hair from his +forehead with a heavy hand.</p> + +<p>"Understand, Mrs. Halsey, that I <i>believe</i> the voice of the Lord has +spoken, but it is also my desire."</p> + +<p>"Does the voice of the Lord ever speak but in accordance with your +desire?"</p> + +<p>The answer burst from him with almost hysterical force, "I would to +heaven it did not."</p> + +<p>"But in such cases are not your desires divided against themselves? and +the word of the Lord comes perhaps in accordance with one desire and in +contradiction of another?"</p> + +<p>He sat for some time looking absently upon the floor.</p> + +<p>"The things of the Lord," he said, "are of vast importance, and require +time and experience, as well as deep and solemn thought, to find them +out. And if we would bring the world to salvation it requires that our +minds should rise to the highest, and also search into and contemplate +the lowest abyss"—he paused for a moment, and then added in sad +undertone—"that is within our own hearts."</p> + +<p>Susannah was silent, wondering what was the true secret of his elusive +thought.</p> + +<p>He went on with an effort. "Accepting your own words, Mrs. Halsey, that +it is at my desire that they are there instead of being scattered among +friendly settlements where they could obtain support, it remains true +that they are naked, hungry, and cold. When I sleep the vision of their +sufferings comes before me." He went on again with more vehemence. "It +is also by obeying my doctrine that they are cast out of their own lands +and from their own hearths. Whether the Lord hath spoken or no, it is by +obeying the doctrines that I have taught that they are in +wretchedness." He rose, pacing the room, apparently unconscious of what +he did.</p> + +<p>"I know that this has been weighing upon you, as it has upon my +husband."</p> + +<p>He shook his head impatiently, striking his breast suddenly with one +hand. "There is but one heart," he said, "in which the pains and sorrows +of them all are gathered."</p> + +<p>She began to see that he had a plan to unfold.</p> + +<p>At length he stopped in his pacing, looking toward her. "We must go to +their relief," he said. "We must gather an army and conduct our +suffering brethren back to their homes in Zion."</p> + +<p>"By force of arms?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"If need be."</p> + +<p>He left time for the significance of these words to be fully +comprehended, and then went on speaking as he paced again. "It may be +that we will not need to fight, that if we get ourselves in readiness we +shall need but to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord; and in +plain language to you, who expect no miracle, Mrs. Halsey, I would be +understood to say that if a sufficient number of our strong men, armed +for defence, join our brethren in Missouri, the Gentiles will be afraid +to attack."</p> + +<p>At last she asked, not without excited tremor in her voice, "Who? How +many? When?"</p> + +<p>These were important questions with regard to the organising of an army, +but the prophet had in mind a point that must previously be determined.</p> + +<p>"Your husband," he began abruptly, "he has still upon him the taint of +his Quaker upbringing, for the Lord Christ indeed taught long-suffering, +and he sent them out at first, as we also have sent our missionaries, +with nothing in their hand save a staff only, but afterwards he said, +'Let him that hath a sword take it,' and they said unto him, 'Lord, here +are two swords,' and he said, 'It is enough,' which I take to mean that +where one sword is raised there must be another to ward off a blow or to +strike in return. But your husband is teaching the people that to bear +arms, even in self-defence, is wrong."</p> + +<p>Susannah saw that already in Smith's indomitable will the era of armed +defence had begun. Her hatred of the persecution caused her sentiments +to chime with his. She only said in defence of Halsey's meekness, "My +husband would have gone before now to give himself and all that he has +to help these poor people if you had not interfered, Mr. Smith."</p> + +<p>A change of expression came in a moment over Smith's hulking form, as if +a different phase of him came forward to deal with a change of subject. +He turned upon her almost sharply, "There is one man in Kirtland who +shall not go to Zion till peace is there. If he went, would he not of +his own accord rush into the forefront, into the hottest of the battle, +not to fight but to receive the sword in his breast and be slain, even +as Uriah the Hittite was slain? Wherefore, I say unto you, he shall not +go."</p> + +<p>Susannah, like all good women, had no keenness of scent for scandals, +ancient or modern. She did not remember who Uriah was, and took no +offence.</p> + +<p>The prophet had tarried in his pacing by the window; with hands clasped +behind him he was looking absently out upon the driven snow. Upon his +face was an expression which Susannah only sometimes saw, and that in +the moments which she felt to be his best. She believed this man to have +true moments of humility and high resolve; it was only a question with +her how far they permeated his life. In a minute more he turned again +and spoke modestly and sadly enough.</p> + +<p>"As I have said before, it is not in me to greatly love our brother +Halsey's manner of thought, but I perceive his holiness and the Church +shall not lack his counsel. I am here to-day to tell you how much it +grieves me to set a constraint upon his conscience, yet I am here also +to ask you to tell him from me that it is not the will of the Lord that +he should continue to preach against the spirit of self-defence."</p> + +<p>When he was gone Susannah realised how angry she would have been if she +had heard that Smith had rebuked her husband on this subject, yet now +that the fiat lay in her own hands to impart with all gentleness, the +task, because of her own fierce attitude toward the oppression, was +grateful to her.</p> + +<p>When the roof had been set on the white walls of the first great Mormon +temple upon Kirtland Bluff, a small army, well armed, well provisioned, +went out from Kirtland for the deliverance of Zion amid the prayers and +huzzahs of the little community. There were many who, like Halsey, +bewailed in secret this taking of the sword, but the doctrine of +non-resistance was never preached again.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIIa" id="CHAPTER_VIIIa"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>After this Susannah's attention was centred upon the coming of her first +child.</p> + +<p>"'Tain't lucky to have a child when the leaves are falling," said Elvira +Halsey, a certain mist of far-off vision clouding her sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p>Susannah had been greatly weighed down by depression, not fearing +ill-luck, but regretting for the first time unfeignedly that she had +ever joined herself to the sect in which her child must now be nurtured. +For herself, feeling often that all religions were equally false, it had +mattered little; with strange inconsistency she now perceived that she +would greatly prefer another faith for her child. Susannah literally +found no place for repentance; to confess her grief to Halsey would only +have been to crush out all the domestic joy of his life; she was too +courageous to do that when she saw no corresponding good to be gained. +Yet when the baby at length lay on her lap, grew and smiled, kicked and +crowed, Susannah forgot at times, for hours together, the superstitions +of the Latter-Day Saints. The motherly solicitude which she had long +exercised over Halsey changed into something more like friendship when +she saw him hang over her and her child as they played together.</p> + +<p>Susannah had given up her school. The winter was severe, and mother and +child hibernated together by the sweet-scented pinewood fires till the +stronger sun had melted the frost flowers on the panes. Spring had +nearly come before Susannah divined that for the child's sake Halsey had +been protecting her for months from the fear of a near disaster that was +weighing upon his own heart.</p> + +<p>This was the year of what was called in the early Mormon Church "the +great apostasy." One evening Halsey came in looking so white and ill +that Susannah drew back the baby, which she had held out for his evening +kiss.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes she understood what had occurred. Some four or five +leaders in the Church, with their families and friends, had charged +Smith with hypocrisy and fraud.</p> + +<p>It was not Susannah's own opinion that such a charge could be +maintained. Smith appeared to her to be like a child playing among awful +forces—clever enough often to control them, to the amazement of himself +and others, but never comprehending the force he used; often naughty; on +the whole a well-intentioned child. But she could well see that +childishness combined with power is a more difficult conception for the +common mind than rank hypocrisy.</p> + +<p>Angel had been assisting in a solemn excommunication of the apostates. +He looked upon them as having been overcome by the devil.</p> + +<p>After this Halsey instituted a series of unusual meetings for prayer and +revival preaching, which he held after the ordinary evening classes in +the School of the Prophets, which was now removed to the upper chambers +of the finished temple. Now, as at other times, his preaching was +successful. His power was with men rather than with women; they gathered +in excited crowds, and their prayer and praise went up in the midnight +hour.</p> + +<p>Susannah was not in the habit of going to bed till her husband returned. +One night, after twelve had struck, while she sat warming the dimpled +feet of her restless babe at the rosy fire-light, she was greatly +astonished to hear a tapping, low but distinct, on a window that opened +to the back of the house. She lifted her head as mother animals prick +their ears above their young at the faint sound of any danger.</p> + +<p>After an interval the tap was repeated; it was no accidental noise. +Susannah laid the child in its cradle and went nearer the window +shutters, hesitating.</p> + +<p>She knew only too well that this secrecy was the sign of some one's dire +distress. She knew the habits of the people; a neighbour's aid was +sought freely and with confidence; doors were open at all times to need +or social intercourse.</p> + +<p>To her intent listening the accents of a low and guarded tone came in +reply to her challenge; the voice was Joseph Smith's.</p> + +<p>Susannah looked with anguish toward her child's cradle. Had some army of +mad persecutors invested Kirtland? Nothing less than fierce persecution +could be thus heralded.</p> + +<p>For years Susannah had known Smith as a near neighbour, and the stuff of +which the man was at this time made is indicated by the fact that +instinctively she opened the window with noiseless haste.</p> + +<p>Smith climbed in. "Has Halsey returned?"</p> + +<p>The fire gave the only light in the room. Smith did not shut the window, +but remained sitting on the sill. A bake-house at the back hid the place +from neighbouring eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's all up with our bank," said Smith.</p> + +<p>"I feared so," said Susannah.</p> + +<p>"The apostates took such a lot of money out of it. No bank anywhere in +this region could have stood it. You have always been down on our +management of the bank, Mrs. Halsey, but if it was not good, why then +have so many of the Gentiles put in their money, and why have they taken +our notes all over the State?"</p> + +<p>"You never had the capital you advertised."</p> + +<p>"We have land that stands for it."</p> + +<p>"It is not worth half what you value it at."</p> + +<p>Then Susannah became sorry for her sharp recrimination. Punishment had +befallen; it was a time for mutual help, not for reproach. She saw that +although Smith kept himself calm he was greatly stirred.</p> + +<p>"Why are you here?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Smith's huge frame was poised awkwardly on the window sill. He moved +restlessly and touched one thing and another with nervous hands. Then he +said with a short laugh, "The size of it is, I'm running away, Mrs. +Halsey. Ye may think I feel pretty mean, but ye'll do me the justice +just to think how it is. If they'd shoot me in fair fight, I'd go and, +if it were the Lord's will, be shot to-morrow, and be thankful too; but +ye know the sort of vengeance they'll take. I have been beaten time and +again before now, and covered with pitch, and I've been knocked down and +kicked and ducked in ponds a good many times, as ye know, and I ain't +ashamed to say that I'm afraid of that sort of thing and afraid of the +results on Emmar and the children. If the Lord clearly told that 'twas +his will to stay and stand it, why then I'd have no choice, but I +haven't had no word from the Lord."</p> + +<p>His face was livid; in the effort to make his explanation, whether +shaken by the recollections he described or by fear of her contempt, +she saw that his limbs were actually trembling as if with cold.</p> + +<p>"There ain't many men, Mrs. Halsey, as would stay and face that sort of +music when they could get away, but if it was to do good to mortal +creature I'd think about staying, but it's t'other way. It's me and +Rigdon as has been advertised as working the bank; it's my blood and his +the Gentiles that have our notes are thirsting for. Suppose we stayed +and they took to mauling us again, wouldn't the Saints here take to +fighting to protect us? I've taught them to fight in self-defence and +they'd fight to defend me. God knows there are better men than we are +that would be killed right and left if we stayed, and 'twould be no use, +for the Gentile numbers would overpower us. 'Tain't no use. When I found +to-day that there wasn't a chance of staving off the bankruptcy I sent +Emmar and the children and Rigdon's folks off in a close waggon after +sundown. Rigdon's rid off by another road, and I've got my horse ready +and ought to be gone. And there ain't a man in Kirtland as will know +which way we've gone by to-morrow, so that no Saint will need to do any +lying on my account."</p> + +<p>"You are very sorry for the mistakes you have made about the bank," she +said pityingly.</p> + +<p>He gave another short laugh that, like the first, was less like a laugh +than a sob.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'm sorry enough, but I don't know whether it's repentance, for +I thought I'd done all just what the Lord told me to do, but at times +like these I'm not so sure of the revelations I hear in my soul, but I +know I thought I was right at the time; but as for being sorry, if ye +had the burden of all these children of Israel in the desert on your +heart, knowing that ye had brought them into the desert, and brought the +hunger and the thirst and the pestilence and the enemy upon them, and +weren't quite sure at times whether the thing that ye saw leading was +the Lord's pillar of cloud or the devil's, and if ye was now being cast +out before the face of men and called a liar and a swindler, and without +a dollar in the world, I guess ye'd know what it felt like to feel +sorry."</p> + +<p>The room was a long one; in the fore part the glow from the hearth made +clear the baby's cradle, the table set for Halsey's supper, the close +shutters of the front windows, but the red flame rays were fainter as +they came into this back portion where Susannah stood in dull distress a +few paces from the stricken intruder.</p> + +<p>This man had always the power at close quarters of producing strange +disturbance in the emotions of his friends. Susannah was trembling, her +heart heaving, if not with pure compassion, at least with wild +excitement on his account.</p> + +<p>With an effort Smith held himself still, but gave again the +heart-broken laugh that appealed more than all else to her woman's +heart. "'Tain't all that neither, that makes me the most 'sorry,' as ye +call it. I tried to go in and out before this people, Mrs. Halsey, +loving and serving all alike as a prophet should, but I wouldn't be +human man, no, nor fit to be chosen by God for the honour he's put upon +me, if I didn't know who amongst us was most worth care and respect, and +it's come to my soul this night, now that I can't no longer stand +between you and all the dangers that beset our people in the wilderness, +that I wasn't right, maybe, to egg on Halsey to take ye away from your +happy home, or to make a point as I did, first off, of getting ye +converted—for I was more set on it than I showed at the time. It's +because 'twas my doing you married, that I've come to say this; and I +see well enough that 'tain't love that is between you and Halsey, though +you are too tender of him to let him see."</p> + +<p>She made a movement of the head, an effort to show reproving dignity, +while in fact taken by surprise, her nerves in distressful panic, she +had scarce the power to control herself, none to control him.</p> + +<p>He answered her impulse, although he had not looked up to see the +gesture. "Ye haven't got any call to-night to be offended with me, for +I'm worth no more, unless the Lord see fit to lift me up agen, than the +paper our bank-notes is written on; and I have just got one more thing +to say, then I'm gone. If there's any grit in Joseph Smith, and if it +pleases God that he's not going now to his death, he'll not make another +home for himself without providing as good a place for you and the young +one. Ye may depend on it."</p> + +<p>He rose up now. "'Tain't no use disguising facts; I'm running away, and +I'm leaving ye to dangers and privations. Your money and Halsey's is +gone the way of all the rest, and without me to stop him Halsey will fly +in the face of the first persecution that's within his reach. If I +hadn't known that there was no chance at all of your coming I'd have +asked you and the child to git into Emmar's waggon; but there's just +this to say, there ain't a tribulation that can come to you that won't +hurt me, living or dead, more than it can hurt you." Then after a pause +he added, "Emmar sent her dear love and good-bye to ye."</p> + +<p>He stood still a moment before her in humble attitude, the words of +Emma's tender farewell lingering, as it were, in the air between them.</p> + +<p>"Have a care what you do." (He resumed a more dignified manner of +speech.) "It's borne in upon my mind that great dangers will lie round +you. Tell brother Halsey from me that it is the will of the Lord that he +should seek first the safety of his wife and child, and to abide in a +place of safety till the child be grown."</p> + +<p>He climbed through the window. His last act was to close the casement +behind him to save her trembling hands the exertion. His movements must +have been very stealthy, for she did not hear the sound of his steps or +the steps of his horse in the silent night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IXa" id="CHAPTER_IXa"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>After Smith left Kirtland there was a great exodus Missouri-ward of his +more devout followers. The army which had gone out from Kirtland in '34 +to the rescue of the fugitives from the city of Zion in Missouri had +failed, through disease and exhaustion, to make warlike demonstration; +but the principle then accepted by the children of Zion of opposing +force to force in self-defence, had been bearing fruit ever since in a +bloody warfare between the hunted Saints of Missouri and their more +powerful neighbours.</p> + +<p>Before the Saints took up arms the Missourians had, it would seem, no +real ground of offence against them except the religious faith which led +them to proclaim that the land was to be given to them by the Lord for +an everlasting possession. Now this provocation was still in force, +added to the greater one that the worm had turned.</p> + +<p>So futile had been the mad persecutions, so fruitful the blood of the +martyrs, that by this time there were some ten thousand Saints in +Missouri, all heads of families, for although Zion in Jackson County +still lay waste, and the colonies of Clay County had been swept away, +the cities of Far West and Diahman, and numerous villages near them, had +risen like magic, built by the thrift, the organisation, and the +temperance of the Saints.</p> + +<p>As for Kirtland, the hope of making it a prosperous city had died with +the failure of the bank. Of the few who remained two distinct parties +were formed—the orthodox, headed by Halsey, and the reformers, +encouraged, if not headed, by the former leaders who were now apostate. +In the camp of the reformers there were those who saw visions and had +revelations. Before this, when Smith was at the helm, it had been +counted unlawful for any but himself to have direct dealings with the +Unseen; but the prophet was distant, directing the sect only through his +published journal, and in this case it were hard indeed if no +authoritative local word were spoken in the orthodox party. Angel +Halsey's mystic soul fell easily into the region of voices and visions. +In his adversity, fasting and praying more than ever before, he heard +voices which gave practical directions not only for himself but for his +neighbours. When the neighbours refused to accept these ghostly +counsels, which all tended toward a more rigorous holiness, there was no +room left for Halsey's work in Kirtland. He determined to fare forth to +Missouri, there to comfort and edify the Saints scattered abroad in the +rural districts.</p> + +<p>It was now that Susannah expected the sprightly Elvira Halsey, still +unbaptized, to return to the east. Instead of that she proposed to +travel with them, helping to take care of the child.</p> + +<p>"Why should I take the trouble to help you and the young un?" she asked, +sitting on Susannah's doorstep, languid with the heat. "When I was going +along the lane last night I met a spirit, so I held out my hand +according to Joe's latest. You've not heard! My! it's in the Millenial +Star that if any sort of a voice or dream comes to you, the way to know, +whether it's an angel or devil is to shake hands, and if it is an angel +you'll feel a good, firm, solid grip sort of coming out of nowhere, but +if it isn't an angel you'll feel nothing. It's kind of Joe to put it in +a nutshell, necessary nowadays that we're all hard at it having +revelations of our own. He thought that nobody would feel the grip but +himself. Quite mistaken. I shook hands with my angel, tho' I couldn't +see a ghost of him, and when he said, 'You come along now to Missouri, +and carry the child half way,' I had nothing to do but say 'Amen.'"</p> + +<p>But Susannah was too much afraid of what the result of private +revelations might be to laugh at them; she expressed her fears.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, all the dreams and 'voices' in this hustling world wouldn't +have put any guile into the soul of Nathaniel, and they won't into Angel +Halsey's. Saints are saints, sinners are sinners, middling folks are +middling, just the same whether they have three 'revelations' a day +apiece, or one once a year, or none at all. You're fretting because you +think a righteous man might do something wicked, thinking that the voice +of the Lord had told him. Not a bit of it! The Lord will take care of +his own when they're a little off their heads just as much as at any +other time."</p> + +<p>What few worldly goods Susannah chose to keep were packed in two single +waggons, Halsey driving the one, and Elvira and Susannah by turns +driving the other and holding the child. Their long journey through the +month of June was the most perfect pleasure that Susannah and Angel ever +enjoyed together, the long nightmare of the last months at Kirtland left +behind for ever, the stage of the future veiled, and the lineaments of +natural hope painted upon the drop-curtain. A loving fate sent fresh +showers on their behoof during the nights, which laid the dust and +dressed field and forest in their daintiest array. The child, who had +been pining somewhat, affected by the anxiety in the Kirtland home, +became lusty and merry.</p> + +<p>"If it wasn't that we are shortly going to be robbed of all we possess +by the Missourians," observed Elvira, "this sort of jog-trot comfort +would become too monotonous, but it adds spice to be saying, so to +speak, 'Hulloa there! we've come to be persecuted too.' Of course we'll +all be killed to begin with, but that's a detail; after that we'll take +our rural mission bespoken for us in the dream."</p> + +<p>Susannah actually smiled and called "gee-up" to the horse.</p> + +<p>"How very little people know," she observed, "who talk about a +persecution as if it would be a means of grace. There is nothing that so +hardens and degrades as the constant report of barbarities; the more +nearly seen, the more closely inspected, the worse is the moral result."</p> + +<p>"Speak for yourself," cooed Elvira, "there's one person out there that +isn't hardened and degraded." She looked with reverent eyes at Angel, +who was walking at the head of the foremost horse, crooning a psalm; +"and, as for me, I still feel myself quite soft, almost pulpy, and on an +elevated plane."</p> + +<p>"You could never talk in your irreverent way if you weren't a good deal +hardened and degraded," persisted Susannah affectionately, "and, as for +me, I know that I am. Is there any instance in history of a people +emerging from prolonged persecution with high ideals of love toward +their enemies and candour?"</p> + +<p>"'Tis commonly said that faith rises from this fire," said Elvira.</p> + +<p>"Faith that gives its body to be burned and has not charity," said +Susannah.</p> + +<p>When they reached the vicinity of Diahman and Far West the State +elections were about to be held. It was reported that over all Missouri +the stronger party, that of Lilburn Boggs, was threatening to prevent +by force the Mormon vote.</p> + +<p>Before commencing his mission to the outlying Mormon districts, Halsey, +hoping to avoid this contest, stopped in the Gentile town of Gallatin to +rest and obtain a fresh outfit.</p> + +<p>"But why don't we pay our respects to 'Joe' now we are within reach?" +inquired Elvira with pensive inflection.</p> + +<p>"The prophet is full of cares. A man whom I met at the tavern said that +his activity on behalf of the Saints in Far West is amazing, and since +his public appearance there the Lord has prospered the city exceedingly; +but, as for me, I have been commanded to turn aside to those of our +people who are not encompassed by a shepherd's care."</p> + +<p>"If he would but confess it," said Susannah with a sigh, "my husband was +so sorely hurt with the appearances of fraud in connection with the +bank—"</p> + +<p>"Suppose you put that appearance of a child down and come and eat this +appearance of your breakfast, and then we'll put on what appear to be +our bonnets, and go for what appears to be a walk." Elvira's sunny +serenity never deserted her. "Say rather," she cried, "that the prophet +did defraud, but has repented."</p> + +<p>That day was the 6th of August. The voting for the State legislature had +commenced. The travellers did not know that there was any number of +Mormon landholders in this place, but now they could not extricate +themselves from the very contest that they had hoped to avoid. When the +two women strolled through the streets to see the town they became +involved in a crowd at one of the polling places.</p> + +<p>Penniston, a candidate of the Boggs party, standing on a barrel, was +haranguing the crowd, and the two women quickly heard the name of their +sect mentioned with contumely.</p> + +<p>"Shall we," cried Penniston, "allow our State to come under the control +of Mormon horse-thieves and robbers by allowing these outlaws the civil +rights that are intended only for good citizens?"</p> + +<p>There was a commotion in the crowd near him. Susannah, knowing that her +husband was abroad, felt a sudden heart-sick prophecy of evil. The next +moment she saw Halsey spring into sight upon a low wall at the side of +the crowd.</p> + +<p>"Look on this picture and on this," cried Elvira in a voice audible to +many too illiterate to comprehend.</p> + +<p>The two men, each standing erect above the heads of the crowd, could not +have showed sharper contrast. Penniston was coarse of limb and feature; +a low grade of moral disorder stamped his face as clearly as inferior +articles are ever stamped; no inspector of goods so relentless as God's +servant Time! Halsey had bared his head to the open sky, as though +invoking the presence of God in his temple. Upon features too thin and +haggard for beauty, patience and love and truth were written by every +line.</p> + +<p>Halsey's voice, accustomed to preaching, fell with clear modulations +upon the summer air.</p> + +<p>"'Blessed are ye, when men shall persecute you, and shall say all manner +of evil against you falsely, for my name's sake and the gospel's.' +Friends, this evil that is spoken against us whom ye call Mormons is +falsely spoken, and I stand here before you, and before the great Father +of Truth, who is calling his children everywhere to repent, to say that +every Mormon who has a vote has a right to exercise it, for we have +committed none of the crimes of which you accuse us, but you yourselves, +as you well know, are many of you here to try to put into office men who +are undoubted criminals."</p> + +<p>In surprise Penniston and his hearers had listened, but now a man, +half-drunk perhaps, sprang upon the low wall upon which Halsey stood, +and struck him savagely.</p> + +<p>"He is all alone," cried Susannah, "all alone among so many." She tried +to struggle forward toward her husband through the crowd.</p> + +<p>Halsey believed himself to be alone, and it was not in accordance with +his principles to make any attempt to return the violence by which he +had been assailed; but to his astonishment now a stout man leaped to +his assistance, suddenly belabouring his assailant with blows, and from +far and near in the crowd there were shouts of encouragement from burly +Mormon farmers who had only needed the voice of a leader to declare +themselves. Halsey had thrown a spark, unconscious that a mass of powder +lay near. When the men of Penniston's party turned with savage fury upon +the Mormon who was beating their companion, and the Mormons, no less +fierce, rallied round Halsey and his defender, the fight became general.</p> + +<p>Elvira set her quick wits to work to weave a cord that would be strong +enough to draw Susannah back to their inn. "They may find out that baby +is alone," she said; "they're wicked enough to injure him out of +revenge."</p> + +<p>Along the wooden pavements of Gallatin, past the gaily-painted wooden +houses, through the doors of which whole families were now emerging to +ask the cause of disturbance, Susannah fled miserably, her cheeks +blanched beneath her veil, her heart within weeping.</p> + +<p>The sun was shining brightly on just and unjust; the gardens of Gallatin +were brilliant with such flowers as had bloomed in the August when she +first met her husband. Susannah felt then that the reason why she +desired to clasp and guard the sleeping child she had left was that he +was Angel's son; the pity for injured innocence had been from the first +until now her strongest passion, and at the thought of Halsey, innocent +and gentle, in the midst of the brutal fight she had left, her soul wept +as it were the scalding tears that her eyes refused to shed.</p> + +<p>The boy lay in rosy sleep, a woman of the inn keeping a kindly eye upon +him. Probably nothing but a mother's love could have fancied him of +sufficient importance to attract public attention, but Susannah, locking +her door, knelt by the bed, and spreading protecting arms above him, +listened with strained senses for news of Halsey's injury or death. For +years she had feared that the violence she had seen wreaked upon others +would touch her husband; violence offered to herself would have seemed a +trivial grief in comparison. The fear that has long harped upon sore +nerves has a cumulative action upon the pain of its realisation.</p> + +<p>Susannah found herself giving forth short ejaculatory whispers of prayer +upon the close air of the plain, small room in which she knelt. It was +such prayer only as we come at by inheritance, prayer that is one of the +habits by which the fittest have survived.</p> + +<p>Before two hours were past Halsey had returned. He was bruised and much +shaken, but appeared unconscious of injury, and made light of it. The +open fight had ended with no decisive victory for either party; the +chief result appeared to be that malice on either side was for the hour +exhausted. Whether because of this or because Halsey gave himself to +prayer on behalf of his brethren, the polls were opened quietly at noon +and the Mormons voted with the other citizens.</p> + +<p>In the cool of the evening Susannah was sitting beside her husband +holding the sleeping child. The window of their humble room was open, +not to any broad, fair landscape such as their eyes were accustomed to +feast upon, but upon the yard of the small tavern. There is, however, in +new countries no crowding; space, like air and sunshine, is the common +heritage. Grass grew round the edges of the large yard, and an old white +horse was cropping it contentedly. A cool air was blowing, and over the +wooden roofs of the town stars were beginning to gather themselves from +out the pale dusk. An old negro and two mulatto boys were sitting upon a +log at the side of one of the sheds, quarrelling and singing slave +melodies by turns.</p> + +<p>Angel took the hand of the sleeping child and Susannah's hand and folded +them in his own. "Susannah, it has been given to me to see this +afternoon more clearly than ever before the material triumph of our +people. They will rear high cities; they will lead armies; they will +command wealth; but it has also been shown me that Zion will not be, as +I had heretofore believed, pure from sin, for evil has already entered +into her. Because she has taken the sword her spiritual warfare will not +be soon accomplished; the wheat and the tares shall grow together, and +I do not yet see the end."</p> + +<p>There was a pause. Susannah watched the slaves taking their evening ease +so light-heartedly. She looked down at the three hands which Angel had +gathered together. The dusk was beginning to make all things indistinct.</p> + +<p>Angel went on. "I would have thee teach the child above all things the +unspeakable wretchedness of sin, for the least sin closes the eye of the +soul by which we see God and the things of God, clogs them with the dust +and dirt of the world; and when there is no more any clear vision, +selfishness is mistaken for love, malice for righteousness, and folly +for truth. So I pray thee, dear heart, be wary, and slay within thyself +the evil nature, for though I cannot see it, perchance God does; and +teach the child above all things from the first to fear sin more than +death."</p> + +<p>"You shall teach him, Angel."</p> + +<p>"Dear heart, I would not lay upon thee the burden of knowledge of coming +sorrow if I dared to withhold it, but I believe, Susannah, that it will +soon be given to me to die for the truth and for our people." After a +moment's pause he went on, and his tone, which had dropped +involuntarily, became again cheerful. "That is why I have to-day +determined to change the plan that we have made and to send thee and the +child to-morrow with the company who are about to travel to Far West, +where the prophet is now dwelling with his wife, for I know he will +never see thee want."</p> + +<p>Susannah rose up. In the dusk of the low, small room her figure, the +child still in her arms, seemed to tower like a misty goddess or +Madonna, such as praying men have often seen appearing for their +succour; her voice came clear and strong from a heaving breast.</p> + +<p>"Angel, I will never leave you, never," and then she added in a voice +that faltered, "Send the child if you will."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_Xa" id="CHAPTER_Xa"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>They did not send the child to Far West, or even insist on Elvira +seeking safety there, because that town also became swiftly involved in +the flames of the war which had flashed into new life at the Gallatin +fight. The whole land was full of threats and terrors, and many open +fights at the polling-booths were soon reported. The Mormons and +anti-Mormons in various localities entered into mutual bonds to keep the +peace, but in many cases these bonds were soon broken.</p> + +<p>To the Mormons everywhere had been issued a proclamation, signed by +Smith and the elders, commanding that no official tyranny, however +unjust, was to be resisted. "Let every soul be subject unto the higher +powers." "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's +sake." But when private violence was offered the order was that the men +should fight in defence of their families.</p> + +<p>It seems to have been this order to fight, and the fact that the Mormons +proved themselves sturdy fighters, which alone caused any of the +Gentiles to enter into a compact of peace. So mad was their anger +against a sect claiming the land as an inheritance from God and voting +to a man in obedience to its leader, that the Missouri journals of the +day openly taught that to kill a Mormon was no worse than to kill an +Indian, and to kill an Indian was tacitly considered as meritorious as +killing a wild beast.</p> + +<p>"I am just about as safe jogging along in one of your waggons as +anywhere in this part of the country," observed Elvira; "and if it was a +craving for peace and safety we had, why did we come to Missouri at all? +I feel exactly like a rabbit when the men are out trying to thin them; I +notice they get very frisky."</p> + +<p>There was psychological truth underlying this statement. Stimulated by +the excitements of sudden alarms, Susannah also found herself enjoying +intervals of temporary security with peculiar zest.</p> + +<p>They set forth again upon the country roads. Halsey had the burden of +his message upon his spirit; wherever they found a few Mormon households +gathered together, he preached to them the high ideals of Christian +living and the need of humility and constant prayer. Another theme he +had which he considered of equal importance; this was the interpretation +of prophecy. He gave long rapt discourses upon the most obscure passages +in the books of the prophets, the Revelation of St. John, and the Book +of Mormon. These passages were found chiefly to refer to the rise of +the Mormon Church, the iniquity of her enemies, and her glorious future. +Susannah, who saw the value of his practical teachings, bitterly +regretted this use of half his opportunities.</p> + +<p>Only once or twice in many weeks did they come upon a Mormon household +whose management was not such as the moralist would approve, and in +those cases before Halsey's passionate denunciation sins were confessed +and repentance promised.</p> + +<p>So they journeyed slowly out of the September heats and oppressive +shades into the cooler and more open glories of autumn. In that part of +the country wild flowers run riot at the approach of winter, painting +the land in broad leagues of colour, white and gold and blue, and the +trees of the forest hang in red curtains overhead. The air was so light +and invigorating that they all felt its tonic properties. Halsey seemed +eased of his burden; the child began to talk, babbling wise and +wonderful speeches. Elvira was even more frivolous than was her wont, +and Susannah almost forgot Halsey's dismal prophecy of martyrdom.</p> + +<p>About the middle of October they reached the place called Haun's Mill, +where a small Mormon community was settled. Here they thought well to +pause, shocked by renewed rumours of warfare. A truce for the whole +region, which had been signed by Smith and some of his elders on the one +side, and by a magistrate, by name Adam Black, for the Gentiles, had +been broken by Gentile mobs in several of the counties near Far West. A +number of the saints had been brutally killed, their wives and children +driven from their homes at the point of the bayonet. This renewed +outrage roused at last the fires of revenge, long smouldering in the +breasts of the refugees from the desolate city of Zion, who had +themselves known the bitterness of such unmerited wrong. These fires +fused religious principle and natural wrath together, till a chain was +forged which bound many strong men in a secret society, whose members +swore to fight, not only in defence, but especially in vengeance.</p> + +<p>It was at Haun's Mill that Halsey first heard of this society, and he +was deeply concerned. A young Mormon who had lately come to the place +belonged to it, and after one of Halsey's sermons, in which the posts of +the Gate of Life were represented as meekness and forgiveness, this +young man came to the preacher by night to confess, but also to +vindicate his position.</p> + +<p>The missionary's little party, with the exception of Elvira, who had +accepted hospitality at a neighbouring farm, were camping in a meadow +not far from a stream called Shoal Creek, which drove the mill. The logs +of their evening fire were still alight. Susannah sat just within the +dark opening of a low canvas-covered waggon; the unsteady flame light +fell upon her, and sometimes showed a farther interior where the child +lay sleeping. Halsey was sitting at the roots of a tree, the utensils of +a simple supper at his side. The gentle horses tethered near were to be +heard softly cropping the grass, and the sound of the creek came from a +farther distance. Above, the poplar boughs, whose yellow foliage had +been thinned by the advancing season, let through the rays of the +brilliant stars. These were the sights and sounds which met the young +man's senses as he came brushing the fallen leaves with his feet.</p> + +<p>He leaned against the pole of the farther waggon and looked across the +low-glowing fire at the preacher and his wife.</p> + +<p>"Look here! I'm a Danite. Do you mean to say that the Lord's not going +to accept of me because I can't stand by and see weak men and women and +children killed, or worse than killed, without punishing the murderers? +Supposing that a hundred of Boggs' men were to come down now and put an +end to you, your wife, and your child, would you have me go along with +them peaceably afterwards and pray they might be forgiven?"</p> + +<p>"What is a Danite?" asked Susannah.</p> + +<p>The stranger took off his hat and answered her very respectfully. "We +are under an oath, ma'am, not to tell who belong to us, but we've bound +ourselves to punish them as take the blood of the helpless and +innocent."</p> + +<p>He seemed, as far as the light would show, a well-made youth, and his +voice was clear and honest.</p> + +<p>Halsey had not spoken, and Susannah asked again, this time of her +husband, "Can it be wrong to do as this gentleman says?"</p> + +<p>The preacher spoke slowly. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the +Lord."</p> + +<p>"But," said the young man eagerly, "the Scripture also says 'There's a +time for wrath,' and 'he that sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his +blood be shed.'"</p> + +<p>Halsey rose up. It was a strong moment for him, for he had long seen +that the spirit of retaliation, following hard on the spirit of defence, +was the coming curse of his beloved church, and had prayed that he might +be the means of helping to ward it off. Here was one asking counsel who +from the strength of his person and character might have influence among +the avengers of blood, yet with his helpless wife and child beside him +none felt more keenly than Halsey the force of the Danite's arguments, +and none knew better the multitude of Scripture prophecies that could be +brought up in support of them. In the strength of his need this man, who +had been spending the precious time of many a hardly-won audience in +dwelling on obscure poesies in books held sacred, now seemed to step +forth into a sudden illumination of truth just as he stepped from the +shadow of the poplar bole into the light of the fire.</p> + +<p>"Friend, I did wrong to answer you in this matter from any part of +Scripture save from the mouth of our most blessed Lord himself, for he +alone is the gate by which we must enter into life, and I would have you +to consider most carefully his life and words, and find out if there be +any promise of blessedness to those who strike back when they are +struck, or any command to punish the evil-doer, or any example for such +punishment. But if you would be more manly and more gallant than the +Saviour of the world, I tell you it must be at your own peril, for he +alone is the gate of that road which leads to everlasting life."</p> + +<p>There was a silence for some long moments. Embers in the fire broke and +fell; the horses cropped the grass; a nut or twig dropped somewhere +among the adjacent trees.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the young Danite reflectively, "if that's it, I guess I'll +have to take my fling first and seek salvation after; but Smith and +Rigdon don't only preach that sort of Gospel now; they are all for the +Old Testament kind of thing, and the destroying angels in the +Revelations."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIa" id="CHAPTER_XIa"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>So near came the rumours of war that the Mormons of Haun's Mill entered +into a renewed compact of mutual peace with the Gentiles around them. +The place was about twenty miles below the town of Far West, on the same +stream of Shoal Creek. Around Far West the roads presently became very +dangerous, haunted, it was said, by armed parties of bloodthirsty +Gentiles who lay in wait for trains of Mormon emigrants coming from the +east to the prophet's city. All travellers became alarmed; Halsey +remained where he was; the people of the place accepted his pastoral +services gladly. A train of Gentile emigrants also waited at Haun's Mill +for the cessation of hostilities.</p> + +<p>These emigrants were quiet folk and had children with them. Susannah +used to go out upon sunny days with her sturdy yearling, talking to all +mothers, Gentile or Mormon, who carried little children. The beauty of +the season, the cloudless sun, gilded these few peaceful days. Susannah +compared her child with other children, marvelled at the baby +intercourse he held with them, at the likes and dislikes displayed among +these pigmy associates; and the other mothers had like sources of +interest in these interviews.</p> + +<p>One among the emigrants, a dark-eyed woman of about forty years of age, +was of better position and education than the others. One morning she +noticed Susannah's child very kindly, speaking of things that did not +lie on the surface of life.</p> + +<p>"There is a seeking look in his eyes," the lady said; "he smiles, he +plays with us all, but he looks beyond for something. I have seen that +look in the eyes of children who were in pain, but yours is at ease."</p> + +<p>"He has his father's eyes," Susannah sighed. "My husband is always +looking for a virtue that seems to me impossible."</p> + +<p>Both women turned toward an open grassy space in the midst of the +clustered houses where Halsey was now standing, Bible in hand, teaching +a little group of children to repeat the beatitudes. Only four children, +one sickly boy and three girls, were willing to stand and repeat the +lesson; others had straggled away and were shouting at their play.</p> + +<p>Not far from where Halsey stood some fifteen of the neighbours had +gathered together to put up a new wooden house; piles of sweet-smelling +deal lay about them as they worked.</p> + +<p>Just then on the road from Far West a horse bearing an old man was seen +straining itself to the swiftest gallop. The old man began to shout as +he came within hearing. No one could understand what he said. He +shouted more loudly, and many women ran out of their doors to see his +arrival. Before his words were articulate a cloud of dust was seen +rising round a turning of the same road, and a large company of horsemen +came swiftly into view.</p> + +<p>The old man's voice was raised in a cry, but only the accent of terror +was intelligible. He threw himself off his horse, brandishing his arms. +Afterwards it was known that he wanted the villagers to take refuge in +their houses, but now they only stared the more at him and at the small +army that was approaching.</p> + +<p>Susannah heard a shot; then she was deafened by the sound of a volley of +muskets. Paralysed, she stood staring down the road, unable to believe +that the two or three hundred mounted men had deliberately levelled +their muskets and fired. Then all around her she became aware of shrieks +and sobs and prayers that went up to God. The brown-eyed Gentile lady +who stood beside her had fallen in a curious attitude at her feet.</p> + +<p>Susannah darted into the emigrants' tent and, putting down the child, +dragged the lady within. She perceived to her horror that the lady was +shot; the bullet had passed through her neck. Not knowing whether she +was dead or dying, Susannah stretched her on the floor. Then she lifted +her hands above her head, wrung them together in agony of nerve and +thought. She remembered afterwards looking upward in the cave of the +warm tent and saying aloud "O God! O God!" many times.</p> + +<p>The first thing she saw was her child standing watching her; both his +little brown fists were full of flowers. Hearing the sound of horses +trampling near, loud voices, and occasional shots, she bethought her +that the canvas of the tent was no protection for the child, and, +snatching him in her arms, she ran madly out into the sunshine and into +the open war.</p> + +<p>A large number of the horsemen had already passed on down the road; the +sounds that came from them seemed to be of oaths and laughter. A number +were still galloping in and out among the houses; the ground was strewed +with bodies of the dead and wounded; the able-bodied, it seemed, must +have suddenly huddled within their doors.</p> + +<p>Susannah remembered her husband now, remembered where he had been +standing. She forgot all else; she rushed toward the middle of the +green, drawing back only when some of the horsemen dashed across her +path to follow their fellows. They stared at her and, as they went, +called to some who were still behind them.</p> + +<p>One of these came on, checked his horse, and looked in Susannah's face +insultingly. No doubt her eyes were dazed, and she looked to him like a +mad woman, but she remembered afterwards that the child showed anger +and babbled that the horseman was a bad man. At this the rider took out +his pistol and pointed it at the child and fired and rode off laughing.</p> + +<p>Susannah saw the young Danite bending over her. His words were hoarse +and so sorrowful that she gathered from their tone that she was in great +distress before she understood their purport or memory awoke. "Ma'am," +he said, "I'll take you down to your own waggon by the creek."</p> + +<p>She found herself sitting on the ground, her child in her arms. The +child was dead; she knew that as soon as she looked at him. There was a +little trickle of blood upon the light frock over his heart, but not +much.</p> + +<p>As yet no women, only a few men, had ventured forth, and the sound of +the enemy's horses and shouting were still in the air. Susannah rose up, +folding in her arms the body of the child; the momentum of her first +intention was upon her will and muscles; she moved straight on toward +the place where she had last seen Halsey.</p> + +<p>The young Danite took hold of her sleeve when he perceived whither she +went.</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't no use, ma'am. Some of the brothers have attended to him."</p> + +<p>Susannah looked straight in the young man's face with perfect courage. +"Is he dead?"</p> + +<p>But the Danite had not courage for this; he turned away and put his arm +over his eyes; she heard him grind his teeth in dumb passion.</p> + +<p>Some of the men and women lying on the grass were moaning or screaming +with the pain of their injuries. The thought that Halsey might be in +like pain made Susannah imperative. "Is he dead?" she asked again in +precise repetition of tone and accent. "Is he dead?"</p> + +<p>The Danite lifted his head. "He is quite dead, and I marked the man that +did it, and I marked the man that did this too." He touched reverently, +not the child, but the wilting asters that were still grasped in the +baby hand. "If I'd only had a gun—but"—he ground his teeth again and +muttered, "God helping me, they shall both die."</p> + +<p>Susannah understood nothing then but the first part of this speech.</p> + +<p>By this time many of the women and children had again flocked out of the +houses. It was reported that the horsemen had been a detachment of State +militia, that one of them had taken the trouble to explain to a wounded +man that they had received orders from Governor Boggs to exterminate the +Mormons. Immediately by other frightened tongues it was stated that the +armed company were halting round the turn of the road, intending to +return and shoot again when the people had come out from shelter. At +this the greater number made a stampede for a thicket of poplar and +willow saplings that was near the creek. The Danite still held by +Susannah's sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Where is my husband?" she again asked. She had not moved since he last +spoke to her.</p> + +<p>Some men were busy laying the dead, of whom there were eighteen, on the +floor of a shed which was not far off. Susannah and the Danite moved +about together and found Halsey lying still on the green, his limbs +decently composed, his eyes for ever shut. The bearers were about to +lift him, but the Danite interposed. He had an excited fancy concerning +Susannah's dead and what must be done for them. He lifted Halsey easily +in both his arms and walked away, Susannah following with the dead +child.</p> + +<p>Without a word they went till they came to Halsey's camp. Nothing had +been touched since Susannah left in the morning. The Danite, remembering +the camp as he had seen it a few evenings before, looked about him now +curiously, and laid Halsey down on the very spot where he had stood to +plead for a divine righteousness.</p> + +<p>It was not a time for words. Having deposited his burden, he looked to +Susannah, but she had no directions to give. She sat down beside her +husband, as though preparing to remain.</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd like to lay them both out here, but I guess I ought to +get you into the bush, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"I will stay here," she said; "you had better go to help some one else."</p> + +<p>The cries of the wounded were still heard from the vicinity of the +houses. A crowd of the uninjured people were to be seen making their way +through the first bushes of the thicket. They seemed to be carrying the +wounded thither, for men bearing shutters, and doors upon which the sick +were stretched now started in the direction of the bush. There was need +for help, as the Danite well saw; then, too, inactivity was torture. He +left Susannah and ran back to bear his part in the common task.</p> + +<p>When almost every other living soul was lost in the close thicket he +came again, approaching the camp with soft footsteps, peering anxiously. +Susannah had laid the child in his father's arms. Their enemies seemed +to have taken aim for the heart, for Halsey's wound was also there. She +had so laid the child within his arms, heart to heart, that no sign of +injury appeared. She sat by them now, sobbing her tearless sobs, +stroking gently, sometimes the hair of the child, more often the thick +locks of light hair that lay above her husband's brow. She was talking +to them between her sobs in rapid phrases exactly as if they were not +dead. The young Danite was sure that she had lost her wits; he leant +against a tree confounded.</p> + +<p>Susannah was saying, "I wanted to keep baby, Angel, I wanted so much to +keep him, but I could not have taught him your way; there was no use +telling you that before, for you could not understand. When you told me +that you would go you did not tell me you meant to take baby. You have +the best right to him, dear, he is all yours, but oh! remember—remember +that I will be very lonely—very lonely—O Angel." There were a few +moments of wordless moans and sobs, but she went on clearly enough, "I +want you to know, Angel, that I never was disappointed in you—never +disappointed in you, dear; and about my lack of faith—it would have +been no use to tell you before, would it?"</p> + +<p>She took her hand from Halsey's hair and played a moment with the rings +of gold on the baby's head lying on his breast. She laid her hand upon +Halsey's hands that she had clasped together above the child. "It is +better for you to have baby with you. I could not have taught him your +thoughts. It is better, dear, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>The earnest inflection of her voice in these interrogations brought so +wild a sense of pathos to the Danite's heart that his eyes filled with +tears and brimmed over, but Susannah's sobs were like a nervous gasping +of which she was scarcely conscious, and no hint of tears.</p> + +<p>She lightly touched the baby hand that was lying on its father's +shoulder, still grasping the blue blossoms. "See," she sobbed, "he has +brought his flowers to you; he always loved you best."</p> + +<p>There had been a great silence in the air about them, but now there was +again the sound of firing at the distance of about a mile. The Danite's +pulses leaped, but he did not, because of that, allow himself to speak +or move.</p> + +<p>Susannah spoke again, resting her hand on Halsey's brow, "You know, +dear, I don't know whether you and baby are anywhere—anywhere"; wildly, +as if the appalling loneliness of its meaning had flashed upon her +dulled brain, she repeated the word.</p> + +<p>The Danite's sympathy rose within him; he staggered forward and bent +over her. "Don't, ma'am," he said, "don't go on talking like that. I was +with my own mother when she died, when I was a little chap, and I know +how it is, and you'd much better try to shed tears, ma'am, indeed you +had."</p> + +<p>Susannah lifted to him a blank face, disturbed but uncomprehending.</p> + +<p>He decided what to do; the thought of action restored him. He ran with +all his might back to the houses, and, finding a pick and spade, came +again. This time, more confident of himself, he had more control over +Susannah.</p> + +<p>"We must make the grave right here, ma'am, and do you go and gather some +flowers to put on it, for we must just put them two away out of sight +before the devils come back. It's what he would want, you know." He +pointed to Halsey and repeated the words until she understood.</p> + +<p>It even seemed a relief to her then to move about too, and find that +there was something she could do, but she did not obey him blindly. +While in a soft place close by he delved with might and main, displacing +the earth with incredible speed, Susannah, sobbing all the time, but +tearless, went into the waggon and brought out certain things which she +chose with care—a locked box, the best garments belonging to herself, +her husband, and child, and the baby's toys.</p> + +<p>It was no neat gravedigger's work that the Danite accomplished; he had +made a deep, large hole, but the cavity sloped at the sides so that they +could step in and out. Susannah brought her little store and lined the +earth first with the garments.</p> + +<p>"You may want some of those things of your own, ma'am," said the Danite.</p> + +<p>She paid no heed; when she had made the couch to her mind she signed to +him to lay Halsey and the child in it, which he did. She herself stooped +in the grave to clasp the dead man's hands more tightly over the little +one's form, and her last touch was to stroke Halsey's hair from off the +brow. She laid the baby playthings at Halsey's feet; she unlocked the +box and took from it all the household treasures that so far she had +sought to keep—some silver, a few small ornaments, a few books, and +Halsey's Book of Mormon, in which was written their marriage and the +baby's birth. She brought a silken shawl, the one bit of finery that +remained from her girlish days. She covered her dead with it very +carefully, tucking it in as though they slept; then she moved away, +wringing her hands and heaving convulsive sighs. The Danite put back the +earth.</p> + +<p>All the grass was strewn pretty thickly with poplar leaves, gold, lined +with white, and after leaning against a tree some minutes looking away +from the grave, Susannah began gathering up these leaves hastily, so +that when he levelled the earth she could strew the top, hiding the +place from the curious eyes of strangers.</p> + +<p>"I guess, ma'am, if there's anything you would like to take with you +now, we'd better go into the bush."</p> + +<p>"No, there is nothing, but," she cried, "I thank you very much, and if +there is anything that would be of use to you—"</p> + +<p>When the Danite had first laid Halsey under the tree he had taken a +white cloth from the tent and wiped the blood from the coat, that +Susannah might not be too much shocked at the sight. He took this cloth +now and tore it till the stained fragment alone remained in his hand. He +thrust it in his breast.</p> + +<p>"This will stand for the blood of them both," he said. "I guess that's +all I want." But when he had started towards the thicket he remembered +Susannah's needs, and went back for a blanket.</p> + +<p>The poplar saplings that bordered the creek were still holding a thin +gold canopy overhead, and the dogwood was glinting with scarlet. The +other members of the community had gone so far ahead that it was a long +time before, making their toilsome way, they came upon their former +neighbours.</p> + +<p>The fugitives had called a halt where a brook which passed through the +bush offered some relief to the pain and fever of those who were +wounded. One of these, a little girl, had already died by the way, and +her frantic mother began to reproach Susannah, wailing that if the child +had not been saying her texts to the elder she would not have been a +mark for the enemy.</p> + +<p>The men were cutting down saplings to make place for a camp. It was +their intention to remain, going back under the cover of night to get +food and blankets from the houses, if they were not pillaged and burned, +going back in any case to bury their dead at the first streak of dawn.</p> + +<p>The Danite turned to Susannah. "I guess, ma'am, neither you nor I have +got any business to take us back, and there's enough of the brothers +here to do the work."</p> + +<p>Susannah went on with the young man through hour after hour of the +afternoon farther and farther into the unknown fastnesses of the wood. +They left behind them the low thicket of second growth, and penetrated +into an uncleared Missouri forest.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIIa" id="CHAPTER_XIIa"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>All the powers of the young Danite were strung by excitement into the +fiercest vitality, and he thought that physical fatigue was the best +medicine for Susannah's mind. Why he had accepted the work of saving her +as part of his mission of Mormon defence he did not ask himself. In him, +as in many athletes, thought and action seemed one. He acted because he +acted; he knew no other reason.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the night Susannah woke up. The stars glimmered above +the trees; she was lying on a heap of autumn leaves wrapped in the +blanket. Sitting up, she remembered slowly the events of the preceding +day.</p> + +<p>Her movement had caused another movement at some distance. The Danite, +sleeping on the alert like soldier or huntsman, was roused by the first +sound she made, and when she continued to sit up he came near in the +glimmering light. She saw his dark form where he tarried a few paces +away.</p> + +<p>"You're all safe, ma'am. Can't you go on sleeping?"</p> + +<p>A watch of the night often brings to recollection some duty forgotten +during the day. "Do you know where Elvira Halsey is?"</p> + +<p>"The young lady with the brown eyes that I have sometimes seen you with, +ma'am?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." Then Susannah added with the weak detail of a wretched mind, "She +isn't very young."</p> + +<p>"Was she any relation to you, ma'am? Were you very affectionate with +her?"</p> + +<p>Susannah explained the relationship.</p> + +<p>The Danite thought, "If I tell her she's there she'll think it her duty +to trapse back all the way to find her; she's that sort." Therefore, +judging that a minor grief could not make much difference, he gave it as +his opinion that Elvira was dead. At this Susannah shed tears for the +first time, which eased his anxiety not a little.</p> + +<p>Susannah did not know the Danite's name; it never occurred to her to ask +him any question about himself.</p> + +<p>At dawn they started again upon their tramp. The man knew the country, +and when the sun was up he brought Susannah out of the forest to a +settler's farm. She was faint now for want of food, walking again, as +she had walked last night, with vacant eyes and dull mechanical tread.</p> + +<p>The Danite made her sit down upon a stone near the house, and brought a +woman to her who carried bread and milk. Susannah ate and drank without +speaking.</p> + +<p>"My! but she's tired," said the farmer's wife. "It's a cruel shame to +make her walk so far; you're not a good husband to her, I'm thinking."</p> + +<p>Having satisfied her need, Susannah turned away dully without a word. +The settler's wife offered the remainder of the bread and milk to the +Danite, who regarded it with famished eyes.</p> + +<p>"Where's your husband?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"We've enough men about the place."</p> + +<p>"Where is your husband?"</p> + +<p>"He's away with the militia under Lucas."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll not touch his food," said the Danite. With an oath he flung +the cup and plate upon the ground. "Do you see that woman there?" He +pointed to Susannah. "I took the food for her, for she had died without +it. Yesterday devils like your husband shot her child in her arms and +her husband before her eyes, and to Almighty God I pray that when I've +got her to some safe place I may have strength yet to shoot your husband +and your children, shoot them down like dogs, and laugh at you because +you don't like it." The restrained passion of all the long preceding +hours broke out. His face was ashen, his eyes burning; there was foam +about his lips as, with thick utterance, he hurled the words at her.</p> + +<p>The woman stepped back in dismay, but she, too, was enraged now, and +courage was the habit of the free life she led. "You are a bloody +Mormon," she cried, "and if I'd known it I'd have let your woman die +before I'd have fed her." She walked backwards, her voice rising higher +with passion. Unable to think connectedly, she shrieked the phrases she +had in mind. "Coming here to spread idolatry in a Christian country! +Teaching superstition in a free Christian land!" She was still shrieking +some jargon about the United States being founded on the Word of God, +and the divine right to exterminate all Mormons, when he, walking fast, +joined Susannah.</p> + +<p>They had not gone much further before a large dog which the settler's +wife had evidently let loose, came after them with fierce intent. The +Danite turned, and as the dog sprang, slew it with one stab of his +knife, and, leaving it bleeding upon the road, hurried Susannah into the +forest.</p> + +<p>It was a tradition upon that farm for years afterwards that these two +Mormons, after receiving charity, had made an open display of that +wanton wickedness which was habitual to them.</p> + +<p>Susannah and the Danite travelled on for many hours. The way was not +easy. Sometimes where the trees were thin their legs were tangled +knee-deep in a plant covered with minute white feathery blossoms, +looking like white swan's-down shot through with green light, that +carpeted miles of the ground; sometimes the trees had fallen so thickly +that they had to clamber from log to log rather than walk; sometimes +their way was a bog, and they were in danger of sinking deeper than was +safe.</p> + +<p>Susannah asked no questions. She had heard and understood all the words +that had passed in the incident of the morning. She felt cowed now, +afraid to think what might come next; it was enough that the Danite had +evidently some point in view.</p> + +<p>About four in the afternoon they left the forest and came to another and +much larger house. The Danite advanced here with more confidence and +spoke with some men who gathered at their approach. Afterwards three +men, a father and sons, came and one after the other shook hands +respectfully with Susannah. Within the house she found a motherly woman, +the wife of the elder son. When Susannah's misfortunes were related to +her in undertones she cast her apron over her head and groaned as with +pain.</p> + +<p>Susannah thought that the concern of this household must arise from fear +on their own account. "Are you Latter-Day Saints?" she asked +mechanically.</p> + +<p>The eldest man, with the air of a patriarch, replied, "No, madam, we are +not Saints; the fact is we don't hold by religion of one sort or +another; we just believe in being kind to our neighbours and living, +good lives; so whatsoever your belief may be it is no affair of ours, +and you shall rest here for the sake of our common humanity. We'll look +after you, madam." He made a bow that was a queer mixture of +uncouthness in keeping with his surroundings and a recollection of some +more formal society.</p> + +<p>The woman of the house, taking her apron from her head, suddenly +bethought her of the best things that she had to offer. Gently forcing +Susannah into an elbow chair, she ran, and lifting an infant a few weeks +old from its cradle, put it in Susannah's arms.</p> + +<p>The next night the young Danite went away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIIIa" id="CHAPTER_XIIIa"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p>Only the outline of passing events was reported to Susannah in her haven +of peace. The elder man took her into his courtly care, and made a point +of explaining to her what he thought she needed to know. The newspapers +were sedulously kept from her, and so reticent were the other members of +the household on the subject of their contents that her heart constantly +sickened at the thought of what she was not allowed to hear.</p> + +<p>"You see, madam," the old man explained, "it was Major-General Atchison +that called out the militia in first defence of your people against +Gilliam's mob. Gilliam had about three hundred men, and they started in +the north of the State. Well, Parks and Doniphan, commanding the militia +called out by Atchison, seem to have set about fighting the mob +sincerely enough." The old man pushed back his spectacles and rubbed his +hair. "Then you see, madam, that didn't please Governor Boggs. Here was +the militia of his State shooting down his own good, honest Christian +voters who keep him in office, that's Gilliam's men, and all the mob; so +Boggs gets a lot of his men in all parts of the country to write him +letters saying what dreadful crimes the Mormons are committing. These +letters will no doubt pass into history as a genuine account of your +people's doings. Well! well! I wouldn't shock your prejudices, but I'd +like just to point out by the way that it's all done in the name of +religion. There's Boggs has got an old mother who spends a lot of her +time praying that the purity of the American religion may not be +corrupted by the awful doctrines of Joe Smith."</p> + +<p>The old man shook his head and rubbed his thin gray curly hair again +with a smile of constrained patience. "You see, although I do not wish +to grieve you by saying it, if we could only get rid of religion there +would be a lot of brotherly kindness in the world that so far has never +had a chance to say 'peep' and peck its shell. Well, but here's Boggs +reading his letters, and he turns pale with horror at the thought of the +corruption that has come among his good and pious people, so he writes +off to the commanders of the militia that they are to stop fighting the +mob, to fight against the Mormons, and only against the Mormons. So then +Atchison resigns. He points out, fairly enough, that there hasn't been a +single conviction in any lawful court against the Mormons for the crimes +they are accused of. But what of that if Boggs is Governor? So they have +taken away the arms from the Mormon company of militia, and the other +day they went up to Far West with three or four thousand men, and they +got Smith and his brother Hyrum and three of the elders to come out to +them, and they court-martialled them and ordered them all to be shot the +next day.</p> + +<p>"But it wasn't done, madam," he added hastily. "General Doniphan had the +pluck to stand out against it and say he would withdraw his troops, so +they put them in irons and sent them to the gaol in Richmond, and then +at the point of the bayonet they have forced the other leaders to bind +themselves to pay all the expenses of the war and to get every Mormon, +man, woman, and child, out of the State, or else they are all to be +shot. That is how the matter stands at present."</p> + +<p>"Do you incur any risk by the hospitality you give to me?" asked +Susannah. She had not as yet had energy, even if she had had +inclination, to explain that the Book of Mormon was not sacred in her +eyes, nor Smith a prophet. "Do you think," she asked the old man +wistfully, "that the Mormons have ever been the aggressors, that they +have committed any of the atrocities they are accused of?"</p> + +<p>"In some cases they have pillaged, and burned, and murdered; they +wouldn't be human if some of them hadn't got fierce under the treatment +they have been receiving; but when a man like Atchison, who has been +scouring the country and knows pretty well what has happened, prefers to +resign his honourable office rather than fight against them, you may be +sure they are not very far in the wrong. Injuries, you know, will always +set a few men mad. There is your elder, Rigdon, for instance; when he +got here and heard of some of the things your folks had suffered, he up +and made a wild oration on the 4th of July, and said that if any more +outrages were committed on the Mormons, the Mormons would up and +exterminate all the Gentiles in the State. But it has been well enough +seen by any one who had eyes to see that no such language was ever +countenanced by the real rulers of your sect."</p> + +<p>When Susannah thanked the old man for his candour he drove his moral +once more. "You see, madam, I can look at things as they are because I +am not bound by any religion to look at them in any particular way."</p> + +<p>Susannah rose up when the old man's story was ended, and stood for some +minutes looking wistfully out through the window panes upon the leafless +and storm-swept fields. They two were together in the long, scantily +furnished living-room at the end of the long table. Her figure was +stronger, more true in its proportions, than when she had been a girl. +Her hair, trained into smooth obedience, was fastened within the muslin +cap she had fashioned for herself, tied Quaker fashion under her chin. +Her face was very white, as if, having blanched with terror in the +tragedy of Haun's Mill, the life-blood had not as yet returned to it.</p> + +<p>At last she said simply, "I thank you, sir."</p> + +<p>The old man looked most approvingly at her form and at the subtle +witchery which the eagerness of imprisoned thought gave to reticent +features, at the depth of her blue eye. "I wish, my dear, that you could +see your way to give up your religion and remain with us."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, sir," she said again, and went back to the household tasks +she had fallen into the habit of performing.</p> + +<p>She was not eating the bread of dependence. In such a place, where +woman's work is at a premium, it was easy for her to do what was +reckoned of more value than what she received. The old man had two sons. +The elder and his wife were in the prime of life, having a large family; +the younger son was unmarried. The farm was large and prosperous. The +one woman, even had she been less amiable, would have naturally desired +to keep Susannah as a helper; being the kindly soul she was, she +reserved the more attractive tasks for her, and bade the children call +her endearing names. In her blindness, in her slow recovery from utter +exhaustion of mind and nerve, Susannah never thought of connecting this +long-continued kindness with the fact that the old man's younger son had +as yet no wife.</p> + +<p>At first Susannah had fixed her thoughts upon an immediate return to the +east, but weeks went by and she had not written to Ephraim Croom for +the money that she needed. The whole civilised world contained for her +but one friend to whom she would write.</p> + +<p>The Canadian farm, the remote country village of Manchester, and the +Mormon sect—these formed her whole experience. Her father, who had +scolded and played with her; Ephraim, who had understood her and had +been the authority to her heart that his parents could not be; her +husband, who had wrapped about her such close protection that she had +tottered when she thought to walk alone—these were her real world, and +of them only Ephraim was left.</p> + +<p>It was not in her nature at any time, above all not in these stricken +months, to desire to go out into the world alone to make for herself a +sphere of usefulness and a circle of companions. Hence she thought only +of returning to Ephraim, and by his help obtaining some occupation by +which she could live simply and within his reach. But when she thought +more closely of throwing herself, as it were, penniless and desolate at +the feet of this one prized friendship, doubts arose about her path.</p> + +<p>One thing which she had lost in the broken camp by her husband's grave, +one that if she had had greater power of recollection she would not have +left behind in that complete breaking with the past, was a packet of the +few letters which Ephraim had from time to time written to her. She did +not know whether she had thrown them into the grave with her treasure, +or whether they were left a prey to fire and theft, but in her heart she +had carried them beyond the loss of their material existence.</p> + +<p>The first had answered her insistent question concerning the vexed +condition of the devotees of prayer. It contained no word of criticism +of the Mormon creed, nothing that if read aloud could have disturbed +Halsey's peace. "Perchance," he had said, "as a medical man applies a +poultice or blister to a diseased body to draw out the evil, so to those +who pray and are too ignorant, <i>i.e.</i> opinionated, to follow perfectly +the greatest teacher of prayer, God may apply circumstances to bring all +the evil of heart to the surface, that in this life and the future it +may the more quickly work itself away." Susannah had so conned this +passage that she could now close her eyes and read it as written upon +the red dusk of their lids.</p> + +<p>The next letter had been written a year later. He described a great +change in his life. He had gone to spend the winter in Hartford, on the +Connecticut River, to be under a new physician, and had there met with a +preacher called Mr. Horace Bushnell. This acquaintance was evidently +much to Ephraim. Susannah had made some complaint of the harshness of +the divine counsel in which he asked her to believe; his answer was to +send her Bushnell's sermons on the suffering of God. Ephraim had added: +"When you went from us, Susy, would you ever have been satisfied if we +had detained you by force? Yet that is what you ask of God. If you were +right in going, let the circumstance prove it; if we were right, let it +appear by time. So says God; and his friendship has eternity to work in; +so also has every human friendship. Let us wait, but in faith." This +ending, somewhat enigmatical to her, had yet recurred to her heart so +often that she knew the words by heart.</p> + +<p>The next letter had been written more recently, after a long interval. +At the end of this letter Ephraim had said, "I am persuaded that what we +need to help our faith is never more knowledge, but always more love. I +cannot interpret this but by telling you of a fact which I feel to be +the key to a great—the greatest—truth. I know a man who believed in +God. He met a woman whom he loved, not as many love, but (I know not +why) with all the loves of his heart, as father, as mother, as brother, +friend, might love; as lover he loved her with all these loves. After +that he knew God with a knowledge that passed belief. He could argue no +more, but he <i>knew</i>. This I think is the sort of knowledge which guides +unerringly." Susannah remembered, if not the words, all that this +passage contained. She had wondered at it not a little.</p> + +<p>Up to the time of Angel's death she had rejoiced in these letters, not +doubting that Ephraim had remained the same self-sacrificing +friend—ready out of mere but perfect kindness to befriend her to the +uttermost. She had not doubted because she had not questioned. Now +disquieting thoughts intervened, producing a new shyness. She remembered +their last interview, and wondered if Ephraim would feel the same +responsibility for her if she returned destitute. Perhaps the ardour of +his friendship had cooled. Perhaps in the last letter he had intended to +suggest to her that he thought of marriage, and this time for love, not +kindness, the lady being one of his new Hartford friends.</p> + +<p>But no doubt the principal reason of Susannah's dalliance with time in +those first weeks of her moral freedom was the mental weakness that +succeeds shock. Every day she thought that she would soon write that +begging letter, until the day came when opportunity ceased.</p> + +<p>When the Danite left he had promised the farmer to return as soon as it +was possible to place Susannah in safety with her Mormon friends. When +she began to speak of leaving, her host told her this for the first +time.</p> + +<p>"And what is the young man's name?" the old man asked of Susannah. They +were in the long living-room at the mid-day meal. His sons, who were +leaving the table, waited to hear the answer; the mother, the very +children, looked at her with interest.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," said Susannah.</p> + +<p>There was a pause, and for the first time she was aware that there was +some sentiment in the minds of her hearers which did not appear upon the +surface.</p> + +<p>She went on, "I don't know why he should trouble himself to come back +for me except that—I think that he was much touched by some earnest +words my husband said to him that he did not see his way to accept, and +I think also that he is zealous for the Church."</p> + +<p>Her surpassing wrongs had so far set her apart and made all that she +said and did sacred. No one questioned her further.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of February the Danite reappeared. He came under the +cover of night, but showed himself only when the household was awake. He +was much thinner, more gaunt than before, but in frankness and quietude +the same. His first words to Susannah had an import she did not expect.</p> + +<p>"That young lady you mentioned to me—I said she was dead because you +were half crazy, and would have gone back to her, but I worked round +till I found her; she got to the city of Far West right enough."</p> + +<p>After a while he said, "That young lady and some other of our folks have +got horses and they're going into Illinois now. Most of our folks are +walking. It's about as bad as can be, but I guess you'll have to go. +We'll be safe enough, for as long as we go straight on the Gentiles are +bound to let us pass. I tried to get some better sort of a way for you +and her, but there ain't no way unless we would have sworn we weren't +Saints and gone pretending to be Gentiles, but even then we haven't got +the money."</p> + +<p>Susannah was thrilled with excited distress. She was not prepared to +make an abrupt decision, and it appeared that if she desired to join +this company she must go that evening or not at all.</p> + +<p>During the hours of the morning her mind cowered, dismayed. Should she +now renounce her husband's sect, refusing to suffer with them? She had +not as yet fortitude to do this. Halsey's eyes, the touch of his hand, +her baby's voice lisping the tenets of their faith in repetition of his +father's solemn tones, these were sights and sounds as yet too near her. +To her shocked fancy the child and his father were only gone out of +sight, but near enough to be cruelly hurt by her public perversion. And, +moreover, if she should take this course she must write to Ephraim at +once, for she could not well remain where she was without definite +purpose in view.</p> + +<p>Susannah had sought seclusion in which to think, and the younger son of +the house intruded himself. He was perhaps about thirty years of age, a +burly man, resolute and passionate. He spoke fairly enough. The Danite +himself had said that the journey to which she was haled by her friends +was one of untold hardship, its end uncertain; he offered her all that +an honest and prosperous man could offer, but went on to urge on his own +behalf the strength of those sentiments which he had learned to +entertain for her—his admiration (Susannah sickened at the word), his +love (she shrank in fear).</p> + +<p>She rose up with the moan of a hunted thing. She did not pause to make +excuses for the hunter, to consider the pioneer life that wots little of +sentiment in proportion to utility; she only saw again the grave at +Haun's Mill and the white faces of her dead upturned to hers. It seemed +that this man, with the consent of his people, was urging his suit as it +were beside the very corpse of her husband. The Danite had shown Angel +reverence, had shown by his every word and glance that he counted her as +belonging to the dead man whose blood he carried at his heart.</p> + +<p>Susannah rode out from that temporary home at nightfall upon the +Danite's horse.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIVa" id="CHAPTER_XIVa"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>It was the season of rain and sleet, of rude northerly winds. The roads, +across a tract of flat fields and in among the low woods that fringed +the rivers, were heavy with mud.</p> + +<p>After riding half the night on a pillion behind the Danite, Susannah +entered the Mormon camp. Up and down the sides of a dirty road, in +waggons, in small tents, and in the open, men, women, and children were +lying huddled in family groups. How far these crowds extended she could +not see. Watch-fires were burning here and there, and in the fields on +either side a patrol of Missouri militia were heard scoffing and +shouting in the darkness. The Danite answered the challenge of one of +these men with apparent meekness; Susannah perceived that he had gained +in self-control. When they had entered the road, along the sides of +which the forlorn multitude lay, they travelled for some way upon it, +the Danite speaking in low tones now and then to the Mormon watchers. At +length they came to a place where a few waggons of better description +were standing and a number of horses were tied; here he lifted Susannah +from the horse. Three of the Mormon leaders came up; they evidently +knew her and her story. The eldest took her hand and spoke in broken +tones of the crown which Halsey had won in the unseen city of God.</p> + +<p>These were the first words that Susannah had heard in unison with +Halsey's own thoughts, and for his sake they endeared the whole wretched +Mormon encampment to her.</p> + +<p>A woman, her head and shoulders wrapped in a shawl, sprang down from one +of the waggons, and Elvira encountered Susannah.</p> + +<p>"You expect me to say that I am sorry for you," she said hurriedly; "I +will not. It is not a time for grief. We each of us have just so much +power of being sorry and no more, and the well has gone dry. I am glad +you have come. There are a great many things that one can yet be a +little glad for; but you must make haste to lie down, for we shall soon +enough be called to the march."</p> + +<p>The beds shaken down on the floor of the waggon were covered with +reclining women. Some of them squeezed themselves together to make the +place Elvira had vacated large enough for two. Susannah stretched +herself out, loathing with her senses the crowded bed, but with a tender +heart for her fellow-sufferers. After the long dumb weeks of her stern +sorrow, after that day's revolt of injured sentiment, she felt that it +was worth while to have come here if only to have made some one else, as +Elvira had said, "a little glad."</p> + +<p>The dawn came sighing fitfully, long sighs that rose in the distant +fields to the east meeting them in their pilgrimage and dying away +westward; the dawn wept also, scattering her tears upon them in like +transient showers.</p> + +<p>Elvira found her own horse. The Danite had used yesterday the animal he +had provided for Susannah.</p> + +<p>"But what right have I to his horse?" Susannah began her question +impetuously, but Elvira silenced her.</p> + +<p>"Hush! Don't let the other women know that it isn't yours. Poor things, +they will begin to ask why it isn't theirs. Do you think that we are +living on bowing terms, curtseying to each other and saying, 'After you, +madam, if you please'?"</p> + +<p>Elvira was changed. Terror had at last done its work. Her pretty +features were drawn with anxiety; her eye glittered.</p> + +<p>"I have been baptized," she said to Susannah in hard tones. "When I saw +the water red with blood I went down into it."</p> + +<p>Eastward, facing the gusty sobs of the winter morning, they went. The +road was soft, and hundreds of feet treading in front of them had +kneaded water and earth together into a slippery mass. As far as could +be seen in front and behind, the line of the pilgrimage stretched, women +and children plodding with burdens on their backs, men pushing +hand-carts before them, only here and there a waggon or a group of +horses.</p> + +<p>Elvira took up several children on her horse, and pointed out to +Susannah a sickly woman to whom she could give a turn upon the pillion +that she herself had ridden during the night. So they began one of many +weary days.</p> + +<p>To the good the necessities of compassion are as strong as are the +necessities of selfishness to the wicked. Within a day or two both +Susannah and Elvira had given up their horses entirely to women who had +been taken ill by the way. At first they plodded arm in arm, thinking +that merely to walk was all that their strength could endure; but there +were other women who had children to carry, women even who must push +hand-carts before them, and there were little children who sank one by +one exhausted on the winter road, as lambs fall when their mothers are +driven far.</p> + +<p>After the march had continued for a few days there was much illness. All +clothing and bedding was wet with the winter rain, chilled and stiff +with the frosts. On the faces of many the unnatural flush and excitement +of fever were seen, and other faces grew pallid, the lips blue or dark, +and the eyes sunken. To all who retained the natural hue and pulses of +health a heavier burden was added every day because of the help they +must needs give if they would not bury too many of their comrades by the +wayside. In that sad caravan souls were born into the world or freed +from it by death almost every hour.</p> + +<p>Susannah was greatly struck by the meek manner of the boldest and +roughest of the Mormon leaders in their dealings with the parties of +Missouri militia who, with the ostensible purpose of defending Missouri +homesteads from Mormon violence, drove the stricken multitude as with +goads. She had learned from her husband what the strength of true +meekness could be, the lightness of heart which commits itself to God, +who judgeth righteously, the glance of love that has no reserve of +hatred, the infinite force that can afford to be gentle. Such a spirit +had upheld Angel Halsey, but his widow looked in vain among the leaders +of this band for a face that bespoke the same upholding. She soon +perceived that there was among them a free-masonry of understanding, and +that their mildness was assumed to serve the temporary purpose. By many +a prayer she heard breathed, which was in truth, though not in form, a +curse, she knew that in the souls of Halsey's successors there was no +forgiveness, yet her heart went out in sympathy to men who were +sacrificing their own sense of honour, holding in check their most +delicious impulses of revenge, for the sake of being worthy shepherds to +the weak.</p> + +<p>"Do you love them the less because they are not angels?" asked Elvira. +"Have you forgiven?"</p> + +<p>Susannah shuddered at the intensity of the hard low tones, the passion +in the word "love," the sneer in the word "forgive." Yet she knew that +the rage against injustice which in youth had driven her forth upon this +journey had, since the death of her child, changed into such fierce +hatred of the persecutors that she could, except for very fear of +herself, have taken upon her own soul the Danite's vow. In these days +the pain of bodily suffering or heart-felt grief was as nothing compared +with her agony when at times waves of this hatred passed over her heart.</p> + +<p>The two friends were walking together, pushing before them a small cart +in which, on the top of the bundles of household goods, a wretched woman +and her newborn child were lying, covered under a scanty tarpauling from +the driving sleet. The mud splashed beneath their feet; Susannah had +little breath or strength for speech. Elvira, more slightly made, in +every way more fragile, had seemed to develop, with every new phase of +suffering, more strength of muscle and hatred and love.</p> + +<p>They passed now two of the leaders. It was the custom for a certain +number of these men to go forward and station themselves in pairs at +intervals upon the road, cheering each group as it passed them, noting +with careful eyes if any ill could be remedied by change of posture or +exchange of burdens. One of them now, seeing the work to which Susannah +had set herself, interfered. He was about sixty years of age, coarse in +appearance, an elder whose wife and family Susannah knew by reputation. +He and his fellows called a halt, looking for some man who might push +the cart, but there was none within sight who was not already +overburdened, nor was there a waggon that was not already overfilled +with the sick and exhausted. The elder, whose name happened to be +Darling, found in this particular instance reason to swerve from his +position of guard. He left the post in charge of his fellow and pushed +the cart. It was a habit with many of these leaders to seek to lighten +the way by jocularities, and Susannah had before observed that, whether +the jests arose with ease or effort from the heavy hearts of those who +made them, a large proportion of the people were evidently cheered +thereby. She could put aside her own tastes for the public good; she +could even excuse when this rough comfort was offered to herself. +Darling, labouring behind the cart, made light of the service he +rendered.</p> + +<p>He said first that the newborn babe must be called after him, and when +he learned its sex he gave permission to the ladies to decide between +them which should share this honour.</p> + +<p>"Shall it be 'darling Susannah'?" he asked, making gentle his tone as he +addressed the stately widow, "or shall it be 'Elvira darling'?" This +time he turned his head with a broader smile toward Elvira's sharp +little features.</p> + +<p>Susannah felt that her hypersensitive nerves could almost have called +his smile a leer; but she looked at the man's broad face, whose lines +told of no resources of thought, no great natural capacity for heroism, +and yet were furrowed by the sharpness of this persecution. The face +would have been fat had it not been half-starved. It was pale now under +the ill-kempt hair, and the set purpose of helpfulness was stamped upon +it. She took back the word "leer" out of mere respect. Darling had given +away his shoes; he was walking barefoot; he had given away coat and vest +also, and the rotund lines of his figure were unpleasantly obvious under +the wet shirt, and yet Susannah knew and bowed to the fact that some +sick man or little child was wrapped in the garments that were gone.</p> + +<p>But Elvira was expressing with hysterical warmth the same sentiments.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll feel it an honour to have my name joined with yours. I +haven't got the length of taking off my shoes yet."</p> + +<p>Darling began to sing one of the inspiriting Mormon hymns.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When Joseph to Cumorah came."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Poor Joe!" Elvira spoke to the elder in a confidential whisper, "when +he cheated over the bank I thought some fiend had put a ring in his +nose, and was leading him out to dance, and that I should be able to sit +and laugh. Now he's lying upon straw in the gaol. What will they do to +him if they lynch him?"</p> + +<p>"Tear him limb from limb," whispered Darling, also under his breath. He +was probably shrewd enough to know the force of Smith's suffering in +stimulating the piety of the faithful, but truth, and grief concerning +the truth, were in his words also. He sighed a big sincere sigh, and +repeated sadly, "Tear him limb from limb, or burn him to death by a slow +fire." Such atrocities, as practised upon criminal negroes, were not +unknown in the locality, which gave the elder's words a graphic power, +but Elvira's answer was wholly unexpected.</p> + +<p>"How droll!" she returned.</p> + +<p>The elder was annoyed. He had not refined susceptibilities which sought +immediate relief from the dreadful pictures he had suggested, nor did he +at all comprehend that her rippling smile was hysterical. "I don't see +anything droll about it, sister," he said sulkily.</p> + +<p>"Don't you? Now, it all seems to me very droll—you splashing along +there barefoot, why" (she drew back a little to get the better view, +laughing excitedly), "you've no idea how ridiculous you look; and Mrs. +Halsey stalking along like a dignified ghost, afraid that you and I will +kiss one another if we take to whispering, and this woman dying here +with her head resting on a sack of potatoes, and the impudent little +person you've just christened intruding herself upon the world only to +go out of it again, and all these fine people in Missouri rubbing their +hands and thinking they have done such a noble deed. I think," she +added, laughing more loudly, "that they are the drollest part of it +all."</p> + +<p>"This nation will find that there's a sequel to it that they won't laugh +at." These words of Darling came from some region underneath that of his +ordinary conversation, as a man takes a dagger from under his cloak and +lets it flash ere he hides it again. "The government of these United +States that has laughed at our sufferings will rue the day."</p> + +<p>"Even your saying that is very droll, but I love you for it." Elvira +lifted both her hands as if testifying to her own sincerity. "I love you +for it."</p> + +<p>The elder thought it needful here to be again jocose. "Oh, come now, I +am married."</p> + +<p>Elvira did not feel herself insulted. "These United States," she cried, +"they cackle over the word 'freedom' like so many hens that have each of +them laid an egg and go strutting and boasting while the housewife +empties their nests. The housewife represents the natural course of +events, and in this case her name is 'Mrs. Mobocracy.'"</p> + +<p>At other times, after a long period of silence, Elvira would burst forth +in excited soliloquy audible to Susannah and others about her. On the +last day when they were descending the hills to the Mississippi her +increasing excitement culminated in a greater demonstration. The sun was +shining, and a clear frost had hardened the roads. Elvira broke forth +thus—</p> + +<p>"It is Joe Smith who is conducting this march. We say that he is lying +in gaol," she laughed. "In gaol is he? Have they got him safe? But it +was he who taught all these men to work together, one under the other, +and none of them kicking; and it was he who taught these women and +children to do as they are bid—a wonderful thing that in the land of +the free. It was he who taught one and all of us to be kind to each +other, to the poor and the sick and the young, to the very beasts. Do +you remember that when they caught our prophet at Hiram and dragged him +out to be beaten and insulted, they had first to take from his arms a +sick motherless baby that he was sitting up all night to nurse? Do you +remember how he gave commandment about the animals? how he said that any +man striking a beast in anger was thrown so far back on his road to +heaven?" She paused when she had thrown out this question, and the men +and women within hearing answered in broken chorus, "Yes, blessed be the +Lord; we do remember."</p> + +<p>"And who was it that taught us to give up the filthy Gentile habits of +strong drink and tobacco?" (Again in the pause the chorus of +thanksgiving to Heaven was heard.) "It was Joe Smith," Elvira cried more +loudly. "And when the Gentiles thought that we would be scattered and +separated and ruined, his spirit has gone like a banner before us. +Twice they have taken our lands that we bought with our own money and +cleared with our own hands, and the houses that we have built, and cast +us out destitute, but we are not destroyed."</p> + +<p>The enthusiasm of the crowd that now pressed upon her went like wine to +her head; her cheeks flamed, her eyes brightened, and she lifted her +small hands in fantastic gesture and danced, crying, "We are cast down, +but not destroyed, because God Almighty has given to us a prophet, and a +great prophet."</p> + +<p>And the people around her answered again, "Blessed be the name of the +Lord."</p> + +<p>It was whispered about the camp that the spirit of prophecy had fallen +upon Elvira Halsey.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of that day they saw the ice that floated in large +cakes on the breast of the Mississippi flash back the sunbeams to their +straining eyes. The sight of the limits of the hostile State from which +they were flying was a great joy to every one of them. Susannah felt her +heart leap; Elvira, with the growing tendency to cling to her which she +had displayed since their last meeting, cast her arms around her and +sobbed for joy.</p> + +<p>After this blessed glimpse of the river they went down through the +recesses of a low forest, the frost and the sunshine still inspiriting +them. As they went, the melody of a hymn was taken up from one end of +the caravan to the other by all those well enough to join in the song. +It was a swinging triumphant air, and Susannah found herself uplifted +for the first time since the days of her baptism upon the party spirit +of the sect, and singing with them, although she could only catch the +words of the refrain often repeated,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Missouri,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In her lawless fury,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without judge or jury,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drove the Saints and spilt their blood."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Again the mind of Joseph Smith had overmastered Susannah's mind. As +Elvira had said, he, lying in a gaol far away, enduring hardship, +imminent danger of torturing death, was by his spirit animating this +motley crowd, and now at last again his will broke down the barriers of +reason that Susannah had raised and fortified even against the love of +her child and the long reverence she had yielded to her husband. The +true secret of human leadership is, perhaps, known only to the Divine +mind, perhaps also to the Satanic. It would certainly seem that the men +who chance upon the power and wield it, have often little understanding +of the law by which they work, and their critics less.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVa" id="CHAPTER_XVa"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<p>The Mississippi was filled with large cakes of floating ice. Another +company which had gone out from Far West some weeks before was still +encamped on the Missouri banks of the river. Yet other companies from +Far West came up before the main body of the Saints with which Susannah +had travelled was able to cross. The surrounding woods were cut down to +make shanties; the surrounding country was scoured for food. In the +intervening weeks, while they lay encamped on the banks, the last enemy +to be vanquished in that region, the malarial fever, grappled with the +sect and dealt deadly wounds. Illinois, shocked by the cruelty of her +sister State, held out kind hands and fed the fugitives to some extent, +and when April came, helped them to cross the river.</p> + +<p>Elvira had been ill in one of the women's sheds, now shrieking in hot +delirium, now shaken with ague as if by a strong beast that worried its +prey. When they at last crossed the river to the city of Quincy, +Susannah was established with her charge, the one legacy of relationship +Halsey had left her, in a meagre home with some of the Saints who +already lived there.</p> + +<p>Within a few days Susannah went to the tithing office, which had been +swiftly established for the relief of the destitute Saints, and asked +for paper on which she could write a letter. It was her first chance, +since leaving her last asylum, of writing the proposed letter to Ephraim +Croom. Elder Darling was officiating. She fancied that he looked at her +with rude curiosity.</p> + +<p>Until this moment she had presented so sad an exterior, had seemed so +indifferent to all the ills of their common lot, that Darling and the +other men who had dealings with her had stood not a little in awe. As +outward physical details of suffering always appeal more largely to +common sympathy than inward grief, the manner of her loss had set a +temporary crown upon her head, to which the elders had knelt, refusing +to admonish her because she took no part in their public services, or +because, except for attention to the sick, she did not give much sign of +social comradeship.</p> + +<p>Now when she asked for the paper, Darling felt that the ice was +beginning to break, and gave what seemed to him genial encouragement.</p> + +<p>"First time that you've asked for anything but daily rations, Sister +Halsey; glad to see you plucking up heart. The living God giveth us all +things richly to enjoy." He repeated the last words in an unctuous +drawl while he was looking for the paper, "richly to—enjoy. Well now, I +was thinking we had some with a black border on it, but you're more than +welcome to such as there is."</p> + +<p>The stores indeed were scanty enough; food, cloth, household utensils, a +little stationery, a large pile of devotional books, were arranged in +meagre order in the shed used as a warehouse. Darling had as yet +scarcely respectable clothes to wear, but Susannah was astonished only +at the energy that had in a few days collected so much, at the order and +patient kindliness which ruled in this poverty-stricken administration. +Already those who could work paid into the common store, and those who +had lost all had but to state their needs to have them supplied as well +as might be.</p> + +<p>"One, two, three—will three sheets be enough, Sister Halsey? You've +been hearing, I suppose, that Mr. Smith is going to be moved to the town +of Boome, and that he is going to be allowed to get his letters now? +He'd be real cheered to hear from you, although"—he added this with +decent haste—"it will be a great grief to him to hear of your loss!"</p> + +<p>"Is he well?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"The State authorities are in a fine to-do about him, I suppose you +know, sister, for they can't find a single charge to bring him to trial +on. You bet the trial would have been on long ago if they'd had a +single leg to stand on. Anything else that I can serve you with to-day? +We've got some new women's shawls and hats come in. Won't you just step +here and have a look at them? No? Well, next time; but there ain't one +of our women as doesn't want one of them new bonnets."</p> + +<p>Susannah went out into the spring on the outskirts of the town. The +birds were singing; everywhere the dandelions swelled out their happy +tufted breasts to the sunshine; even a long worm that she noticed +crawling lazily in the heat spoke to her of enjoyment of some sort. Her +own heart leaped, and she thought it was in answer to the spring. She +forgot the dire fates with which she had been grappling, forgot to hate +and to grieve.</p> + +<p>In the small wooden room that she shared with Elvira, while the invalid +slept, she wrote to Ephraim, telling him all that had befallen her. She +confessed to Ephraim the passion of hatred which had long tormented her, +but she added, "To-day I do not feel it; to-day, with the sweet voices +of the birds everywhere in my ears, I feel that if I could be beside you +again you could teach me to forgive as my husband forgave, for I do know +to-day that in forgiveness alone is the true triumph, the only healing. +I am more one with my husband's sect now than I ever was in heart and +hope. I long to see it triumphant; I long to see its enemies abashed; +but I will leave this people and come back to you, if you will have me, +for with regard to their religious faith my life with them is a lie."</p> + +<p>The writing took so long that when she carried the letter again to the +tithing office to be stamped and sent, the post-bag of that day had +already gone. Later, when the office was closed to the public and Elder +Darling was alone, he took up the letter which Susannah had brought and +looked at it curiously. His eyes had caught the address. He was not sure +that he would have put it in the bag even if it had been in time, and +now it was clearly his duty to consider. His was a mind in which there +was no place for platonic friendship, and Susannah was obviously a most +desirable piece of property to the struggling Church. The Church had +provided the paper for this letter, must needs provide the stamp; he was +officially responsible to the Church. The elder had been an honest man +according to the average notions of honesty until within the last weeks, +when stress of circumstance had made him reconsider, not for himself but +for others, more than one rule of life, and obtain larger latitude. The +building up of the Church in her present sore strait was surely an end +to override small scruples. He acted now as an official, as a priest, +when, after a good many painful qualms of conscience, he opened the +letter. After having read its contents, he became convinced that it was +for the good of Susannah's own soul that it should not go.</p> + +<p>The ground about Quincy had been drained; the town was comparatively +healthy; in a few days more some two thousand of the fugitives felt +again the pulse of life in their veins. Then they looked abroad and +clasped every man the hand of his neighbour, and said "Thanks be to +God," and even embraced one another in the joy of relief. History often +shows how exuberant is the joy of human nature at escape, and that the +impulse of joy is almost one with the impulse of affection. At the +abatement of the London plague we see Britons kiss each other in the +streets, and at the relief of besieged towns, in our own day, staid +persons have caressed one another, unmindful of what they did. So it was +now with the members of this driven sect. The spirit of joy and a closer +bond of affection went infectiously through the gathering Church. Upon +the first Sunday they met together in the open air, and sang words that +they verily believed had been written in particular prophecy for +themselves at this very hour.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"If it had not been the Lord that was on our side."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The psalm rose from every throat with the swelling tide of joy.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"If it had not been the Lord that was on our side when men rose up +against us."</p></div> + +<p>Susannah, advancing, a little belated, to the rural preaching which was +held in a dip of the plain, heard the lusty chant of irrepressible +gladness rising to the blue heavens, and quickened her steps. In spite +of herself she was carried into song by the enthusiasm which seemed to +dart like a flame from the assembled multitude and enveloped her.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their +teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the +fowler: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the +name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."</p></div> + +<p>While she was exalted by the song she saw the face of her friend the +Danite for the first time since the night on which they had ridden so +far together. He was standing now upon the outskirts of the crowd as one +who had newly come from a solitary journey. When he met Susannah's eye +his solitary look passed into one of lofty and intense comradeship. He +ran to her and embraced her, and emptied an inner pocket of a purse of +money which he thrust eagerly into her possession.</p> + +<p>"I have killed one of them," he said, speaking eagerly, as a child tells +of some exploit. "His pockets were fat with money, and it is yours."</p> + +<p>"See!" He took the fragment of linen upon which the stain of Halsey's +blood had turned dark with time, and showed her a new and brighter stain +upon its edges.</p> + +<p>All around them were men and women, who now, for the first time since +the hour of some terrible parting, spied kindred or comrades. By a +common impulse these moved toward one another, and there was an +interlude in the service for sobs of joy and frantic embracings, and +many men and women clasped one another who could claim no kindred, and +none forbade, for tears of mutual love were in all eyes.</p> + +<p>After that, in the streets or in chance meetings in the houses, the +remembrance of this festival of rapturous comradeship gave a new +standard to the manners of private life. The Saints had, as it were, +passed from death unto life; former things had passed away; the praises +of God were ever upon their lips; they entered with joy into a kingdom +of love which they doubted not God had ordained for his elect; many a +command of Scripture became illumined with a new practical meaning. +"Greet <i>all</i> the brethren with a holy kiss." "Greet ye one another with +a kiss of charity."</p> + +<p>Susannah was not much abroad, but she saw the new customs inaugurated. +Believing that they must be transient, knowing, too, that the fierce +undercurrent that they expressed must have outlet, and was not of that +range of emotions which had to do with the common relationships of life, +she felt no shock of offended sentiment. But in a short space of time, +as Elvira grew better, Susannah perceived that the experimental nature +of the new life was a dissipation to weaker minds. This grieved her +because of the sacred memory of her husband's efforts for these people, +and because, attuned by party spirit, she entertained a nervous +personal desire that they should acquit themselves well. Just here she +found occupation; she gathered the young girls about her in a temporary +school, and set herself to soothe and calm the excitement of the women. +The work was intended to last but a few weeks, until Ephraim's answer +came.</p> + +<p>To the unspeakable joy of his followers, Joseph Smith appeared suddenly +in Quincy. It appeared to be true, as Darling said, that the Missouri +authorities could in fact find no charge on which to try him.</p> + +<p>Smith, with his brother Hyrum and their fellows, had suffered severely, +but later their confinement had been more easy, and the news of the +triumphant gathering of his people, together with the excitement of the +escape, had induced in Smith a mood which spurned past failures with a +foot that sped to a new goal. The acclamation, the sincere and touching +joy, with which Smith was received by men and women and children, were +enough to raise any man in his own esteem, and to set free the ambition +which had been perhaps drooping in confinement.</p> + +<p>Smith had not been in Quincy twenty-four hours before he mastered the +situation there in all its details. He promptly sent out a decree +against the new doctrine of what he called "lax manners." He preached a +great sermon in the open air that night. "A man shall kiss his own wife +and daughters and no other women," said Smith. The elders who had +preached from St. Paul's texts on the subject were accused of error and +called upon to recant. Smith commanded that the women should work and +the children should study, and he publicly pronounced Susannah to be a +fitting model for the women and a fitting teacher for the young. +Susannah had not as yet met Smith face to face when she found herself +made, as it were, an object of licensed admiration.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIa" id="CHAPTER_XVIa"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + + +<p>It was that same evening, after Smith's commendation of Susannah, that +Darling decided to lay the destruction of her letter before the prophet, +hoping for approval.</p> + +<p>Smith was looking over Darling's accounts in the tithing office, giving +voluminous and minute directions. The May night had closed in. The men +were in a corner of the large shed in which the stores were kept, a +corner fenced off for an office by a low wooden partition. The candle +flickered on the table between them.</p> + +<p>The business side of Smith's soul was uppermost. He had power to keep in +mind a huge number of details, and to classify them, and he estimated +the relative importance of the classes as no other man would have +estimated it.</p> + +<p>Darling interrupted before Smith's interest in business began to wane. +He prefaced his communication concerning Susannah by speaking of the +much shepherding needed by the sheep. Some, he said, had done worse than +be lax in manners; some had presumed to have revelations; some had +doubted the faith.</p> + +<p>Here Darling paused, feeling sure of rousing Smith to the mood he +desired.</p> + +<p>At the mention of revelations Smith's soul took a turn, like a ball on +its axis; the plain speech that he had been using about business and +stores and accounts changed into phraseology of a Scriptural cast, and +the shrewd glance of his blue eye into a more distraught and distant +look. Heretofore, as Darling well knew, heresy had been a greater evil +in his eyes than any other; but Smith had come now out of long months of +prison; days and nights in which a horrible death had faced him closely +had not passed over this particular soul of his dreams without moulding +it. It is noticed by all his historians that after this period he spoke +little "by revelation," in comparison with his former full habit in this +respect. At Darling's abrupt speech he sighed heavily. He looked, not at +Darling as before, but at some vague object beyond him.</p> + +<p>"There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy," he said +wearily, and then, gathering himself up with more pompous unction, he +asked of the surprised Darling, "Who art thou that judgest another?"</p> + +<p>Darling had grown fatter since he came to Quincy; the lines of haggard +care were still upon his face, but were modified by dimples of good +cheer. Much taken aback by the unexpected rebuff, he rubbed his head.</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. Smith, if they are all going to be allowed to think whatever +they like—"</p> + +<p>The obvious difficulty of church government under these conditions +confronted the nobler impulse of humility in the visionary's mind. "When +have I said, Brother Darling, that they all should think what they like? +But, behold, I say unto thee, it is not with the Lord to save with many +or with few, but by whom he will send."</p> + +<p>This was a little vague as to grammar and as to sense, but Darling had +not the ability to criticise. He only perceived that to secure +commendation he must be tactful in the setting forth of his act.</p> + +<p>"It was in the case of Sister Susannah Halsey—" he began again +apologetically.</p> + +<p>A more eager look came into Smith's eyes; still a third phase of his +character there was, the soul of his personal affections, and this began +to merge now with his religious self. "Hath she prophesied? Hath any +revelation been granted to her?"</p> + +<p>If Darling had not understood the prophetical vein, he did understand a +certain vibration in this tone. "Ha!" thought he, "if the prophet ain't +a bit soft on her himself I'm out." He had lowered his eyes, and now he +said evasively, "It is our sister Elvira on whom the spirit of prophecy +has fallen; you will have heard how she gave praise concerning you +before the Saints upon the road and was moved to dance before the Lord."</p> + +<p>Smith saw through the evasion, but by shrewd reading of the +sanctimonious face, saw also the inward suspicion as clearly as if +Darling had spoken it. His tone and manner betrayed him no more.</p> + +<p>"The head of our sister Elvira is not always set firmly on her +shoulders," he remarked, "but I am glad if the Lord has given her +grace."</p> + +<p>"I've been hoping that he'd give grace to our sister Susannah, for she's +been writing a letter to say as how she was without faith and wanting to +leave us."</p> + +<p>Smith answered him now only with a cool silence that puzzled his coarser +understanding.</p> + +<p>"'Twas in our first days here, when a good many of the women were +flighty, and Elvira Halsey, she was ill enough to have worked the +patience out of any one as they work the milk out of butter, and Sister +Susannah came with a letter. She gave it to me unsealed."</p> + +<p>"Was she without wax to seal it?" interrupted Smith in a casual tone. +Darling could not know that the thought of such poverty wrung Smith's +heart.</p> + +<p>"Waal, I dunno" (which was a lie). "Mebbe she had no wax—I didn't think +of that, but anyhow she gave me the letter. 'Twas too late for the mail; +'twas too heavy for one stamp. An' I didn't like to tell her, poor +thing, that we'd mighty little to spend on stamps. So after she'd gone I +just had a look to see who it was to."</p> + +<p>"The address would be on the outside?" Smith rose, hat in hand, as if to +depart, but fixed his eyes on the candle till Darling should have done.</p> + +<p>"The name gave me very little hint as to whether the matter was worth +the two stamps, so I just had a glance inside. Thought it might be but a +line asking money of her friends, which, under the sad circumstances, of +course I knew you'd rather the Church would supply."</p> + +<p>This drew the first spark of the approval he was expecting. "Certainly, +certainly, the widows and the orphans of those who have perished for the +truth must ever be our most tender care."</p> + +<p>"Exactly so, prophet; I knew that would be your opinion; so when I saw +that our sister had felt drove to asking for money from some fellow—I +guess there must have been some sweethearting between him and her before +she married Halsey. She said in this letter that she'd go to him if he'd +send her cash. She said as how she thought the religion of the +Latter-Day Saints was a lie; but of course I could see it was not her +right judgment, that she was awful lonesome."</p> + +<p>"It was taking a great liberty, Mr. Darling." Smith tapped his stick +upon the floor. He was far more angry than he showed, for policy had +laid a soft hand of reminder on his shoulder. "Our sister, Mrs. Halsey, +is not—" he coughed slightly, and sought by prophetical phrases to +explain that Susannah was not upon the level of Darling and his +kind—"is not, as it would be said in the Scriptures, among those who +deck themselves with crisping pins or are busybodies, but she is as that +lady to whom John wrote (and the letter is preserved unto the +edification of the Church unto this day); for it was revealed unto me in +the beginning that she was the elect sister, and to sit as one who +judges—as one who judges Israel." He was just going to add in the flow +of his phrases "upon twelve thrones," but the words died because even he +perceived the lack of sense.</p> + +<p>Darling grew testy. "Waal, I dunno, but it seems to me that if she'd +gone off by now to be Mrs. Ephraim Croom somewheres in the East there +wouldn't be much more elect sister about her."</p> + +<p>"The gentleman whose name you have just been mentioning, Mr. Darling, is +the lady's uncle. I was reared alongside them, and I know." He knew that +he fibbed between uncle and cousin, but the slip was so slight and the +end so worthy—to silence Darling.</p> + +<p>"'Twas no uncle that she wrote that 'ere letter to," said Darling hotly. +He stuck out his legs and leant back in his chair, the picture of +offence.</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken concerning the meaning of the letter, Brother Darling, +and it appears to me that in casting your eyes upon it you have gone +beyond what is written concerning the duty of an elder; but as to your +duty in destroying it—considering that our sister asked for money, +which it is our duty and privilege to supply—But I promised Emmar to be +back soon. I will consult the Lord, Brother Darling, and have a word +with you in the morning."</p> + +<p>Smith tramped with dignity over the long wooden floor of the darkened +shed and let himself out with decisive clatter of the latch.</p> + +<p>To his right lay the wooden town with twinkling lights, to his left the +black prairie, and above the crystal vast a moonless night, so clear +that the upward glance almost saw the perspective between nearer and +farther stars innumerable.</p> + +<p>This man was at all times possessed with the sense of otherness, sense +of a presence around and above. He was no sooner beneath the stars than +he hung his head as if some one saw him. With shame and pain written in +the attitude of his hulking figure, he skulked out into the black +fields.</p> + +<p>Later that night, a lad, not of the Mormon brotherhood, making his way +home in the dark to the town of Quincy, a little afraid of the dark, as +lads are apt to be, was terrified by hearing a voice in the darkness, by +dimly descrying a man's figure prostrate upon the ground. The lad shrank +back to a recess of the snake fence. There, trembling, he listened.</p> + +<p>The voice in the hoarse whisper of intensity repeated, "Give me—this +woman—give—give." The breathing, like command rather than prayer, set +the words grating on the air again and again. "This woman—this +woman—give! give! give!"</p> + +<p>The cause of the lad's terror was a strange conviction that the writhing +creature on the earth was certainly conversing with something not of +earth, whether God, or angel, or devil he did not ask. He was +encompassed by the dreadful belief that the other saw and heard what he +could not.</p> + +<p>The prostrate man clenched his fists and struck the black ground on +which he lay. There was an intense silence, and then again the grating +breath of a hoarse throat that lay among the grass blades babbled forth +a multitude of confessions and fiercely-worded supplications which the +little lad could neither understand nor remember.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden change of attitude and voice. The lad saw that the +man on the grass sat up, and as if he had received an answer, spoke in +reply, not now in wailing supplication, but in quick whispered argument. +The lad cowered with a fresh thrill of ghostly terror which burned the +mad words into his memory.</p> + +<p>"The loss would be to thee of the fairest of thine handmaids, and to her +of her own soul, and to me—" but here the words of irritable contention +failed in deep choking sobs. Then, to the lad's perfect dismay, the +black figure bounded to its feet and the arms were flung about in the +darkness as if wrestling with an unseen enemy. Now, being desperate, the +lad darted forth from his nook; passing in tip-toe rush at the back of +this struggling figure, he sped home in his gust of fear, and, with the +fantastic secrecy of youth, did not tell what he had heard and seen till +years had come and gone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIIa" id="CHAPTER_XVIIa"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + + +<p>The May morning was wreathing itself with opening flowers to meet the +first hour of sunlight when Susannah was startled by hearing that the +prophet inquired for her. There was in the house where she lived an +empty chamber, unfurnished because of poverty; it was in this that the +prophet, who demanded a private audience, awaited her.</p> + +<p>So vexed was she at the public advertisement which he had made of her, +that she forgot the bereavement she had suffered since she last saw him; +but when she looked up she saw that Smith's face wore signs of emotion +that he was not trying to conceal.</p> + +<p>At first he made an attempt at some unctuous form of address, an effort +at formality, a mechanical tribute to habit. Failing to finish his +phrase, he stood before her, not as the lauded leader, not as the +interesting martyr, but claiming recognition merely as a man, a large, +coarse man feeling his own coarseness in her presence, a sinful man +feeling his own sinfulness, but at the same time a man with a warm +heart, which was now so beating with emotions of shame and pity and glad +recognition that at first he could not speak, could not raise his eyes +to hers until the warmth of his feeling rid him of self-consciousness.</p> + +<p>Susannah had not expected to awake this emotion. She desired nothing +less than condolence; and yet she was touched by seeing his huge +strength broken down for the moment by her appearing. When he spoke his +voice was hoarse.</p> + +<p>"I—I told him—it was my earnest command to him not to go where there +was danger."</p> + +<p>Halsey's name was not spoken, but all through that interview Smith +appeared to be haunted by his presence. "He was the best man amongst +us," he said.</p> + +<p>"My husband is gone." Susannah hoped by the reticence of her tone to +ward off further excess of sympathy. "I am no longer bound to your +Church, Mr. Smith. I should not be honest if I did not tell you that I +hold myself free."</p> + +<p>He faced her frankly, but with a glance of searching pain. "It must seem +a rather poor trade I've chosen if there ain't no truth in it."</p> + +<p>"But I did not accuse you of not believing it, Mr. Smith."</p> + +<p>"Do you think I do?"</p> + +<p>She remembered the day that he had first shown her his peep-stone with +simple, childlike importance. How young they had both been! The sunshine +on the hill, the voice of the golden woodpecker, the scent of the fallen +beech leaves, came back to her. A decade of terrible years had passed +over them both, and he stood seeking her faith just as simply.</p> + +<p>"I have tried very hard to understand you, Mr. Smith, but I do not. I +think you must believe most of what you claim for yourself, if not all. +If you had made your story up for the love of power you wouldn't always +be wanting the people to get a better education; you would, as they say +of the Roman Catholic priests, want to keep the people ignorant."</p> + +<p>"Go on," he said. She found that he was looking at her with intense +sadness, but there was not a shadow of evasion in the eager look that +met her steadily.</p> + +<p>She went on, looking gravely into his face. "I do not believe that your +story was false, Mr. Smith, but it seems to me that you must suspect now +that your visions and the gold plates were hallucination, not reality." +She paused, eager question in tone and look, but the question was of the +head, not of the heart.</p> + +<p>He knew that; he knew that it did not matter greatly to this thoughtful +and beautiful woman whether he had sunk to the deepest degradation or +not. Suddenly he answered her, but not as one who stood at her judgment +bar.</p> + +<p>"Where is your heart? Didn't you see how that man Angel—angel of purity +if ever one walked in human form—kissed every day the ground you +walked upon? And you did not love him. The child—you thought you cared +for the child: I tell you if I had had a child like that, with eyes like +the stars and a little mind so untainted, I had laid myself down on his +grave and died there. There's Emmar and me, we'd be in more trouble if +you lost one of your pretty fingers than you would have been in if they +had taken and killed us over there in Missouri." He added, "If you were +another woman, and had not the power to do more than just have a little +shallow caring for one and another, where would be your sin?"</p> + +<p>Something that she had dimly suspected of herself flashed into apparent +truth. Ephraim, too, had perhaps intended to tell her this when he had +said that love, not knowledge, was needed. She had not loved Halsey and +his child as she might have loved.</p> + +<p>Susannah had always recognised a certain bigness in Smith's character +because of the power he had of giving himself to man, woman, and child; +now she felt her own inferiority. Was she to stand babbling to him about +hallucinations and gold plates? The man in him had flashed out at her, +and because she was not without the heart whose whereabouts he had +demanded, the flash awakened an answering fire. Her cheeks flushed, not +with self-consciousness, but with the slow gathering of heart-stricken +tears.</p> + +<p>"And you," she said slowly, "you have poured out blood and soul for us +all freely, but why?" The imperious need of truth awoke again. "Why have +you let yourself be beaten and shot at and imprisoned and horribly +threatened, to lead us all to this new Zion, wherever it may be?" She +repeated the question. "If it was ambition, why did you hold to it when +there did not seem to be the slightest chance that your sect could +survive, or that you would escape death?"</p> + +<p>She was asking with more heart in her tone now that she had been made to +realise what she had of respect and friendship for this man.</p> + +<p>"I hain't got the courage most people think I have," he replied sadly; +"I am scared enough; I am scared sometimes of the very water I go into +to baptize in, let alone men that want to murder me; but I am more +afraid to go against my revelations, for I know if I went against them +there would be nothing for me but the pit and eternal fire. I don't say +that it would be the same for any of you. I used to preach that it +would, but in prison, when I thought of my folks standing up to be +killed, I thought perhaps I had gone beyond what was told me in +preaching that way; but as for me, I've seen and I've heard."</p> + +<p>He did not turn or take restless steps upon the floor. It would have +been a relief to her if he had moved; but he remained just where he +first stood, strong enough to have this colloquy over without +restlessness.</p> + +<p>"I am no saint," he said, "as you know very well, and there's a lot of +things I've done, thinking that my revelations told me, which I don't +know whether they told me or not, for in prison I saw that the things +were bad things, like that mess of the bank, and running away as I did. +I guess I could not have been living right, and the devil gulled me. But +that hain't got nothing to do with the times I know that the Lord spoke. +You don't believe it was the Lord at all. Well, then, who was it? For +it's the same as has told me not to do the lots of wicked things I might +have done and didn't. As to them plates, I told you before I didn't have +them as much in my hands as I said I did. I got wrong a bit there too, +maybe, but it isn't easy to keep quite straight between the thing you +see and the words you say it in, when you are trying to talk to people +about what they don't understand. It isn't easy to do just only what is +perfectly right about anything at any time, at least, if it is to you, +it isn't to me; but I often thought I was born worse than most people."</p> + +<p>"The men who were your witnesses as to the reality of the plates are +apostate," she said gently.</p> + +<p>"They are apostate," he said gloomily, "and why? Because I would not let +them live upon the Lord's tithes without labouring as we all laboured."</p> + +<p>He spoke again after a moment. "The Gentiles have spread abroad a story +about one Solomon Spalding, who they say wrote the Book of Mormon, which +Rigdon stole, but you know—you who have been with us from the +beginning—that neither I nor your husband nor any one of us saw Rigdon +until we came to Kirtland, and if his word is to be believed he never +saw this Spalding or his book."</p> + +<p>She made an impatient movement of her head. "I know," she said, "that +there is no truth in that story." She moved a little away from him; she +was becoming oppressed by his still earnestness.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it any proof to you that I hadn't the wits nor the education to +make the book?" His words were wistful.</p> + +<p>She sat down on the sill of the open window, the only seat in the room, +and looked out on the moist earth.</p> + +<p>"I guess you want to get rid of me," he said, "but I can't go till I +know how it is with you, for I've been wrestling in prayer this night +concerning you." Then after a minute he said, "Our brother gave you the +money that he found on the person of your husband's murderer?"</p> + +<p>"I paid it into the treasury."</p> + +<p>"But if you don't believe, maybe you are thinking of going east?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think I could use the price of my husband's blood for that? It +is not for me to know whether the avengers of blood are right or wrong +in a land where there is no law, but the money belonged to your Church."</p> + +<p>He looked at her as one who has made a study of a certain class of +objects looks at a fine specimen, as a jeweller looks at a gem of the +first water. This man, with the genius for priesthood, was a connoisseur +in souls. "Emmar wouldn't have thought it no harm to keep the money the +Danites gave her," and he added more reflectively, "nor would I." There +was admiration in his tones.</p> + +<p>He came a step nearer now. "If you went east who have you to go to? Your +uncle, he's dead."</p> + +<p>Susannah started. "How do you know?"</p> + +<p>His manner was pitying. "I saw it last night in the way I see things, in +my visions, but Emmar she heard from some of the Saints that came from +Palmyra that your uncle was sick unto death, and last night the Lord +told me he was dead."</p> + +<p>She rose up suddenly. She had known too many instances of this man's +curious knowledge of distant events to think of doubting. Her first +thought was that if Ephraim was in this trouble she must go to him at +once.</p> + +<p>"Your aunt will be awful jealous of your cousin now she's only got him."</p> + +<p>Then under Smith's pitying glance Susannah shrank from the first impulse +to go. She felt that there was something within her that merited his +pity. She could not rush to Ephraim without invitation, because it was +not for his sake but for her own she wanted to go. She believed that +Smith knew it. She felt thankful, as he had dared to accuse her of not +loving her husband, that he had the kindness not to accuse her of this. +A certain awe of Smith came over her; he could be violent with those who +were violent, coarse and jocular with his public who could be worked +upon thus, but to her he spoke delicately, and he had shown her at times +before this that he knew her better than she knew herself.</p> + +<p>"Sister Susannah," said Smith humbly, "it's my fault that you've become +the brainy woman that you are, for I encouraged you at book learning +(knowing as how when you found your heart 'twould shine with the more +lustre), but if you were to go and live along side of a man as is a +bookworm you'd lose your chance of this life (let alone your soul's +salvation by the apostasy which you think lightly of now). Anyhow I'd +wait if I was you till his mother asks you, for she'd be in an awful +taking if you and he were talk, talk, talking of what she didn't +understand. And he is her only son, and she is a widow."</p> + +<p>With this last phrase, which had a good and Scriptural sound, Smith had +done.</p> + +<p>Susannah gave him her hand in farewell, and listened gently while again +he told her, as on the night of his flight from Kirtland, that his +friendship and the friendship of his Church were always at her service.</p> + +<p>The prophet walked down the street. A crowd of the Saints and a group +of elders were waiting for him with impatience. Darling eyed his coming +with looks gloomy and furtive, but the prophet was no longer, as on the +previous night, wrathful and pompous. He spoke aside to Darling.</p> + +<p>"I thought it right to tell our sister Susannah Halsey that her Gentile +home had suffered bereavement. The uncle who has been as a father unto +her is dead. I have been greatly exercised in grief for her," continued +Smith, briefly and truly; and then he added, also with truth, but with +subtle suggestion, "I cannot think that further dealing with that +household could be of advantage to her, but having laid the matter +before the Lord, I was made aware that we must seek the good of all our +sisters not with regard to outward appearance or inclination of the +eyes; therefore, Brother Darling, let your motive be lowly, not having +respect unto persons," and he added with the simplicity of a child, "as +mine is."</p> + +<p>Susannah was left with the bad picture in her mind which Smith had +sketched there. She saw herself cold to her husband, lacking in +passionate motherliness to his child, eager for the society of another +man not out of love but intellectual vanity, and cavilling also at all +religion because faith had no good soil to rest in. She sat long on the +window-sill of the empty room, looking at an uncultivated patch of +ground that even in May had no beauty save for here and there the +stirring of a weed in the damp scented earth. She was stunned to see her +life limned in such lines, and the truth in the drawing made it at first +seem wholly true.</p> + +<p>But Fate had another messenger that morning more potent than the +prophet. A girl came by on the road, stopped, looked at her window, and +by some impulse such as moved the buds and birds, tripped nearer in the +sunshine and offered a flower. It was a sprig of quince blossom, and the +girl stood laughing on the threshold of life just as Susannah had stood +when Ephraim first showed her the flower of the quince. The false lines +in the picture drawn by Smith faded at the touch of the pink winged +flowers. Her heart sprang into the truth.</p> + +<p>The girl looked up to see the face of the schoolmistress flushed and +shining with sudden tears.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Susannah gently, "when I was your age flowers were given +to me, but I did not love them half enough."</p> + +<p>The maiden tripped away, resolving at heart to heed the admonition, +although she understood it very vaguely.</p> + +<p>Susannah knelt down upon the floor behind the sill, pressing both hands +upon her breast lest she should cry aloud.</p> + +<p>"No! No! No!" she whispered, "I loved Ephraim, and it was because I left +him that my heart closed up—because in insufferable pride and +impatience I left him. Oh, my love, now I know that you loved me too." +She rocked herself in a passionate desire for Ephraim's presence. The +scene in the cold autumn wood at Fayette came back to her eyes and ears. +She felt the very touch of his hand when he went. "Fool! fool!" she +said, "foolish and wicked. If I Had not been proud, if I had not thought +myself better than you and yours, I should have understood." For some +unexplained reason her mind reverted now to Halsey and the child, and +she wept for them as she had never wept before.</p> + +<p>After these tears she stood up and stretched out her arms as if +embracing a new life. Alas! around her were only the ugly walls of the +poor unfurnished room. Susannah, rousing herself from the warm scenes of +quickened memory, felt the contrast.</p> + +<p>The hope of Ephraim's reply to her letter came to her smiling each +morning, and, as the days passed, retired from her heart with a sigh +each night.</p> + +<p>When six weeks had gone and no reply came Susannah wrote again. This +time she addressed the letter to the care of Mr. Horace Bushnell in +Hartford, thinking that perhaps by some extraordinary chance Ephraim's +whereabouts might not be known in Manchester. This letter was, unlike +all those that had preceded it, more brief, more reserved, and more +gentle. It expressed interest only in his affairs, telling little of her +own except the fact that she desired to return. Autumn came, and +Susannah's faith in man was tested to the utmost by the dreariness of +daily disappointment.</p> + +<p>If Ephraim were dead surely his mother or his friend would return her +letters. If Ephraim were not dead what could be the explanation of this +silence? Many vicissitudes of life occurred to her as possibly producing +a change in him, and only one explanation of his silence was +possible—that he was changed. That was a terrible belief to face. Her +faith took the bit in its teeth and refused to be guided by +intelligence. The whole strength of her volition abetted the revolt of +faith. Anything, everything, might be true rather than that the +essentials of character which went to make up Ephraim's personality +should be blurred or decomposed.</p> + +<p>Susannah wrote again to Ephraim, to his mother and to Mr. +Bushnell—three separate letters. She worked with the more zeal at her +self-appointed task. So cheerful and energetic was she that she appeared +to her pupils and acquaintance as a radiant being, and received the most +genuine honour and affection from the Mormon settlement in Quincy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIIIa" id="CHAPTER_XVIIIa"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + + +<p>With the jubilant Saints at Quincy the prophet could not remain long. He +journeyed up the banks of the Mississippi. Here and there communities of +his people welcomed him with touching joy; their numbers and their +faithfulness must have raised his heart. He came at last to a poor, +sickly locality, around which the great river took a majestic sweep, and +here the prophet saw what no one else had seen—a site of great beauty +and advantage. The inhabitants were dying of malarial fever. Smith +bought their lands at a low price and drained them. Thus arose the +beautiful city of Nauvoo.</p> + +<p>In the Illinois State Legislature two parties were nearly equal in +strength, and both coveted the Mormon vote. When Smith applied for the +city charter, for charters also for a university and a force of militia +to be called "The Nauvoo Legion," they were granted, and worded to his +will.</p> + +<p>White limestone, found in great abundance near the surface of the earth, +served as material for the public buildings and the better houses. +Wooden houses, and even log huts, were washed with white lime. On three +sides of the town the air of the beautiful river blew fresh and cool +from its rippling tide; the surrounding land was fertile. Fortune +certainly smiled upon the sect that had borne itself so sturdily under +persecution. The prophet's laws had much to do with the prosperity; +neither strong drink nor tobacco were admitted within the city limit; +cleanliness and thrift were enforced.</p> + +<p>The Saints in settlement in the town of Quincy and other places remained +while they could obtain lucrative employment and thus transmit the +larger tithes for the building up of their future home; but from the +poorer settlements artisans and farmers flocked to Nauvoo. Thither also +the missionaries scattered in the eastern States, in England, and in +further Europe sent the bands of converts who had been kept waiting till +a city of refuge was founded. It was not long, not many months, before +fifteen thousand people were hurrying up and down the broad streets of +the new city.</p> + +<p>During the rise of Nauvoo, Emma Smith was living at Quincy in a small +house with her three children. She was Susannah's best neighbour. The +prophet's enormous activity was fully occupied with the new city and the +care of the scattered Church, so that he could not visit his wife often. +Each time he came he sent for Susannah to listen with Emma to the +triumphant accounts that he gave of his present successes. He was all +aglow with the resurrection of his Church, tender towards its renewed +enthusiasm for himself, compassionate more than ever for the pains it +had endured; fixed in purpose to establish his suffering and loyal +people in such a manner as might reward them for all that they had +undergone. His spirit of revenge against the Gentiles, and especially +against the perverts from his own sect who had sought to trample it +down, was also increased; the prayers of the Hebrew Psalmist against the +enemies of Israel were constantly upon his lips. More than once when at +Quincy he preached to the little flock there with great effect from the +blessings and cursings conditionally delivered to Israel in the Book of +Deuteronomy, arguing that evils of a very material kind were to befall +apostates, and blessings of a like kind were to be given to the faithful +in the new city.</p> + +<p>"It is not true," Susannah said to him defiantly. "There is no +righteousness in desiring the downfall of your enemies, and earthly +wealth can never have any fixed connection with spiritual blessing."</p> + +<p>"Do I understand you, my sister, to say that the prophet Moses did not +teach a true religion?" As he spoke he laid his hand upon a huge copy of +the Bible, bound in velvet and gold, which lay as the only ornament upon +Emma's centre table.</p> + +<p>In these days Susannah began to have some fear of the word "apostate." +Contrary to the freedom which had existed in the Kirtland community, +the present Church, with its dogmas cast into iron moulds from the +furnace of persecution, had begun to authorise a sentiment against +perverts which differed not only in degree, but in kind, from the purely +spiritual anathemas which had formerly fallen upon them. Personally she +had no fear. The prophet knew of her unbelief, and his conduct was +increasingly kind and deferential, but for others she disliked +exceedingly the new symptoms of tyranny. Yet it was but natural, she +admitted; men who had offered their own lives in sacrifice for a creed +were likely to think it of more worth to the soul of another than his +liberty. The sin, she thought, lay chiefly with the persecutors.</p> + +<p>Sometimes during these visits Smith came and sat beside her in her own +small room and talked to her about his plans, about new revelations +which had come to him, about the future of the Church, just as if he +were trying to persuade himself that she at last believed in the solemn +importance of these things. He said to her that her judgment would +always weigh greatly with him, that he was reserving a portion for her +in the new city such as would have belonged to her husband and child if +they had lived. He spoke of his pleasure in seeing the companionship +between herself and Emma. He spoke also of Emma's worthiness, and of her +devotion to himself.</p> + +<p>His words about Emma were kind, but it was not thus that he had spoken +of her in the first years. Susannah perceived a change analogous to +that which she could not deny had taken place in Emma herself. In the +beginning Emma had been slim, with a spiritual look in her eyes, giving +herself to absorbed pondering over all Smith's words and ways. Now she +was stout, and was given much to the practical care of her children, +and, devoted as she was to her husband, she assumed often a tone of +remonstrance, setting aside many of Smith's vagaries as unworthy of +attention. She thought to please him and his Church by dressing well and +appearing to be a person of some figure and consequence, but in private +she grumbled at his personal extravagance. At both these changes +Susannah smiled, but to her heart, ever weighing the chances in favour +of Ephraim's constancy, they seemed an ill omen. It was because she was +absorbed in the personal application of all things to her own secret +case that she paid less attention to the prophet's remarks.</p> + +<p>Once, passing through the street, when she saw him standing with Darling +at the door of the tithing office, through which the mail for the Mormon +settlement still went and came, she observed the two men were noticing +and speaking of her; she received a disagreeable impression from their +manner.</p> + +<p>She supposed that she had found a complete explanation of this sinister +parley when, the next time Smith came, he brought with him an elderly +and foolish man, a new convert who had brought great wealth to the new +city, whom he proposed as a suitor for Elvira's hand. Susannah was very +angry.</p> + +<p>Elvira had continued for many months in the lassitude that malarial +fever leaves behind it. Susannah had need to support her, as well as +herself, by the small fees which her day-scholars could afford. She had +had the satisfaction of seeing Elvira restored in a great degree to +health, but so capricious and fantastic were the bright little lady's +words and actions that it was impossible to say whether or not she had +slipped across the wavering line that separates the sane from the +insane.</p> + +<p>Susannah stood now in her small sitting-room fiercely facing Smith and +his new satellite. She still adhered to the plain Quaker-like garb that +her husband had liked, and the muslin kerchief crossed upon her breast +was a quaint pearl-like frame to the beauty of feature which had slowly +but surely, in spite of adverse circumstance, come to its prime. Smith's +stalwart figure and the decrepit form of his friend were both clad in +sleek broadcloth. They wore the high white collar and stock of the +period. In Smith's light hair there was not a gray thread, nor were +there many wrinkles in his smooth forceful face. The old man was gray +and wrinkled; he cringed and leered as Susannah rated them for the +proposition they had made.</p> + +<p>But the answer to this proposition did not lie in her hands; before she +could compel Smith to withdraw it, or know if his mind was tending +towards that obedience, Elvira, curious to see the strangers, entered.</p> + +<p>Elvira raised a coquettish finger and told Smith that he was a very +naughty man. This was a new freak in her conduct toward the prophet. +Light and frivolous as she had become, the title of prophetess, coveted +among Mormon women, had been conferred upon her because some strange +power of divination governed her freaks.</p> + +<p>"A very naughty man." With her delicate prettiness, decked in what +gewgaws she could afford, Elvira stood shaking her forefinger. "You +don't know why? Oh, fie! you know very well, naughty, naughty creature."</p> + +<p>Smith had the air of some unwieldy animal trying to adapt itself to the +unexpected gambols of a light one. The first supposition was that Elvira +had in some way learnt the object of his mission, so he began to declare +it with a reproachful look at Susannah. "Our sister Halsey," he said, +"does not wish you to wear jewels and beautiful clothes, and yet it is +said in the Scripture that the clothing of ladies should be even of +wrought gold."</p> + +<p>"Naughty creature," she cried, "don't quote the Scriptures to me. I am +not the lady you are thinking about. I am not the lady that you come +here to see."</p> + +<p>So intent they all were upon her and her affairs that this statement was +somewhat puzzling. The only sign that Smith gave that he gathered any +sense out of the vivacious nonsense she was pleased to talk was that he +precipitated his explanation.</p> + +<p>The brother by his side was very rich; it had been foretold him in a +vision of the night that when he had professed the Mormon faith a pretty +wife would be his reward. Smith had had it borne in upon his mind that +Elvira was the lady designed by the vision. "For," said he unctuously; +"the Holy Scripture saith that the solitary shall be set in families."</p> + +<p>Elvira laughed. "How very amusing," she cried. "And into what family +shall our sister Susannah be set?"</p> + +<p>Smith frowned. "Our sister Susannah," he said, "is not solitary, but is +surrounded by her spiritual children, to whom she imparts her own +learning and goodness, to the great benefit of the Church; and I cannot +but think, Sister Elvira"—the severity in his voice was growing—"that +you are a great care to her, for she toils hard to give you even such +poor raiment as you are now wearing, not wishing to accept of the bounty +of the Church, while she would be an example of industry to others."</p> + +<p>The hard truth of this statement, combined with the commanding voice and +manner he now assumed, controlled Elvira. She stood for some minutes +meekly contemplating her senile and smirking suitor. Susannah protested +and warned her, but in caprice, as sudden as it was unexpected, Elvira +decided to comply with the prophet's request without further persuasion +or command.</p> + +<p>When left alone with Susannah she only shrugged her shoulders and said, +"I saw that I should lose my soul if I didn't; the prophet was so +determined. Why should we bicker and consider, and why should I fly +round and round, like a bird round the green eyes of a cat, or try to +escape half a dozen times like a mouse when it is once caught, when I +know from the beginning that Joe Smith will curse me if I don't do his +will?"</p> + +<p>"You are quite mistaken. He was not determined; he told me that he only +wished to lay the matter before you and let you decide for yourself."</p> + +<p>Elvira let her white eyelids droop until but a narrow slit of the dark +eye was visible. "La! child," she said.</p> + +<p>"And you cannot seriously think that Smith's curse, even if he were +barbarous enough to denounce you, could make the slightest difference to +your soul's salvation. You often talk that way, but you cannot seriously +think it, Elvira."</p> + +<p>But here Susannah struck against a vein of darkness in her companion's +mind which it seemed to her had lain there like a black incomprehensible +streak since the awful day of anguish and massacre at Haun's Mill.</p> + +<p>"Don't speak of it," cried Elvira with a shudder. "Don't you know that +Joe Smith is our prophet, and that he holds the keys of life and death? +Didn't Angel Halsey die to teach us that? Weren't we baptized into it by +being dipped in blood?"</p> + +<p>She sat shuddering in the dusk and repeating at intervals "dipped in +blood," "dipped in blood."</p> + +<p>Whether Elvira was mad or not, Susannah had no power to stop this +nefarious marriage. The prophet had departed hastily out of reach of her +indignant appeals, and there was no one whose interference she could +seek. In vain she besought Elvira, using both argument and passionate +entreaty. With precipitate waywardness the strange girl was married by +Elder Darling, in the shed of the tithing house.</p> + +<p>No letter came from Ephraim Croom or from his friends.</p> + +<p>After Elvira's departure Susannah began to save out of her little +income, trying to put by enough dollars not only for the eastern +journey, but to give her respectable support afterwards until she could +obtain employment. She had little heart for the object of her saving; +she might, she knew, be going to ignominy and starvation, for with the +stigma of Mormonism upon her, she felt that it was unlikely that she +would be received with credit in any town where she was friendless and +unknown.</p> + +<p>Although the community prospered greatly, Smith did not again interfere +to increase Susannah's school fees. Emma began to talk largely of the +splendour of Nauvoo, reading from her husband's letters of the Nauvoo +House, a huge hotel, which was being rapidly and grandly built for the +perpetual occupation of himself and family and the entertainment of all +such as the Church of the Saints should delight to honour.</p> + +<p>Susannah found it hard to understand why Emma was not taken to Nauvoo +even before the great house was built for her reception. It was indeed +commonly reported among the Gentiles at this time that the prophet had +secretly espoused other wives; but a malignant report of this nature, +together with accusations of drunkenness and rank dishonesty, had +persistently followed the sect from its beginning, and, as far as +Susannah knew, were now, as before, totally untrue. This special report, +however, reached Emma in an hour of depression, and she came to Susannah +for sympathy, shaken with grief and indignation.</p> + +<p>"What does it mean that they always say that of him when the one thing +that he's done has been to excommunicate any of the brethren that taught +any such thing? And there's just been an awful row on in the Council of +Nauvoo against Sydney Rigdon and some pamphlet he's written on a +doctrine he calls 'Spiritual Wives,' and Joseph has risen up and cast +him out, even though he was his best friend."</p> + +<p>The reason of the calumny seemed to Susannah clear enough; it was a +natural one for low-minded politicians who hated Smith to formulate, and +the religious world outside thought they were doing God service by +believing any ill of a blasphemer; but this charge was an old one, and +she probed further to-day for the real cause of Emma's excitement. She +was first given a letter in which Smith told of Rigdon's +excommunication.</p> + +<p>"Rigdon's doctrine," wrote Smith, "is a vile one because it is held by +the whole sect of Perfectionists which are now scattered through the +Churches of the eastern States, and is a proof that the glory of the +Lord is departed from them, for they say that a man may be married to +one wife in an earthly manner, and she who is to be his in a spiritual +and eternal manner may be another woman, and this is vile; therefore +I've cast out Sydney Rigdon and called him apostate. But it seems to me +in this matter and in the perpetual slander of the Gentiles it may be +that it is being shown to us, even as things were shown by outward signs +at times to the ancient prophets, that there is somewhat concerning the +existing form of marriage that it would be well to reconsider, for I +perceive that the more my revelations cause a difference to be set +between our people and the Gentiles, the more shall we be bound closely +together, which unity is undoubtedly of the Lord."</p> + +<p>Susannah always found it difficult to gather much information from the +prophet's vague and incoherent style. "Has he ever written anything else +about this affair of Rigdon's?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Then it transpired that another letter had that day arrived, giving +another and more graphic account of Rigdon's rebellion and overthrow, +after which Joseph inconsistently wrote:</p> + +<p>"Yet with regard to the matter of his heresy it remains undoubtedly true +for men who are called to some great and special work one woman may be +needed as a bride upon earth and another woman may be called as a +spiritual bride" (this word "bride" was crossed out, though left legible +enough, and "guide" written above it) "to lead him into higher and +heavenly places prepared of the Lord for this purpose."</p> + +<p>After perusing this passage carefully, and with inward laughter at its +inconsistency, she gave the letter back, endeavouring to render some +help.</p> + +<p>"Have you not observed that your husband's mind is very peculiar? When +any idea is forcibly suggested to him, all his thoughts seem to eddy +round it until he thinks that the whole world is to be revolutionised by +it, and then when diverted to something else he forgets all about it +like a child, and never thinks of it again perhaps for years."</p> + +<p>Emma, unable to comprehend the analysis, drew back offended.</p> + +<p>"Joseph has a great deal finer mind than any person I know." The last +words were levelled with a nettled glance at Susannah.</p> + +<p>On Emma's behalf Susannah confidently hoped that the prophet would +forget this theory, as he had apparently forgotten the many theories +which had ere now proposed themselves to his excitable brain, and which +he had found unworkable. His practical shrewdness acted as a critic on +his visionary notions—never in thought, for he did not seem able to +exercise the two phases of his mind at once, but always in practice—and +Susannah could not conceive that a new order of marriage would appear +feasible, even though it would certainly raise a new barrier around the +fold, and in consequence draw its votaries closer together.</p> + +<p>Soon after this Emma was greatly comforted by a summons to Nauvoo. She +could now enter in triumph upon the more glorious stage of her chequered +career.</p> + +<p>For a few days Susannah worked on still with a sense of mission towards +her pupils, but of necessity also, for her work meant daily bread. It +produced little more than that.</p> + +<p>But at Nauvoo new schools in emulation of the State schools of other +towns had been set up, and now a teacher with certificates of the latest +style of education arrived in the Mormon settlement at Quincy, +commissioned by the prophet to gather all the Mormon youth there into a +new school under the direction of the Church. Susannah's mission and +her means of livelihood were alike gone.</p> + +<p>The change was made. It was not until Susannah had passed the first +desolate day of her dethronement that Darling came to her, sent with +profuse apologies from the prophet and the explanation that the chief +motive of the change had been to relieve her from labour now that the +Church was in a position to offer her adequate support. The message was +accompanied by many compliments upon her work and her fidelity, and a +document officially signed, in which it was set forth that the part and +lot which would have pertained to Halsey in the Holy City was considered +as hers; rooms and entertainment at the Nauvoo House were offered. It +was handsomely done. Smith in his poverty had been no niggard, and of +his wealth he was lavish. The documents explained what rooms, size and +position given, should be hers, what furniture at her disposal, what +ailment, what allowance from the Treasury for clothing and charity. The +scale was magnificent. Darling was also commissioned to offer her a +ticket on one of the river boats to Nauvoo, and his own escort. He urged +her instant acceptance. Darling had been promoted from his post at +Quincy to that of postmaster at Nauvoo, and he could not delay his +journey.</p> + +<p>Susannah sat long into the night and counted her little hoard, and +figured to herself what the long-eastward journey, then a matter of +great expense, would cost. Since Elvira left her she had with all her +efforts saved hardly fifty dollars. No course lay open to her but to go +first to Nauvoo, and there compound with Smith for a sum of money to be +given in return for the relinquishment of all further claim upon the +Church.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Book_III" id="Book_III"></a><i>Book III.</i></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_Ib" id="CHAPTER_Ib"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>In a suite in the pretentious Nauvoo House Susannah found herself +established.</p> + +<p>She stood at her windows and looked east and west upon the fair white +city, and more immediately upon the broad public square in which +well-dressed people and handsome equipages were constantly seen. In this +square a man called Bennet drilled the Nauvoo Legion in the cool of the +evenings. This man had served in the regular army and had a native +genius for soldiery. Smith, alive always to the educational importance +of shows, now provided money lavishly for uniforms, horses, and +accoutrements, and the Nauvoo Legion formed a much grander spectacle +than any body of State militia.</p> + +<p>Twice a day under Susannah's windows Smith's carriage drew up, a pair of +fine gray horses carrying the prophet to and fro upon the affairs of +Church and State. When he took Emma with him Susannah observed that she +was always richly attired, and the other members of the Mormon +hierarchy resident in Nauvoo, "bishops," "elders," "apostles," +"prophets," passed constantly in and out of the house, positively +shining in broadcloth and silken hats, their wives and daughters also in +brilliant array.</p> + +<p>Externally the success appeared to be complete, and beyond even the +visionary's most glorious dreams. In the whole of the city no one was +poor, no one ignorant of such knowledge as school-books could afford, no +one drunken. Every one was uplifted and animated beyond their ordinary +capacity for effort and enjoyment by this material fulfilment of +prophecy and the more glorious future hope which it involved. Susannah +was not well rested after her journey when Emma descended upon her with +lavish gifts of silks and fine feathers. Emma, grown patronising with +prosperity, always plain and maternal, displayed her gifts and argued +for their acceptance with broad satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Joseph says now that the Lord has given us freedom as touching wealth +and plenty, it looks real mean, when your husband gave all he had to the +Church in her tribulation, for you to be wearing plain clothes when +you're riding out with us. What will the folks say? Joseph says it looks +to him as if you were real offended at being left so long up to Quincy +when he was only waiting to get your rooms finished."</p> + +<p>Carried away, as was only natural, by her husband's doctrine that the +era of indulgence was ordained and not to be rejected, there was +temporary deterioration in the fibre of Emma's character.</p> + +<p>Susannah would gladly have walked out and seen the beauty of the city +and its surroundings alone, but she did not think it kind or polite to +resist the good-natured importunity of her friends. She was invited to +drive with Smith to a grand review of the Nauvoo Legion which was to +take place outside the town; then, finding that Emma and the children +were to occupy another carriage, she made objection. It ended in +Susannah being driven alone in a very fine carriage. Smith, resplendent +in uniform and seated upon a very fine charger, rode in his capacity of +Commander-in-Chief. Several other men whom she had known first in +homespun, and latterly in cloth, were also riding in bedizened uniforms. +The scene was very perplexing to Susannah. Elvira, with great display of +dress and equipage, was not far from her, and waved her hand with +patronising encouragement. The coach in which were Emma and her children +presented also a very smart appearance. All the town drove to the scene +of the review in what splendour they could afford.</p> + +<p>Susannah was greatly occupied in looking from face to face, striving, to +recognise some of her husband's friends of earlier days. She fully +expected to see Smith or some of his friends fall from their saddles, +as they could be little accustomed to manœuvring such light-footed +steeds, but she was forced to admit that Smith rode well and his +officers kept their seats. She had so much to observe, so much to think +about, she hardly noticed that Smith rode constantly by her carriage, +pointing out the beauties of the road.</p> + +<p>When they stopped at the place of parade, many of the gentlemen in +uniform approached her, and as this was her first appearance in public, +Smith performed the introductions. Among them was the Rev. General John +Bennet, a man who had "knave" written on his countenance, but who +appeared to have duped Smith, for, as Lieutenant-General of the forces, +he was actually in command. Her old friend the Danite also came, older +than when she had seen him last by the hardships of an arduous +missionary journey. He passed now by the name of "Apostle Heber." +Susannah was so glad to be able to inquire concerning his welfare, so +curious to speak with him again and judge of his development, that her +manner gained the appearance of animation.</p> + +<p>After some time Susannah perceived that she was, as it were, holding +court. In their carriages the other women sat comparatively neglected. +It was in vain that she tried to put a quick end to this curious and +undesirable state of things. Smith continued to bring to her side all +those whom he delighted to honour.</p> + +<p>And this was only one of several fêtes which took place in rapid +succession, to all of which Susannah was by some persuasion taken. At +each she found herself an object of public attention. She was told that +this occurred because she was a stranger, or out of respect to her +husband's memory, and she placed more trust at first in these statements +than a less modest or more worldly-wise woman would have done.</p> + +<p>Soon her credulity ceased. She despised her own beauty because it was +made a gazing stock. An article in the Nauvoo newspaper, officially +inspired, spoke of her as a "Venus in appearance and an angel at heart." +She was elsewhere publicly mentioned as the "Venus of Nauvoo."</p> + +<p>It was indeed a strange experience, a strange time and place for the +social <i>début</i> of this beautiful woman. Smith had calculated well when +in her youth he had told her that her beauty would not diminish but +increase until her prime was past, but she very modestly inferred that +she might have passed, as heretofore, without much notice, if an +agitation concerning her had not urged to admiration a band of men who +were fast growing luxurious and pleasure-loving, and she knew that Smith +was the author of that agitation.</p> + +<p>It appeared to Susannah more dignified to ignore than to upbraid. She +secretly laughed, she secretly cried with vexation, but she desired to +leave the place without betraying her recognition of the homage offered.</p> + +<p>She sought to discuss her plan for departure with Emma, but Emma's +manner had changed to her. It was not jealousy so much as constraint +that she showed, as if secretly persuaded into unusual reticence. +Susannah then asked Smith for such a sum of money as he should consider +to be a right acknowledgment of the property Halsey had given to the +Church. At this Smith looked greatly aggrieved, and withdrew muttering +that he would consider her request.</p> + +<p>The only sign of this consideration which she immediately received was a +gift of showily-bound books, and a rich shawl which he had fetched from +New York.</p> + +<p>Susannah's career as the queen of Nauvoo society came to a swift end, +for she determinedly retired into seclusion. This was not because the +men who paid court to her were all ignoble. Among the officers of the +Church or of the Legion there were not few who were wholesome and +friendly companions, or who, like her early Danite friend, the Apostle +Heber, had frank modest eyes, incapable of any enthusiasms that were not +religious. But in her long companionship with Angel Halsey Susannah had +had her soul deep dyed in a delicate hue of Quaker sentiment. She could +not admit for a moment that conscious display of personal charm was +consonant with dignity.</p> + +<p>She again sought friendly intercourse with Emma.</p> + +<p>"There ain't no use in opposing the Lord," said Emma excitedly. "If the +Lord, as Joseph says, has given you beauty and wants to set you to be a +star, or a Venus; or whatever he calls it, in Nauvoo, I don't see that +there's any good your talking of going away. I guess the Lord'll have +his own way."</p> + +<p>Susannah remembered how before her marriage the bigness of the authority +quoted had confused her as to the truth of the message. "Ah! Emma, +Emma," she cried, taking the fat, comfortable hand in her own, "if in +the first days I had offered a little more humility, a little more love, +to those to whom I owed duty, I should never have believed what you told +me about the 'Lord's way,' but I have learned by hard experience, and I +do not believe you now, Emma." She spoke the name in quicker tone, as if +recalling her companion to common sense. "Emma," she repeated the name +with all the tenderness she could muster, "don't you know that it is +better for me to go away—better for you, better for <i>us all</i>?"</p> + +<p>But Emma was obstinately evasive. She seemed almost like one possessed +by a hardened spirit, not her own. On the afternoon of that same day she +bustled cheerfully into Susannah's room asking the loan of what money +she had to meet a temporary call.</p> + +<p>Susannah never had the slightest reason to suspect Emma's good faith and +good nature. She gave her money without a thought.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIb" id="CHAPTER_IIb"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>The parlour which Joseph Smith had provided for Susannah was large and +high. On its Brussels carpet immense vases of flowers and peacock's +feathers sprawled; stiff and gaudy furniture was ranged round the +painted walls; stiff window curtains fell from stiff borders of +tasteless upholstery. Susannah, long ignorant of anything but deal and +rag carpets, knew hardly more than Smith how to criticise, and her taste +was only above his in the fact that she did not admire.</p> + +<p>Smith came to reason with the rebellious woman.</p> + +<p>Susannah no sooner saw him than she knew that he had come braced to try +the conclusion with her. He sat himself before her in silence. His +waistcoat was white, his neck-cloth white, his collar starched and high; +his thick light hair was carefully oiled according to the fashion of the +day, and brushed with curling locks upon the sides of the brow. At this +critical hour Susannah observed him more narrowly than ever before. His +smooth-shaven face, in spite of all his prosperity, was not so stout now +as she had seen it in more troublous years; the accentuated arch of the +eyebrows was more distinct, the beak line of the nose cut more finely. +She noted certain lines of thickness about the nape of the neck and the +jaw which in former years had always spoken to her of the +self-indulgence of which she now accused him; yet she could not see that +they were more accentuated. She had been schooling her heart to remember +that Smith had been her husband's friend; Angel Halsey had loved him, +had daily prayed for his faults and failings, and thanked God for his +every virtue and success. Through the medium of these memories now +Susannah looked upon him with the clearness of insight which the more +divine attitude of mind will always give, the insight which penetrates +through the evil and is focussed only on the good.</p> + +<p>The prophet's breath came quickly, making his words a little thick. +"Emmar tells me that you have some thoughts of wanting to leave us."</p> + +<p>"You know that very well, for I have told you so myself. I want you to +give me money for my journey. If I can I will repay it, as you well +know; if not, I will take it instead of all this finery you offer."</p> + +<p>He had folded a newspaper in his hand, and now he unfolded it. She was +surprised to see that his hands trembled slightly as he did so, for she +had seen him act in many a tragic scene with iron nerve.</p> + +<p>"'Tain't often that the Gentile newspapers have a word of justice to +say about us," he observed. "This is a number of the St. Louis Atlas. It +seems there's one man on it can speak the truth." He gave forth the name +of the newspaper as if expecting her to be duly impressed by its +importance, and she looked at the outspread sheet amazed.</p> + +<p>He went on, "There's an article here entitled, 'The City of Nauvoo. The +Holy City. The City of Joseph.' I'd like to read it to you if you don't +object, Sister Halsey."</p> + +<p>The pronunciation of the last title seemed to inflate him; his hands +ceased to tremble. A flicker of amusement lighted the gravity of +Susannah's mind.</p> + +<p>Joseph read, "'The city is laid out in streets of convenient width, +along which are built good houses, and around every good-sized house are +grounds and gardens. It is incorporated by charter, and contains the +best institutions of the latest civilisation.'" He gave this the +emphasis of pause. "Is that true. Sister Halsey, or is it not?"</p> + +<p>She smiled as upon a child. "Yes, Mr. Smith, it is true."</p> + +<p>"'Most conspicuous among the buildings of the Holy City is the temple +built of white stone upon the hill-top. It is intended as a shrine in +the western wilderness whereat all nations of the earth may worship, for +on March 1, 1841, the prophet gave it as an ordinance that people of all +sects and religions should live and worship in the City if they would, +and that any person guilty of ridiculing or otherwise deprecating +another in consequence of his religion should be imprisoned.' Is that +true?" Smith inquired again. His questions came in the tone of a pompous +refrain.</p> + +<p>"Except in the case of those who have joined you and gone back from your +doctrine," she said, but not thinking of herself.</p> + +<p>He read on: "'Here, as elsewhere, Mr. Smith has attended first to the +education of his people. The president of the Nauvoo University is +Professor James Kelly, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and a ripe +scholar; the professor of English literature is Professor Orson Pratte, +a man of pure mind and high order of ability, who without early +advantages has had to educate himself amid great difficulties and has +achieved learning. The professor of languages is Professor Orson +Spencer, graduate of Union College, New York, and of the Baptist +theological seminary of that city. No expense has been spared upon +school buildings for the youth of both sexes, and the curriculum is +good.' Is that true?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied.</p> + +<p>He read on: "'The population is made up chiefly from the labouring +classes of the United States and the manufacturing districts of England. +They have been grossly misunderstood and shamefully libelled. They are +at least quite as honest as the rest of us, in this part of the world or +any other. Ardent spirits as a drink; are not in use among them; +tobacco is a weed which they almost universally despise. There is not an +oath to be heard in the city; everywhere the people are cheerful and +polite; there is not a lounger in the streets. Industry is insisted +upon, and with the hum of industry the voice of innocent merriment is +everywhere heard. Now, as to their morality, if you should throw cold +water upon melted iron, the scene would be terrific because the contrast +would be so great; so it is with the Saints; if a small portion of +wickedness happens among them, the contrast between the spirit of +holiness, and the spirit of darkness is so great that it makes a great +up-stir and excitement. In other communities the same amount of crime +would hardly be noticed.'" Again he asked, "Sister Halsey, does this +evidence of an impartial witness coincide with your observation?"</p> + +<p>"Of the people it is undoubtedly true," she said. There was a +reservation in her mind concerning certain leaders in the Church, but +she did not make it in words.</p> + +<p>He read on: "'With a shrewd head like that of the prophet to direct, +with a spiritual power like his to say "do" and it is done, what wonder +that this thrifty and virtuous people should have made Nauvoo that which +its name denotes—the Beautiful City, the home of peace and joy.'"</p> + +<p>He laid down the newspaper upon the marble-topped table, his large hand +outspread upon it. "My sister, why do you wish to leave this beautiful +city? It is a place where each may have home and part and lot in its +delights, but to you <i>all</i> its wealth and power and beauty is offered. +Did I not say unto you, when as a beautiful damsel you gave up home and +kindred for the sake of the Church, that you should be as a queen among +its elect women, riding as in a carriage drawn by white horses and +receiving the elect from among the nations?"</p> + +<p>The recollection of the prophecy which he had delivered concerning her +upon the desolate autumn road at Fayette brought with it another +recollection—that of her parting with Ephraim the same morning—so +vividly that her eyes filled with tears. Yet she marvelled too, with +inquisitive recognition of the miracle, that the words of the visionary, +then a beggar, should have been so nearly fulfilled.</p> + +<p>"It is quite true, Mr. Smith, and very marvellous that what you promised +me should almost be literally fulfilled. We have come to it, as you also +foretold, by a path most terrible, and now we arrive at the +consummation. We live in a palace, and at its doors pilgrims from +England and all parts of Europe are arriving every day, and the richest +of gowns, the grandest of carriages, and the whitest of horses are truly +at my disposal. But there is one discrepancy between your vision and the +fact—I will not wear the silk robes, nor welcome the pilgrims with the +assurance that they have here reached the City of God. I will not +because I cannot. I refuse to accept from the hand of God such paltry +things as money and display, or even the honest affluence of our people, +as compensation for the fire and blood through which we have waded. If +there be a God who is the shepherd of those who seek him, this is not +the sort of table that he spreads, this is not the cup which he causes +to run over"—she had begun lightly, but her voice became more earnest. +"Mr. Smith, we have walked through the shadow of death together; if you +would be exalted in the presence of your enemies, have done with your +childish delight in such toys."</p> + +<p>Smith moved uneasily on his velvet-covered chair, and it, being of a +rather cheap sort, creaked under his bulk.</p> + +<p>"What says it in the end of the Book of Job, Sister Halsey? and what +compensation did the Lord give for the sore temptations with which he +had allowed the devil to tempt his servant? As I read, it was fourteen +thousand sheep and six thousand camels, and—"</p> + +<p>She gave him credit for knowing the passage by heart; she had the +rudeness to interrupt. She rose and stood before him. All the long +latent defiance which her heart had treasured against him found vent in +her tone, "Very well, Mr. Smith, if that satisfied Job, it will not +satisfy me."</p> + +<p>Smith, cast out of all his shrewd calculations as to what would win +this woman, fell back upon the inner genius of that priestcraft which so +often surpassed his conscious intelligence.</p> + +<p>"<i>What would satisfy you?</i>" It was a simple question, and he asked it +with overwhelming force. "By the hand of trust and affection which your +husband gave me; by the memory of the beautiful babe that he brought +first to me for my blessing (and I laid my hand on its little warm head +and blessed it); by these I claim the right to ask, Sister Halsey, what +is it that in Nauvoo or in any other city would satisfy you?"</p> + +<p>She was humiliated in her own eyes. Alas! she had strong evidence that +Ephraim's affection, on which she had staked all earthly hope of +happiness, had in some way failed. Now under Smith's eye all courage to +hold the unrealised ideal was lost; as the fixed stars twinkle, so her +faith went out for the moment of his interrogation. Her head sank in a +shame she could not confess.</p> + +<p>While she hesitated he was looking at her shrewdly. "You know not what. +Shall I tell you? There is but one thing, and that is love—the love +that works, for those who are in need. Work for the needy is love to God +and man, my sister."</p> + +<p>He paused, looking at her with a glow of enthusiasm. Whatever he might +be to others, this man, coarse in his outer nature, but liable always to +eruptions of the sensitive inward soul of the visionary, was in this +woman's presence often merely what she compelled him to be. If she had +known that this was the secret of his power over her, the spell might +have been less.</p> + +<p>"Is it not true, Sister Susannah?" he asked.</p> + +<p>She gave the admission mechanically.</p> + +<p>He went on, "I don't take it at all hard that you should feel that we +are none of us up to you, but feel as you do that we are beneath you, +for there isn't a lady in the place that's equal to you in delicate ways +and sense and a mind to study books; but it seems to me that that's a +reason why you should love us, Sister Halsey. There is work for you to +do; we need your guiding hand. You say to me that I am content with +horses and sumptuous living and fine raiment; and knowest thou not that +there is upon my soul a great burden, even the burden of this great +people, to go in and out before them and guide them aright? I have need +of thy counsel, my sister; there's that which at this time is greatly +agitating my own mind and the minds of our bishops and apostles, Sister +Halsey, and it is of such nature that we cannot proclaim it openly until +we know the mind of the Lord. On all other matters we have accepted the +teaching of the Scriptures. For, behold, we have now the priesthood of +Aaron in our midst, and the priesthood of Melchizedek, and the rites of +the temple, save only the spilling of the blood of bulls and goats, +which has been done away with by the Gospel. We have gone back to the +first things, as is well known to you, Sister Susannah, and even here in +the wilderness we have set up our theocracy, and for its civil law we +have sought where alone such law can be found, in the command given unto +the children of Israel before they desired a king, just as for all +spiritual law we have accepted the commands given to the apostles in the +new dispensation, taking them as they were, without whittling them away +as a boy whittles a stick with a knife, as all those sects which will +not hear our voice have done. Now, Sister Susannah, is this true?" He +put his head a little on one side and looked at her with his eyes +partially closed.</p> + +<p>"You need not take very long to explain that you worship the letter of +the Scriptures, for I know it already, Mr. Smith."</p> + +<p>But he was in full tide, and went on, "When the Book says, 'Heal the +sick,' we don't say that that means something else, but we set about and +heal 'em." He slapped his knee with the palm of his hand. "When it says, +'Cast out devils,' we don't stare round like the other sects and say, +'There ain't no devils,' but we cast 'em out; and in the same way, when +the Book says that the priesthood of Aaron and the priesthood after the +order of Melchizedek shall be serving always in the church and in the +temple, then we say, 'Amen, so shall it be'; and the same way with +regard to tithing, for the Lord's tithes are recognised among us, and +the first-fruits, and the Sabbath day, and all such ordinances, no +picking and choosing as others."</p> + +<p>Then he explained to her again, as in Kirtland, that he was in doubt +concerning the marriage laws of the State. He said that, having searched +the Scriptures, and learned what he could from other books, he was fully +convinced that it was the modern so-called "orthodox" Christian Church +(in which little else but signs of deadness and lack of faith appeared) +that alone condemned the ancient usage of the patriarchs, which in the +Bible was nowhere condemned. He had read in a book that many of the Jews +and most of the Asiatics had more than one wife at the time of the +apostles, and yet they had not preached against this as an evil.</p> + +<p>"They did not preach against slavery," said Susannah.</p> + +<p>"They did not," he said, "and I would say parenthetically, my sister, +that it may be that our views on that subject, coming from the northern +States as you and I have done, have not been according to the mind of +the Lord. I would have no man a slave because of misfortune, but if a +man proved himself unfit to rule himself, I'm not sure about his being +free."</p> + +<p>"Do you intend to revive slavery in our own race? Will your own people +when they fail in business be sold, with their wives and children, as +in the Old Testament?"</p> + +<p>"I can't see but that it would be a deal less mean to arrange it that +way than to bring a race of free blacks from their own country and make +every child they have a slave because he happens to be a nigger." She +remarked that his mild blue eye lit up with the true flash of the +indignation of contemplative justice. "There's one thing certain," +continued he, "in my Church of the Latter-Day Saints no man shall be a +slave to his brother because he happens to have a black skin, for, as +the Scripture says, 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin?'"</p> + +<p>Surrounded as they were by the atmosphere of slavery, there was the +resonance of true heroism, of true insight into the right, in his tone, +but the reason he gave—could it be possible that he thought that the +text he quoted was an authority for his instinctive justice? It was +obvious to her that he was only a fool who walked by the light of sundry +flashes of genius, but there was still the chance that the sum of idiocy +and the genius might prove greater than the intelligence of common men.</p> + +<p>He went on, "But, anyhow, it isn't the institootion of slavery that's +come up for me to decide just here and now. Since we have been blessed +with peace and prosperity, the female converts that our missionaries +have been making all over the world (whom they have kept back from +coming to us, letting no unmarried female come whilst the fires of +persecution were passing over us) have arrived in great numbers, and the +question is, Sister Susannah, how are we to steady 'em?"</p> + +<p>What seemed so impossible to achieve in a pioneer State had in Nauvoo +actually been achieved—the women were in excess of the men. He had, in +sober truth, a social problem to solve, and the responsibility rested +alone upon him. Brotherly love having been inculcated, the manners of +the Saints were cheerful and familiar, more familiar, he said, than he +desired; but after all that they had endured he was fain to lay upon +them no greater burden than need be. He appealed to her, asking if on +his first release from imprisonment he had not been strict in his +injunctions.</p> + +<p>"But now," he said, "who am I that I should be able to take care of all +the young women that the Lord is sending to us from all parts of the +world? or am I to deny to them the privilege of coming to live among the +Lord's people? Am I to say to them that unless they have learning and +wisdom and are perfect they shall not come? I guess that if it had been +required of me to be perfect before I came to seek salvation, I wouldn't +have come at all. But it's just like this—here they are! and they are +nothing but poor ignorant working girls from England and Ireland and all +parts of Europe. And am I to make nunneries to put them into?"</p> + +<p>He confessed with some delicacy of language and words of bitter regret +that there had been of late some cases in Nauvoo such as were common +enough, alas! in Gentile society, but whose occurrence among the Saints +had caused excitement. Joseph Smith paced Susannah's room; his +harassment and distress on behalf of his people were either deeply felt +or well feigned, and Susannah had no doubt that his feeling was true, +that phase of him being for the time uppermost. When he came to sit down +beside her again, it was to sketch the misery to men and women and +children which existed in Gentile society from this evil, which he +affirmed to run riot through the warp and woof of so-called orthodox +communities.</p> + +<p>Her ignorance of the world was so great that she assumed this accusation +to be of the same stuff as the anathemas he constantly cast against the +integrity of the orthodox clergy. The point that she grasped was that he +believed the thing that he said. She had at first assumed that should he +propose to institute polygamy she would know then, once for all, that he +was a villain; but now this test deserted her. He was meditating this +step, and it seemed that his arguments, if the facts on which he based +them were admitted, had some value.</p> + +<p>"There's that for one thing, Sister Susannah," Smith went on in a broken +voice; "it has been a mean sort of thing to have to tell you, but it +had to be said, and now there's another thing to be considered. Among +the Gentiles who is it that has the most children? Is it your man that's +high up in the ranks of society, who has money enough to give them a +good education, to feed and clothe 'em? or is it your poor man, whose +children run over one another like little pigs in a sty, and he caring +nothing for them, and they have rickety bones and are half starved and +grow up to be idle and steal? I have noticed that a good man is apt to +have good children, and a clever man is apt to have clever children, and +a worthless man is apt to have worthless children. Ain't that so? And +what sort of children do we want the most of? Well, in this way we +wouldn't let your worthless fellow have any wife at all until he had +brought forth fruit meet for repentance, and your common man only one; +but I don't see but that it would be a real benefit to the State if your +good, all-round man, as would be apt to have pious and clever children, +had two or three or four families agrowing up to be an honour to him and +to the Church, if it ain't against the command of the Lord; and in Holy +Writ the Lord himself says to Solomon that he would have given him as +many wives as he wanted, barring them being Gentiles."</p> + +<p>"I will not argue about the Bible; you and I interpret it very +differently," she cried. "Your social argument might be well enough if +it were not that your good man when he had more than one wife <i>would +cease to be a good man</i>"—her voice was vibrating with faith—"and his +children would therefore have the poorest chance from inheritance or +training."</p> + +<p>He was again pacing, but paused in his ponderous walk, struck by a flaw +in his argument which he had not before seen. "But if it were commanded +by the Lord, Sister Susannah?"</p> + +<p>"God does not command this wickedness. What you command in his name is +at your own peril, Mr. Smith."</p> + +<p>He paused before her, asking with reflective curiosity, "Why are you so +sure that it would be wickedness, sister?"</p> + +<p>She had not arguments at command; she held fast to her assurance with +the same dogged unreasoning faith with which Ephraim's mother had of old +held her belief that this Smith must be an arch-villain; she had put the +whole power of her volitionary nature upon the side of faith in the +ideal marriage, although she was painfully conscious that she had come +across no particle of evidence for the existence of such a state. Out of +faith, out of mere instinct of heart, which had not worked itself out in +intelligent thought, she gave her unhesitating judgment. "I say that it +would be wicked because I <i>feel</i> that it would be wicked; and any good +woman," she paused and looked him straight in the eyes, "and any good +man, would know its wickedness without arguments, and without weighing +all possible considerations."</p> + +<p>His eyes fell before hers. He looked not angry, but grieved. As for +Susannah, in the heat of her indignation she did not know that her own +long effort to resist the unreasoning acceptance of cut-and-dried +doctrines and any dogmatic insistance upon opinion had here failed.</p> + +<p>Smith stood for some moments before her, and her fire cooled. He sighed +at her dictum. Then he said gently, "But your judgment in this matter +has great weight with me, sister, and if I accept it you will perceive +that you are indeed the elect lady, and that by living in the light of +your countenance I shall obtain peace."</p> + +<p>It was difficult for her not to suppose that her influence was +beneficial. She thought at the moment that when she had left this place +she might still correspond with Smith if he desired it. If it was part +of his eccentricity to be willing to listen to her, why should she not +be willing to speak, and thus keep his madness under control?</p> + +<p>Smith, regarding her, caught the gracious look upon her face which had +opposed to him so often only a mask of reserve. His imaginative hopes +were always ready to magnify by many dimensions the smallest fact which +favoured them. His unsteady mind was fired by the presumption of some +triumph.</p> + +<p>"Have not I, even the prophet of this great people, waited with great +patience? As the apostle saith, 'Let patience have her perfect work.'"</p> + +<p>Susannah started and wondered.</p> + +<p>"For behold I did not desire that our dear brother, Angel Halsey, should +go into the forefront of the battle, nor would I trouble the first grief +of thy widowhood, but behold I have waited."</p> + +<p>"For what?" Her question came sharply. His tone had changed her mood +suddenly; a memory flashed on her of the ill-written letter which Emma +had shown her of the phrases concerning the spiritual "bride" or "guide" +who, even if all licence were denied to humbler folk, was to be a +prophet's special perquisite. "What have you been waiting for, Mr. +Smith?</p> + +<p>"Nay, but I have waited, sister, until, having eyes, you should see, and +ears, you should hear, till you should understand that, going in and out +before this great people, it is necessary for me to seek wisdom in +counsel, and, above all, of a woman who hath a finer sense than man. And +it has been revealed to me, sister, that this may only be if thou +shouldst give the counsels of thy mind and the smile of thy beauty to me +alone and to none other, for that which is divided is not to be accepted +for the building up of the Church."</p> + +<p>"You would have me believe that you have waited many years with the +virtue of patience before you say this? Understand yourself better. It +was not patience; it was fear. You have known perfectly well always that +I would never have listened to such a proposal for a moment. It has been +fear and prudence that have hitherto kept you silent. What is it that +has made you speak now?"</p> + +<p>With sharp decisive tones she chid him as children are chidden in anger, +but childish as he often was, he had yet other elements in his +character; his blue eyes gave an answering flash that was ominous; the +droop of his attitude stiffened.</p> + +<p>"That which is ordained by the Lord is ordained, sister, and it causeth +me grief to know that this revelation, which I told thee many years +since, is yet to be received of thee as a grievous thing, +nevertheless—"</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless," she repeated in a mocking tone, as one weary of +foolishness, "what nevertheless? Let us talk on some better subject, Mr. +Smith, and after this be kind enough to have no dreams or revelations +about me. Dream of your Church, if you like. I cannot hinder your +people's credulity, and I hope that you will continue, as you have +begun, to lead them in the main by righteous paths. And have your dreams +and visions about yourself, if you must, for I sometimes think that you +cannot be much madder than you are now, but be kind enough to leave me +out of them, for I am going away."</p> + +<p>She had now made him very angry. He was standing with flushed face, +quivering with uncertain impulses of rising wrath, yet he still +struggled for self-control.</p> + +<p>"Sister Susannah Halsey, it is not meet that you should make a mock of +that which is sacred"—he gave a gasp here of stifled anger, and there +was a perceptible note of wounded affection beside the louder one of +offended vanity—"of that which is above all sacred," he stuttered, "it +is not meet—meet—to mock—to mock." The veins on his forehead were +standing out and growing purple.</p> + +<p>She had often heard of Joseph Smith's power of rage, before which all +the Saints quailed. She saw it now for the first time.</p> + +<p>She rose up, trying now a tone of gentle severity. "I spoke lightly +because your words appeared to me childish and silly, but the more in +earnest you were, Mr. Smith, the more need there is you should have done +with a thought that could lead to no good. I am no elect lady. Why do +you deceive yourself? I have told you before that I do not even believe +in your religion."</p> + +<p>As she spoke she became more and more amazed at the thought of what his +self-deception must have been, for in his ever-shifting mind he knew her +infidelity perfectly, and yet had persuaded himself that she would +accept some fantastic position as prophetess-in-chief.</p> + +<p>"How mad you are," she said pityingly, "to know a thing and yet to +pretend to yourself you do not know it. Go and get your supper, Mr. +Smith. Emma will be waiting to give it to you. And when you have +thought quietly over what I have said, you are quite clever enough to +see that my way of looking at it is more sensible than yours."</p> + +<p>She had perhaps supposed that the mention of the domestic supper would +be punitive rather than soothing, but she was not prepared to find that +she had displayed scarlet to the blood-shot eyes of a bull.</p> + +<p>"Woman," his voice, deep and hoarse, was like thunder about her ears, +"woman, is it not enough that the Lord has spoken?"</p> + +<p>She saw by his purple face and parched lip, by the hard shudder that +went through his frame, that his fury was stronger than he. She quailed +inwardly.</p> + +<p>"It is not enough for me that you say the Lord has spoken."</p> + +<p>His lips worked as if in the effort to form anathemas his dry throat +refused to utter. Then, regaining his loud hoarse speech, with a choking +noise he lifted his hand in a gesture of sacerdotal menace.</p> + +<p>"Woman, it is the last time. Choose ye this day between blessing and +cursing, for the Lord shall send the cursing until thou be destroyed and +perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou +hast forsaken me."</p> + +<p>She cried in answering excitement, "I choose your curse rather than your +blessing under the conditions you propose. You are mad; go and calm +yourself."</p> + +<p>Then, having exhausted her physical courage in this last defiance, she +went into her inner room, locking the door, leaving him in the manifest +suffering of an almost unendurable rage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IIIb" id="CHAPTER_IIIb"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>That night Susannah packed her possessions in the smallest possible +compass. The money she had lent to Emma would be sufficient for the +journey to Carthage, which was the nearest Gentile town, and thither she +was determined to go without an hour's delay, ready now to work or beg +her way on the journey farther eastward.</p> + +<p>As soon as the business of the next day was fairly started she went to +the suite of rooms inhabited by the Smiths, confident that Joseph's +excess of fury had been transient. Emma was surrounded by her children, +to whom she had just given breakfast. The prophet was about to descend +to his business office. They both received Susannah with moderate +kindness.</p> + +<p>The March sun shone in through the large windows upon the garish +furniture of the apartment, upon Emma's gay attire, and upon the shining +faces of the three children, who stood gazing upward at Susannah, quick, +as children always are, to perceive signs of suppressed excitement.</p> + +<p>Susannah explained that she had determined to go to Carthage that day, +where she hoped soon to find some party of travellers in whose escort +she could travel farther; she hoped that it would be quite convenient +for Emma to return the money that morning.</p> + +<p>Smith gazed at Susannah intently, but only for a few moments. It seemed +that his mood had changed entirely, that he was now too much absorbed in +the business of the day, whatever it might be, to care whether she went +or stayed. He left them, saying that he would send money to Emma as soon +as he could, that the trifling debt might be paid.</p> + +<p>Money flowed in such easy streams through the hands of the leading men +of Nauvoo, that Susannah supposed that a messenger with the required +amount would come up the stairs in a few minutes. She sat with Emma in +this expectation.</p> + +<p>"You are offended with me for going?" she asked, for Emma's mask of +indifference was worn obviously.</p> + +<p>"You wish to destroy your soul," said Emma.</p> + +<p>"Ah, but you know, you have long known, that I do not believe that +salvation in this world or the next depends on the rites of Mr. Smith's +Church."</p> + +<p>"If I told this child that he would be dashed to pieces if he walked out +of the window, and he did not believe me, would that save him?"</p> + +<p>Emma made this inquiry with triumphant scorn; then she rose and began to +attend to the wants of her children in a bustling manner.</p> + +<p>Susannah sighed and smiled. "I have at least the right to reject your +faith at my own peril, for there is not in the wide world, as far as I +know, man or woman who cares whether I save my soul or not."</p> + +<p>"And whose fault?" cried Emma, coarse now in her discomposure. "If you +are so stuck-up that you think you can read your books and look down on +us all, just because you are a beauty and the gentlemen bow down to you, +'tisn't likely that you'd have any friends acting that way. You can't +even behave civil to the gentlemen when they offer you the best that's +going."</p> + +<p>It was evident that some version of Smith's interviews with her had been +given to his wife. Susannah wondered how much truth, how much fiction, +had been in the relation. It did not matter much to her now, since she +had resolved to go at once. The whole of her life with that troublous +sect seemed to be dropping from her like a dream.</p> + +<p>Leaving word that she would receive the money on her return or else call +at Smith's office for it when she was ready, she went down into the +cheerful noise of the street and bargained with a man who had horses and +vehicles for hire. Having arranged that he should come for her at noon, +she went about to make the few farewells she felt to be desirable.</p> + +<p>Darling was now postmaster of Nauvoo and one of the first presidency. To +him she went first. She shrank from him because of his coarseness and +the jocular admiration which he sometimes had the audacity to express +for her, but she could not forget how assiduous his kindness had been in +the days of Elvira's illness. She found him sitting, his heels on the +upper part of a chimney-piece with a fireless grate, reading the +Millenial Star. The hot April sun, streaming through the windows of his +office, had caused him to take off his coat, which was no longer +thread-bare. His shirt sleeves were fine enough and white; the high hat +that was pushed far on the back of his head was highly polished. +Opulence, self-indulgence, good-nature, and a certain element of +fanatical fire mingled in the atmosphere of the postmaster's office, and +made it somewhat turgid.</p> + +<p>When Darling heard Susannah's errand he became serious enough. An +apoplectic sort of breathlessness came over him, expressing a degree of +interest which she could not understand. He settled his hat more firmly +upon his head. "Does the prophet know?"</p> + +<p>"He knows. I have said good-bye to him and to Mrs. Smith. It is sad to +part with friends that I have known for so many years."</p> + +<p>"And the prophet's going to let you go, is he?"</p> + +<p>Darling, clumsy at all times, in this speech conveyed to Susannah the +first faint suspicion that Smith might dream of detaining her by force.</p> + +<p>Darling's youngest daughter, who had been an affectionate pupil to +Susannah at Quincy, waylaid her as she came out, and clasped her about +the waist with the ardour of an indulged child. She was a blithesome +girl of about fourteen.</p> + +<p>"I heard you tell father that you are going away. Is it true?" she asked +impetuously.</p> + +<p>Susannah tried to release herself from the embrace. "Yes, it is true. +Never mind, you like your new teacher, you know, just as well as you +used to like me."</p> + +<p>"I just guess I don't," cried the child defiantly. "But anyhow, if you +are going away, I'm going to tell you something."</p> + +<p>Whether the childish love of telling a secret, the girlish love of +mischief, or a dawning sense of womanly responsibility was uppermost, it +would be hard to tell. There, in the open square, while worthy Saints +hurried to and fro on the pavement beside them, while horses jangled +their harness and drivers shouted and exchanged their morning greetings, +Darling's youngest daughter drew Susannah's head downward and hastily +whispered to her the fate of her letters to Ephraim Croom.</p> + +<p>"I know, for one day since we came here I heard father talking to the +prophet. He said you'd written lately while you were at Quincy, and all +your letters had been burned. Now that's the truth; and I said to myself +'twas a sin and a shame, and that you ought to know. Now don't go and +tell tales of me, or father will be mad—at least, as mad as he ever can +be with <i>me</i>." A toss of the pretty head accompanied these words, a +flash of conscious power in the bright eyes, the spoilt child knowing +that her father was in her toils now, as truly as any future lover would +ever be. The school bell was ringing. The girl, her bag of books hanging +from her arm, ran with the crowd of belated children.</p> + +<p>Susannah walked on, almost stunned at first by the throb of intense +anger that came with this surprise. Then the anger was suddenly +superseded, hidden and crushed down by a rush of joy. Ephraim had not +neglected her; Ephraim had given her up for dead; but she had no reason +to suppose that he was dead, no reason to doubt his faithfulness. +Susannah trod the common street in love with motion as some happy +woodland creature treads the dells in the hour of dawn and spring.</p> + +<p>When Elvira looked up to see Susannah enter her gate she saw her friend +transfigured in a glow of returning youth and hope. Elvira looked at her +timidly; this Susannah she had never seen before. Elvira's husband was +not present. The interior of the house was fantastic almost as its +mistress, but sultry with luxury.</p> + +<p>"Well now, you think you are going," said Elvira. "Who'd have thought +it? And only last week General Bennet said to the prophet that if he'd +marry you to him he'd send to New York for diamonds both for you and +Emma Smith. He said he'd get a thousand dollars' worth of diamonds +apiece for each of you; but Mr. Darling said that you ought to be +married to Mr. Heber, who has just been elected an apostle, because—" +She stopped suddenly, nodding her head. "You know why—blood is blood, +and we have seen it run in rivers, but we don't mention it here in +Nauvoo."</p> + +<p>Elvira set the French heel of her slipper in the centre of a rose upon +her carpet and spun round upon it till her flounces stood out.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We don't mention it here in Nauvoo."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>She sang as if it were the refrain to a song.</p> + +<p>Susannah felt from within her shield of new delight an immense pity. +Here again was a revelation of the coarse and frivolous talk that went +on at the church meetings, and Elvira was privy to it through that old +fool, her husband. How could she endure him!</p> + +<p>"O Elvira, in the last few days I have realised as I did not before that +riches are making fools of these men. How glad I am that my husband died +before he knew that this was to be the reward of his lifework and his +prayers!"</p> + +<p>Elvira stopped dancing. The mystical side of her character now, as +ever, came forward suddenly in the midst of her other interests. The +sunshine was bright in the gaudy room. A tiny spaniel, which Elvira's +senile slave had procured for her, lay on a red cushion in its full +beam, looking more like a toy than a living thing. When Elvira stopped +dancing her flounces settled themselves with an audible rustle, and her +thin delicately-cut face looked at Susannah from out its frame of curled +hair and gold ornaments like the face of a spirit imprisoned in some +unseemly place.</p> + +<p>"Heaven help us, Susannah," she cried shrilly, "if you call Nauvoo the +reward of Angel's prayers. Look!" she cried, pointing out of the window, +"see how the new temple rises; how its white walls shine in the sun! We +are putting thousands upon thousands of dollars into it. It will be the +grandest building this side of the Alleghany mountains." She let her +small jewelled hand, with its pointing finger, fall suddenly, "and there +shall not be left one stone of it upon another, for the House of God is +not made with hands."</p> + +<p>"I see little signs of its foundations here." Susannah spoke with fire. +"Treachery and tyranny are poor bricks."</p> + +<p>"Child, its foundations are in the whole earth, here and everywhere, in +every nation and kindred. Men like Angel Halsey sow wheat; other people +have sown tares. The tares happen to be in blossom just now here in +Nauvoo." She seemed to forget her seriousness as suddenly, for again +she spun round upon the centre of her rose, singing her little musical +refrain.</p> + +<p>Susannah made one more appeal of the sort that she had made so often +before Elvira's marriage.</p> + +<p>"You will not come away with me, Elvira? I do not like to leave you +here; you have not been yourself since Angel died. You are not bound to +this man because you were not sane enough to make a valid choice."</p> + +<p>It was plain speaking, but it did not ruffle Elvira's composure in the +slightest. She laughed and began to caress her spaniel. "Mad. Oh yes, we +are all mad, and growing madder, but it is because they have huddled us +together at the point of the sword, until now to be a Mormon means to be +shut out from the world and shut in to—to what? To the prophet's +dreams; and some of them are good, and some of them are bad, and some of +them are mad; and let us thank Heaven that they are as good as they are, +for to go back to the Gentiles who shot down Angel and the children he +was teaching to pray, and your child in your arms, that would be the +baddest and maddest act of life." She rose up suddenly again. "Go!" she +cried. There was a flame of real anger in her eyes. "Since the wish is +in your heart, go! We believe now in strange doctrines. Two new +doctrines we have learned at Nauvoo. Do you know what they are? One is +'baptism of the dead.' If you get off safely, Susannah, and die in your +sins, one of us must be baptized again for you, so that you will be +saved in spite of yourself. But the <i>other</i> doctrine is '<i>salvation by +the shedding of blood</i>.' Do you understand <i>that</i> doctrine?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do not."</p> + +<p>"And you speak with a tone that says that you neither know nor care what +new things we have been learning. But you may have reason to care before +many hours are over."</p> + +<p>She came near and whispered, "They teach us now that if a <i>man</i> sin +wilfully and will not repent, it is better that a minister of the church +should slay him, for then his blood will make atonement for his soul." +She ceased to speak until she had thrust Susannah out of her door, and +her last words were in a whisper of awesome import. "Perhaps <i>a woman's +soul can be saved in the same way</i>."</p> + +<p>Susannah was out again in the cheerful busy street. She made haste to +fulfil the one remaining call before she met her chaise at the hotel. +She felt that her last word was due to the member of the Danite band who +had saved her in her hour of need and who had avenged her husband's +blood.</p> + +<p>To each of those who had made sacrifice for the sect, a lot of land in +the best part of the city had been awarded. Heber, Danite and apostle, +had built upon his lot, and there she found him at the back of the +cottage feeding a mare and foal which were tied in a small plot of +ragged grass. He was much older now than when she had first seen him; +daring and danger can lengthen time. He had the same indomitable +frankness in his dark eyes, but his face was hardened and fanaticism was +stamped thereon. It was a homely precinct, with utensils of house and +stable-work lying about. The mare was drinking from a bucket, her gentle +head so near his shoulder that her love for him was easily seen.</p> + +<p>"I am going away," Susannah said. "I have come to thank you for the last +time for all your kindness to me and to say good-bye."</p> + +<p>"You shall not go," he said harshly.</p> + +<p>It was the echo of something which she had heard twice before this +morning. This time it began to enter her mind with some sharpness.</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"If you saw a friend hastening to destruction would you not stop her? It +is well known amongst us that you desire to go, and at the meeting of +the presidency last night the prophet told us that you sought to +apostatise. Go home, Sister Halsey, and repent, and obtain forgiveness +from the Lord and from his prophet for your unbelief."</p> + +<p>She was able to stand for a moment quietly and watch him still busy +watering the mare, admiring the skill and gentleness with which he did +it, thinking sadly enough that she would never see this remarkable man +again, nor know to what the mingled fierceness and gentleness of his +nature would grow. Then she offered him her hand in farewell without +further argument.</p> + +<p>He shook the mare's head from his shoulder and, taking her hand, held it +in an iron grasp. "As your friend, and for the sake of that good man, +your husband, I beseech you to repent; but if you will not repent, for +his sake and for our sakes, because we have prayed for you, you shall +still be saved."</p> + +<p>Although beginning to be apprehensive of some coming evil, she smiled; +and even rallied him upon one of the new doctrines to which Elvira had +alluded.</p> + +<p>"Do you believe that if I go away some one else will have to be baptized +over again for me?"</p> + +<p>He looked at her with the same steadfast glance. "It could do no good. +Such salvation is for those who die in ignorance of the truth. But for +you, who have been baptized into the truth and have fallen away, there +is no hope except repentance or the shedding of blood."</p> + +<p>Over the low paling she heard the neighbours' children at their play. +Upon the other side was an open lot across which she saw the passers in +the street. She withdrew her hand from his now, but with a sinking at +heart which did not appear to her reasonable because the surroundings +were so tranquil.</p> + +<p>He let her go, accompanying her, as any gentleman might, to the gate of +his ground. As he opened it he had taken something from his coat, and he +showed it to her. It was a knife, very bright and sharp. Its blade when +drawn out had a double edge. "It will be better for you," he said +mournfully, "to die than to go"; and then he hid the thing again and +went back.</p> + +<p>This time the idea that had been forcing itself into her mind took +possession. For a moment all her strength forsook her; she held to the +post of the gate, looking after him as he disappeared up the narrow +passage between the paling and the house, and then, hurrying onward, she +found that it was only by the greatest effort she could walk with +outward composure.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IVb" id="CHAPTER_IVb"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>Susannah found her rooms as she had left them. Emma was not there to bid +her good-bye, nor did any messenger wait with the money. She set her +parcels ready for the driver to lift and waited until after the hour, +but the chaise did not come.</p> + +<p>At last she went down again to the livery stable, hoping, as against +vague but almost overpowering fears, that mere delay was the cause. The +man told her that he understood that she had countermanded her order. +She gave the order again, but now he said that he could not go for the +price named, and when she offered a larger sum, he assured her that his +horses were all out. She knew now that her order had indeed been +countermanded, and by an authority higher than hers. She went back and +boldly entered the prophet's public office.</p> + +<p>There were five men in the office. Joseph Smith sat in an elbow-chair +before a central table. His secretary, a middle-aged man, sat at a small +table beside him. Two of the leaders of the Church happened to be +waiting upon some business, and a fresh convert was standing with them, +a well-dressed English artisan but newly arrived. Susannah walked up to +the table and addressed Smith.</p> + +<p>"Will you go down to the stable and bring me up a travelling-chaise?"</p> + +<p>Smith rose with mechanical politeness, or perhaps with a feint of +politeness. "My dear madam," he expostulated, "I must say—"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," she replied, "that I have not time to hear what you would +like to say. I must ask you to be quick and get me the chaise."</p> + +<p>By this time she perceived that his companions were looking at her with +ill-concealed curiosity and excitement, which proved to her that she was +a marked woman. Her bosom dilated with a wilder anger as she looked at +Smith expectantly; he returned the gaze sheepishly, as if dazzled by the +audacity of her command. His face after last night's passion had an +exhausted look like that of a man recovering from an illness.</p> + +<p>"You also owe me money," she proclaimed clearly. "Your wife borrowed all +that I had of the money I earned by my school. When you have brought the +chaise you can give me the money."</p> + +<p>One of the elders, a sleek man, thinking the prophet at a loss, now made +a wily comment. "Has Sister Halsey paid anything for living in the House +this month back?"</p> + +<p>At the insinuation that her money might be justly kept in payment of +this debt if she spurned the Church's hospitality, Susannah's heart +sank. She admitted its justice. It was part of her character to admit +all possible claim against her.</p> + +<p>The sleek elder, following his advantage, spoke again. "The money given +for tuition was given because of the ordinance of the prophet, and +should in any case hardly belong to this lady if she is apostate."</p> + +<p>Smith had the tact to see his opportunity, and, moreover, it hurt him +sharply, hurt him far more than it hurt Susannah, to hear her right to +the privileges of the place called in question, to hear the opprobrious +term "apostate" cast at her. There were unbelievers in his community +with whose hypocrisy or apostasy he could trifle, but he still had his +faith and his inner circle of affections. Susannah, standing friendless +and penniless, appealed to all that was sacred in the memory of early +days, while her beauty, her courage, her unbounded wrath, stimulated his +love of power. He spoke to the sleek elder in what was commonly called +the prophet's "awful voice," rising, his blue eyes becoming black in +their authoritative flash.</p> + +<p>"Our sister Susannah Halsey, because of faithfulness when the Church was +yet poor and unknown, and because of the faithfulness of her husband, +who wears the martyr's crown—our sister Susannah Halsey, I say, is +welcome to the hospitality of the Nauvoo House as long as she has +remained and shall remain; and the money which has been given to her +for the school shall be returned to her, and more shall be added to it, +for she laboured faithfully."</p> + +<p>He had left behind his moment of sheepish distress; with the return of +his formal phrases he assumed full prophetical state and escorted +Susannah out of the office with a manner of pompous deference. When they +two stood alone together Susannah was aware that, although circumstances +had not altered in the slightest, although she had just as much reason +for extreme anger as a minute before, yet she could not summon the same +haughty air of command.</p> + +<p>"Will you get me the chaise and the money and let me go?"</p> + +<p>"But in Carthage," he asked kindly, "who will attend to your wants there +and protect you? I guess, sister, you haven't much notion how difficult +a lady like yourself travelling alone might find it to get along. It +isn't among the Gentiles as with the Saints, where brotherly-kindness is +the rule. I guess you'd better go back to your room and think it over a +day or two longer," he said soothingly. "I'd be very glad to take you +and Emma out for a ride this afternoon if you'd be willing to go—"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet." Her words fell sharp and quick in the midst of his gentle +tones. "Make arrangements at once for me to go peaceably, or I will go +out, if need be, to the middle of the Square and proclaim my wrongs, so +that every woman and child in Nauvoo shall know what comes of trusting +to you."</p> + +<p>She had chosen her threat carefully. She knew well that he understood +the force of object lessons, and that to have even a suspicion against +his kindness, bred in the minds of the children would be exquisite pain +to him.</p> + +<p>"You know that I wouldn't like that, Sister Halsey; but when you come to +think of it you'll see that it wouldn't serve your turn neither. It +would only need for a few of us to say you was crazy and the whole town +'ud see the more reason for not letting you go. Moreover, it would be a +monstrous injustice to me. When have I failed to do anything that I ever +promised you? Did I ever promise to let you apostatise? I guess, Sister +Halsey, that you're excited, and if you just think over things for a day +or two you would see that we're not so bad as you think. But, anyway, +this ain't just the place for us to have a talk together."</p> + +<p>When Smith moved on to lead her back to her own rooms, she followed +quietly until they stood together in her parlour, the scene of their +last quarrel.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Susannah, "you understand very well that it is no sudden +intention of mine to go, that it is my irrevocable decision. I have this +morning had my very life threatened; and I see now that unless you +command that it should be respected I should very possibly be in danger +if I went away alone. You have offered again and again to drive me in +your carriage; I will accept the offer now. Get out your own horses, and +drive me yourself to Carthage."</p> + +<p>She saw a look of faint pleasure steal over his face. He liked to stand +there in the quiet room listening while she spoke with some evidence of +trust. The pleasure faded into embarrassment, but she had seen it.</p> + +<p>"You have a good and a bad nature struggling within you, Mr. Smith. By +all that we have suffered, you and I, since the day that by some +mysterious power you forced me to come to your baptism" (she stammered +in her eagerness), "by all that we have suffered, by that sympathy which +we have at times felt for one another, assert yourself now. Do this one +right thing for me, and in all the future I will try to remember only +the good in your life and not the bad."</p> + +<p>But he stood so long still looking steadfastly before him that she began +to fear that, unnerved by his last night's fit of fury, he was ready to +pass into one of those visionary trances which had been common in his +younger days.</p> + +<p>She touched the sleeve of his coat. "I do not know if Mr. Heber's threat +could be serious, but it frightened me, and I know that I shall be safe +on the road to Carthage if you take me. Go, get your horses and take me +away yourself."</p> + +<p>He looked at her pitifully, slipping into the style of his religious +moods. "Thou sayest truly, sister, that there is none but I who could do +this thing, for since in mine anger last night, fearing that I had no +strength of my own to keep thee by me, I denounced thee to the council, +there is no safety for thy life beyond the boundary of Nauvoo." He +winced here, as if seeing what he suggested.</p> + +<p>Noting how the idea of her violent death wrung his heart, she went on +pleading with him. She quoted the exalted character of his early +visions, reminding him of the hour when the angel had shown him the dark +furnace of temptations through which he must pass. At this he was +visibly stirred; the angelic vision of warning seemed to be again before +his eyes. He roused himself, speaking in that tone of voice in which, +when he rarely used it, she recognised his best spirit. "Sister, thou +hast always been to me as Isaac to Abraham; for in the beginning when I +was poor and alone and had nought in the world save the revelation which +the Lord had given, and was tempted to doubt, then I saw thee and prayed +that thou shouldst be given me for a sign; and behold when I put forth +my whole strength to desire thee, thou didst come as a moth to the +light, burning thy beautiful wings of youth and joy. But I said, 'It is +well, for that which she has lost shall be restored to her with usury,' +and I knew in my heart that our brother Angel Halsey would not live +long, and that thou wouldst forget thy sorrow for him. But I swear unto +thee that thou hast never been to me as other women, but, as I said unto +thee just now, like the voice of the angel."</p> + +<p>She never knew how far he was entirely under his own control when the +tendency to a state of trance was upon him, but she was anxious to take +advantage of the better mood.</p> + +<p>She said, "And now what is required of you is that you should give me +up. No blessing" (she spoke strongly), "no blessing can come to you or +to your people until you do this one right thing."</p> + +<p>He was again looking not at her but at the blank space of the shadowed +wall, and as if the wall was not there and his look went far beyond it.</p> + +<p>"You have loosened the bloodhounds and set them on my track," she cried.</p> + +<p>He did not speak.</p> + +<p>"You—you alone will be guilty of my murder, for, I tell you, if you do +not take me, I will go alone and meet my death."</p> + +<p>His head sank upon his breast with a groan such as a dumb creature in +the utmost pain might give. Almost immediately, to her surprise, he went +out.</p> + +<p>She was left alone. She was under the impression that Smith had gone to +do her bidding, but she could not be sure. No faith in angelic vision, +no spell of psychic warfare, relieved the situation for her. The +external evidences of some crisis which he had undergone only produced +in her repulsion. Now, as ever since the temporary delusion that +accompanied her baptism, Susannah endeavoured to possess her soul free +from that sense of touch with mysterious powers which had worked such +havoc with the sanity of the members of this sect.</p> + +<p>From the window she saw the prophet crossing the road in the direction +of his stables. He went, it was true, with slow, dreamy gait, but +steadily. Strange mixture that he was of sanity and shrewdness, +mysticism and grosser evil, he was at that moment her only star of hope. +She paced the room unable to forecast the happenings of the next hour, +yet supposing that her very life depended upon its content. The sudden +joy that had come to her this morning joined with her fear, and produced +panic of heart.</p> + +<p>She computed the time it might take to harness the gay steeds, and tried +to give the rein of her expectation the utmost length. To her delight +she saw the prophet's horses and the light vehicle he drove upon long +journeys emerge into the square. A servant led them up and down. At +length she saw Smith returning, not with hasty steps, but as if against +his will, walking again through the crowded place like a man in a dream. +Men greeted him, but for once he gave no sign of seeing them. She heard +his footstep on the stair. When he reached her door he almost fell +against it in the opening, and staggered as he entered the room as if +his self-control had just lasted so far. He knelt down by one of the +fashionable marble-topped tables with which he had graced her room, and, +like an ill-conditioned soul, burst into tears and broken complaints.</p> + +<p>"But I cannot do it," he gasped. "I cannot."</p> + +<p>In her hour of miserable waiting Susannah had thought of many things +that might occur, and nerved herself to meet them, but this distemper of +soul, this failure of will in the man who had been undaunted through +years of persecuting torture, was so wholly unexpected that she stood +aghast.</p> + +<p>He clenched his hands as they lay helpless on the white table. "O Lord!" +he cried, and she could not tell from the tone whether the words were +oath or prayer. "O Lord, I cannot let her go." His thick tears muffled +his voice, and still again and again during the paroxysm she caught the +words as if reiterated in choking anger, "O Lord, I cannot."</p> + +<p>His tears, however evil their source, laid hold of her woman's +sensibility; she was no longer a critical observer. She no longer set +aside his strange inward conflict as a delusion of madness. She +participated in his consciousness so far as to think that she was +actually witnessing the despair of a soul repulsing an opportunity of +righteousness, and yet not so far dead as not to know its worth. She +tried to speak, but found herself, as at other times, so affected by +his overlapping emotion that she was trembling and had neither courage +nor voice.</p> + +<p>Smith lifted his head, looking with terror into vacant spaces of the dim +room, as if following with his eyes some menacing form. He whined +piteously. "I have purposed to be faithful"; he put up his hand as if to +ward off a blow. "Thou knowest! thou knowest!" His voice was like a +whispering shriek. The terror of his face and gestures was appalling to +see.</p> + +<p>Susannah was infected with fear of an apparition so evidently visible to +him. Her mind swung, as it were, out of material limitations. She was +overcome with the belief that a third person was with them, and her +heart went out in gratitude to that mysterious other for taking her +part.</p> + +<p>But the gilt clock on the marble mantelshelf ticked on; Susannah felt +herself aware that the person of Smith's vision was withdrawing, +repulsed. She almost cried aloud to the invisible, but checked the +prayer, holding on, as it were, to her own sanity with both hands. Smith +writhed continually, moaning.</p> + +<p>When at length she succeeded in telling him faintly that if he refused +this opportunity he must fall lower and lower and lose even the desire +for good, she found that her words had no longer any power to influence. +He had passed beyond into some region of outer darkness, where the +things of sense did not seem to penetrate, and where, if the actions of +his body were the expression of his soul, there was literally "wailing +and gnashing of teeth."</p> + +<p>But Susannah hovered over him, not so much angry as pitiful, her own +agony of mere physical sympathy increasing. Terrified to be near him, +too compassionate to withdraw, she watched till at last the veins in his +hands and his face became swollen and knotted. She was unwilling to lose +the hope of her sole influence over him, and yet was about to call for +help, when almost suddenly he seemed to become conscious of his +surroundings again and shake himself free from the distress.</p> + +<p>In a little while he was sitting on one of the chairs, wiping his purple +face and swollen eyes with the large silken pocket-handkerchief that was +one of the signs of his recent opulence. She saw the large ring on his +swollen finger gradually loosen, and the hand return to its normal shape +and colour. She felt convinced that his pulses had gone back to their +common flow, because his whole volition had returned peacefully to its +low ambitions and self-indulgence. She knew instinctively that it was +not thus opulent and fierce that he would have looked had he come out on +the other side of his temptation. She stood, outwardly patient, waiting +helpless till he should speak.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, sister," he panted condescendingly. He was fanning himself +with the handkerchief now, as a man might who felt injured by undue +heat in the atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Her refusal was concise and severe.</p> + +<p>He looked at her boldly, with no apprehension now in his eyes, not even +the former conciliatory desire to receive her with fair words. She felt +appalled. Could it be that his angel in deserting him had deserted her? +Was there a devil strong enough to give her to him? It was perhaps only +his belief which overshadowed hers, it was perhaps only, as she thought, +a sickness of nerve but the impression that unseen personalities had +been contending here was stronger upon her even than her anger and fear.</p> + +<p>Smith got up and went to the window. His horses and buggy were still +parading.</p> + +<p>"I guess I've changed my mind," he said. He did not care, it seemed, to +delude her, but he must still deceive himself. "I couldn't go against +the voice of the church council to that extent; it wouldn't be safe for +you or me; and besides, 'tisn't the Lord's will that you should go."</p> + +<p>She recoiled, looking at him in steady reproach.</p> + +<p>"Well, as I said before, I guess you can think it over for a few days." +This was his easy answer to her look, and he went out, slamming the +door.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_Vb" id="CHAPTER_Vb"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p>When that day began to wane Susannah was still sitting in the empty +curtained room. No plan which offered even a fair hope of escape had +occurred to her mind. Although in pictures of adventure her imagination +had been fertile, throwing out suggestions unbidden, her judgment would +have none of them. No one disturbed her. She was left in isolation, a +prey to dismal thoughts.</p> + +<p>She saw the happy crowds dispersing in the Square from evening +recreation. There was nothing to hinder her from joining them. Sometimes +her sense of imprisonment seemed only a morbid dream, for on all sides +of the fair white city there was open ingress and egress for the +faithful and the stranger. It was hard to believe that at wharfs and on +the high roads fanatics watched for her, and yet after Smith's reluctant +avowal she dare not doubt it.</p> + +<p>She saw evening fade over the broad semi-circle of the river, over the +multitude of cheerful homes that sloped to its edge. When darkness came +she found herself more than ever pressed and tormented by the grim +shapes of fear and remorse and despair. She had terrible reason to +fear, and felt as never before that she had brought this horrid +situation upon herself by joining and rejoining the prophet's following. +She had no hope now that Smith would relent.</p> + +<p>Beyond the city, eastward toward the sun-rising, lay the home of +Ephraim's friendship, whither in the morning she had thought to bend her +steps. She saw it through the glad glamour of her recent knowledge that +he had not neglected her letters. All her desires fled to this thought +of his friendship, like birds flying home. All her fancies clustered +round it, like climbing flowers that caress and kiss the object they +enfold when some rude wind disturbs. Whenever she withdrew her mind from +its contemplation, the circumstances on which she looked were the more +revolting.</p> + +<p>Ever since Smith left she had been more or less under the impression +that an unseen person there in that very room had contended with him. +Again and again she had swept it aside as an infectious madness that she +was catching from the fanatics about her, but it had recurred; and now +as, not caring to light her lamps, she sat alone in the darkness by the +very table against which Smith had writhed and wailed, she felt pressed +upon by a spiritual life external to her own.</p> + +<p>Within her soul from some unknown depth the word arose distinctly as if +spoken, "Pray. You cannot save yourself. Pray."</p> + +<p>"I am going mad." Susannah whispered the words audibly. It was a +comfort to her even to hear her own voice. But when her whisper was past +she again listened involuntarily.</p> + +<p>The words within her rose again. "Even so. Pray. If you are going mad, +you have the more need."</p> + +<p>Susannah had come to class all search for definite and material answer +to prayer as one of the superstitions of false religion. In this +category stood also the hearing of voices and obedience to monitions +from the unseen. Now she reproached herself because she could not +immediately silence this fancy of disturbed nerves.</p> + +<p>Long sad thoughts of all her reasons against prayer, strongest among +them the futility of her husband's prayers, passed through her mind with +their train of haunting memories, but in the cessation from argument +which these pictures of the past produced, the words arose again dearly +within her soul, like airdrops rising from the depths of a well and +expanding into momentary iridescence on the surface, "Pray for help. If +you have no faith in God's arm, you have the more need to seek it."</p> + +<p>Stung by the fear that she was losing her mind, she rose as she would +have faced a human antagonist.</p> + +<p>"God's arm!" she said aloud, "my husband prayed such prayers, but I will +ask nothing till I see his request fulfilled."</p> + +<p>She spoke the quick words with an almost reckless sense of experiment. +Her thought was that before she could honestly think of such prayer she +must see some fruit of Angel's petitions for this man Smith and for her +own safety.</p> + +<p>"Save Smith from further degradation," she said, her breath coming +sharply. "Save me now, if that sort of prayer is right. Do this in +answer to my husband's prayers. Remember his prayers."</p> + +<p>She had begun recklessly, supposing that she was contending only with +her own sick fancy; she was astonished that a few swift moments had +involved her in an increasing sense of personal contact, and she became +awed by the strength of the encounter.</p> + +<p>"My husband prayed for my safety," she repeated with softened attitude; +then, as if seeking for the protection which had died with him, she +repeated again and again, "Remember his prayers."</p> + +<p>She left the challenge at last apparently to die where she had breathed +it in the dark cold air of her lonely room. The tension of her mind +relaxed.</p> + +<p>She sat down again, not knowing whether anything had occurred, but a +crisis in the morbid working of her strained nerves had in some way +relieved her.</p> + +<p>She was curiously unable to go back to her former agonised anxieties. +Natural fatigue, even sleepiness, came over her, but not her fears, +even though she wooed them.</p> + +<p>"Ah, well," she said within herself, "it is quite true that it is +useless to consider when I can give myself no help."</p> + +<p>The habits of the Saints were early. When she heard silence fall upon +the great house she went into her sleeping-room and lay down upon the +bed. Sleep came quickly.</p> + +<p>With the early dawn she opened her eyes. In the first moments of +half-awaked consciousness she was aware that one thought lay alone in +the empty horizon of her mind, like a trace left by a dream that had +passed, as a wisp of cloud may be left in an empty sky.</p> + +<p>This thought was that she would at once go down to the river bank upon +the southwest of the town.</p> + +<p>When other thoughts awoke and crowded within her ken this thought +appeared foolish, and still more so the strong influence it had left +upon her will, for in the momentum of this influence she had risen +without debating the point.</p> + +<p>She was not aware that she had moved in her sleep or dreamed. She was +greatly refreshed and again unreasonably light-hearted. She opened her +shutters and saw that the dawn was calm and fair. As yet the sleeping +town had scarcely stirred.</p> + +<p>"It is better to go out than to stay in," she said to herself as she +remembered that this hour would be her one chance of taking air and +exercise unobserved. She heard the main door of the house open and, +looking over the banister, saw a slattern with bucket and mop passing +into some back passage. She went lightly down and out into the fresh +frosty air.</p> + +<p>What had that dream been concerning the river bank on the south-western +side? She could not recall it, nor had she ever explored the streets of +white wooden villas and cottages that lay upon that side. She went +thither now. There was no reason why she should not go, no reason to go +elsewhere. It was a pleasant walk. When she had passed the last house, +the bank sloped in open uncared-for grass where cows were grazing. Only +here and there she had seen a house-door open, and as yet in this place +no one was abroad except a boy who was playing idly in a boat, which was +drawn half up on the muddy bank.</p> + +<p>The broad river, milk-white under a dappled sky, stretched south and +west. The other side was dim and blue in the faint vapour of the +relaxing frost. The air was sweet and still. The sunbeams, imprisoned in +eastern vapour, shone through the white veil with soft glow that cast no +shadow but comforted the earth with hope.</p> + +<p>Susannah had a further thought in her mind now, but she felt no haste or +impatience of excitement.</p> + +<p>The boy was of an active, restless disposition or he would hardly have +been out so early. Lithe and idle, he sat see-sawing in the floating +end of the boat, uncertain how to amuse himself. He returned Susannah's +greeting with a lively flow of talk.</p> + +<p>"You don't know how to row," said Susannah.</p> + +<p>She showed no eagerness, for she felt none. The hope she had just formed +was most uncertain, for it appeared not at all likely that she could +escape in this way without being molested.</p> + +<p>"I bet I can row," said the boy, "as well as any man in town."</p> + +<p>"That isn't saying much," said Susannah. "The men about here have very +few boats, and they are most of them afraid to go on anything smaller +than the steamer."</p> + +<p>"I could row t'other side and back," bragged the boy. "I could row +t'other side and back three times in the day."</p> + +<p>"You couldn't."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't! What will you bet?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose your father wouldn't allow you to go, anyway."</p> + +<p>He was a fresh-faced, mischievous, eager young rascal, and he found +Susannah's manner pleasant and provoking.</p> + +<p>"Will you lay five dollars on it?" he cried. "Pap is away down to +Quincy. If you'll lay five dollars on it I'll do it."</p> + +<p>"But I won't."</p> + +<p>The gambling spirit of the young pioneer was aroused.</p> + +<p>"What will you lay on it, then?"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you could row once to the other side."</p> + +<p>He bragged loudly and with much exaggeration of what he had done and +what he could do, and began pushing off the boat to show her his speed.</p> + +<p>The boat was a rude craft, unpainted, flat-bottomed, but light enough, +and not badly formed for speed. Susannah stepped into it without much +hope, scarcely caring what she did, but still provoking the young +boatman to attempt the crossing.</p> + +<p>"I shan't give you any money," she said, "but you can row me a bit if +you like till I see how fast you can go. You don't understand the +currents, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"Currents!" said the boy, "I guess I understand all there is to know +about them."</p> + +<p>Talking thus in light banter, they actually proceeded out onto the bosom +of the milky flood without hearing any cry from the shore or seeing any +one who took note of their departure. The pellucid and comforting light +of the blinded sun grew warmer; the hum of industry in the town behind +rose cheerfully upon the quiet air, and as the calling of the April +bluebird in the fields grew more faint, the splash of the oars and the +whirr of the gray water-fowl began to be accompanied by a low distant +sound as of a watermill.</p> + +<p>"It's the excursion steamer," said the boy. "We'll get in her waves and +you'll be scared. Ladies is always scared of waves."</p> + +<p>She asked if the steam-boat would stop at the Nauvoo wharf, but he +explained, with the knowledge that boys are apt to have of such details, +that this steamer was coming from Fort Madison, and would keep to the +Missouri side, that he had heard that there were some State officials on +board her, escorting the Governor of Kentucky, who was prospecting for a +Land Company.</p> + +<p>They saw the white hulk of the steam-boat looming upon the water to the +north. Her side paddle-wheels churned the flood. A strong purpose took +possession of Susannah; she knew what she was going to do.</p> + +<p>She said to the boy, "No one could stop a steamer when she once starts +until she gets to her next port."</p> + +<p>"I bet the engineman could stop her just as easy as that." The boy +backed water with his oars suddenly.</p> + +<p>"But no one on the river could make him stop and get aboard."</p> + +<p>"Yes, they could. My pap stopped one once. We was living down near +Cairo, but not near a wharf."</p> + +<p>"How did he do it?" she asked, and her interest was intense.</p> + +<p>"Why, you just put up your hands like a trumpet and yell through them as +loud as you can, and you go on waving and hollering. My pap said the +best plan was to call out 'Runaway nigger! Large reward!' They'd be sure +to stop then to know all about it, and when they'd once stopped they +don't mind your clambering up, if you can pay the fare."</p> + +<p>Susannah felt herself wholly unequal to the loud task described.</p> + +<p>"They would never stop for you," she, said. "You are only a boy, and +they would know 'twas only mischief."</p> + +<p>His reply was as before. He would lay five dollars on it that he could +stop the boat.</p> + +<p>She incited him to do this thing also. What faculty of caution the boy +possessed was not as yet developed; he left the care for consequences to +the sedate lady in the stern, and forgetting his quest of the Missouri +shore, lay in the path of the steam-boat and howled unmusically, and +marred the peace of the placid morning by shouting concerning a runaway +slave and a fabulous reward that was offered for him taken alive or +dead.</p> + +<p>It is probable that what he said never rightly reached the ears of the +men on the deck, but that they regarded the lady as a possible +passenger; the engine was stopped.</p> + +<p>"We'd better cut now as fast as we can," said the boy, somewhat +frightened. He seized his oars excitedly. "Or shall I tell them a big +yarn about the nigger?"</p> + +<p>They were but slightly to one side. The prow of the steam-boat, which +drew but little water, had already passed below them. A small crowd on +the vessel's deck leaned over the paddle-box. Standing up in the boat, +Susannah searched the faces of the men looking down. They all looked at +her.</p> + +<p>She singled out the captain by some sign in his dress, and pleaded +urgent necessity for travelling with him.</p> + +<p>"Look here," said the boy, looking up at her from beneath, "I call that +a low-down, mean sort of thing to do. Why didn't you tell me square? I'd +have brought you if you wanted do come."</p> + +<p>She pleaded with the boy too. "It was better for you not to know my +secrets. If they ask you in the city you can say that you didn't know."</p> + +<p>A dozen hands were held out to help her to climb the ladder on the +shelving paddle-box. "Keep off," they cried to the boy, and he swung +away from the churning wheel.</p> + +<p>Susannah stood upon the deck pale and trembling. The magnitude of the +step came upon her, and she was beset by natural timidity and the +painfulness of her dependence. The men who stood around her with the +right to question were not of a low class. The captain, brawny and +respectable, spoke for the group. Behind him was a short but dignified +gray-haired gentleman whom she took to be the present or former Governor +of the State of Kentucky, of whom the boy had spoken. With him were +several men who appeared to have some fair title to gentility. Other +passengers pressed in an outer circle.</p> + +<p>She would fain have explained herself more privately, but she could not +endure to accept the privileges of the boat without explaining first +that she was not able to pay for them. "Gentlemen, I have no money. I am +entirely unprotected. I have escaped in fear of my life from Nauvoo."</p> + +<p>She spoke instinctively, only desiring to set herself right, but when +the words were said she knew that she had helped to heap opprobrium on +the sect in whose cause so short a time ago she would have died. The +passengers were Missourians, as was the captain. Among them went a +whisper of chivalrous pity for her and of execration for the prophet and +his followers.</p> + +<p>"Madam," said the captain, "any lady as is escaping from those devils +has the freedom of this boat, and no ticket required, as long as I'm in +command. Isn't that so?" he asked of the crowd.</p> + +<p>The murmur broke into an open chorus of enthusiastic speech.</p> + +<p>Wild and deep as was her panting anger against Smith's oppression, +Susannah shrank. The thought of profiting by this spirit of partisan +hatred scorched her heart.</p> + +<p>The Kentucky Governor, a dapper man, who had been regarding her with a +temperate and critical eye, now, urged by her obvious distressed +timidity, came forward.</p> + +<p>"How did you get among the Mormons, may I ask?"</p> + +<p>"My husband," faltered Susannah, "but he is dead."</p> + +<p>It would appear that her words tallied with some conclusion he had been +drawing concerning her, for without further parley Susannah found +herself being led in a formal manner down the companion-way. The brief +report which she had given of herself had preceded her through the boat. +She heard the passengers whom she left on the deck making sentimental +remarks. Two coloured girls who were washing dishes in a pantry came to +its door and gasped with emotion as they stared at her. In the saloon +the coloured waiters gaped.</p> + +<p>At the farther end of the saloon a stout and magnificent lady in silk +and diamonds was seated before innumerable viands which were spread in +circles around her plate. She stopped eating while her husband presented +Susannah. She alone of all upon the boat seemed to be overburdened by no +surge of sentiment or curiosity. She was a most comfortable person.</p> + +<p>Seated in safety beside her, Susannah could indulge the pent-up +indignation of her outraged spirit in silent musings upon Smith's +degradation and, the certain downfall of all righteousness under the new +tyranny. And yet—and yet—the shock of the last few days, forcibly as +it vibrated through all her nature, could not eradicate the sympathy of +years—the memories of Hiram and Kirtland, Haun's Mill and the +desperate winter's march. Justice, her old friend, now her inquisitor, +said sternly, "It was in these scenes in which some lost life and some +reason that these men lost their moral standards." But her heart cried, +"Now that <i>I</i> am insulted, I cannot forgive."</p> + +<p>The words of the Governor's wife, cheerful, continuous, and not without +diverting sparkle, were an unspeakable rest to Susannah, weary above all +things of herself. Whether because of a strong undercurrent of tactful +kindness, or in mere garrulity, the good lady's talk for some time +flowed on concerning all things small, and nothing great, like the +lapping of the river against the vessel's bows.</p> + +<p>But at last her companion's situation grew upon her; she enlarged more +than once upon her surprise at Susannah's advent, and her feelings of +extreme relief that she was safely there.</p> + +<p>"What a mercy!" she sighed comfortably. "Such awful people! Why, I hear +that when any child among them is weak or deformed they just murder it."</p> + +<p>Like one who is enraged with his own kin but cannot hear them falsely +accused, Susannah contradicted this statement.</p> + +<p>"It is perfectly true," the Governor's wife declared. "I have heard it +several times. How long have you been at Nauvoo?"</p> + +<p>"Three weeks."</p> + +<p>"And in that time they offered to kill you! Well, I assure you if you +had been a sickly child they wouldn't have let you live three days. And +they say that that monster they call the prophet has at least a dozen +wives."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no."</p> + +<p>"Ten or eleven, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"He has only one, and he has always been very kind to her."</p> + +<p>"How they have imposed upon you! Where have you been living that you +have not heard more of their iniquitous doings than that?"</p> + +<p>Susannah was faint and ill with the conflict within her own breast when +the dapper Kentucky Governor, on business intent, came to them from a +group of the smoking men.</p> + +<p>"James," cried his wife, with an edge of sharpness in her low voice, +"this lady doesn't even know a tithe of the enormities that are +practised in Nauvoo."</p> + +<p>He shook his head, and said that it was a compliment to Susannah's heart +and mind that the tenth part had been sufficient to alarm.</p> + +<p>His manner was stiff and formal, but his disposition seemed very kind.</p> + +<p>He asked Susannah if the Mormons had retained all her property, and what +destination she now proposed for herself; and then with great delicacy +informed her that there was a proposition among the passengers to make +a collection, to defray the expenses of her whole journey.</p> + +<p>Susannah's cheek paled again.</p> + +<p>"How could I return it if it came from so many?" she asked. Her white +hands were clasping and unclasping themselves. Must it indeed be by +means of such humiliation that she saved herself from Angel's Church?</p> + +<p>The Governor determined upon further generosity. "If you would prefer, +take it from me as a loan," he said.</p> + +<p>She gave him Ephraim's address. It was so long since she had spoken her +cousin's name to any one that tears came when she felt herself bound to +explain that she was not certain that he was alive.</p> + +<p>"He is probably alive. Ill news travels fast."</p> + +<p>She blessed the dapper gentleman for this unfounded opinion, for the +kindness that prompted it, more than for all else that he had done.</p> + +<p>His advice was that Susannah should continue upon that boat with them as +far south as Cairo, in order to take advantage of the steam-boats now +plying on the Ohio River, so that the expense and weariness of the land +journey would be diminished to the small space between the uppermost +point on the Ohio and the western entrance of the Erie Canal. There were +several men upon the boat, he said, who could commend her to the care of +every captain on the Ohio.</p> + +<p>Susannah felt too weak and weary to say more in defence of the morals of +Nauvoo. She could not struggle against the fact that her claim to the +generosity of which she stood in such helpless need was recognised and +satisfied by the hatred of these Gentiles.</p> + +<p>When in the succeeding days she had time to meditate, while she spent +many a long hour on the decks of river-boats watching the shimmering +lights and shades that pass upon open river surfaces, the perplexing and +contrasting aspects of her situation played in like manner upon her +heart.</p> + +<p>She had suffered so much, such long and deadly ill, as a member of this +almost innocent sect, suffered bravely in protest against the vile +injustice of the persecution, and now that she was escaping from +miseries inflicted by this same sect, she was wrapped in the kindly +reverse side of the persecuting spirit, and carried home in it, with all +the deference that would be accorded to a lost child. She was too tired +and helpless now to defy the good thus given. Did all her former +suffering go for nothing as a protest against the wrong?</p> + +<p>With more curious feelings, more involved sentiments, she regarded the +history of her more inward life. With what strong protest against the +obvious evils attendant upon unreasoning faith had she resisted through +many years the infectious influences of belief in an interfering +spiritual world. Now she had defied Smith with a faith in the ideal +marriage unsupported by any conscious reason, and when she had looked +to the interference of Providence, not even in meekness, but in +desperate challenge, she had strong impression of being encompassed by +invisible power and protection. In vain she said to herself that the +simple and unlooked-for method of her escape was one of those +coincidences which only appear to support faith, that her deliverance +had been of no unearthly sort, but brought about by means doubtfully +righteous—consent to trick the boy and to say little on hearing the +Mormons falsely accused. When she had told herself this, the impression +that underneath her folly a guiding hand had impelled and saved her, in +spite of her small marring of the work, remained. Even while her bosom +was swelling with shame at hearing her husband's sect derided, and +eating the bread of that derision, and still greater shame at knowing +that condemnation was merited, she would find herself resting in the +assurance that beyond and beneath all this confusion of pain there was +for her and for all men an eternal and beneficent purpose.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIb" id="CHAPTER_VIb"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>Susannah left the canal boat at Rochester. She had borrowed as small a +sum as might be, and was now penniless, possessing only her travel-worn +garments; she had no choice but to start toward Manchester on foot. Food +was easily to be had; such a woman as Susannah had but to enter any +house and state her need. She got a long lift on her way from a farmer +driving to Canandaigua. Of the farmer she asked, while her pulses almost +stopped, some information about Ephraim.</p> + +<p>"He's kep up the place to a wonderful degree like his father," said the +farmer.</p> + +<p>From this she gathered that Ephraim was alive and in better health.</p> + +<p>She asked no more; her lips refused to form his name again.</p> + +<p>"The old lady, she was took off with a stroke; she and the old gentleman +is laying together in the graveyard." The farmer volunteered this +information, and Susannah, who had nerved herself to meet Ephraim's +mother with humility, now wept for her loss.</p> + +<p>From the town of Canandaigua she walked beside the winding river and +entered Manchester from the west at the hour when the May dusk was +melting into moonlight.</p> + +<p>The public road, then as now, was lined with elms and many an +apple-tree. The dusk of the elm branches was flecked with half-grown +fluttering leaves, and the outline of the apple branches was heavy with +blossom. The air was sweet in the shade of the night-folded petals, the +perfume bringing involuntarily the thought of the hum of bees which had +gone to rest. There were some new houses on the road, but the tide of +progress had here ebbed, leaving the once ambitious village like a rock +pool, beautified only by those ornaments of nature which thrive in +stillness. There was more on the road of gable and shrub and tree which +was familiar than of objects strange to her eye. The few people who were +abroad gave her scarcely a glance, the half light veiling all that was +foreign in her garb. The round moon hung above the willows of the river.</p> + +<p>When she came in sight of the white Baptist meeting-house she scanned +its homely appearance as one looks at the face of an old friend. The +yellow light within was put out as she approached. Out of the door a +group of men were issuing as if from some evening service.</p> + +<p>What vivid memories the scene brought her!—memories of her uncle +singing psalms with slow and solemn demeanour, of her aunt's high and +more emotional voice, of the pew in which as a girl she had sat between +them, listless and impatient, wondering at times why Ephraim remained at +home.</p> + +<p>Her uncle and aunt were now lying in the graveyard. She paused a moment +at the thought, looking at the small host of modest headstones +surrounded by wild-flowers and half-fledged shrubs. It has never been +the custom in Manchester to cultivate God's acre. Above, the branches of +the nut-trees stretched themselves in the sweet spring air—they too +were just leafing.</p> + +<p>Standing by the low, unpainted rail, Susannah wondered in what part of +the yard her aunt and uncle lay.</p> + +<p>She observed that the small coterie of deacons had passed on to the road +and dispersed, leaving only one of their number, who was locking the +main door with an air of responsibility. Susannah did not look twice; +she knew that this man was Ephraim. He stooped slightly to fit the key +in the lock; then, evidently having forgotten something, pushed the door +again and went inside.</p> + +<p>Susannah did not wait; she went up the graveyard path and in where the +great square windows cast each a strip of light athwart the dark pews. +Ephraim turned from his errand and met her in the aisle.</p> + +<p>"Ephraim."</p> + +<p>Ephraim Croom fell back a step or two, as if his breath was set too +quick by joy or fear.</p> + +<p>Susannah could not speak again.</p> + +<p>At length Ephraim stretched out his hands and grasped her arms gently, +then more strongly, making sure that she was not a trick of light and +shade. Then, not knowing at all what he did, he clasped her in sudden +haste to his breast.</p> + +<p>Susannah felt his arms wrap about her as if she had been a little child. +She had never felt, never conceived, of closeness and tenderness like +this. Ephraim, his breast heaving and his arms folding closer and +closer, was out of himself. There was no conscious meaning expressed by +him, but she knew, knew at once without shadow of doubt that he himself +had been the dreamer of whom he wrote to her, who had learned so much by +yielding all the loves of his heart to one, and that she was that woman.</p> + +<p>It was a long moment; at last, as if waking from a dream, Ephraim +relinquished his hold. He leaned against the side of a pew, and his +eager look seemed to hold and fold her still. In the dim light she could +not see his eye, but she felt the delight of his glance falling upon +her, a brighter, softer influence than the mantle of the moonlight.</p> + +<p>She laid a hand lightly on his shoulder with a motherly touch.</p> + +<p>"I have startled you, dear Ephraim; I hope I have done you no harm."</p> + +<p>He made as yet no answer but to take her hand, grasping it with rough +heartiness as if this was the first moment of their meeting.</p> + +<p>Susannah laughed as women sometimes laugh over their cherished ones for +very joy, not amusement. "Speak to me," she coaxed. "I have come back to +you. Do you think we are in a dream?" She let herself kneel on the old +floor of the old aisle, and, clasping both his hands, laid them against +her cheek.</p> + +<p>With his returning self, something of his habitual formality of manner +would have returned had she remained in any common attitude, but to this +coaxing, kneeling queen Ephraim (although his whole life had passed +without caresses) could not behave with reticence.</p> + +<p>One thing he did not do. He did not hint that it was unseemly that she +should kneel at his feet. Chivalry was the very substance of the soul of +this son of New England, and no outward seeming could disturb his serene +reverence for the woman he loved. He stooped over her, now stroking her +hair, how holding her hands close against his heart, now whispering +words that in their audible passion were new and strange to his +unaccustomed lips.</p> + +<p>"I am all alone, Ephraim. I have no money, no clothes. I have walked +most of the way from Rochester to-day."</p> + +<p>"Are you very tired?"—as if the fact that she had been walking that day +was all that needed his immediate attention.</p> + +<p>"I was forced to come suddenly. I only escaped with my life. But I have +long been wearying to come to you, for since my husband and the child +died I have been quite alone."</p> + +<p>"We heard that they were dead, but that was long ago." There was no tone +of reproach in his voice, only curiosity. "You never wrote, and I—I +supposed that if you were alive you—you preferred to remain, Susy."</p> + +<p>She did not enter into explanation then. After a while, when he had +raised her to her feet and embraced her again, she whispered, "Why are +you in the meeting-house, Ephraim?"</p> + +<p>"We have been having a prayer meeting," he answered. "And I keep the key +because—because my father used to." He gave the reason with an +intonation half playful. "I do many a thing now because he did."</p> + +<p>"I thought that you at least would never become like the others. Are +they less foolish" (she made a gesture toward the pews to denote their +late inmates), "less unjust than they used to be?"</p> + +<p>As they went toward the Croom homestead he answered her words in his +manner of meditative good-humour which she knew so well. "I don't know +that they are less unjust and less foolish than they used to be, or that +I am either, Susy, but—it is not good to worship God alone."</p> + +<p>She pressed close to his side and looked up through the honied blossom +of the apple-boughs; the violet gulfs of heaven seemed to be made more +homelike by his tones.</p> + +<p>"The sun, they say, is ninety-three millions of miles away from the +earth's surface, Susy; and think you that if some of us climb the +mountains we are much nearer light than those in the vales?"</p> + +<p>She remembered sentences which she had conned from his letters which ran +like this, and her thought on its way was arrested for a moment by the +memory of the spot where she had lost those letters, the thought of the +grave by the creek at Haun's Mill and of her husband's steadfast faith. +So they walked in silence, but as they stood by the garden gate under +the quince tree, she detained him a moment with a child's desire to hear +a story that she knew by heart.</p> + +<p>"Ephraim, you wrote once that you knew a man who loved—"</p> + +<p>When he had given the answer she wanted, they went up the little brick +path, and Susannah noticed that the folded tulips and waxen hyacinths +flanked it in orderly ranks. Their light forms glimmered in the branch +shadows of the budding quince. It was true, what people said, that +Ephraim had not let his father's home decay. The door stood open, as +country doors are apt to do.</p> + +<p>There was a lack of something in the dark appointments of the +sitting-room. The traces of busy domestic life were not there, and +sadness filled the place of the parents whom she had unfeignedly longed +to see again. Through a door ajar she saw light in the large kitchens. A +candle was upon a table, and an old woman, unknown to her, sat sewing +beside it. Ephraim, holding a burning match in clumsy fingers, lit a +student lamp—the fire of a new hearth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIIb" id="CHAPTER_VIIb"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>Two years after that, Ephraim, returning one day from the field, brought +with him a poor wayfarer whom he had met upon the road.</p> + +<p>The stranger was of middle age, with hair already gray and face deeply +furrowed. In ragged garments, resting his bandaged feet, he sat propped +in the sitting-room. The warm air blowing from rich harvest fields came +in at open door and windows. Attentive before him, Ephraim and Susannah +sat.</p> + +<p>"You are one of the Latter-Day Saints?" Susannah asked.</p> + +<p>"I am, ma'am, and it's real strange to hear you say them words, for it's +'Mormons' the Gentiles calls us."</p> + +<p>Then to her questioning he told the story of the downfall of Nauvoo.</p> + +<p>"There was two causes for the persecution; we had got too powerful and +too great for the folks in Illinois, just as we had done in Missouri; +but there was another thing, and that was that wickedness crept in +amongst us. 'Twasn't as bad as was reported, though, but 'twas +there—I'm afraid 'twas there."</p> + +<p>The man sighed.</p> + +<p>"It's twelve years now since I joined the Saints in Missouri and when we +were driven out there I went with them to Illinois; and I can never +believe other but that the Latter-Day Saints has the truth, for the +power of it is always to be seen among them; and now that I've lost +everything a second time, and know that I have a sickness that I'll +never get the better of, I have come east to see my folks once more and +to testify to them of the truth."</p> + +<p>He was going on into Vermont, passing by that way that he might refresh +his eyes with a view of the sacred hill, and had only remained at +Ephraim's request to relate his tidings to Susannah.</p> + +<p>"After coming out of Missouri I never lived at Nauvoo. I had a farm +midways, between Nauvoo and Quincy. As near as I can make out, the +scandal they've got agen us, which they've always had agen us because of +the wickedness of the Gentile mind, began to have some truth in it when +Rigdon came out with his teaching concerning the nonsense of spiritual +wives, which wasn't new with him, for I hear that it's held among all +the folks as call themselves 'Perfectionists.' Well, our prophet made +pretty quick work of that doctrine, and he rebuked Rigdon in public and +private, and packed him out of the place, and no one can say that our +prophet has ever done otherwise with any one as has had notions about +marriage."</p> + +<p>Susannah sighed. "I have heard that he has acted the same way in several +other instances."</p> + +<p>"You have, ma'am? Well, it's strange, too, to hear a Gentile say a good +word for our prophet, but perhaps, as he came from here, ma'am, you may +be some relation of his; and I ask you, is it likely, as he's always +acted so severe in that matter, that he should have taught a false +doctrine himself? But even some of the Saints do say nowadays that he +was led away by some strange doctrines before he died; but, for my own +part, I believe that the tales have arisen from the sinful natures of +many of the men that he trusted; for he was too trustful, and there's +apostles and bishops and elders amongst us that are servants of hell. +There's been evil work since our prophet's martyrdom, for there's +thousands of our people now deluded by them and going out after Mr. +Brigham Young and his crew.</p> + +<p>"You want to know how the prophet's death came about, and I can tell +you; for when my disease came on, and the doctor told me 'twas fatal, I +started to go up to Nauvoo to ask the prophet to lay his hands upon me +and heal me. But when I got there the city was all in a buzz, for the +cause that some of the elders had got out a paper accusing the prophet +of having a lot of ladies for wives. Well now, I can tell you how that +came about. When our prophet first got the charter for the Nauvoo Legion +there was a man called Bennet, who had been general in the American +army, and who was steeped in unbelief and ambition, and who came and +offered his services to the prophet, and was allowed to build up the +Nauvoo Legion. He was a most sinful man, and the prophet, he knew his +sinfulness, but thought that he ought to take any help to build up an +army to preserve his people from the fearful persecutions. Bennet got +hold of the worst side of the worst men we had in the Church, among +which was the new usurper." He paused here with ire in his eye. "I would +be understood to mean Mr. Brigham Young, who has falsely usurped the +prophet's place; but there are many of us who will not follow him, no, +not one step. The Lord will requite him and his confederates, and will +establish his true servants."</p> + +<p>"I fear, my good friend," said Ephraim, "that although it is true that +the Lord will establish his true servants, it is also true that their +kingdom is not of this world."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, tramping along as I've done many a day, with no companion +but the disease that's prevailing against me, I've thought that that may +be true; but, whichever way it is, Bennet set himself to work iniquity, +and they say that when the prophet could endure him no longer and gave +him the sack, he had the vileness to dress himself up in the prophet's +clothes and go about in disguise, talking Sydney Rigdon's rank +spiritual-wife doctrine to the ladies and some of them were such fools +that they thought it was the prophet, and that he disguised his voice +and kept something over his face in order to work the iniquity in +secret. That's what a gentleman who knew very well about it told me. But +anyway, when Bennet was gone out he wrote awful things to the Gentile +newspapers concerning the domestic iniquities of Nauvoo; and he had his +own party in the sacred city, and they up and put their scandals in the +public print in the prophet's own city.</p> + +<p>"But the prophet he rose up and shook himself, like Samson when his arms +were tied with the withes, and he denounced the wickedness, and went to +the house where the paper was published, and kicked the printing press +down himself, and burned the paper. And that day he preached most +powerful in the Nauvoo Temple."</p> + +<p>"We heard that it was on account of the illegality of his action in the +printing office that the people of Illinois arrested him."</p> + +<p>The stranger did not answer directly. His mind had passed on to scenes +which had stirred him more personally.</p> + +<p>"I was in the city all the time. The Government of Illinois sent to +arrest Mr. Smith, but his people rallied round him, and said that in +consequence of the lawless persecutions that had passed in Missouri they +had a right to mistrust the justice of the State. They called out the +Nauvoo Legion, and sent back the constables that had come from +Carthage. That made the Gentiles terribly angry. The Illinois +militiamen went about saying openly that they would burn down the town +and kill every man, woman, and child in it. So then Governor Ford +himself advised our prophet to keep the Legion under arms, for he said +the Gentiles were so furious; but he asked the prophet to go to Carthage +and pledge himself to appear for the trial when it came on, for it was a +civil suit, and no harm could come to him and his. Governor Ford pledged +his honour as the Governor of the State.</p> + +<p>"I had been waiting about the town until the prophet should be less +bothered before asking him to heal my sickness, but when I heard that he +was going away, then I misdoubted that it would be long before he came +back. I thought I'd make a push for it, so I went and hung round the +door of the prophet's house. I was only a poor man and I did not like to +go in, for the bishops and elders and all the grand folks were going in +and out all that day. I heard the things they said, and most of them +were saying that the prophet had had a vision, and that if he went to +Carthage he would never come back alive. They said too that if he +stayed, the town would be sacked, and I understood that they were asking +him to run away. Towards evening I saw a buggy draw up at the back door +of the hotel, and all the elders seemed to be holding a meeting, for +they were singing hymns; so then it just come to me that they were going +to get the prophet off, and I ran down the road to the ferry, for I +knew he would have to go that way. I waited in the boat, and the same +buggy came down to it, and a man with a cloak on and his hat over his +eyes came out and sat in the corner of the boat, and we all knew that it +was the prophet, and none of us durst speak to him. But I went over in +the boat, for I hoped I'd get up courage to ask him when we came to the +other side. When he stood on the shore he seemed like a man that didn't +know what to do, although there was horses there for him to take, and he +turned round and went off the road up on to a little hill; and I went +after him a bit of the way behind, and I came and found him just +standing looking at the city, for the river swept round two sides of it +so noble like, and blue as the sky above, and the city stood all white, +and the temple stood high in the middle, and all of it glistened in the +sun. The prophet had taken off his hat, and he stood with his hands +folded on the stick he carried, and he just looked and looked at the +city. I had never seen a man look like that but once before, and then it +was a man I knew whose wife died, and he looked at her face just +steadfast like that. I couldn't think to speak to him about myself just +then, although I'd got him alone, for my heart was just broke to see how +sad he looked, and him just in the prime of life; for it was his own +city, and the sound of all its work came over to us as we stood there, +and the thousands and thousands of happy homes in it belonged to his +own people.</p> + +<p>"But when I moved a bit he saw me, and he started at first as if I'd +been going to shoot him, thinking no doubt that I was an enemy spying on +him. At that, because my disease had weakened me, and because I seemed +to feel nothing all through me but the grief that he was bearing, I +began to cry like a child.</p> + +<p>"Then he stretched out his hands towards the city and I heard him say, +'My Lord, thou hast given me this people, and if I leave them without a +shepherd they will be stricken and scattered and robbed by the +destroyer.'</p> + +<p>"So then in a few minutes he held out his hand to me, so gentlemanlike, +as if I was as good as him, and he said, 'Come, my friend, let us go +back, and let God determine what we shall do or suffer.' So we went and +got on the ferry-boat and went back, and I never spoke to him; but I +went with him all the way to his house.</p> + +<p>"The next morning I heard that he and Mr. Hyrum were going to set off +for Carthage to be tried. So I got a horse and went to Carthage before +them, for I felt then that I cared for nothing but to see the prophet +again. But I heard tell how, as they went along, their wives and their +friends went with them part way, and they turned back two or three times +as they were parting from them, for the prophet said that they would +never see his face again.</p> + +<p>"Governor Ford he met them at Carthage with a great to-do. He pledged +the honour of the State that they should be safe, and he had the troops +drawn upon either side, and he passed down between them with the prophet +and Mr. Hyrum and showed them himself into the gaol. The prophet said +that it was illegal to put them in the gaol, for it was a civil matter, +and Governor Ford said, for I heard him, that it was because they would +be safer there. I was standing just behind the line of soldiers jostling +up with the crowd, and I heard the Governor say, 'I pledge you my +honour, and the faith and honour of this State, that no harm shall come +to you while undergoing this imprisonment.' So then they were shut in; +but the crowd and the soldiers remained in the streets, and I heard +enough to know that harm would come.</p> + +<p>"The next morning the Governor went away from Carthage, to be out of it, +and that day, in the afternoon, a mob of men with faces painted like +Indians came out with guns, and we knew that their purpose was to murder +the prophet. I went to the gaol and sat upon the steps, and the militia, +which was called the Carthage Greys, came out, and halted, about eight +rods from the gaol, and I thought at first that they would fire on the +mob when they came, but they never moved, but stood and looked on. So +the murder was done by them all in cold blood as well as by the mob."</p> + +<p>"Did you see him die?" asked Susannah with white lips.</p> + +<p>"If he was a relation of yours, ma'am, I can tell you that he died like +a man. First I thought that I would spend what little strength I had +left in fighting the mob at the door, and that they should not go in +except over my body; but the gaoler opened the door in pretence of +finding out what was the matter, for he was in the plot; so I thought +that I would run up and give warning. But by the time I got to the door +of the upper room where the prophet was, the mob was up behind me, so I +never rightly knew what I did, for they knocked me down just within the +room. There were four or five men with the prophet and Mr. Hyrum, and +these kept the mob back for a few minutes at the door, but a bullet hit +Mr. Hyrum in the head, and I saw the prophet leaning over him, and he +said in a voice that was very sad, 'My dear, dear brother!'</p> + +<p>"Then the prophet stood up quite calmly and pulled out a pistol and shot +at the mob until all its barrels were discharged. His firing made the +men hold back, for a good number of the mob were struck. Then they came +on again until the door was literally full with muskets and rifles, but +I was lying on the floor below the shots, so I saw them pass over my +head. The very walls were riddled with them, and the prophet stood in +the midst of the shots and threw up his hands towards heaven and cried, +'O Lord, my God.' Then, not knowing what he did, he staggered to the +window, dying from his wounds, and he fell outside the window, and I +heard that the mob out there propped up his body and used it for a +target."</p> + +<p>Susannah rose up with clenched hands and pitiful face, but she went out +of the room, leaving the two men together. "Were you injured?" asked +Ephraim of the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, I was bruised by being trampled on, but the gaoler got hold +of me and dragged me into an iron cell and locked me in, and the next +morning he came and let me out."</p> + +<p>"That was a year ago," said Ephraim. "Have you been in Nauvoo since +then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I went back. I wanted to know, sir, what would come, and take my +share of the suffering after seeing the prophet die so courageous; but, +sir, the Church is sorely divided. I didn't like to say it before your +lady, for I see that she's got some one she cares for amongst us, but +there's a strong party among the apostles and elders that are +worshippers of Baal, and are most evil in their conduct and practice, +and are apostate, though they call themselves followers of the prophet. +And Mr. Brigham Young is at the head of them. It's a bad thing that the +Illinois militia is set out to fight against us and turn us out of the +city without mercy, but it's a sorer thing that the greater part of our +people, being ignorant, will follow Mr. Brigham Young; and he's bent on +going west, sir, into the heart of the Rocky Mountains, where he can set +up a kingdom of his own. His teaching is against good doctrine in two +respects; he says that they will wax strong there until they can avenge +the blood of their brethren who have been hunted and slain, and that the +elders and apostles will live like the patriarchs of old, and have many +wives, in order to build up the Church."</p> + +<p>"And has the other party in your sect no strength to resist?"</p> + +<p>"Very little strength, sir, except that God is on the side of the +righteous; but Mrs. Smith, the prophet's widow, with his sons and many +hundreds of us, will not give in to the evil, but will stay in Illinois +and Missouri in face of the worst that persecution can do, for it was +thereabouts that the prophet said that the Holy City should be, and he +gave us no word to kill and destroy our fellow-men; and although perhaps +he was led away and sinned sometimes as other men do, it is a scandalous +lie to say that he thought to teach wickedness and falsehood to his +Church."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," asked Ephraim within himself, "if that is true, or what +strange secret that troubled soul took with him to the other side of +death?"</p> + +<p>In the evening after the stranger was gone Susannah sat with Ephraim in +the old doorway. Before them, mid the harvest fields, winding over hill +and dale, lay the long white road which led to the hill of Smith's early +visions—the road on which Susannah had set forth with Angel Halsey on +her wedding journey.</p> + +<p>"You are a-weary, wife, to-night," said Ephraim. He smoothed the hair +upon her brow. "You have exhausted yourself with long weeping, and +yet—"</p> + +<p>He did not say, "Have you reason to bemoan this man's tragic end?" for +he knew that more sacred memories had caused the tears; of these some +faint jealousy rose in his breast and kindness sealed his lips.</p> + +<p>She told him the truth in very simple words such as loving women use.</p> + +<p>"To-day I seemed to see" (she laid her hand across her knit brows) "all +the passion of it again, the wrong, the right, the misery—from the day +that Angel and I went out with such young passionate desire to divide +the right from the wrong. I could see Angel and my baby shot before my +eyes as Joseph Smith was shot. It is terrible to see death come that +way. But they are all three lying now in the perfect peace of death." +She put her hand in his. "Then, dear, my mind came back, from the rage +and terror of war. I thought of their peace and of you—how God has +healed my life by your love, and given me such joy. Is he not able to +provide for the healing of the nations?"</p> + + +<p>THE END.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mormon Prophet, by Lily Dougall + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MORMON PROPHET *** + +***** This file should be named 17279-h.htm or 17279-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/2/7/17279/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org)) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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