Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow. Eliza R. Snow
allow him the pleasure of contributing a little to aid in the good cause in which I was engaged, at the same time drawing from his pocket the willing offering, which I very thankfully accepted. Probably he was one of the audience at the meeting the evening before. Not more than an hour later, I found myself in actual need of a portion of the kind gentleman's donation, for I soon came to a large stream where money was necessary to pay for ferryage.
In passing through the southern portion of Illinois, I found, in general, very little interest manifest in reference to the principles of the fulness of the Gospel, but any amount of ignorance and prejudice.
I spent the remainder of the winter in travel and preaching, chiefly in the northern part of Kentucky, with varied success, and treatment—sometimes received in the most courteous manner and listened to with intense interest, and, at other times, abusively and impudently insulted; but in no instance treated worse than was Jesus, whom I profess to follow. He said: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more they of his household?" What a fine test the Gospel is, to prove the hearts of the people! On one occasion, I was very courteously tendered a court house, and at the close of the services, I was invited home by a member of the legislature—was seated at the head of his table, and otherwise as highly honored, and as hospitably treated, as though I had been a sceptered monarch. Then, on another occasion, one evening, I was preaching in a large room of a private house, and afterwards learned that a portion of my audience had gathered for the purpose of mobbing me. They had arranged with a party that lay concealed at a little distance, and within call, to join them immediately on my leaving the house to return to my lodgings, and all proceed together to execute their schemes of vengeance. It was a very cold night, and after the close of the services I stood with my back to the chimney fire, with a number of others—some of whom belonged to the mob party. One of the latter persons, amid the jostling of the crowd, accidentally brought his hand in contact with one of the pockets in the skirt of my coat, which struck him with sudden alarm on his feeling, what he supposed to be, a large pistol. He immediately communicated the discovery to his affrighted coadjutors, all of whom directly withdrew, and, to their fellows outside, imparted the astounding news that the "Mormon" Elder was armed with deadly weapons. That was sufficient—the would-be outlaws abandoned their evil designs for fear of signal punishment; but the supposed pistol which caused their alarm and my protection, was my pocket Bible, a precious gift to me from the dearly beloved Patriarch, Father Joseph Smith.
On another occasion, while addressing a congregation in a dwelling house, in fulfilment of a previous arrangement by a lawless set, to throw a rope over my head and then drag me to the river and duck me through a hole in the ice, one of the fellows who was in front of me was in the act of throwing his lariat, when he was discovered by the mistress of the house, who instantly gave the alarm, and he sneaked out of the congregation like a whipped dog.
CHAPTER VII.
Leaves Kentucky.—Travels on foot five hundred miles.—Reaches his friends in Ohio.—Through fatigue and exposure, is very sick.—Receives kind attention.—Traveled and preached.—Taught school.—Great effort, and great success.—A thrilling narrative.—Arrives in Nauvoo.—The Father and Family in LaHarpe.
On the last of February, 1839, I left the State of Kentucky with one dollar and twenty-five cents in my pocket, to visit my former home in Ohio, and to settle up some unfinished business, having received, by letter from my sister Eliza, the news of the expulsion of our people from Missouri. The distance of the journey before me was about five hundred miles, and in the worst season of the year for traveling, and at a time when very little interest was felt by the people for Gospel truths, and few opportunities afforded for public preaching. The trip was a tedious one—on foot and in the midst of snow and rain storms—sometimes hard, frozen ground—sometimes mud and water soaking through my boots until my socks were wringing wet at night, and of course, hard and stiff in the morning when I was fortunate enough to get them dry. It was a hard pull, but I accomplished the feat, and worn out by fatigue and exposure, I arrived among my friends in Ohio.
The first place I reached was a Brother Smith's, where one year before I had performed missionary labors—preached and baptized, and, at his house, made my home. Fatigue and its consequences had so changed my appearance, that at first Brother Smith and family did not recognize me. As soon as recognized, and my condition known, every attention was extended that kindness could suggest, and everything done for my comfort that warm hearts and willing hands could bestow. Then came a reaction of the overstraining of my physical powers, and with a burning fever, I was confined to my bed, and for days remained in a prostrate condition, when, through the kind ministrations of my friends and the blessing of God in the manifestations of His power, I soon recovered, and resumed my missionary labors.
The summer and fall I spent principally traveling and preaching in the northern part of Ohio. In the winter of 1839 and 1840, I was employed in teaching a district school in the township of Shalersville, Portage County, Ohio. The school was large, and its patrons all Gentiles with the exception of one family. Previous to this time, the directors had been very unfortunate in the selection of teachers; consequently the scholars were, in their studies, far behind adjacent schools. Here an opportunity presented for me to make a mark, and I determined to do it, and set myself to the arduous task of arousing and instilling intellectual life into the mentally dormant brain. I labored day and night to accomplish my purpose, i. e., to elevate my students to a higher standard of intellectual improvement. I succeeded, and before its close, my school had attained to such celebrity, that it was everywhere spoken of for its wonderful progress, and as having outstripped all of the neighboring schools.
But my extra exertions told seriously on my physical system, as the following little incident will illustrate: One evening I was in company with a gentleman who was with Napoleon Bonaparte's army in its retreat from Moscow. He possessed peculiar descriptive powers, and portrayed so lifelike the terrible scenes of suffering and death he had witnessed in that memorable defeat, that my mind was entirely absorbed, and my feelings and sympathies so aroused and carried along with him in his thrilling narrative, that my bodily strength was completely overcome, and I suddenly fainted and fell from my chair. This circumstance admonished me of the necessity of rest, of which I availed myself, and soon regained my usual health.
After having arranged my secular affairs, I took leave of my friends and kindred in Ohio, and started for Nauvoo, where I arrived about the first of May, 1840. I found my parents, brothers and sisters, whom I had left about eighteen months before, in Adam-ondi-Ahman, living in LaHarpe, about thirty miles from Nauvoo. O, what changes, privation, hardship and suffering, the cruel hand of persecution had produced in those eventful months! But God was with His people, and they knew in whom they trusted, and in the midst of severe trials, rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the truth's sake.
CHAPTER VIII.
In Di-Ahman.—Our father's purchases.—Friendliness of the "old settlers."—A spirit of hostility prevalent.—Millers would not grind our wheat.—Grating corn for our bread.—How we cooked the grated meal.—A strange move; the old settlers abscond.—Their reports in the surrounding country.—The Military quells the uprising.—A horse mill in operation.—Mobs arouse with increased force.—Government sends Militia.—They are set to guard the Saints, who are ordered to leave the county within ten days.—The halfway house.—Food frozen.—How we ate supper.—Sleepless and jolly.—Arrive in Far West.—Seven miles out.—Move to Illinois.—To Warren County.—To LaHarpe.—To Nauvoo.
We will now leave Lorenzo in LaHarpe, preparing for a visit to Nauvoo, and return to Adam-ondi-Ahman, where he left us. In Di-Ahman, Daviess County, Missouri, our father purchased and paid in full for two homesteads, including the farm crops. The "old settlers," as the inhabitants were called, were very anxious to sell to the Latter-day Saints, who, at the time, did not comprehend