A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons — John Shaqi
A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the MormonsWilliams, Elizabeth Whitney
History
A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons
Williams, Elizabeth Whitney
Beaver Island (Mich.); Latter Day Saints -- Michigan; Strang, James Jesse, 1813-1856
There was one family living at the harbor settlement who kept a boarding
house. This man had four wives. Gentiles as well as Mormons boarded with
him, and many were the jokes the man had about his wives, saying he had
no need of hired girls, as he had wives enough to do his work. My father
was often there to take his meals, and once I remember mother was with
him and took me. One of the wives was a French woman. Mother talked with
her in her own language and she said she was tired of that life. She not
being a favorite wife had too much work to do. She had four small
children. When the other women saw her talking to mother in French they
seemed not to like it, thinking perhaps she was talking about them. As
soon as they came into the room the French woman began to sing as though
she was very happy. At another time, when she was sick and my mother was
taking care of her, she said, "Only for the love I have for my children
I would take poison." Many women that we met were very cheerful and
pleasant, while there were many more with very sad faces and manner.
When our people first lived neighbors to the Mormons they were very
friendly and talked about their work. As soon as they began to take
things from us they became silent and did not appear to care to meet us
any more. There were a few who never changed toward us and proved
friends to the last, although they had to appear sometimes to be our
enemies.
BOB'S DEATH.
One morning I missed Bob. I always ran to see him when I first got up.
Sometimes it was very hard for Bob to walk, and when the warm spring
sunshine came our boys and grandpa would put Bob in a nice place to lay.
Now I could not find him, and when I saw mother I saw that she had been
weeping and was now silent when I asked her about Bob. I ran over to
Auntie Loaney's. There was grandpa. He was sobbing as if his heart would
break and our boys were trying to comfort him by telling him Bob had not
suffered a moment. Then I realized. Bob, my old friend, was dead, and I
sobbed, "Oh, boys, what made you kill Bob?" Then they tried to explain.
I could not listen, I could not understand why it should be done. Then
Auntie and Uncle Loaney said, "Now dear children do not grieve, poor
old Bob was too old to live any longer. It is best his sufferings are
over." We were all sad over the faithful dog's death. It was several
weeks before grandpa and I could feel it was for the best. We buried him
where the birds sang first in the spring.
[Illustration: KING STRANG'S RESIDENCE, BUILT IN 1850.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account