History of the Prophet Joseph, by His MotherSmith, Lucy
History
History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother
Smith, Lucy
Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
"Mob it is, then," said I, "we shall attend to prayer before sunset,
mob or no mob." Mr. Marsh, at this, left considerably irritated. I then
requested brothers Humphry and Page to go around among the boatmen,
and inquire for one Captain Blake, who was formerly captain of a boat
belonging to my brother, General Mack, and who, upon my brother's
decease, purchased the boat, and still commanded the same. They went
in search of the man, and soon found him, and learned from him that
his boat was already laden with the usual amount of passengers and
freight. He said, however, that he thought he could make room for us
if we would take a deck passage. As this was our only opportunity, we
moved our goods on board the next day, and by the time that we fairly
settled ourselves, it began to rain. This rendered our situation very
uncomfortable, and some of the sisters complained bitterly because we
had not hired a house till the boat was ready to start. In fact their
case was rather a trying one, for some of them had sick children; in
consequence of which, Brother Page went out for the purpose of getting
a room for the women and sick children, but returned unsuccessful.
At this the sisters renewed their complaints, and declared that they
would have a house, let the consequences be what they might. In order
to satisfy them, I set out myself, with my son William, although it
was still raining very fast, to see if it were possible to procure a
shelter for them and their children.
I stopped at the first tavern, and inquired of the landlord if he
could let me have a room for some women and children who were sick.
The landlord replied that he could easily make room for them. At this,
a woman who was present turned upon him very sharply, saying, "I have
put up here myself, and I am not a-going to have anybody's things in
my way. I'll warrant the children have got the whooping cough or
measles, or some other contagious disease, and, if they come, I will go
somewhere else."
"Why, madam," said the landlord, "that is not necessary, you can still
have one large room."
"I don't care," said she, "I want 'em both, and if I can't have 'em, I
won't stay--that's it."
"Never mind," said I, "it is no matter; I suppose I can get a room
somewhere else, just as well."
"No, you can't though," rejoined the lady, "for we hunted all over the
town, and we could not find one single one till we got here."
I left immediately, and went on my way. Presently I came to a long row
of rooms, one of which appeared to be almost vacant. I inquired if it
could be rented for a few days. The owner of the buildings, I found
to be a cheerful old lady, near seventy years of age. I mentioned the
circumstances to her, as I before had done to the landlord.
"Well, I don't know," said she; "where be you going?"
"To Kirtland," I replied.
"What be you?" said she. "Be you Baptists?"
I told her that we were "Mormons."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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