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
As soon as William was able to stir about a little he besought his
father to move to Illinois, but Mr. Smith would not consent to this,
for he was in hopes that our sons would be liberated, and peace again
be restored, but finally said that the family might get ready to move,
and then, if we were obliged to go, there would be nothing to hinder us.
Our business in Far West had been trading in corn and wheat, as well
as keeping a boarding house. When the mob came in, we had considerable
grain on hand, but very little flour or meal, therefore we sent a man
who was living with us to mill with fourteen sacks of grain; but the
miller considered it unsafe to allow the brethren to remain about his
premises, as the mob were near at hand, and he was afraid they would
burn his buildings. Consequently, the young man returned without his
grain, and, for breadstuff, we were for a long time obliged to pound
corn in a samp-mortar. Many subsisted altogether upon parched corn for
some length of time.
The brethren were all driven in from the country. There was an acre of
ground in front of our house, completely covered with beds, lying in
the open sun, where families were compelled to sleep, exposed to all
kinds of weather; these were the last who came into the city, and, as
the houses were all full, they could not find a shelter. It was enough
to make the heart ache to see the children, sick with colds, and crying
around their mothers for food, whilst their parents were destitute of
the means of making them comfortable.
It may be said that, if Joseph Smith had been a Prophet, he would have
foreseen the evil, and provided against it. To this I reply, he did
all that was in his power to prevail upon his brethren to move into
Far West, before the difficulty commenced, and at a meeting, three
weeks previous, he urged the brethren to make all possible haste in
moving both their houses and their provisions into the city. But this
counsel appeared to them unreasonable and inconsistent, therefore
they did not heed it. If the brethren at Haun's Mill had hearkened to
counsel, it would, without doubt, have saved their lives; but, as the
consequences of their negligence are already published, and as my mind
is loth to dwell upon these days of sorrow, I shall only give those
facts which have not been published.
While the mob was in the city, William went out one day to feed his
horse, but the horse was gone. It was not long, however, before a
soldier, who had been absent on a dispatch, rode him into the yard.
William took the horse by the bridle, and ordered the soldier to
dismount, which he did, and left the horse in William's hands again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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