John Stevens' Courtship: A Story of the Echo Canyon WarGates, Susa Young
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John Stevens' Courtship: A Story of the Echo Canyon War
Gates, Susa Young
Latter Day Saints -- Fiction; Utah Expedition (1857-1858) -- Fiction
Evidently Aunt Clara herself had been busy with the same question,
which still did not possess so vital an interest for youth as for
experienced age. Youth leaned upon the wisdom of Brigham Young, and
the proved Providence which drew them safely from most difficulties;
maturity grasped the dangers and difficulties with surer fear, and
sought to find answers to every problem.
"Well, one thing is certain, Aunt Clara. President Young has kept the
soldiers out of the Valley, and the winter is half over."
"True, dear; but no one but God knows what is ahead of us just now. One
thing just now, however, is to get this yarn all spun, reeled and woven
into good coats for our soldiers;" and Aunt Clara slid into her seat
before the huge loom, as if to shut off further discussion.
When the traveler came into the room two hours later, he found the
wintry sun well started on his morning pilgrimage and his hostess
placing his modest breakfast on the table in the sitting room; he
noted every point of the innate refinement and peace which filled the
small place with more than human sweetness. The delicately crocheted
white window-curtains, the cushioned rush-bottomed chairs, all of them
garnished neatly with antimacassars, tied with green ribbons; the
windows filled with geraniums and blooming petunias; and the great
hand-loom in the corner of the roomy sitting-room only added to its
homelike air.
He walked up to the fire-place and as he stretched out his hands to the
blaze, he said cordially:
"Well, Aunt Clara, have you found me out yet?"
"Yes, Colonel Haines, I discovered you not more than three hours ago."
"What was your clue?"
"You spoke of our people last night as your friends; there is but one
man in the United States who thus refers to this hunted people."
"I had no idea that I could remain so long incognito to those keen eyes
and ears of yours, Aunt Clara. You see I've not forgotten the quaint
Yankee term by which all of your friends designated you in Nauvoo?"
"Have you had your interview with the President?"
"Yes, and I must say again, what I have said before: if the government
of this country knew Brigham Young as I know him, they would honor
themselves by honoring him with every trust and responsibility they
could bestow."
"Ah, Colonel, how few men ever get human perspective. Only a true man
himself may discover truth and honor in another."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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