Memoirs of John R. Young, Utah Pioneer, 1847Young, John R.
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Memoirs of John R. Young, Utah Pioneer, 1847
Young, John R.
Latter Day Saint pioneers -- Utah -- Biography; Young, John R., 1837-
One day it was raining hard, and the creeks soon became swollen. On
coming to a large stream, we were confronted with the awkward fact
that Brother Naylor could not swim. Near by, however, stood a Catholic
village and I went from house to house, beseeching the people to let
us stay until the water went down. But they all refused, saying their
priest had told them we were false prophets, and that God would be
displeased if they took us into their homes.
Coming back to our outfit, I took our hats, coats, and shoes, and tying
them firmly to the saddle, fastened one end of my stake-rope around the
mule's neck; then going up stream the length of the rope, I plunged
in and swam across. Brother Naylor held to the mule's tail with both
hands, while I pulled both mule and missionary through the rushing
flood, much to the amusement of a hundred people who had come to see us
make the dangerous passage.
Brother Naylor had on a pair of white linen pants, which had too long
done good service. As we walked on in our wet clothes, I noticed
that his trousers were bursting in strips. They soon looked like a
bifurcated dishrag, and taking them off, he threw them away. For the
next week we had but one pair of pants between us. He was five inches
taller than I; and when he would put on my nether garments to take the
air, as he did every day he would look comical.
Want of clothing was not our only privation those days; we often
suffered for want of food. I have walked many a day along the sea
shore, gathering moss off the rocks to satisfy my hunger. But these
things were as trifles to us; for we were rich in the Spirit of the
Lord.
Chapter 12.
Hear of Parley P. Pratt's Death.--Buchanan Sends Harney to
Utah.--Letter from Brigham Young.
On Tuesday, August 25, 1857, I learned from the Western Standard of the
death of Apostle Parley P. Pratt. I was deeply moved by the news. He
had been cruelly murdered by Mr. McLain, the man with whom I had lived
a month while in San Francisco.
I wrote the following humble lines, and only regret that my tribute is
not more like the noble man whose untimely fate I mourned:
He was fifty years old--how little he dreamt
That his hours of life were so nearly spent,
Bright visions inspired his bosom with hope,
And nerved his arm to successfully cope
With the powers of darkness; and he broke
The bands of tradition with a master stroke.
But few have battled as manful as he,
Or braved the perils of land and sea,
Or slept in dungeons loaded with chains,
By a Prophet's side, sharing his pains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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