On June 23, 1858, my cousin, Brigham Young, Jr., carried me in his one-horse buggy to Salt Lake City. At Draper I received the kiss of welcome from my dear sister, Harriet M. Brown, and from my dear aged mother. At the city I met my father, who, like a lion in his lair, was watching the coming fate of his deserted home. He and a few fearless, trusted men had been left behind to see that Johnston's army kept its pledges not to quarter in the city. Had they broken their pledge the city would have been burned. I sat with the guards in the upper room of the Lion House, and saw that army in death-like silence march through the deserted streets of the dead city, a few of the officers with uncovered heads, as if attending a funeral. To us western mountain boys, the solemnity of the march was oppressive; and glad relief came to our strained feelings, when we saw the soldiers' camp fires kindled on the "other side of Jordan." Chapter 16. Home Activities.--Counseled Not to Study Law.--Called to Uinta, and Dixie. As soon as I had seen the army "pass through," I returned to Provo to report myself to President Young. I had been gone on my mission a little over four years, as before recorded. When Apostle John Taylor set me apart for this mission he said, "You shall be cast upon the bosom of the sea; but fear not, the hand of the Lord shall be over you, and you shall return in safety to your father's home;" also in parting President Young had said: "If you will be humble, live near the Lord, and not commit sin, when you return you will take me by the hand and tell me that you know Mormonism is true." I had kept the conditions, and I knew the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored to the earth, and that it is the power of God unto salvation to all who receive and obey it. About this time peace was restored by President Buchanan's proclamation of pardon to the Mormons. I took hold with energy to help move my father's families back from the south, whither they had fled, at the near approach of the army. That task accomplished, I made arrangements to go to San Francisco, intending to live with my cousin, Lorenzo Sawyer, and go to school and study law. One day, as I passed Uncle Brigham's office, he called to me, then came out and walked with me to Brother Wells' corner. We sat down on a pile of lumber, and I told him my plans. He counseled me not to go to California, to let the law alone, to find a good girl, get married, and make me a home. During the winter I attended a school taught by Sister Eleanor Pratt, and here became acquainted with Miss S. E. Carmichael, one of Utah's most gifted daughters.