"On the evening of a bitterly cold day in mid-winter, as before stated, I walked four miles to the house of a local elder for baptism. Arriving at his house, we waited until midnight, in order that the neighbors might not disturb us, and then repaired to a stream of water a quarter of a mile away. Here we found the water, as we anticipated, frozen over, and the elder had to chop a hole in the ice large enough for the purpose of baptism. It was a scene and an occasion I shall never forget. Memory to-day brings back the emotions and sweet awe of that moment. None but God and his angels, and the few witnesses who stood on the bank with us, heard my covenant; but in the solemnity of that midnight hour it seemed as though all nature were listening, and the recording angel writing our words in the book of the Lord. Is it strange that such a scene, occurring in the life of a latter-day saint, should make an everlasting impression, as this did on mine? "Having been thus baptized, I returned to the house in my wet and freezing garments. "Up to this hour, as intimated, my heart's best affection had been centred on home, and my greatest mental struggle in obeying the gospel had been over the thought of soon leaving that home; but no sooner had I emerged from the water, on that night of baptism, and received my confirmation at the water's edge, than I became filled with an irresistible desire to join the saints who were gathering to America. The usual confirmation words, pronounced upon my head, 'Receive ye the gift of the Holy Ghost,' were, indeed, potent. They changed the current of my life. This remarkable and sudden change of mind and the now all-absorbing desire to emigrate with the saints was my first testimony to the truth and power of the gospel. "Shortly thereafter (December 27th, 1843), I left the home of my birth to gather to Nauvoo. I was alone. It was a dreary winter day on which I went to Liverpool. The company with which I was to sail were all strangers to me. When I arrived at Liverpool and saw the ocean that would soon roll between me and all I loved, my heart almost failed me. But I had laid my idols all upon the altar. There was no turning back. I remembered the words of the Saviour: 'He that leaveth not father and mother, brother and sister, for my sake, is not worthy of me,' and I believed his promise to those who forsook all for his sake; so I thus alone set out for the reward of everlasting life, trusting in God.