"Before we left winter quarters, a committee, appointed for the purpose, inspected the provisions of each family, in order to ascertain that all were provided with at least a moderate competency of flour, etc. The amount of flour calculated to be necessary was apportioned at the rate of three-quarters of a pound for adults and one-half pound per day for children. A portion of the battalion having been disbanded on the Pacific coast, destitute of pay for their services, joined us before spring, and we cheerfully divided our rations of flour with them, which put us on still shorter allowance. "Soon after our arrival in the valley, a tall liberty-pole was erected, and from its summit (although planted in Mexican soil), the stars and stripes seemed to float with even more significance, if possible, than they were wont to do on Eastern breezes. "I love that flag. When in my childish glee-- A prattling girl, upon my grandsire's knee-- I heard him tell strange tales, with valor rife, How that same flag was bought with blood and life. "And his tall form seemed taller when he said, 'Child, for that flag thy grandsire fought and bled.' My young heart felt that every scar he wore, Caused him to prize that banner more and more. "I caught the fire, and as in years I grew, I loved the flag; I loved my country too. * * * * * * "There came a time that I remember well-- Beneath the stars and stripes we could not dwell! We had to flee; but in our hasty flight We grasped the flag with more than mortal might; "And vowed, although our foes should us bereave Of all things else, the flag we would not leave. We took the flag; and journeying to the West, We wore its motto graven on each breast." The personal narrative, up to the period of the Utah war, is thus continued by Bathsheba W. Smith: "In 1856 my husband was sent as delegate to Washington, by vote of the people of the Territory, to ask for the admission of Utah as a State. In May, 1857, he returned. Congress would not admit Utah into the Union. On his journey East his horse failed, and he had to walk about five hundred miles on the plains. This made him very foot-sore, as he was a heavy man. "On the 24th of July, 1857, I was in company with my husband and a goodly number of others at the Big Cottonwood Lake, near the head of Big Cottonwood Canyon, where we were celebrating the anniversary of the arrival of the pioneers in Salt Lake Valley, when word was brought to us that the United States mail for Utah was stopped, and that President James Buchanan was sending out an army to exterminate us. We turned to hear what President Young would say. In effect he said: 'If they ever get in, it will be because we will permit them to do so.'