Coupled with this will be repeated the dramatic incident of Governor Cumming's wife weeping over the scene of the deserted city after the community had partly executed their resolution. The saints had all gone south, with their leader, when Governor Cumming, with his wife, returned from Camp Scott. They proceeded to the residence of Elder Staines, whom they found in waiting. His family had gone south, and in his garden were significantly heaped several loads of straw. The governor's wife inquired their meaning, and the cause of the silence that pervaded the city. Elder Staines informed her of their resolve to burn the town in case the army attempted to occupy it. "How terrible!" she exclaimed. "What a sight this is! I shall never forget it! it has the appearance of a city that has been afflicted with plague. Every house looks like a tomb of the dead! For two miles I have seen but one man in it. Poor creatures! And so all have left their hard-earned homes?" Here she burst into tears. "Oh! Alfred (to her husband), something must be done to bring them back! Do not permit the army to stay in the city! Can't you do something for them?" "Yes, madam," said he, "I shall do all I can, rest assured." Mrs. Cumming wept for woman! But the women of Mormondom gloried in their sublime action as they had never done before. They felt at that moment that their example was indeed worthy of a modern Israel. It thus struck the admiration of journalists both in America and Europe. The Mormons were pronounced "A nation of heroes!" Those heroes were twice ten thousand women, who could justly claim the tribute equally with their husbands, their brethren and their sons. CHAPTER XL. MIRIAM WORKS AND MARY ANN ANGELL--SCENES OF THE PAST--DEATH-BED OF MIRIAM--EARLY DAYS OF MARY--HER MARRIAGE WITH BRIGHAM--THE GOOD STEP-MOTHER--SHE BEARS HER CROSS IN THE PERSECUTIONS--A BATTLE WITH DEATH--POLYGAMY--MARY IN THE EXODUS AND AT WINTER QUARTERS--THE HUT IN THE VALLEY--CLOSING A WORTHY LIFE. The death-bed of a latter-day saint! It was in the house of Heber C. Kimball, in the little town of Mendon, N. Y., on the 8th of September, 1832. Principal around that glorious death-bed were Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Vilate, his wife. The dying saint was Miriam Works, first wife of Brigham Young--a man of destiny, but then unknown in the great world. "In her expiring moments," he says, "she clapped her hands and praised the Lord, and called upon Brother Kimball and all around to also praise the Lord!" -- On the 8th of June, 1803, in Seneca, Ontario county, N. Y., was born Mary Ann Angell, now for forty-five years the wife of Brigham Young, the mother of his eldest sons, and the faithful step-mother of the daughters of Miriam Works.