PREDICTION FROM MALACHI FULFILLED—BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF MARY ALICE CANNON—CANNON FAMILY EMBRACE THE GOSPEL—MIGRATE—MOTHER'S DEATH AT SEA—ARRIVAL AT NAUVOO—FATHER'S DEATH—HER MARRIAGE.

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

Thus spake the Lord through Malachi, the prophet; but just what was meant by turning the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers, has been a matter of speculation among bible students since time was young. Of course, many have supposed that this prediction was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist; but wherein John the Baptist accomplished any such work as that indicated is not clear. Whatever the work was that Elijah was to do, there must be something potential about it, to have the effect of appeasing the wrath of the Almighty and averting the curse with which the earth (or possibly the inhabitants of the earth) would otherwise be smitten.

Not until the doctrine of salvation for the dead had been revealed was the full import of the declaration quoted from Malachi understood even by the Latter-day Saints. The anxiety they immediately experienced for the salvation of their kindred who had died without conforming to the Gospel requirements, when they learned that the living might do a vicarious work in behalf of the dead, that would place the latter upon an equal footing with the most favored of the living, was an illustration of its effects upon the children.

The interest that was awakened about that same time in the matter of genealogical research, without any apparent cause for it, more than had existed for ages, may reasonably be considered an evidence that the "heart of the fathers" was being turned to the children. Nor was this interest in the tracing of genealogies, and the connecting of one generation or age to another by kindred links, limited to Latter-day Saints, or those familiar with the doctrine of salvation for the dead, as newly revealed. It seemed to be a spontaneous feeling, specially noticeable in the more enlightened countries of that age and since. The disposition to engage in this research was not limited to any class or creed. It was manifested alike by people of various religious beliefs and by those also of infidel tendencies. Sometimes pride of ancestry furnished the excuse, and at other times the hope of inheritance was the incentive. Whatever the causes that led to the compiling and publishing of genealogical works, it is easy for Latter-day Saints to believe that men so actuated were inspired of the Lord, whether they realized it or not, and that the grand and ultimate purpose of the Lord was that the living believers in that doctrine might do a vicarious work for the salvation of individual dead, and thus connect the present generation with those of the past.

Plate as described below

Mrs. Mary Alice C. Lambert

A desire to learn as much as possible about one's ancestors, and then go into the Temple and labor for their salvation, may be really accepted as the normal feeling among faithful, sincere Latter-day Saints. So generally is it understood to be their duty to labor for their dead kindred, that it seems quite the natural thing that they should do so. Their obligation in this respect is comparable to that of providing for dependent members of their households.

One must have a broader feeling of philanthropy or a higher sense of duty, to labor as a general worker or officiator in the Temple for extended periods, without hope of earthly reward. Among the more conspicuous examples of this kind in the Salt Lake Temple is Mrs. Mary Alice C. Lambert, the dean of the women workers, if such a term may be applied to a woman. She was one of those called to so labor when the Salt Lake Temple was completed, and has so served faithfully and gratuitously ever since, being still active and efficient, although in her eighty-sixth year. Hers is as fine an example of a busy, well-spent life, as could readily be found, and a perusal of the following sketch can hardly fail to be faith promoting:

On the 9th day of December, 1828, a young married couple, George and Ann Cannon, then living in the city of Liverpool, England, rejoiced in the birth of their second child—a daughter—whom they named Mary Alice. There was nothing about the child or her brother, George Q., who was two years her senior, or their parents, to distinguish them from the many thousands of other families who lived in that great city. The father was an intelligent and industrious tradesman—an expert carpenter, or joiner—and the mother a thoroughly domestic woman, whose love for her husband and children was only equalled by the strength of her religious fervor. Though England had been the adopted home of this branch of the Cannon family since many years before their marriage, the most of their relatives lived in the Isle of Man, and thither the family went on occasional visits. On one of these visits, at the earnest solicitation of her maternal grandmother, little Mary Alice was left to bear her company, and spent five years of her childhood in the quaint old town of Peel, for this purpose.

In course of time the Cannon family was enlarged by the successive births of other children—Ann, Angus, John, David and Leonora. John, however, died when three and a half years of age. Prosperity had attended the father's labors, the family had a comfortable and happy home, the older children were acquiring an education, and gave promise of being like other children among the better class in England—no worse than the majority, and not much if any better.

When Mary Alice was about 11 years of age, an event occurred that was destined to change the whole current of the family life. If there is any truth in the theory of heredity, it was well for the Cannon family that their ancestors, for generations, had been hardy sea-faring men—some of them captains, conspicuous for their courage and adventurous disposition. It was well that their ancestral home was in the Isle of Man, where the inhabitants, largely fishermen, are inured to hardship and used to battling with the waves and braving the tempest. If any of the traits possessed by their ancestors had been inherited by the present generation, and especially strength of will and endurance, two of the most prominent characteristics of the Manx people—they must certainly be called into action in the strenuous life that lay before the Cannon family, thenceforward.

Some years previously Leonora Cannon, a sister of George Cannon, had migrated to Canada, and there met and married a young Englishman named John Taylor. Parley P. Pratt, as a Latter-day Saint missionary, soon afterwards visited the part of Canada where the Taylors lived, and they were converted and joined their fortunes with the Saints in Ohio. From Nauvoo John Taylor was sent on a mission to Great Britain, and immediately upon landing called upon his wife's brother and family.

A profound impression was made by this visit. The visitor had scarcely left the house, after a brief call, when the mother expressed the firm conviction she felt that he was a servant of God, although he had not then made known the fact that he was a missionary or explained the Gospel. After a very short time spent investigating the Gospel, the parents were baptized. Little Mary Alice, though so young, greatly desired baptism at the same time, but was too timid to ask for it. From the time she listened to the first conversation on the Gospel she had felt greatly exercised in regard to it, and earnestly prayed to the Lord for a testimony as to its truth. As a result, she obtained a strong assurance from the Lord of its truth, that has never since admitted of a doubt.

The parents had been members of the Church four months when, in June 1840, Elder Parley P. Pratt visited them in company with Elder Taylor. They had just finished eating breakfast, with the whole family present, when Elder Pratt, as if moved by a sudden inspiration, said: "Elder Taylor, have you preached the Gospel to these children? Some of them want to be baptized now. Don't you?" he asked looking straight at Mary Alice. "Yes, sir," she promptly replied, her heart so full of gratitude to the Lord for the opportunity she had prayed for of having her desire made known, that she could hardly speak. Further questioning resulted in immediate arrangements being made for the baptism of George Q., Mary Alice and Ann—all the children of the family then old enough for the ordinance.

It didn't take the family long to discover that there was no fellowship or tolerance for them among their relatives, or indeed among their former friends. Though formerly popular, they were now pitied or denounced, if not thoroughly hated. Whether this fact tended to create a desire to migrate to America or not, true it was that they soon obtained the spirit of gathering. The only social enjoyment the family found was in mingling with members of the church, and the desire soon grew strong to go where the majority of the members could be found. The mother especially revolted at the thought of her children growing up in an atmosphere of unbelief, and, although she was in delicate health, and had a premonition that amounted almost if not quite to an absolute fore-knowledge that she would not live to reach America, she insisted upon going, and was impatient to start. The father, too, after having a dream of his wife dying at sea, feared that it might prove true, and would have hesitated about going had the Lord not made known to him, in answer to prayer, that it was his duty to do so.

The family embarked on a sailing vessel bound for New Orleans in September, 1842, and the mother died and was buried at sea six weeks later, after suffering from sea sickness almost if not quite every day of the voyage up to that time. The forlorn condition of the family can more easily be imagined than described. The promises held out by the Gospel seemed to be their only comfort and support. For Mary Alice, mere child that she was, there was too much to do in caring for the younger brothers and sisters to admit of her yielding to grief. The new responsibility suddenly thrust upon her had the effect of merging her childhood into womanhood without any interim for youth.

The sea voyage ended at New Orleans, eight weeks after it commenced, the intention being to proceed immediately by river steamboat to Nauvoo; but obstacles were soon encountered, the first being the grounding of the boat on a sandbar, resulting in such a tedious delay that severe frost set in and the boat was unable to proceed farther north than St. Louis because of the river being frozen over. The Cannon family accordingly spent the winter in St. Louis, the father providing homes and support for two other families, whom he had charitably immigrated from England, besides his own.

Nauvoo was finally reached in April, 1843, seven months after the departure from England. A cordial greeting by the Prophet Joseph Smith and a hearty welcome from Aunt Leonora Taylor and family helped to reconcile them, and the peaceful home obtained in Nauvoo was all the more appreciated because of the difficulties experienced on the way.

In February, 1844, the father married a second time, the motherless condition of his children and a desire on his part for their welfare doubtless hastening the event.

This was a crucial period in the Church's history. Disaffection was rife, and the allegiance of many who had formerly been considered stalwarts in the faith had become very uncertain. Apostates, secret and outspoken, were conspiring with former enemies of the church to overthrow the work of the Lord and encompass the death of the Prophet. The martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch and the very serious wounding of Apostle John Taylor occurred, as a result of these diabolical plots, in June.

During all these trying times the Church had no more loyal supporters than the Cannon family. The father was among those who cared for the bodies of the martyrs when returned to Nauvoo, and he it was who (with the assistance of his friend, Ariar Brower,) made the plaster casts of the faces and heads of the Prophet and Patriarch when the bodies were washed and prepared for burial.

In the August following, having gone to St. Louis to obtain employment, George Cannon suddenly died there. If the children's condition was forlorn when their mother died, it was doubly so now. The one fact, that they were located with the body of the Church, rendered their condition more tolerable. What might have been the result, so far as the children were concerned, of their being thus early left orphans if they had remained in England, can only be conjectured. The one supreme desire of the mother, to hasten the departure from England that the children might be with the body of the Church before being left without their natural protectors, was now justified.

George Q. and Ann found a home with their Aunt Leonora, the former, being already in the employ of Elder Taylor as a printer, and Mary Alice, though lacking two weeks of being sixteen years old at the time, married in November following, and provided a home for Angus, David and Leonora. Charles Lambert, the husband, was a thoroughly congenial companion, though twelve years the senior of his wife, and was willing as well as qualified to provide for the three orphans of whom he became the lawful guardian. He was an expert mechanic who, for the Gospel's sake, had given up a lucrative position and sacrificed worldly advantages in England to migrate to Nauvoo, where he landed in the early part of 1844. He had offered his services to help build the Temple without hope of payment therefor, and remained so employed up to the time the Temple was dedicated and he and his wife received their blessings therein, though his devotion thereto involved many hardships and severe privations, and almost superhuman self denial.

In all these trials Mother Lambert, as we now call her, and as she then was too, though not so called, (for her first child, Charles J., was born in Nauvoo in November, 1845, when she lacked one month of being 17 years old) was a true partner, patient, cheerful, industrious and self-sacrificing, and as loyal to the cause of God as the needle to the pole.