A VISION AND ITS PRE-MORTAL COUNTERPART—BESET BY EVIL SPIRITS—DELIVERANCE THEREFROM—PREPARATIONS TO MIGRATE—LONG VOYAGE—TOILSOME JOURNEY—LOST ON THE PLAINS—HELP FROM THE LORD.

His crippled, helpless condition was a great source of sorrow to Niels, and instead of his becoming gradually reconciled thereto, as it might be supposed that he would, he seemed to brood over it more the older he grew. He belonged to a proud and rather dignified family, and was naturally very proud himself, but realized that he did not present a dignified appearance. He was constantly reminded that people were repelled rather than attracted by him, and this of course wounded his pride and made him miserable.

During the summer preceding his baptism, after a day of extreme melancholy, an incident occurred that produced an entire change in his feelings. While engaged preparing his evening meal a glorious vision burst upon his view. It was not a single scene that he beheld, but a series of them. He compares them to the modern moving pictures, for want of a better illustration. He beheld as with his natural sight, but he realized afterwards that it was with the eye of the spirit that he saw what he did. His understanding was appealed to as well as his sight. What was shown him related to his existence in the spirit world, mortal experience and future rewards. He comprehended, as if by intuition, that he had witnessed a somewhat similar scene in his pre-mortal state, and been given the opportunity of choosing the class of reward he would like to attain to. He knew that he had deliberately made his choice. He realized which of the rewards he had selected, and understood that such a reward was only to be gained by mortal suffering—that, in fact, he must be a cripple and endure severe physical pain, privation and ignominy. He was conscious too that he still insisted upon having that reward, and accepted and agreed to the conditions.

He emerged from the vision with a settled conviction that to rebel against or even to repine at his fate, was not only a reproach to an Alwise Father whose care had been over him notwithstanding his seeming abandonment, but a base violation of the deliberate promise and agreement he had entered into, and upon the observance of which his future reward depended.

Whatever opinion others may entertain concerning the philosophy involved in this theory, is a matter of absolute indifference to Niels. He does not advocate it; he does not seek to apply it to any other case; but he has unshaken faith in it so far as his own case is concerned. Whether true or not, the fact remains that he has derived comfort, satisfaction, resolution and fortitude from it. He has ever since been resigned to his affliction, and, though never mirthful, is serene and composed and uncomplaining. He has always felt that the vision was granted to him by the Lord for a wise and merciful purpose—that he might, through a better understanding of his duty, be able to remain steadfast thereto.

In striking contrast to this experience was that which occurred during the night following his baptism. Evil spirits seemed to fill the room in which he had retired to sleep. They were not only terribly visible, but he heard voices also, taunting him with having acted foolishly in submitting to baptism and joining the Latter-day Saints. He was told that he had deserted the only friends he ever had, and would find no more among the "Mormons," who would allow him to die of starvation rather than assist him. That he had no means of earning a livlihood in the far western land to which the Saints all hoped to migrate, and he would never cease to regret it if he ever went there. This torment was kept up incessantly until he sought relief in prayer, and three times he got out of bed and tried to pray before he succeeded in doing so. Then his fervent pleading unto the Lord for power to withstand the temptation of the evil one, and to hold fast to the truth, brought relief to him. The evil spirits gradually, and with apparent reluctance, withdrew, and peace came to his soul, with the assurance that the Lord approved of his embracing the Gospel, and that he could safely rely upon the Lord for future guidance.

Preparations were soon made to migrate to Utah, although Niels was seriously ill. In addition to his other troubles, he had for years been afflicted with asthma, and he had such difficulty in breathing that for a long time he had not been able to recline, having to sleep, if at all, in a sitting posture. He was also so frail and weak at the time that many of his acquaintances expressed a fear that he would not live to make the journey, and some even predicted that he would die while crossing the ocean. Not at all daunted, however, by these pessimists, he determined to start with the very first company of migrating Saints, and soon arranged with a newly-married couple and a young single man who were ambitious to migrate, to care for him on the journey, carry and look after his luggage, etc., in return for certain financial aid which he was able and willing to afford them. He realized that it would be a long and tiresome trip, and his natural independence was exhibited in thus arranging beforehand for the help he might require, lest he might be regarded as a public burden. The journey, as planned, was not as direct as those commonly pursued in more recent years, nor nearly so expeditious. The company assembled at Copenhagen, whence they proceeded by steamer to Kiel, in Germany, and from there took train for Altonia. At Hamburg, on the river Elbe, they boarded an ocean sailing vessel, the "Kenilworth," bound for New York. The voyage lasted eight weeks, long enough for the passengers to get well acquainted with one another.

They had expected to proceed westward from New York, (or rather from the New Jersey side of the Hudson river) by rail, but Thomas Taylor, who was the Church Immigration Agent in New York at that time, had learned before their arrival that all the lines of railway extending westward from that point had entered into a combine to demand a higher rate for transporting companies of Latter-day Saints than those previously prevailing. Determined not to submit to their extortion, he discovered before the company arrived that one line of railway extending westward from New Haven, Connecticut, was not in the combine, and would transport the company at the old rate, and he decided to patronize it. The road was either poorly equipped with cars or lacked time before the arrival of the company to make the necessary arrangements for convenient transportation.

The accommodations on the train as it was made up were rather meager; in fact, it was a cattle car that Niels rode in, and the passengers had to sit or he on the floor. The road bed appeared to lack ballast, and the ride was a jolty, tiresome one—particularly hard on Niels, who was so painfully affected by the jolting that he sought relief by bracing his hands against the floor on either side of him, thereby partially sustaining the weight of his body and easing the jar. The shaking was so great that both doors fell off the car, and, to cap the climax, some of the cars ran off the track, the one in which Niels rode standing crosswise of the track, and with two of the wheels broken off it, when the train came to a halt. This occurred on the bank of a river in Southern Canada, and the passengers breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered what a narrow escape they had from being plunged into the river.

From New York the company therefore proceeded by coast steamer to New Haven, and from there by train to St. Joseph Missouri, where they were transferred to a river boat that during the next two days took them up the Missouri to Wyoming Hills, a few miles from Nebraska City, from which point they were to be conveyed by ox train to Salt Lake City, more than a thousand miles distant.

Before leaving Denmark, he had not been able to walk as much as two hundred yards without stopping to rest, but he gradually improved while crossing the sea, and, though temporarily prostrated with the heat while on the river steamer, he rallied before the overland journey was undertaken. Before starting from the Missouri river the able-bodied passengers were requested to walk as much as possible on the journey, as the wagons were heavily loaded and the strength of the oxen had to be conserved, as they had an eight weeks trip before them.

Though far from being able-bodied, Niels determined to do his best at walking. He accordingly set out bravely with the other pedestrians, with whom, however, he was unable to keep up, as his gait was like that of a snail. His habit was to walk until overtaken by the train, or until he was so fatigued that he could not proceed further, when he would get into a wagon and ride. Occasionally he succeeded by perseverance in walking all day long, and was necessarily most of the time alone. By starting early, as soon as breakfast was over, and before the teams had been hitched up, he would be able to keep ahead of the train, and yet soon be outdistanced by his more able companions. Upon one occasion he got lost as a result of being alone. He arrived at a point where the road which he was following diverged into two. Not knowing which of the two he should take, he happened to choose the wrong one, and traveled for a long distance without being able to see those who had preceded him or the wagons in the rear. Without apprehension, he trudged along until he arrived at a river which was too deep and swift for him to wade, and which was spanned by a rude foot bridge, consisting of two or three lengths of a single round pole, supported where the ends joined amid-stream by two poles set up in the form of a cross, with the lower ends firmly imbedded in the stream, and securely lashed with rawhide at the intersection. The swiftness of the current and the distance from the foot bridge down to the stream made him dizzy when he looked down, so that he despaired of being able to cross the bridge, and yet felt that he must do so to overtake the train that he supposed must have forded at a point much lower down stream. In his emergency he knelt in prayer on the river bank, reminding the Lord of his dependence upon Him and appealing unto Him for help. He arose with a feeling of confidence, and without any trepidation or dizziness set out and walked along the pole as steadily as if he had been a tight-rope performer. Then, following his impression as to the course he ought to take, he walked on until he overtook the train, encamped, some time after nightfall, and when men were about to be dispatched to search for him.