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!"

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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.

Her parents early leaving her birthplace, Mary was brought up in Providence, R. I. She was what in those days was denominated a pious maiden, for her family was strictly of the old Puritan stock of the country. She early became a Sunday-school teacher, and united with the Free-Will Baptists. The study of the prophesies quite engrossed her mind, and she was confidently looking for their fulfillment. Her semi-ministerial duties as a Sunday-school teacher toned and strengthened her early womanhood; and hence she resolved never to marry until she met "a man of God" to whom her heart should go out, to unite with him in the active duties of a Christian life. Thus it came about that she remained a maiden until nearly thirty years of age. But the providence that watched over her had chosen for her a husband.

It was during the year 1830 that Thomas B. Marsh came to Providence, bringing with him the Book of Mormon. From him Mary obtained a copy, and having prayerfully read it, became convinced that it was a work of inspiration. After this she went to Southern New York, where her parents were visiting, and there she and her parents were baptized by John P. Greene—Brigham's brother-in-law. It was about this time that the Youngs, the Greenes and the Kimballs came into the Church.

Alone, Mary set out for Kirtland, which had just become the gathering place of the saints; and there she remained a year before Brigham and Heber gathered with their families. Vilate Kimball was still acting the part of a mother to the little daughters of Miriam. Through hearing Brigham preach in Kirtland, Mary Angell became acquainted with him. She had found her mate; he had found a mother indeed to his little motherless Elizabeth and Vilate.

At the period of the famous march of the elders from Ohio to Missouri, in 1834, to "redeem Zion" in Jackson county, Mary, now for over a year the wife of Brigham Young, became the mother of his first son, Joseph A., who was born October 14, 1834, just at the return of her husband, after the disbanding of Zion's Camp. Thus during the most trying period of her first year of marriage, was she left alone in the struggle of life, providing for herself, and caring for her husband's motherless girls.

But a still more trying period came to this excellent woman, after her husband became a member of the quorum of the twelve, and when the rebellion against Joseph arose in Kirtland. First the prophet and Sidney Rigdon had to flee for their lives, and next Brigham Young had to escape from Kirtland. Then came her severest struggle. She now had five children to care and provide for the—two daughters of Miriam, her Joseph A., and Brigham, Jr., with his twin sister, Mary Ann. Those were dark days of persecution and want. The apostates and anti-Mormons frequently searched her house for her husband, and the faithful in Kirtland all had enough to do to sustain themselves, in the absence of their shepherds, who were now refugees in Far West. At length, with the five children, she reached her husband; but not long to rest, for quickly came the expulsion from Missouri, in which period she broke up her home many times before finally settling in Montrose, on the opposite side of the river from Nauvoo.

Scarcely had Brigham and the twelve effected the exodus of the saints from Missouri to Illinois, ere Joseph, having escaped from prison, sent the twelve with its president to England, on mission.

On each side of the Mississippi, in cabins and tents, the Mormon people lay, exhausted by their many expulsions; the multitude sick, many dying, the vigor of life scarcely left even in their strong-willed leaders. Thus lying on the river-side at Commerce and Montrose, they presented a spectacle no longer suggestive of irresistible empire-founders. Joseph was sick; Brigham was sick; the twelve were all sick; the prophet's house and door-yard was a hospital. It was then that the prophet, knowing that power must be invoked or the people would perish, leaped from his sick bed, and entering first the tents and cabins of the apostles, and bidding them arise and follow him, went like an archangel through the midst of his disciples, and "healed the multitude." It is a grand picture in the memory of the saints, being called "The Day of God's Power." Reverse that picture, and there is seen the exact condition of Mary Angell Young and the other apostles' wives when the president and his quorum started on mission to England, leaving them to the care of the Lord, and their brethren. It was a period quite as trying to these apostolic sisters as that of the exodus, afterwards. And to none more so than to Mary, who had now the burden of six children to sustain during her husband's absence in a foreign land.

The following entries in the president's journal embody a most graphic story, easily seized by the imagination:

"We arrived in Commerce on the 18th (May, 1839), and called upon Brother Joseph and his family. Joseph had commenced laying out the city plot.

"23d—I crossed the Mississippi with my family, and took up my residence in a room in the old military barracks, in company with Brother Woodruff and his family.

"September 14, 1839—I started from Montrose on my mission to England. My health was so poor that I was unable to go thirty rods, to the river, without assistance. After I had crossed the river I got Israel Barlow to carry me on his horse behind him, to Heber C. Kimball's, where I remained sick 'till the 18th. I left my wife sick, with a babe only ten days old, and all my children sick and unable to wait upon each other.

"17th—My wife crossed the river, and got a boy with a wagon to bring her up about a mile, to Brother Kimball's, to see me. I remained until the 18th at Brother Kimball's, when we started, leaving his family also sick."

Continue the picture, with the husband's absence, and the wife's noble, every-day struggle to maintain and guard his children, and we have her history well described for the next two years.

Taking up the thread again in September, 1841: "On my return from England," says Brigham, in his diary, "I found my family living in a small unfinished log-cabin, situated on a low, wet lot, so swampy that when the first attempt was made to plough it the oxen mired; but after the city was drained it became a very valuable garden spot."

The scene, a year later, is that of President Young at "death's door," and the wife battling with death to save her husband. He was suddenly attacked with a slight fit of apoplexy. This was followed by a severe fever. For eighteen days he lay upon his back, and was not turned upon his side during that period.

"When the fever left me, on the eighteenth day," he says, "I was bolstered up in my chair, but was so near gone that I could not close my eyes, which were set in my head; my chin dropped down, and my breath stopped. My wife, seeing my situation, threw some cold water in my face and eyes, which I did not feel in the least; neither did I move a muscle. She then held my nostrils between her thumb and finger, and placing her mouth directly over mine, blew into my lungs until she filled them with air. This set my lungs in motion, and I again began to breathe. While this was going on I was perfectly conscious of all that was passing around me; my spirit was as vivid as it ever was in my life; but I had no feeling in my body."

Mary, by the help of God, had thus saved the life of President Young!

It was about this time that polygamy, or "celestial marriage," was introduced into the Church. To say that it was no cross to these Mormon wives—daughters of the strictest Puritan parentage—would be to mock their experience. It was thus, also, with their husbands, in Nauvoo, in 1842. President Young himself tells of the occasion when he stood by the grave of one of the brethren and wished that the lot of the departed was his own. The burden of polygamy seemed heavier than the hand of death. It was nothing less than the potency of the "Thus saith the Lord," and the faith of the saints as a community, that sustained them—both the brethren and the sisters. Mary Angell gave to her husband other wives, and the testimony which she gives to-day is that it has been the "Thus saith the Lord" unto her, from the time of its introduction to the present.

Scarcely necessary is it to observe that she was in the exodus. Seven children were now under her care. Alice, Luna, and John W. were born in Montrose and Nauvoo, while the twin sister of Brigham, Jr., had died. With these she remained at winter quarters while the president led the pioneers to the Rocky Mountains. Her benevolence to the poor at winter quarters (and who of them were then rich!) is spoken of to this day. Indeed, benevolence has ever been a marked trait in her life.

Then came the hut in the valley. The "heat and burden of the day" had not passed. Full twenty years of struggle, self-sacrifice, and devotion as a wife, uncommon in its examples, filled up the pages of "Sister Young's history," as a latter-day saint, before the days of social prominence came.

The hut in the valley, where she lived in 1849, is a good pioneer picture. It stood on the spot where now stands her residence—the "White House;" and some ten rods north-west of that location stood a row of log-cabins where dwelt President Young's other wives, with their children.

Since then the days of grandeur, befitting her station, have come; but "Mother Young"—a name honored in her bearing—has lived most in the public mind as the faithful wife, the exemplary mother, and a latter-day saint in whose heart benevolence and native goodness have abounded. She is now seventy-four years of age—closing a marked and worthy life; and her latest expressed desire is that a strong testimony should be borne of her faith in Mormonism, and the righteousness of her husband in carrying out the revelation, given through Joseph Smith, on polygamy, as the word and will of the Lord to his people.