CONTINUATION OF ELIZA R. SNOW'S NARRATIVE—ADVENT OF A LITTLE STRANGER UNDER ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES—DORMITORY, SITTING-ROOM, OFFICE, ETC., IN A BUGGY—"THE CAMP"—INTERESTING EPISODES OF THE JOURNEY—GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD OF PROCEDURE—MOUNT PISGAH—WINTER QUARTERS.

The subject and action of the exodus thus opened, we shall let the sisters chiefly tell their own stories of that extraordinary historic period. Eliza R. Snow, continuing her narrative, says:

"We had been preceded by thousands, and I was informed that on the first night of the encampment nine children were born into the world, and from that time, as we journeyed onward, mothers gave birth to offspring under almost every variety of circumstances imaginable, except those to which they had been accustomed; some in tents, others in wagons—in rain-storms and in snow-storms. I heard of one birth which occurred under the rude shelter of a hut, the sides of which were formed of blankets fastened to poles stuck in the ground, with a bark roof through which the rain was dripping. Kind sisters stood holding dishes to catch the water as it fell, thus protecting the new-comer and its mother from a shower-bath as the little innocent first entered on the stage of human life; and through faith in the great ruler of events, no harm resulted to either.

"Let it be remembered that the mothers of these wilderness-born babes were not savages, accustomed to roam the forest and brave the storm and tempest—those who had never known the comforts and delicacies of civilization and refinement. They were not those who, in the wilds of nature, nursed their offspring amid reeds and rushes, or in the recesses of rocky caverns; most of them were born and educated in the Eastern States—had there embraced the gospel as taught by Jesus and his apostles, and, for the sake of their religion, had gathered with the saints, and under trying circumstances had assisted, by their faith, patience and energies, in making Nauvoo what its name indicates, 'the beautiful.' There they had lovely homes, decorated with flowers and enriched with choice fruit trees, just beginning to yield plentifully.

"To these homes, without lease or sale, they had just bade a final adieu, and with what little of their substance could be packed into one, two, and in some instances, three wagons, had started out, desertward, for—where? To this question the only response at that time was, God knows.

"From the 13th to the 18th we had several snowstorms and very freezing weather, which bridged the Mississippi sufficiently for crossing heavily loaded wagons on the ice. We were on timbered land, had plenty of wood for fuel, and the men rolled heavy logs together, and kept large fires burning, around the bright blaze of which, when not necessarily otherwise engaged, they warmed themselves. The women, when the duties of cooking and its et ceteras did not prompt them out, huddled with their children into wagons and carriages for protection from the chilling breezes.

"My dormitory, sitting-room, writing-office, and frequently dining-room, was the buggy in which Sister Markham, her little son David, and I, rode. One of my brother's wives had one of the old-fashioned foot-stoves, which proved very useful. She frequently brought it to me, filled with live coals from one of those mammoth fires—a kindness which I remember with gratitude; but withal, I frosted my feet enough to occasion inconvenience for weeks afterwards.

"When all who designed traveling in one camp, which numbered about five thousand, had crossed the river, the organization of the whole into hundreds, fifties, and tens, commenced, and afterwards was completed for the order of traveling; with pioneers, commissaries, and superintendents to each hundred, and captains over fifties and tens. It was impossible for us to move in a body; and one company filed off after another; and, on the first of March we broke camp and moved out four or five miles and put up for the night, where at first view the prospect was dreary enough. It was nearly sunset—very cold, and the ground covered with snow to the depth of four or five inches; but with brave hearts and strong hands, and a supply of spades and shovels, the men removed the snow, and suddenly transformed the bleak desert scene into a living town, with cloth houses, log-heap fires, and a multitude of cheerful inhabitants. The next day, with weather moderated, the remainder of the original camp arrived with the Nauvoo band, and tented on the bluff, which overlooked our cozy dell, and at night stirring strains of music filled the atmosphere, on which they were wafted abroad, and re-echoed on the responsive breezes.

"Lo! a mighty host of people,
Tented on the western shore
Of the noble Mississippi,
They, for weeks, were crossing o'er.
At the last day's dawn of winter,
Bound with frost and wrapped with snow,
Hark! the sound is, 'Up, and onward!
Camp of Zion, rise and go.'

"All, at once, is life and motion—
Trunks and beds and baggage fly;
Oxen yoked and horses harnessed—
Tents, rolled up, are passing by.
Soon the carriage wheels are rolling
Onward to a woodland dell,
Where, at sunset, all are quartered—
Camp of Israel, all is well.

"Soon the tents are thickly clustered—
Neighboring smokes together blend—
Supper served—the hymns are chanted,
And the evening prayers ascend.
Last of all, the guards are stationed;
Heavens! must guards be serving here?
Who would harm the homeless exiles?
Camp of Zion, never fear.

"Where is freedom? Where is justice?
Both have from the nation fled,
And the blood of martyred prophets
Must be answered on its head.
Therefore, 'To your tents, O, Israel,'
Like your Father Abram dwell;
God will execute his purpose—
Camp of Zion, all is well.

"From time to time, companies of men either volunteered or were detailed from the journeying camps, and, by going off the route, obtained jobs of work for which they received food in payment, to meet the necessities of those who were only partially supplied, and also grain for the teams.

"As we passed through a town on the Des Moines river, the inhabitants manifested as much curiosity as though they were viewing a traveling menagerie of wild animals. Their levity and apparent heartlessness was, to me, proof of profound ignorance. How little did those people comprehend our movement, and the results the Almighty had in view.

"On the 2d of March we again moved forward—and here I will transcribe from my journal: 'March 3d—Our encampment this night may truly be recorded as a miracle, performed on natural, and yet peculiar principles—a city reared in a few hours, and everything in operation that actual living required, and many additional things, which, if not extravagancies, were certainly convenient. The next day, great numbers of the people of the adjacent country were to be seen patrolling the nameless streets of our anonymous city, with astonishment visible in their countenances. In the evening, Sister Markham and I took a stroll abroad, and in the absence of names to the streets, and numbers to the tents, we lost our way, and had to procure a guide to pilot us home.'

"At this point Brother Markham exchanged our buggy for a lumber wagon, and in performing an act of generosity to others, so filled it as to give Sister M. and me barely room to sit in front. And when we started again, Sister M. and I were seated on a chest with brass-kettle and soap-box for our footstools, and were happy in being as comfortably situated as we were; and well we might be, for many of our sisters walked all day, rain or shine, and at night prepared suppers for their families, with no sheltering tents; and then made their beds in and under wagons that contained their earthly all. How frequently, with intense sympathy and admiration, I watched the mother, when, forgetful of her own fatigue and destitution, she took unwearied pains to fix up, in the most palatable form, the allotted portion of food, and as she dealt it out was cheering the hearts of her homeless children, while, as I truly believed, her own was lifted to God in fervent prayer that their lives might be preserved, and, above all, that they might honor him in the religion for which she was an exile from the home once sacred to her, for the sake of those precious ones that God had committed to her care. We were living on rations—our leaders having counseled that arrangement, to prevent an improvident use of provision that would result in extreme destitution.

"We were traveling in the season significantly termed 'between hay and grass,' and the teams, feeding mostly on browse, wasted in flesh, and had but little strength; and it was painful, at times, to see the poor creatures straining every joint and ligature, doing their utmost, and looking the very picture of discouragement. When crossing the low lands, where spring rains had soaked the mellow soil, they frequently stalled on level ground, and we could move only by coupling teams, which made very slow progress. From the effects of chills and fever, I had not strength to walk much, or I should not have been guilty of riding after those half-famished animals. It would require a painter's pencil and skill to represent our encampment when we stopped, as we frequently did, to give the jaded teams a chance to recuperate, and us a chance to straighten up matters and things generally. Here is a bit from my journal:

"'Our town of yesterday has grown to a city. It is laid out in a half hollow square, fronting east and south on a beautiful level—with, on one side, an almost perpendicular, and on the other, a gradual descent into a deep ravine, which defines it on the west and north. At nine o'clock this morning I noticed a blacksmith's shop in operation, and everything, everywhere, indicating real life and local industry. Only the sick are idle; not a stove or cooking utensil but is called into requisition; while tubs, washboards, etc., are one-half mile distant, where washing is being done by the side of a stream of water beneath the shade of waving branches. I join Sister M. in the washing department, and get a buggy ride to the scene of action, where the boys have the fire in waiting—while others of our mess stop in the city and do the general work of housekeeping; and for our dinner send us a generous portion of their immense pot-pie, designed to satisfy the hunger of about thirty stomachs. It is made of rabbits, squirrels, quails, prairie chickens, etc., trophies of the success of our hunters, of whom each division has its quota. Thus from time to time we are supplied with fresh meat, which does much in lengthening out our flour. Occasionally our jobbers take bacon in payment, but what I have seen of that article is so rancid that nothing short of prospective starvation would tempt me to eat it.'

"On the 20th of April we arrived at the head waters of the Grand River, where it was decided to make a farming establishment, to be a resting and recruiting place for the saints who should follow us. Elders Bent, Benson and Fullmer were appointed to preside over it.

"The first of June found us in a small grove on the middle fork of Grand River. This place, over which Elders Rich and Huntington were called to preside, was named Pisgah; and from this point most of the divisions filed off, one after another. Colonel Markham appropriated all of his teams and one wagon to assist the twelve and others to pursue the journey westward, while he returned to the States for a fresh supply. Before he left, we were in a house made of logs laid up 'cob fashion,' with from three to eight inches open space between them—roofed by stretching a tent cloth over the ridgepole and fastening it at the bottom, on the outside, which, with blankets and carpets put up on the north end, as a shield from the cold wind, made us as comfortable as possible.

"Companies were constantly arriving and others departing; while those who intended stopping till the next spring were busily engaged in making gardens, and otherwise preparing for winter—sheltering themselves in rude log huts for temporary residence.

"The camps were strung along several hundred miles in length from front to rear, when, about the last of June, one of the most remarkably unreasonable requisitions came officially to President Young, from the United States government, demanding five hundred efficient men to be drawn from our traveling camps, to enter the United States military service, and march immediately to California and assist in the war with Mexico. Upon the receipt of this demand, President Young and Heber C. Kimball, with due loyalty to an unprotective government, under which we had been exiled from our homes, started immediately from their respective divisions, on horseback, calling for volunteers, from one extremity of our line to the other; and in an almost incredibly short time the five hundred men, who constituted the celebrated 'Mormon Battalion,' were under marching orders, commanded by Col. Allen, of the United States Infantry. It was our 'country's call,' and the question, 'Can we spare five hundred of our most able-bodied men?' was not asked. But it was a heavy tax—a cruel draft—one which imposed accumulated burdens on those who remained, especially our women, who were under the necessity of driving their own teams from the several points from which their husbands and sons left, to the Salt Lake Valley; and some of them walked the whole of that tedious distance.

On the 2d of August Brother Markham arrived from the East with teams; and on the 19th we bade good-bye to Mount Pisgah. Brother M. was minus one teamster, and as Mrs. M. and I were to constitute the occupants of one wagon, with a gentle yoke of oxen, she proposed to drive. But, soon after we started, she was taken sick, and, of course, the driving fell to me. Had it been a horse-team I should have been amply qualified, but driving oxen was entirely a new business; however, I took the whip and very soon learned to 'haw and gee,' and acquitted myself, as teamster, quite honorably, driving most of the way to winter quarters. The cattle were so well trained that I could sit and drive. At best, however, it was fatiguing—the family being all sick by turns, and at times I had to cook, as well as nurse the sick; all of which I was thankful for strength to perform.

"On the 27th we crossed the Missouri at Council Bluffs, and the next day came up with the general camp at winter quarters. From exposure and hardship I was taken sick soon after with a slow fever, that terminated in chills and fever, and as I lay sick in my wagon, where my bed was exposed to heavy autumnal rains, and sometimes wet nearly from head to foot, I realized that I was near the gate of death; but my trust was in God, and his power preserved me. Many were sick around us, and no one could be properly cared for under the circumstances. Although, as before stated, I was exposed to the heavy rains while in the wagon, worse was yet to come.

"On the 28th a company, starting out for supplies, required the wagon that Sister M. and I had occupied; and the log house we moved into was but partly chinked and mudded, leaving large crevices for the wind—then cold and blustering. This hastily-erected hut was roofed on one side, with a tent-cloth thrown over the other, and, withal, was minus a chimney. A fire, which was built on one side, filled the house with smoke until it became unendurable. Sister Markham had partially recovered from her illness, but was quite feeble. I was not able to sit up much, and, under those circumstances, not at all, for the fire had to be dispensed with. Our cooking was done out of doors until after the middle of November, when a chimney was made, the house enclosed, and other improvements added, which we were prepared to appreciate.

"About the last of December I received the sad news of the death of my mother. She had lived to a good age, and had been a patient participator in the scenes of suffering consequent on the persecutions of the saints. She sleeps in peace; and her grave, and that of my father, whose death preceded hers less than a year, are side by side, in Walnut Grove, Knox county, Ill.

"At winter quarters our extensive encampment was divided into wards, and so organized that meetings for worship were attended in the several wards. A general order was established and cheerfully carried out, that each able-bodied man should either give the labor of each tenth day, or contribute an equivalent, for the support of the destitute, and to aid those families whose men were in the battalion, and those who were widows indeed.

"Our exposures and privations caused much sickness, and sickness increased destitution; but in the midst of all this, we enjoyed a great portion of the spirit of God, and many seasons of refreshing from his presence, with rich manifestations of the gifts and power of the gospel. My life, as well as the lives of many others, was preserved by the power of God, through faith in him, and not on natural principles as comprehended by man."