The Story of “Mormonism” IV

THE STORY OF ''MORMONISM/'* BY DR. JAMES E. TALMAGE, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH.

( Continued from page 738.)

But the dangers of this company's migration were surpassed by those of parties who subsequently braved the terrors of the plains. In their enthusiasm to reach the gathering place of their people, many of the Latter-day Saints set out from Iowa, where railway facilities had their termination, with handcarts only as a means of conveyance. Today there are living in the smiling vales of Utah, men and women who then as boys and girls trudged wearily across the prairies, dragging their lumbering vehicles con- taining their entire provision against starvation and freezing. Such handcart companies were fully organized, a limited amount of freight only being allowed to each division, milch cattle and a very few draught animals with wagons for conveying the heavier baggage and to carry the sick were assigned. The tale of their dreary marches has never yet been told; the song of the heroism and sacrifice displayed by these pilgrims for conscience sake is awaiting a singer worthy the theme. Wading the streams with carts in tow, or in cases of unfordable streams, stopping to con- struct rafts; at times living on reduced rations of but a few ounces of meal daily per head; lying down at night with a prayer in the heart that they may wake no more on earth, a prayer which found its fulfillment in hundreds of cases; the dying heaving their final

*A lecture delivered by invitation at the University of Michigan, at Cornell University, and elsewhere.