--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Nelson, N. L. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 9 published: 1921-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Nelson, N. L., "Glimpses of Pioneer Life," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 9 (July 1921): 778–782.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2409unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2409unse start_page: 778 end_page: 782 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2409unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Glimpses of Pioneer Life Glimpses of Pioneer Life By Professor N. L. Nelson Lay down your novel, good friend, with its stock heroes and general halo of unreality, and take up the Memoirs of John R. Young, Pioneer of Forty-seven. When the spirit of this pioneer left pre-existence, his friends very likely prophesied that he would be a poet, a his- torian, a writer of delightful essays "down there." But he was born in Nauvoo, and his memory had just begun recording, when troubles began for that ill-fated city. "My earliest recollection," he writes, "is of suffering with the chills. How cold I would be! We must have been poor, for the food did not suit me. It rained so much, I had to stay indoors, though I cried to go out. "One day father took me for a walk, to give me air and sunshine. We met Joseph and Hyruni Smith, and Sidney Rigdon. Father shook hands warmly with Joseph and Hyruni, but merely bowed to Brother Rigdon. Joseph inquired if 1 was the child father had asked the elders to pray for. Being answered in the affirmative, the prophet removed my hat, ran his fingers through my curly locks, and said: " 'Brother Lorenzo, this boy will live to aid in carrying " the gospel to the nations of the earth?' In such fashion was the earthly career of this bright spirit changed from writer to preacher. "His words thrilled me like fire; and from that hour I looked forward to the day when I should become a missionary as before intimated." Elder Young's life was cast in an epoch of suffering and doing, not in one of thinking, dreaming, and word-weaving: a strenuous, self sacrificing, self-obliterating epoch in which men willingly lost all in order that they might find all. But in the pauses of this spirit-testing pilgrimage as pioneer, preacher, path-finder, frontiersman, missionary in the old world, and on the islands of the sea; during half hours, say, on a bowlder by the wayside, looking at God's great pictures, or on the sea shore listening to Nature's organ tones, the temperament seasoned in that other life overflowed in verse, anecdote, or poetic description, and always in word or phrase betokening in- stinctive literary judgment. GLIMPSES OF PIONEER LIFE 779 Take, for instance, this memory picture recorded "through the eyes of a boy of nine:" "It is the month of February, 1846. The sun is shining brightly, yet the air is keen and cutting. The wheels ring as we drive over the frozen snow. In our home since early morning, all has been hurry and bustle; two wagons stand in our front yard, and my father with two other men, strangers to me, are carry- ing out our household goods. My mother looks pale, and when I ask her what is the matter, she takes me in her arms, kisses me, and says, 'We are going to leave our home, and will never see it again!' "Just then some other teams come along, and one of the brethren calls to my father to be sure to put out the fire, and to hurry up for it is getting late. In a few minutes mother and the children are lifted tenderly into the wagon. Father next takes his place on the front seat, turns his face to the west, and his back upon the home whifch it had taken seven years of sacrifice and toil to build. "At the river are three flat boats or scows. Here and there on the bank stand pale-faced mothers cuddling their little ones, while husbands and fathers quietly, yet resolutely, roll the wagons on to the boats, then with long poles, push from the shore out upon the bosom of the mighty river. No farewells are uttered, no words spoken. Each man knows his duty, and performs it energetically; for they are not hirelings, these men of stout hearts and muscular arms. Nor is it a light task to guide those unwieldy scows through drifting ice across that mile-wide river. The first camp of the exiles was only nine miles from Nauvoo. The snow had to be shoveled away to make room for tents and wagon-cover tepees. Within a week fourteen inches more snow fell, and the cold wave following froze the ice on the Mississippi thick enough for wagons to cross. Here in the groves surrounding Sugar Creek, five thousand unhappy refugees shivered beneath these rude shelters; and under these distressing circumstances, nine children were born in a single night. This is how the heart of the gifted boy was touched by these scenes of suffering. The passage is a good illustration of the verses scattered throughout this interesting volume: "God pity the exiles, when storms come down, When snow-laden clouds hang low on the ground, When the chill blast of winter, with frost on its breast, Sweeps through the tents like the angel of death! When the sharp cry of child-birth is heard on the air, And the voice of the father breaks down in his prayer, As he pleads with Jehovah his loved ones to spare." 780 IMPROVEMENT ERA The camp at Sugar Creek was so near the deserted city that on clear days the exiles, by climbing a neighboring hill could see their late beloved homes and hear the subdued tones of the temple bell. From the anguish renewed daily by these re- minders, President Young resolved to rescue the people by order- ing a break-up of this first camp on March 1, only two weeks after they left Nauvoo. But the spring rains made the roads all but impassable, and "beat through the wagon covers wetting and chilling the sick and feeble. These ^conditions," says Elder Young, "gave rise to acts of heroism as noble as were ever recorded." As an illustration he tells the pathetic story representing the sacrifice of Orson Spencer, college graduate and late popular minister of the Baptist Church in Boston, who had recently ac- tepted the teachings of Joseph Smith. "Before doing so, however, he and his highly educated young wife counted the costs and laid their hearts upon the altar! How few realize what it involved to become a 'Mormon' in those early days. Home, friends, occupation, popularity, all that makes life pleasant, were gone. Almost overnight they became strangers to their own kindred. "After leaving Nauvoo, his wife, ever frail and delicate, sank rapidly under the accumulating hardships. The sorrowing hus- band wrote imploringly to the wife's parents, asking them to receive her into their home until the Saints should find an abid- ing place. The answer came, 'Let her renounce her degrading faith and she can come back, but never until she does.' "When the letter was read to her, she asked her husband to turn to the Book of Ruth, first chapter, sixteenth and seven- teenth verses: 'Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God.' "Not a murmur escaped her lips. The storm was severe and the wagon covers leaked. Friends held milk pans over her bed to keep her dry. In those conditions, in peace and without ap- parent suffering, the gentle spirit took its flight, and her body was consigned to a grave by the way side." These memoirs are replete with pioneer incident, anecdote and story in every vein, from humor and pathos, to faith-pro- moting marvel. They are told, moreover, in siich simple, direct fashion, and are so soon done with, that the reader must sit back and muse awhile to get their full flavor and significance. Here is an instance: The exiles had in due time reached Winter Quarters, which the writer, characterizes as the "Valley Forge of 'Mormondom.' " GLIMPSES OF PIONEER LIFE 781 "Our home was near the burying ground, and I can remember the small, mournful-looking train that so often passed our door. I also remember how poor and same-like our habitual diet was: corn bread, salt bacon, and a little milk. Mush and bacon be- came so nauseating that it was like taking medicine to swallow it; and the scurvy was making such inroads amongst us that it looked as if we should all be 'sleeping on the hill' before spring, unless fresh food could be obtained. "While we were in this condition, there happened one of those singular events which so often flit across the life of a 'Mormon.' President Brigham Young called one day at the door of our cabin, and said to my father: 'Lorenzo, if you will hitch up your horses and go down ' into Missouri, the Lord will open the way, so that you can bring up a drove of hogs and give the people fresh meat, and be a blessing to you.' " The boy had the supreme joy of going with his father on this mission. Here is how he tells the rest of the story: "Upon arriving at St. Joseph, we put up at Polk's tavern. A 'Mormon' family by the name of Lake had left Winter Quarters in search of work. One of the daughters had found employment at Mr. Polk's. Being frequently questioned, she had told much about the suffering and present /conditions of our people. She knew my father well, and joyfully recognized him. "In the evening the bar room was full of gentlemen all eager to learn the news, and for two hours they listened almost breath- less to father's talk. The next day parties approached father and offered to load him with merchandise. This he declined; — but he secured the loan of one thousand dollars I believe from a Jewish merchant — and wasted no time in getting down to busi- ness. "The first move was to buy a 40-acre field of unharvested corn. He paid four dollars an acre for the corn as it stood in the field. It was estimated to average sixty bushels to the acre. The best 'corn was gathered and put into bins. Heavy logs were then drawn crosswise over the field to break down the stalks. Then a notice was posted for hogs. As a rule, they came in droves of about thirty, and were bought in the bunch at seventy-five cents a head. They would weigh from one hun- dred and fifty to four hundred pounds each. Father returned to Winter Quarters with one thousand hogs, and in this way President Young's promise to him was realized." Gradually as we read these memoirs, the boy himself be- comes a fascinating study. "It fell to my lot," he tells us, "to cross the plains in Captain Jedediah M. Grant's company. Brother Grant was a man of wonderful energy. In fact, the 782 IMPROVEMENT ERA various companies which followed on the heels of the Pioneers were led by a host of stalwarts, so that in my youth I became acquainted with many solid men of Joseph's day. Foremost among them, to my mind, were Brigham Young, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Uncle John Smith, and Uncle John Young. "The last named stood as a father to me; and yet, during that pilgrimage I was like a waif upon the ocean. The camp- fire was my home, and I was everybody's chore-boy. While this arrangement taught me self-reliance, it chilled my heart, and turned me against those finer, more tender endearments of life which ever abound in happy, lovable homes; and from this ex- perienjce, I have learned to pity the child that grows up with- out a mother's care and caress. "On reaching the valley our people at first all lived in the 'Old Fort.' Father was the first to move out. He had built a two-roomed log house on the lot where Uncle Brigham later built the Bee-Hive and Lion Houses." Think of a man still alive and moving about among us whose boyhood was passed in a log cabin near where the Church Offices now stand ! Some striking incidents of his boyhood days follow: among them the story of the seagulls. Then came at length the time to which he had looked forward since the days when the Prophet ran his fingers through the lad's curly loicks and promised that he should live to carry the gospel message to the nations of the earth. At the April conference of 1854, he was called on a mission to the Sandwich Islands. "I was then in my sixteenth year, and with my overcoat on I weighed, on Father Neff's mill scales, just ninety-six pounds! * * * At Cedar City I was ordained a Seventy, and before the company started westward, Uncle Brigham, in bidding me goodby, said: " 'Johnny, I will give you a little advice. Be humble. Live near the Lord. Keep yourself pure from sin. Do not tell the people that you are unlearned; it will only weaken their faith. Avoid public discussions. I have noticed that they engender feelings of bitterness and seldom do good. Never tell all that you know at once; keep back something to talk about the next time. Be careful to say nothing but what you can prove.' "President Kimball said, 'Your name is no longer Johnny, but Rooter; for you shall root up iniquity wherever you find it.' Uncle Joseph Young said, 'Be of good cheer. Great trees from little acorns grow; and you will grow to be a man yet.' My father and brother Joseph added their blessings, and with a swelling heart I turned to face the world as a 'Mormon' mission- ary boy."