--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Sutherland, George C. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 27 number: 5 published: 1924-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "George C. Sutherland, “God’s Watchful Care,” *Improvement Era 27, no. 5 (March 1924)*: 432–434." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2705unse 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: improvementera2705unse start_page: 432 end_page: 434 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1924-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2705unse publication_year: 1924 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 1924, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # God’s Watchful Care GOD'S WATCHFUL CARE By George C. Sutherland How truly God seemed to watch over and guard and guide the early western pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! How faith-inspiring are some of the tales related by those who endured the hardships and privations of those early days in a new country! How the younger generations of the Church should wel- come these accounts as evidence of the divinity of. this great latter-day work called "Mormonism!" Many times were the leaders of the Church warned of impend- ing dangers. The late President Wilford Woodruff often told of the time when he was warned to move his wagon in which members of the family were sleeping from under a large tree. He obeyed the warning of the Spirit, as he always did during a long life, and soon after the wagon was moved a terrific storm arose and the tree crashed to the ground. Only the warning he had received and the fact that he had heeded it preserved the life of President Woodruff and his loved ones. But God's watchful care was not confined to the leaders of the Church, any more than the Holy Spirit was. This is shown by the following experience related by Ithamer Sprague, of Kaolin, Nevada. Mr. Sprague was eleven years old when these incidents occurred as he accompanied his father to "Dixie" in southern Utah where they set- tled. The story is given verbatim as Mr. Sprague related it to me: "In 1862, when I was eleven years old, my father, mother and I lived at Echo canyon. My father used to have rheumatism every winter. He formerly lived in the southern states and liked a warm climate. At that time they were calling people to come down and settle 'Dixie.' Father wanted to go to 'Dixie,' and my mother would not. She said she had gone through all the hardships of Nauvoo and the settling of northern Utah, and to go down to 'Dixie' and go through the hardships again she would not. "My father said he would go anyhow and he and I set out. We took three oxen and a cow. Nothing of much importance happened until we got to the north side of Salt Lake City. There we came to a camping place where there was water down in a deep ravine. Wood was scarce in this vicinity and I went down into a ravine to find some. The Indians were on the warpath at that time, but my father had not let me know this, as I was afraid of Indians. I went quite a distance down the creek to find wood. Finally I had my arms full of wood and started back when I became scared of Indians. I threw the wood down and ran — and I ran my best — to the head of the hollow and up the hill to where the wagon was. GOD'S WATCHFUL CARE 433 "Father saw I had been running and asked: 'What makes you breathe so fast? What have you been running for?' "I replied that I was scared of Indians, and he asked if I had seen any Indians. I answered that I had not but had just felt frightened. "In a few minutes a big Indian came up the hill and my father talked to him and told him that he used to be friendly with the Indians at Ogden. My father told him of saving the life of a squaw. She was the widow of a chieftain who had just died, and plans were being made to kill her, as was customary with the Indians at that time, so that she could go with her dead husband. Father used to be an Indian interpreter and the Indians called him 'Yas.' "The Indian to whom he was now talking inquired if he were 'Yas?' Father answered in the affirmative and the Indian said: " 'That squaw was my mother. She told me that you pulled three arrows from her back. I tried to get a shot at this boy of yours. He pretty fast run. Trail was crooked, and before I get a good aim he run around in the brush. I no more shoot white man. Indians will call me squaw and papoose but I no care.' " "Nothing more of importance occurred until we got down to Buckhorn Springs, eight miles north of Red Creek, Iron county. There we got in with Nephi Fassett and George Crosby. They had been back to the Missouri river after goods and each had four yoke of oxen. "The next interesting event occurred when we reached the black ridge in Washington county. The road at that time was on the other side of the canyon from where it is now. There we met a man from St. George, who was anxious to hear all the news. The man wanted to talk, but Crosby told him the wagons were right behind and that he must not stop. I was not driving our team at the time because of the rough road, and the man told Crosby to give me the whip and let me drive his, Crosby's, team. Very reluctantly Crosby gave me the whip. "I had never driven a long team like that, and did not know how to guide them in crooked places. When I came to a place where the road was so crooked it made a half-circle, I should have guided the wheelers to the right, but I did not know that. We started up the hill and when the leaders began to pull they pulled the wheelers and the wagon off the dugway. The dugway was supported by a wall about 1 5 feet high and it pretty nearly pulled the wheel cattle and me off that, as I was hanging, onto the bow of the yoke. I hollered 'whoa,' or rather screamed, 'whoa.' The oxen stopped. It did not take much to stop those oxen, for they were footsore and weary. When Crosby came to his wagon the front wheel had started to run off and had caught on a rock that was sticking out of the wall. There were nearly 4,000 pounds of freight on that wagon, mostly of glass 434 IMPROVEMENT ERA and stoves, and one little stove was worth a hundred dollars at that time. Afterwards when I would travel along and see that place it made me feel scary. "Our journey from this point was uneventful and we settled at Harrisburg, in Washington county." Kaolin, Nevada Success and Changes in the Mexican Mission The native brethren are enthusiastic, and are helping the missionaries in their duties. Recently street meetings began, and we have had as many as two hundred people at one time listening to our message. There have been six baptisms here recently, three in El Paso, and three in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, which is just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Sister Elizabeth C. Peterson, Ogden, Utah, who has been acting as mission sten- ographer for the last twenty-five months was released May 24, Sister Beatrice Spencer, Salt Lake City, Utah, was called to take her place. Elder Phillip Foremaster laboring for the last sixteen months as secretary was released May 8, and Elder Chariton J. Stringham formerly in charge of the work in Chihuahua, Mexico, was called to take his place. Missionaries, top row, left to right: Thomas M. Rees, Salt Lake City, Utah, has charge of the work among the English speaking people in El Paso; Elizabeth C. Peterson, Ogden, Utah, outgoing mission stenographer; Phillip Foremaster, St. George, Utah, outgoing mission secretary; Chariton J. String- ham, Woods Cross, Utah, incoming mission secretary; front row: Alissa Manning, Garland, Utah, working among English speaking people in El Paso; Rey L. Pratt, mission president; Mrs. Rey L. Pratt; Beatrice Spencer, Salt Lake City, Utah, incoming mission stenographer; Clara E. Huber, Midway, Utah, working among English speaking people in El Paso. — Chariton J. Stringham, Mission Secretary.