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Show 240 success that she maintained it until late in the second week. At last her strength began to fail so rapidly that she told me to bring the coffin. When I drove to the house with the undertaker the ominous sign was still on the gate. I told the man that the case had been an unusually virulent one, and he permitted me to carry in the coffin unassisted. He. agreed to see the Bishop and arrange for the diggmg of the grave and call for us at ni~htfall. When they came, Annj ane and I carried out the coffin, which had been we1ghted w1th an oak log from the woodpile. The cover was screwed down, and the black cloth with which the coffin boards were covered reeked with the odour of disinfectants. A few neighbours looked on from a distance at our black clad group as we moved about in the half light of the hearse lanterns. Only the Bishop and the undertaker accompanied us to the cemetery. Neither they nor the grave-digger would touch the coffin. Ann Jane and I lowered 1t mto the grave. Mrs. Senby, certain that Lucy was now safe, gave way to her lo)lg pent-up grief for her husband. She wept until she was seized with an attack of heart failure, from which she was revived with utmost difficulty. We took her home, where Ann Jane put her to bed in the new wing of the cottage. I fumigated the .rest of the house with sulphur, and built a bonfire m the street w1th some old qmlts and a feather bed that Mrs. Senby had gathered together for the purpo~e. Had there been the slightest doubt m the neighbourhood as to the case of smallpox at the Senbys', the stench of .sulphur and burning feathers must have smothered Jt. Mrs. Senby did not die that night, as I fully expected Yet neither did she recover. W1th the a1d of Ann' Jane, she was able at times to get out into the garden, where she reclined on a cot under the trees, dreaming and fatiently awaiting the end. As for mysel , there was more than one harassment to enable me to l9ok my part of bereaved )over. Jn THE MORMON LION addition to my pity for Mrs. Sen by, I had heard that the Arkansans were having difficulties in obtaining food from the fanatical settlers of the Stakes along the tra1l south: Still worse, so many companies of m1htia were bemg rushed out on the eastern trail to burn off the grass before the coming of the troops ~nd to built fortifications in the canyons, that I feared I might be commanded to go to the front. By this time all Zion was in a perfect f"ror over the commg struggle with the Government. The entire body of Saints shared in the rebellious preparations, many of them because of their sincere fanatical hatred of all Gentiles. But the majority, I felt sure, were dnven mto an appearance of zealousness by their fear of the Church rulers. Much of the time I visited with Mrs. Sen by. In the general confuswn, I escaped the attention of Brigham until after the arrival of an officer sent by the Government, m advance of the troops, to inquire the mtentions of the Mormons. When, on the last day of August, Major Van Vleit was granted an interview by Brigham, I was counselled to be present. There was nothing for me to do but obey. Whether the Prophet WIShed me to be on hand to confirm his contentwns as to the law and the Constitution or whether his idea was to commit me as a fellow r~bel by my presence at the conference, I cannot say. I had Chilcott and most of theApostles for company. After receiving the officer in his most affable n:anner, Brigham proc~eded to recount all the past difficulties and persecutwns of the Saints. He closed his statement with a bold and unqualif1ed defiance : "Therefore, Major, I say to you as the representative of the G<;>ver'ment, that I and the people of Utah have determmed to res1st all farther persecution at the start. The troops now on the march for Utah shan't enter Great Salt Lake Valley!" "Go it, Brother Brigham! That's the talk! We're with you, lock, stock and barrel! " cried one of the Apostles. · Q |
