OCR Text |
Show 32 afflictions of mind and body, pity I could never endure, but it was her remarkable power to mould the crude, disagreeable happenings into harmonious beauty.24 Anna Eliza, in the company of two brothers, returned home to Mt. Pleasant early in July, leaving Ellis lonely-but not for long. Milford brought teams and wagons to move them back to Salt Lake, for the Fillmore enterprise had not been successful. That was the period during which an effort, also unsuccessful, was made to relocate the seat of government to that mid-state community. The two circumstances were no doubt linked. There is a story, part of the family lore, which ties in with these events and goes like this: The local people did not take well to Milford's efforts in Fillmore, calling him a "dude" and a "highbrow" who was set on making himself a "Midas" through the people's hard work. Milford, never one to be gracious when his judgment and authority were questioned, let his temper flare, and the result was fisticuffs. Milford was no physical match for the big men, being of medium size with a slight build, and he was getting the worst of it. Ellis (in much the way she did years earlier when her big male teacher was raining heavy blows on a boy classmate of hers) stood between Milford and the assailants and thereby rescued him because the outraged citizens were not prepared to hit a woman. Soon after their return to Salt Lake, Milford arranged for the remodeling of their home so that it might accommodate the ever-growing family, the work continuing through his absence on |