OCR Text |
Show 96 as her health will not permit her to continue the journey with Milford and the others, she would like to return home. She is deeply affected by Maggie's magnanimity in offering to go with her, but soon decides, in great pain and unable to leave her bed, to remain in her father's household until spring. Immediate relief comes as her husband and father administer to her. On November 27 we find: Milford was compelled to return to the city on business. After some deliberation he took Maggie and Lizzie with him. Mary stayed with me. What a kind, self-sacrificing spirit she has-Heaven bless her! Milford blessed me before his departure and gave me such great and glorious promises that it made my heart rejoice. The more I am associated with my Bard, the more I reflect upon his action- the more wisdom I see in all his movements. Never did I see man who sought more after the spirit of light and justice in all his judgments in family matters.11 What a memorial to one man this entire journal is! If Milford ever read it thoughtfully, he certainly should have been supplied with enough nourishment to satisfy his ego needs for the whole of his lifetime. Three days later, enervated by her continuing illness, Ellis is "still lying in bed, not able to sit up, or walk about." A week before Christmas, Milford and the girls return to Mt. Pleasant and remain there with Ellis through that holiday, enjoying a Christmas feast under her father's roof, followed by a sleighride in the "bracing air" which has a "refreshing and resuscitating" influence upon Ellis's health and spirits. Ending the day by singing some of their "old home songs" permits all to retire with "light hearts." Milford will return to Salt Lake City on December 27. At year's end, 1873, Ellis seems galled by the inference that |