Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-02-15
CHAPTER II.
THE FLOWER OF UTAH.

kAS Ata 4N u GU w
the immigrant Mormons before they
came to their final haven. From the
shores of the Mississippi to the western
slopes of the Rocky mountains they
had struggled on with a c~onstancy
almost unparalleled in history. The
savage man, and the savage beast,
hunger, thirst, fatigue and disease
every impeachment which nature could
place in the way, had all been over
come with Anglo-Saxon tenacity. Yet
the long Journey and the accumulated
terrors had shaken the hearts of the
stoutest among them. There was not
M who did not sink upon his knees in
heartfelt prayer when they saw the
broad valley of Utah bathed in the
sunlight beneath them, and learned
from the lips of their leader that this
was the promised land, and that these
virgin acres were to be theirs forever.
more.
Young speedily proved himself to be
q skillful administrator as well as a
resolute chief. Maps were drawn and
charts prepared, in which the future
city was sketched out. All around
farms were apportioned and allotted in
proportion to the standing of each in
dividual. The tradesman was put to
his trade and the artisan to his calling.
In the town streets and squares sprang
up as If by magic. In the country there
was draining and hedging, planting
and clearing, until the next summer
saw the whole country golden with
the wheat crop. Everything pros,
pered in the strange settlement.
Above all, the great temple which they
had erected in the center of the city
grew ever taller and taller. From the
first blush of dawn until the closing
Of the twilight, the clatter of the
hammer and the rasp of the saw were
eve absent from the monument
which the immigrants erected to Him
who had led them safe through many
dangers.
The two castaways. John Terrier and
the little girl who had shared his for
tunes and had been adopted as his
daughter, accompanied the Mormons
to the end of their pilgrimage. Little
Lucy Terrier was borne along pleas.
antly enough in Elder Stangerson's
wagon, q retreat which she shared
with the Mormon's three wives and
with his son, a headstrong, forward
boy of twelve. Having rallied, with
the elasticity OF childhood, from the
shock caused by her mothers death,
she soon became a pet with the women,
and reconciled herself to this new life
In her moving ca~nvas-covered home.
In the meantime, Terrier, having re-
covered from his privations, distin-
guished himself as a useful guide and
an indefatigable hunter. So rapidly
did he gain the esteem of his new
companions that when they reached
the end of their wanderings it was
unanimously agreed that he should be
provided with as large and as fertile a
tract of land as any of the settlers,
with the exception of Young himself,
and of Stangerson, Kimball, Johnston
and Drebber, who were the four princi-
pal elders.
On the farm thus acquired John Fer
rier built himself a substantial log
house, which received so many addi-
tons in succeeding years that it grew
Into a roomy villa. He was a man of a
practical turn of mind, keen in his
dealings and skillful with his hands.
His iron constitution enabled him to
work morning and evening at improv-
ing and tilling his lands. Hence it
came about that his farm and all that
belonged to him prospered exceeding
ly. In three years he was better off
than his neighbors, in six he was we'll
to do, in nine he was rich, and in
twelve there were nothalf adozen men
in the whole of Salt Lake City who
could compare with him. From the
great inland sea to the distant Wah-
satch mountains there was no name
better known than hat of John Fer
rier.
There was one way, and only one, in
which he offended the suseeptibilities
of his coreligionists. No argument or
persuasion could ever indace him to
set up a female establishment after
the manner of his companions. He
eve gave reasons for this persistent
refusal, but contented himself by reso-
lutely adhering to his determination.
There were some who accused him OF
lukewarmness in his adopted religion,
and others who put it down to greed OF
wealth and reluctance to incur ex-
pense. Others, again, spoke of some
early love affair, and of a fair-haired
girl who had pined away on the shores
of the Atlantic. Whatever the reason,
Ferrier remained strictly celibate. In
every other respect he conformed to
%ha ~a1,rs1- ~ tho caffIornarf
and gained the name of being an or
thodox and straight-walking a
Lucy Terrier grew up within the log
house, and assisted her adopted father
In all his undertakings. The keen air
of the mountains and the balsamic
odor of the pine trees took the place OF
nurse and mother to the young girl.
As year succeeded to year she grew
taller and stronger, her cheek more
ruddy and her step more elastic. Many
a wayfarer upon the high-road which
ran by Terriers farm felt long-forgot
ten thoughts revive in his mind as he
watched her 1.-THE, girlish figure trip
ping through the wheat fields, or met
her mounted upon her fathers mus
tang, and managing it with all the
east and grace of a true child of the
west. So the bud blossomed into g
flower, and the years which saw hel
father the richest of farmers left hel
as fair a specimen of American girl
hood as could be found on the whole
Pacific slope.
1t was not the father, however, who
first discovered that the child had de
veloped into the woman. 1t seldom Il
In such cases. That mysterious change
is too subtle and too gradual to ht
measured by dates. Least of all doe
the maiden herself know it until the
tone of q voice o. the touch of a hane
sets her heart thrilling within her, ani
she learns. with a mixture Of pride
and of fear, that a new and larger ma
ture has awakened within her. There
are few who cannot recall that day ani
remember the n little incident which
heralded the dawn of a new life. II
the case of Lucy Ferrier the occasion
was serious enough in itself, apart from
its future influence on her destiny anG
that of many besides.
1t was a warm June morning, anG
the Latterday Saints were as busy a.
the bees whose hive they have chosen
for their emblem. In the fields and IL
the streets ROSE the same hum of human
industry. Down the dusty highroadi
defled long streams of heavily lader
mules, all heading to the west, for the
gold fever had broken out in Cali
fornia. and the overland route