Mower County transcript., 1907-03-13
a TALE or TIE. OLD WEST
q ~ ffARRY LEON vii son rsT Hyss9s ssess9a. e

to melt. E'Or something IN aer man.
ner told him that she OWNED all his
weakness; that, it. she acknowledged
his power over her, she recognized
her own power over him, power
equal to and justly balancing the 9TH
er. Even when he discoursed from
the pulpit, his glance would fasten
upon hers, as If there were but the
one face before him instead of thou
sand, and he knew that she mocked
him in her heart; knew she OWNED
there was that within him which
strongly would have had her and him
self far away-alone.
Nor was the girls own mind all Of
a piece. For, IL she Haunted herself
before him, as if with an impish re-
solve to be his undoing, there were
still times when he awed her by his
words of fire, and by his high, deter
mined stand in some circle to which
she knew she could never mount.
That night when he walked with her
in the moonlight, she knew he had
trembled on the edge of the gulf fixed
so mysteriopsly between them. She
had even felt herself leaning over to
draw him down with her own warm
arms; and then all at once he had
strangely moved away, widening this
mysterious gulf that always separated
them, leaving her solitary, hurt, and
wondering. She could not understand
it. Life called through them so
strongly. How could he breast the
mighty rush? And why, why must it
be so? -
During the winter that now came
upon them, it became even greater
wonder to her; for it was common
suffering-a time of dark days which
she felt they might have lightened for
each other, and time when she knew
that more than ever she drew him.
For hardly had the feast of the Har-
vest Home gone by when food once
more became scarce. The heaven
sent gulls had, after all, saved but
half a crop. Drought and early frost
had diminished this; and those who
came in from the east came all too
trustingly with empty meal sacks.
BY the beginning Of winter there
were 5000 people in the valley to be
fed with miraculous loaves and fishes.
Half Of these were without decent
shelter, dwelling under wagon covers
or in flimsy tents, and forced much
of the time to be without fuel; for
wood had to be hauled through. the
snow from the distant canyons, and
so was precious stuff For three
months the cutting winds came down
from the north, and the pitiless win
ter SHOWS ragged about them. An in
ventory was early taken Of the food
stuffs, and thereafter rations were is
sued alike to all, whether rich or
poor. Otherwise many of the latter
must have perished. It was ltiIne
of hard expedients, such as men are
content to face only for the love Of
God. They ranged the hills and
benches to dig sego and thistle roots,
and in the last days of winter many
took the rawhides from their roofs,
boiling and eating them. When spring
came, they watched hunsrily for the
first green vegetation, which they
gathered and cooked. Truly it seemed
they had stopped in desert as cruel
in it's way as the human foes from
whom they had fed.
1t was now that the genius of their
leader showed. He was no longer
Brigham Young, the preacher, but a
father in Israel to his starving chill
dren. i
The efforts of Brigham to put heart
into the people were ably seconded by
Joel Rae. He was loved like Brigham,
but not feared. He preached like