My soul was shut up
as in a dungeon, unable to help itself. It was stretched on a rack, and
tortured with excruciating pain. Those four long dreary days and nights
were the darkest and most miserable I ever passed. But God was merciful.
I lived to reach the end of my dreadful journey, and He had spared my
son. We embraced,--we wept. We were spared--the whole of our family were
spared, thank God--for better days, and for a happier lot.
11. There were other events which befell me while I was in Nebraska,
that had a salutary influence on my mind. I was frequently in the
greatest danger, and was as frequently preserved from harm. As I have
said, I slept three nights with a rattlesnake within three inches of my
breast. My eldest son slept repeatedly in the same terrible position;
yet we both escaped unhurt. Once I was within an inch--within a hair's
breadth, I may say--of being killed by the kick of a horse. On another
occasion, when my eldest son was forking hay in the field, and I was
piling it on the wagon, he heard a rattlesnake, and looked all round
upon the ground to find it, with a view to kill it, but looked in vain.
At length, turning his eyes upwards, he saw it writhing and wriggling on
one of the prongs of his hayfork, which he was holding up in the air.
Pages:
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552