The Work and the Glory (365 page)

Gradually, Will was conscious of a deep, violent shaking all through his body. Then after a moment his brain came awake enough to realize that what he was feeling was his body’s response to the cold. Cold enveloped him, invaded him, penetrated him, permeated his every body cell. He had never known such horrible, numbing, deadening cold before.

“We’ve got to get back to camp or we’re all going to freeze.”

He recognized the voice and the French accent, and opened his eyes. Jean Claude Dubuque was crouched over him, looking down into his face. When he saw Will’s eyes open, his face softened. “Ah,
mon ami
,” he said quietly. “How are you?”

“I am so cold,” Will answered, barely able to speak through the terrible chattering of his teeth.

Jean Claude nodded grimly. Only then did Will realize someone was holding him in his arms. He looked up into Nathan’s face and saw his uncle smiling down at him. “Hello, Will.”

Will tried to sit up and felt Nathan’s arm helping him do so. He looked back at Jean Claude. His hair was wet. There were tiny beads of ice on his neatly trimmed mustache and beard. His coat was soaking wet. Will looked up at Nathan. His hat was gone. His hair was wet and already visibly stiffening in the frigid air. Unlike most of the other men in the camps, Nathan continued to shave each day and wore no beard. His cheeks and chin were almost blue, his eyebrows frosted with ice. Unlike Jean Claude, he had no coat. Like the Frenchman, his clothes were dripping wet. Then Will realized that Nathan’s coat was covering his own body. And miraculously it was dry. And then he remembered Nathan running, and pulling off his coat.

“Did you get me out?” he asked weakly.

“He did, my friend,” Jean Claude said. “You are very lucky to be alive.”

Will’s head jerked to one side. “Olaf?” he asked. “Where’s Ollie?”

Nathan just shook his head.

Jean Claude looked away. “I could not get to him in time,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“No,” Will cried, shocked deeply.

“We must move swiftly,” Jean Claude said to Nathan, taking one of Will’s arms. “There is no time to delay. We must get moving, get our bodies working, or we shall all perish.”

Wednesday, November 24th, Black River

My dearest Lydia,

This will be just a quick note. Due to some unusual and tragic circumstances which I will explain at some later date, a man was drowned this morning. Will nearly was too. Two men are going to take the man’s body to La Crosse in the morning and will take this letter out with them.

Your letter about Jenny came Saturday. I showed it to Will the next day. I decided he had a right to know what was going on. It has been a difficult thing for him. He was determined to go home right away, but after what happened today he has had a change of heart. He is writing Jenny tonight to tell her to marry Andrew if that is what she wishes. Now, however, he has decided he won’t go home at all, not even for Christmas. Perhaps I should have tried to talk him out of that decision, but, all things considered, I think it is for the best. Jenny can move on without being torn further. Please let Caroline know. Will wanted to write to her tonight too, but felt he must write Jenny. He said to tell his mother that he will send her a letter explaining everything in the next mail.

Joshua knows none of this yet. He has been gone from camp and won’t be back until later tonight. Will wants me to be with him when he tells Joshua and so I am here in their camp tonight. I hope Joshua doesn’t rejoice too openly over the matter. Will’s heart is still very tender over all of this.

Here is the problem that creates. I think that it is best if I stay on here with Will rather than go home. Please, my darling, I know this will be disappointing news, but hear me out. I have talked this over with our leaders, and they have agreed to let me move over here to start working with Joshua’s crew on the day that Joshua leaves to go home. While it will mean a loss of a man to them, our camp is very low on supplies and on the most meager of rations now. Joshua’s camp is better supplied and so my coming over will be one less mouth for the other camp to worry about.

Joshua still plans to go home. He has some kind of pressing business in Nauvoo that cannot wait. He had planned to leave a Frenchman here in charge, but when he learns that Will is not going, he will undoubtedly leave him as foreman. This is a mistake. The men like Will, but he is not yet eighteen. He cannot begin to handle them. Some are very rough. But if I am here with Will and I let the men know that we view the Frenchman as the true foreman, things should be fine.

There is a good part to this. Once Joshua returns (about mid-January, I hope) and is back with Will, I will go home. And not just for a brief visit. I will stay there until spring and then come back only long enough to help them get the rafts of lumber downriver to Nauvoo. So while my not going home for Christmas is a disappointment, when I do return to Nauvoo, I will not have to leave again for almost three more months, and that will be wonderful.

I have so looked forward to being home with you and the family for Christmas, but when all is taken into consideration, I think this is best. Kiss the children for me. Help Caroline understand that this is best for Will. It truly is.

Your loving husband,

Nathan

By the way, you were right. I was totally shocked with your news about Jessica. And yet it is great news. The steady salary will be a great boon to her.

Chapter Notes

It is a common misconception that Nauvoo was the only planned settlement for the Latter-day Saints at this time in Illinois and that all but a few of the Saints lived there. In actuality, under Joseph’s direction, there were seventeen planned communities of Saints in Hancock County, Illinois. Some, like Ramus, were established totally by Latter-day Saints. There, Mormons made up virtually the whole population. There were also missionary settlements—that is, places where Mormons were sent to live among non-Mormon populations in hopes of having a positive influence on them for the Church. (See S. Kent Brown, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard H. Jackson, eds.,
Historical Atlas of Mormonism
[New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994], p. 56.)

We do not know at what point Ramus started a common school, but we do know that it was during 1842 that the movement for local governments to help fund common schools in Hancock County began in earnest (see
In Old Nauvoo
, p. 238).

Payment for teaching was usually based on the number of students. A husband noted that his wife received $1.50 per student per quarter, which was a healthy supplement to their family income (see
Women of Nauvoo
, p. 58). One woman received 877 mills (one mill being equal to one-tenth of a cent) per student per one hundred days of teaching, or less than one cent per day per student. Another teacher received four cents per student per day. (See
In Old Nauvoo
, pp. 239–40; this book contains a whole chapter on schools in Nauvoo during this time, pp. 237–52.)

Lydia’s description of the temporary baptismal font, which was dedicated on 8 November 1841, is drawn from a detailed account given in Joseph’s history (see
HC
4:446–47). Two weeks after its dedication, members of the Twelve performed forty baptisms for the dead, the first done in the font (see
HC
4:454).

Chapter 13

   Will you just stop grumping?” Caroline said, pulling Joshua’s arm in against her. “We won’t stay long.”

“Caroline,” Joshua replied, “you know I have to start back for Wisconsin in the morning. If I don’t get the books at the stable straightened out before I go, they won’t get done until April or May.”

“Joshua, we owe it to Joseph and Emma to be there. With us owning a store, it will look like we’re unhappy that Joseph is giving us competition.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Nauvoo is growing so fast it could take two or three more stores and still be fine. Besides, Joseph will never notice whether we’re there or not. I have got to get those books done.”

“Well,” she said, with just a touch of tartness in her voice, “you didn’t seem too concerned about the books the other evening when John C. Bennett and some of his associates invited you over and you stayed until after midnight.”

“That was business. We were talking about a possible partnership on—”

“This is business too,” she said sweetly, but there was no mistaking the firmness in her voice. “We are going to welcome a fellow store owner to town.”

Joshua opened his mouth, then shut it again. He knew when he wasn’t going to win. “All right,” he finally growled, “but we can only stay for a few minutes. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

When Joshua left for Wisconsin in September, Joseph’s store was still in the first stages of its construction. He had been impressed with the size of the foundation—far larger than any normal country store—but thought little else about it. Now as they came south along Granger Street and approached Water Street, they could see the store directly ahead of them. There were several horses and half a dozen carriages drawn up out front. People were milling around outside. Joshua slowed his step, not hiding his surprise. It was a large building and made entirely of brick. There was a full second story and large windows.

“Well,” he said with new respect, “that’s quite the building. Joseph did this?”

“Yes, and Emma says Joseph hasn’t spared any expense on the inside either. It will be the finest store in Hancock County.”

“Good for him,” Joshua said. And he meant it. “All right, let’s get this over with.”

The opening of the Prophet’s store was
the
event in Nauvoo, at least for the moment. Inside the store it was controlled pandemonium. The store was packed with people. Joshua shot Caroline a pleading look, but she merely smiled, looking around. “Oh, Joshua, this is wonderful,” she breathed.

He let his eyes follow hers and had to admit she was right. If you forgot about the crush of people, this was an impressive room. The ceilings were high—probably ten feet, he estimated. At the very back on the left side there was a small alcove which opened up on stairs. He assumed those led to the basement and the upper floor. But other than that, the walls on every side were devoted exclusively to shelves and drawers. The shelves were well stocked, especially considering how rapidly things were being pulled down and sold.

Through a break in the crowd, Joshua saw Joseph standing behind the main counter. He looked a little harried as he tried to serve the crowds. A little farther down, he could see Emma. He caught one glimpse of the roundness of her figure and remembered that she was in a family way. He turned to Caroline. “When is Emma’s baby due?”

“In about a month.”

“Oh.” He looked back and saw that although the Prophet’s wife looked very happy, her face was also lined with weariness.

“Caroline Steed,” a woman’s voice said from behind them. “Oh, thank you for coming.”

Joshua and Caroline both turned to see Mary Fielding Smith, wife of Hyrum. She had an armful of bolts of cloth, trying to push her way across to the opposite counter where Hyrum was waiting on a crowd of his own.

“How nice of you to come. How are you, anyway?”

“We’re fine, Mary. Just fine.”

“Joshua, good to see you again. I heard you were home for a time.”

“Yes, for Christmas. I’ll go back tomorrow.”

“That’s too bad.” She half turned, then spied an older man a few feet away. “Oh, Joshua, you’ve never met my brother, have you?” She went up on her toes. “Joseph! Joseph! Come here for a moment.”

The man heard her and pushed his way through to them. “Joshua Steed,” Mary said, “meet my brother, Joseph Fielding. Joseph, this is Joshua Steed, Benjamin’s oldest son and Nathan’s brother. He’s been up north in the Pine Woods.”

“How do you do?” The voice spoke in a fine, cultured British accent.

“I’m pleased to meet you,” Joshua said. Vaguely he remembered that Mary and Mercy had a brother who had gone on a mission to England with Heber C. Kimball and then stayed on while the others came back. “When did you get back?” he asked.

“The end of November. I came with a shipload of Saints from England, actually.”

“After four years it must be wonderful to be home,” Caroline said.

“It is. It surely is.” He reached out and took the bolts from his sister. “Here, let me take these over to Hyrum.” As he did so, he nodded to Joshua. “Good to meet you. And good to see you again, Caroline.”

“Come on,” Caroline said to Joshua as Mary waved and moved to follow her brother, “I want to see if they have any shoes for Savannah.”

Joshua shrugged and followed after her, pushing his way through the crowd, nodding at people he knew, murmuring greetings to people he didn’t. Everyone was in a jubilant mood and the noise level was high. As they got about halfway across the room, Joseph spied them and waved. Joshua raised a hand and waved back, not expecting more than that, but Joseph immediately excused himself, came from around the counter, and pushed his way through to them.