Trivia - Brigham Young sent Elder Tom Little to preside over the church in the east and to go to Washington to petition for help. Elder Little was assisted by his friend, 24-year-old John Kane, son of a well-known federal judge and associate of President Polk. They originally proposed the Mormons be granted contracts to build blockhouses and forts along the Oregon trail.
When they arrived at DC, they heard rumors of the war with Mexico. At Kane's urging, Elder Little wrote a letter to Pres. Polk suggesting that, though the Saints were loyal Americans, the government's refusal to assist them could "compel us to be foreigners." Polk knew many of the Saints were in fact British, and was concerned that they would align themselves with British interests in Oregon. Initially President Polk proposed that the five hundred Mormon men march all the way to California before being formally recruited into the Army, but the urgency of the situation changed over the weeks that followed to the point that President Polk was willing to irritate anti-Mormons in Missouri and Illinois by enlisting the Mormons immediately.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
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4 comments:
You overcame your writer's block with a vengeance. Lovely chapter. You might want to skip the pun on fowl and just say foul about the chicken, and there is some fuzziness about the events in the middle, but the emotion is good and strong and the forshadowing of Lucy's fate is delicately handled.
Unrelated, but I came across this in a friend's blog:
"it has become clearer to me what they mean when they say that love is a decision you make, and must continuously make. When something comes up, you can either choose to let it isolate you from your spouse, or you can choose to find a way to work through it. (snip)
"And if I may be so bold as to offer one technique that has worked so well for us so far (I hate preaching, but sometimes you just gotta say it like it is): pray together before you go to bed. It is really hard to be open with God and be holding anything against your spouse. Fortunately, things that harden your heart do not withstand honest prayer very well at all. If the prayers do soften your heart the first night, rarely can those hard spots endure past the second night."
There is nothiong from my view that might improve this chapter. They are consistantly good. I feel that my title as Muse may be revoked if you continue writing like this.
What would I do without the Moma and the muse? You've both shown (each in your own way) that you can be clear in your disapproval, when I write something that doesn't cut it. So words like "Lovely chapter" and "consistently good" from the two of you are like oases in the desert or bonfires in a snowstorm.
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