Thursday, May 2, 2013


Come, Come, Ye Saints
            "A reporter from the Council Bluffs Bugle, located across the Missouri River from Florence, wrote with admiration about the Willie company as they started…toward Fort Laramie."  He writes:
            "Having seen several handcart trains pass through this city, and cross the ferries at Elk Horn and Loup Fork, we could not help but remark on the enthusiasm which animated all classes and ages…
            It may seem, to some, that these people endure great hardships in traveling hundreds of miles on foot, drawing arts behind them.  This is a mistake, for many informed me that after the first three days' travel, it requires little effort for two or three men or women to drag the light handcart….It is also a fact that they can travel farther in a day, and with less fatigue, than the ox trains…
            This is enthusiasm- this is heroism indeed.  Though we cannot coincide with them in their belief, it is impossible to restrain our admiration of their self-sacrificing devotion to the principles of their faith."
"John Chislett also recalled the good spirits as the Willie company left Florence. "We moved gaily forward full of hope and faith. At our camp each evening could be heard songs of joy and merry peals of laughter(concerning) our conditions and prospects." The Price We Paid, pgs. 86-87
"We did all we could do to aid and encourage each other. In the  blizzards and falling snow, we sat under our handcarts and sang, Come, Come Ye Saints...The Lord gave us strength and courage."
-Stone-Willie Company

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