CHAPTER XXVII.

WESTWARD.


The moving of a nation! What a task it must have been!

Most of you have had some experience in moving, it may be only a family
moving from one house to another, and you know what a lot of worry and work
there are in such a small affair; but here was a nation moving!

This great exodus was very much like the time when the children of Israel
went from under the oppression of Egypt out into the wilderness to journey
to the promised land. When at Nauvoo, Brigham Young said to the Saints: "To
your tents, O Israel," they knew they had another Moses to lead them from
their persecutors.

The camp at Sugar creek grew larger every day through the arrival of exiles
from Nauvoo. Many did not bring provisions enough with them, so that they
were forced to go to the neighboring farms and settlements and work for
corn.

The first move the camp made was on March 1, 1846, when four hundred wagons
started forward. Five miles only was traveled that day, and when they
camped, the snow had to be shovelled away where they pitched their tents.

From that time the Saints moved slowly westward across the territory of
Iowa. As they advanced, the spring rains came and often drenched the
travelers through. The ground now became very muddy, and it was so hard for