winter was severe; and famine, stark and inexorable, threw its
dread shadow over the people. There seemed to be an entry in the
book of fate that every possible test of human endurance and
integrity should be applied to this pilgrim band. Without
distinction as to former station, they went out and dug the roots
of weeds, gathered the tenderest of the coarse grass, thistles,
and wild berries, and thus did they subsist; upon such did they
feast with thanksgiving, until a less scanty harvest relieved
their wants.

It was at this time that the gold fever was at its height, a
consequence of the discovery of the precious metal in California,
in which discovery, indeed, certain members of the disbanded
"Mormon" Battalion, working their way eastward, were most
prominent. Some of the "Mormon" settlers, becoming infected with
the malady, hastened westward, but the counsel of the Church
authorities prevailed to keep all but a few at home. These
people had not left the country of their birth or adoption to
seek gold; nor bright jewels of the mine; nor the wealth of seas;
nor the spoils of war; they sought and believed they had found, a
faith's pure shrine. But the gold-seekers hastening westward,
and the successful miners returning eastward, halted at the
"Mormon" settlements and there replenished their supplies,
leaving their gold to enrich the people of the desert.

But of what use is gold in the wilderness! In the old legend a
famishing Arab, finding a well filled bag upon the sand was
thrilled with joy at the thought of dates--his bread; and then
was cast into the depths of despair when he realized that he had
found nothing but a bag of costly pearls. The settlers by the