Oh, praise our God for his great mercy toward us, that he has spared our soul the great sorrow of such a bereavement as would have been the departure of this last and dear-beloved friend in the flesh! And yet we know that had the blessed Lord seen fit to take him, as in all the trials of the past we would have been "exceeding joyful in all our tribulations." This trial of our faith was a great blessing to us. It gave us a sure evidence that notwithstanding our intense love for the child we could leave him in the hands of God, and feel sweetly resigned to his will who had worked for us elsewhere. We found the precious boy feeling well, but still so slim and poor that it touched our heart to look upon his lean face. The Lord bless Brother Leininger's family, with whom the child was staying during his sickness, and all the beloved saints who did all they could for the comfort and help of the dear boy.
We started at three o'clock in the morning, the Lord having sent a glorious shower before us to cool the air and put away the dust. As the day began to break, we were blessed in looking at the sublime and beautiful clouds which Father piled up in the heavens, of every shape, tint, and hue. Looking to the north we saw the perfect form of a great hand pointing to the East, and the Spirit of God filled our heart as we acknowledged it the hand of our Father, and that we were going in the direction Father was pointing. We felt something like Nehemiah must have felt when he said, "The hand of the Lord is good upon me."
Two of the "homes" where Brother Warner and the earlier evangelists and workers always found a welcome. The upper residence is that of Joseph F. Smith, near Grand Junction, Mich.; the lower one that of David Leininger, near Beaver Dam, Ind.
These two old buildings, now crumbling to decay, were used thirty-five years ago as houses of worship by the saints at and around Grand Junction, Mich. The one in the upper picture, known as "Smith's," is about three and one half miles northwest of Grand Junction; and the other, known as the "log house," is about the same distance northeast.
We sang the praises of God much of the way, and the gentle breezes carried the sweet sound over the surrounding country. Once we finished a hymn just as we were ascending a hill. At the top of the hill, to our right, stood a house. The song had sounded on ahead of us and found an echo in the heart of a blessed old mother in Israel, who was clapping her hands and shouting the praises of God, and who waved her hand and nodded her head toward us as we came opposite the house, as good as to say, "I felt the Spirit of God in the song and it has set my soul on fire." Oh, how it stirred our soul, as we saw the joyful demonstrations of the dear old sister! We reached our destination in good time and had a blessed meeting that night.