Lorenzo Snow.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Editor's Remarks.—Lorenzo writes from Malta.—Naples.—Across the Mediterranean.—Detention.—Disappointed.—Makes virtue of necessity.—Samuel succeeds his brother.—Lorenzo explains cause of detention.—Revised edition of the "Voice of Joseph."—Prospects in Malta.—Michael and Lucifer represented.—In Gibraltar.—Good news from India.—Extracts.—Elder Willis writes.—One hundred and eighty-nine members.—Ordained two Elders.—More Baptisms.
There are tidal waves in the undulating stream of human events, which, although they may not be obstacles to anticipated results, frequently prove barriers to the fulfilment of human expectations. One of these swept suddenly over my brother's pathway.
Having set his face in the direction and while vigorously urging his steps toward the far east, suddenly his course was changed; and, although his interest in the East was not diminished, duty pointed in the opposite direction, and the vista to the far West, the home of the Saints, the gathering place of Israel, opened brightly before him, and he moved forward.
Malta, March 10TH, 1852.
Dear Franklin:
On mature consideration, while at Genoa, it seemed wisdom that Elder Woodard should accompany me to Malta, for which place we took passage, on the twentieth of February, on board the French steamer Telemaque. The following day we arrived at Leghorn, and proceeding thence passed the island of Elba, where Napoleon resided before his last return to France.
On reaching Civitta Vecchia in the Papal States, in consequence of a severe storm, we were detained twenty-four hours. Our next port was Naples, one of the largest cities of Italy, and the seat of the Neapolitan government, containing about three hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants. Its celebrity may be judged from the old proverb, "See Naples and die." Upon entering the bay, the ever smoking brow of Mount Vesuvius is seen on the right like a demon watching for the destined hour when again he can pour forth desolation upon the surrounding country.