The next morning Mrs. Bidwell came into our room and said that my remarks at the meeting the evening before were directed at her, and she wanted me to understand that if I did not like my treatment there she desired us to go where we would fare better. This inhuman and unwelcome language did not sit well on an empty stomach, and was more than I could bear. I burst into tears. Yet I pitied the ungrateful woman. As soon as I could control my feelings I said:
"Sister Bidwell, I will take you at your word. I will leave your house as soon as I can get my things into my wagon, but before I leave you I wish to say a few words for you to ponder on when we are gone. In the first place, you and I profess to be members of the same Church; for the sake of our faith my family has been broken up and driven from a comfortable home in this inclement season of the year. We came here seeking shelter from the stormy blasts of winter, until the severity of the weather was past, when we intended to leave this State. You have been more fortunate than your brethren and sisters who lived in Daviess County. You are allowed to live in your own house, but we are homeless wanderers. Now you drive us from the shelter of your roof for a trivial offense, if offense it was. But I assure you that you are only angry because my words were the truth. Woe unto you who are angry and offended at the truth. As you do unto others, so will your Heavenly Father do unto you. Inasmuch as you have done this unchristian act, you will yet be houseless and homeless - you will be one day dependent upon those that you now drive from your door."
At first she mocked me, but soon her tune changed and she commenced to cry. She then begged me not to get angry with what a woman said. I told her I could not undo what I had said - that I should start at once for Quincy, Illinois.
We left the house of that stingy and selfish family, intending to go direct to Illinois. We traveled until we arrived at the house of a man by the name of Morris; they had a much smaller house than Bidwell's, but they would not listen to our continuing our journey during the severe cold weather. We accepted their invitation, and stayed there about two weeks. This family possessed the true Christian spirit, and treated us while there as kindly as if we had been their own children.
While staying with Brother Morris I attended several meetings at Far West. Old Father Smith, the father of the Prophet, led the meetings. He also directed the exodus of the Saints from Missouri to Illinois.
Thomas B. Marsh was at that time President of the twelve apostles, and I think Brigham Young was second and Orson Hyde the third on the roll. The great opposition to our people and Church caused the two pillars, Marsh and Hyde, to become weak-kneed and turn over to the enemy. Col. G. M. Hinkle, Dr. Averard, Judge W. W. Phelps, and others of the "tall" men of the Church followed suit. I remember going with Brother Levi Stewart to some of those fallen angels (in the days of our prosperity they had looked like angels to me) to inquire what to do and what was to be the future conduct of our people. G. M. Hinkle said that it was his opinion our leaders, the Prophet Joseph and those with him in prison, would be either hanged or imprisoned for life - that the members of the Church would scatter to the four winds, and never gather again in this dispensation.
We then went to Joseph's father and asked him for counsel. He told us that the Saints would gather again in Illinois. We asked him at what point, and he said:
"I do not know yet, but the further north we go the fewer poisonous serpents we will find."
He then advised us to attend private meetings and be set apart to the ministry. Public meetings could not be held by the terms of the treaty. We did attend private meetings, and I was ordained in the Quorum of Seventies, under the hands of Joseph Young and Levi Hancock. Stewart was ordained to the lesser Priesthood, which gave him authority to preach and baptize, but not to confirm.
The office that I held gave me authority to preach, baptize, and confirm by the laying on of hands, for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and to ordain and set apart Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons, and to ordain a Seventy or High Priest, as the office of a Seventy belongs to the Melchisedek Priesthood; yet a Seventy or High Priest is generally ordained and set apart by the presidents of the several quorums.