“Quite the contrary,” I said, “she discouraged me so much that I could not help shedding tears.”
“Well now,” she answered, “that was Mrs. C——, one of our milliners here; and you suppose she was going to encourage you to set up an opposition shop, do you? If you do, why, you’ve got something yet to learn.” Indeed I felt that I had got a great deal to learn.
“Now I have come to tell you quite a different story,” she said. “This very afternoon you will have at least a dozen ladies here; and ladies, too, who have got the money to pay for what they have, and who won’t pay you in salt chips and whetstones.”
“Do they ever pay in such things?” I inquired.
“Why certainly they do. That is the kind of pay that the good Saints generally expect their poor brethren and sisters to be satisfied with, and to feed their hungry children upon. But I say that this is wrong. Not that I want to set myself up as a judge in Zion, or that I should criticize the actions of the brethren, God forbid! But when I see the rich brethren grinding the faces of the poor in that way, why, I say that it is wrong. But you must not take any such pay as that. You may not always get money, but you can at least get flour, potatoes, and molasses. Now, I tell you that you are going to sell every article that you have got, and I shall take pleasure in recommending you and talking about it. Why, I’ve been to about two score people already; but, there! I see your husband coming, and I must go!” My husband, indeed, was there. He was not very fond of my talkative friend, and passed her by with a polite salutation only; but when he saw what I had been doing, the light dawned upon his mind, he no longer wondered what had become of the dollars in New York, and, astonished at my success, he congratulated me upon the good use to which I had put them.
After this interview I felt quite encouraged, and I very soon found that my friend’s predictions were correct. I had no difficulty in selling, and I created quite a little business, although we lived a considerable distance from Main Street. And what with my efforts, and some employment which my husband obtained, we contrived to get through our first winter in Salt Lake City.
But I anticipate.
One day my husband informed me that there was a house about to be vacated shortly, and that Brigham Young had told him we had better take it. It was pleasantly situated near the Tabernacle, and, as houses then were, it was quite a desirable residence. We had it thoroughly cleaned, and then moved in. When I arrived in the evening I found that Mr. Stenhouse, with the assistance of our faithful Swiss girl, had arranged everything as the goods arrived from the other house; and the place looked so clean, and there was such a bright fire burning that I felt that we now had really something like a home, and my heart was filled with gratitude.
Soon after our establishment in our new home, Brigham sent for me and asked me to make a handsome bonnet for his then favourite wife Emmeline. He left it entirely to my taste; I was to make just what I pleased, so that it suited her and gave satisfaction.
I made my bonnet; and when I presented it, Brigham Young was so pleased that he immediately gave me an order to make one for each of his wives. I was very much pleased at this, for we needed furniture and many other necessaries very badly, and I thought that this would enable me to get them. I expected, of course, that my account would be paid in money, for I did not suppose that the Prophet of the Lord would offer me chips or whetstones: he could afford to pay cash, and, of course, would do so. He had furnished me with some material out of his own store—for Brigham Young had a dry-goods and grocery store of his own at that time—and I was to furnish the remainder. It was very little indeed that he supplied, and therefore my account was likely to amount to a considerable sum, for almost every wife had at least one bonnet which she wished made over with new trimmings, besides the new one.