And it proved so. When Mary afterwards saw Brother Fleming she recognized him as the second one of her dream.
The Elders were not idle because they had found a comfortable resting place, but traveled about seeking to get opportunities of spreading the gospel. One family named Davis, whose farm (rented from McArthur) joined the Chittenden's, listened with pleased interest to these new doctrines. In the course of two weeks after the arrival of the Elders, William Chittenden came home, and expressed a gladness in his heart to find the Elders at his home. He immediately fixed up a bedroom near the sitting-room for the use of the Elders. Weeks went into months, and still the Chittendens were not baptized.
The Elders made Camden their head-quarters, but went about through the surrounding country, meeting, however, with very little success. William and his wife, with their oldest daughter were ready to be baptized, as were the Davis'. But almost a year after the arrival of the brethren was allowed to slip by without the baptisms having been performed.
I want to stop and tell you a little about the worldly condition of this couple, as well as mention a detail or two more about the country they were living in before I go on with my story.
They had brought their two hundred acres under good cultivation; they had a large fruit garden back of the house, in which grew the most delicious peaches, plums and cherries. The country is so adapted to fruit that peach-stones thrown out near running water would be fruit-bearing-trees in three years. There were no apples, but such quantities of tropical fruits. Grapes, melons, figs, lemons and oranges were so plentiful and so cheap that William would not spend time to grow them. A sixpence (12 cents) would buy enough of these fruits to load a man down.
They had four horses, one wagon, a dray and a light spring cart, six cows and many calves, plenty of pigs and droves of chickens, turkeys and geese.
The large granary to the south of the house groaned with its wealth of wheat corn, barley and oats.
And while I am speaking of wheat I am minded to give a description of the way adopted to preserve wheat in that country. Mr. McArthur, the owner of all these thousands of acres, received from his tenants a share of the wheat grown. This he stored up as there was little or no sale for it until drought years, when it commanded a good price.
After the three years drought which occurred there prior to 1853, William and his wife went to this Mr. McArthur to get wheat. He had dug a very large vault or cellar, and this had been well cemented, top, bottom and sides. Here the wheat had been stored for twelve years when the Chittendens went to get theirs. The wheat was perfectly sound and sweet. Over the vault a store-house had been built, and the door to it was near the top of the cellar.
You can see that our kind friends were well-to-do, and had every prospect ahead for success and prosperity.