CHAPTER II.

Persecuted by Playmates--Give Them an Effective Check--Fight with Wild Beasts--Parents Join the Mormons--The Author Holds Back--Assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith--Mormons Leave Illinois for the West--Exciting Times--My Winter's Work--Father Decides to Wait a While Before Leaving Illinois--My Determination to go with the Mormons--Confide a Secret to my Mother--A New Consultation--Change In the Family Plans--Father Prepares to Start--Gives me Permission to Go--Thinks of Leaving me because of My Illness--I Feel to Prefer Death to Being Left Behind.