Part 44 (1/2)

Sarah Stiles.+ Elizabeth Hereford,+ Rebecca Williams,+ Sarah Buckwater.+ Mary Dull.+

Thus it will be seen that Heber C. Kimball was the husband of forty-five wives,[A] and the father of sixty-five children. Truly a patriarchal household.

[Footnote A: At the funeral of his wife Vilate, Heber, pointing to the coffin, said: ”There lies a woman who has given me forty-four wives.”]

It may well be surmised that the government and support of a family of such dimensions were no small tax upon the wisdom, patience and provident care of even the wisest and most opulent. Forever banished be the thought--aspersion upon reason and consistency as it is--that self-seeking, ease-desiring human nature would take upon itself such burdens and responsibilities from any motive less honorable and pure than that which Mormonism maintains is the true one. Luxury and l.u.s.t go frequently hand in hand; licentiousness and honest toil but rarely.

Heber C. Kimball was a man of industry, a man of virtue, of self-denial, who would sooner have thought of severing his right hand from his body, than to have cherished an unchaste sentiment, or sacrificed a principle to sin or selfish ease. He was often heard to declare that the plural order of marriage, with its manifold cares and perplexities, had cost him ”bushels of tears.”

Yet his was an exemplary family--as much so as any in all Israel, polygamous or otherwise. His wives loved each other as sisters, and dwelt together in peace and unity; while his children, especially the males, sons of various mothers, clung together with an affection all but clannish in its intensity. Woe betide the luckless wight, who, even in childhood's days, imposed upon a ”Kimball boy.” The whole family of urchins would resent the insult, and that, too, with pluckiness surpa.s.sing even their numbers.

Family prayer was an inst.i.tution in the Kimball household. Morning and evening the members were called in to surround the family altar and offer up praise and pet.i.tions to the Throne of Grace. It is a common remark to this day that such prayers are seldom heard as were wont to issue from the heart and lips of Heber C. Kimball. Reverence for Deity was one of the cardinal qualities of his nature. Nevertheless, it was noticeable that the G.o.d to whom he prayed was a being ”near at hand and not afar off.” He wors.h.i.+ped not as ”a worm of the dust,”

hypocritically meek and lowly, or as one conscious of naught but the meanness of his nature, and the absence of merit in his cause. But in a spirit truly humble, confessing his sins, yet knowing something of the n.o.bility of his soul, he talked with G.o.d ”as one man talketh with another;” and often with the ease and familiarity of an old-time friend.

On one occasion, while offering up an earnest appeal in behalf of certain of his fellow-creatures, he startled the kneeling circle by bursting into a loud laugh in the very midst of his prayer. Quickly regaining his composure and solemn address, he remarked, apologetically: ”Lord, it makes me laugh to pray about some people.”

Heber loved his children, and was justly proud of his numerous and n.o.ble posterity. If at times he appeared stern, and was severe in his correction, it was not that he loved them less, but their welfare and salvation more. He made no compromise with sin, but nipped it in the bud, though the soil wherein it grew were the hearts of his dearest friends and relations. His greatest desire for his family was that they should be humble, virtuous and G.o.d-fearing. The riches, fas.h.i.+ons, and even culture of the world were as nothing in his eyes, compared with honesty, morality and the treasures of eternal truth.

Nor was he morose and sullen, because thus sober-minded and religious.

Mingling with his deeply earnest, profoundly solemn nature was a keen sense of humor, a continuous play of mirth, like sunlight gilding the edges of a cloud.

One day (it was July 23rd, 1864, and a grand celebration of Pioneer day was on the tapis) he drove down to the shop of James Lawson the blacksmith, to have some repairing done to his carriage, a long vehicle with seats on either side. He had about fifteen of his boys in the carriage, all urchins ranging from ten to thirteen years.

”James,” said he, with a merry twinkle in his eye, ”I have no shoes for these boys, and I'm going to have them out in the procession to-morrow in this carriage, so that their feet can't be seen.”

Then, with a proud glance at his youthful progeny, he added: ”There is a load of Elders; I have ordained them all myself.”

He often took his children into his confidence, giving them practical lessons in the virtues he desired them to cultivate. His son David H.

relates the following:

”One day President Young made a call upon father for $1,000., for some public purpose, and not having the ready cash, he was at a loss to know where to get it. At his suggestion we went down in the garden and bowed ourselves in prayer, father calling upon the Lord to direct him in the matter. We then arose and started down the street, and he remarked that the Lord would answer our prayer and direct him aright.

When even with G.o.dbe's corner, William G.o.dbe came out of his store and told him that, in looking through his safe, he had come across about $1,000 in gold-dust, belonging to him, which his son Heber P. had left there for him some time before, though father until then knew nothing about it.”

In the Spring of 1866 his son, Col. H. P. Kimball, was called into southern Utah at the head of a company of minute men, to aid in subduing the Indians in the Black Hawk War. His son David P. was also called, but having just returned from a mission to England, with his brother Charles, he was honorably released, and his younger brother, Solomon, sent in his stead. The evening before they started, Heber called their mother, Vilate, and her children into his room, and spent several hours with them, giving them much good counsel and explaining to them the relations.h.i.+p of the Lamanites, as a branch of the house of Israel, with the latter-day work, and the important part they were destined to play in this dispensation. He then blessed Heber and Solomon, and promised them in the name of the Lord that they should not see an Indian while they were gone.

This promise, though meant for their welfare, and, it may be added, for the welfare of the Lamanites as well, was quite a disappointment to the two brothers, who were anxious, not only to see the Indians, but to have a ”brush” with them. Solomon had often heard of a fight which his brother William and others had had with the red men in Battle Creek Canyon, some years before, in which William had the horn of his saddle punctured by a bullet while ascending the ravine, thus narrowly escaping being wounded or killed. Solomon had seen the saddle, which had a romantic charm for him, and he now wanted to see the Indians. The remainder of the story we will give in his own words:

”We were gone ninety days and rode hundreds of miles, following the tracks of different bands of hostile Indians, and were close upon them a great many times. They were attacking settlements all around us, killing the settlers and driving off stock. At one time, after the Indians had made a raid on Round Valley (Scipio) killing one man and running off five hundred head of stock, Col. Kimball left a part of his command at Thistle Valley to hold the fort at that place, while he went to intercept the Indians on the Sevier River. We had gone but a few hours, when the Indians made a raid on the fort at Thistle Valley, running off all their horses, killing one of the party and wounding another.

”After our company returned home we were drawn up in line in front of the Court House, where President Young, my father, and others came down to see us. Father, looking at Heber and myself, whose clothing and countenances showed hard service, asked us if we had seen an Indian while we were gone. Our humiliating reply was, 'No.' He laughed and said, 'Didn't I tell you so?' and then added: 'I would rather have them kill you, than to have one of my sons shed their blood.'”

But a volume might be filled with incidents of like character in his experience, and then the half remain untold. Suffice this, at present, for his inner life and private family history.

Preaching, colonizing, traveling through the settlements, encouraging the Saints in their toils and sacrifices; sitting in council among the leaders of Israel; ministering in sacred and holy places, and otherwise laboring for and blessing the Lord's people:--so wore away the remaining years of Heber C. Kimball on this planet. His name was literally ”a household word” in Israel. ”Brother Heber” was everywhere honored and beloved. Even the Gentiles esteemed him, admiring his honesty and outspoken candor, let him lash as he might with the whip of his tongue, the wrong-doer outside, or the hypocrite inside the Church. Loved and honored as are few men in this life, he returned in measure full to overflowing the affection of the hearts which G.o.d had given him.

CHAPTER LXIII.