Susa Y. Gates: Mary Fielding Smith (2)

Hyrum's first family Marriage to Mary		In November, 1837, Mary was married to the Patriarch Hyrum Smith, his first wife, Jerusha Barden, having died previously.
5 step-children Resourceful, courageous		Mary found herself the mother of five step-children, and never did a girl assume motherhood better prepared for such heavy initial responsibilities than Mary Fielding Smith. All her qualities of resourcefulness and courage were to be tested to the uttermost. And it may be truly said that no trial, not even the supreme one of final integrity to the Truth, ever found her lacking courage and the power of right decision. She did not live in borrowed light. She held supremely the light within her own soul.
Missionaries to England		Just before her marriage, she was vitally interested in that [128] first mission that was taken by Heber C. Kimball to open the European country for the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Her brother Joseph was the companion of Brother Kimball, who planned to visit their brother, Rev. James Fielding, in Preston, where the English mission was opened.		¶ HIstory of Heber C. Kimball (3)
		Mary and her sister Mercy who had married the Prophet's friend and one-time secretary, Robert B. Thompson, accompanied the party to Fairport. We are told that Brigham Young, Levi Richards, with Brother Kimball's wife, Vilate, and Brother Greene's wife, Rhoda (who was the sister of Brigham Young), with Mary Fielding and Mercy Thompson, all accompanied Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde down the river to Fairport.
Gives Heber C. Kimball $5		As Brother Kimball was about to separate from this company, without a dollar in his pocket, and sick, yet not discouraged, Mary Fielding, with her characteristic modesty and the quiet generosity which was so much a part of her nature, stepped tip to him and put five dollars in his hand. It was a God-send and paid his and Brother Hyde's passage to Buffalo.
		From this time, Mary's history is merged in that of her greater husband, Hyrum Smith. She shared his trials, she sweetened his daily life with her wifely ministrations, and above all she relieved him of every anxiety connected with the care and rearing of his five motherless children. For the heart of her husband could safely trust in her.
Far West betrayal		On the first day of November, 1838, while she was in a delicate condition of health, indeed, thirteen days before her oldest child, Joseph Fielding, was born, she was informed that her husband had been betrayed by Col. George M. Hinkle into the hands of the mob at Far West, and on the day following they told her that she "had seen her husband for the last time."
Birth of Joseph F. Liberty Jail		Her son Joseph Fielding Smith, our present President of the Church, was born to his tortured mother while under this black cloud of oppression. She lingered on that bed of affliction for four months, unable to rally from the blow which had been dealt her life-forces. Three months after, she was taken in a wagon on her sick bed to see her husband, then confined with the Prophet Joseph Smith as a prisoner in Liberty jail, Clay County, Mo.
Flee to Quincy		Still confined to her bed, she was driven in her wagon from Far West out of the state of Missouri, together with the rest of the "Mormon" refugees. After untold sorrows and pains, trials and afflictions, she, together with the little family which she held together with Spartan fortitude, reached Quincy, Ill., where she was at last joined by her loving husband on April 22, 1839. What a picture of persecution and human suffering is confined in that six months of separation. You who go quietly in and out of beautiful and safe homes, can you realize what this frail and loving mother in Israel endured during that soul-racking period? Oh, daughters of Zion, stop and reflect upon the foundation stones [129] laid for us by those heroic mothers who planted their feet with the blood of sacrifice and builded their walls in their own bones and bodies. What scenes float before the vision as these incidents unroll before our eyes. No wonder the Prophet asked to have the vision blotted out from his eyes.
To Nauvoo		In May, 1839, the Patriarch moved his family to Nauvoo, where Mary thereafter resided till the expulsion from Nauvoo. Some time after arriving in Nauvoo, Mary gave birth to her second and last child, Martha Ann, who is still living in Provo, and who is later spoken of in this sketch.
Penny Fund		In 1841, Mary set in motion the organization of a simple and modest fund which was called "The Sisters' Penny Subscription" for the purpose of buying nails and glass for the Nauvoo Temple. So quietly did this plan operate that only the briefest mention is made of it in the periodicals of the day; but it worked something of a financial miracle, for hundreds of dollars were thus collected.
Initiative		Who may say that this initiative on the part of Mary Fielding Smith was not productive of much of the later organized effort put forth by the women of the Church? The Relief Society was not then in operation; this fund was specifically directed for Temple purposes, and it accomplished its end.
Woman power		We who fancy that today sees the full flower of the powers and genius of woman for organized effort, would do well to study the annals of the earlier heroines of the Church who laid their foundation stones so deep and broad that it is given to us simply to build upon them as best we may.
Heroic mother		Think of this burdened woman, the mother of two children, the step-mother of four more, and the caretaker of all the poor unfortunates whom her tender-hearted husband brought constantly into her welcoming home—think of this delicately reared lady, herself frail but like sprung steel in composition, think of her—ye daughters of Zion, going about to gather in pennies from the women of Nauvoo to buy the glass and nails for that wondrous Temple in Nauvoo. Our teachers of today who go out from time to time ministering and teaching under the most comfortable modern conditions, can scarcely realize the struggles made in those early days by these heroic mothers in Israel.
Agony of the martyrdom		When the scenes and sufferings incident to the martyrdom fell upon the families of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his devoted brother Hyrum, who may tell the agony of suspense, the torture of fear which shook the breasts of the women who waited in vain for that release from prison, which had been miraculously given so often before. Few thought that the arrest would terminate fatally, for the Prophet had been so imprisoned and hauled into courts over forty times by his enemies. Yet this time, the Prince and powers of the air held sway and the blood of the martyrs cried from the ground of Illinois.
Martyrdom tested Mary's commitment		[130] Who can guess the gloom and misery which filled the home of Mary Fielding Smith, when her husband was brought cold in death to receive the last rites from his friends. But here and now was the supreme test of that majestic spirit of the martyred Patriarch's wife, Mary. Was she a true convert to the gospel as preached by Christ, and afterwards revealed again to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith? Had she the courage of her conversion? Would she now falter and turn aside in this awful crisis ?		[filled the home] B. W. Richmond text
Emma refuses to follow the Twelve Inducements offered		We do not know just what followed the martyrdom in the homes of the wives of those great heroes, but this we do know that when the Twelve, led by Brigham Young, decided to come out to the West, the widow of the Prophet Joseph, Emma Hale Smith, refused to accompany them on this journey. She was approached by the messenger of President Brigham Young three times, for Bishop Whitney often told the story in the presence of our honored president of the Relief Society, Emmeline B. Wells, of how President Brigham Young sent him (Bishop Whitney) to offer every help and assistance to Sister Emma Smith to convey her and her household with the body of the Church to their first stopping place—Winter Quarters.
Many times Joseph F. heard George A. relate story of inducements		President George A. Smith related many times, in the presence of his nephew, Joseph F. Smith, now president of the Church, the story of how he (Brother George A. Smith) went to his Aunt Emma, seeking to reconcile her to President Brigham Young, offering every help and inducement to come to Nauvoo with the Twelve and the body of the Church.
		But she was obdurate, and continued her refusal. No doubt, she felt she had ample justification, but whatever her motive, she failed in this supreme test.
Mary triumphed, passed the test		But the wife of the Patriarch did not fail—she triumphed gloriously. The Church offered every inducement to the Prophet's widow to come West but "Widow" Smith, the widow of the Patriarch, was left alone to make her plans and to devise her own schemes. This test was the cap-sheaf of all her other trials and tests. But she rose supremely to the occasion, for her whole life of self-sacrifice, toil, fortitude, faith and integrity had prepared her for this hour. If she had failed, her beloved son would not now be the President of this Church. She did not, she could not fail—for she had the divine light of testimony in her own soul.
Mary's life-battles Foes without and fears within		Mary Fielding Smith was not only subjected to the bitter trials of her violent widowhood and left with the care of her own two little children, and the care and charge of her step-children whom she guarded and loved as her own, she was also left alone as it were to fight her life-battles. The position of the Church itself was no doubt sufficient excuse for her forgotten condition, for all were poor, all were weighed down with sorrow and affliction. Yet in the midst of these most trying circum-[131]stances, the faith and courage of this woman of God shone out like a star of hope and a bow of radiant promise. Yet she was beset by foes without and fears within.
William berates Mary for allowing John to go west		One day her little son Joseph sat in the upper chamber of her Nauvoo home into which chamber ran the pipe of the sitting-room stove below, thus making it possible to hear distinctly the voices of those below in the sitting room. The boy knew that his brother John had left secretly, or at least quietly, in the company of Brother Heber C. Kimball, with the first company of refugees from Nauvoo who crossed the ice to begin their journey for the unknown West. He knew also that his mother would follow with her little family sooner or later. But he was startled to hear the voice of his uncle William Smith below one day, lifted in angry expostulation with his loved mother for permitting her son John to be "spirited away."
Joseph feels helpless		The boy heard his uncle demand the return of the Patriarch's son, and as the mother quietly and firmly refused to accede to the angry man's insensate demand, he became so violent and abusive in his language that the boy upstairs longed for age and maturity in order that he might defend his helpless mother from such unwarranted and bitter assaults.
Mary's invincible faith		And still Mary Fielding Smith remained firm and unshaken in her allegiance to the gospel, and she accepted without question the succession of the Twelve to the leadership of the Church. Neither the cajolery nor the threats of William Smith could move her from her testimony or her determination. This invincible faith and determination, if nothing else were at hand, would convince a candid mind that she was one of the world's greatest souls.
Mercy and Joseph Fielding		It would be unjust at this time not to mention the loving ministrations and support of her sister, Mercy Fielding Thompson, who had been a widow for some time. Mercy and Mary were often called the Mary and Martha of the modern dispensation. Yet both were spiritual, both were temporal. And both were beautiful in spirit and in body. Mercy lived with her sister at this time, and their brother Joseph, although he had two wives and a large family of his own to look after, never failed these young widows.
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