mport. His mother, who was an old woman, his wife, and some younger
members of the family, gathered round.

The light fell sideways upon his thickset form and large hairy face. His
manner was the result of struggle between effort for heroic pose and an
almost overmastering alarm. His matter was the evil conduct of the
surrounding Gentiles toward the Saints. It seemed that in this and
neighbouring places, evangelistic meetings had been held in which
Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists had joined, and Rigdon averred
that the preachers had used threatening and abusive language with regard
to the Saints. A series of such meetings had begun in Hiram, small as it
was; and Joseph Smith, like a war-horse scenting the battle, had set
aside his arduous task of correcting the Old Testament and gone forth to
preach in the open air. At first he had been greeted only with derision
or pelted with mud, but in the last few days he had made and baptized
converts, and now the fury of the other sects was at white heat.

Susannah's mind swiftly sifted out the improbabilities from Rigdon's
wrathful tale.

"But the people that gather to such meetings as Mr. Finney holds are for
the most part awaked, for the time at least, to a higher Christian
life. It cannot be they who have used the vile language that you
repeat."

She almost felt the disagreeable heat of Rigdon's breath as he threw out
in answer stories of coarse and brutal insult which had been heaped upon
himself and Smith. The large animal nature of this man always annoyed
her. There was much of breath in his words, much of physical sensation
always clinging to his thoughts. At present, however, she was not
inclined to judge him too hardly; although visibly unstrung, unwise in
his sweeping condemnation, coarse in his anger, and somewhat
grandiloquent in his pose, there was still much of real heroism in his
mental attitude. Braced by the fiercest party spirit, he stood staunch
in his loyalty to Smith and the cause, with no thought of yielding an
inch of ground to the oppressors.

"I do not believe," repeated Susannah sturdily, "that it is the more
religious of the Gentiles who have said and done these things. I have
come here to-night to hear and to speak with Mr. Finney, whom I know to
be a very godly and patient man."

"Why has he come here?" demanded Rigdon. "He who by his preaching can
gather thousands in populous places, why should he ride across this
thinly settled parce