Mary Sabin Powell's Story ... continued

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William and I were very much impressed. "Never mind, Mother," said we, "we'll tend to baby while you go and get baptized as Father did." At this, Mother was vexed and slapped our ears.

It turned out that we children were right. Mother listened while Father unfolded to her the gospel. Six weeks later she was baptized into the church. William and I tended the baby just as we had offered to do in the first place.

Mother planned to be secretly baptized in Ball's Pond. It was a pretty place in the middle of a green meadow. A few trees grew on the bank. Brother and Sister Long, Brother and Sister Duke, and Brother and Sister Huish accompanied Mother and Father to the water's edge. This was to have been the size of the company of spectators. However it turned out differently. About three hundred persons had gathered on the banks of Ball's Pond. They remained very quiet, and respectfully witnessed the ordinance.
Brother James Huish led Mother into the water. She knew her friends were against the step she was taking, but she had a testimony of the gospel and her own conscience told her that she was doing the right thing.

Mother was a religious woman but not bigoted or long-faced. She was wide-awake, kept a neat house, looked carefully to the needs of her family, and safeguarded the health of her children. When little Lizzie was six months old, the Parish doctor praised Mother in the presence of other women for the hygienic dress and healthful appearance of her baby. Little Lizzie was a picture of perfect health.
Father was a broad-minded man, quite intelligent. He was strict in the management of his affairs. He never went into debt of any kind, but did without the things for which he could not pay. Mother was united with him. They looked ahead and worked hard.

We moved back to Llanover. Father was superintendent of the mason work in Llanover. He rented us a nice stone house. There were six rooms and a laundry (or shed) at the back. Father remodeled the house and rented the two end-rooms to the head gardener and his wife. We had a nice garden and plenty of fruit.

I was getting old enough to be useful to Mother in the kitchen. Of course I was interested in the fireplace. It was on the north side of the room. On the crane hung the hooks where we fastened the kettles. Sometimes three or four kettles hung on the crane at the same time. There was a little oven on one side of the fireplace. It would hold just one pie. There was an immense iron griddle which Mother often used.

Mother was very kind to our Brethren, the Mormon Elders. She invited them to our home and served them with many a delicious meal. When the Elders came we always talked about Zion and Great Salt Lake Valley. "From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

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