| 401 you certainly look too shabby to start a journey; you must have a new suit; I have got some remnants left that will make you a coat,' etc. A neighboring tailoress and two or three other sisters happened to be present on a visit, and hearing the conversation, exclaimed, 'Yes, Brother Gilbert, you find the stuff and we'll make it up for him.' This arranged, I now lacked only a cloak; this was also furnished by Brother Gilbert.
"Brother Wight was also prospered in a similar manner in his preparations. Thus faith and the blessings of God had cleared up our way to accomplish what seemed impossible. We were soon ready, and on the first of February we mounted our horses, and started in good cheer to ride one thousand or fifteen hundred miles through a wilderness country. We had not one cent of money in our pockets on starting.
"We traveled every day, whether through storm or sunshine, mud, rain, or snow; except when our public duties called us to tarry. We arrived in Kirtland early in the spring, all safe and sound; we had lacked for nothing on the road, and now had plenty of funds in hand. President Joseph Smith and the church in Kirtland received us with a hospitality and joy unknown except among the saints; and much interest was felt there, as well as elsewhere, on the subject of our persecution. The President inquired of the Lord concerning the matter, and a further mission was appointed us." 1
Lyman Wight in his private journal differs from Elder Pratt on the date of starting; in all other particulars their accounts agree. He writes:-
"[The] 12th of January, 1834: I again left my family, my wife with a babe two weeks old, and started to Kirtland, Ohio, and to Geneseo, New York, a distance of one thousand three hundred miles, from which date I have kept a daily journal."
1 See revelation Doctrine and Covenants, section 100. This revelation was given February 24, 1834. The time is too short for them to have ridden on horseback from February 1, so we think the dates given by Elder Wight in his account are correct.
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