| 907 a solitary line of breastwork, without a fosse, or other defence [defense], could have been no protection: and it seems still more mysterious that it should have been placed here, at the distance of a mile from any spring, and with a heavy wood, of a date more ancient than the trees upon the mound in its rear.
If the neighboring Indians are questioned upon its traditionary [traditional] history, the invariable answer is, that it was there when they came-more, they either do not or can not say. That it was the labor of an extinct race is pretty evident, and it probably dates from the same era with the extensive works at Rock River. These latter are, however, of brick, a specimen of which material, taken from beneath the roots of an oak tree of great size, the writer has in his possession."
COMMUNICATIONS.
LETTER FROM ELDER WOODRUFF.
Dated 36 Chapel st. Liverpool, }
May 1st 1845. }
BR. TAYLOR-DEAR SIR:-
I feel disposed to present to you an extract from my journal, which I penned while on a visit to the grave of the worthy Elder Lorenzo D. Barnes. I do this for the benefit of his parents, relatives, friends, Zion's camp, and the saints in general; for he occupies a place in the memory and hearts of many thousands of the Saints, who were acquainted with his labors in the vine yard of the Lord.
My visit to his grave was on the 20th of February 1845, which was a solemn day to my feelings in some respects, in consequence of walking over the ground which oft had been trod by our worthy Brother Barnes, and also of viewing the tomb where sleeps his sacred dust. I left Bradford in company with Elders Sheets and Ure. (Br. Sheets is presiding over the Bradford conference, which was under the care of Elder Barnes during his last labors: Elder Ure over the Sheffield conference.) We left for the purpose of visiting the grave of Elder Barnes in Idle, Yorkshire, three miles from Bradford. When about half way we had a fair view of Idle and the church where our brother was buried, which stands upon a high piece of ground. We had a green vale to pass through before arriving at the spot; the fields were quite green, though in February: we walked over the road, over which Elder Barnes had walked many scores of times in preaching the gospel. I felt solemn indeed, and was filled with meditation, until I arrived at Idle, which contains a population of about five thousand, and a branch of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of thirty-seven members. We called upon Elder Thomas Corgingly and his family, who had the care of Elder Barnes during his sickness and death.-They pointed out to me the room where he spent his last moments. After getting some refreshment we walked to the church-yard, and I gazed upon the silent tomb of our beloved Lorenzo. My feelings were keen and sensitive as I stood upon his grave. I realized I was standing over the body of one of the elders of Israel, of the horns of Joseph, of the seed of Ephraim; one of the members of Zion's camp, who had travelled [traveled] with me more than a thousand miles in 1834, for the redemption of his persecuted and afflicted brethren, and offered to lay down his life for their sake; one who had the hearts and affections of thousands of friends both in America and England; and whose fidelity was stronger than death to his lover, his brethren, eternal truth and his God. While standing upon his grave, I offered up my vocal prayers to Israels' God that my death or change might be that of the righteous, and that my last end might be as wise and safe as his, and that his sacred dust might be called forth in the morn of the first resurrection.
I decreed in my heart I would never return to my native country, until I had caused to be erected a tombstone over his narrow bed, to say to his friends that might chance to pass that way, that there sleeps the worthy Lorenzo D. Barnes; the first of Zion's camp that has found a grave in a foreign land. I bowed my knee upon his sacred grave, and plucked some pebbles in memory of his worth. I thought of his lover, his father, his mother, his kindred, and the Saints; for they all loved him, and would have thought it a blessing to have been permitted to drop a silent tear upon his lonely bed. Oh Lorenzo! thou hast fallen in the prime of life, as it were a martyr for the truth in a foreign land; but thine exaltation in the celestial world will not come behind the chiefest of thy quorum. I retired from his grave with my brethren, meditating upon the life of Elder Barnes. I made diligent inquiry of the family where he died and others concerning his labors, sickness and death, and obtained the following information:-
On his arrival in England, he labored for a short season in and about Manchester. He then went to the Cheltenham conference in Gloucestershire, where he labored until the general conference. He was much beloved by the Saints in that conference, and a petition was sent by them for his return; but at the general conference he received an appointment to take
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