| 178 About this time many strange, foolish, and false stories went the rounds of the newspapers about "the Mormons." Some of these were forgotten in time, but some are yet related by the ignorant and profane.
While these scenes were being enacted in Kirtland, the word was being preached in other parts, and many were obedient to the message. An extract from P. P. Pratt's account of their mission among the Indians may prove interesting. In his autobiography he writes:-
"In the beginning of 1831 we renewed our journey; and, passing through St. Louis and St. Charles, we traveled on foot for three hundred miles through vast prairies and through trackless wilds of snow-no beaten road; houses few and far between; and the bleak northwest wind always blowing in our faces with a keenness which would almost take the skin off the face. We traveled for whole days, from morning till night, without a house or fire, wading in snow to the knees at every step, and the cold so intense that the snow did not melt on the south side of the houses, even in the midday sun, for nearly six weeks. We carried on our backs our changes of clothing, several books, and corn bread and raw pork. We often eat [ate] our frozen bread and pork by the way, when the bread would be so frozen that we could not bite or penetrate any part of it but the outside crust.
"After much fatigue and some suffering we all arrived in Independence, in the county of Jackson, on the extreme western frontiers of Missouri, and of the United States.
"This was about fifteen hundred miles from where we started, and we had performed most of the journey on foot, through a wilderness country, in the worst season of the year, occupying about four months, during which we had preached the gospel to tens of thousands of Gentiles and two nations of Indians; baptizing, confirming, and organizing many hundreds of people into churches of Latter Day Saints.
"This was the first mission performed by the elders of the church in any of the States west of New York, and we were
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