Elder Frost was a charming singer. We sang two or
three songs. Our juvenile hearers seemed delighted. I
then knelt down and prayed. By this time the hall was
crowded with grown men, and I begged them not to
crowd out my little friends. I then spoke an hour
and a half upon the constitutional rights of American
citizens. I spoke of the character of the Southern



PECULIAR INTEREST AT NAUVOO 191

people; how they were noted for their generous treat-
ment of strangers; but I feared from the treatment I
had received, I had missed ray way in Kentucky. My
sires were of Southern birth; my father was a relative
of the Revolutionary Lee, of Virginia; my uncle was
from Lexington, Kentucky, I had come a stranger into
their midst, but I felt confident the right of speech would
be extended to us, who were ministers of the gospel,
dependent upon the generosity of the people for food
and raiment. Nor did we preach for hire. If they
wished, we would remain there and lecture, and if It
met the approbation of the people they could have the
gospel preached to them without money and without
price. \

The first man that spoke up was a saddler. He said he
was a poor man, but we were welcome to his house, giving
the street and number. About twenty more responded in
like manner, among them the most wealthy men of the
county. We went home with a rich farmer, and con-
tinued our labors, having more calls than we could fill.
