great, in eight weeks I was out upon my crutches, and was soon restored to a sound condition.

"In 1827, while managing a flour mill for Aunt Wheeler, in Avon, Conn., I was standing upon one of the wheels, clearing away the ice. A man, not knowing I was in that position, hoisted the gate and turned upon the wheel a full head of water. The wheel started at once, my foot slipped, and I was plunged head foremost over the rim of the wheel into about three feet of water. My weight had drawn my legs out of the wheel, or I would have been drawn under a shaft and crushed to death.

"In 1831, while in charge of a flour mill at Collinsville, Conn., I was standing upon one of the arms inside of a breast-wheel twenty feet in diameter, clearing off the ice. A full head of water was turned on suddenly. The wheel started instantly. I dropped my ax and leaped about twenty feet to the bottom of the wheel. As I struck the bottom, I rolled out against a rugged stone, with only two feet of clearance between the stone and the wheel. The latter caught me and rolled me out into the water below, where I found myself, much frightened, but thankful to Providence that no bones were broken.

"The day that I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—December 31, 1833—my horse, with newly calked shoes, kicked the hat off my head. If he had struck two inches lower, doubtless he would have killed me instantly. Ten minutes later, while driving the same horse and another hitched to a sled with loose boards on the bottom and no box, the boards slipped forward under the pole and struck the ground. This at once threw the boards up endwise, and pitched me forward between the horses. I held on the lines; the horses, frightened, ran down the hill, dragging me under the sled behind them. The road, however, was smooth, and I escaped without injury.

"In 1834, while traveling in Zion's Camp to Missouri, a rifle was discharged accidentally. The ball passed through three tents with a dozen men in each, and lodged in the axletree of a wagon, without injury to anyone; it passed within a few inches of my breast. Many others escaped quite as providentially as I did.

"A few months later a musket, heavily loaded with buckshot, and pointed directly at my breast, was snapped accidentally; but it missed fire, and again the Lord preserved my life.

"In April, 1839, in Rochester, Ills., I was riding upon the running-gear of a wagon. I sat upon the front axletree. The bolt came out of the coupling-pole, separating the wheels, the front from the rear; and my weight upon the front bolster and tongue turned the coupling-pole over on the horses' backs, turned the stakes upside down, which shut me between the bolster and tongue, but in such a manner that my head and shoulders dragged upon the ground. The horses took fright and ran into an open prairie. They dragged me for about half a mile, and notwithstanding my awkward position I managed to guide them so as to run them into the corner of a high worm-fence, where we landed in a pile together. I was considerable bruised, but escaped without any broken bones, and after one day's rest was able to attend to my labors again.

"On the 15th day of October, 1846, while with the Camp of Israel building up Winter Quarters, on the west side of the Missouri River (then Indian country,) I passed through one of the most painful and serious misfortunes of my life. I took my ax and went two and a half miles upon the bluff to cut some shingle timber to cover my cabin. I was accompanied by two men. While felling the third tree, I stepped back of it some eight feet, where I thought I was entirely out of danger. There was, however, a crook in the tree, which, when the tree fell, struck a knoll and caused the tree to bound endwise back of the stump. As it bounded backwards, the butt end of the tree hit me in the breast, and knocked me back and above the ground several feet, against a standing oak. The falling tree followed me in its bounds and severely crushed me against the standing tree. I fell to the ground, alighting upon my feet. My left thigh and hip were badly bruised, also my left arm; my breastbone and three ribs on my left side were broken. I was bruised about my lungs, vitals and left side in a serious manner. After the accident I sat upon a log while Mr. John Garrison went a quarter of a mile and got my horse. Notwithstanding I was so badly hurt, I had to mount my horse and ride two and a half miles over an exceedingly rough road. On account of severe pain I had to dismount twice on my way home. My breast and vitals were so badly injured that at each step of the horse pain went through me like an arrow. I continued on horseback until I arrived at Turkey Creek, on the north side of Winter Quarters. I was then exhausted, and was taken off the horse and carried in a chair to my wagon. I was met in the street by Presidents Brigham Young. Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and others, who assisted in carrying me to the wagon. Before placing me upon my bed they laid hands upon me, and in the name of the Lord rebuked the pain and distress, and said that I should live, and not die. I was then laid upon my bed in the wagon, as my cabin was not yet done. As the apostles prophesied upon my head, so it came to pass; I did not die. I employed no physician, but was administered to by the elders of Israel, and nursed by my wife. I lay upon my bed, unable to move until my breast-bone began to knit together on the ninth day. In about twenty days I began to walk, and in thirty days from the time I was hurt. I returned to my laborious employment.

"I have not now a lame limb about me, notwithstanding it all. I have been able to endure the hardest kind of manual labor, exposures, hardships, and journeys. I have walked forty, fifty, and, on one occasion, sixty miles in a single day. The only inconvenience I am now conscious of is that if I overwork, or take a severe cold, I feel it more sensibly in my breast and left side than I did before my last injury. I have given considerable space in recounting the foregoing peculiar circumstances which I have experienced in life. A summary of what is here given may be briefly stated thus: I have broken both legs, one of them in two places; both arms, both ankles, my breastbone, and three ribs; I have been scalded, frozen, and drowned; I have been in two water wheels while turning under a full head; I have passed through a score of other hairbreadth escapes. The repeated deliverances from all these remarkable dangers I ascribe to the mercies of my Heavenly Father. In recalling them to mind I always feel impressed to render the gratitude of my heart, with thanksgiving and joy, to the Lord. I pray that the remainder of my days may pass in His service, in the building up of His kingdom."

When one stops to reflect upon the character of the accidents and the manner of escape, he is impressed by the thought that they came along as part of the remarkable incidents of his life. They are marvels to be sure, but the whole life of Wilford Woodruff is a marvel. He was on the spot when the danger arrived. He never seems to have been disconcerted by it. He was so serene in his faith that he always had an assurance that all would end well, and he, consequently, is never found in a complainly mood, even when undergoing the severest pain. His patience, therefore, was a powerful factor in bringing to his life a large measure of confidence in the ultimate goodness of an overruling Providence.