To illustrate the close relationship between myself and the baby I meant to record a very remarkable thing that occurred in April 1890. The only cases that occur to my mind now of anything like this relationship, in any history or work of the imagination, are the stories of Jephtha and his daughter and the Jew Abdiel. I meant that this should be the story of the baby, but somehow I seem to be putting a great deal more of myself into this record than I should, but the occurrence I now wish to record seems to make it unavoidable.
When I went to Wisconsin last April [1890], I had not been away from home for many years and the feeling of depression I had because of loneliness seemed to affect the baby. I was very anxious about her, and perhaps needlessly so. I used to be afraid some harm would befall her. I would imagine that she would get out into the street and get run over or hurt or lost or something. This fear seemed to affect the Baby. She became easily frightened. Any sudden sound like the blowing of a steam whistle, or the bellowing of a cow or the barking of a dog, would alarm her, and she would say, “Sibyl is afraid,” and require some one to take her and hold her till the occasion for the fear passed.
Her Mamma wrote to me that I must not indulge in such foolish fancies as it was having a bad effect on Sibyl. So, I wrote her a nice letter, and said, “Tell Sibyl to not be afraid. Papa loves her, Mamma loves her, Sister loves her, and good angels take care of her,” My darling learned every word of the letter and treasured it in her little heart.
After, when anything unusual came near her to alarm or frighten her, she would say, “Papa told her not to be afraid. Papa loves her, Mamma loves her, and good angels take care of her,” and she would instantly become tranquil,
Just before I went to Wisconsin, she got hold of a bottle of cough medicine one of the ingredients of which was prussic acid. When she was discovered, she had the bottle to her mouth and every drop gone. We could not know how much of it she drank, nor did we ever know. We made her drink some warm water, and got her to vomit as well as we could, but her mother wanted me to go to the druggist who put up the medicine and find out the antidote.
I started out in a hurry, but had not gone far from the house when these words came into my mind, with all the force of a revelation, “If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them,. If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them,” and as I went along a great peace came over me. I however went to the druggist, who kindly gave the information asked for but advised that a doctor be called in, adding, “If the poison takes any effect at all, the baby is dead now.”
I went after no doctor. I quietly but rapidly walked home and found her sleeping quietly in her mother’s arms. The mother told me the same words came to her that did to me, at about the same time, and the baby went to sleep instantly.
Later in the day in telling Mary about it Sibyl said, “Papa cried when Sibyl was sick.” I know that no harm can come to her. Her faith that good angels take care of her is no stonger than mine.
“He shall give his angels charge concerning thee to keep thee in all thy ways.” [Psalm 91:11]
“If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” [Mark 16:18]
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” [Psalm 84:11]
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadth me beside the still waters.” [Psalm 23:1-2]
“They that trust in the Lord shall never be confounded. [Psalms 22:5]
“They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.” [Doctrine and Covenants 89:20]
“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:20]
The entire contents of “The Record of Little Sibyl” can be seen in these posts:
- The Record of Little Sibyl (part 1)
- Christian Temperance Union Delegate (part 2)
- Eats with a Fork (part 3)
- Sibyl Runs Away (part 4)
- Handsomest Baby (part 5)
- Ball, Moon, TicTac (part 6)
- Dream Girl & Chocolate Man (part 7)
- Sibyl Evades Death (part 8)
- From Sister Mary (part 9)
- From Aunt Nellie (part 10)
- What is the Use of Spanking Me? (part 11)
- First Written Word (part 12)
- Sibyl’s First Poem (part 13)
- Sibyl Graduates High School (part 14)
- Final Words (part 15)
One Comment on “Sibyl Evades Death (part 8)”
Wow. Faith in a god, or… Sibyl certainly did seem to lead an “upright” life, and died a mostly peaceful death. Thanks again, Marie!