NARRATIVE: Independence, Missouri in 1833 was a time of religious intolerance. At this time, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were targeted by mobs. Homes and crops were destroyed. Men, women and children were driven into the wilderness with no protection from the elements. Men were beaten, whipped, and tarred and feathered.

The local printing press, which was used to publish their religious materials, was destroyed. A stack of loose pages of recently printed scriptures was thrown into a pile to be burned. Two young girls, Mary Elizabeth Rollins, and her younger sister, Caroline, decided to save those pages. “We got our arms full, and were turning away when some of the mob saw us and allied on us to stop, but we ran as fast as we could into a large cornfield. Two of them started after us, we laid the papers on the ground and hid them with our persons. The corn was from five to six feet high, very thick; they hunted us around considerably and came very near us but did not find us”. (Source: Autobiography of Mary E. Lightner, Utah Genealogical & Historical Magazine, Vol 17, 1926)

I wanted to depict their courage and faith in God, seeking Divine protection.