Revenge

This tale is based upon the writings of my Great, Great Aunt Emma Sophia Taylor Rapp (aka Soff) who was born July 3, 1891, in Spanish Fork, Utah, to John and MaryJane Standley Taylor. She was the younger sister of my Great Grandmother Emily Francis Taylor Chase.

Potawatomi plums

It is tempting to romanticize life in the early 1900’s on the Taylor family farm which was surrounded by potawatomi plum trees, three miles from the town of Spanish Fork, Utah. 

Soff fondly remembered the mile and a half to school, and especially the trips when the snow was piled up and their father, John, took them in the sleigh which made going to school fun.

In the summers, Soff and her older sister Annie had the assignment of herding the family cows wherever there was feed. There were a lot of rattle snakes in the area which worried their father as he sent them out into the meadows, so he bought them a pony which they dubbed “Injun”. On frequent occasions when a dreaded rattler was heard, Injun would stop and refuse to move, but their dog Keno was unafraid. He would find the snake and shake it senseless until the girls could end the threat with a sturdy stick. On the back of Injun with Keno along as a bodyguard, the sisters enjoyed each summer day.

One fateful day, however, while the girls were riding in unfamiliar territory on the range herding the cattle, Injun stepped in an old abandoned well and broke his leg. There was nothing that could be done for him, so the girls faced the unbearable task of having him put out of his miserable state. It was impossible to move him, so they had to leave him where he had fallen, using the well as his final resting place as they covered him over with dirt.

Soff and Annie were more than sad at losing their trusted friend; they were furious and directed their anger at the man who had dug the well and not covered it. This man had a summer house, built on the side of the hill with poles holding up the front porch. To even the score, one day while no one was home at the cottage, the girls daringly sawed the poles out from under the porch, causing extensive damage. 

Later in life Soff could not recall the punishment they received for this act of revenge, but felt whatever sentence they suffered, it had been worth the price for avenging the loss of their pony.

While this story is an entertaining anecdote from the lives of two young sisters, how much better it would be to follow the counsel of President Gordon B. Hinckley: 

“My brothers and sisters, let us bind up the wounds—oh, the many wounds that have been caused by cutting words, by stubbornly cultivated grievances, by scheming plans to “get even” with those who may have wronged us. We all have a little of this spirit of revenge in us. Fortunately, we all have the power to rise above it, if we will “clothe [ourselves] with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.”  D&C 88:125