time in Nauvoo when the Church was without a president. The people were ready and willing then to hear the word of the Lord concerning it, it should be the same now. Said the instruction given to the people of the Priesthood should be in accordance with the councils of the leaders of the Church. We will see greater events than we have yet seen and we must prepare for them for they will be for our benefit and deliverance."70 President Smith was ill during the month of September and when he met with the priesthood in October he talked with the brethren, expressing to them his thoughts of the past few weeks. He encouraged them to live so that the light of the Holy Spirit would be with them, and he told them that no one apostatized all at once. He said that he had reflected much of late about the condition of the young and asked the bishops to encourage the teachers to talk with the young people when visiting them; he then expressed his concern that fashion had a strong influence on the young and many are led away by it. He asked the bishops to encourage the musical talent in their wards and stressed the importance of keeping the Sabbath. Then he talked of those who had been called on a mission to New Zealand and the responsibility of the priesthood to contribute to the missionary fund (their passage alone was more than $300 each) and to help their families at home71 Diphtheria Again On 26 November 1887, the forty-first conference of the Morgan Stake was held. Diphtheria was once again raging about the Valley, and the conference attendance was poor. All of the stake presidency were absent, and the conference was presided over by Jesse Haven of the high council. Elder Franklin D. Richards addressed the conference on Sunday morning. He expressed his concern for the many deaths in the stake and commended those who had stayed away to help prevent the spread of the disease. He spoke of the attitude of the government toward the Church and advised the people to be quiet and submissive and not protest against the government but learn to govern themselves as "he that governs himself is greater than he that governs a city."72 On 12 November, the city council met and passed a quarantine ordinance, the first passage of which reads, "Be it ordained by the City Council of Morgan City: That said City and all that district of county embraced within four miles of the outer limits thereof, are hereby declared subject to quarantine regulations."73 At the February 1888 priesthood meeting, President Fry reported the deaths of three small children and said several others were sick. Schools were closed throughout the county. Disease prevention was discussed, and the March stake conference postponed. An excerpt from the journal of Wademar T. Nelson makes the agony of those long nights more real: "Fri. 13 [April 1888] Cleaned up around the house. We was sure it was the diphtheria that our little girl had. But we hope 35