The Autobiography of Ruth Tagg Caley

down for the night. It was cool and damp. It had been raining. I woke up and heard some pansrattling and could smell a wet animal sniffing and pawing and grunting. At first I thought it wasa girl. She had a cold. I was petrified and said my prayers over and over for the safety of all fivegirls and myself. When I ducked down under my bag, I was trembling and frightened and nevershut my eyes all night. One girl had to get up and go out in the night and when she came backshe got hold of my sleeping bag and pulled and pulled to get in and she walked all over me. Ithought it was the bear. When I got up in the morning she was missing and I felt like crying, asher mother didn’t want her to come in the first place as she had a cold. We found the girl on theoutside of the tent. She had rolled under the side.The men and boys in the crowd liked to tease the girls, so the girls of another group older thanmy class wanted to sleep in the truck. So they all got settled one night and the men putwatermelon rinds and other garbage under the truck so the bears would go for it. In the middle ofthe night the whole camp heard the girls scream. The boys got up and got under the truck andbumped it up and down on purpose.Each day was different and we traveled around the Yellowstone Park to see the sights.Some wanted to move on and go to a place to swim. So we traveled a long way up to SodaSprings, Idaho. I was the only one carried a tin cup. They stopped at the mountain side wherethere was fresh water flowing out of the rocks. Oh, I was so dry and rushed to get my cup full offresh cool bubbling mountain water. I tasted it and stopped dead still. It was soda water. Iwished it could have had lemon in it, but I couldn’t drink only a swallow. I never said anythingto anyone else but kept still. They asked for my cup to use. I gladly handed it over and watchedtheir faces and each one in the line up never said a word to the next one. Nobody ever had awhole cup full. It was funny no one said anything about the soda. There was the big sign in frontof us, “Soda Springs, Idaho.”Most of our meals included macaroni or potatoes, etc., to fill us up. They had asked forvolunteer cooks in the first place. Two girls that lived down the street from our homevolunteered. They were sisters and they began to complain about the job and wanted someoneelse to take over. But they got stuck with it all the way. There was contention and growling ofcourse. We passed through Idaho Falls and they camped quite close to the temple site for thenight. I asked a man in the crowd to please get up in the truck and get my bedding out for me.He said the bedding is too hard to get at, go sit in one of the cars for the night. Well I tried andevery car was full and nobody let me in or cared about me and I walked up and down all nightlong. Even the Bishopric was cozy and asleep in their bags. I had not slept for nearly a week.When the week came to an end I was very happy to get home and locked the screen door. I wasstill frightened of the bears and I never want to go on a trip again like that.One day my son John asked me if he could invite a boy to our home to stay overnight andI felt ashamed of the home I had, three small rooms, very unhandy. No room for a table in thekitchen and the other two rooms had a bed in every space we could find. Every bed was full.Two in every bed. I turned the boy down. I don’t know how I could have found a place to puthim. Later on John said, “Mother, I’m sorry you turned him down. His mother died and hisRuth Tagg Caley pg 47