BIOGRAPHY: Louie (Bouton) Felt; State of Utah

Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen
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EXPIRED COPYRIGHT (1884)

REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF DESERET

A BOOK OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES TO ACCOMPANY THE PICTURE BEARING THE SAME
TITLE.

COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY AUGUSTA JOYCE CROCHERON
LOUIE FELT
PRESIDENT OF THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF
LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

     Louie Felt was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Bouton, was born in South
Norfolk, Conn., May 5, 1852. Was baptized when eight years old and came to
Utah in September, 1866. On December 29th of same year was married to Joseph
H. Felt. At the October Conference of 1867, they were called to go on the
Muddy River Mission and started the 9th of November following. They remained
there between two and three years, enduring many hardships; the heat in summer
being particularly trying to those used to a Northern clime. "Ninety degrees
in the shade" is considered high in our eastern cities, but at the Muddy, for
months it would rise above one hundred degrees at midnight. The buildings were
new, low adobe houses, lumber scarce, and often the wife was asked, "where
would you prefer to have the boards, over your head or under your feet?" Those
who had babies to rock took the choice of a floor, and put up with a thatched
roof. The winds blew with great violence, and the tender shoots of the trees,
vines, and other things they planted were often cut off clean by the sharp
sand in the driving wind. They were surrounded by friendly Indians who were
willing to work and learn civilization, but who were so hungry they could not
resist the temptation to pluck the young watermelons and squashes planted by
the missionaries, as fast as they approached the size of walnuts. Once, when
visiting the Muddy settlement of St. Joseph, the Indian visitors were
delighted with the rice my mother was preparing to cook. They called it the
"snow-white wheat" and begged for some, saying they would plant and cultivate
it with great care. She humored them, but showed them how the germ was
destroyed, and advised them to cook it, and plant corn and melons.

     In a brief time the Missionaries were short of the good things they had
provided; there were no stores, freight trains seldom came that way, and they
were a long distance, three day’s travel from St. George, itself a pioneer
settlement in an alkali desert. President Erastus Snow, with fatherly
kindness, sent beef, cattle and flour to the Indians, to stay their increasing
instincts for self-preservation by way of appropriation. Another misfortune
befell the Missionaries; their dwellings were as dry as tinder, and in some
way a fire started, and some lost their all, everyone lost something.
President Erastus Snow called upon the people of St. George, and if I remember
right, of Washington and Santa Clara also and with all possible haste sent the
willing contributions of their brethren and sisters. President Brigham Young
had two daughters, a son and a niece on the same mission. He visited them and
was filled with compassion for their situation, and as it seemed vain to hope
for an amelioration of some of their disadvantages, the Mission was broken up.
Mrs. Felt"s health was poor but, she says, "I never felt to murmur, but to
stay as ldng as required." In 1869, Mrs. Felt went on a visit to her father in
Connecticut, as he was not expected to live. He had gone back for the recovery
of his health but was no better. She remained with him three months, then
returned to Utah. In 1872 they moved to the Eleventh Ward, "and then, she
says, "began some of the happiest days of my life. I soon became a member of
the Y. L. M. I. A., and thereby received a better understanding of my
religion, which brought me peace and happiness, such as I had never known
before. I also became thoroughly convinced of the truth of the principle of
celestial marriage, and having no children of my own was very desirous my
husband should take other wives that he might have a posterity to do him
honor, and after he took another wife and had children born to him, the Lord
gave me a mother"s love for them; they seemed as if they were indeed my own,
and they seem to have the same love for me they do for their own mother." I
have witnessed the real mother in this family, rocking her babe to sleep, and
the other mother - Louie - would sit beside her and hold one little hand, or
lay her own upon its little head, and it would quietly resign itself to sleep,
so closely were all these three true hearts united in love. "In September,
1878, I was appointed to the position of President of the P. A. of the
Eleventh Ward, which position I still hold. In December of the same year. Mrs.
Freeze chose me as her First Counselor, in the stake organization of the Young
Ladies' Association, and I immediately started with President Freeze, visiting
these wards, and I enjoyed my labor. In September, 1879, I was appointed to
fill the position of Territorial President of the Primary Improvement
Associations, and have visited the different stakes of Zion as much as
circumstances would permit, and now feel more firm in my religion, and more
determined to magnify my calling whereunto I have been appointed, hoping
thereby to bring honor to the cause of Zion and also to myself."

     In person, Mrs. Felt is very tall and slender, her health always being
very delicate. Her face is pale, refined and spiritual in its expression; her
spirit buoyant and cheerful, and her animated manner and smile as frank as a
child's; the beholder would never take her for "a sorrowing Mormon woman,"
such as we read about. Whether presiding in gentle dignity over a conference
of several thousands of parents and children, whether happily mingling in a
reunion of cherished and apppreciative friends, or whether in that closer,
dearer circle of which she is not the least the builder, her face is that of
innocence and purity; her heart is an altar to her God; her life a monument to
all.