The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-05-14

| DaSe, anu uarK STATE toward It's SUBMITS
Before us was the city, with its flashing
! streams, its low, drab, adobe houses,
, with trelised verandas lis green garden.
, and deep shade. trees of locust, aspen.
poplar, maple, walnut, elder and cotton
wood its busting marts of trade, and
, clostered retreats for the offices Of a
strange religion.
beyond it, for many miles, stretched
the green, flowery valley, with its blue
lakes shimmering in the sun, and bounded
at last by an abrupt wall of mountain.
And on our left still lowered the range,
rough, gashed and jagged with crevices
that would conceal New York and its
environs-ts SOLID base green and gray
its rugged submits white with eternal
snow. Side by side grouped and blended,
were Summer and Winter Italy and
Switzcrlandi the dreamy Orient and the
restless heart of the West.
The Mormons have begun the erection
of an enormous temple of granite, which
will bc one of the finest church cdiices in
the United States. The reader will ob
serve its standing columns, in the large
vacant church lot, near the foreground of
the view. AS yet it has not made much
progress and the Saints worship in frame
building during the winter months, and in
summer at the Bowcry-a great arbor
with seats Of rough pine boards. and a
low, fiat roof of withercd branches, sup.
ported by upright poles. For the warm
season, it is far peasantcr than any build.
lng-a good artificial substitute for the
groves which were Gods first temples.
frequently attended worship at the
Bowrry. The congregation usually num-
bered fully three thousand, in which
w1men largely prcdomlnated. They were
neatly but very plainly dressed; kid
| gloves were few, lks and satns far be.
. tween. Hoops aboundcd in all their am
pIituie. AT first, tho preachers denounced
them bitterly from the pulpit; but, as
usual, female persistency triumphed, and
crinoline proved more potent than the
thunderbolts OF the Church.
Brigham is the favorite speaker, though
he docs not preach more than once
month. His sermons which heard were
very incoherent and iitcraie IIcber G.
kimball, second only to Brigham in au-
tho. lty, and the father of fifty children,
Is very voluble in the pulpit, and always
proiane and frequently obscene IN his
harangucs Indeed, many of the Nor.
mon sermons from Brigham. lIeber and
others OF that ilk, are utterly indecent,
though some speakers are entirely
dccorous. From the Sunday desk preach
erS frequently speak Of the crops, the best
modes of irrigation, etc. exhort tie
brethren TO be honest and d.vout, and
advise them whether to sell their wheat
forthwith or hold it for an advance.
The ordinary sermons are homilics on
industry and irugaliiy-prai-cs of poly
gamy, recital of Gods pccuilr protec.
ton 10 the Mormon church, and bitter
dcnunciaton of the Government and
people OF the United States. Every Sun
day sacrament is administered TO the
whole assembly, bread beng distributed
upon metallic plates, and water, instead
OF VINE. from porcelain pitchers Infant,
at the breast are all permitted TO quail
the water freely. The poor babies are
thirsty enough, but it dctracts little
more from the solemnity ofthe ceremony.
My chief interest was in the face of the
congregation. Few OF the women were
comcly; but very few of the counter
anceS impressed me as vicious. All
were plain, many extremely so. As one
might expect IN humble people, gathered
from every nation, they bear the indelible
impress OF poverty, hard labor and sainted
living. In those faces Is little breadth
thought, or self reliant reasoning. but
much narrowness, grave sincerity AMI
unreficctng carnestness. With the ex.
ceptlon Of the inevitable llbored defense
ot polygamy, many of the sermons were
such as one hears in an average New |
England orthodox church Indeed, plu- |
raIity OF wives is the only distinctive and |
individual feature of their faith and prac-
tIce Mormonism is polygamy and poly.
gamy is Mormonisln.
The Saints theatre is the grand matcri-
al wonder of Salt Lake City. 1t was
"''' y ~ iSidils anu VIII Cost, Wncn |
completed, quarter Of a million dollars.
Its walls are of brick and rough stone, to
be covered with stucco. Ii will seat
eight hundred persons, and is the largest
building of the kind west of New York.
except the Cincinnati and Chicago opera
houses. The proscenium is sixty feet
deep. In the middle of the paraquctte is
an armed rocking chair, which Brigham
sometimes occupies, though his usual
place Is one of the two private boxes 1t
is open three nights in the week, when
the paraquette is flied almost entirely by
The leading polygamists. One often sees
a dozen OF Brgham's wives side by side,
and long seats quite filed with his chill
dren' The scenery, all painted in Salt
Lake, and the costumes, all made there,
are exquisite. The wardrobe is very
large and rich, varied enough for the
standard and minor drama, from the sables
OF Hamlet to the drapery of the ballet girl
With two exceptions, the company are
amateurs Mormons who perform gra-
tutiously, and with whom it is a labor of
love and piety. 1t is novel way of
increasing ones chance of heaven; but
brigham is the church, and they do un-
NnE ENu.NWa l...N