Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-05-01


Damascus. Beyond it was a strip of val
ley, then smooth mountain slopes, blending
and intermingling, sea-green at the base,
and dark slate toward its SUBMITS. Be-
fore us was the city, with its flashing
streams, It's low, drab, adobe houses, with
trellised verandas; its green gardens, and
deep shade-trees of locust, aspen, poplar,
maple, walnut, elder and cottonwood its
bustling marts of trade, and clustered re-
treats for the offices of a strange religion.
Beyond it, for many miles, stretched
the green, fowery valley, with its blue
lakes shlmmering in the sum- 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 en-
virons-its solid base green and gray-lts
rugged SUBMITS white with eternal snow.
Side by side, grouped and blended, were
Summer and Winter, Italy and Switzer-
land the dreamy Orient and the restless
heart of the West.
The Mormons have begun the erection
Of an enormous temple of granite, which
will be one of the finest church edifices in
the United States The reader will OBJ
serve its standing columns, in the large
vacant church lot, near the foreground of
the view. As vet it has not made much
progress, and the Saints worship in frame
building during the winter months, and in
summer at the BOwery-a great arbor
with seats of rough pine boards, and a
low, fiat roof of withered branches, sup
ported by upright poles. For the warm
season, it is far pleasanter than any build
ing-a good artificial substitute for the
groves which were Gods first temples.
| frequently attended worship at the
Bowerv. The congregation usually mum
bered fully three thousand, in which wo-
men largely predominated They were
neatly but very plainly dressed; kid gloves
were few, silks and satins far between.
Hoops abounded in all their amplitude.
At first the preachers denounced them
bitterly from the pulpit; but, as usual fe-
male persistency triumphed, and crinoline
proved more potent than the thunderbolts
OF the Church.
Brigham Is the tavorite speaker, though
. he doe, not preach more than once a
month. His sermons which | heard were
very incoherent and illiterate Hebcr G.
kimball, second only to Brigham in au-
thority, and the father of fifty children.
, is very voluble in the pulpit, and always
protane and frequently obscene III his har-
f ranguc~ Indeed, many of the Mormon
sermons from Brigham Heber and others
Of that ilk, are utterly indecent, though
some speakers are entirely decorous From
the Sunday desk preachers frequently
speak OF the crops, the best modes of ir-
rieaton. etc. cxhort the brethren to be
honest and devout, and advise them wheth-
to sell their wheat forthwith or hold it for
an advance.
The ordinary sermons are homilie> on
Industry and trugality-praioes Of polyga-
e my, recital of Gods peculiar protection
To the Mormon Church, and bitter denun-
citation Of the Government and people Of
the nted States Every Sunday sacra-
mcut is administered to the whole assem-
bly, bread being distributed upon metallic
plates. and water, instead OF wine, from
porcelain pitchers. Infants AT the breast
{ are all permitted To quaff the water free
ly. The poor babies are thirsty enough
but it dctract> a little more from the sol
cmnity Of the ceremony. Ny chief inter
est was in the face of the congregation
Few of the women were comely; but very
few of the couutenances impressed me a
vicious, All were plain, many extremely
-. ~ one might expect in humble peo-
pie, gathered from every nation, they bear
the inlclible impress Of poverty, hard la
Dor and sainted living. In those faces l.
little breadth, thought, or selt:reliant rea-
soninc. but much narrowncsS. grave sinccri
,,,l Wi+b .i4
exception Of the inevitable labored defense
OF polygamy, many of the sermons were
such az one hears in an average New Eng
land orthodox church Indeed, plurality
of wives Is the only distinctive and indi-
vidua feature Of their faith and practice
Normonism Is polygamy and polygamy /,
Normon~m.
The Saints theatre is the grand materia
wonder of Salt Lake City. 1t was built by
Brigham. and will cost, when completed, ;
quarter of a million dollars. Its walls art
of brick and rough stone, to be covered witt
stucco. 1t Will seat eight hundred per
sons, and is the largest building of the kinc
west of New York, except the Cincinnati
and Chicago opera houses. The prosceni-
um is sixty feet deep. Ia the middle OF
the paraquette is an armed rocking-chair
which Brigham sometimes occupies, though
; his usual place is one of the two privat,
boxes. 1t is open three nights in the week
when the paraquette is filled almost entirel,
BY the families Of the leading polvgamists
One often sees a dozen of Brighams wive
side by side and long seats quite tillee
: with his children. The scenery, all paint
ed in Salt Lake and the costumes. all mad,
there, are exquisite. The wardrobe is very
large and rich, varied enough for the stand
; ard and minor drama, from the sables oi
Hamlet to the drapery of the ballet girl
With two exceptions, the company are anna
; tuers-Mormons, who perform gratutiously
and with whom it is labor of love anC
piety. 1t is Il novel way of increasing
: ones chances of heaven but Brigham /.
the church, and they do unquestioningly
whatever the church requires. On tht
whole the theatre is the rarest feature o
the rare city, in view of its location, twelve
hundred miles from the steamboat and the
railroad. During the day the performers
: are engaged in their regular pursuits, a
clerks, mechanics. etc. and they rehearse
only in the evening. Last season the re-
cepts averaged eight hundred dollars pen
night, and once, thirteen hundred dollars
} were taken at the box-office. Mrs, julia
Deane l1ayne, who was playing most sue.
l cesstul star engagement, had trained the
amateurs until they played exceedingly
well, producing entertainments in all res
; poets better than one finds anywhere else
in the Union. save at three or four leading
l metropolitan theatres. 1t was IA move
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