Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-09-29
AMONG THE MORMoNs.


AMONG THE MORMONS.
Visit Of Miss Anna Dickinson TO Salt
J Lake City-Her Impressions OF
! POlygamy.
; From the San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. u
The audience that attended Miss
DicKinson's lecture at the Metropoli-
tan Theater, on Sunday evening, was
in marked contrast to that of the even
ing before, at Platt's Hall. With the
exception of the upper gallery, the
house was crowded with an intelligent
and appreciative audience, whom, as
Miss Dickinson afterwards said, sit
was a pleasure to lecture to-" At Sis
O'Clock, accompanied by her brother,
the Rev. ]. Dickinson, the lecturer
made her appearance and commenced
as follows: "See Rome and de- is
an old and well known proverb. u
"See Salt Lake City and live" is the
new proverb of the day. Live to
work, and work earnestly. And l
know full well that the matter of la
bOr is not commended in this world
as it ought to be, particularly where
one tries to reform it. Take the world
easily and let it move on its destined
course. Think you that God will do
all the work and let us lay idle here
below? Out here, on these California
Plains, are oases and patches of vege-
tation, manZanita wood and barren,
profitless herbage. There are places,
up and down all the Pacific coast,
where God has made beautiful gardens
and perfect paradises without the hand
of man being used at all in them
But for that reason man must not be
idle and wait. We must all work,
more or less, each in his place. ''Stand
still and see the salvation of God"
may do very well for those who have
worked, who have lived with profit.
But 'stand by and see the salvation of
God" is blasphemy for the man who
lets his hands hang idly at his sides
and does nothing. And why, my
friends here tonight, should we think
we must not work to help mankind
and our fellow creatures generality
As / trod the streets of this new Sod
ON, the thoroughfares of this City of
the Plains, this oases in the desert,
and as / saw the faces of men and
women of the city, and saw the bru-
tality and debasements of their ma
lures that was stamped on them, and
as saw the little children growing
up amid all the wick edness of this
great city, stood still and cried out,
with my heart if not with my lips.
"Oh, God! inspire US all, that we may
work for the reform and good of our
fellow creatures and the ameliratiOn
of such things as these!n
sODoM.
1t was at the close of a lovely day
in June-one of those grand evenings
on plains-thatI saw them stretch
ing their golden eXpanse away as far
as the eye could reach, and saw that !
sapphire sea rejecting thesaphire sky |
above, and away off from the city,
those grand mountains with the ever !
cleaning, brilliant snow shining
above them all while, amid all this |
glowing scene, lay that plague-spot, |
Salt Lake City, foul blot on natures /
face, a whitened sepulchre without ; !
and within-what? A beautiful town, |
indeed, it is, with its broad, cool, clean |
streets; with its little streams of water, |
in all their mountain freshness and |
icy coolness, so pure and clear that, |
paradoxical as it may seem to you, one |
can stoop down and geta most refresh |
ing drink of the purest water from the |
gutter itself With its picturesque |
scenery, its beautiful buildings, its lit |
tie adobe huts and all, it is beautiful |
aud pleasant city in the desert, a beau !
tiful and pleasant spot to come and |
feast ones eyes with after a journey /
across the arid wastes. iBy their |
fruits We shall know them" said the |
Master of old, and by its fruits We shall /
know Mormonism, and whether what /
you see at Salt Lake City is any bet |
ter or any worse than what is to be |
seen any day in San Francisco or New |
York. True, in Salt Lake there is no |
drunkenness, no gambling, no riots, |
but order and quiet day and night
There are no churches save one, and /
what one is that. The children you |
see playing in the streets are debased, /
wretched, unhealthy-looking, bearing |
in their countenances the impress of |
the most brutal passions of men.
A MORMON FANiILY-MR. SMITH AND /
THE MRS. SMITHS.
/ called at house there and I sat |
down in the parlor, and in camea man
and a woman. Miss Dickinson, my /
other woman, "my wife, Mrs. Smith, |
and III came another, my wife, Mrs. |
-(laughter) r)-and so on thro' /
a whole lot Of them, all my wife,
Mrs. SMITH" and not one of these /
women came In as the happy wife and |
mother, or as the mistress of that 1
home, but all skunk in with a debar- /
red servile air, looking like tolerated |
slaves rather than anything else. One |
of them told me that she had six chill /
dren, another that she had twelve, /
and another that she had fifteen
Qaughter)-an half OF all them were |
dead, and / looked at the other half, |
and when 1 saw the wretched unheal- /
thy creatures, cried, my God, the I
hand of death is on them too"
RRIGHAM's THEATER.
I went to the theatre. went eX-
pecting to be disgusted but was more
than that. There were women all 1
around me, and would see one man
here and another there and each bend
ing over ten or fifteen women, and l
was told they were his wives; and as
I looked Ground and saw these women
and their degradation, such q sense |
and feeling of shame and despair came
over me that cried; "Oh God, let /
me die where / stand;" and then the
second thought came, and / said: "Oh /
no, let me not die, for that would be
cowardly indeed, but give me strength /
to Withstand and do battle against
this"
NAUGHTY GENTLE VISITORS.
1 came out to Salt Lake City with
the best men in the eountry-men
whom the country delights to honor
and revereQce-apd, as We all knew
we were coming to Salt Lake City, +
we naturally talked a great deal about
it, and what do you think was the
tenor of these mems conversation p
Why, after l had listened for some
time, 1 thought I should pray for
deafness, or cotton to put in my ears.
They thought Mormonism a fine in
stitution; it must be ajolly place where
a man can have o dozen or two of
wives and yet be respectable. 1t must
be Jolly to live in a place where divOr-
ces can be had for five dollars, and
where, if you get tired of your wife,
you can tack on a pretty little Nor
mon and no one can say a word to you.
Nice conversation for espectablemen
and all of them married but two, and
they were the best behaved of the lot.
"Oh, it was only a joke" Well, sup
IL 8