The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1869-10-09

I
With no one but her secret God
To k5aow the pain that weighs upon her,
Sheds holy blood IS e'er the sod
Received on freedoms field of honor!
~~~~~.-0-~--e-~~-
Anna Among the Mormons.
Visit Of Miss Anna Dickinson to Salt
Lake CMy-Her Impressions Of Po-
lygamy-NaugAty Men and Szaoish
Womem-SAe IS ashamed Of Her
Sea and Wants to Die Women
Rlust Ride Astride Hereafter.
F&om the San Francisco Chronicle, Sept ?. !
The audience that attended Miss
Dickinson's lecture at the Metropolitan
Theatre. on Sunday evening, was in
marked contrast to that of the evening
before at Platt's Hall. With the ex-
ception Of the upper gallery, the house
was crowded with an Intelligent and
appreciative audience, whom, as Miss
Dickinson afterwards said. "it was
pleasure to lecture TO-" At s:l5 o'clock
accompanied by her brother, the Rev
J. Dickinson. the lecturer made her ap-
pearance and commenced as follows:
"See Rome and de-" is an old d
well-known proverb "See Sat Lake
City and live," is the new provrIb oi
the day. Live to work and work
earnestly. And I know full well hat
the matter of labor is not commended
in this world as it ought to be. partlcu-
larly where one tries to reform j,
Take the world easily and let it IN We
on in its destined course. Think yo,
that God will do all the work aud let us
lay idle here below2 Out here, On
these California plains, are oa>es aud
patches of vegetation, nanzanita wood
and barren, proftless herba e. There
are places, up and down all the Pacific
coag, 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 Gnd,"
may do very well for those who have
worked. who have lived with proft.
But" stand by aud see the salvation of
God" is blasphemy FIR the man who
let's his hands hang idle at his sides and
does nothing. Aud why, my friends
here tonight should We think we must
not work to help mankind and our
fellow creatures generally? As | trod
the streets Of this new Sodom, the
thoroughfares of this City of the Plains,
this oasis in desert, aud as | saw the
faces Of the men and women of the city.
and saw the brutality and debasement
of their natures that was stamped. upon
them, aud as | saw little children grow
ing up amid all the wickedness 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 amelioration of such
things as these !" .nI..
5.- i#Etl sODOm,
1t was at the close of q lovely day in
Juue-one Of those grand evenings on
the Plains-tbat saw them stretching
their golden expanse away as far as the
eye could reach, and saw that sapphire
sea rejecting the sapphire sky above,
and, away off from the city, those grand
mountains with the ever-gleaming, bril-
liant snow shining above them all;
while, amid all this glowing scene lay
that plague spot, Salt Lake City-a
foul blot on natures face. a whitened.
sepulehre without and within, what ?
A beautiful town. indeed, it is, with its
broad, cool clean street with its little
streams Of water in all their mountain
freshness and icy coldness, so pure and
clear that, paradoxieal as it may seem
to you, one can stop down and get a
most refreshing drink Of the tpurest
" ater from the gutter itself With its
picturesque scenery, itsrbeautiful build
ings, its little adobe huts and all, it is
beautiful city in the desert, a lovely
and pleasant spot to come and feast
ones eyes with after q journey across
the arid wastes. i" By their fruits ",
shall know them" said the Master of
old, and by its fruits, ye shall, know
Mormonism. and whether what you see
at Salt Lake City is any better or any
worse than what is to b., seen any day
in San Francisco or New 70 k True,
in Salt Lake there is no -noise. M
drunkenness, no gambling, no riots, but
order and quiet day and night. There
are no churches save one. and what a
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 meu. :;
a MORMON. FAM1LY--MR. SMITH AND:
.. :, 81 lot THE MRS SMITHS. - nvss.-.
!; >, I called al, a house there and. 1 sat
down in the parlor, snd in came man
and woman Miss Dickinson,o my wife
Mrs. Smith, 3" and in came another 7wo-
man. "my wife Mrs. Smith Taught
50 on through a whole lot of
them, all :" my wife Mrs Smith p and
not one Of these women came in as the
happy wifepr mother Or as che mis-
tress Of thai f,hemes but all slunk in with
aadebarred 8aRile air, looking liksotole-
rated slaves rather than anything else.
One Of them told me that she, had, six
children, anothe er that she had twelve,
and another fhat she had fftesn ~
annhtarl-AnfH half of all them ware