Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-12-15
- MORMON .1UDIB.vCB.

In a sketch of the trial of the Mormon
Hawkins at Salt Lake, George Alfred
Townsend thus daguerreotypes tho audi
ence present on the occasion:
There stand the guilty fold, without the
bar Of the court (most Of them look as If
they wanted a new razor and square meal),
the Mormon rank and file. Grave and lis
tening. and so respectful as to irritate the
prosecuting attorneys very much $50 thlt
they would like to make premeditated
good behavior a conspiracy punishable by
law; these Mormons, could they speak
aloud, would, swellta chorus ,profuse and
unintelligible as on the eve of the miracu-
lous Pentecost-D Dane and Welshman, Nor
wegian and Finn, westpholian and Belgi
an, hard, nasal Yankee, and wiie-mouthed
NUrtl .umbrian-lad from the collieries Of
Newcastle, the purlieus Of London, and
the mills Of Bradford they look upon the
United States in blue coat with lerd
pencil in its hand as If ii were the Man Of
Sin, and confined under the same baldish
source the pecularilics of Guy Fawkes
and Judge Jelreys. Simple people in the
main, who with all their regard to the COM
mand to increase end multiply, feared the
United States census-takers as partners in
their persecution. and cut down the returns
of their population by sheer shyness from
10000 to $4,000 odd. Docile people, as
well, though not without the courage of
the poor, so that when on the late occasion
of the great Methodist camp meeting Brig
ham said to them in the Tabernacle, "I
want you all to go to this camp-meeting
and listen to what is said r. they filled it 10
OVERLOOKING every day; but the mourner's
bench remained as empty yas lion'splatter.
And when, on one occasion only, at some
harangue upon polygamy, n mutter arose
over that great congregation, Brigham him
self present, stood up and waved his finger
and tho complaint hushed to utter peace.
People. also, who dance and waltz between
religious benedictions, and yet can listen
for hours in ardent delight TO dry disserta
tions and discussions in their Tabernacle,
which might make Nature snore in her
processes. How infinite are the possibili
ties of our nature when we reflect that
these grave, unrebellious people, the waif-
and findings of all lands, many of them
digntied in apparel and culture, and stead
llN dScpHulUR tue Sculb VI CDuliotl
possessions, hold still with the tenacty Of
moral purpose to the loose and spreading
life of polygamy, preierring this fantast c
reproduction like the banyan's branches to
the straight and peaceful unity OF the Euro
pean family. saw in the court Jew, line
al descendant of the old patriarchs whom
these Mormons delight to exemplly. His
dark, shining eyes, aquiline beak. and WA
w coarscness of hair made strong con-
trast with these Saxon and Scandinavian
races, fair-hared and highly-colored
| around him. He had marched down
through two thousand years of wandering
to accord with the century and Europe.
And these Europeans had marched back
six thousand years 10 resume the civiliza-
tion the Jew had abandoned. What feast
| for skepticism is this But whoever looked
closely could see the end of all this near at
| hand, unless famed by irritation and fan
aticism again. The weary faces, long and
hollow, told Of responsibilities too burden
some and of bodies oyertaxed. The bright
| lights which shine in the face of him who
submits to the life and customs approved
| by time and wisdom, were often darkened
here. From the windows of the Court,
the rolling or serrated line of mountains
eniolding valley like the lawn of para
disc, suggested far different men and wo-
men, and life bounded by fewer necessi-
ties and wider opportunities for them all a
life consonant with the literatures OF all
these people, consonant with Christian art,
and promising period OF rest between la
| Dor and death.