Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-04-12

Va thO Hl0ICs Il Ou OOui0 dLO DO tnClil
long time, till they became anima.-
ed and the great cistern on their
backs was shaken and the water was
agitated. Or was it the same angel
that troubled the waters in Jerusalem
centuries ago, that came here to i'm
part healing virtues to this consecrat-
ed fluid. The good Mormon so be-
lieved. Some feet above the ground
floor there was range of elegant
limestone blocks going round the en-.
tire building on which was scnlptured
the moon in its crescent form-the
sculpture was perfect, and here the
planetary system was represented.
Still above this girdle of moons, there
was second girdle of limestone
blocks on each of which was sculp-
tured the sun, a round, full human
face and rays darling from it in all
directions. Some of these suns were
in their proper place on the building;
others were lying on the ground. AS
the wind passed the half open mouth
of these figures, melodious sound
would break forth, swell, anguish
and die. The spirit of the prophet
extemporized this music. Above this
range of suns, had the temple been
completed, there were to have been
the fixed stars.
Some of the passengers visited the
venerable saint, the mother of Joseph.
She lived in small brick dwelling;
the guile and fraud in her counter
ance was too glaring to be mistaken.
The old lady was both too ignorant
and too childish to disguise her
roguery. She had relics that Joseph
had found with the plate on which
Mormon wrote his history. She had
some very ancient scraps of papyrus
written over with counterfeited hero
glyphics. She would exhibit these
wonders and read portions of these
revelations on payment of twenty five
cents each. So she did, but when
her history called king Pharaoh, Mr..
Pharaoh, and recited that he had four
sons, Jim, Jack, Ellck and 10. Phar-
aoh, land one daughter Miss Cumanus
Pharaoh, whose foot she exhibited to
US, we began to grow incredulous. 1t
was small mummy foot, very beauti-
ful-one of the boys said it would
jump from the table dead as it was
When the old lady was looking over
her spectacles, he picked it up and
put it into his coat pocket. There he
had his paper of tobacco and several
clay pipes. He was jovlal soul and
when We got on board the boat, he
boasted of his exploit. He and the
rest of US went to smoking at his ex-
pense as usual. But the odor of the
Virginia leaf was peculiar. We in
vestigated and found that Miss Cum
anus Pharaoh's mummy foot was
broken into fragments pulverized and
mixed with our friends tobacco. Well
there was some hawking and splitting
and thorough expectoration. o what
Queens daughter of old Egypt ever
dreamed of being cremated and her
ashes smoked in white clay pipes on
the Mississippi On close examination
of the powdered remains it appeared
that the miraculous art OF old mother
Smith could make mummys' feet
about as easily as she could make
doughnuts.
But before we embarked on the
boat, perhaps about midnight, we at
tended large gathering of the ex
cited saints near an old stone building
at the upper limit Of the town. There
was female prophet under the
power" She appeared in convul-
sions and her eyes rolled; round and
round she whirled but whenever she
stopped her gyrations her face was
turned westward. She related the
prodigy she had seen the night after
Joseph ives shot. She saw him on
white horse, large and grand and gal
Topping in different directions across
the heavens. He drew his sword
and pointed it threateningly toward
Iiiinos-next she saw him and his
brother leading the Mormon armies
westward with their wagons, horses,
cattle, women and children. o it was
a grand sight, Many of the deceased
saints whom she recognized mingled
with the host that rolled far off west
ward.
The Mormo ns borrowed their creed
and institutions from the Old Tesla
ment rather than the new. They
were Gods chosen people. The
Heather around were Canaanite, Hit
tite and Phelistines who were to be
extirpated whenever the saints were
strong enough to destroy them. Joe
Smith was not William Penn or
John Wesley or Martin Luther. His
kingdom was of this world, he covets
ted its wealth, pleasure, power. He
was nearer like Mahomet than any
other historical character, and like
him he offered the alternative of con.
version or death. The Tbeocracy
was from the first pugnacious aud
military, and could they carry out
their theory the only safety for the
world would be to turn Mormon en-
masse When the preacher could
not convert the Destroying Angels
must apnihilate. Perhaps no fanati-
cism ever appeared so diabolieal as
when the saints called on the Lord to
aid them in their work of death, where
the Danites, the merciful butchers,
were sending men, women and chill
dren to heaven by washing out their
sins in their own blood. No such
pretext for murder was ever invent
ed before; the fierce and cruel ia
natics regarded it as pious duty.
In the martyrs crown worn by Bish-
op John D Lee will be the souls of
his victims whose bones repose in the
| Mountain Meadow.
0Lp TIMES.
N. B. Lolita, who was arrested at