The Lake County star., 1877-06-14

BRIGHAM INsTRUCTING THE Hon
ELI PERKINS IN THE MYSTERIES
r, or MORMoNIsM.

| Dhi0HAM lNSTbUCfINd The HUN
ELI PERKINS IN THE MYSTERIES
L, or MoRMoNIsM.
III SALT LAKE Cry, May "A.
IL On Thursday I again spent about
three hours talking with Brigham
tYoung In his private ofiice. J0hnW
Young, the prophets favorite s0n, and
Daniel HI. Wells, first Mormon coun.
sellor, were also present. Brigham
Young Is now 70 years old, hale, hearty
and strictly temperate, though little
fiabby from sedentary habits. John
w. Young IL a y0npg man, say 80,
handsome, and accomplished. He is
very much beloved by all the Nor.
mons, and will undoubtedly succeed
to the Presidency at the death Of his
father, which will probably occur
within the next ten years. His only
rivals are Joseph #. Smith, son Of Jo-
seph Smith, the founder OF Mormon
ism, who was shot dead by the mob In
Carthage jail, near Nauvoo. ILL.,, In
1874, and John Taylor. who was
Joseph and his brother, Hyrum Smith,
were both instantly killed. John Tay-
lor Is venerable, silverfhaired man of
the Andrew Jackson type. He Is bold
and aggressive, having been stoned
and shot at for his filth, In both Mis-
souri, and Illinois. Daniel HI. Wells is
q shrewd, quiet man. Perhaps his
having six wives and several houses
full of children has had q soothing
effect on his nature. Daniel Is Brig
hams chief counselor, q sort of Attor-
ney General to the Prophet.
r. Brigham Young is held In great
Difference by his people. When he
speaks every wife, child, and disciple
keeps quiet and stares Mt him with O
look OF sacred veneration. Ordinary
platitudes coming from the mouth OF
the prophet are listened to as II they
came from the mouth of Moses him
self. No one ever differs with Brig
ham. No one replies; but there he
sits before his wives, children, and
disciples. and with strange, wander
ing gestures, such as Rip Van Wrinkle
used when trying to rec0llect incidents
which passed twenty years before,
feeling the air with his fingers, he
half breaches and half talks at random
He Is very metaphysical and very
mysterious. Corner him In an argu-
ruent and he has cunning way of be-
Jogging you In mystery.
ibid you ever see the gold plates
which the angel showed to Joseph
Smith In Manchester, New York, and
on which were written the first Nor
mon revelations ?" / asked M
mo, never saw the plates" said
the prophet.
"Oh, they put them back In the
ground again." 2Saps-
"Now do you really believe all these
angel gold.plate stories, Mr.. Young"
i asked, smiling quizzically:
II tell you, Mr.. Perkins, there are
great many true things iu this world
that we do not understand. DO you
see that rose bush?n he continued,
pointing to rose bush by the door
and taste come from? Where do they
90 to? You don't know. Still, you
know they exist. You know" and
the prophet mysteriously waved his
hand, and like Captain Cutie, sailed
offinto metaphysical obscnrity.
The Mormon church is governed by
three heads: - sALk w
First-Brigham Young. President
and autOcrat. b t..~ asNs
Second-The first qucrIm, consist
ing of Brigham himself, John w. and
Daniel H. Wells.
Third-The second quorum, consist
ing of twelve disciples, like John Tay-
lor, Erastus Snow, Orson Hyde, OrsOn
Pratt, Brigham Young, Jr., Joseph F.
Smith, &c. a''t
Hyrum ClawsOn, who married two
of Brigham Young's daughters, max
ing his compliment of four wives, is
Adiutant- General of the Territory and
the father of twenty-seven beautiful
children. Brigham himself tells me
that he has fOrty-five children and
fifteen wives living, and more grand
children than he can remember.
When asked him what was his chief
policy and ambition as head of the
Mormon Church, he replied:
my policy IL the peace and pros
perity of the Mormon people-tO in
crease in numbers and wealth."
"How fast are you increasingly 1
asked.
1--WE double once in six years now.
To-day" said the prophet, I'VE have
100, 900 Mormons, extending from Da-
kota down through Utah and Arizona
and New Mexico. Six years from to-
day If no war is made on us, we will
have 100000 people, and In twelve
years, that Is, in 1880, we will have
600. 600 people. We have now thirty
incorporated cities, three million dol
lars worth of irrigating canals, 358
school houses, IL newspapers, mis-
mionaries In every part of the world,
tories, 500 miles of railroads, ,telegraphs
all over the Territory, and temples
built and being built enough for all
our people to worship in. Besides, our
missionaries send us 5000 emigrants
every year, and our elders baptize
many hundred native Indians and re-
ceive them into the Mormon church."
"What do you advise your people to
do?'
continually advise them to culti-
vate small farms, keep out Of the
mines, become self-sustaining, increase
and multiply, never sell their farms,
keep out Of law, never quarrel with
Mormon or GENTLE, and make every
thing they eat, drink or wear"
"Then you never want to fight the
United Statess" 1901
"Never. Our policy Is peace. War
would cripple us. We will obey every
law. If they want me to be tried for
the Mountain Meadow murders, one
man with a proper warrant can arrest
me. To be sure, we have 20, OOO:harm-
less militia. We have artillery and
cavalry just the same as you have In
New York, but our militia is - HARM
less as your Seventh Regiment. IL
necessary we will fight for the flag
never against It. Never!n
"But the Mormons are armed 2"
Eyes, our people are pioneers. They
are all armed. suppose there are 300,-
600 guns among our people; for every
pioneer thinks he needs gun as much
cause % % we are Mormons we are none
the less citizens OF the United States.
1t Is just as much our duty to drill and
keep up our militia, and we feel as
much patriotism in our drilling and
organizing a. the New Englanders do.
the ssyenth @ a EsgiWe%ns %sI Is v patriotic Sxs
your division parades in New York,
suppose some fool Of newspaper cor