The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-10-03

~ huu Ill through Tie udl IL was otAi 20 uSo''H'
I And see. see there on the white wall. see.
Comes forth what seems o man nand TO De!
And it wrote and wrote in letters of flame,
On the white wall, then vanished the way 1t came
The king sat staring, he could not speak.
His knees knocked together pale was his cheek
With cold fear creeping his lords sat round.
| They sat dumb-stricken, with never sound.
/ The magicians came, but not one OF them all
Could Interpret the writing upon the wall
l That self same night-his soul GOD sain =
Was Belshazzar, the king, by his mobiles slain.
Special Cor. vIRGINIAN.
OUT WEST.
UTAH-AMoNG THE MoRMoNs- BACK DOWN
THE LTNE-DEsTRoYING ANaELs-BRIG-
HAM YOUNG.
During my recent visit in the East | was
surprised at the frequency with which was
asked: slave you been in Salt Lake City ?"
and have you seen real Mormon?''
could readily understand how all interest in
| Salt Lake was conferred In the Mormons and
their peculiar customs, for these same pecu-
! liarities, coupled with the ia les which 60 out
into the world, and the mystery which at
taches to anything not fully understood,
tend to divert the minds of those who have
never visited the place from all other points
Of interest, and cause many OF them to over
| look the fact that Salt Lake is something
besides the home of polygamy, and that
Utah is not bounded by the limits Of the
city. Err q
] Every visitor to Salt Lake goes there thor
4 oughly alive with curiosity, and venture to
| say four fift1ls of them are happily disap-
pointed.
! 1 was on the tip toe of expectation from
| the moment I started for the depot of the
| Utah Central, which road was commenced
| Immediately after the completion OF the
| trans continental road and finished to Salt
Lake City, distance OF thirty-six and a
half miles, inside of eight months.
Guide books inform their readers that they
| Will find luxurious, cars waiting TO take
| them to Salt Lake. Nav be so, but /
never did. Pve made the journey to the
ssLord's Kingdom twice, and, l must say,
| the cars in which was transported thither
were neither: luxurious nor elegant. And
right here let me say, for the benefit OF the
managers of the Utah Central, nice and po-
lite though they be, they ought to be ashamed
to charge fTst-class rates and then compel
passengers to ride III second class cars. for
while do not expect to
"be carried to the skies
On fowery beds Of ease"
l do calculate on riding in comfortable
| Car, IL i pay 1UT IL. WIittI1cI dlu LlChStCd W
| the ''City OF the Saints,'' or to Sodom and
Gomorrah.
Bear in mind, please, that we have been
on Mormon ground ever since we crossed
| the line from Wyoming, lard right here in
| Ogden is a town claiming six thousand
inhabitants, about evenly divided between
Mormon and GENTLE faith. By Scientific, :"
| mean everything that isn't Mormon, and 1
use the Mormon dictionary in my applica-
| ton of the word.
Leaving Ogden The road goes almost due
south, through what was only few years
ago, a SANDY, barren desert, producing moth
ing better than sage brush and grease wood.
Seen now, with its fields of grain, its abun-
dant growth of grass, its thrifty fruit trees.
it seems incredible that such a change can
have been wrought in a quarter of a CEN
fury.
Barren and dcsolate IS it was, when, in
| 1S47, the little band of Mormons sent out to
| find the promised land first looked upon
this valley, do not wonder they saw, as
with prophetic eye, its capabilities and PEI
culiar adaptability to their wants. direct
result of the prosecutions suffered by them
was the development of the powers OF en-
| durance, and an intense determination to
succeed. Like the little band which set sail
in the MayHower, expressions had made
| them brave enough to face danger AMI SUI
fering, and they blindly followed their lead
er, their faith strengthened by every new
persecution, their strange religion elevated
into something sublime by the very abuse
intended to destroy it. Had Joseph Smith
and the little band which gathered about
| him in Ohio been let severely alone by both
press (and people, the effort to hoist into
| popularity such absurd doctrines would have
| proven so complete a failure that Smith and
/ bic oro idoac xvaiIld hov both hnny1 ciIul n
deep they could never be resurreeted.
But the people talked and the press dis
cussed, until all the world was agog with
curiosity, and, to quote a Mormon author
ity s'there was daily added unto them such
as should be saved.'' 10 put it into common
sense terms, there was attracted to them a
large number of foolish men and women OF
class which is always ready to fall into
| line when there is anything new started
always running after notoriety /; willing to
sacrifice anything and every thing for the
happiness Of being made martyrs.
If we would gulp down as facts all that is
found in Mormon history, well might we
wonder if the people who refused to receive
Joseph Smith as their prophet were not a
new edition of the Jews, ready to cruelty
one but a little less in power than our Lord.
Here is q scrap from their facts: faf Y
+ In Ohio they built a tabernacle. When it
was dedicated, among the number which
| came from great distance to witness the
1 ceremonies was young mother, with her
baby boy of eight months. But the leader
had said that no babies could be taken into
the temple. Bitterly did this sister grieve
and the heart Of the prophet melted and he
babe her enter, bearing her babe in her arms.
He assured her it should make no noise
Through all the long hours the spell rested
upon the child and it it made no sound, and
the mothers belief in Joseph's power waxed
stronger with every passing moment. FL
nally the closing exercises were reached,
when all the congregation lifted up their
voices and cried ssHallelujah Hallelujah!''
and the little child, WHICH had been but eight
months in this storm-tossed world, cried
with an exceeding loud voice, ssHallelujah p
And the people heard and were dumb with
amaZement.
Do you wonder, kind reader? ,''' -
Notwithstanding these wonderful mani
festations of power, the mass Of the people
refused to come into the Mormon fold, and
the little pot of Indignation was kept stead
lily boiling until finally it sp,ashed Overland ran
hither and thither, driving all before it. Like
all similar attempts to crush out fanatics, it
; only strengthened their hands, and when
they fled to Missouri, their number was lar
ger than even they themselves anticipated.
But they found no peace there, although
it was comparatively new State, and its
people our rough pioneers. Gathering their
little all together, they again fled, perse.
cuted by men and women who were surely
no better examples of religion which holds
charity to be the greatest of the virtues,
than were those who dared to look upon Jo-
seph Smith as prophet, IS,
Remember that the revelations con-
corning polygamy were not received
until July, 1S43, and were not favorably re.
ceived until some after so it can be said Of
the Mormons, they broke no civil or moral
laws; they simply declared themselves to
be believers in and followers of the new re-
ligion promulgated by Joseph Smith, and to
receive at his hands instructions as to theiI
daily walk and conversation. There was
enough of superstition about it to satisfy
those who are always cropping after the mys-
FERROUS; enough that bore the semblance Of
the truth to catch those who were .unwary:
4 i,,1 fl,n 70 rvi.y