The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1884-03-15
CHAPTER !.
THE FoUNpATIoS OF TuE oRDKR Oh
DANITES.

adder in the path. that bitcth the horse
heels, 30 that his rider shall fall back
wards. Gen. 40 10, II.
Planted down in the heart of
the continent, and "by the way
Tin the path" OF the weary pill
grims journcying to the remote
west, You Il well see how the
Mormon elders put their fingers on
this text, and told their ignorant
following that they were the cho-
sen people referred to here that
they were the children of Dan /;
that they should Judge the people
who came that way that they, the
Mormons, as the children of Dan.
we're. ''the serpent by the way"
ian adder in the path"
In the large reading Of the text,
and a liberal view and look of it
all, it seems plausible almost. even
to us. How certain then did it
seem to these ignorant and merci-
less followers of the dread order
Of the Danites, established there
"by the way lin the path" that
they were, as they sat in the heart
of the desert, to be the Judges
of those who passed by !
Back Of this Bible text lay much
bitterness, induced by a sad histo-
~, much suffering and persecution.
The Mormons firmly believed that
the order of the Danites was neces-
sary, not only for the purpose of
',iudging' the earth, but for their
own preservation.
More than thirty years ago l
first encountered these people.
Ny father and his little Sunday
train-that is, a train that would
not travel on Sunday in crossing
the plains, because of religious
scruples-pitched tent on the banks
of the Missouri and Council Bluffs,
right in their trails. We saw there
thousands OF caycs, little mud huts,
novels. all sorts of miserable little
habitations, where the whole mass
of MOrmOns had wintered a few
seasons before, in their exodus
ftom the United States to what
was then supposed to be Mexico.
When our train crossed the Nilsson
ri and pushed west to try to reach
the Pacific, we still were III their
trails, following the marks their
great moving caravan made as it
drew Its notified length like a shin
ing serpent across the great deserts
10 Salt Lake.
| was but a small lad at that
time, not big enough to bear arms,
or indeed to understand much Of
anything. But this much | under
stood, and understood so well that
it became a part of my life that
we were in peril. 1t. was not In
dams we feared. My father was a
Quaker, and he feared no man
whom he could look in the face.
But he did fear the Danites, whom
nc man might see till they did
their bloody work.
No that he or his ever had any
part or hand in their persecution ;
but his terror of them was in the
air, it was oyer all things. We
knew that oUr road lay through or
by Salt Lake. There was no es-
Gaping that. We must follow on
in their track till we came in our
journey to where Dan, who Judged
his people, lay like a serpent by
the way IAN adder in the path"
forgot to mention that my ia
ther had done a little something
in his quiet Quaker-like way to
help, or try to help, a beautiful
young woman who had come in
great distress to our camp one
evening, while tended in the old
Mormon winter quarters on the
banks OF the Missouri. But surely
he had no cause to fear evil for
good.
The facts wore sitnnlv tbasa