The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-03-19

ID. IOtHtY y pitU0ES account, DOC, SOl. lSl !!
1t was also claimed that the Gardo House
was built upon land on which the
Church had lease of ninety-nine years.
In spite of contest with the heirs, the
church was sustained in it's claims. Pres
ident Taylor now occupies the Gardo house
as an official mansion. His sister is host
ess. I suppose he does not wish to prefer
one wife above another, and they possess
houses in sundry parts Of the city. Throgh
the courtesy Of some friends, we were al
lowed to see the interior of the Gardo
house, which is very extensively fitted up
with fine hangings and handsome furniture.
The rooms are very large and high pitched,
frescoed and finished in hard wood. But
| do not think aesthetic colors, or portieres
or colonial bric-a-brac have yet penetrated
to Mormondom, and even in this repre-
sentative mansion the frieze and dado are
unknown. So poor Amelia has not re
manned in her palace for the term of her
natural life, which is rather hard, for
the story is that she was torn from her
lover to wed the prophet, and the substan-
tial loayes and fishes Of matrimony are all
she had to console her. There still re-
mains to her very pretty succeed house
in pleasant quarter of the city, and she
herself, is fair buxom, happy-looking
woman, Of some forty years.
! To the prophet himself, nothing remains
of his vast possessions but the lot wherein
he lies buried. To reach it, you pass the
Bee Hive house, and through the Eagle
Gate''-a gateway in the old wall, sur
mounted by an eagle perched on a beehive,
''rapacity preying on industry''-the
church and the people-Joseph Cook called
it. Looking back as you pass through,
there stretches from the gate wide street,
bordered by shade trees, which seems to
meet the far horizon. It runs for twenty
two miles through the territory. On
hill, whence one can gaze over the fair
prospect-over the valleys and fields which
he ruled with an iron dominion, Brigham
Young lies, under slab of granite CT
many tons weight. lie dreaded that some
attempt would be made to steal his body.
The grave is surrounded by an iron railing,
and the lot fenced in by corresponding
one. A portion is turfed, but The largest
part is reserved as a last resting-place for
his twenty-one wives. One only is buried
there, now, the oldest Mother Young.n
Among the other centres of Mormon
metropolitan interest, are to be reckoned
the Museum and the great u. C. M. l.
Store. The first is not far from Temple
Square, and contains the oldest agglom-
GRAFTON of the trivial and the really
curious. A two-headed lamb (stnffed,)
bends four eyes placidly on the rotten log,
followed into semblance of boat, in
which Kit Carson is said first to have
tempted Providence on the waters Of Salt
Lake. A pair of green shoes, once worn
by the wife of Ridley the Martyr, hob mob
with speckled straw hat of recent manu-
facture-this is ''martar's'' property, too
belonging to a Mormon preacher killed
in a riot in North Carolina not long since.
There is silk apron of Queen Elizabeth's
handiwork, garlanded with Yorkish and
Lancastrian roses, and all Brigham
Young's collection of Chinese, Sandwich
Island, and other curios. We were at
tracted by the familiar outlines of the
Madonna di San Sisto-reproduced in pen
and ink, a painstaking and painful effort
on large scale. The clouds were resolved
into cherub faces with an inky expression
Of celestial drunkenness Sextus' nose was
askew, and the balance was preserved on
the other side by st. GATHERINGS mouth.
Each and every line was awry.
'Who did this ?'' we queried.
''Don't you see the name at the bottom
of the picture ?" rejoined the custodian.
(''Sistine M adonna Rapheal'' was there
inscribed.)
''Oh yes-Raphael of course-but who
did this pen and ink copy-this one before
us 20
why, the name is there-Raphael did
this himself-it is his work, persisted the
innocent official.
1t may not be generally known that Salt
Lake possesses an original Raphael, nor
that the artist foresaid was affected at one
period with a delirium of lines. M.V.D.