The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-04-27

nn1.A 800 - 0U8zA
TREAN;
THE MORMON'S DAUGHTER.
By ALvA MILTON KERR.
written While Living in utah.1
Copyrighted. 1851. BY the A. n Eslsess 1ssss-
paper Co. Az RigAts Resvrsd.
CHAPTER IX.-CoNrINuID.
In . few moments he came to the foot Of
the mountain. He felt sick and dizzy; he
would look at his wound-well, let it
bleed; perhaps God would have justice
done now. He caught hold Of the sage
brush and pulled himself up the mountain
side few rods, and sank down just below
. huge upshooting splinter Of stone and
tried to pray. But, though he essayed with
all his strength, he could not. His tongue
seemed thick and refused to articulate,
while objects about him had strange and
hazy aspect. Was he dying, or was it the
reaction after SO long a period Of strife
and emo:iona He turned and looked at the
valley he loved; there was the distant vii
lage, his mothers little house among the
trees on the hithcr side, Burl Hartman's
cabin beyond it near the pines, the fields
and meadows divided by the creek as by
q road of phosphor, but all seeming to rock
and glimmer together Is in . dream.
Suddenly some moving object upon the
left challenged his eyes; he reused himself
and turned toward it; l'oSl E1eAsrd, droep-
ing over his horse's neck, sess riding into TIE
snoxth Of Eagle canyon, and with cry his
wouId-be slayer fell forward in the chapar-
raj and was silent 1t was dead faint; the
long struggle with his heart, the tragedy
that closed the strife, its swift reversal, and
the sudden change Of his whole relation to
life, swept away his failing consciousness.
Even the ox-!ike Orson Beam could no long
er stand to the task; when the invisible
burden was lifted he fell For . long time
he Law quietly in his darkness, resting it
seemed, then started, opened his eyes,
sprang up. and looked about him. Was it
truei Had he not fallen asleep last night
here among the chaparral and just awak-
his wound softly oozing! But was the horse
man who had ridden into the canyon real or
but Pigment Of his fancyl He threw OF
his coat, tore away his shirtsleeve and twist
ing it into knot thrust it into his wound,
then went crashing downward through the
bramble.
Soon he was near the little plot Of green
which opened upon the road, but rs he
pushed into it with eager foot the gnawing
question at his heart melted into great fear.
When he lifted his eyes would not their
sweet capacity be blotted out! their ability
to ever again present him with the delights
of happy vision be destroyed Would not
that form which Trean loved, and which
had yielded him such gentle greeting, be
living there beside the road ready to blast
him!
No. il wax not there! A great thrill Of re-
lief swept through him: he flung his arms
upward with . cry of JOY and turned about;
the revolver was lying before him; he
crushed it into the soft earth with his foot,
crashed back through the tangle to his
horse, vaulted into the saddle, forgetful Of
his wound, and rode away . free man.
A free mani All, no. For an hour the
sense that delighted him was not unlike
the gladness Of one coming from An impris-
oning cave Of horrors into the clear air and
quiet sunshine But it did not remain !;
darkness followed, distrust Of himself,
doubt of his acceptance, after such an At
tempt, by the Great Father to whom he
had so often opened q clean and tender
heart The intent, the motive!. All, was he
not after all . murderer! No: the injury
to the other, which would in large part have
made him criminal, had been escaped. Yet
his soul was blackened; he felt it heavy and
lotahsome within him. Like thousands
more among those mountains, his was an
honest nature, scrupulous in word and
deed, and IN the beginning drawn to this
system by its seeming nearness to the Al
mighty, to become in the end bemuddled
and befooled by prlestly tricks, until the
brutally material and the spiritually fine
were blended and confused into one. God
had become to this people not the Eternal
Spirit, creating, informing, sustaining and
pervading all things, but . man Of body,
parts and passions; one who had risen to
sovereignty through animal increase; one
who was at the head Of creation through
fathership. Adam, through the same proc
ess. became God of this sphere under the
Almighty, and afterwards came IS Christ
to redeem his fallen offsprings that they,
too, might become gods rising In exaltation
in the ratio of their progeny.
This was piece Of priestcrafs enslaving
women to the priestly will and yoking her
with indescribable servitude. That such .
doctrine, and others quite as revolving,
should have passed into practice, is only
explainable by the fact that an oa.h-bound
priesthood, comprising one-fourth Of the
people and including the shrewdest and
most wealthy, utterly dominated every
phase Of life. In q discourse, delivered in
the great Tabernacle at the center Of this
theocracy. the Prophet Young, but little
prior to the period with which this chronicle
has to do, averred as follows:
1.-THE Priesthood of the Son of God is from
everlasting to everlasting; it is without be-
ginning Of days or end of years. 1t is Writ
ually the power by which worlds are and
were created, and the power by which they
are now held in existence, and by which all
that are to cone will be organized, gov
erned, controlled and sustained. This
Priesthood must come to the children Of
men, in order for them to understand the
nodus operandi of establishing the Kingdom
of God upon earth. This Priesthood must
govern and control the people who under
take to build up this Kingdom; and the rule
of the Priesthood of the Son of God will ex-
tend to every avenue, and will control every
department of the labor Of those who are
engaged in this great work. This Priest
hood must govern and control. or else the
people will not become perfect
So the people toiled forward under the
yoke; the Priesthood was the State and
every soul slave. That many decent peo-
pie among them. and even men who we'll
nigh balanced life with liberty. should bow
to such insufferable assumptions seems as
tonishing. But the student VINO runs his
eye over this craze and lets the fact that in