Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-07-10
SALT LAKE. CITY.
people.

| w Z uII1fSu dD OdIU Lake OIUN
day evening, which gave us the op-
portunity of seeing Mormonism in it's
Sunday garb. Fortunately for US,
the Mormon services at the Taber
nacle were held in the afternoon.
This afforded us the chance to attend
religious service in the morning, for
| if there is any religion to Norm onism
! [ failed to discover it. But we wan
dered down to Temple Square in the
early morning hours and visited the
Tabernacle. We were shown by the
| janitor it's wonderful acoustic prop
critics, and we could see for ourselves
it's perfect means of exit. This build
| ing, he said, was planned exclusively
| by Brigham Young. And the plan is
worthy Of imitation, for in this vast
auditorium pin drop or whisper
could be distinctly heard at distance
of 25O feet, and place of exit was to
be found in any direction from which
you might start. Two most impor-
tant factors which we sometimes lose
sight of for beauty of design in some
of our public buildings in the East.
For instance, Trinity Church of Bos-
ton is the most ornamental building
in the city. Architecturally it is a
real work of art, but the chances are
that a transient attendant at that
church might be seated where the
sermon would be partially or wholly
lost to him.
During the pastorate of the late
Bishop Brooks, strangers visiting the
city would go there to catch some of
the words of wisdom which fell from
that great and good mans lips, and
would come away SO disappointed,
bringing nothing with them. They
thought his rapid utterance caused
their difficulty in hearing, but there
was no such trouble when he spoke
in other places, although one would
need keep his mind on the alert to
follow such torrent of noble ideas.
For a church, lecture, or concert hall
I should prefer building as ugly in
point of architecture as Brigham
Young's Tabernacle, where every
word spoken in an ordinary tone of
voice would be distinctly heard in its
remotest corner, and to know that in
case of fire Or panic an immense
audience could be released from it's
confines in less than a minute. But
our absurdity in building for orna-
ment instead of the greatest utility,
is eclipsed ten fold in the Temple, for
here is magnificent building, which
they were forty years in constructing,
at a cost of six million dollars, and
this is used almost exclusively for the
Mormon clergy. For since its COM
pletion the gentle world are never
admitted to it's holy precints, and the
Mormon laity only once during a life
time. We asked the gate keeper
when they were granted this privi-
lege, and he said, ''When we have our
sins remitted." There were two
smaller buildings in the Temple in
closure. We asked him what they
were for, and he said we could find
out by becoming Mormons. Knowl
edge purchased at such a cost we
preferred to do without. We attend
ed the Sabbath morning service at
Baptist church where we heard an
excellent sermon on s'Consecration."
Here such a plain, humble, unselfish
path of Christian duty was marked
out for us and so forcibly presented
as to inspire one with higher ideals of
living. Such contrast to the Nor
mon service at the Tia bernacle in the
afternoon. There a large number of
the elders were present and spoke as
they were called upon, or the spirit
moved. The first two speakers were
from a missionary tour through the
South. They told how pleasantly
they were received and respectfully
listened to, but did not mention the
number of converts they had made.
But their little talks were much less
offensive than some heard from the
older men later. Probably they had
learned some useful lessons out in the
Gentle world, but the older speakers
did not present one instructive, use
full or helpful thought. They were
perfectly satisfied with themselves,
with the miracles of bealing and
other wonders which they could ac-
complish by the laying on of hands.
Elder Cannon wound up his remarks
with a grand peroration of Pharisaic-
al bombast, and capped the climax by
saying, mo such power had ever