The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-06-29
SEALED 10 4 MORMON
Maude NJ. Ford, a Gentle
Girl of Ohio, VIII be.
PRESIDENT SHOWS SON
Converted Her and Won Her
Affections at Once.


Maude NJ. Ford of Auburn. O., viii be
sealed for eternity to LIE Roi c. Snow. son
of President Lorenzo Snow Of the Church
of esus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
| President Snow himself viii perform the
! ceremony-the first time he has thus off,
! ciated since his selection four years ago
I as the head of the Mormon church.
Gentiles, uninitiated into the disdnc-
tions, would call this a wedding. But it
| differs from wedding, according to the
Mormon belief. When a man and wo-
man are married itsis for this life only
When they are sealed it is not only for
this life, but for the life to come, forever
and forever.
This sealing viii be great occasion in
Utah. From al over the state will come
| relatives and friends and church officials
TO help celebrate for it is the first time
that a son Of President Snow has been
sealed, and the young man himself has
gained fame as a jealous worker in the
church and a successful missionary who
has even been imprisoned for the faith.
In fact, the bride herself is a living proof
of his devotion to mis- religion, for he over
came her natural prejudices, broke down
the barrier of environment, swept away
the opposition of her father, a wealthy
farmer and prominent politician of Ohio,
and gathered her into the folds of Nor
monism.
Five hundred invitations have been is
sued to the grand reception, banquet and
bail at the historic Beehive House. They
have gone to all the bishops, to the seven
presidents Of seventies, to the twelve
apostles, to George Q. Cannon and Joseph
F. Smith, and to relatives and friends
who will come from as far as three hun
dred miles away.
olu iae-hely dill shrdIutaoinaoin
But <none of these will see the sealing.
The brides own father and mother are
barred No Gentle foot may enter the
sacred and secret portal OF the temple,
No eyes may feast upon its gorgeous in
terror except those of Mormons of high
standing in the church, and they are
sworn to tell naught of what there is in
side of those famous gray granite walls,
with towers and pinnacles that loom up
so loftiiy that they rival in prominence
the snow-streaked Wasatch or the brown,
green and redding Oquirrh mountains
that skirt the green and picturesque val
ley Of the Jordan-the promised land Of
the band Of pioneers led across the plains
over half century ago by Brigham
yonllg.
Ask a Mormon what there is inside the
temple, and he viii shake his head and
reply:
"Oh. it's grand-magnifcent You can't
conceive how magnificent it is
shakes his head again and closes his lips
No Masonic rites were ever more sa-
credIy guarded in their secrecy than are
the rites of sealing, or marriage, in the |
temple Vows that bind again and again |
are sworn to with as much solemnity as |
lies within the realm of possibility. Ask |
a person who has been through the eere-
mony what it is like and he or she viii |
look at you shocked and astounded at the |
audacity Of such a question. 1t would be |
ust as easy TO get a high Mason to de- |
scribe in detail the thirty-th1rd degree as
it would be to get a Mormon to tel all |
about the sealing process.
The Journal correspondent has, how
ever, found one man who was sealed in
the temple who has since ceased paying
his tithing and broken away from the
church. and who was inclined to be com
municative about the ceremonies. He was
willing to tell about the interior Of the
temple and to describe the sealing in a
general way. But even he refused to tell
all the details.
After all those vows took he said.
Iii I should tell everything that took
place there I'd never sleep another wink,
I'd be SO haunted. can't so quite that
far"
But ne has told a good deal. and this is
the first time a description of a Mormon
wedding ceremony has been published
The principal event Of the day-the
sealing -itself-will be the first. This will
take place atQhigh noon.
At 1850 o'clock the wedding rarty will
leave the Beehive House, the Official resi-
dence of President Snow. and will be
Driven block away to the temple. The
party will be made I'D of the bride and
groom, President and Mrs. Snow and
their daughter. Miss Mabele Snow.
Through the big gate and into the tenn
PIE grounds the party viii so, passing TO
the rear entrance next TO the famous tur-
tle-hacked tabernacle. Then they will en-
ter the massive doors that keep all except
the faithful from the mysterious re-
cesses.
From the moment they enter the tenn
pie everything is calculated TO impress
them with its solennity The grandeur
Of the exterior IS carried out in the in
terror IN a massive splendor
One of the first things the bridal pair !
are told IS that no mortal may enter the
sacred chambers in their ordinary. gar
nents TO pass through the rte Of sealing. |
Each is sent into a retiring room. there (
70 take Of sll their regular garments and
replace them with white, flowing robes.
This done the bridal procession takes
up the march 70 The sealing room"
This is q chamber on the second floor ]
OF the temple. next to 1.-THE wonderful
celestial room The latter Is believed 10
be the most magnificent chamber Of the
kind in the world. Its arched ceiling and / :
high walls are finished IN white ana gold. ,
genuine ivory and solid gold entering
lagely into the strucuon- ,
From the noor IS built up a bower OF !
magnificent plants, coming from Hawaii. !
Arstrann and every other quarter CT the
globe where the church has missions. !
Tho massive furniture is OF native woods. 4
The c-owning glory of the room !. = :
series CO paintings, worked out bea,,tf
fully with the use CT stained glass, These
the Proohe, Joseph smith "a .
ceiving from supposedly divieA sources !
the nlztes or which we-a the wrifi=Rs 81
the Peck q Mormon. showing The prophet J
VISITED by divine oeinEs. and Representing