Part 25 (1/2)

Passepartout approached and read one of these notices It stated that Elder Williae of his presence on train No48, would deliver a lecture on Mormonism in car No117, from eleven to twelve o'clock; and that he invited all ere desirous of being instructed concerning the ion of the ”Latter Day Saints” to attend

”I'll go,” said Passepartout to hiamy, which is its foundation

The news quickly spread through the train, which contained about one hundred passengers, thirty of whom, at most, attracted by the notice, seated themselves in car No117 Passepartout took one of the front seats Neither Mr Fogg nor Fix cared to attend

At the appointed hour Elder William Hitch rose, and, in an irritated voice, as if he had already been contradicted, said, ”I tell you that Joe Smith is a martyr, that his brother Hiram is a martyr, and that the persecutions of the United States Governha

Who dares to say the contrary?”

No one ventured to contradict the missionary, whose excited tone contrasted curiously with his naturally caler arose from the hardshi+ps to which the Morovern these independent fanatics to its rule

It had made itself master of Utah, and subjected that territory to the laws of the Union, after iamy The disciples of the prophet had since redoubled their efforts, and resisted, by words at least, the authority of Congress Elder Hitch, as is seen, was trying tohis words with his loud voice and frequent gestures, he related the history of the Mormons from Biblical times He told how in Israel, a Mormon prophet of the tribe of Joseph published the annals of the new religion, and bequeathed them to his Mormon son; how, many centuries later, a translation of this precious book, which ritten in Egyptian, was made by Joseph Smith, Jr, a Vermont farmer, who revealed himself as a mystical prophet in 1825; and how, in short, the celestial ave him the annals of the Lord

Several of the audience, not being much interested in the missionary's narrative, here left the car; but Elder Hitch, continuing his lecture, related how Smith, Jr, with his father, two brothers, and a few disciples, founded the church of the ”Latter Day Saints,” which, adopted not only in Aland, Norway and Sweden and Gered in the liberal professions, a its members; how a colony was established in Ohio, a temple erected there at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and a town built at Kirkland; how S banker, and received from a simple mummy showyptians

The Elder's story becaradually less, until it was reduced to twenty passengers

But this did not disconcert the enthusiast, who proceeded with the story of Joseph Save him a coat of tar and feathers; his reappearance some years afterwards, more honorable and honored than ever, at Independence, Missouri, the chief of a flourishi+ng colony of three thousand disciples, and his pursuit thence by outraged Gentiles, and retirement in the Far West

Ten hearers only were now left, a with all ears Thus he learned that, after long persecutions, Smith reappeared in Illinois, and in 1839 founded a co twenty-five thousand souls, of which he becaeneral-in-chief; that he announced himself, in 1843, as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States; and that finally, being drawn into ae, he was thrown into prison, and assassinated by a band of uised in masks

Passepartout was now the only person left in the car The Elder, looking him full in the face, reminded him that, two years after the assassination of Joseph S, his successor, left Nauvoo for the banks of the Great Salt Lake, where, in the ion, directly on the route of the erants who crossed Utah on their way to California, the new colony, thanks to the polygamy practised by the Mormons, had flourished beyond expectations

”And this,” added Elder Williaainst us! Why have the soldiers of the Union invaded the soil of Utah? Why has Brigha, our chief, been imprisoned, in contempt of all justice? Shall we yield to force? Never! Driven from Vermont, driven from Illinois, driven from Ohio, driven from Missouri, driven from Utah, we shall yet find some independent territory on which to plant our tents And you, ry eyes upon his single hearer, ”will you not plant yours there, too, under the shadow of our flag?”

”No!” replied Passepartout courageously, in his turn retiring fro the Elder to preach to vacancy

During the lecture the train had been ress, and towards half-past twelve it reached the northwest border of the Great Salt Lake Here the passengers could observe the vast extent of this interior sea, which is also called the Dead Sea, and into which flows an As in large strata, encrusted hite salt--a superb sheet of water, which was for encroached with the lapse of time, and thus at once reduced its breadth and increased its depth

The Salt Lake, seventy ht hundred feet above the sea Quite different from Lake Asphaltite, whose depression is twelve hundred feet below the sea, it contains considerable salt, and one quarter of the weight of its water is soliddistilled, 1,000

Fishes are, of course, unable to live in it, and those which descend through the Jordan, the Weber, and other streams soon perish

The country around the lake ell cultivated, for the Mormons are mostly farmers; while ranches and pens for domesticated animals, fields of wheat, corn and other cereals, luxuriant prairies, hedges of wild rose, clumps of acacias and round was covered with a thin powdering of snow

The train reached Ogden at two o'clock, where it rested for six hours Mr Fogg and his party had tiden by a branch road They spent two hours in this strikingly American town, built on the pattern of other cities of the Union, like a checker-board, ”with the soo expresses it The founder of the City of the Saints could not escape frolo-Saxons In this strange country, where the people are certainly not up to the level of their institutions, everything is done ”squarely”--cities, houses and follies

The travelers, then, were pro, at three o'clock, about the streets of the town built between the banks of the Jordan and the spurs of the Wahsatch Range They sa or no churches, but the prophet's mansion, the courthouse, and the arsenal, blue-brick houses with verandas and porches, surrounded by gardens bordered with acacias, palms and locusts A clay and pebble wall, built in 1853, surrounded the town In the principal street were the market and several hotels adorned with pavilions

The place did not seem thickly populated The streets were almost deserted, except in the vicinity of the te traversed several quarters surrounded by palisades There were many women, which was easily accounted for by the ”peculiar institution” of the Mormons; but it amists They are free tothat it is mainly the fe to the Morion, hest joys These poor creatures seemed to be neither well off nor happy Some--the more well-to-do, no doubt--wore short, open black silk dresses, under a hood or modest shawl; others were clothed in Indian fashi+on

Passepartout could not behold without a certain fright these wole Mormon His common sense pitied, above all, the husband It seeuide so many wives at once across the vicissitudes of life, and to conduct them, as it were, in a body to the Mor thelorious Shtful place, to all eternity

He felt decidedly repelled froined--perhaps he was mistaken--that the fair ones of Salt Lake City cast rather alarlances on his person Happily, his stay there was but brief At four the party found theain at the station, took their places in the train, and the whistle sounded for starting Just at the an to move, cries of ”Stop! Stop!” were heard