Last Days at Great Salt Lake City.
I now terminate my observations upon the subject of Mormonism. It will
be remarked that the opinions of others--not my own--have been recorded
as carefully as my means of study have permitted, and that facts, not
theories, have been the object of this dissertation.
[MORMONISM THE FAITH OF THE POOR.]
It will, I think, be abundantly evident that Utah Territory has been
successful in its colonization. Every where, indeed, in the New World,
the stranger wonders that a poor man should tarry in Europe, or that
a rich man should remain in America; nothing but the strongest chains
of habit and _vis inertiæ_ can reconcile both to their miserable lots.
I can not help thinking that, morally and spiritually, as well as
physically, the _protégés_ of the Perpetual Emigration Fund gain by
being transferred to the Far West. Mormonism is emphatically the faith
of the poor, and those acquainted with the wretched condition of the
English mechanic, collier, and agricultural laborer--it is calculated
that a million of them exist on £25 per annum--who, after a life of
ignoble drudgery, of toiling through the year from morning till night,
are ever threatened with the work-house, must be of the same opinion.
Physically speaking, there is no comparison between the conditions of
the Saints and the class from which they are mostly taken. In point of
mere morality, the Mormon community is perhaps purer than any other
of equal numbers.[223] I have no wish to commend their spiritual, or,
rather, their materialistic vagaries--a materialism so leveling in its
unauthorized deductions that even the materialist must reject it; but
with the mind as with the body, bad food is better than none. When
wealth shall be less unequally distributed in England, thus doing away
with the contrast of excessive splendor and utter destitution, and when
Home Missions shall have done their duty in educating and evangelizing
the unhappy pariahs of town and country, the sons of the land which
boasts herself to be the foremost among the nations will blush no more
to hear that the Mormons or Latter-Day Saints are mostly English.
[223] I refer the reader to Appendix IV.
About the middle of September the time of my departure drew nigh. Judge
Flennikin found a change of _venue_ to Carson Valley necessary; Thomas,
his son, was to accompany him, and the Territorial marshal, Mr.
Grice--a quondam volunteer in the Mexican War--was part of the cortége.
Escort and ambulance had been refused; it was imperative to find both.
Several proposals were made and rejected. At last an eligible presented
himself. Mr. Kennedy, an Irishman from the neighborhood of Dublin, and
an _incola_ of California, where evil fate had made him a widower, had
“swapped” stock, and was about to drive thirty-three horses and mules
to the “El Dorado of the West.” For the sum of $150 each he agreed
to convey us, to provide an ambulance which cost him $300, and three
wagons which varied in price from $25 to $75. We had reason to think
well of his probity, concerning which we had taken counsel; and as he
had lost a horse or two, and had received a bullet through the right
arm in an encounter with the Yuta Indians near Deep Creek on the 3d
of July of the same year, we had little doubt of his behaving with
due prudence. He promised also to collect a sufficient armed party;
and as the road had lately seen troubles--three drivers had been
shot and seventeen Indians had been reported slain in action by the
federal troops--we were certain that he would keep his word. It was the
beginning of the hungry season, when the Indians would be collecting
their pine nuts and be plotting onslaughts upon the spring emigrants.
I prepared for difficulties by having my hair “shingled off” till
my head somewhat resembled a pointer’s dorsum, and deeply regretted
having left all my wigs behind me. The marshal undertook to lay in our
provisions: we bought flour, hard bread or biscuit, eggs and bacon,
butter, a few potted luxuries, not forgetting a goodly allowance of
whisky and korn schnapps, whose only demerit was that it gave a taste
to the next morning. The traveling canteen consisted of a little china,
tin cups and plates, a coffee-pot, frying-pan, and large ditto for
bread-baking, with spoons, knives, and forks.
[ADIEUX.]
The last preparations were soon made. I wrote to my friends, among
others to Dr. Norton Shaw, who read out the missive _magno cum risu
audientium_, bought a pair of leather leggins for $5, settled with M.
Gebow, a Gamaliel at whose feet I had sat as a student of the Yuta
dialect, and defrayed the expenses of living, which, though the bill
was curiously worded,[224] were exemplarily inexpensive. Colonel
Stambaugh favored me with a parting gift, the “Manual of Surveying
Instructions,” which I preserve as a reminiscence, and a cocktail whose
aroma still lingers in my olfactories. My last evening was spent with
Mr. Stambaugh, when Mr. John Taylor was present, and where, with the
kindly aid of Madam, we drank a _café au lait_ as good as the _Café
de Paris_ affords. I thanked the governor for his frank and generous
hospitality, and made my acknowledgments to his amiable wife. All
my adieux were upon an extensive scale, the immediate future being
somewhat dark and menacing.
[224] The bill in question:
Gt. S. L. City, September 18th, 1860.
Captain Burten to James Townsend, Dr.
Aug. 27. 14 Bottle Beer 600
Belt & Scabbard 500
Cleaning Vest and Coat 250
2 Bottles Branday 450
Washing 525
to Cash, five dollars 500
to 3 weaks 3 days Bord 3425
-----
62·50
Cash, five dollars 500
-----
67·50
[“ALL ABOORD.”]
The start in these regions is coquettish as in Eastern Africa. We were
to depart on Wednesday, the 19th of September, at 8 A.M.--then 10
A.M.--then 12 A.M.--then, after a deprecatory visit, on the morrow.
On the morning of the eventful next day, after the usual amount of
“smiling,” and a repetition of adieux, I found myself “all aboord,”
wending southward, and mentally ejaculating _Hierosolymam quando
revisam?_
[MOUNT NEBO.]
[Illustration: MOUNT NEBO.]