THE MORMON COUNTRY. A SUMMER WITH THE "LATTER-DAY SAINTS." BY JOHN CODMAN. NEW YORK: UNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1874. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by the UNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. JOHN F. TROW & Son, PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS, 205-213 East 12th St., NEW YORK. THE MORMON COUNTRY. CHAPTER I. The Overland Trip.-Experience of Hasty Travellers.—Arrival at Salt Lake City.-Reception by Brigham Young.-Excursion on the Utah Southern Railroad.—Meeting at the Tabernacle.—Leaving Salt Lake for California.-Return to Salt Lake. `HE overland trip is becoming a fashionable re TH laxation. Improvements in railroad locomotion, by which nervous persons may spend days and nights in rapid motion and fancied security, decide the direction of their summer travel. Those who but for the wreck of the Atlantic, and the sinking of the Ville du Havre, might have "gone abroad," now discover that their own country has unsurpassed attractions. The Yosemite supplants Switzerland for romantic tourists, and Santa Barbara on the Pacific shore offers a cure for the clergyman's sore-throat equal to that of a voyage to Europe. But in the haste with which our people generally congratulate themselves upon having "done" the overland journey, they are content to be whisked over the rails to their destination, making notes on 2 THE OVERLAND TRIP. the way of what they see from the windows of the cars, or at the restaurants where they are allowed twenty minutes for refreshments. A maudlin curiosity induces many travellers to time their arrival at Ogden on Saturday, so that they may branch off and spend Sunday at Salt Lake City, take a drive of an hour or two there, go to the Tabernacle meeting, see Brigham Young's house, if not Brigham himself, peep into some dwelling where a man is supposed to have more than one wife, and return in time to take the Sunday evening train for the West. They buy a big book written by Mr. Stenhouse, a small book by Mrs. Stenhouse, and the "Life of Bill Hickman, the Destroying Angel," and, having read up thoroughly, fill the cavities of their minds with details from these to supply what they did not learn from their extended visit of half a day. Thus they become perfectly informed as to the character and social status of the Mormon people. I have varied somewhat from this usual routine, having passed three months chiefly among the Mormons, and have neglected reading the books referred to, with the exception of that of Mrs. Stenhouse, which came accidentally in my way. I stayed some weeks in Salt Lake City, and passed others in wagon and horseback journeys through the valleys and mountains, indebted to the hospitality of Mor |