Roughing It
righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the
Lord, which was given unto our fathers, that they should have, save it
were one wife; and concubines they should have none.
The following verse (from Chapter IX. of the Book of Nephi) appears to
contain information not familiar to everybody:
And now it came to pass that when Jesus had ascended into heaven, the
multitude did disperse, and every man did take his wife and his
children, and did return to his own home.
And it came to pass that on the morrow, when the multitude was gathered
together, behold, Nephi and his brother whom he had raised from the
dead, whose name was Timothy, and also his son, whose name was Jonas,
and also Mathoni, and Mathonihah, his brother, and Kumen, and Kumenenhi,
and Jeremiah, and Shemnon, and Jonas, and Zedekiah, and Isaiah; now
these were the names of the disciples whom Jesus had chosen.
In order that the reader may observe how much more grandeur and
picturesqueness (as seen by these Mormon twelve) accompanied one of the
tenderest episodes in the life of our Saviour than other eyes seem to
have been aware of, I quote the following from the same “book”—Nephi:
And it came to pass that Jesus spake unto them, and bade them arise. And
they arose from the earth, and He said unto them, Blessed are ye because
of your faith. And now behold, My joy is full. And when He had said
these words, He wept, and the multitude bear record of it, and He took
their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the
Father for them. And when He had done this He wept again, and He spake
unto the multitude, and saith unto them, Behold your little ones. And as
they looked to behold, they cast their eyes toward heaven, and they saw
the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it
were, in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those
little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the
angels did minister unto them, and the multitude did see and hear and
bear record; and they know that their record is true, for they all of
them did see and hear, every man for himself; and they were in number
about two thousand and five hundred souls; and they did consist of men,
women, and children.
And what else would they be likely to consist of?
The Book of Ether is an incomprehensible medley of “history,” much of it
relating to battles and sieges among peoples whom the reader has
possibly never heard of; and who inhabited a country which is not set
down in the geography. There was a King with the remarkable name of
Coriantumr, and he warred with Shared, and Lib, and Shiz, and others, in
the “plains of Heshlon”; and the “valley of Gilgal”; and the “wilderness
of Akish”; and the “land of Moran”; and the “plains of Agosh”; and
“Ogath,” and “Ramah,” and the “land of Corihor,” and the “hill Comnor,”
by “the waters of Ripliancum,” etc., etc., etc. “And it came to pass,”
after a deal of fighting, that Coriantumr, upon making calculation of
his losses, found that “there had been slain two millions of mighty men,
and also their wives and their children”—say 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 in
all—“and he began to sorrow in his heart.” Unquestionably it was time.
So he wrote to Shiz, asking a cessation of hostilities, and offering to
give up his kingdom to save his people. Shiz declined, except upon
condition that Coriantumr would come and let him cut his head off
first—a thing which Coriantumr would not do. Then there was more
fighting for a season; then _four years_ were devoted to gathering the
forces for a final struggle—after which ensued a battle, which, I take
it, is the most remarkable set forth in history,—except, perhaps, that
of the Kilkenny cats, which it resembles in some respects. This is the
account of the gathering and the battle:
7. And it came to pass that they did gather together all the people,
upon all the face of the land, who had not been slain, save it was
Ether. And it came to pass that Ether did behold all the doings of the
people; and he beheld that the people who were for Coriantumr, were
gathered together to the army of Coriantumr; and the people who were for
Shiz, were gathered together to the army of Shiz; wherefore they were
for the space of four years gathering together the people, that they
might get all who were upon the face of the land, and that they might
receive all the strength which it was possible that they could receive.
And it came to pass that when they were all gathered together, every one
to the army which he would, with their wives and their children; both
men, women, and children being armed with weapons of war, having
shields, and breast-plates, and head-plates, and being clothed after the
manner of war, they did march forth one against another, to battle; and
they fought all that day, and conquered not. And it came to pass that
when it was night they were weary, and retired to their camps; and after
they had retired to their camps, they took up a howling and a
lamentation for the loss of the slain of their people; and so great were
their cries, their howlings and lamentations, that it did rend the air
exceedingly. And it came to pass that on the morrow they did go again to
battle, and great and terrible was that day; nevertheless they conquered
not, and when the night came again, they did rend the air with their
cries, and their howlings, and their mournings, for the loss of the
slain of their people.
8. And it came to pass that Coriantumr wrote again an epistle unto Shiz,
desiring that he would not come again to battle, but that he would take
the kingdom, and spare the lives of the people. But behold, the Spirit
of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over
the hearts of the people, for they were given up unto the hardness of
their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be
destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle. And it came to pass that
they fought all that day, and when the night came they slept upon their
swords; and on the morrow they fought even until the night came; and
when the night came they were drunken with anger, even as a man who is
drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords; and on the
morrow they fought again; and when the night came they had all fallen by
the sword save it were fifty and two of the people of Coriantumr, and
sixty and nine of the people of Shiz. And it came to pass that they
slept upon their swords that night, and on the morrow they fought again,
and they contended in their mights with their swords, and with their
shields, all that day; and when the night came there were thirty and two
of the people of Shiz, and twenty and seven of the people of Coriantumr.
9. And it came to pass that they ate and slept, and prepared for death
on the morrow. And they were large and mighty men, as to the strength of
men. And it came to pass that they fought for the space of three hours,
and they fainted with the loss of blood. And it came to pass that when
the men of Coriantumr had received sufficient strength, that they could
walk, they were about to flee for their lives, but behold, Shiz arose,
and also his men, and he swore in his wrath that he would slay
Coriantumr, or he would perish by the sword: wherefore he did pursue
them, and on the morrow he did overtake them; and they fought again with
the sword. And it came to pass that when they had all fallen by the
sword, save it were Coriantumr and Shiz, behold Shiz had fainted with
loss of blood. And it came to pass that when Coriantumr had leaned upon
his sword, that he rested a little, he smote off the head of Shiz. And
it came to pass that after he had smote off the head of Shiz, that Shiz
raised upon his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for
breath, he died. And it came to pass that Coriantumr fell to the earth,
and became as if he had no life. And the Lord spake unto Ether, and said
unto him, go forth. And he went forth, and beheld that the words of the
Lord had all been fulfilled; and he finished his record; and the
hundredth part I have not written.
It seems a pity he did not finish, for after all his dreary former
chapters of commonplace, he stopped just as he was in danger of becoming
interesting.
The Mormon Bible is rather stupid and tiresome to read, but there is
nothing vicious in its teachings. Its code of morals is
unobjectionable—it is “smouched” [Milton] from the New Testament and no
credit given.
CHAPTER XVII.
At the end of our two days’ sojourn, we left Great Salt Lake City hearty
and well fed and happy—physically superb but not so very much wiser, as
regards the “Mormon question,” than we were when we arrived, perhaps. We
had a deal more “information” than we had before, of course, but we did
not know what portion of it was reliable and what was not—for it all
came from acquaintances of a day—strangers, strictly speaking. We were
told, for instance, that the dreadful “Mountain Meadows Massacre” was
the work of the Indians entirely, and that the Gentiles had meanly tried
to fasten it upon the Mormons; we were told, likewise, that the Indians
were to blame, partly, and partly the Mormons; and we were told,
likewise, and just as positively, that the Mormons were almost if not
wholly and completely responsible for that most treacherous and pitiless
butchery. We got the story in all these different shapes, but it was not
till several years afterward that Mrs. Waite’s book, “The Mormon
Prophet,” came out with Judge Cradlebaugh’s trial of the accused parties
in it and revealed the truth that the latter version was the correct one
and that the Mormons _were_ the assassins. All our “information” had
three sides to it, and so I gave up the idea that I could settle the
“Mormon question” in two days. Still I have seen newspaper
correspondents do it in one.
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I left Great Salt Lake a good deal confused as to what state of things
existed there—and sometimes even questioning in my own mind whether a
state of things existed there at all or not. But presently I remembered
with a lightening sense of relief that we had learned two or three
trivial things there which we could be certain of; and so the two days
were not wholly lost. For instance, we had learned that we were at last
in a pioneer land, in absolute and tangible reality.
The high prices charged for trifles were eloquent of high freights and
bewildering distances of freightage. In the east, in those days, the
smallest moneyed denomination was a penny and it represented the
smallest purchasable quantity of any commodity. West of Cincinnati the
smallest coin in use was the silver five-cent piece and no smaller
quantity of an article could be bought than “five cents’ worth.” In
Overland City the lowest coin appeared to be the ten-cent piece; but in
Salt Lake there did not seem to be any money in circulation smaller than
a quarter, or any smaller quantity purchasable of any commodity than
twenty-five cents’ worth. We had always been used to half dimes and
“five cents’ worth” as the minimum of financial negotiations; but in
Salt Lake if one wanted a cigar, it was a quarter; if he wanted a chalk
pipe, it was a quarter; if he wanted a peach, or a candle, or a
newspaper, or a shave, or a little Gentile whiskey to rub on his corns
to arrest indigestion and keep him from having the toothache, twenty-
five cents was the price, every time. When we looked at the shot-bag of
silver, now and then, we seemed to be wasting our substance in riotous
living, but if we referred to the expense account we could see that we
had not been doing anything of the kind.
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But people easily get reconciled to big money and big prices, and fond