SOJOURN IN MANTI having j just returned from a visit to ao manti where cheri I 1 have been laboring for the ho honored pored dead a fe few lines may not be altogether out of place it has been very agreeable to me to meet with quite a number of old time salt lakers I and others from many localities who have been on the same sama unselfish errand outside the astonishing labor of sanpete county on that fine edifice the tempo temple and its adjacent grounds 1 we were surprised to see such excellent and spa spacious blous tabernacles as are found in mantl manti and ephraim I 1 did not visit viat blo moroni but learn that the people there have ww also a taber tabernacle fincle sufficiently large to accommodate the stake on invitation I 1 visited the library and leading room at manti which have hava recently been opened and which contain several hundreds of carefully selected volumes by the best authors including poetry history art and is clence these will it is hoped prove a great auxiliary Allary Su to the progress tess already so apparent in this place I 1 likewise Ps paid id a visit to to ephraim at which place there is an academy on the plan of the one at provo prove under the tuition of brother greenwood who is doing a good work the great thing needed in this country Is ia a railroad from chester to manti in order to complete the connection with salt lake this would develop the material interests of the country and prove a financial benefit to builders and others coal has been fo found in large quantities in this section and the future for san pete in this respect is most promising president peterson is identified with the deseret coal company who have patented their grounds aad have line fine specimens of coal in inexhaustible quantity and although compelled to haul it some thirty miles the breth brethren reu find this far more profitable than to purchase from railway companies this coal contains practically no waste and burns clearly the company sell it at the mine for per ton it is 18 devoutly to be wished that the time me is near when fuel will be placed within the reach of the poor as it is impossible for them to purchase it at toe the present high prices experienced burners say that one ton of pennsylvania coal will last as long as 48 two tons of that from pleasant valley and the cost of a ton of such h coal is only 2 whereas the pleasant valley coal costs 6 in tah county permit me now to paw pass from tem touching the work of we e dead a remark of the recorder of manti temple has strongly impressed lue e sold said he pew few of the rich ever devote themselves to this sole solemn m anthis this rOWn pon sible labor than which there Is tenear fane greater perhaps none equal josoph seph said Baid in substance that the kneat responsibility resting upon n fan is this vicarious work for the dead fiad and when we reflect that their state of existence is such as to tender it impossible for them in the coir irown own proper person to act for themselves how eager should we be while the sands of life remain in the hourglass lass of time to do this riuS work we remember how oleat we were on receiving bap tift m and the laying on of hands for UrB elves WIves how our minds opened to t sublime and glorious truths of 01 revelation how every line of r holy writ reflected new ight opening the sealed treas freaa arft of knowledge to view treasures that tat for eighteen centuries had lain healed alike from the learned ftc the untaught how every word w bible truth sprang io into life as a new creation although we had read them a thousand times with some remote glimmer of intelligence with some idea that beneath the dead leatter there lay hidden manna and how our joy increased and our feelings intensified on receiving the ordinances of a holy house bouse of the lord how well since then have we understood the meaning of that sentence revealed to joseph before the first temple was built in this generation which reads there is not a house in all ther the earth into which I 1 can enter and reveal mine ordinances no not one house constructed after the pattern of a heavenly order not a house among the costly churches and cathedrals of christendom wherein the ordinances for the living and the dead could be administered doleful picture ture most awful thought though tl and yet true not a living man during these centuries of apostasy could receive ordinances to save himself the key of knowledge lost the heavens closed not a line not a syllable of revelation to man from his maker suddenly the mission of elvah unseals the heavens the lamented dead no longer mourn the joyful news of ordinances performed opens prison doors millions more eager and expectant await their deliverance ye men of business cares shall this work linger shall the dead mourn for the privilege of freedom let us turn our hearts to the fathers let this labor of love increase let us lay up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt if we wait till Is a more convenient season the work will be neglected perhaps indefinitely to connect the unnumbered millions of the dead with the world of flesh by ordinance and covenant to is the work of modern moden israel let not the divine pass from any of us to others secure thy birthright and heritage saviors shall come up upon mount zion shall we be of the number the people of manti are genial and an a pleasant to visitors president wells presence and influence and his gentle and fatherly bearing endear him to all who come to labor here easy of approach and wise in counsel all seem to confide in him as in a loving father his assistant brother lund is a man of broad and generous sympathy ever ready to lend both hand and ear to the saints a safe and wise counselor affable and beloved by all these two are an indeed one in this great labor C D E