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Show "THE ROCK V MOI VI AIX . MAIXTN.'' It is now perhaps three years since, one Sunday afternoon, Mr. T. B. H. Stcnhouse, then a leading Mormon, of Salt Lake City, spent as many as four hours in the company of the writer, in the parlor of a hotel in that place, giving his views and answering rigid direct and cross-examinations in regard to Brigham Young and the1 Church of the Latter-day SainUs. In that conversation Mr. Stcnhouse pronounced pro-nounced Brignam Young, the Prophet Pro-phet and Kcvelator, one of (he best of men, honest and sincere in all his piirposes, functions and labors. Ma Stcnhouse avowed his belief in polygamy polyg-amy ad a christian and wise ordinance of the Almighty, and was then living with three wives, to one of whom he was kind enough to introduce us. Mr. Stcnhoiiso praised Joseph Smith and his "System," he called it, as the befct religious system the world ever sftw, and, with equal fervor, Brigham Young, his God-anointed successor. He spoke of the Mormon religion with tho zeal of ft new convert, and extinguished ex-tinguished all objections with the vigorous vig-orous assertion of the cardinal tenets and arguments of the Mormon faith. George Q. Cannon himself never appeared ap-peared so Eealous as Stcnhouse appeared ap-peared then as ft believer and promoter pro-moter of Mormon doctrines and practices. prac-tices. T. B. IT. Stcnhouse now appears to us with his compliments written in the fly-leaf of ft highly ornamental and handsomely-printed volume of more than 700 pages, "by ono who had the fellowship for over a quarter t nf ft century, enjoved ' i'aaulior iiiUmacy with the apostles and leading elders, and for a dozen years had a daily intercourse with Brigham Young." Wo thank him for the favor. The book is attractive in its style and arrangement, and proves the literary ability of iLs author, as well as the erratic and elastic cast of morals and mind of Mr. T; B. H. Stcnhouse. The object of this book is to write down what its author lalx)red more than twenty years to talk and write up. It is not our intention to review this book in any detail. The introduction intro-duction says its author has "simply outgrown the past." He says the change in his views "has not been the work of a day or a year. ' ' To those who know Mr. Stcnhouse well, there may be some room for doubt here. It was only a few months after he waxed eloquent in defending BrighamYoungandthe Mormon faith in our hearing that he came to the 1 braid office to tell us that the whole Mormon scheme was a delusion and ft cheat. Ho had been deluded all his life. Doubtless Mr. Stcnhouse was honest on lioth occasions, and we only remark the brief interval in which he made such a grand stride to show that the author of the book before, be-fore, us is probably mistaken when ho declares that he was loner in under going this remarkable change. It is probable he would have been still longer in bringing it about if Brigham Young had not sent him to Ogden with that unfortunate newspaper, and then declined to make 'good the pecuniary losses of his then most obedient servant. Of the actual merits of the book by Mr. Stcnhouse as at once a history and a judgment of the Mormon religion, re-ligion, work, and people, wo do not now undertake to speak, but it may well be doubted whether it would be possible for such a man to tell the truth about a people whose confidence he so long enjoyed and so suddenly betrayed. Omaha Herald. |