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Show GILEAD'S RAMBLES. Payson Its Thaatre. High School, Fhilomathian, etc Payson City, Utah Coukty, March 12th, 1875. Editors Herald: This city is located about seventy miles from Salt Lake, and is the last town of importance along the present line of the Utah Southern. It furnishes fur-nishes a dwelling place for nearly twenty-five hundred people, who have just been surprised in their isolation by the arrival of that engine of civilization and commerce, the railroad. Payson was quite a retired and unassuming town, and the inhabitants in-habitants seemed to have settled into a state of satisfaction with a rural and Becludcd life, but the march of progress has brought commerce and its various forms of development to their doors; they are now within five hours' ride of the territorial centre and capital and are themselves a commercial centre, where the wealth from the Tintics will be exchanged tor tho necessaries and supplies shipped to the regions round about. The advantages which Provo has long enjoyed through the advent of the railroad are now ready to burst on Payson, and the change has been so recent that itscfieefcs have scarcely yet been realized. But while the people here have been attending to agricultural pursuits,! pur-suits,! they have not forgotten to cultivate cul-tivate a good share of the intellectual and educational. There are always some restless beings who must be moving the wheels of intellectual progress, and so Payson has a dramatic dra-matic association, a high school and a philomathian society. Under the auspices of thia literary : society, I revealed the mysteries of "nose kingdom," and incited an inclination in-clination to search still further within tho temple of nature by manipulating manipulat-ing several august specimens of cran-iological cran-iological organism, to the aalisfaction of candidates and to the amusement of a highly appreciative audience. I had the privilege, by invitation, of visiting the high school, taught in the upper room of the city hall, by Prof. Jos. L. Townsend, whoso method is decidedly excellent, aa evinced by the progress of some of . the pupils in higher arithmetic, geography geo-graphy and grammar; alsoin writing, drawing and behavior. He gives them practice in calisthenics several times a day to strengthen the lungs and muscles, which must be of great benefit and should, I think, be aduptcd in other schools. On Saturday my attention was attracted at-tracted by a large manuscript poster which announced that the "Dramatic "Drama-tic Association" would presenton that evening a "grand array of talent including the fu;l strength of the company," in the play entitled "The Carpenter of Rouen," to conclude with a farce, bo I purchased a ticket for a reserved eeat which costs here thirty-seven and a half cents, and at tho appointed hour wended my way I through a crowded midienco to the locality designated. Hero I sat while, I dukes and a host uf nobility with dis 1 dainl'ul lookd bantered words with rebellious tradesmen, fought with ! broadswords and sen MM nroimd, nil I on a sp.u-o about cinht by ten, and ' brought forcibly to my nrnd the pro-i ! vcrd "where there's a will tlaTti's a ' way." But your readers may imagine imag-ine the intensity of dramatic excitement excite-ment when thecarpenter'ston is to be beheaded on tho bottomless skeleton of i a coal oil box with a kindling : hatchet, with all the paraphernalia ' of red lights and alow music. I consider con-sider this was an exhibition of tho drama under difficulties, and although al-though the auditorium was filled with noisy boys, who received each ebullition of anger with thunders of applause, accompanied by whistling of a high order, still tho entertainment entertain-ment shows au ambition on tho part of the association, and a disposition to patronize homo institutions which is highly commendable iu the people. I left Payson with regret, for I found many warm-hearted people there, among whom were some I had been acquainted with in years gone by; and ihij has been the caso in nearly ali of the settlements I have visited in my rambles through tho south. The Payson people support two co-op. stores filled with every branch of uaefu merchandise. They have a 1 lurnitu o establishment which turns' out an excellent article at a little lower price than Salt Like. Two grist mills run night and day and the town has a general air ol business. Tho meeting house is a well designed de-signed structure, and much resembles tho house in Springvillo, though not quite so well embellished on the inside. in-side. It is warmed by hot air furnaces. fur-naces. The choir is a good one, but needs a good organ to develop its merits to advantage. I understand a music store is to be started here, and au agency for pianos and organs, in about a week. |