Show DEBASING ANTI MORMON LI WHEN a record of our times shall be made by an impartial histo riaD the latter day saints shall be completely vindicated while their tra decere will be held up to everlasting I 1 execration when this meed of justice shall be given the generation then living will read with amazement the base slanders that have been and are being uttered against a worthy and misunderstood people of whose true mission and genius there seems to be but little apprehension go bo striking will this phase of the history of the latter day saints be that the diabolical falsehoods formed and circulated against the primitive primitiv 6 christians will be comparatively forgotten the falness of the gospel revealed anew in th this Is age has come to stay and the powers of evil will consequently lie be exercised to their fullest extent in supreme efforts to stop its progress and prevent the accomplishment of its mission and the attainment of its destiny the refuge of lies must be extensively erected as ap a protection to those who engage in maki making ag assaults upon a community who are entitle il to the highest consideration but instead of being accorded it are the victims of th largest possible measure of vi I 1 abuse and maltreatment in course of time the tables will turn and the stream will run in the opposite direction these reflections were super induced by turning over the pagen of a book entitled 11 t rhe fhe two eldies by martha finley and published by dodd mead co of new york it is designed for juvenile readers whose minds are liable to be poisoned through it with unjust prejudice by the unmitigated libels which the volume contains As an anti mormon publication especially as it is in the guise of a hook book for young folks it is one of the most contemptible and slanderous ever given to the public in one part of the volume a young couple on a bridal tour are represented as meeting with two young girls or on a train who had left their home in norway to seek another in utah having been converted to the mormon religion by the preach I 1 i rig g of an elder they had bad taken the wrong route anti and were wee accordingly in threat great mental distress in iii cou conversation with them the groom Is represented represent el as making to them a an n expose of mormonism Mormont sm with special apt cial reference to polygamy heie is au an extract it is a well established fact replied edward and it Is well known also that they conceal this doctrine from those whom they wish to catch in their net to them they exalt the bible an ani 1 christ but when the poor dupes reach their promised paradise and are unable to escape they find the bible kicked into a corner the book of mormon substituted for it and joe smith exalted above jesus christ all who are familiar with the religious peculiarities of the mormon people know that in their reverence revereD ce for and adherence to the bible they are not surpassed hy by any other community neither is there any other class of people who as a whole are m re conversant with its contents while they accept the book of normon mormon as an ancient record given to this generation for the benefit of all who will accept of its truths it is not taken nor viewed as a substitute for anything else either sacred or secular As to the prophet joseph smith being exalted above the savior the fact that mormon church is a misnomer its proper name being the church of jesus christ of li ater day saints ought to be sufficient answer to that absurd charge the following exhibits the authors fertility in the production of slanderous fiction the missionaries miss ionar i es procure photographs of the he single women whom they have persuaded to embrace mormonism and thebe are sent on in advance of the parties of emigrants the mormon men who want wives are then invited to look at the photographs and select for themselves they do so and w hen ben the train comes in bringing the originals of the pictures pic lures they are there to meet it each man seizes the sirl girl he has chosen by photograph and drags rags her away often shrieking for help which no one gives I 1 have this MI n the testimony of an eyewitness eye witness a minister of the presbyterian church who has lived for years in utah of course it is hard ly possible that a sane person who has reached the years yearn of maturity bouli be impressed with the idea that there is a grain of truth in that most pernicious pern telous falsehood but the wickedness of any person that would in a publication designed d to operate upon the minds of the young make such a diabolical statement must be apparent I 1 to eveia reasonable mind but the crowning infamy of the author is reached when she puts put into the mouth of one of her chabol characters ers the he following bloodcurdling blood curdling and appalling appal ling sensational fabrication one day a mormon and his family consisting of one wife and several children were seated about their table taking a meal when the husband remarked that he thought of taking a second wife his lawful wife the mother of his him children sitting there objected upon that he rose from his seat went to her and holding her head deliberately put her throat from ear to ear and was executed for it aske aake i Oh christine ristine while she shuddered with horror no said edward he was promoted by the mormon pries hood to a higher place in the church as one who had done a praiseworthy deed to publish fabricated and libelous libe loua slanders against a community ip ia a 4 crime it may not be within the scope of the law and therefore the perpetrators of the wrong may escape statutory penalties but the criminal deed ts to no less lees morally base and reprehensible on that account it is more gross because more sweeping than a similar crime against individual character it is but an extension of that claw class of infamy in giving to the world the book from which we have quoted both the author and publishers are guilty the one as the manufacturer of the libelous filth and the others as the spout through which it is conducted that it might be spread about and taint faint the popular mind with unjust brej udice |