| Show MORMON HOSTILITY TO EDUCATION 10 N the proofs that have been given of the falsity of the widespread stories about mormon 1111 1 opposition to education they still obtain credence alq and editors who ought to be better informed repeat them as ae news and comment on them so ans facts we are inclined to think that these ui un 3 truths are circulated for a purpose by some of f the ne teachers who are sent here from the east and who are detailed for work in remote rural districts this used to be quite common both among denominational teachers and sectarian preachers lately the latter have been a little more careful in tell ing their tales of woe because of the statistical information which has been published and the general spread of intelligence on utah affairs afi airs but every now and again we see articles aftic les in eastern papers something eom ething like the following which we clip from a michigan g an journal and which lead to the conclusion that some of those missionary teachers are resorting to the old tactics the grand rapids herald says the new west teachers have endured every ig 8 aminy and persecution at the hands of the mormon bishops isolated from tho tb world in little mountain ham leta they have been ostracised ostracized by the community bom and even refused the necessities of life but they have bravely held their own and already see the field ra ripening pening forthe for the harvest harfest and education t through their instrumentality has done more to remove the fetters of ignorance than the united states laws or the divine revelations of mormon saints the kindness which has been shown to these people even though they have endeavored in many instances to misrepresent to children the faith ot of their fathers has been such as would inspire with gratitude any person possessing true manhood or womanhood in spreading such such reports they show their unfit unfitness nesA to be entrusted with the care of youth and their real character ought tb ta be exposed d to ae public in a recent by a den ver woman tu the republican of that city we find such auch stuff as aa this thie the city is too recently emancipated from mormon rule for progressive educational movements move menta to make rapid headway the leaders leaden in such auch movements have to contend with obstacles quite incomprehensible to those unacquainted with the peculiar conditions of society here there are one or two private kin dergar tens under gentile management but they are far atrom from crowded As ads to such institutions among the saints them selves while many a mormon could easily equip a fair sized kindergarten with pupils from his own household and the streets are filled with swarms of filthy ignorant and neglected children few fadi families lies would be allowed to avail themselves of the blessings of a kindergarten to have its children taught to think is the last thing mormonism desires from the earliest establishment of the church in utah its rulers have preached against education more especially schools bishop taylor once do declared blared in a public lecture they were destructive to the best interests of a community ll one of brigham youngs well known edicts was there shall not be a free school within the borders of the saintly kingdom education would lead to enlightenment and ignorance and superstition are the cornerstones corner stones of mormonism when directly contrary to the doctrine he forced upon his flock brigham sent several of his bis own sons fast east to be educated his followers were astounded and shocked and it necessitated a special revelation to satisfy them it was the lords will of course years of gentile influence has changed all that and schools abound in utah still incredible as it may seem not two years have elapsed since the organization of the first public school in salt lake city and any attempt to elevate and instruct by kindergarten methods the flock of ignorant little children among the mormons cormons would be viewed with bitter insulting insulting 15 suspicion out cion and would at once be stamped stampe perhaps the best comment that could be made on this mess men of misrepresentation to is contained in these lines from the same communication 1 I am Inde indebted bled to the courtesy of judge goodwin of the tribune office for the delightful drive about the city and the adjacent points of interest III 1 I was accod accompanied danied by of the tri bunea native of Utah whose explanations and description of incidents and scenes of bygone by gone days added grealy to my enjoyment of the drive 91 it to is from such sources th that at tl these awe false ideas of utah and the attitude of the cormons mormons Mor mons ly toward education are often obtained if the writer bai taken the trouble to inquire she might have learned that the first kindo kinde garten in this region was dished for mormon I children by a morman lady a german who is still residing here and engaged in educational work also that brigham young di dmore for the cause of education financially and otherwise than any dozen tribune retainers detainers deta def iners amers have done or are likely to do t f they should live a thousand years one funny pia paragraph graph from this correspondence we will wil reproduce to sh how rw how simple som emart and 0 educated people are in believing and re pealing what they hear bear and at the be some same time furnishing evidence of their own deception after describing the dense ignorance of the cormons mormons Mor mons 21 she says I 1 the class of often beard in these lidle adobe cots nestled down among their shrubbery shrub shrubbery berv is a perpetual surprise to visitors pine fine voices abound good lantsts ts are everywhere and the most difficult giffi difficult cult selections from classical music are often rendered by those whose appearance pe arance would indicate nothing but ignorance and dirt among the better beitter claw class of mormons cormons is a mandolin club composed of sixty young girls under the leadership of miss ella olsen a y young on n ady of danish descent of wonderful wonder wonderful fu 11 musical talent and the purest type of blonde beauty the recent visit of the geological association is still fresh in the minds of denver people while in salt lake city a grand concert in their honor was given in the tabernacle and the young ladies mandolin club rendered several numbers with such effect as to cause the staid old german savants savanis to become wildly enthusiastic thusia cheering and applauding like schoolboys does it not seem that even very little reflection would have shown this writer the contradiction of what she was told of mormon 11 ignorance by what she experienced of mormon 11 knowledge of difficult classical music people come here expecting to hear peculiar stories about the cormons mormons Mor mons and when they find such escorts as attended the denver writer they are stuffed with them to their hearth hearts content there were public schools in utah before the alleged judge or any of his attaches ever breathed the air of utah and truthful people who learn of the labors of the early settlers in the cause of education have only words of praise for what was was done under the circumstances that surrounded the people in those rude times utah has always been a friend to io education and the cormons mormons Mor mons have always promoted iland have often met with their most formidable obstacles I 1 in n the form of auti antl I mormon opposition both to the building of school edifices and the establishment of free edu education 0 6 the journalists of the united ought by this time to know something for thams themselves elTes on this matter and aw cease to retail real these unsound anih an d mildewed mil dewed chestnuts about IMor mormon monts hostility to education |
