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Show Scenes About Palmyra A Letter Descriptive of "Cumorah Hill' of No Little Interest to People Here. A letter telling of Palmyra, New York, may be of interest to the Saints who hold a certain hill there as some-thing some-thing sacred. The writer doesn't describe this point of interest In any rcerential manner, but we trust this may be oerlooked for the facts contained con-tained In the article, which reads as follows: Palmmia, N. V., April 14, '0(i Kiutoi: Uki-uiilican At last this I pilgrim has reached another point of ! such interest as to Induce his Den to become actltc I tan out here this morning from Rochester, Saturday having been decreed me as a holiday, and have been investing the lime to the best advantage possible in sightseeing. sight-seeing. Palmyra Is a town of some .1,000 Inhabitants In-habitants but called by New Yorkers a village. It Is situated 111 miles east of Huiralo,:il!) miles west of New York Cl'y and about IS miles south of Lake Ontario. The main business of the place Is "packing," but It Is surrounded by expanding ex-panding farms and orchards, which do much to support It and make its people peo-ple prosperous. Tho F.rlc canal passes this way, touching the town on the north, bearing upon its bosom vast quantities of wheat and other product from the great west for consumption in the world'scongcsted centers. Palmyra has many comfortable residences, resi-dences, a number of good hotels and some commodious churches. Four of these occupy as many corners at a certain cer-tain point on Main street, and face each other In Illustration of both dlf-fcrcutatlon dlf-fcrcutatlon and substantial unity. Upon the register of the Powers ho- Saints There. tel, under Dec. 20, lliO.'i, 1 found the names of a party of people whose homes are In Utah, among others being be-ing Joseph F Smlth.Anthon II.Lund, Francis M Lyman, John H. Smith, II. M. Smith, Chas. W. Penrose. F.lias A. Smith, George Romnoy, Seymour II Young, Angus M. Cannon and Ru-Ion Ru-Ion S Wells. This party was hereon a tour of Inspection and to do a pilgrimage, pil-grimage, and put up at the Powers, as 1 do now Hut Palmyra Is not celebrated for any or all of the above things, Lut rather ra-ther because It was here that the original Smith family of Mormon fame lived, and because in this neighborhood neighbor-hood Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, pro-phet, is alleged to have discovered, by tho help of an angel, the golden plates from which he translated and gae to the world tho "Golden Hlble" or as we In Utah know It, "The Hook of Mormon." Visits the Hill. 1 made terms with the livery man and soon was on my way, behind a good roadster and by the side of a man who knew how to drive, toward "Mormon "Mor-mon hill'. Tho hill Is situated some four miles south from Palmr.i, In as beautiful a spot as nature can make, and rises perhaps three or four hundred hun-dred feet above the plain. 1 called It "Cumoiahhlll," but was not understood, under-stood, the people In this state having agreed to call it "Mormon hill," as they call tho prophet "Mormon Joe." 1 found small reverence for the hill, with apparently no Interest In cither its past or present, beyond the few dollars dol-lars which people from the west are willing lospnnil with to cltlens here li' w tli ,r p.-,' nit irm r't,i-pt p the prophet, who Interests so many In the west; little but frigid Indlrlerencj and. so far as the story of the golden bible goes, dense Ignorance. The country cnolrnlng the hill Is undulating consisting of vales and hills with green farms and budding orchards orch-ards covering the spaces, and with here and there clumps of woods as a relief to monotony, and with substantial sub-stantial farm houses at Intervals. Ghosts There. "Cumorali" Is a hogback hlllljlng north and south, possibly a half mile long, denuded of timber except on the south west side. One lono tree stands on the slope at the north cast and just below this resides J L Yanderbrook, In a large frame house, tho farmer who has charge of the "Sampson farm," which among Its bioad acres Includes the Hill Cumorah The farm no longer belongs to the Sampsons, but has passed, as has l.uge tracts of realty here. Into the hands of P T. Sexton, one of Palmjia's prosperous bankers. On tho north and west of tho hill there Is a small dilapidated unoccupied three looimd ri.une house, 7, hero my guide tnlui moil me the ghosts of aiicieni L.iinauiii", ren now on occasion hold high carnival In memory of tin- bloody so n-s enacted here soon ariei the "pl.itcV were deposited In the stone bo 011 tho hill. The Hill Itself. Cumorah is surrounded by a wire fence, and with the exception of the small piece of woods, is covered with a thlch mat of glass which at this sea- I sonof tho jear gles It a very attractive attrac-tive appearance. A wire lence luns the length of tho slope fiom north to south making two pastures, and this we clambered over as wc went In search of the hole from which the "Inspired record" was taken under direction di-rection of Moroni. Hut the hole wc found not. My guldo showed me in I deed what ho said others averts the place, but he stoutly insisted that it Is a mistake, aillrinlug that when tho I stone box was romovpd tho hole went with It This was a great disappointment disappoint-ment to me, for 1 fully expected to seethe Identical place liom whence the plates were taken. Howoer, I found the highest point on the hogback, hog-back, and tlicro seated myself In the glorious sunshine, and then the vision, which I often saw in childhood, as 1 heard glowing and eloquent descriptions descrip-tions of this place, and the angel visitant with the prophet, came back-to back-to mc, and for a period I dicamed.and bchelu once more the rise of Mormon-Ism, Mormon-Ism, and Its predicted conquest of the caith, the nations becoming stubble before it. "What is the matter hae jou gone to'slecpV" I opened my eyes, and there at a little distance stood the driver, ga.lng at me as If I had mortally otfended hlm.and was about to do It over again. 1 rose and said wc would make the best time possible to Palmyra so as to not miss the train for Rochester. X. K. CLKMKNhON. |