Show ts r i DESCBIPTIV DAMSELS Two California SelioolmaVnis Write Up i J Zion for Their Friends I And Lose Their Letters Which are I j Found Jjy a Democrat Reporter i Marias and Ethels Opinions and the j j Horrible Story Hack Drivers lacli Drivcrs II The letters which are printed below were picked up on the street by a DEMOCRAT DEMO-CRAT reporter and as they were in unsealed un-sealed envelopes and not addressed he brought them to the DErocRvT office carefully read and as where they were creiuly they seemed to relate chiefly to local matters it was decided to publish them as they might be of interest to our reader I is rather a strange way to get special correspondence but as it came the way it did we deem it all right to publish them I may not be quite the gallant thing to do to publish ladies letteis without with-out their consent but we ask their pardon I i par-don for so doing and do i just the same I They present new views of old things SALT LAKE Cm Jane 2 1885 this city of religious E szEnin > EBnsi From 10 J I writing the letter I H Tious famo am ning lgiou to remain promised you when ve partedyou main in California I to travel to tho East and visit those scenes where my ancestors first saw tho light of heaven In my humble frst of way I have endeavored to make the name tbe of man worthy respect those ancestors kind and thus far have met with better success suc-cess than I could have hoped for I was but the instrument guided and directed by that providence which has ever watched over our lanfilv Last winter you will remember se studied Buckles History of Civilization i in England and how intense was the interest inter-est with which we drank in thought and knowledge from the great Englishman I have always felt and I believe it was the i universal feeling with the members of the i American Philosophical and Literary Society I for the Solution of Social Problems that it I i was to such men as Buckle Guizot Herbert I Spencer and some of tho German meta physicians as well Jisio some of the writers of the earlier period of the Concord school I that we 0170 ou true insight into the proper and scientific method of studying maid soh I which have long I jug t ios3 problems miuii utnu so baffled those who were supposed to control 1 the destinies of nations I is to the adoption of these old and worthless methods I D10ptiol I J famouMormon problem owes the I ig delay of its solution I i have always believed that if any of the members of our society would come to Utah u and study that problem in its home and see I these poor deluded people at their hearth I we should easily find a solution for that which has worried the Government for I many many years To Utah I have been permitted to come and at the firesides of the Saint I have studied the religious question ques-tion of the age and by applying to this Mormon Mor-mon question the same method and spirit we have so often employed in solving other difficult diffi-cult Questions of a like nature after a thorough thor-ough investigation made of both sides of the question I feel certain I have reached a con elusion that I trust will meet with the full and generous approval of our society I have not como to this conclusion hastily but only after much studand deep thought and after much conversation with the leading people of both the Mormon and Gentile parties here Yes you knowhow needless to ask if my Sarah knows my Sarah who is the light of our society polygamy is the great I evil here This practice has gained a great foothold in Utah from the fact that many of our poor deluded sisters think that woman was destined to be united to man in marriage and in this community our sisters far outnumber the men those tyrants who have so long enchained us I we could I successfully establish branch societies this I successfuly establsh would give the women of ilormondom a higher and nobler employment than that of I serving any man much less a part of a man and would absorb the surplus female population I popu-lation When these women had mastered the elements of the studies we pursue they would be very well prepared to mount the platform and lecture not merely to those with whom they formerly associated but to all the world and thus help to spread the t new gospel of woman deliverance and tho equality of the sexes in all things I you deem my plan worth and I believe you will please get an expression from the society j upon its merits for I want your richest thought to help it forward I I have not paid any attention to the appearance i ap-pearance of this city holding that the time of those who have a work to do upon this 1 earth is too valuable to idle away in sightseeing sight-seeing while there remains so much to be done to advance our race Address all letters let-ters until the Ifith inst to the Windsor Denver Yours for truth and progress lARA J illtLDEWE SALT LAKE CITY June 3d 1S85 DEAR SLvrr After two days in the cars we have at last arrived in the Mormon city I of Salt Lake We left the C1 cars at a place called Ogden and it is a worse place I thuii Chinatown in fact it is so bad that I Tom n ilartineau said this was the place the j new Um Testament meant when il spoke of i slieol Tom is a much nicer fellow than I thought he was and he has been the I masher ever since we left San Francisco But talk about mashers the Ogdn mashers I are the worst I ever saw As we girls were I going to tho little narrow guage road the Denver Grand or tho Grand Rio Denver or some such name these Ogden mashers kept insisting on carrying our valises to the cars but we all gave thorn the left shoulder except Miss Maria JlI whom all of us girls call Old Social Problems and she was just too polite for anything I felt sorry for the masher who got into her clutches Ill bet she squeezed his hand when she thanked him for she hasnt had a I chance for many long year to squeeze a mans hand wonder if that masher was a polygamist Well I dont think he would want over two wives like Lady Maria if ho knew herAt her-At last wo got hero and I am neither married nor lUd led yet though I mav be both before I leave On onr way down we I passed a place called the Hot Springs which I some one in Salt Lake is oing to make into I a mineral springs le ort Everyone agreed that it would be an immense success as it smelt worse than anything we ever heard of I a sick person can stand the first smell the physicians can cure him and I should ihink they might for it must take a good constitution to stand even ono smell First I will tell you about the town then about the people and then about myself The city is laid out hi squares or blocks of ten acres and the streets are about eight rods wide There are some very nice residences and a few respectable public buildings The Mormon Mor-mon temple when completed will be a lovely building and I think its just too bad that the Mormons are only going to use it to marry more wives in The Big Tabernacle would make a splendid skating rink These are all the places I know anything about I I But the streets You never saw anything like them in your life The Mormons say that this is the New Jerusalem and that some day the streets will be paved with gold I I lived in Salt Lake I should want the Lord to hurry up the paving business for now tho streets are filled up with dust and children and bad smells But the people 1 here are so good that their faces are all turned toward heaven and they dont notice these things j Now for the people A lot of u girls went out to see what the Mormons looked like I I and for the life of us we could not tell a I Mormon from a Gentile We were bound to see a real live Mormon so we decided that I Nellie Brown should ask the next man we met if he was a Mormon Nellie didnt want I to do i but we made her Pretty soon we I met n great big dignified man who looked I as though he might be l bishopand we all stopped as he came near u We pushed Nellie out and she said I I II beg your pardon but we are tourists I and we wish to see n Mormon Please sir I are you one You ought to have seen how that man I looked We all tried to get behind each other and when we were half scared to death he said Miss I thought Nellie would faint when ho spoke you had better learn manners first and next that I am an Avictican f I > Ve didnt tackle the next man I tell you But as we went along our courage came back and the girls said I must ask the next man we met grs was a Mormon I saw a man coming and I never felt so afraid of a man before in my life Ho was not a very ferociouslooking man so when he was ferociouslookng up u stood in front of the girls and he kind of smiled on us I said grs I beg your pardon sir but wo are a party of young ladies from San Francisco and we lueies want to see a Mormon Are you a Mormon Mor-mon He did not seem offended like tho other man but said to u ai am a Latterday Saint and always like to answer the questions of those who are seeking to know the gospel So you youn ladies are from Califonua are you I used to know California in the days of 49 as I went around the Cape with Sam Brannon in the ship Brooklyn What might your name be ISBW I told him and then he asked tho names of all the girls He told us more than we wanted to know Ho offered to show us around the city We declined with thanks He said he had plenty of time and that he was always glad to servo a stranger He was gladder than wo were Ho gave u the whole history of his church from the days of Kirt land and Nauvoo to the present and he also gave us the fidgets I guess he would have talked us to death if some other man had not come along and spoken to him and he asked us to excuse him a minute We excused ex-cused him with more pleasure than we made his acquaintance He was what we used to call a holy terror at school After this we went and hired a carriage at a livery stable just west of our hotel and drove around the city I never heard such awful things as the man who drove us told about And it was every word true for the man said he knew i He showed us lots of houses where polygamists live We passed four houses which were just alike and the man told us they all belonged to one man and that he had a wife in each house and that each wife had eleven children And this was a small family too We asked him if the women ever quarrelled He said it not quarrelling but regular fightimm was quarrelng reglar fighting They tWO hawful times they doz Hiva seen em fight and pull air and won they gets too bad the usband a puts em down the cellar and dont give em hanything to heat for a ole week Then if they still bos rebellious the teachers they comes around and hadmonishes the wives to be gude and I hobedient and generally hare O they ave hawful times in Zion I tell you When tho man had finished this wo asked him if there had ever been any murders committed here Ave there been hany murders Miss Why Ill just tell yon w at I saw with my hmin ayes ono night I saw ten men killed and I elped kill em Miss Dont bo frightened fright-ened I wont arm you causo Ive ad n change of art since them hand now I know its wrong I could tell you of undreds of murders Miss but I daresnt as theyd know 00 told on cm But the Government they ave got troops ere now and we loyal Hamericans be nt so afraid now Here bes your otel Miss I opes wen you comes back to Salt Lake youll ire me to show you round I knows lots yet Miss as I avent told you Goodbye and a appy time to youAfter this we girls did not want to see anything any-thing more of Salt Lake and now we are satisfied that the old man who took so much interest in us was ono of those bad men that our driver had told us about and we were mighty lucky to escape him Just think what a nariow escape we had We are having a good time but I want to leave this honid city after what I know for it aint safe for anyone to live here without soldiers to protect one We leavo for Denver Den-ver tomorrow morning and I will write you from there I shall stay at the Windsor and so you may send your letters to me there until the middle qf thc month Goodbye Good-bye Give my love to your mother and sisters and kiss the baby for me How was the bail I had to miss I was awful sorry I could not be there Arc you tho champion at lawn tennis With worlds of love and affection your own true friend ETHEL ST Joiix P S1 have not forgotten the dress and lace and will get them in New York and bring them in my trunk Goodbye E ST J |