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27 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty seven, in which past Partou undergoes at a
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  Speaker 1: speed of twenty miles an hour a course of Mormon history.
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  Speaker 1: During the night of the fifth of December, the train
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  Speaker 1: ran southeasterly for about fifty miles, then rose an equal
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  Speaker 1: distance in the northeasterly direction towards the Great Salt Lake.
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  Speaker 1: Past Partou about nine o'clock went out upon the platform
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  Speaker 1: to take the air. The weather was cold, the heavens gray,
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  Speaker 1: but it was not snowing. The sun's disk, enlarged by
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  Speaker 1: the mist, seemed an enormous ring of gold, and Past
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  Speaker 1: Partu was amusing himself by calculating its value impounds sterling,
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  Speaker 1: when he was diverted from this interesting study by a
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  Speaker 1: strange looking personage who made his appearance on the platform.
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  Speaker 1: This personage, who had taken the train at Elco, was
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  Speaker 1: tall and dark, with black mustache, black stockings, a black
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  Speaker 1: silk hat, a black waistcoat, black trousers, a white cravat,
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  Speaker 1: and dogskin gloves. He might have been taken for a clergyman.
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  Speaker 1: He went from one end of the train to the
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  Speaker 1: other and affixed to the door of each car a
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  Speaker 1: notice written in manuscript Passepartout approached and read one of
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  Speaker 1: these notices, which stated that Elder William Hitch, Mormon missionary,
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  Speaker 1: taking advantage of his presence on train number forty eight,
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  Speaker 1: would deliver a lecture on Mormonism in car number one
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  Speaker 1: seventeen from eleven to twelve o'clock, and that he invited
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  Speaker 1: all who were desirous of being instructed concerning the mysteries
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  Speaker 1: of the religion of the Latter day Saints to attend.
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  Speaker 1: I'll go, said Passepartout to himself. He knew nothing of
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  Speaker 1: Mormonism except the custom of polygamy, which is its foundation.
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  Speaker 1: The news quickly spread through the train, which contained about
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  Speaker 1: one hundred passengers, thirty of whom, at most attracted by
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  Speaker 1: the notice ensconced themselves. In Car number one seventeen. Passepartout
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  Speaker 1: took one of the front seats. Neither mister Fogg nor
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  Speaker 1: Fix cared to attend. At the appointed hour. Elder William
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  Speaker 1: Hitch rose, and, in an irritated voice, as if he
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  Speaker 1: had already been contradicted, said, I'll tell you that Joe
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  Speaker 1: Smith is a martyr, that his brother Hiram is a martyr,
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  Speaker 1: and that the persecutions of the United States government against
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  Speaker 1: the prophets, will also make a martyr of Brigham Young,
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  Speaker 1: who dares to say the contrary. No one ventured to
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  Speaker 1: gainsay the missionary, whose excited tone contrasted curiously with his
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  Speaker 1: naturally calm visage. No doubt his anger arose from the
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  Speaker 1: hardships to which the Mormons were actually subjected. The government
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  Speaker 1: had just succeeded, with some difficulty in reducing these independent
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  Speaker 1: fanatics to its rule. It made itself master of Utah
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  Speaker 1: and subjected that territory to the laws of the Union.
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  Speaker 1: After imprisoning Brigham Young on a charge of rebellion and polygamy.
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  Speaker 1: The disciples of the prophet had since redoubled their efforts
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  Speaker 1: and resisted by words at least the authority of Congress.
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  Speaker 1: Elder Hitch, as is seen, was trying to make proselytes
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  Speaker 1: of the very railway trains. Then emphasizing his words with
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  Speaker 1: his loud voice and frequent gestures, He related the history
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  Speaker 1: of the Mormons from biblical times, how that in Israel,
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  Speaker 1: a Mormon prophet of the tribe of Joseph published the
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  Speaker 1: annals of the New religion and bequeathed them to his
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  Speaker 1: son Mormon how many centuries later a translation of this
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  Speaker 1: precious book, which was written in Egyptian, was made by
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  Speaker 1: Joseph Smith Junior, a Vermont farmer who revealed himself as
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  Speaker 1: a mystical prophet in eighteen twenty five, and how in short,
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  Speaker 1: the celestial messenger appeared to him in an illuminated forest
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  Speaker 1: and gave him the annals of the Lord. Several of
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  Speaker 1: the audience, not being much interested in the missionaries narrative, here,
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  Speaker 1: left the car, but Elder Hitch, continuing his lecture, related
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  Speaker 1: how Smith Junior, with his father, two brothers, and a
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  Speaker 1: few disciples, founded the Church of the Latter day Saints,
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  Speaker 1: which adopted not only in America, but in England, Norway,
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  Speaker 1: and Sweden and Germany counts many artisans as well as
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  Speaker 1: men engaged in the liberal professions among its members. How
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  Speaker 1: a colony was established in Ohio, a temple erected there
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  Speaker 1: at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and a
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  Speaker 1: town built at Kirkland. How Smith became an enterprising banker
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  Speaker 1: and received from a simple mummy showman a papyrus scroll
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  Speaker 1: written by Abraham and several famous Egyptians. The Elder's story
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  Speaker 1: became somewhat wearisome, and his audience grew gradually less until
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  Speaker 1: it was reduced to twenty passengers. But this did not
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  Speaker 1: disconcert the enthusiast, who proceeded with the story of Joseph
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  Speaker 1: Smith's bankruptcy in eighteen thirty seven, and how his ruined
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  Speaker 1: creditors gave him a coat of tar and feathers, his
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  Speaker 1: reappearance some years afterward more honorable and honored than ever
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  Speaker 1: at independence Missouri, the chief of a flourishing colony of
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  Speaker 1: three thousand disciples, and his pursuit thence by outraged gentiles
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  Speaker 1: and retirement into the far west. Ten hearers only were
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  Speaker 1: now left among them honest Passepartout, who was listening with
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  Speaker 1: all his ears. Thus he learned that after long persecutions,
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  Speaker 1: Smith reappeared in Illinois and in eighteen thirty nine founded
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  Speaker 1: a community at Navhu on the Mississippi, numbering twenty five
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  Speaker 1: thousand souls, of which he became mayor, chief Justice and
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  Speaker 1: general in chief. That he announced himself in eighteen forty
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  Speaker 1: three as a candidate for the presidency of the United States,
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  Speaker 1: and that finally being drawn into ambuscade at Carthage, he
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  Speaker 1: was thrown into prison and assassinated by a band of
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  Speaker 1: men disguised in masks. Passepartout was now the only person
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  Speaker 1: left in the car, and the elder, looking him full
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  Speaker 1: in the face, reminded him that two years after the
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  Speaker 1: assassination of Joseph Smith, the inspired prophet Brigham Young his successor,
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  Speaker 1: left Nauvoo for the banks of the Great Salt Lake, where,
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  Speaker 1: in the midst of that fertile region, directly on the
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  Speaker 1: route of the emigrants who crossed Utah on their way
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  Speaker 1: to California, the new colony, thanks to the polygamy practiced
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  Speaker 1: by the Mormons, had flourished beyond expectations. And this, added
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  Speaker 1: Elder William Hitch, this is why the jealousy of Congress
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  Speaker 1: has been roused against us. Why have the soldiers of
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  Speaker 1: the Union invaded the soil of Utah. Why has Brigham Young,
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  Speaker 1: our chief, been imprisoned in contempt of all justice? Shall
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  Speaker 1: we yield of force? Never driven from Vermont, driven from Illinois,
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  Speaker 1: driven from Ohio, driven from Missouri, riven from Utah, We
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  Speaker 1: shall yet find some independent territory on which to plant
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  Speaker 1: our tents. And you, my brother, continued the elder, fixing
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  Speaker 1: his angry eyes upon his single auditor, Will you not
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  Speaker 1: plant yours there too, under the shadow of our flag? No,
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  Speaker 1: replied passepartout courageously in his turn, retiring from the car
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  Speaker 1: and leaving the elder to preach to vacancy. During the lecture.
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  Speaker 1: The train had been making good progress, and towards half
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  Speaker 1: past twelve it reached the northwest border of the Great
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  Speaker 1: Salt Lake. Thence the passengers could observe the vast extent
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  Speaker 1: of this interior sea, which is also called the Dead Sea,
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  Speaker 1: and to which flows an American Jordan. It is a
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  Speaker 1: picturesque expanse, framed in lofty crags and large strata encrusted
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  Speaker 1: with white salt, a superb sheet of water which was
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  Speaker 1: formerly of larger extent than now, the shores having encroached
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  Speaker 1: with the lapse of time, and thus at once reduced
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  Speaker 1: its breadth and increased its depth. The Salt Lake, seventy
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  Speaker 1: miles long and thirty five wide, is situated three miles
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  Speaker 1: eight hundred feet above the sea, quite different from Lake Asphaltite,
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  Speaker 1: whose depression is twelve hundred feet below the sea. It
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  Speaker 1: contains considerable salt, and one quarter of the weight of
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  Speaker 1: its water is solid matter. Its specific weight being one
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  Speaker 1: point one seven zero and after being distilled one point
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  Speaker 1: zero zero zero. Fishes are of course unable to live
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  Speaker 1: in it, and those which descend through the Jordan, the
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  Speaker 1: Weber and other streams soon perish. The country around the
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  Speaker 1: lake was well cultivated, for the Mormons are mostly farmers,
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  Speaker 1: while ranches and pens for domesticated animals. Fields of wheat,
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  Speaker 1: corn and other cereals. Luxuriant prairies, hedges of wild rows,
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  Speaker 1: clumps of acacias and milkwort would have been seen six
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  Speaker 1: months later la Now the ground was covered with a
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  Speaker 1: thin powdering of snow. The train reached Ogden at two o'clock,
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  Speaker 1: where it rested for six hours. Mister Fogg and his
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  Speaker 1: party had time to pay a visit to Salt Lake City,
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  Speaker 1: connected with Ogden by a branch road, and they spent
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  Speaker 1: two hours in this strikingly American town, built on the
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  Speaker 1: pattern of other cities of the Union, like a chequerboard
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  Speaker 1: with the somber sadness of right angles. As Victor Hugo
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  Speaker 1: expresses it, the founder of the City of the Saints
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  Speaker 1: could not escape from the taste for symmetry, which distinguishes
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  Speaker 1: the Anglo Saxons in this strange country, where the people
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  Speaker 1: are certainly not up to the level of their institutions.
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  Speaker 1: Everything is done squarely, cities, houses and follies. The travelers
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  Speaker 1: then were promenading at three o'clock about the streets of
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  Speaker 1: the town, built between the banks of the Jordan and
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  Speaker 1: the spurs of the Wassatch Range. They saw few or
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  Speaker 1: no churches, but the prophet's mansion, the court house, and
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  Speaker 1: the arsenal, blue brick houses with verandas and porches surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by gardens boarded with acacias, palms and locusts. A clay
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  Speaker 1: and pebpal wall built in eighteen fifty three surrounded the town,
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  Speaker 1: and in the principal street, where the market and several
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  Speaker 1: hotels adorned with pavilions. The place did not seem thickly populated.
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  Speaker 1: The streets were almost deserted, except in the vicinity of
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  Speaker 1: the temple, which they only reached after having traversed several
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  Speaker 1: quarters surrounded by palisades. There were many women, which was
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  Speaker 1: easily accounted for by the peculiar institution of the Mormons.
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  Speaker 1: But it must not be supposed that all the Mormons
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  Speaker 1: are polygamists. They are free to marry or not as
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  Speaker 1: they please. But it is worth noting that is mainly
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  Speaker 1: the female citizens of Utah who are anxious to marry,
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  Speaker 1: as according to the Mormon religion, maiden ladies are not
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  Speaker 1: admitted to the possession of its highest joy. These poor
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  Speaker 1: creatures seemed to be neither well off nor happy. Some,
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  Speaker 1: the more well to do, no doubt, wore short, open
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  Speaker 1: black silk dresses under a hood or modest shawl. Others
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  Speaker 1: were habited in Indian fashion passepartout could not behold without
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  Speaker 1: a certain fright. These women charged in groups with conferring
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  Speaker 1: happiness on a single Mormon. His common sense pitied above
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  Speaker 1: all the husband. It seemed to him a terrible thing
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  Speaker 1: to have to guide so many wives at once across
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  Speaker 1: the vicissitudes of life, and to conduct them, as it were,
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  Speaker 1: in a body to the Mormon Paradise, with the prospect
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  Speaker 1: of seeing them in the company of the glorious smith,
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  Speaker 1: who doubtless was the chief ornament of that delightful place
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  Speaker 1: to all eternity. He felt decidedly repelled from such a vocation,
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  Speaker 1: and he imagined, perhaps he was mistaken that the fair
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  Speaker 1: ones of Salt Lake City cast rather alarming glances on
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  Speaker 1: his person. Happily, his stay there was but brief. At four,
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  Speaker 1: the party found themselves again at the station, took their
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  Speaker 1: places in the train, and the whistle sounded for starting.
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  Speaker 1: Just at the moment, however, that the locomotive wheels began
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  Speaker 1: to move, Cries of stop, stop were heard. Trains like
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  Speaker 1: time and tide stopped for no one. The gentleman who
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  Speaker 1: uttered the cries was evidently a belated Mormon. He was
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  Speaker 1: breathless with running. Happily, for him, the station had neither
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  Speaker 1: gates nor barriers. He rushed along the track, jumped on
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  Speaker 1: the rear platform of the train, and fell exhausted into
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  Speaker 1: one of the seats. Passepartout, who had been anxiously watching
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  Speaker 1: this amateur gymnast, approached him with lively interest and learned
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  Speaker 1: that he had taken flight after an unpleasant domestic scene.
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  Speaker 1: When the Mormon had recovered his breath, Passepartout ventured to
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  Speaker 1: ask him politely how many wives he had for from
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  Speaker 1: the manner in which he had decamped, it might be
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  Speaker 1: thought that he had twenty at least one, Sir, replied
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  Speaker 1: the Mormon, raising his arms heavenward. One and that was enough.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter