The glacial developments of these superb ranges are sharply sculptured peaks and crests5, with ample wombs between them where the ancient snows of the glacial period were collected and transformed into ice, and ranks of profound shadowy canyons7, while moraines commensurate with the lofty fountains extend into the valleys, forming far the grandest series of glacial monuments I have yet seen this side of the Sierra.
In beginning this letter I meant to describe the city, but in the company of these noble old mountains, it is not easy to bend one's attention upon anything else. Salt Lake cannot be called a very beautiful town, neither is there anything ugly or repulsive8 about it. From the slopes of the Wahsatch foothills, or old lake benches, toward Fort Douglas it is seen to occupy the sloping gravelly delta9 of City Creek10, a fine, hearty11 stream that comes pouring from the snows of the mountains through a majestic12 glacial canyon6; and it is just where this stream comes forth13 into the light on the edge of the valley of the Jordan that the Mormons have built their new Jerusalem.
At first sight there is nothing very marked in the external appearance of the town excepting its leafiness. Most of the houses are veiled with trees, as if set down in the midst of one grand orchard14; and seen at a little distance they appear like a field of glacier boulders15 overgrown with aspens, such as one often meets in the upper valleys of the California Sierra, for only the angular roofs are clearly visible.
Perhaps nineteen twentieths of the houses are built of bluish-gray adobe16 bricks, and are only one or two stories high, forming fine cottage homes which promise simple comfort within. They are set well back from the street, leaving room for a flower garden, while almost every one has a thrifty17 orchard at the sides and around the back. The gardens are laid out with great simplicity18, indicating love for flowers by people comparatively poor, rather than deliberate efforts of the rich for showy artistic19 effects. They are like the pet gardens of children, about as artless and humble20, and harmonize with the low dwellings22 to which they belong. In almost every one you find daisies, and mint, and lilac bushes, and rows of plain English tulips. Lilacs and tulips are the most characteristic flowers, and nowhere have I seen them in greater perfection. As Oakland is pre-eminently a city of roses, so is this Mormon Saints' Rest a city of lilacs and tulips. The flowers, at least, are saintly, and they are surely loved. Scarce a home, however obscure, is without them, and the simple, unostentatious manner in which they are planted and gathered in pots and boxes about the windows shows how truly they are prized.
The surrounding commons, the marshy23 levels of the Jordan, and dry, gravelly lake benches on the slopes of the Wahsatch foothills are now gay with wild flowers, chief among which are a species of phlox, with an abundance of rich pink corollas, growing among sagebrush in showy tufts, and a beautiful papilionaceous plant, with silky leaves and large clusters of purple flowers, banner, wings, and keel exquisitely24 shaded, a mertensia, hydrophyllum, white boragewort, orthocarpus, several species of violets, and a tall scarlet25 gilia. It is delightful26 to see how eagerly all these are sought after by the children, both boys and girls. Every day that I have gone botanizing I have met groups of little Latter-Days with their precious bouquets27, and at such times it was hard to believe the dark, bloody28 passages of Mormon history.
But to return to the city. As soon as City Creek approaches its upper limit its waters are drawn29 off right and left, and distributed in brisk rills, one on each side of every street, the regular slopes of the delta upon which the city is built being admirably adapted to this system of street irrigation. These streams are all pure and sparkling in the upper streets, but, as they are used to some extent as sewers30, they soon manifest the consequence of contact with civilization, though the speed of their flow prevents their becoming offensive, and little Saints not over particular may be seen drinking from them everywhere.
The streets are remarkably31 wide and the buildings low, making them appear yet wider than they really are. Trees are planted along the sidewalks—elms, poplars, maples32, and a few catalpas and hawthorns33; yet they are mostly small and irregular, and nowhere form avenues half so leafy and imposing34 as one would be led to expect. Even in the business streets there is but little regularity35 in the buildings—now a row of plain adobe structures, half store, half dwelling21, then a high mercantile block of red brick or sandstone, and again a row of adobe cottages nestled back among apple trees. There is one immense store with its sign upon the roof, in letters big enough to be read miles away, "Z.C.M.I." (Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution), while many a small, codfishy corner grocery bears the legend "Holiness to the Lord, Z.C.M.I." But little evidence will you find in this Zion, with its fifteen thousand souls, of great wealth, though many a Saint is seeking it as keenly as any Yankee Gentile. But on the other hand, searching throughout all the city, you will not find any trace of squalor or extreme poverty.
Most of the women I have chanced to meet, especially those from the country, have a weary, repressed look, as if for the sake of their religion they were patiently carrying burdens heavier than they were well able to bear. But, strange as it must seem to Gentiles, the many wives of one man, instead of being repelled36 from one another by jealousy37, appear to be drawn all the closer together, as if the real marriage existed between the wives only. Groups of half a dozen or so may frequently be seen on the streets in close conversation, looking as innocent and unspeculative as a lot of heifers, while the masculine Saints pass them by as if they belonged to a distinct species. In the Tabernacle last Sunday, one of the elders of the church, in discoursing38 upon the good things of life, the possessions of Latter-Day Saints, enumerated39 fruitful fields, horses, cows, wives, and implements40, the wives being placed as above, between the cows and implements, without receiving any superior emphasis.
Polygamy, as far as I have observed, exerts a more degrading influence upon husbands that upon wives. The love of the latter finds expression in flowers and children, while the former seem to be rendered incapable41 of pure love of anything. The spirit of Mormonism is intensely exclusive and un-American. A more withdrawn42, compact, sealed-up body of people could hardly be found on the face of the earth than is gathered here, notwithstanding railroads, telegraphs, and the penetrating43 lights that go sifting44 through society everywhere in this revolutionary, question-asking century. Most of the Mormons I have met seem to be in a state of perpetual apology, which can hardly be fully45 accounted for by Gentile attacks. At any rate it is unspeakably offensive to any free man.
"We Saints," they are continually saying, "are not as bad as we are called. We don't murder those who differ with us, but rather treat them with all charity. You may go through our town night or day and no harm shall befall you. Go into our houses and you will be well used. We are as glad as you are that Lee was punished," etc. While taking a saunter the other evening we were overtaken by a characteristic Mormon, "an umble man," who made us a very deferential46 salute47 and then walked on with us about half a mile. We discussed whatsoever48 of Mormon doctrines49 came to mind with American freedom, which he defended as best he could, speaking in an excited but deprecating tone. When hard pressed he would say: "I don't understand these deep things, but the elders do. I'm only an umble tradesman." In taking leave he thanked us for the pleasure of our querulous conversation, removed his hat, and bowed lowly in a sort of Uriah Heep manner, and then went to his humble home. How many humble wives it contained, we did not learn.
Fine specimens50 of manhood are by no means wanting, but the number of people one meets here who have some physical defect or who attract one's attention by some mental peculiarity51 that manifests itself through the eyes, is astonishingly great in so small a city. It would evidently be unfair to attribute these defects to Mormonism, though Mormonism has undoubtedly53 been the magnet that elected and drew these strange people together from all parts of the world.
But however "the peculiar52 doctrines" and "peculiar practices" of Mormonism have affected54 the bodies and the minds of the old Saints, the little Latter-Day boys and girls are as happy and natural as possible, running wild, with plenty of good hearty parental55 indulgence, playing, fighting, gathering56 flowers in delightful innocence57; and when we consider that most of the parents have been drawn from the thickly settled portion of the Old World, where they have long suffered the repression58 of hunger and hard toil59, the Mormon children, "Utah's best crop," seem remarkably bright and promising60.
From children one passes naturally into the blooming wilderness61, to the pure religion of sunshine and snow, where all the good and the evil of this strange people lifts and vanishes from the mind like mist from the mountains.
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1
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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glacier
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| n.冰川，冰河 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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canyons
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| n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 ) | |
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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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delta
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| n.（流的）角洲 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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adobe
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| n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司 | |
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thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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bouquets
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| n.花束( bouquet的名词复数 )；（酒的）芳香 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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sewers
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| n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 ) | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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maples
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| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
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hawthorns
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| n.山楂树( hawthorn的名词复数 ) | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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discoursing
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| 演说（discourse的现在分词形式） | |
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enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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41
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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42
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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43
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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44
sifting
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| n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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45
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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deferential
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| adj. 敬意的，恭敬的 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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48
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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49
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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50
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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51
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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52
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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53
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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55
parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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56
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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57
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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58
repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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59
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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