With reference to the development of fertile storms bearing snow and rain, the greater portion of the calendar springtime of Utah has been winter. In all the upper canyons of the mountains the snow is now from five to ten feet deep or more, and most of it has fallen since March. Almost every other day during the last three weeks small local storms have been falling on the Wahsatch and Oquirrh Mountains, while the Jordan Valley remained dry and sun-filled. But on the afternoon of Thursday, the 17th ultimo, wind, rain, and snow filled the whole basin, driving wildly over valley and plain from range to range, bestowing5 their benefactions in most cordial and harmonious6 storm-measures. The oldest Saints say they have never witnessed a more violent storm of this kind since the first settlement of Zion, and while the gale7 from the northwest, with which the storm began, was rocking their adobe8 walls, uprooting9 trees and darkening the streets with billows of dust and sand, some of them seemed inclined to guess that the terrible phenomenon was one of the signs of the times of which their preachers are so constantly reminding them, the beginning of the outpouring of the treasured wrath10 of the Lord upon the Gentiles for the killing11 of Joseph Smith. To me it seemed a cordial outpouring of Nature's love; but it is easy to differ with salt Latter-Days in everything—storms, wives, politics, and religion.
About an hour before the storm reached the city I was so fortunate as to be out with a friend on the banks of the Jordan enjoying the scenery. Clouds, with peculiarly restless and self-conscious gestures, were marshaling themselves along the mountain-tops, and sending out long, overlapping13 wings across the valley; and even where no cloud was visible, an obscuring film absorbed the sunlight, giving rise to a cold, bluish darkness. Nevertheless, distant objects along the boundaries of the landscape were revealed with wonderful distinctness in this weird14, subdued15, cloud-sifted light. The mountains, in particular, with the forests on their flanks, their mazy lacelike canyons, the wombs of the ancient glaciers16, and their marvelous profusion17 of ornate sculpture, were most impressively manifest. One would fancy that a man might be clearly seen walking on the snow at a distance of twenty or thirty miles.
While we were reveling in this rare, ungarish grandeur18, turning from range to range, studying the darkening sky and listening to the still small voices of the flowers at our feet, some of the denser19 clouds came down, crowning and wreathing the highest peaks and dropping long gray fringes whose smooth linear structure showed that snow was beginning to fall. Of these partial storms there were soon ten or twelve, arranged in two rows, while the main Jordan Valley between them lay as yet in profound calm. At 4:30 p.m. a dark brownish cloud appeared close down on the plain towards the lake, extending from the northern extremity20 of the Oquirrh Range in a northeasterly direction as far as the eye could reach. Its peculiar12 color and structure excited our attention without enabling us to decide certainly as to its character, but we were not left long in doubt, for in a few minutes it came sweeping21 over the valley in a wild uproar22, a torrent23 of wind thick with sand and dust, advancing with a most majestic24 front, rolling and overcombing like a gigantic sea-wave. Scarcely was it in plain sight ere it was upon us, racing25 across the Jordan, over the city, and up the slopes of the Wahsatch, eclipsing all the landscapes in its course—the bending trees, the dust streamers, and the wild onrush of everything movable giving it an appreciable26 visibility that rendered it grand and inspiring.
This gale portion of the storm lasted over an hour, then down came the blessed rain and the snow all through the night and the next day, the snow and rain alternating and blending in the valley. It is long since I have seen snow coming into a city. The crystal flakes27 falling in the foul28 streets was a pitiful sight.
Notwithstanding the vaunted refining influences of towns, purity of all kinds—pure hearts, pure streams, pure snow—must here be exposed to terrible trials. City Creek29, coming from its high glacial fountains, enters the streets of this Mormon Zion pure as an angel, but how does it leave it? Even roses and lilies in gardens most loved are tainted30 with a thousand impurities31 as soon as they unfold. I heard Brigham Young in the Tabernacle the other day warning his people that if they did not mend their manners angels would not come into their houses, though perchance they might be sauntering by with little else to do than chat with them. Possibly there may be Salt Lake families sufficiently32 pure for angel society, but I was not pleased with the reception they gave the small snow angels that God sent among them the other night. Only the children hailed them with delight. The old Latter-Days seemed to shun33 them. I should like to see how Mr. Young, the Lake Prophet, would meet such messengers.
But to return to the storm. Toward the evening of the 18th it began to wither34. The snowy skirts of the Wahsatch Mountains appeared beneath the lifting fringes of the clouds, and the sun shone out through colored windows, producing one of the most glorious after-storm effects I ever witnessed. Looking across the Jordan, the gray sagey slopes from the base of the Oquirrh Mountains were covered with a thick, plushy cloth of gold, soft and ethereal as a cloud, not merely tinted35 and gilded36 like a rock with autumn sunshine, but deeply muffled37 beyond recognition. Surely nothing in heaven, nor any mansion38 of the Lord in all his worlds, could be more gloriously carpeted. Other portions of the plain were flushed with red and purple, and all the mountains and the clouds above them were painted in corresponding loveliness. Earth and sky, round and round the entire landscape, was one ravishing revelation of color, infinitely39 varied40 and interblended.
I have seen many a glorious sunset beneath lifting storm clouds on the mountains, but nothing comparable with this. I felt as if new-arrived in some other far-off world. The mountains, the plains, the sky, all seemed new. Other experiences seemed but to have prepared me for this, as souls are prepared for heaven. To describe the colors on a single mountain would, if it were possible at all, require many a volume—purples, and yellows, and delicious pearly grays divinely toned and interblended, and so richly put on one seemed to be looking down through the ground as through a sky. The disbanding clouds lingered lovingly about the mountains, filling the canyons like tinted wool, rising and drooping41 around the topmost peaks, fondling their rugged42 bases, or, sailing alongside, trailed their lustrous43 fringes through the pines as if taking a last view of their accomplished44 work. Then came darkness, and the glorious day was done.
This afternoon the Utah mountains and valleys seem to belong to our own very world again. They are covered with common sunshine. Down here on the banks of the Jordan, larks45 and redwings are swinging on the rushes; the balmy air is instinct with immortal46 life; the wild flowers, the grass, and the farmers' grain are fresh as if, like the snow, they had come out of heaven, and the last of the angel clouds are fleeing from the mountains.
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1
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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2
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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3
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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4
canyons
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| n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 ) | |
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5
bestowing
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| 砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
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6
harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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7
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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8
adobe
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| n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司 | |
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9
uprooting
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| n.倒根，挖除伐根v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的现在分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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10
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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11
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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12
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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13
overlapping
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| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
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14
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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15
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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16
glaciers
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| 冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 ) | |
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17
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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18
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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19
denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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20
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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21
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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22
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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23
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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24
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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25
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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26
appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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27
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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28
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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29
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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30
tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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31
impurities
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| 不纯( impurity的名词复数 )； 不洁； 淫秽； 杂质 | |
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32
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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33
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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34
wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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35
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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36
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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37
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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38
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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39
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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40
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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41
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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42
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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43
lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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44
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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45
larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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46
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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