Page:The woman in battle .djvu/671

Rh I never saw or heard of a gambling den or a drinking saloon being kept by a Mormon; and many of the degrading vices which flourish in Gentile communities, were absolutely unknown in Salt Lake City when the Mormons were its only residents. Even now, the standard of morality is higher in this and other Mormon towns than it is in any place that I know anything about between Omaha and the Pacific coast; while in real thrift and industry the Mormons are out of all comparison superior to their Gentile neighbors.

These people went to Utah, hoping and expecting to separate themselves from the rest of the world, in order that they might worship God in their own way without molestation, and they ought to be permitted to do it. Through many years of toil and indefatigable industry they transformed the barren wilderness into a blooming Paradise. Conducting the water down from the mountains, they succeeded in bringing the sandy plains, covered with sage bushes, under cultivation, and what was once a dreary desert, is now fertile fields, yielding luxuriant harvests, or orchards bearing the most delicious fruits. During my stay in Salt Lake Valley, I boarded for several months in the house of Bishop Nilo Andrews, at Sandy Station, and was on very intimate terms with five of his six wives. They were all smart women, and their children were, without exception, fine looking, strong, hearty, and intelligent. The bishop was passionately fond of his children, and took the greatest pains to have them well educated. His daughters he escorted to all public gatherings and entertainments that it was proper for them to attend, and did all in his power to make life enjoyable for them.

The bishop was about sixty years of age, and was as hale and hearty as a man of thirty. He was .not a bit afraid of work, and could get through an amount of it that would have shamed many a younger man. I never want to receive better hospitality than I did from him ; and when he found that I was desirous of obtaining correct information about the Mormons, he expressed himself as willing to tell me anything I wished to know.

He was quite a learned man, and like all the Mormons I ever met, was thoroughly posted in the Bible and in biblical his-