Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/311

 master of Utah, and had subjected it to the laws of the Union, after imprisoning Brigham Young, accused of rebellion and polygamy. Since that period, the disciples of the prophet redoubled their efforts, and whilst not coming to acts, resisted in words the demands of Congress.

We see that Elder William Hitch was trying to proselyte even on the trains. And then he related, emphasizing his narrative by his loud voice and the violence of his gestures, the history of Mormonism from Bible times, how in Israel, a Mormon prophet of the tribe of Joseph, published the annals of the new religion and bequeathed them to his son Morom; how, many centuries later, a translation of this precious book, written in Egyptian characters, was made by Joseph Smith, Jr., a farmer in the State of Vermont, who revealed himself as a mystical prophet in 1825; how, finally, a celestial messenger appeared to him in an illumi- nated forest and gave him the annals of the Lord.

At this moment, some of his hearers, not much interested in the retrospective narrative of the missionary, left the car; but William Hitch, continuing, related how Smith, Jr., with his father, his two brothers, and a few disciples, founded the religion of the Latter Day Saints—a religonreligion [sic] which, adopted not only in America, but in England, in Scandinavia, and in Germany, counts among its faithful, artisans and also a number of people engaged in the liberal professions; how a colony was founded in Ohio; how a temple was built at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and a city built at Kirkland; how Smith became an enterprising banker and received from a simple mummy showman a papyrus scroll containing a narrative written by Abraham and other celebrated Egyptians.

This narrative becoming a little long, the ranks of his hearers thinned out still more, and the audience only consisted of twenty persons. But the Elder, undisturbed by this desertion, related the details of how Joe Smith became bankrupt in 1837; how his ruined stockholders gave him a coat of tar and feathers; how he appeared again, more honorable and more honored than ever, a few years after, at Independence, in Missouri, at the head of a flourishing community, which counted not less than three thousand disciples; and that then, pursued by the hatred of the Gentiles, he had to fly to the far West.