Backwards March. 341 



self and made hf r his wife. This seemed strange to the people, for a younger 

 sister of Poly, whose name was Mono Gamy, was more fair to look upon than 

 her sister, and was much more favored by the young men of the people. 

 But Joseph clave to Poly, and took her with him to the far western lands 

 whither he journeyed; and about him he gathered other folks who thought 

 as he did and did as he thought, until a tribe arose. He also named their 

 wives Poly — and here endeth the first parable. 



During my stay in Salt Lake I sought diligently to get at the bottom of 

 the situation. As a summary of the whole business, I express the opinion 

 that the polygamous aspect of Mornionism is on the wane. It is said with 

 confidence by those who are friends to the saints that not more than two, 

 or, at most, three, per cent, of them are now dabbling in multiple marriages. 

 Still, the doctrine of polygamy is stoutly, even vindictively, maintained by 

 all the leaders of Mormondom. At least, that is my judgment of the situ- 

 ation. I made the acquaintance of several of the foremost men among them, 

 and found them as debonair gentlemen as any one might wish to meet. By 

 the courtesy of my friend Dr. Iliflf, I was introduced to the president and 

 faculty of Deseret University, and had the pleasure of an extended informal 

 talk with them relative to the institution. They were at work with their 

 classes as in other colleges, and the young people appeared in no wise differ- 

 ent from the common type of American students. I also visited the edito- 

 rial sanctum of the leading Mormon newspaper, and was cordially received 

 by the editor, Mr. NichoUs, who had recently suffered severe penalties under 

 the Edmunds bill. Of course, I could not well converse with these gentle- 

 men on the tender point of multiple marriage, but I found a few persons 

 with whom I might talk on the subject without violating the proprieties. 



I was much impressed with the form and substance of the Mormon Tem- 

 ple. It has the finest stone walls of any structure I ever saw. For the present 

 it consists of walls, and nothing more. All within and above is open to 

 the sky and elements. I was struck with commiseration as I thought upon 

 the vast amount of money which had been here expended, and the hard toil 

 of thousands wasted, as it seemed to me, upon a hopeless symbol of an effete 

 form of thought. In the adjacent Tabernacle I found a great and practical 

 interest. There is no other such structure in America, or in the world. 

 Viewed with respect to its adaptation as a place for public gathering and 

 speech, it has no equal. All that has been said relative to the marvelous 

 acoustic properties of this hall is strictly true. There can be no exaggera- 

 tion as to the facility with which you speak and hear in this vast parabolic 

 assembly room. The seating capacity is for ten thousand people. Anything 

 above an ordinary conversational tone on the part of a speaker occupying 

 the rostrum, which I take to be placed in or near one of the foci of the 

 ellipse, would be wholly superfluous. A whisper, or the falling of a pin, can 

 be distinctly heard at any station on the floor or in the gallery. The taber- 

 nacle is the work of Brigham Young, and I emphatically declare it to be the 

 only common sense public hall that is in the world. It is cheap, economical 



