SALT LAKE AND THE MORMONS 59 



The organist of this church is one of the 

 masters of his art, educated abroad at Church 

 expense, so that the Mormons may have the best 

 music there is. Every Httle Mormon settlement 

 has its band and orchestra, and, whether in days of 

 plenty or hours of famine, concerts and dances 

 are encouraged. 



No people has had a more singular history than 

 this; none has been more maligned, misrepre- 

 sented and libeled. The Mormons have had their 

 faults; some things in their religion were distaste- 

 ful to us; some things in their history can not be 

 excused. But it must be said that the things relig- 

 ious, to which we object, have been eliminated, 

 and the matters of history that are without excuse 

 had, at least, terrible provocation. 



Pardon a word or two historical to clear up a 

 few of the many misconceptions about this people. 



Of course, you all know that Joseph Smith found 

 the Book of Mormon, written upon plates of gold, 

 in the hill of Cumorah, near the town of Palmyra, 

 New York, in 1823. 



