Description
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 Excerpt: … CHAPTER XXXII. Sunset–A primitive settlement–A Mormon service–Untaught eloquence–Conclusion. When we awaked and dressed we learned that it was Sunday, the 21st of August. We made our ablutions in the “acequia” flowing behind the tent, and as we looked up saw that we were the focus of the glances of an irregular group of sturdy Mormon boys, all barefooted, all freckled, all in shirt-sleeves, all with one brace drawn tight across the right shoulder, and all, I must admit, manly and bold in appearance. They looked as if cut out by the one die, or, at least, as if patterned after the one model. This was the result not of common parentage, but of the cooperative system of supply prevailing in Utah, by which all the towns and villages receive their clothing in gross, and all the children, one may say, are clad in uniform. This idea grows into conviction when one turns to describe the hats, heirlooms dating back to a generation prior to the coming of Columbus. These hats are of coarse straw, grown yellow in the sun; each is deeply voluted at the rim, except at the segment bitten out by dogs at play. There are no such ornaments as hat-bands or hatribbons to be seen among the Mormon youngsters in these outlying settlements, or ” stakes,” as they designate them, and how they manage to keep this wonderful head-gear on during the prevailing sandstorms is something which passes comprehension. These boys are near enough of a size to be twins, but all sizes may be had for the asking, from the moon-eyed baby at its mother’s breast to the brawny youth driving home the herds. They are all nice boys, guiltless of the impertinence to strangers one would be sure to encounter in our own small villages. Indeed, they are more noticeable from their astounding uniformity in the…
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