rom this spot are so heavenly bright in their glowin' colors
that no pen or tongue can describe 'em. The blue-green waves wuz
dancin' as we stood on the shore, and we wuz told that if we fell in,
the water would hold us up, but didn't try it, bein' in sunthin' of a
hurry.

At Miss Meechim's strong request we went on a pleasant trip to York
City through the valley of the River of Jordan. How good that name
sounded to me! How much like scripter! But, alas! it made me think of
one who had so often sung with me on the way home from evenin'
meetin', as the full moon gilded the top of the democrat, and the
surroundin' landscape:

"By Jordan's stormy banks we stand
And cast a wistful eye
On Canaan's fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie."

Oh, human love and longing, how strong thou art! I knowed that him
meant the things of the sperit, but my human heart translated it, and
I sithed and felt that the Jordan my soul wuz passin' through wuz
indeed a hard pathway, and I couldn't help castin' a wishful eye on
Jonesville's fair and happy land, where my earthly possession, my
Josiah, lay.

But to resoom. We had hearn that Polygamy wuz still practised there,
and we had hearn that it wuzn't. But every doubt on that subject wuz
laid to rest by an invitation we all had to go and visit a Mormon
family livin' not fur off, and Miss Meechim and I went, she not
wantin' Dorothy to hear a word on the subject. She said with reason,
that after all her anxiety and labors to keep her from marryin' one
man, what would be her feelin's to have her visit a man who had boldly
wedded 'leven wives and might want a even dozen!

I could see it to once, so didn't urge the matter, but left Tommy with
her and Aronette. As nigh as I could make out, the Mormons had felt
that Miss Meechim and I wuz high in authority in Gentile climes, one
on us had that air of nobility and command that is always associated
with high authority, and they felt that one on us could do their cause
much good if they could impress us favorable with the custom, so they
put their best twenty-four feet forward and did their level best to
show off their doctrine in flyin' colors. But they didn't do any good
to "one on us," nor to Miss Meechim, either; she's sound in doctrine,
though kinder weak and disagreeable in spots.

Well, we found that this family lived in splendid style, and the
husband and all his pardners acted happy whether they wuz or not. An