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In this strange country, where the people are certainly not up to the level of their institutions, everything is done "squarely"-cities, houses, and follies. Voice Reading
The travellers, then, were promenading, at three o'clock, about the streets of the town built between the banks of the Jordan and the spurs of the Wahsatch Range. Voice Reading
They saw few or no churches, but the prophet's mansion, the court-house, and the arsenal, blue-brick houses with verandas and porches, surrounded by gardens bordered with acacias, palms, and locusts. Voice Reading
A clay and pebble wall, built in 1853, surrounded the town; and in the principal street were the market and several hotels adorned with pavilions. Voice Reading
The place did not seem thickly populated. Voice Reading
The streets were almost deserted, except in the vicinity of the temple, which they only reached after having traversed several quarters surrounded by palisades. Voice Reading
There were many women, which was easily accounted for by the "peculiar institution" of the Mormons; but it must not be supposed that all the Mormons are polygamists. Voice Reading
They are free to marry or not, as they please; but it is worth noting that it is mainly the female citizens of Utah who are anxious to marry, as, according to the Mormon religion, maiden ladies are not admitted to the possession of its highest joys. Voice Reading
These poor creatures seemed to be neither well off nor happy. Voice Reading
Some-the more well-to-do, no doubt-wore short, open, black silk dresses, under a hood or modest shawl; others were habited in Indian fashion. Voice Reading
Passepartout could not behold without a certain fright these women, charged, in groups, with conferring happiness on a single Mormon. Voice Reading
His common sense pitied, above all, the husband. Voice Reading
It seemed to him a terrible thing to have to guide so many wives at once across the vicissitudes of life, and to conduct them, as it were, in a body to the Mormon paradise with the prospect of seeing them in the company of the glorious Smith, who doubtless was the chief ornament of that delightful place, to all eternity. Voice Reading
He felt decidedly repelled from such a vocation, and he imagined-perhaps he was mistaken-that the fair ones of Salt Lake City cast rather alarming glances on his person. Voice Reading
Happily, his stay there was but brief. Voice Reading
At four the party found themselves again at the station, took their places in the train, and the whistle sounded for starting. Voice Reading
Just at the moment, however, that the locomotive wheels began to move, cries of "Stop! stop!" were heard. Voice Reading
Trains, like time and tide, stop for no one. Voice Reading
The gentleman who uttered the cries was evidently a belated Mormon. Voice Reading
He was breathless with running. Voice Reading
Happily for him, the station had neither gates nor barriers. Voice Reading
He rushed along the track, jumped on the rear platform of the train, and fell, exhausted, into one of the seats. Voice Reading
Passepartout, who had been anxiously watching this amateur gymnast, approached him with lively interest, and learned that he had taken flight after an unpleasant domestic scene. Voice Reading
When the Mormon had recovered his breath, Passepartout ventured to ask him politely how many wives he had; for, from the manner in which he had decamped, it might be thought that he had twenty at least. Voice Reading
"One, sir," replied the Mormon, raising his arms heavenward -"one, and that was enough!" Voice Reading

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