Missionary Experiences: The Character of Our Assailants

CHARACTER OF OUR ASSAILANTS. BY ELDER J. W. MUSSER. The following instances, as coming under my observation, some extent the character of many of will serve to illustrate to those who assail the Elders of the Church and the doctrines that they preach: We had succeeded in establishing a warm friendship among the villagers in the "Norton" neighborhood, Northern Mississippi, where I labored as a missionary in 1895-6, but, during our absence for a few days, a Mr. A. visited the houses where we had stopped, and, under the claim that a few years of his early manhood had been spent in Utah in the early fifties, took occasion to slander us. He told them of the beautiful valley and briny lake, of the thrifty farms and sturdy occupants; he grew eloquent in his description of the "Great Mormon Tabernacle," which he designated as the largest and grandest building in the United States. He sang the praises of our "beautiful Temple," at that time scarcely begun, and described the wonderful stone wall, completely encircling the city; but he invariably ended by arraigning us as an immoral people living in total disregard of law, order or decency. His eiforts, however, were unavailing, for they only resulted in making

our friends stancher. Who was this man A.? His former neighbors, in an ad- joining village where he resided, said that in the early fifties he had been proven guilty of stealing, and had left his native home to escape justice. In the same country, but in another neighborhood, we had decided upon securing a small log school house for services. One of the trustees. Col. W., had been a man of considerable wealth and had served his state as a legislator and in other public capacities. His two associates were well-to-do farmers. Our application for the house was answered by an emphatic "No." Said they: "Our consent that 'Mormon' Elders use this house

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would be a serious reflection upon the virtue of our wives and daughters." Now who were these men whose moral instincts we had so seriously shocked by making application to them for the use of a little old log hut long since mustered out of service? And what kind of characters did they sustain before God and their fellow- men? W. was all but compelled to give his life as the Col. penalty for criminal intimacy with the wife of a neighbor. He was shot by the husband of the woman concerned, and left for dead, and his body now carries lead as a result of his perfidy. He had also served a term in jail for criminal conduct. Trustee No. 2, Mr. B., was the reputed father of two illegitimate negro children,himself a married man. Trustee No. 3, Mr. H., though married, became the father of an illegitimate child, the mother being an unmarried woman. These are the beings who dare question the morality of God's chosen people, and who, unshamed by their own miserable lusts and depravities, would volunteer to search for a "mote" in the eye of a neighbor.

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