 |
| The Fremont Tree - Author's Personal Colleciton |
"Several of us were inside
the monster, looking over the thousands of cards pinned to its sides, when it
was proposed that we ascertain how many could comfortably stand up in the
hollow of this tree. Ladies and gentlemen began piling in like bees into a
hive, and when we were pretty well squeezed up together ... and to may
surprise, there were wafted on the air from the girl’s side, half a dozen half
smothered screams of approval which settled the motion. A gentleman volunteered
to act as accountant, and then began the calling of States."
"New York, Oregon, Washington, Maine," etc. Etc.,
"Is that all?" asked the accountant, when everyone seemed to have reported.
"No!" I shouted with enthusiasm, "Utah, the Queen of the West!"
"Utah," repeated half a dozen voices, as they endeavored to turn round in order to get a square look at me, "are you a Mormon?"
I had become used to this sort of questioning, and calmly answered:
"Yes, a full fledged Mormon."
This caused a death silence; much staring at me and then at each other, which made my position a trifle embarrassing.
"Fifteen states and territories and one Canadian province," said the accountant, breaking the oppressive stillness as we began filing out one by one. We were counted by a gentleman from the outside who gave me a peculiar leer as I passed out, and whose mouth opened with astonishment as the numbers swelled up into the thirties, when his voice began to weaken and as the last man passed slowly through the opening, you could have knocked the counter stone cold with a peanut as he whispered forty-two."
"New York, Oregon, Washington, Maine," etc. Etc.,
"Is that all?" asked the accountant, when everyone seemed to have reported.
"No!" I shouted with enthusiasm, "Utah, the Queen of the West!"
"Utah," repeated half a dozen voices, as they endeavored to turn round in order to get a square look at me, "are you a Mormon?"
I had become used to this sort of questioning, and calmly answered:
"Yes, a full fledged Mormon."
This caused a death silence; much staring at me and then at each other, which made my position a trifle embarrassing.
"Fifteen states and territories and one Canadian province," said the accountant, breaking the oppressive stillness as we began filing out one by one. We were counted by a gentleman from the outside who gave me a peculiar leer as I passed out, and whose mouth opened with astonishment as the numbers swelled up into the thirties, when his voice began to weaken and as the last man passed slowly through the opening, you could have knocked the counter stone cold with a peanut as he whispered forty-two."
Source: “Santa Cruz - Her Mammoth Trees,” by Jake Miles, Utah
Enquirer, August 21, 1888.
No comments:
Post a Comment