| 120 The remaining part of the year passed in comparative peace so far as outside opposition was concerned, but the contention between the aspirants for leadership was very bitter, and if we are to judge from their utterances a very bad spirit was engendered. Sidney Rigdon came in for his share of abuse and slander, and he retaliated in much the same spirit.
In the last issue of the Times and Seasons for the year 1844 appeared an editorial on "The City of Nauvoo," which represented the material prosperity of the city to be great. 3
In December, 1844, the Seventies' Hall in Nauvoo was dedicated with imposing ceremonies. Two quorums were accommodated each day, and there were fifteen quorums, so several days were necessary to complete
3 THE CITY OF NAUVOO.
Since the death of our beloved Prophet and Patriarch, many have supposed that our city would be laid desolate, or at least that it would cease to prosper; that Mormonism would die, with its great leader, and that the Latter Day Saints would be scattered to the four winds. The editors of the day with few exceptions have come to this conclusion; and some few in our midst, not being better informed, or wayward in their dispositions, have essayed to believe this egregious folly. Some few families have left us and gone to Pittsburg [Pittsburgh], some few to the pine country, and a few have gone west; but since this occurrence we should think that twice as many have been added to our numbers as those that have left, as emigration has been pouring in all the time. It is true that a momentary panic ensued immediately after that tragical event. Humanity shuddered at the perpetration of so horrid a deed; a temporary gloom overspread the minds of the saints; they felt that every principle of humanity was violated, and that they were living among a horde of savage barbarians, who were reckless alike of faith, honor, and human life. Their finer feelings were for a moment stunned; they considered themselves degraded, and their national honor laid prostrate in the dust, and that their nation was damned in the eyes of all nations, by such diabolical acts as had never degraded any other soil.
They felt also to mourn over the bodies of their martyred chiefs, to hang their harps upon the willows, and in their overwhelming grief to cease for awhile from the common avocations of life. Their feelings over, and they awoke from their stupor; they started again into life, and everywhere might be seen the mechanic, the laborer, and the husbandman following with their wonted alacrity all the various avocations of life.
Great numbers of brick houses have been and are being put up, various branches of manufactures have been started, and everything wears the aspect of industry, content, and prosperity.
The temple has progressed with greater rapidity since the death of Joseph and Hyrum than ever it has done before, and things in this city never looked more prosperous.-Times and Seasons, vol. 5, pp. 743, 744.
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