ONCE AGAIN DISCUSSION has been revived concerning the meaning of the hieroglyphic numbers engraved on Mormon Rock. Mormonism originated only so far back as 1830, so if these weather beaten figures have anything to do with the Latter Day Saints there should be thousands of persons qualified to tell all about them, unless, as some claim, they pertain to the forbidden mysteries.
The Mormons migrated in 1838 from Kirtland. O. to Nauvoo, the “City of Beauty,” in Illinois, and to Salt Lake in 1848. When they left Nauvoo they boasted that their line of march would be twenty-four miles long, and was to be headed by a printing press to issue the daily orders of the prophet. It was stated that they were divided up into numerous companies, each one headed by one of the prophet's wives, and the mysterious figures on Mormon Rock were supposed to give the number of pilgrims to each division.
The figures look like a sum in division engraved upon a sandstone rock. Most of the numbers are illegible, but as some few are sharp and clear it is to be assumed that the others were erased maliciously or for a purpose. It is now claimed that either through accident or design the eight legible numbers furnish a key to the mystery, and that the whole is a sum in long division which tells just how many pilgrims marched with each division, and incidentally gives a clue to the number of the prophet’s matrimonial ventures.
It is a remarkable coincidence that the remaining numbers furnish a clue which easily solves a most interesting historical puzzle, for if you will write down the sum in long division, mixing stars with the legible, figures as shown, you should speedily be able to guess the numbers which have been erased so that the sum will prove. It really looks as if there should be scores of correct answers, and yet so far as I am aware, but one satisfactory restoration of the missing numbers has been suggested.
A careful analysis of the sum, as presented in the Mormon souvenir, proves that the figures when restored must have been as follows:
749) 638897 (853
5992
------
3969
3745
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2247
2247
Why are men like facts? Because they are stubborn things.
Why does a cat look on first one side and then another when she enters a room? Because she can’t look on both sides at the same time.
Why is a widower like a young baby? Because it cries a great deal the first six months, looks around the second six months, and has hard work to get through his second summer.
Why is Philadelphia more subject to earthquakes than any other city? Because she is a Quaker city.
Why is a policeman on his beat like an Irishman rolling down a hill? Because he's patrolling (Pat rolling).
If the alphabet were all invited out to supper, in what order would they come? They would all get there down to S, and the rest would come after T.
What would contain all the snuff in the world? No one nose (knows).
Why is a hound like a man with a bald head? Because he makes a little hare (hair) go a long ways.
Why does a sculptor die a most horrible death? Because he makes faces and busts.
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