Anna Dickinson

General Correspondence

Hollister, O. J. 1869United States Internal Revenue.
                                                                        COLLECTOR'S OFFICE, DISTRICT OF UTAH.
                                                                      Salt Lake City,       June 26, 1869
My Dear Miss Anna

I enclose a copy of Geo A Smith's discourse of last Sunday
as reported by themselves. How does
it tally with what he said? It is certainly
a remarkable one. The absurdity, 
the superstition, the delusion, possibly the 
novelty, must be the charm of Mormonism.
Notice how it grew & grew in spite of the hostility 
of white men before the era of Brigham
with his licensed male licentiousness, his
endowment mysteries, & assassinations
- his reign of terror in the mountains. What
shall we say? Is not God responsible
for Mormonism the same as for Mahometism,
or other growth of the human
child? The same as for all wrong & outrage
with which earth is filled. And if 
Mormonism be God's work, must it not
have been established for some wise
purpose - established anyhow, makingit vain to battle with it.  "Lest haply we 
be found fighting against God!"  I don't know 
but the strange eclectic compound of isms 
called Latter-Day-Saintism is as good as 
anything for the mass of mankind, who 
ever seem, poor things, to be more 
fascinated with a lie than the truth - who are 
fed from the cradle to the grave at best on 
husks & given the Dead Sea water instead 
of the water of life to drink. How sick 
the mystery of things, & specially of life & 
love, makes me! I am ready to die 
with disgust. Triumphant may well be 
the song of Mormonism. You were galled 
by the toadyism of Kelley & colleagues. We 
have Seward now, he is stopping in your 
room, an old man weary with the cares 
of state, fallen from grace as the old 
always are, would we could give him 
a little (place in the) earth for charity. Last 
evening the Saints serenaded him & 
he ended a little speech by praying 
that God would bless prosper & enlarge

the borders of Mormonism. The Gentiles
are all hot in the collar about it today.
But what can they do? It is ever thus. The
Mormons have from necessity made the
wilderness blossom like the rose, & that,
with their urbanity & kindness to strangers,
invariably enlists their sympathies, leaving
what an ungracious task to us who
know better.  For a so-called Gentile to get
up in this Sodom & wish the Mormons
prosperity, materially or other way, is
for him to imprecate upon himself
ruin, but how sh'd they know it?
The late Confederacy was the bitterest enemy
on the earth of our enlightened
institutions, social, religious, moral,
political, except "the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints," "The Kingdom
of God" as they blasphemously call it.
Knowing themselves outlaws both by
our civil & religious code, they expect
our hostility, as Brigham acknowledged
before the last Conference. How silly,then, to say the least, our good feeling for them.
Last evening about thirty ladies & gentlemen
came in from Chicago, Mrs B Ogden,
Jno I Blair, J L Fitch, Senator Howe of
Michigan, Horace White of the Tribune, and
L Wilson of the Journal & many others.
Judge Hawley, of this place, Mr Baskin,
myself & others, are to have an interview
with them this afternoon, when we must
address ourselves to the graceless task
of decrying our neighbors. A party of Gentiles
called on Seward this morning - men
who have been hurried here by every species
of unfairness - and put in a red hot half
hour with him.  I wonder at my enthusiasm.
Even until now my heart is away,
in the Golden Gate of the West, where Broderick
sleeps, - would follow you off spite of all the
ridicule & denunciation I could heap upon
it. Involuntarily as I entered my room alone
last evening I heard a great sigh & said,
Damn the women! all of them. While women
are so lovely & loveable, that rascal man
will be inconstant, yielding to the spell
of the bright eyes that beam upon him,
Love me an' thou will, thou fool " How ridiculously 
I talked the last evening we were
under the moon together. The blind god had
hit me as he always does if as all on the
crazy bone & was bro't to the earth like a
winged bird where I lay floundering in metaphysical
mud. I couldn't say anything
I wanted to. I wish I had wit enough to let
God take care of his own business & enjoy
myself.  But the conscience, & some little
sense of the fitness of things, & a slight lingering
sense of honor (I am only 34) an exquisite 
sensitiveness to ridicule, & your brief
stay any way -- all, everything was against
me.  Anna's "faithful friend"
O.J. HollisterSalt Lake City, July 1

My Dear Miss Anna,

Im so glad your 
name is Anna instead of Annie, 
& so surprised that I had never discovered 
it before you told me of it! 
Doesn't that sound like a woman? 
This life is too small the whole business. 
If I sit down on my dignity 
to enjoy a moments' idleness I 
immediately begin thinking that I am 
wasting time & opportunity.  That unless 
I have at least one idea per day 
I am not living to much acc't.  
That unless I am preaching from 
the editorial tripod, doing something 
to enlighten & influence for the better 
the fate of my fellow sinners I am 
living to no purpose.  Beecher, at 
Raymond's funeral, seemed to inculcate 
the same idea.  But is it so? 
Is that habit of mind which needs the 
universal world for it field & foodhealthy right and the only right
Then 999 thousand millionths of our
race have, do, & must live in
vain. Or do we ever, any of us originate
anything & Can the mind be
forced? And is not that a plant
 of each sickly growth, which springs not
spontaneous from the soil? And
is it our fault if the is soil is poor
& kept fed down so close that 
nothing thrifty is produced? I
took up my pen to say that I enclose
a paper which makes mention
of your thinking perhaps it might
interest you. The down is dull
since you left, the widow in the 
other end of the house says I don't
smile on her anymore, that I
only care for those who are feted
[???] after flattered and caressed by
everybody. Is it men's fault
that women no longer interest
them, & that they consequently go
to their graves bachelors
Very Truly
O. J. HollisterDear Anna - The enclosed will show you that you are not forgotten nor slighted in Salt Lake.  I rather expect there will be a long if not exhaustive article on your mission in the Chicago Tribune soon, which I would like to call your attention to.  Did you get a letter from me at Cheyenne? Where are my books & shadow of Anna?

Faithfully, 
O J HollisterS L City, Utah
July 24. 69

Yes, worse disgusted 
than ever, my fair 
philosopher.  No more so 
I suppose than occasion of 
others, only I will spit 
it out.  It is so hard to 
wait, to be restrained, 
although the ocean itself 
hath metes & bounds. I
didn't think of that when
I began the sentence.  A 
few years ago, meeting 
you as I did.  I sh'd have 
opened my whole heart & 
life to you,  sh'd have fallen 
helplessly in love, & 
all that.  But now — 
"I am dying  Egypt dying"  
Nay I am dead.  Andso spending my time. This 
is nothing but a farce, wish
God it were off my hands.
I suppose, my friend, we all
have these discouraged tho'ts,
way down at the bottom of our
lives, but they are so buried
by the rubbish we call life
they are not often seen.
With me I think it is an intense
love of truth makes
me dwell on them . I hate
humbug, which is life,
men & women their cares
& pursuits & aspirations,
innocence which is just
sauce & must of necessity
be lost, ignorance itself
our heritage, bondage, our
all. God pity us, "God be
merciful & bless us " Amen,
as the Saints say. I wish

only last Summer I  
was capable of a few genuine
passion consuming yet
unconsumed as Hell 
itself . I mean the Hell
alluded to by the Savior,
& don't mean to be profane
in the slightest. Now the
ridiculous aspect of human
feeling is ever present
with me to hold me
back. Most of all what
man fondly imagines is 
love. Bah! I am at a 
loss why you sho' think
that I have an exquisite
appreciation of the beauties
of Nature. I have, but it
is laid by for the time,
thrown on the top shelf
so to speak, covered with
dust, was when you werehere. Though contact with
you brought to mind faint
reminiscences of the hero I
thot man might be when I 
was young, forty or fifty
years ago. Association
with women often makes
men the heroes for the nonce it is so in
our nature to admire, &
that is where honest men
decieve women . Why sh'dn't
they since they deceive themselves? 
Nevertheless I sh'd
have enjoyed the grand
Sierras with you, & am not
insensible to the compliment
you paid me by thinking
of me & wishing I were
present too when you were
there. Don't be afraid of 
my vanity, it w'd be better
for me had I more of it.
Thank you for remembering
the book & the shadow 
of Anna. How interesting
that will be , you & I comparing
notes, I railing at
the world, you at me for



you could have been here
the 4th of July & today. The
Saints were on it. But the
"shawn" of young ones in the
procession & the Tabernacle
furnished food for reflection
No wonder the Mormons
have faith in their religion,
system, or what ever it may
be called. Christ said By
their fruits ye shall know
them. And judging by all the
fruits apparent, they are 
as good Christians as any
of us. Order, industry, neatness, 
sobriety, obedience,
peace. How can such effects 
proceed from a corrupt
cause? Or is it possible 
to make men better
or worse than about so &fection of the Greeks, tho what
it is I cannot imagine - may
be the perfection of science
which doesn't make men gods
as the Greeks did but machines.
Well, who cares? The
only thing I rejoice at is
that I am so many days
nearer the end than when I 
saw you. If it be not the end,
then, to a point or place here
& where I may know something,
Tell me what is the 
matter of me, & don't ask
me such impossible questions
as why I afflict my soul with
the consciousness of the presence 
of women. There is nothing 
on the earth but women, &
that you know as well as I,
the glory of man who is the glory of
God. Stuff & nonsense. Adieu
Very faithfully
O J Hollister

[*Which is the best photograph?*]

so? Were only those who
are blameless to rail of amid
the Mormons. they w'd be let
as severely alone as Jeff Davis
ever prayed to be. But I am 
telling on myself. I don't
know that I have the right
to pidge the average of men by
myself, or to conclude that
I am as moral as the average
But if I am then we all in 
all ages & climes indulge
our passions to near the full
extent of our physical capacity. 
And what more
do or can the Mormons? Yet
for that shall we keep still?
No we must hatch conspiracies
against what is to prevent
stagnation. How we do surge
this way & that, cling to the
eddies along under thegrassy banks yet are finally
sucked in with the torrent &
carried over the falls & at
last into the ocean which is
death & in which we are lost.
Hasten the glad time! By
the way what are you going to
do with the Celestials? Has
this continent been set apart
for the trial of the experiment
of assimilation of all races
& colors, Europeans & Asiatics,
negroes & Indians & mongrels
What was the use of making
different races at first if
they are all here to be made
common mortar? It is none
of our business of course. All
we have to do is float on the
tide of the time, carry us whither
it will. And do you know
our race is swayed hither &
thither by the winds of Fate
the same as the forest by the 
winds of nature? So causelessly 
& lawlessly. The law
of all winds is the same,
they blow whither they list.
Perchance we are tending to
some style of perfection answering
to the physical perfectionS L City- Sept 19/69

My Dear Miss Anna
                   
                    I am glad
to hear from you at
last & know that you 
haven't allowed the
rush and hurry of sight
seeing and tale telling
on the Pacific Coast
to crowd your engagements 
with a friend,
albeit a new one &
therefore perhaps not entitled 
to many favors,
out of your mind. I 
regret very much that
you didn't come a day
or two sooner as I
have just returned[*love & be disappointed
Forgive this nonsense
I didn't mean it, not
one word of it. 
                  Thank you
for remembering about 
the book & the shadows
of Anna. I suppose it 
is too late for you to 
get & send me a report 
of your San Francisco
lecture on the Mormons
Like her own earthquakes 
to them it seems. They 
are hit & hurt. I enclose
you their puerile
flings. I have referred 
to it in a letter of
even date to the 
Chicago Tribune. If you 
don't like it, pardon 
me. I am or have not*]



from the road, & my
business will detain
me in the town for a few 
days. I should so have 
liked to see you & look 
in your eyes again. 
But then I should have 
had to go West or East because
you pass thro Utah
pretty much in the night
I think nature had prepared 
for your return
here too, the nights are 
lovelier than when you 
were here before. This 
morning we had snow
It is rather striking today
the country-side very 
clean, the grass & corn 
still green the yellow
stubble rich looking
as ever, while a thinveil of snow, a network
or lace is thrown
over all the mountains
& rocks around. Some 
of them are already
breathing the storm 
as if impatient for
winter, & only yesterday
they appeared so 
inviting I was wishing
I were a mountain
What means this savage
instinct in the 
depths of our being?
Any way of man's , or
of some men's -the
 wish to break away &
stay away & be apart,
I guess it is sheer indolence,
cowardice. The
mountain, the rocks,
the desert, & trees, don't
have to work & suffer,
to sin & sorrow, to 

done it to defend you
but to revenge myself.
I wish I had the tongue
of an angel or a devil, 
no matter which, I would
be the Peter of the crusade
against these things
which it seems to me
must come, mustn't
it? Train has been 
here, the ass, it males
my flesh crawl to 
think of him licking
the dust from Brigham's
feet, exhausting the terms
of adulation in praise
of that great scoundrel
& all he has done, defaming 
with his fish
woman's tongue all 
that is worthy of reverationreveration among us, ridiculing
our Gov't in the persons of
 Grant & Colfax, lying
about our institutions
social religious political
even scientific - well
I've done more outrageously
 profane
swearing since he was
here than before for a year.
 He thinks it is
a big card, the idiot,
to make him further
notorious. It don't do
to ignore him, because 
people will go to hear
him, & many believe
on him, the dirty commonplace
drab, without
wit, thought, originality,
ingenuity, decency,
self-respect, sense,

bless you on it.
That you call
"a good spirit" in my front
face picture was a laugh
just under the skin.
I should like to laugh
more. What ugly things
did I say about myself?
I've forgotten. Of
course I didn't mean
them, It was the impulse
of a passing cloud,
nothing, even while it 
lasted. But because
you say you regret nothing
in being unable to 
again visit this city
but that you will not 
see me, I will do just
as you say, Hoping
we may meet again
I am faithfully yours
O J Hollisteranything but effrontery
& black guardism. I never
saw a human form so 
degrade in my estimation
as by Train, Why
don't the British keep
their own convicts? Of 
course I know he's an
American, but it suits me 
to call him a British
convict, I will not
dishonor you by saying
I rejoice we have you
on the lecture boards
as an offset to him,
But I know your voice
will be heard in denunciation of the foul
wrongs festering here 
in the heart of our
beloved land, & for 
one from the depths
of my heart I say, God