 CHAPTER XXXIII of Tell It All by Fanny Stenhouse. I was now to realize personally in my own home life what polygamy actually was. Hitherto I had observed how other women suffered and how other men treated their wives, but now the painful reality had come to my own door, and I was to experience the effects of the system upon myself, and instead of noting the conduct of other men I should be able to observe the change which polygamy might work in my own husband. How little do the Mormon men know what it is in the truest sense to have a wife, though they have so many wives, after their own fashion. Almost imperceptibly to the husband, and even to the wife herself, a barrier rises between them from the very day that he marries another woman. It matters not how much she believes in the doctrine of plural marriage, or willing she may be to submit to it. The fact remains the same. The estrangement begins by her trying to hide from him all her secret sorrows, for she feels that what has been done cannot be undone now, and she says, I cannot change it, neither would I if I could, because it is the will of God, and I must bear it. Besides what good will it do to worry my husband with all my feelings? He cannot help me, and is he not another woman's husband? Then comes perhaps the painful thought, I have no longer any desire to confide in him, or it may be that she detects some familiarity between her husband and the other wife, and she feels bitterly towards both, for strive as she may, human nature cannot be altogether crushed out. Before long the wife begins to feel her husband's presence itself become irksome to her. Even his touch makes her shudder. She strives to hide all this, but oh, with what anguish of soul. She may keep up an appearance of tranquility, and when spoken to about plural marriage, may lead people to believe that she is happy, and even her own husband may think that she has become used to it. But women never get used to it, until they have, in great measure, or perhaps entirely, lost their love for their husbands. This was a mistake that my own husband made in respect to me. He realized, I know, as much as the generality of men can ever realize a woman's feelings, that I was suffering intensely, and he tried in every way to make my burden lighter. But, like his brethren, he thought that because he was getting used to it, I was also. I can truly say I never did get used to it, and never could. That was a time of great misery to me, much as I tried to control my feelings. Day by day I strove to hide from my heart even the knowledge of my own unhappiness, and when I could no longer endure, I would lock myself in my room and give vent to the anguish that was consuming me. I realized, however, that this continual conflict of feeling was unfitting me for my duties. Everything was becoming a trial to me. I could not bear to be spoken to. The prattle of my children that had always been so dear to me was now discordant to my feelings, and all their little questionings were irksome. I determined that this should no longer be the case. I would battle with my own heart. I would henceforth devote my whole life, worthless as that life appeared to have become, to the welfare of my little ones. This was a conclusion that hundreds of wretched Mormon wives have arrived at, and when this is the case there is some hope for them. But many give away to despair, and go down brokenhearted to their graves. How much of true affection do the Mormon husbands lose? A man may have a dozen wives, but from them all combined he will not receive as much real love and devotion as he would from one alone, if he made her feel that she had his undivided affection and confidence. How terribly these men deceive themselves! When peace, or rather quiet, reigns in their homes, they think that the Spirit of God is there. But it is not so. It is a calm, not like the gentle silence of sleep, but as the painful stillness of death, the death of the heart's best affection, and all that is worth calling love. All true love has fled, and indifference has taken its place. The very children feel it. What do they, what can they care about their father whom they so seldom see? Of course, as in everything else, there are exceptions to the rule, but I am speaking now of polygamists in general. Some wives afraid of creating a prejudice against themselves, and of being forsaken altogether, deceive their husbands, and make them believe that they are satisfied. It must be admitted that in acting thus these wives are not always actuated by a fear of losing the society or love of their husbands, for in polygamy love dies a natural death. But it is calling to a woman's pride to have it said that she has been cast off for another. Then too, and some women would consider this the most important reason of all, the best provision is usually made for the home where the husband stops most frequently, and the wife, if not for her own sake, at least for her children's, will be anxious to have a well-provided house. This is only natural. The divine plan has always been worked out in a very human way. When a man has several wives, there is, of course, no necessity for him to stay with an unhappy or mope-ish one, as he can always find a more pleasant reception elsewhere. Men who can really believe that women are satisfied and happy under such a system must be entirely ignorant of human nature. And yet I have known many gentlemen from Utah who, when asked how the Mormon women submitted to polygamy have answered, Oh, very well, they are perfectly happy, for they look upon it as a religious duty, and are satisfied and contented with it. How false is all this? What an incorrect idea does it give of the wives of Utah? Some of these very men, to my certain knowledge, know better than this, and have had a very different experience in their own families. I have in my mind a prominent man from Salt Lake City who told a reporter of the New York Herald how happily his wives lived together, while everyone at home knows they could not well be more miserable, for his wives do not wear the mask. I could name many other families in which it is just the same. There is a class of women in Utah who act as a sort of drill sergeants to the other women. These form what is called the female relief society, for they take the lead among the Mormon women, get up memorials to Congress against anti-polygamic bills, and otherwise spend their time in advancing the interests of the celestial order. To the good brethren these ladies are invaluable helpers when they desire to add to the number of their wives. And going from house to house to gather contributions for the society, they have ample opportunities for discovering the feelings of those who are rebellious, and giving a great deal of counsel which frequently produces very painful results. The members of this relief society, even the poorest, are without exception expected to contribute to its funds, if it be only a skein of yarn or a spool of thread. They make their visits fortnightly and gather in contributions with such success that in more than one ward they have been able to build a fine store, have it filled with goods, and have had a surplus in hand, which was duly handed over as a present to Brother Brigham. Brother Brigham is always ready and willing to receive gifts, whether large or small. There was an instance of this which fell under my own observation, and which, though I was still in the church, annoyed me very greatly. An old lady applied to me for sewing, and as I was in need of someone I employed her. She suffered a good deal from asthma, and finally became so bad that it was with the greatest difficulty that she could even walk. She told me frequently that a cup of tea was such a comfort to her, but she would not allow herself that luxury, as she was resolved to put by all that might have cost her for tea and sugar, and other little luxuries, and make a present of the money to Brother Brigham. I learned subsequently that she did save up as much as twenty dollars, which, in the presence of witnesses, she presented to the Prophet, and he actually took it. I was told that in a sermon delivered at Ogden, a short time after, he gave the poor woman great credit for having performed a good deed, and recommended others to go and do likewise. It is difficult to discover how the poor are benefited by the Relief Society, and yet it was ostensibly for their welfare and assistance that the society was called into existence. I know of many instances where poor persons have applied for help, which has been either refused to them, or else has been offered in such a way that it could not be accepted. It must not be supposed that all the Mormon women who belong to the Relief Society are as great admirers of Brother Brigham as the ancient dame of whom I have just spoken. Some belong to it because they cannot help themselves. One of these very sisters once told me that when they got up the ladies petitioned to Mrs. Grant, praying her to use her influence with the President in favor of Mormon husbands practicing polygamy, they did not give themselves the trouble to call upon all the ladies who belonged to the society, but took their names from the books without even obtaining permission first. Another lady told me that when they came to her house to get the signature of herself and daughters, they asked her if she had any dead daughters, as if she had, it was just as proper to sign for them as for the living, for they would be certain to believe in polygamy now that they were in heaven, whatever might have been their condition on earth. This is the way in which elections are conducted, and memorials and petitions are got up in Utah. Moreover, it must not be imagined that those who are most zealous in signing petitions and forcing them upon their sisters are necessarily the greatest believers in the celestial order. No, and not a few of these women are seen some of the worst effects of the system. One of these very ladies told me that she had seen enough of old brigham and polygamy in this world she hoped she would never set eyes upon him in the next, and yet this lady was very highly spoken of for her zeal in getting up the petition in favor of polygamy. These are the women who finding their own happiness wrecked are not satisfied until they have dragged every other woman they meet into the same snare. They appear to have no mercy upon their own sex, and when persuasive words fail to soften the rebellious wife, they will repeat to her that portion of the revelation which says that the wife who refuses consent shall be destroyed, and thus they work upon her fears and her devotion to her religion. It is painful to see women so hopeless themselves that they find a satisfaction in making others equally miserable. An utter disregard to the feelings or happiness of individuals is one of the distinguishing features of Mormonism. Polygamy hardens the hearts of both men and women towards those whom they should love most tenderly. What wonder, then, that the less sacred ties of friendship and common humanity should be disregarded? Do I not furnish you with breadstuffs? The wealthy bishop or apostle has often said to a neglected wife, What more do you want? She had perhaps complained of neglect, but his coarse nature could not comprehend that her soul craved its daily food as much as her body, that a true-hearted wife needs the love and companionship of her husband, and that she ought to feel that he is living for her and for her children just as faithfully as she is living for him. Any idea of mutual obligation between husbands and wives has, I believe, never entered the mind of Brigham Young and the leaders who most nearly imitate him. He himself has forsaken wife after wife, giving them no love, no companionship, nay, scarcely even a thought. They have gone out of his life as completely as if they never possessed the slightest interest in his eyes. He has, however, continued to give them breadstuffs, clothing, and shelter, which he could so well afford, but it was for appearance's sake, and certainly not for love. When a man has more than one wife his affections must of necessity be divided. He really has no home in the truest sense of the word. His houses are simply boarding-places. Should he have all his wives in one house, as is often the case, they are then all slaves to the system, each one is watching the others, and they know it, trying to discover something that can be secretly told to the husband to draw away his affections from the rest. What more miserable position could be imagined? There is, however, no fixed principle regulating Mormon men in the management of their families. Every one is at liberty to do as he thinks best, and scarcely two families are governed alike. When Salt Lake City was first settled, the people had to live as best they could, and a man was glad to get even one roof under which he and all his wives might be sheltered. Now, when the husband is wealthy, he generally provides separate homes for his wives. Some wealthy men, however, still have all their wives and families together. I have in my mind, as I write, a very prominent Mormon, who has half a dozen wives, and he divides his time among them after this fashion. The first week he stays with the first wife, the next week he is with the second, then he goes back to the first. The fourth week he passes with the third wife, and then he returns for another week to the first, and thus he continues to give one week to the first wife and the next to one of the other five in turn, until he has blessed them all with his presence. Now it would, at casual glance, appear that the first wife has by far the largest share of her husband's society. But if the truth must be told, it must be admitted that the husband is not quite so generous as he appears. The last wife of this good man is a young and pretty girl, and she lives with the first wife, and thus his devotion to the latter is rewarded by the presence of the former. Each of the other wives has one week of his society and attentions in every eleven, about five weeks a piece of companionship with their husband in the course of a whole year. Other men with the same number of wives pass constantly between one house and another. They can never be found when wanted, their lives are one eternal round, and they may be said to have no real abiding place. In every settlement in Utah long, low-roofed houses may be seen with a row of doors and windows alternating. Even in Salt Lake City, much as it has changed of late years, such houses may still be found. To every door and window there is of course a wife, and the furniture of her room consists of a bed, three chairs, and a table. Then if the man is a very devout Mormon, and wishes to increase his kingdom by adding another wife to the inhabitants of the long, many-doored house, a wagon-box is so arranged as to form a sleeping apartment for the newcomer, or what is more likely, one of the old wives is put into the wagon-box, and the new one takes her place. A house with two wings is rather a favorite style with those men who to silence their conscience and the priesthood conclude to take just one extra wife and no more. The wives with their children occupy respectively each a wing, and the entrance door opens into a parlor, which serves as a reception room for both families. The husband in this case spends a week on one side of the house, and a week on the other, alternately, and thus by an impartial division of his attentions he preserves peace in his family. A man who is comfortably off can, of course, arrange his domestic affairs so as to avoid as far as possible the inconveniences of the system, but a poor man is forced to submit to circumstances. Many men have entered into polygamy with two, three, and even four wives, all with their children living together under one roof, in one room, in the most disgraceful and barbarous manner. But even for this the leaders were really more to blame than the poor deluded men themselves, for the command to build up the kingdom, build up the kingdom. In other words, take many wives and raise up large families, as has been so constantly and imperatively insisted upon, that good sense and propriety have at last been entirely overlooked. In a very large house, with many wives, there is greater safety and peace for the husband than in a small house with only two wives. When there are only two apartments, the husband, if not in one, is supposed to be in the other, and the neglected wife frequently expresses her opinion of her rival, in the opposite room, in very powerful language. Scenes may be witnessed in such households which are too shocking to disclose. Brigham Young was conscious of this when he said he would stand no more fighting and scratching round him, and yet in the face of all this, he dares to tell the people that this is the order of celestial marriage. With many wives living together in a large house, there are many advantages. The whereabouts of the husband is not so easily discovered, and the unhappy or jealous wife is at a loss to know upon whom to vent her ire. In this account, even men with small means prefer to have three wives instead of two, as each wife, not knowing which of the other two she ought to hate the most, divides her jealousy. It takes, however, a wise man to know how to live in polygamy so to balance all the conflicting interests and obtain a little peace if happiness is out of the question, where the husband is a rich man and has abundant wealth, wherewith to supply the wants of his numerous wives and children, and to furnish all the necessary accommodation that a growing family demands, much of the jealousy and ill-feeling inseparable from polygamy can, to a certain extent, be avoided. But when poor men, as I myself have witnessed, live with several wives and a whole army of children huddled together in a miserable room or two, it is painful and inconvenient in the extreme, and yet such is frequently the case. I know one man, otherwise very respectable, who lives with three wives and eleven children in two wretched rooms no better than a stable, and they think that in this they are pleasing God. Some men have entered into polygamy so poor and unprovided for that their dwelling consisted of just one sitting-room and one sleeping apartment, for the two wives together with the husband, and it is quite a common thing to see two or even three wives living together in one very small house. A family was pointed out to me, which consisted of two wives, one son about sixteen years of age, a daughter of fifteen, and numerous other younger children, and all lived together in two small rooms and a shed. It would be quite impossible with any regard to propriety to relate all the horrible results of this disgraceful system. It has debased the minds and degraded the lives of good and honest men and women, while those who naturally had a tendency towards evil have become a hundred times worse. Marriages have been contracted between the nearest relatives, and old men tottering on the brink of the grave have been united to little girls scarcely in their teens. While unnatural alliances of every description which in any other community would be regarded with disgust and abhorrence, are here entered into in the name of God, and under the sanction of a revelation supposed to proceed from the pure and holy Saviour. I was much shocked and disgusted when I first went to Utah to find a man whom under other circumstances I had known in London, living with two sisters whom he married in the manner I have just described. And strange as it may appear it was not with them a matter of necessity. When I knew the husband in Europe I considered him a man of education and refinement, but I certainly was mistaken, for no man whose nature was at all sensitive would have lived as he did. His wives, too, had been considered highly respectable English girls, or not ashamed of their degraded position. They professed to believe in bringing the world back to its primitive purity and innocence. It is quite a common thing in Utah for a man to marry two and even three sisters. I was well acquainted with one man who married his half-sister, and I know several who have married mother and daughter. I know also another man who married a widow with several children, and when one of the girls had grown into her teens he insisted on marrying her also. Having first by some means won her affections. The mother, however, was much opposed to this marriage and finally gave up her husband entirely to her daughter. And to this very day the daughter bears children to her stepfather, living as a wife in the same house with her mother. In another instance a well-known man in Salt Lake City, who has several wives and married daughters, married a young girl of fifteen years of age whom his wife had adopted and brought up as her own. Men who do such things as these have no excuse in their religion. It is pretended that the Mormon prophet received a revelation sanctioning polygamy. But no one ever supposed that it was therefore necessary for persons so near akin in blood to marry. When such disgraceful alliances had taken place they have been the result of the brutal passions of men and cannot be charged directly to their religion. Their religion is to blame for debasing their minds and destroying in them those pure feelings which would have rebelled against these shameful marriages. But their religion only enjoined them to marry many wives. It never taught them to select those wives from their own households. The women in polygamy as might be expected have all along had to bear the heaviest part of the burden. It is painful to see how some of them will strive to maintain a hold upon their husband's affections. They may perhaps feel bitterly their lonely and neglected position and they may detest the system. But they try nevertheless to make their homes as pleasant and attractive as possible. Some do this for one reason some for another. But in most instances the chief motive is a desire to draw away the husband from the other wives. Not that they particularly wish for his company or his love but they like to show their power over him. I know some of these Mormon men whose wives manage them in this way. They think not a little of themselves and believe that they are indeed the lords of creation and can have everything their own way. While all the time they are perfect objects of ridicule to everyone who knows them on account of the way they are managed by their wives. Such men fancy that they govern absolutely in their households and with head erect they will boastfully say to their neighbors, See how I manage my women. Little thinking that it is the women who are managing them. Other good women make their homes pleasant from a sincere desire that their husbands should be happy and will study the most rigid economy while living alone so as to save out their frequently poor allowance sufficient to entertain the husband well when it comes to their turn to receive a visit from him. Many a woman has thus earned the flattering opinion of her husband for economy and it has very materially strengthened her influence over him. I knew a lady who by a little management of this sort so pleased her spouse that he placed her at the head of his household and the other wives had to go to her for everything. This was all the glory she had ever dreamed of or desired. Women of years and experience act thus, but young and thoughtless wives frequently try an opposite experiment and when their husbands come to see them they are always poor, always needy, they never have enough of anything. This attempt to excite sympathy is seldom or never so successful as the other plan. The pleasant home and smiling welcome are more attractive to the Mormon husband than the complaints of a dissatisfied wife. Many a good saint, although of course he would scorn to acknowledge it, is well known to make his principal home with the wife who is the best cook, not withstanding that affection may not run in the same direction. But when the wife who sets the best table is also the wife best beloved, the husband is a happy man indeed. Quite a number of the leading Mormons have wives in the various settlements and this is very convenient to them if they have to travel much. If the wives are old and experienced as wives who are sent into the country generally are, they can look after and manage a farm. And if they have growing boys, the farm can be worked upon a very economical plan. The younger wives in the city can be supplied from them with all the butter, cheese, vegetables and so forth that they require. It takes considerable shrewdness to manage women in such a way as to turn all their abilities to good account and to make them profitable. American men I have always found were most successful in this experiment. The English, as a general rule, are not smart enough, though I have known instances where smart Englishmen with several wives have so arranged as to live entirely without working themselves. They managed matters to perfection, getting all the labor that was possible out of those unhappy women, and in return breaking their hearts with unkindness and neglect. Mormon men say, do not gentiles do just as bad? No, they do not. There are bad men everywhere and as everyone knows there are among the gentiles men whose cruelty to their wives could not be surpassed. But those men do not attempt to hide their sins under the mantle of religion. They do not crucify their wives in the name of God. Bad men among the gentiles support a woman, whether wife or not, so long as they care anything about her. And do the Mormon men do anything more? Hundreds of discarded wives in Utah could bear me witness that when they grew old or their husbands grew tired of them they tossed them off quite as ruthlessly and with as little compunction as any unprincipled gentile man ever discarded a mistress who no longer had any place in his affections. In one respect certainly the Mormon men bear off the palm for cruelty, for they add insult to injury. The sins of wicked gentiles are hidden from their wives, but the Mormon men flaunt their sins in their wives' faces, and in the faces of their grown-up sons and daughters, and style their iniquity the celestial order of heaven. Let me ask the good brethren who read this to act for once impartially and try to put themselves in a woman's place, and let me for their benefit draw a little picture for them to contemplate. It is evening, and the family are all assembled in their pleasant home, a home made happy by the kind and thoughtful care of a loving father. Peace and tranquility dwell in every heart, and the father is happy in being surrounded by his children, to whom he is fondly attached. He listens to the prattle of the little ones or the music and songs of the elder children, and for a time he is forgetful of everything save the happiness of the hour. Suddenly his wife, the mother of his children, whom he dearly loves, rises from her seat beside the fire and retires to her own apartment. There she arranges her toilet with irreproachable care, sees that every strained curl is in its place, and gives every touch to her appearance, which she thinks is likely to render her attractive in the eyes of a man. She now descends the stairs, ready to leave the home of this, her first husband, for she is going to see her second husband, or some young man to whom she has taken a fancy, and who she thinks would be suitable for a third. She kisses her children good-bye, and is about to take an affectionate farewell of their father, when she suddenly discovers that he is not looking happy. What is the matter now, she says? Is not your home a pleasant one? Have I not taken pains to train your children in a proper manner? And have I not remained an hour longer than usual with you? What folly it is for you to be moping in this way! This is not the way to live our religion if we expect to get the blessing of God. You know very well it is very painful for me to leave you and my children, but we must be obedient to the commands of God, and I owe attentions to my other husband as well as to you. Can any man be supposed who would for a moment endure such an outrage upon decency and common sense, such a violation of all that is sacred in the human heart? And yet this is only reversing the case. And just as any Mormon man can suppose he would feel if the wife he loved were to act in the way I have described, so do Mormon wives feel, only as much more acutely, as women are more sensitive in their affections than men. I remember painfully the bitterness of soul which I experienced when there was only one wife besides myself, and thousands of women in Utah could bear witness, if they would, to the hopeless misery which the system causes, and the desolate void which it creates in the heart of every thoughtful and affectionate wife. END OF CHAPTER XXXIII CHAPTER XXXIV of Tell It All by Fanny Stenhouse. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Lights and shadows of polygamy, marriage and baptism for the dead. My life was now one continued series of deceptions, as was also that of my husband, and we began habitually to wear the mask when in each other's presence. It cannot be otherwise in polygamy. To avoid wounding the feelings of the first wife, the husband, if he cares for her, affects an indifference for the second wife, which he really does not feel. And the first wife is not deceived by it, for she knows he is only acting apart, and that as soon as her eyes are off him, he will be transformed into the most ardent lover. If affectionate before, and demonstrative in his love towards his wife and children, he has to suppress it all now, lest he should arouse jealousy in the heart of the other wife, and be thought partial. He can never now manifest a husband's or a father's love, hence his own nature becomes cramped, and the affections of his heart are dwarfed. His children grow up ignorant of what he really is, and although he is living in the same house with them, it might truthfully be said that they do not know what it is to have a father. Consequently their love for him is very limited, and they know nothing of those spontaneous effusions of tenderness which link the heart of the child to its parent, and themselves in their own experience ignorant of that domestic happiness in which childhood is the charm of home, and in fact never knowing what a home should be, when they in their turn marry, and have children of their own, they set up another of those cold and soulless homes with which polygamy is cursed. But let me lift the curtain and give an illustration from the family of Brigham Young himself. In that family I have seen the practical working of the plural wife system exemplified under its most favorable aspect. I have conversed with Brigham's wife as a sister in the same faith, and I know how they feel, but I am compelled to confess that notwithstanding all the order and system which characterizes the Prophet's household, and the fact that his wives are, on account of his great wealth, free from the troubles and inconveniences entailed by polygamy in poverty, and although they are taken collectively as amiable and good women as any in Utah, their lives are unhappy, and they themselves are miserable. They have never known the meaning of domestic happiness, and though to the casual observer they may appear contented with their lot, secretly they mourn over the constant struggle in their hearts between the system and their own womanly nature. Even the most favorite of them lead cold mechanical lives, joy and affection they have never known. Many of them have been cast off for years, and all are neglected except the favorite of the hour. The Mormon leaders teach that a woman's exaltation in heaven depends upon the number of her children, and yet Brigham has wives who might be mothers of large families, but whom he has neglected for years. They are called the wives of Brigham Young, and they live under the same roof with him, but they have no real husband, and their children no father in the dear sense of that word as ordinary Christians understand it. They know nothing of the sweet familiarity, the loving interchange of thought and feeling which belongs to true married life. Once a day they are honored by the presence of their Lord and Master at their table, and this privilege is, of course, only enjoyed by those who live in the same house with him. Those who live in other houses very seldom see him more frequently than once in two or three months. They bask in the sunshine of his presence for about half an hour in the evening when the family assembles in the lion house for prayer. But in the theater, the tabernacle and the ballroom, the majority of them only see and worship him at a distance. They are but pensioners upon his bounty. All their individuality is destroyed, and they are completely lost in him. They have no position in society. He is the only person ever seen or talked of. People in Salt Lake City neither know nor care any more about Mrs. Young the First or the Nineteenth than they do about the wives of any other saint. In their home life they have to bear all the bitterness and heart-burnings which, patient, pious women as they are, the silly and licentious favoritism of their husband for the last new wife, whoever she may be, always produces. I think that no man in Utah so recklessly wounds the feelings of his wives in this respect, or acts as if he thought it was a woman's duty to crush every feeling and bring herself to submit without a question to her husband's will, as does Brigham Young. And yet his wives, whose withered and blighted existence is a reproach to humanity, are very good specimens of what the celestial order of matrimony can produce. What, under less favorable conditions, polygamy is, I leave the reader to imagine. Let us look at the family life in some of the country settlements where the husband, without any order or system in his nature, and without the means or even the idea of providing for the comfort of his family, is seeking in his coarse way to imitate Brother Brigham, and to work out his own idea of celestial marriage. There we shall find the same repression of all womanly feeling, the absence of any sanctifying or refining influence, while at the same time the hard lot of wives is unreleaved by even the solitary recreations and personal comforts of Brigham Young's wives. This is the condition of many a poor, weary wife in Utah. These are the women who Brigham Young has said should be damned if they murmured or rebelled. What hope is there for them or for their children, between the two extremes, polygamy as it exists in the Prophet's household, and as it is in the homes of poor Mormons in the settlements? The celestial order of marriage can be found under all conceivable circumstances of poverty and wealth, ignorance and culture. It had been told us frequently and emphatically that the privilege of polygamy was reserved for those who had demonstrated their purity by a life of goodness, and the idea that it was denied to the wicked and licentious was very reassuring to the minds of many. But we soon discovered that if only a man was obedient to the priesthood his moral character had little or nothing to do with his obtaining more wives. Assassins and inebrates like Porter Rockwell and even murderers like Bill Hickman and John D. Lee and other wretches had as many wives and even more than some of the best men in the community. It is, I believe, true that John D. Lee had several wives sealed to him after it was known that he had taken such an atrocious part in the mountain Meadows massacre. It is a fact that polygamy among the Mormons has been entered into by people of every kind under all circumstances and from every conceivable motive, from the basest to the purest. But its effect has invariably been to develop the weaker side of human nature. At the same time, like other institutions which, for religious purposes, have suppressed true manly and womanly instincts, it has in exceptional cases produced much that was noble and generous. Many faithful first wives, seeing in the practice of the celestial order the prospective glory of their husbands, have borne the heavy burden of life patiently and uncomplaningly and even, while daily suffering, that which was worse than death, have sought to be kind and loving to those very women who, under a false belief, have invaded the sanctuary of their rights and stolen from them that which they held most dear. Many faithful first wives, seeing in the practice of the celestial order of the prospective glory of their husbands, have borne the heavy burden of life patiently and uncomplaningly and even, while daily suffering, that which was worse than death, have sought to be kind and loving to those very women who, under a false belief, have invaded the sanctuary of their rights and stolen from them that which they held most dear. While I know of very many polygamic wives who have sacrificed themselves continually, receiving the most meager show of love and attention, hoping and striving to harmonize matters, on the other hand I could tell of many first wives who have urged their husbands into polygamy merely that the plural wives might become the household drudges, while they themselves took their ease and pleasure. Then again there are polygamic wives who have taken the power into their own hands, grasping every comfort and monopolizing every attention, while the first wife pined away unnoticed and crushed with domestic cares. With men, too, there was the same variety. Some have delayed entering into polygamy for years, and then they have taken every precaution to avoid giving pain to their first wives, while others, on the contrary, have been perfectly indifferent as to what pain they caused to their wives, relentlessly trampling under their feet every sentiment of delicacy and affection. In my own case my husband did all he could despair my feelings as much as possible. But it was nevertheless a hard task for me to subdue my own heart, and I found that all that I had anticipated in imagination was nothing compared with the realization. Feelings of degradation, disgust, and humiliation filled my heart constantly and without ceasing. From the day of my husband's second marriage I could never look upon him with pleasure. He was no longer my husband, and I now felt no desire to confide in him. Even the very sight of him filled my rebellious soul with the bitterest feelings, although at the same time I knew and felt that he tried in every way to smooth my rugged pathway. Strange as it may first appear, had it been otherwise my burden would have been lighter, for if he had treated me with cruelty and neglect, I should have withdrawn all affection from him, and would have cast him out of my heart for ever. It is a painful thing for a wife to think thus of the father of her children. It may have been wrong, perhaps, but I confess that for my husband's intended bride I felt such a detestation that I could not endure her presence, although I knew that she was not to blame. I believed that I should not have felt it so much if she had been a little older. But to have a mere child placed on a level with me, and to be compelled to treat her with all the respect due to a wife, was so terribly humiliating to me that at times I thought that I could not endure it another day. She, of course, expected to be treated with all the consideration which is proper to a wife, and to be consulted in everything by my husband as a wife should be. She was not, however, competent to undertake any household chores or wively cares, and was herself an additional responsibility to me. Young and inexperienced as she was, she had everything to learn. But, at the same time, she stood so much upon her dignity that it was anything but a pleasant task to teach her. It, of course, devolved upon me to instruct her in everything, and I found it anything but a congenial task. I soon began to look upon her simply as a border, and expected nothing more from her than I should if she really had been such. She took very kindly to this position, and would spend her days in her own room, reading and otherwise amusing herself, and, of course, was always pleasant and well-dressed to receive her husband. But this did not suit me. In fact, I do not know what would have suited me at that time, for I was disposed to be displeased with everything. And yet a visitor to our house would, I have no doubt, have said how very pleasantly these two wives get along together. This has been said of scores of women in Utah by casual observers, Gentiles who thought they understood the system. How little do they know the aching void and the bitter hatred which exists in the hearts of those wives, the detestation which they have of one another. How little can they know when everything is so carefully hidden, even from their husbands. It is a shameful thing that women, faithful wives and mothers, should be placed in such a position. How many times during the day have I been compelled to leave everything and rush to my chamber, and there on my bended knees, supplicate for strength to endure, thinking all the time that, God had given us a burden greater than we could bear. Then in the evening when we were assembled together in our cozy parlor, as we were want to be, all traces that remained of the terrible struggle which I had endured were a sad countenance, and perhaps the deepening lines upon my brow, which contrasted unpleasantly with a bright and cheerful face of the young wife, and made my husband feel that I was getting very sour in my disposition, as indeed was probably the case. I was totally ashamed of these thoughts at times, and felt that it was very wrong of me to feel so unkindly towards this young girl, whose only offence against me was that she had acted up to the religious teachings that had been instilled into her mind from infancy. I reminded myself that for ought I knew, my own dear child might be placed in a similar position, and then how should I feel? How prophetic this fear proved eventually the reader will presently see. Such thoughts as these would soften my heart towards the younger wife, and although she probably never dreamed that I felt so unkindly towards her, yet to silence my conscience I would strive in every possible way to show her some kind attention. I could but feel and know that she was a good but inexperienced girl, and I am bound to say that both she and my husband tried to conduct themselves in such a way as to give me as little offence as possible. Situated as I was, however, nothing escaped my observation, and I felt most keenly. Had I been treated with the cruelty and neglect, which has fallen to the lot of so many unfortunate women in Utah, I should probably have been in my grave today, or in that asylum which has been provided by the church. Situated on a lonely hill at a sufficient distance from the city, so that the cries of the unhappy, ill-treated, insane women should not be heard. Things and actions which at another time I should have considered too trifling to notice, had now a painful significance to me. On one occasion, not long after the wedding, my husband asked me to take a walk with him, and I consented. Among the Mormons it is accustomed to take their wives out together very frequently. Their object, I presume, is to display the jewels in their crowns before the eyes of their less fortunate brethren. I had resolved that I would never submit to this. If my husband would not take me out alone, I would stay at home. On the occasion I mention when I came out of my room ready dressed, I found him and his wife, Belinda, waiting and chatting pleasantly together, and looking unutterable love at each other. At least so I thought, and I felt greatly insulted and annoyed, and told them that I did not wish to go. I carefully avoided showing any outbursts of temper before the young lady which I thought would be undignified, for I desired at least that she should respect me, though I did not want her love. If I had expected that they would urge me to accompany them, I should have been greatly mistaken, for my refusal appeared to be just what they wanted. They tripped off together as light-hearted and happy as children, while I remained rooted to the spot, tearing my pocket handkerchief to pieces and wishing I could do the same with them. I used to sometimes wonder whether it would be the same in the Mormon heaven, where this celestial order of marriage is expected to be carried out in all its fullness, and I felt troubled for myself. These dreadful feelings would, I believed, be the ruin of my soul, and I thought it was impossible for me to obtain salvation until I had entirely subdued them, and that I had not the power yet to do. I had, however, so concealed what I felt that my husband believed that I was becoming used to this new life, which I am happy to say I never did. Sometimes I felt that it was useless for me to fight against the will of heaven, if this indeed was a divine law, and as yet I dared not take upon myself to say it was not, although in my secret heart I had at last begun sometimes to question in earnest. My poor, benighted soul was looking anxiously at that time for a ray of light to guide my faltering footsteps. I did not wholly believe, but I dared not rebel, for fear of drawing down the wrath of an offended God upon my innocent children and upon my husband, who I was firmly convinced was actuated by a sincere desire to do the will of heaven. There were, however, sometimes little things which did not quite harmonize in my mind. I remember once saying to my husband, when he was telling me that nothing but a firm belief in the divinity of the revelation would induce him to take another wife, and that he would do so from principle alone, that I thought, if that were the case, an older and more plain looking woman would do quite as well, and that he could dispense with so much courting. You are compelled to wear dresses, he replied, but you do not allow those dresses to occupy all your thoughts. Nevertheless, you take some pleasure in selecting them, and you desire that they should be pretty and look well. So it is with men seeking wives. This mode of putting the case was, I have no doubt very convincing to my husband's mind, and at the moment I could not answer him. But calmer thought would have told me that while wearing and choosing dresses was by every right-minded person considered perfectly legitimate, taking other wives was by no means regarded in that light. The wrong was not so much in the way the thing was done, as in the doing it at all, and under any circumstances. Logically speaking the argument was good enough, but the premises were utterly unsound. Day after day my rebellious soul was agitated by the same troubled feelings. There was no rest for me, nothing upon which I could stay my mind. My husband was painfully aware that there was a coldness and restraint existing between his young wife and myself, and I know that he was grieved by it, for he had tried in every way to create a friendly feeling between us. I felt, however, that it was utterly impossible that I could ever be affectionate towards his other wife, much as I might strive. I would do my duty, but I could not love her, or in fact him either, for that matter, when he was associated with her. I regret to be obliged to confess such a truth, but from that time, and as long as I remained a Mormon, the sentiment that was uppermost in my mind was an utter detestation of the whole system. I despised myself for being the abject slave that I was. Why could I not have the moral courage to set everything at defiance, revelation and all, and free myself from the bondage that enthralled me? I know this day scores of women in Utah who think and feel exactly as I did then, who suffer wrongs against which their hearts daily and hourly rebel, but who, like me, dread to cast aside the yoke of the oppressor. At that time, in respect to pecuniary matters, we were very comfortably off. Almost immediately after our arrival in Utah, Mr. Stenhouse had found employment on the staff of the Deseret News. Before long he obtained his appointment of Postmaster for Salt Lake City, and before his marriage with Ms. Pratt, he had started the Telegraph, the first daily paper that was ever published in Utah. From the beginning it had been remarkably successful, for Brigham had counseled the people to sustain it, knowing very well that he himself would in return be supported by my husband. Brigham had no more devoted follower than Mr. Stenhouse was then, for the scales had not yet fallen from his eyes, and he believed the prophet really was what he claimed to be, a faithful servant of God. True, we had frequently talked together of his very mean actions, but my too generous, or perhaps too credulous husband, had attributed all that to the weakness of his human nature, and would not believe that it affected his priesthood. He therefore sustained him strongly and consistently before the public. Not for gain, for he had given too many instances of his devotion to be suspected of that. But I may say from pure attachment, for I know too well that at that time he was almost ready to lay down his life for the sake of his religion. The telegraph soon became the leading journal in Utah, and in a little while we were surrounded by every comfort and luxury which at that time could be procured in Salt Lake City. No family in the territory was better provided for than was ours, not accepting Brigham Young's. I had always believed that if my husband were left alone, untrammeled by the church, to make his own way, he would do so successfully. In this I was not mistaken. We now owned a fine dwelling house, a valuable city lot and house where the paper was printed, and also another very desirable lot near to Brigham Young's residence. This last lot was my own. It was very beautifully situated, and we expended it upon upwards of three thousand dollars. Everything that my husband undertook at that time seemed to prosper, not accepting his love affairs. Just then a great deal was whispered privately about certain murders which had been committed, all knowledge of which was strenuously denied by the authorities. When any case was so notorious that it could not possibly be altogether hushed up, we were told that the murdered persons were dangerous people, and had been killed in self-defense by those whom they in the first instance had attacked. My husband, like hundreds of others, was never in the confidence of the church authorities in these matters. He believed firmly in the divine mission of Joseph Smith, and shut his eyes to the actions of Brigham Young, thinking that he alone would be responsible to the Lord for his misdeeds. When I drew his attention to the inconsistency of Brigham's conduct, as on more than one occasion I did, he said we had enough to do to look at home and see that we ourselves did what was right. This, of course, was true, but I thought nevertheless that a little more consistency on Brigham's part would not be a mess. I recollect a gentleman named Cook for whose memory I entertained the most sincere respect, wishing my husband to take a contract to furnish grain for the Overland Mail Company, and how he urged him to do so for the benefit of his family. Not long before that, however, Brigham had denounced in the Tabernacle all those who took contracts or who had any dealings with the Gentiles in any way whatsoever. One merchant in particular he singled out, and before the whole congregation showered upon him all his wrath, going so far as to call him a thief and saying that he would apostatize and go to hell. Yet Brigham today is associated in business with that same man. Another gentleman, a Mr. Street, who constructed the first telegraph line from California to Salt Lake City, acted a very friendly part towards my husband and wished to advance his interests. He one day came to me and said, Mrs. Stenhouse, let me beg of you to use all your influence with your husband, and, if necessary, even insist upon his taking this contract which I have offered him. He is doing wrong to his family for refusing, for he would make twenty thousand dollars with very little trouble. I have urged him until I am tired, and unless you insist he will refuse from fear of doing wrong, after all that Brigham Young has said upon that subject, though I told him that Brigham would take it himself and jump at it if I were to offer it to him. I had urged my husband before, and I felt certain that he would not listen to my counsel. The contract was offered to Brigham Young, and he did jump at it, and made his thousands out of it. Even at that time I could not see why it would be a sin for my husband to make the money any more than for Brigham to do so. But this inconsistency was observable in everything. Many of the farmer's wives have frequently told me that their husbands had been called to account severely for taking their provisions to Camp Douglas to sell to the Gentiles, while at the same time they had seen many of Brigham's own teams there with produce. I felt at my duty to keep such things always before my husband's eyes. But he was what is vulgarly called a hard-shelled Mormon, and it took a great many raps to crack that shell and let in a little light. He, of course, would deny this, but wives, I think, are not generally mistaken in such matters. I never neglected any opportunity, and when once I perceived the slightest signs of weakness I went to work with the well until I got him to admit frankly that he was dissatisfied with many things. But for all that he still held to the belief that Mormonism was true whatever Brigham might be. To get him to admit that Brigham was not right was a great deal, and it gave me hope for the future. I tried hard to enlighten his understanding, but made very little progress. The difficulty, I believe, was that Mormonism possesses charms for the men that it never has for the women. I firmly believed that they willingly closed their eyes to that which it does not suit them to see. However that may be, notwithstanding all my efforts, my husband still continued to sustain Brigham, and worse still, before long he began to evince an earnest desire to sustain one of Brigham's daughters also, of which I shall say more presently. My talkative friend called one day to speak of a very serious subject. I have come, Sister Stenhouse, she said, to talk to you about a matter of great importance, but I don't want to offend you and you must promise beforehand to forgive me. I readily promised, and she added, I thought I should find you very unhappy, Sister Stenhouse, about poor dear Cary Grant, and I think if you are so you deserve it. But I don't like you to be miserable, and so I came to comfort you. But, Sister Anne, I said, I don't want to be comforted in the way you seem to mean. I have been very sad indeed at losing Cary, but you know I did everything I could for her, poor girl, and I have nothing to blame myself for. Nothing to blame yourself for? she exclaimed. Why, Sister Stenhouse, you have everything to blame yourself for. If poor Cary has less glory, it is all your fault. How so, I said. Why, she answered, if you had not held back and expressed your dislike, Cary would have married your husband and would most likely have been alive now. She would have had her family and would have added to your husband's glory. While now, although she is your husband's wife, she has no children, and of course must have less glory in the kingdom. Well, Sister Anne, I said, I never thought of it in that light. I loved Cary very much, and I tried to make her love me. It was not until almost the last that I knew of her love for my husband. But if I had known before, I am sure my own heart would have rebelled against my husband taking another wife. I did, however, ask him to marry her, and after she was dead, I was married to him for her. That's all very well, Sister Stenhouse, she replied. But for all that I think you have committed a great wrong against that poor orphan girl. You ought to be thankful that at last you were able to repair a little of the mischief which you did. I don't want to vex you, but I am really sorry that you had such an antipathy to your husband having Cary. However, I suppose now he has really got another wife you are not so much set against polygamy. You must find it quite a blessing to have Miss Pratt. I beg pardon, I mean Mrs. Stenhouse, number two, with you now. I did not answer her, for I had my own opinion about the matter. She went on without hesitation. Well, you must not be vexed with me, dear, I say it all for your good, you know, but I do wish you felt a little more as I do about these matters. Why do you know I have been trying to show you my faith and seal in every possible way ever since we came to Utah? It was only last week I was baptized for Queen Anne. Queen Anne, I exclaimed. What can you possibly mean? Exactly what I say, Sister Stenhouse, I was baptized for Queen Anne, and if you like I'll tell you all about it. It is only just what everyone else has been doing only they were baptized for other people. I don't think you've ever thought much of this and so I'll explain myself. You see, Sister Stenhouse, the elders teach us that the whole world is lying in darkness and sin, and has been so ever since the apostolic gifts were lost ages ago. Now there is no salvation outside the church, and you may remember that Christ himself went and preached to the miserable souls in paradise. In paradise, I said. Why, I thought that was a happy place. Oh no, Sister Stenhouse, she said. Not very happy. The souls of those who have not heard the gospel and have not been baptized go there, and it's a sort of prison for them until they are brought out again through the kindness of some believer. The thief on the cross went there and Christ went there and preached to the spirits in prison, and when the elders die they go on mission to paradise and preach to them also. All your people and my people, our fathers and mothers and grandfathers and so on, right up to the apostolic times, are waiting in paradise with millions and millions of souls to be released and be admitted into the celestial kingdom. All the good brethren and sisters have been doing their best to get out their relations and friends, and I know many of them who have sent over to England and have spent large sums of money in tracing their pedigrees and genealogies in order to find out the right names, and to be baptized as proxies for the dead who owned those names. I have been baptized for a good many of my own relations, and I mean to be baptized for scores more, and many of the brethren too have been married as proxies for their own friends and for distinguished people besides, so that they might be admitted into the celestial kingdom and raise up patriarchal families of their own. The poor souls, if they were released from paradise by a proxy baptism, could not of course have been married in heaven as there is no giving in marriage there, so someone was married for them as proxy to someone else, and now they can begin to establish their own celestial kingdoms. And have you been proxy in this way, sister Anne? I asked. No, and yes, she replied. I haven't yet been proxy in marriage for anyone, but I was proxy in baptism. When we were children I remember we used to have some rhymes about Queen Anne, and as it was my own name I always thought a great deal of her. It seemed to me that it would be very nice and at the same time very charitable if I were to help her out of paradise, and it quite struck my fancy, for it was no small thing to have a real Queen thankful to you for so much. So I went and was baptized for her, and now she is out of paradise and has entered the celestial kingdom. But that isn't all. There was my old friend, George Wilford, who heard all about the matter, for I see him frequently, and he at once said that he would be baptized for Prince George of Denmark, Queen Anne's husband, and he means to do so, and after that we'll be married by proxy for them here on earth, and then they'll both be happy. Why, sister Anne, what a droll idea, I said. Sister Stenhouse. She replied quite seriously. It's very wrong of you to talk so. Some of the best saints have stood proxy in this way. There was one lady who stood proxy for the Empress Josephine, and her son stood for Napoleon, and someone else for Washington. Queen Elizabeth too has been baptized by proxy. And now Napoleon and Washington are both Mormon elders, and I suppose someone will be married for Queen Elizabeth, and she'll enter into polygamy. Do you know, sister Stenhouse, there was one brother who out of pure kindness said he would be baptized for the thief on the cross, for he supposed that no one else would take pity on him, and a sister who was present said she would be baptized for his wife, if Brother Brigham thought he ever had one. I've been persuading my Henry to be baptized for Henry VIII, for I'm sure he needed baptism for the remission of sins, and he, I mean my Henry, has promised to do so. But he says that he means to ask Brother Brigham first before he is married for him, if he ever is. As King Henry was almost a polygamist in his way, and my husband thinks there is not much need to be married for him at all. I can't help being amused, I said. Of course I have often heard of being baptized for the dead, and I know the elders say that St. Paul spoke of it in one of his epistles, but I never thought of it in that light. I always thought that we should have to wait till the temple was finished. That's true, Sister Stenhouse, she replied. All the marriages of the saints, of every one in fact on the face of the earth, ought to be solemnized in the temple here in Salt Lake City, and every one ought to receive their endowments in it. But, as it is not yet finished, the Lord permits us to be married and everything else in the endowment house. But you know yourself that there's a record kept, and that when the temple is finished, the ceremony will be all gone through with again. I've heard it said that many of the elders and their wives will live there, and that day and night perpetually the ceremonies will be going on. You ought to be baptized, however, now, for as many relations as you can think of. I think I shall wait, Sister Anne, I said, until I can find a queen fanny, and then I'll be baptized for her. She did not like me saying this for she evidently thought I was jesting. I was not jesting, however, but I felt greatly amused for this peculiar doctrine of the saints had never struck me in such an odd light before. Sister Anne was shocked at the way in which I viewed her strange stories. But I'll come again in the course of a day or two, Sister Stenhouse, she said, and put you all straight. The more I saw of the practical working of the system in Utah, the more did I learn to detest polygamy. For although I hesitated to reject Mormonism altogether, I could not for a moment believe that many things of which I heard, and many which came beneath my own observation, could under any circumstances be considered right. About that time I made the acquaintance of a sister whom I shall call Mrs. W. Her husband was on a mission, and had left his family without any suitable provision. She herself was a remarkably neat and ladylike woman, but she appeared to be delicate in health and spoke with so much languor and despondency that directly I saw her I was led to suspect that her house was also haunted by that specter polygamy. She complained of poverty and told me that her courage was ready failing, for after she had striven so hard to provide a home for her children, her husband had taken a young wife who seemed to think she had as much right in the sister's house as the sister had herself. She does not assist in the least towards getting a living, she said, and we have been left entirely unprovided for, as the church takes no care of the missionary's wives. What is the use of slaving as I do to prolong such a life as mine? My husband is coming home soon, and he is sure to bring one or two girls with him, they all do so. During our conversation she told me that some of the dignitaries of the church had intimated to her that several wives of missionaries who were obliged to be absent for several years had duties to perform which ought not to be neglected. It devolved upon them to see that their husband's kingdom did not suffer during their absence, and that if she herself were more complying in this respect her pathway would be rendered smoother. I had heard it hinted before that such abominable suggestions had been thrown out, but this was the first time I had met with any one to whom they personally had been made. There are bad men in every community, and the saints are no exception. It is but fair to state that the great mass of the Mormon people would be as truly horrified at such doctrines and practices as any Gentile man or woman could be. The constant anxiety of this lady of whom I have been speaking was such that she often threatened to poison herself, and thus put an end to her misery. Her husband began to pay his addresses to a young English girl who came in with the hand-cards, and he made as great a simpleton of himself as it is possible for a man to do when he is in love. He was scarcely ever home, and often of an evening the wife would see the young girl walking towards the house, waiting for her, the wife's, husband, and on two occasions the girl threw a little stone at the window to indicate she was there. The poor wife never dared say a word against polygamy in the presence of her husband. When she felt so utterly miserable that she could no longer contain herself, and ventured a word of remonstrance at his cruel neglect of her and her five little ones, he would tell her, quoting the brutal language of Brother Brigham, that she had had her day, and that it was nothing but right that his future wife should now have some attentions paid her. She must round up her shoulders and submit to the cross which we all have to bear. One day he brought the young girl home to tea without saying a single word previously to his wife about it, and it was as much as she could do to be civil to the girl. She mastered her feelings, however, sufficiently to treat her properly, but during the evening she had her temper tried to the uttermost. Her husband sat all the time beside the girl, talking in an undertone, and toying with her curls. At last the wife's feelings were worked up beyond endurance, and she told her husband that if he did not instantly desist she would leave the house. You can go when you please, he said. There are plenty more women in the world, I guess. I suppose you are jealous that you are not getting the same attention yourself. Then he turned to the girl and said, Come, let us take a walk. The old woman is full of the devil. She will get better after a while. To say nothing of the man himself, what can be thought of a girl who would marry a man who treated his wife in this manner in her presence? And yet many Mormon girls think that such men have simply been unfortunate in their first choice of a wife, and will never treat them so. This was another home, the happiness of which I saw wrecked. In England that poor wife had been gay and happy, and her husband was as faithful and attentive to her as a husband should be. Now, utterly heartbroken, without any interest in this world, and without hope for that which is to come, she was going to her grave, forsaken by a man and, as she poor woman also thought, forsaken by her God. Often at parties and at picnics, I met with unhappy wives who unfolded their griefs to me, and some of the things which they related were of a very painful nature. There were instances of downright brutality and cruelty which could not admit of repetition. There were also hundreds of cases in which wives suffered not so much by any one particular act of wrong as by innumerable daily and hourly trials which came upon them at all times, and made existence itself a curse to them. I remember once at a picnic party, meeting with several first wives whom I had known before I came to Utah, and the stories which they told me were really shocking. At those parties which of course were intended for pleasure and amusement, there was much that was painful in the conversation of the women among themselves, but which would never have been noticed by a stranger. Picnics are generally understood to be held in the open air and in the country, but we used to call the ward parties which were held in the social hall by that name. The social hall was built for this and similar purposes, and was provided with the kitchen and other necessary offices for the preparation of suppers and other refreshments. It was in this building that plays were acted before the theatre was erected. The picnic parties are quite an institution, rich and poor, young and old, babies and all, assembled at them to have a good time. They take their own picnic with them, set their own tables, make their own tea and coffee, and nurse their own babies. On the occasion to which I allude we went rather early, and thus I had an opportunity of watching the arrivals. Some of them presented a very amusing appearance. There was the bishop of the ward and all his wives. Two of his boys went in front of him carrying a very large clothes-basket, full of picnic as the eatables were called. Then, straggling after him, came four women and a bevy of noisy children. The wives were all dressed in gray Lindsay skirts, blue muslin sacks, and green sun-bonnets. When they took off their bonnets I found they all wore wreaths of roses or some other flowers. On entering I found that quite a number had already assembled, and were sitting bolt upright along the sides of the hall, as whisked as mice, the women on one side and the men on the other. At the further end of the hall I saw an old lady sitting whom I recognized as one of my neighbors. She struck me as looking so strangely that I went over to see what was the matter with her. She was pleased to see me, asked how I thought she looked, and said that this was the first party she had attended since she came to the valley. She had supposed that it was absolutely necessary for her to wear something white, and had therefore arrayed herself in a white night-dress which answered the purpose of a loose sack. Sacks and skirts were all the rage of that time. She had on also a little white muslim nightcap, and altogether she looked very neat and clean, but certainly not fit for a party. I did not, of course, like to tell her so, but I felt sorry to see her dressed in that style. Brigham Young was there and kept his hat on all the time, as was his custom, and Heber C. Kimball sat during the evening with a red pocket handkerchief thrown over his head. While the Apostle George A. Smith, a cousin of Joseph, the originator of Mormonism, had a similar article thrown carelessly round his neck. Heber once said publicly in the tabernacle when speaking of the wearing of hats and the proper degree of respect which ought to be shown to the Prophet, I never feel as though I wanted to wear my at when Brigham is present. I consider that the master should wear his at or hang it on the peg that God made for it, which is his at, of course. All these things however have been changed since Brigham came under the gentle control of Amelia. On the occasion of which I speak, Heber came up the hall soon after we entered, with five or six of his wives following him. The wives always follow the husband. In fact, everything that is done, whether in word or deed, impresses one with the conviction that the Mormons are determined to make the women feel and fully understand that they are inferior beings. Even in the dance the man takes the lead. In all the chasses and promenades he precedes his wives and all other women. In a special council held in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young once said, For a man to follow a woman is in the sight of heaven disgraceful to the name of a man. They have a curious kind of dance in Salt Lake City called a double coutillion in which one man dances with two women. This is done in order to accommodate those who have many wives. On entering the hall a number is given to each man, and he is not expected to dance until his number is called. When that is done they come like a streak across the hall to the lady's side to get partners. And when the dance is ended they conduct them back to their seats, and then all retire as they came, with the exception of a few love-sick swains who are reckless enough to break through this rule in order to enjoy the society of their lady loves between the dances. It is only old and hardened saints, however, who will venture to set at defiance long established regulations and endure the scrutinizing gaze of the brethren on the opposite side of the hall. All this has a very unsociable and stiff appearance to those who attend one of these parties for the first time. At the particular picnic of which I speak I met a Swedish lady whom I had known in New York. She had come out to Utah believing fully all that had been told her of that new Zion. She was not very young or good-looking when she arrived, but she had a good deal of money and consequently was much troubled with offers of marriage. Finally she consented to become a second wife, but she very soon discovered that her husband thought more of her money than he did of herself. He gave her no peace until he got it all into his own hands, and then he neglected her utterly, scarcely ever even coming to see her. This poor old woman, quite deserted by her husband, was obliged to live in what they call in Utah a dugout. A dugout is a large cellar or hole excavated in the ground, just like the place formed in digging the foundation for a house. It generally is only one fair-sized room roofed in on the top with boards and with a few steps in front by which to descend. Sometimes in such a place a man lives with a couple of wives and a host of children, and this is one phase of the order of celestial marriage. The Swedish lady of whom I speak had been well brought up in her own country and was well educated. She could however speak but little English, and therefore found it very difficult to find employment after the good brother had relieved her of her property. So she worked in the fields or did anything else she could get to do. She lived a wretched sort of life and finally poisoned herself. But no one seemed to care much about it, for very little attention is paid to the death of a woman in Utah unless she is a favorite wife. No one troubles himself to make any investigations in such a case. The woman was neither young nor handsome, and she might just as well die as live. The visitor to Utah is only allowed to see the holiday outside manners of the people. Only if he thinks he sees more he is in most cases deceived. But anyone who really knows the great mass of the Mormon wives as they really are would confess that a more weary, worn, and dejected set of women could nowhere be found. How could it possibly be otherwise? The whole system is radically wrong. How could men act properly to their wives when they marry as many as three, four, five, and six in one single day? Such things have actually been done, absurdly impossible as it may seem. There was the Apostle Franklin D. Richards of whom I have previously an occasion to speak. He married five wives. George Grant, the brother of Jedediah M. Grant, the Apostle of the Utah Reformation, married four women at one time. They owned some very fine property, and ill-tempered people say that Brother Grant had an eye principally to that. But he, good soul, would tell you that he did it all together, from principle. They all do, and I presume they ought to know best. When Franklin D. Richards married the five or six widows of his uncle, Dr. Richards, some people said that he was actuated by the same motive. But his friends said that his only wish was to be a father to the fatherless and a husband to the widow. Brigham Young is always very willing that any of the brethren should marry the widows of deceased apostles or other dignitaries. But, as for their property, that is quite another thing. He himself always has an eye to that, and whenever it is possible, the net of the profit draws into its meshes all that is valuable, whether small or great. As for Brother Brigham's own iniquities, it would take a book much larger than this present volume to tell them all. He lives, in fact, and has lived, for years, in a condition of such constant antagonism to all right and honorable principles, that I really believe that at last he hardly knows when he is doing wrong. He does not like his actions to be scrutinized, and he has always taken special pains to prevent the people from intermingling with the gentiles, who he feared might excite in them a spirit of inquiry. When the United States Army went to Utah in 1857, one half of the old tabernacle was appropriated to the sisters and the other half to the brethren. The center of the new tabernacle is now devoted exclusively to the sisters, and no husband or brother is permitted to sit near them. This is done for the purpose of avoiding the slightest opportunity for any gentile to converse with them, for the Mormons as a rule have not the slightest confidence in their wives, and are very jealous of them. I suppose this is natural, and that the men, knowing their own frailty, judge their wives from their own standpoint of morality. Brigham Young is the most distrustful of them all. He not only guarded the women in the tabernacle, but when the theater was built, he arranged so that it would be impossible for the gentiles to mix with the families of the saints. The Mormon families occupied the parkette, and the gentiles had the first circle. The poor among the saints are, of course, regarded as the common herd, at all times except when a collection is required, and then they are solemnly reminded that they are a sanctified and peculiar people. It is not therefore necessary that any trouble should be bestowed upon them, and no effort is made to preserve them in the theater from contamination with the gentiles. Gentiles and Mormons sit together in the second and third circles, and no one is expected to take any notice of it, as the theater is Brigham's own property. If the theater had been owned or conducted by anyone else than Brother Brigham, it would have been a sin for the Mormons to have mingled in it with the gentiles. The people would have been counseled to remain at home if they could not sit by themselves exclusively. But the fact that Brigham is the owner of the theater does away with any sinfulness in the people attending it and sitting side by side with the gentiles. In the same way, when Brigham made whiskey, the whiskey was sanctified. Joseph Smith gave a revelation which he called the word of wisdom, and joining those who among the saints would be most saintly, never to touch any kind of strong drink, not even tea or coffee or anything warm. This revelation, as I before mentioned, we ourselves followed while on mission, as in fact did all the members of the church in Europe. It was only when we saw the American apostles and elders more fond of creature comforts than obeying the commands of the prophet, that we thought it was needless for us to abstain any longer, and accordingly followed their example and ceased to deny ourselves many of those things which are generally considered to be among the necessaries of life. The saints in Europe were not backward in imitating the apostolic example, and thus the word of wisdom has fallen into disuse. This I do not think was a matter to be regretted, for originally this revelation was, I believe, given not for the promotion of sobriety, but simply to get the people to save their money, so as to bring in more to the coffers of the church. Its disuse enabled many a poor soul, old men and sick women, to whom a cup of warm tea or coffee was the greatest comfort of their lives, to partake of those beverages without fear of committing sin against the word of the Lord. Whether Brother Joseph himself kept his word of wisdom may very well be doubted, for his own son, Alexander says, there are those who say that the revelation on polygamy was received over a five-gallon keg of whiskey. Certain it is that Brother Brigham, seeing that even among the saints everyone did not care to keep this word of wisdom, turned the weakness of the people to profitable account. A certain Mr. Howard set up a whiskey-making establishment in Salt Lake City, and was doing a very good business in that line. But Brother Brigham declared that no more should be made, and Mr. Howard was told to go on a mission to preach the gospel. Soon after he left the establishment was again running, and a great quantity of whiskey was sold. But as it was dispensed at a store surmounted by an imitation of the all-seeing eye over the inscription, Holiness unto the Lord, the sign of Zion's cooperative institution, nothing was thought of the matter. The nature of the whiskey was, of course, changed. Some said, however, that it was not changed for the better, and that Brother Brigham's whiskey was much inferior to Brother Howard's, and much weaker. Probably Brother Brigham thought that strong drinks were not good for the people, and made the whiskey weaker out of pure love to them. Many young Mormon boys otherwise respectably brought up have been ruined by the two free sale of whiskey by the church. I know one young man in Utah who told me that this had been the case with himself and several others. He always silenced his conscience by saying that he had never tasted anything but what was made at Brother Brigham's establishment, and sold at one of the church's stores. Finally seeing the inconsistency of these things he turned away from Mormonism, Brigham, and whiskey, all at the same time, and then became a respectable and steady young man. When we went to Salt Lake the Saints were not permitted to keep Gentile borders. If they did so they lost their standing in the church. Those who persisted in doing so created great scandal, and were themselves attacked without mercy in the tabernacle sermons. They were told that intercourse in any shape with the Gentiles would cause them to lose the spirit, and they were therefore warned against it. Since then, however, so greatly have matters changed that two of Brigham Young's own wives have taken in Gentile borders, and more than one of his daughters have taken in Gentile sewing in order to provide a little extra pocket money for themselves, money which they spent in what their father calls wretched Gentile fashions. While the Prophet himself and Daniel H. Wells, his counselor, the mayor of Salt Lake City, have made themselves conspicuous in denouncing everything that was not Mormon. Some of their wives and also their own sons and daughters are at this moment aping every Gentile who comes within sight, and have done their very best to dress according to the very latest Gentile style. The people, when they see Brigham and his family themselves leading the way, think that there can be no great sin in following, and the more so as they are able to purchase all the finery that their hearts can desire at the dry good store of the Prophet of the Lord. End of chapter thirty-five