578 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
High Council, condemned, consigned to the bufferings of Satan,
and, before he left the Council room, or his Satanic Majesty
had well got hold of him, one of Brigham's clerks placed before
his bewildered eyes his obligation to the Perpetual Fund, and
demanded settlement. He was, like all poets and great mar-
tyrs, without the ready cash. It was spiteful and undue haste,
on the part of Brigham, and provoked a measure that promises
to be to the Prophet
" A Roland for an Oliver." *
The Mormon immigration in general has been very orderly
conducted. The Saints are very obedient and give no trouble
on shipboard. In former years, when they crossed the ocean in
sailing-packets, the captain who could get the Mormon immi-
grants was considered fortunate for that voyage. " The Lord "
was with His people, and of course " the prayers of the Saints "
prevailed and the ship was safe f and made a speedy voyage.
After they got over the effects of the first rolling of the vessel
they were summoned morning and evening to prayers ; they
sang their hymns, and the elders gave them instructions about
their daily duties. On Sundays, if the weather was favourable,
they had preaching between -decks, and rejoiced together in the
deliverance they had gained from " Babylon," and spoke of
the bright future that lay before them. Even when several
hundreds were on board, there was no rush or confusion to get
first to the cooking galley. The whole ship was nominally
partitioned off into wards, and a member of the priesthood
placed over each. These presidents arranged the order and
time for each ward to see to their cooking, and every day the
* There are numbers of men in Utah who would be pleased for the Trustee-in-
Trust to take action in a civil court against them for such indebtedness. They
have preserved their tithing receipts for every pound of butter, tenth pig, gosling,
eggs, apples, and scores of other things paid into the Tithing-office, and on such
a trial they could compel the Trustee-in- Trust to bring his books into courl, and show
what he has done with the tithing 1 That would be a lengthy trial, and the rebels
threaten it.
f The ships conveying the Mormon immigrants have been so free from acci-
dent, that it is not strange that the Saints should believe that the peculiar favour of
u the Lord " is extended over them. The hand-cart disasters and an unfortunate
steamboat explosion, on the Missouri, in March, 1852, in which many of the Saints
were killed, temper such enthusiasm.
BAPTIZING IN THE SEA. 579
order was changed. Thus they realized, there, if nowhere else,
that " the first shall be last and the last shall be first." Every-
thing on board ship was done by order ; no smoking or drinking
was allowed, and the sailors or other passengers were not per-
mitted to make love to the young sisters. It is fair to add that
on shipboard, as well as on terra firma, love would break
through bolts and bars, and some of the sisters, who had less
grace than others, " forgot their covenants."
On several of the trips, the returning missionaries were
successful in converting passengers and sailors. On one occa-
sion nearly the whole crew were baptized. A canvas raft was
soon made and hoisted over into the sea, and there the elder
would 'stand and with uplifted hand would announce his au-
thority, and immerse his convert in the briny deep " for the
" remission of his sins." That sailor or that passenger could
then associate with the Saints, and rejoice in salvation ; but
even that pleasant reminiscence is tainted with the reflection
that, in some cases, the conversion did not last long, and more
than one trusting maiden had to suffer the consequences of a
hasty marriage.
Now everything in connection with emigration is changed,
and the nine months' travel by sea and land is a work of days.
Brigham's agent at Liverpool sees the emigrants on board a
steamship of the Guion line, and another of his agents meets
the Saints on arrival in New York. Everything is pre-
pared ; there is nothing to ask. The officer who has charge
on board knows before he leaves Liverpool the exact amount
of fare that every family has to pay for the remainder of the
journey; he collects their gold and silver, and the agent at
New York, without a moment's loss of time, knows where
to make his exchange. The railroad tickets are already in
his office, and if the steamer has arrived early in the day, the
immigrants are whirled out of the city in the evening on a spe-
cial train, and onward they travel over the Pennsylvania, Pitts-
burg & Fort Wayne railroad, to Chicago. A baker is tele-
graphed when the train will arrive at that city, and he is ready
with " the staff of life." A brief rest, and permission to get
the extra cheese or sausage, and off they are again, the engine
steaming and snorting over the Chicago & Northwestern line
580 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
for Omaha. Another baker with supplies, a few hours' rest, or
it may be half a day, to stretch their limbs, and then they
make the final change of cars that carries them over that mag-
nificent national highway, the Union Pacific railroad, to the
Zion of the latter-days, the goal of their hopes, and the land
of their inheritance.
CHAPTEK L.
POLYGAMY IN UTAH Preached from the Tabernacle A Terrible Trial to
Women Degradation of the Sex Ancient Hebrew Examples adduced "Liv-
ing Martyrs" to a Debasing Doctrine Brigham Young on Polygamy Second
and " following" Wives Marriage Kites among the Mormons The First "Wile
is not asked one Question Impossibility of Happiness in Polygamy.
IN two preceding chapters the history of the introduction
of Polygamy among the Saints is given in extenso, illustrating
the dubious path in which the Prophet Joseph had to tread in
order to establish in his Church the usages of the Orientals.
The reader has now presented to his consideration the " pecul-
" iar Institution " in the fulness of its glory in Zion ; where
there is nothing to hinder " the Lord " from manifesting His
favour to Israel, and where the faithful can sit under their own
vines and fig-trees, none daring to make them afraid.
Joseph had been persecuted, but Brigham was now beyond
the reach of the oppressor. The former had the statute of big-
amy before his eyes in Illinois ; the latter was master of the
situation in Utah, and was determined there should be no stat-
ute on the subject. Marriage was no longer a civil contract ;
it was to be a sacrament of the Church, and a sacred tenet of
the faith. But Utah nevertheless was a portion of the United
States domain, and it was uncertain what Congress might wish
to do with this innovation upon Christianity. Joseph had
only risked the faith of a few of the Saints, and his communica-
tions were confidential. Brigham had to cope with a govern-
ment, and his mind grasped the conclusion that there was
power in numbers. To punish individuals for an infraction of
law was an easy matter ; to deal with a whole people was quite
another thing. The utmost publicity had now to be given to
582 THE EOCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
" Celestial Marriage," and an open parade of a " plurality of
" wives" was a virtue, and not an indiscretion.
The Tabernacle in winter, and the Bowery in summer, were
to resound with arguments in favour of Polygamy. The world
was rapidly hastening to a close, and there were multitudes of
spirits in the other world anxiously waiting for honourable bod-
ies in which they could tabernacle in the flesh. The Gentiles
were corrupt, and those ethereal spirits would rather anxiously
wait for the favours of the Saints than come down to the pal-
aces of the unbelieving, accursed Gentiles. The argument was
lucid, and it appealed to the grandest sentiment of humanity
s >lf-abnegation. The woman who viewed with the most
searching jealousy the wandering of her idol's love, could in
time listen to argument and could reproach her suffering soul
with selfishness if it refused to endure for the weal of another.
She loved herself, and her soul's idol was beyond price, but it was
her duty to make her life a sacrifice ! The Greatest of all the
human family had given His life to redeem ; why could not she
help to save ? Such was' the argument in Utah, on the pub-
lic recognition of Polygamy, and, if not in the words of the
preacher, it was at least in the soul of the woman.
Whoever has read debasement in the women of Utah, has
done them injustice. Some there may be who are devoid of
refined sentiment and the nobler instincts of their sex ; but no
women in history ever deserved more respect and sympathy
than the true women among the Mormons. They have not
only made the sacrifice of the most vital principle of their
souls, but they have voluntarily submitted to a life of daily
affliction, for the sake of an article of faith.
Could the same judgment be passed upon the teachers as
upon the taught, the people of Utah could rank with the high-
est martyrs of history ; but the opposite has been the fact, and,
while the women have endured the most heart-piercing woes,
the men have been taught that he was the noblest who valued
the companionship of soul the least that his wife was but
the mother of his children. Following this inspiration, she has
been often degraded to the level of the inferior animals ; and,
in the familiar language of one of the most elevated of the apos-
tles, they thought " no more of taking another woman " than
THE MORMON APPRECIATION OF WOMAN. 583
they did of " buying another cow." Whatever there has been
and is higher than this conception of ownership in and the
ability of women among the Mormon men, it is traceable to
their better instincts and to their reminiscences of a Christian
motherhood. The tendency of the matrimonial teachings of
inspired tongues has been degrading to the sexes, placing the
domestic circle on a level with the farm-yard.
The philosophy of nomadic ancient Israel is glorified in
Utah:
" Lo, children and the fruit of the womb are a heritage and gift that
cometh of the Lord.
" Like as the arrows in the hand of a giant ; even so are the young
children.
" Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them ; they shall not be
ashamed, when they speak with the enemies in the gate." Psalm cxxvii.
Harassed, despoiled, and driven in Missouri and Illinois
by superior numbers, long years of isolation in the mountains
were prayed for that Israel might grow and multiply, and
cover the earth with cities, and become a great people that no
man could number. Now the glories of the faith are artisti-
cally portrayed, and weepingly the women of Utah promise
to obey ; and from the moment that promise is given the
woman lives in constant dread of the coming day when her
husband has -to become a practical polygamist.
The hallowed love, the sacred reminiscences of their happy
years of undivided union, confront the threatened intrusion of
another's presence at the home fireside. The wifely heart re-
volts at the invasion of the privacy x>f her domestic empire,
and she maddens at the thought that he who was to her " sa-
cred in person," and " all her own," was one day to become to
another what he has been to her. Peace flies from her bosom,
and in her soul commences a fearful struggle between obedience
to the supposed commandment of Deity, taught by the Mormon
priesthood, and the assertions of a nobler deity within her own
nature. These contending influences wage unceasing warfare,
and " the faith " slowly but surely gains the ascendancy over
" the woman," and she yields vanquished in bewilderment.
Devotion to her husband, the dread of " offending God," and
the fear of the anathemas of a creed, combine to conquer her.
584 JHE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
She resigns herself to her fate, and finally consents that her
husband should take another wife. What a horrible ordeal !
The night of gloom overhangs her path ; life loses its charms ;
the sacred fireside circle is broken ; she grieves ; she mourns ;
and her once-gushing, affectionate heart withers and dies with-
in her bosom.
Some women in Utah have for years lived in this torture,
crucifying themselves in every thinking moment of their lives !
"Who can tell the bitter misery felt by such unhappy souls ?
What days of silent grief and bitter tears ; what long, sleepless
nights of harrowing thought ; what terrible imaginings ! Dis-
consolate, poor, lacerated hearts, desolate women; afraid of
every coming hour ; fearful of what they might see or hear of
husbands who had sworn at the bridal-altar to be to them the
undivided companions of their lives ! The story of such women
can never be told but in two words their condition can be
written : Living martyrs !
In its overburdened grief many a soul has craved the boon
of death, and welcomed the thought of that hour when the
cold grave would conceal them from the gaze of the living.
And all this mourning comes from a " revelation of Jesus
" Christ," commanding obedience to polygamy, with the terri-
ble threat of damnation and cursing to the rebellious ! How
He must have changed ! He, who was to woman so gentle, so
forbearing, so loving in His nature now so fierce and unre-
lenting! But, it is claimed that the dread of polygamy is
worse than its practical experience, and that women can "get
u used to it," and become happy under its rule.
To assert that any true woman living in polygamy is in
heart and soul satisfied and happy, is to simply libel her na-
ture. A true wife craves the constant love of her husband, as
naturally as the living body craves its daily food. His com-
panionship is her little world. And the more affectionate and
pure he is, the more she abhors his familiar association with
another. Her instincts rebel against the institution, and he
misrepresents all womanhood who charges her opposition to it,
as is frequently done in Utah, to the baser motive expressed in
the vulgar taunt of " desiring a man to herself."
The women are, however, not alone the sufferers by polyg-
THE TROUBLES OF THE BRETHREN. 585
amy. The intelligent of the fair sex among the Mormons will
readily admit this, and some even go so far as to pity their
husbands, and to extend to them the genuine sympathy of their
hearts, though his polygamy has been their own curse. What-
ever else it has achieved, Polygamy has at least been impartial
with the sexes, and while it has martyred the woman, it has
not failed to enslave the men. Brigham openly avows the
great trial of his soul when " the order " was first taught to him
by Joseph Smith. Heber used to tell about his " shedding tears
" enough to float a ship," when he was " commanded " to take
another wife. The locks of another apostle are said to have
silvered in a night, from mental anguish ; and of another and
another could be told tales of terrible struggles between love
and duty. !N"o intellectual man of soul and heart ever took
a second wife without passing through " the valley of the
" shadow of death." He wo aid be dead to every impulse of
manhood, who could gaze upon the sacrifice of his faithful
wife, and the outrage to every sensibility of her nature, without
sharing in her affliction. But it ends not with the second
bridal-day.
From the day that Sarah turned Hagar from her door, and
drove her into the wilderness with her offspring, there never
was a time in woman's history when she desired to share her
hu*sband with another woman, and there never was a day when
that husband could please two wives. The relationship is false.
In their out-door occupations, cares of business, and obliga-
tions, the men have not the hours of mental suffering that the
quiet domestic life induces ; but they are seldom free from
anxiety, even in the midst of business, and never will be, so
long as manhood and appreciation of woman exist in their
bosoms. "With his first wife he has, it may be, grown from
youth to hoary age, and the twain have become one. They
have lived in each other's confidence, known each the other, and
in everything were undivided. Another wife is added to the
sacred union, and the happiness of life is fled. By the covenant
of marriage, the second wife is to be to the husband another
second self, and, desiring to be just, he seeks to avoid every ap-
pearance of partiality but he fails. There are reminiscences
clustering around the life of the first wife that are not yet
586 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
created around the other, though in name, profession, and in-
tent, they are equal partners in the triple domesticity. The
long, varied, and changing scenes of life's warfare that made
the first twain one in everything, still remain affection is
very indivisible.
A youthful wife realizes that she too has affections that
crave a return of love : she is entitled to it she demands it.
"When, in the fickle fortune of marriage, three, four, five, or ten
hearts blend as one, greatly blessed are they ; but when their
individualities are distinct, the life of a patriarch is unenviable.
In the isolated life of the Mountains, the elders made no
concealment of their courtships. To the Tabernacle, the thea-
tre, and the ballroom, the maiden in her teens would be es-
corted by the already-married intended husband of three times
her years, with all the attention and delicacy of a romantic
youth. From this charge, none of the brethren would claim
exemption. There is conveyed in the institution a feeling of
man's superiority, and the more ignorant the intended patri-
arch the more vulgar is its parade. Finally the day of sacri-
fice arrives, and is thus sketched by the apostle Pratt :
" "When the day set apart for the solemnization of the marriage cere-
mony has arrived, the bridegroom, and his wife, and also the bride, to-
gether with their relatives, and such other guests as may be invited, assem-
ble at the place which they have appointed. The scribe then proceeds to
take the names, ages, native towns, counties, States, and countries of the
parties to be married, which he carefully enters on record. The President,
who is the Prophet, Seer, and Revel ator over the whole Church through-
out the world, and who alone holds the " keys" of authority in this solemn
ordinance (as recorded in the 2d and 5th paragraphs of the Revelation on
Marriage), calls upon the bridegroom, and his wife, and the bride, to arise,
which they do, fronting the President. The wife stands on the left hand
of her husband, while the bride stands on her left. The President then
puts thi? question to the wife :
" * Are you willing to give this woman to your husband to be his lawful and wed-
ded wife for time and for all eternity ? If you are, you will manifest it by placing
her right hand within the right hand of your husband.'
" The right hands of the bridegroom and bride being thus joined, the
wife takes her husband by the left arm, as if in the attitude of walking ;
the President then proceeds to ask the following question of the man :
" * Do you, brother ' (calling him by name), ' take sister ' (calling the bride by her
THE POLYGAMIC MARRIAGE IN UTAH. 587
name) ' by the right hand, to receive her unto yourself, to be your lawful and wed-
ded wife, and you to be her lawful and wedded husband, for time and for all eter-
nity, with a covenant and promise, on your part, that you will fulfil all the laws,
rites, and ordinances, pertaining to this holy matrimony, hi the new and everlasting
covenant, doing this hi the presence of God, angels, and these witnesses, of your
own free will and choice ? '
" The bridegroom answers, 'Yes.' The President then puts the ques-
tion to the bride :
" ' Do you, sister ' (calling her by name\ * take brother ' (calling him by name)
1 by the right hand, and give yourself to him, to be his lawful and wedded wife for
time and for all eternity, with a covenant and promise on your part that you will
fulfil all the laws, rites, and ordinances, pertaining to this holy matrimony, in the
new and everlasting covenant, doing this in the presence of God, angels, and these
witnesses, of your own free will and choice ? '
" The bride answers, ' Yes.' The President then says :
" ' In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the authority of the Holy Priest-
hood, I pronounce you legally and lawfully husband and wife for time and for all
eternity : and I seal upon you the blessings of the holy resurrection, with power to
come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, clothed with glory, immortality,
and eternal lives ; and I seal upon you the blessings of thrones, and dominions, and
principalities, and powers, and exaltations, together with the blessings of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob ; and say unto you, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth,
that you may have joy and rejoicing in your posterity in the day of the Lord Jesus.
All these blessings, together with all other blessings pertaining to the new and ever-
lasting covenant, I seal upon your heads, through your faithfulness unto the end, by
the authority of the Holy Priesthood, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.'
" The scribe then enters on the general record the date and place of
the marriage, together with the names of two or three witnesses who were
present." *
The reader will observe that, in this ordinance of poly-
gamic sealing, the husband and the young bride are asked each
the question, are you " doing this in the presence of God, an-
" gels, and these witnesses, of your own free will and choice"
while the question put to the wife carefully avoids the issue
that would instantly arise between her wounded, bleeding
heart, and the falsehood that would be forced from her trem-
bling lips if she essayed to utter that it was of her " own free
" will and choice." That poor " victim " is but asked if she
has been subdued and is " willing to give this woman " to her
husband.
* The Seer, p. 32.
588 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS.
No man ever regained his senses after that act of sealing
without feeling that he had fatally wounded the wife of his
youth. It is a cruelty that he realizes as well as his wife, and
he, the nominal but innocent cause of her wrong, seeks to as-
suage her sufferings by greater kindness and tenderness. But
no smooth words, nor the soul-speaking affection of his eye, can
heal that wound. It steals her life away, and in her true
heart she curses the day she ever heard of Mormonism. For
the man who realizes and shares the misery of his wife, the fu-
ture life is but " a living lie." Were the man an angel, it
would be impossible for him to act justly towards two or twen-
ty wives, and divide to each the full measure of her rights.*
Brigham Young, with all the commanding influence of his
position, could not silence the murmuring within his own dom-
icile until he threatened to divorce all his wives, and told them,
that, if they despised the order of Heaven, he would pray that
the curse of the Almighty might be close to their heels, and
follow them all the day long,f and even all that violent lan-
guage has not attained the end ; their hearts revolt as much
to-day, though they have schooled themselves into submission
and silence.
Polygamy may be the marital relations of the sexes in
heaven, it may be the " Celestial Law " of the gods of that
there is no discussion or dreaming ; but one thing is certain,
that it is not the true marital relation of the sexes upon the
earth. Thirty years of its practice under the most favourable
circumstances have stamped it as a withering curse.
* It was the Author's intention when he commenced this work, to give a com-
plete expose of polygamy, exhibiting that institution in all its bearings and influ-
ences upon the social life of the people of Utah ; but an unlooked-for incident in-
duced Mrs. Stenhouse to publish what she knew of polygamy. Had that book been
written by any other authoress, reference would unquestionably have been made
to it in this work ; the Author, therefore, sees no impropriety in acknowledging
that his wife has produced a work which only a woman could write, and superior
to anything which he himself could offer to the public, and he refers the reader to
" A Lady's Life among the Mormons " (Russell Brothers, New York), as a full and
unreserved " Expose of Polygamy in Utah."
f Sermon, July 14, 1855, in the Bowery, Provo.
CHAPTER LI.
FT AH DUEING THE KEBELLION. Cliange of Federal Officers Brutal Attack
upon Governor Dawson by Mormon Eowdies Three of them shot A Eival
Prophet to Brigham The "Morrisite" Community They disregard a Writ of