# Wife No. 19/Chapter 19
### CHAPTER XIX.
#### THE MYSTERIES OF POLYGAMY. — WHAT THE WIVES COULD TELL.

* Incestuous Intermarriages.
* A Widow and her Daughters married to the same Man.
* "Marrying my Pa."
* The "U. S." Government Conniving at Mormon Iniquities.
* Beastly Conduct of Delegate George Q. Cannon.
* Polygamists Legislating for Bigamists.
* Mother and Daughter fighting for the same Man!
* It is Wicked to Live with an Old Wife.
* A Young lover Ninety Years Old!
* A Bride Eleven years Old!
* Brides of Thirteen and Fourteen Years!
* I receive an "Offer" when Twelve Years Old!
* Old Ladies at a Discount: Young Women at a Premium
* Respect for the Silver Crown of Age.
* Heber gives his Opinion.
* "Why is She making such a Fuss?"
* Seeing One's Husband Once a Year.
* The Rascality of Orson Hyde towards his Wife.
* When Rival Wives make Friends.
* A Very Funny Story about an Apostle and his Wife.
* Rights of the First Wife: Brigham Young in a Fix.
* He treats an Early Wife to a Dance.
* Amelia in the Shade.
* The Prophet becomes Frisky.
* Poor, neglected Emmeline.
* How Polygamy was once Denied.
* A Mistake which a French Lady Made.
* Milk for Babes.
Orson Hyde and Forgotten WifeHE marriage of mother and daughter to one man was of so common an occurrence that it ceased to be regarded as anything out of the ordinary course of events.
I had some schoolmates, two sisters, whose mother was married to a Mr. McDonald, and when she gave herself to him, it was with the express understanding that the daughters should be sealed to him as soon as they were of a proper age. The little girls knew of the arrangement, and used to talk very ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/337 ​has only to take two more wives and he can, perhaps, enjoy the confidence of the government and the protection of its laws as fully as the Apostolic George Q.
If the gentleman in Memphis, Tennessee, who has recently been indicted for marrying his deceased wife's niece had only married six of his own nieces, he might now be enjoying his liberty and his youthful brides' society, with all the freedom which is accorded to Bishop Johnson, of Utah — that is, if he, too, had lived among the Saints in Utah.
The relation between mother and daughter, when one becomes the rival of the other, is by no means the pleasantest in the world, and it is usually the case that the mother has much the worse time. She sees herself neglected for a younger and fairer woman by the man in whose service she has expended both youth and beauty, and sees the daughter whom she has so carefully and tenderly nurtured, and who should now be her stay, and her comfort, and the pride of her maternal heart, usurping her place in her husband's affection and in her home, and striking a blow at her happiness that is fatal. She can turn neither to husband nor daughter for comfort, and the religion which should be her stay is but a mockery, since it brings all the misery and desolation into her wrecked life.
The leaders of her religion teach openly that it is not right for husbands to live with their wives after they are advanced in years; and they also teach that a man is marriageable until he is a hundred years old. This has always been a strong point with them, and in urging polygamy, in ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/339 ​like this, well-tried and long-enduring, the hateful form of polygamy would rise up before me more monstrous, more hideous, more revolting than ever.
Think, in contrast to this, of a woman who has lived with her husband during all the years of her fresh and mature womanhood, being left alone, when she becomes deserted by the hus band whom she has loved so well and so long, at the command of the priesthood! Heber Kimball used to say, when he knew of a woman grieving over the neglect of her husband, "What is she making such a fuss for? She has no business with a husband." Who can blame the disciples when the leader sets the example? Brigham Young's first living wife, — his only real and legal wife, — a woman of his own age, is entirely neglected by him, and long ago ceased to be his wife but in name.
Sometimes these old and middle-aged ladies do not see their husbands once a year, and yet they may not live half Apostle Orson Hyde. a mile apart. A few years since, at a large party at the Social Hall in Salt Lake City, Orson Hyde, one of the twelve apostles, met the wife of his youth, the mother of many of his children. He had escorted some of his younger wives there, and she came with a friend. It chanced that they were seated near each other at the table, and were compelled to speak; they shook hands, exchanged a very commonplace greeting, and that was all that passed between them. Neither is this an isolated case; it very often occurs that an elderly lady attends a party with friends, and meets her husband there with one or more younger wives; and sometimes both she and they have ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/341 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/342 ​for generally, when Amelia went with him, he devoted himself exclusively to her. But on this occasion he had brought Emmeline along, too. Early in the evening, one of the committee of management came bustling up, with a "Brother Brigham, won't you dance?"
"Well, I suppose so," was the reply. Then he hesitated for a moment. There sat both Emmeline and Amelia, the former looking quietly unconscious, yet wondering very much, as she afterwards told me, "what Brother Brigham would do," and enjoying his dilemma immensely, while the Brigham in a Quandary. latter looked very stately and dignified, and also threatening. There stood the Prophet, inclination pulling him one way, etiquette and duty the other. He hesitated a moment longer; then, walking up to Emmeline, said, ungraciously and gruffly, "Come along and dance;" and, without offering her his arm, walked on to the floor, leaving her to follow.
As is the custom at balls which Brigham and Amelia grace with their presence, one of his satellites instantly begged for the honor of Amelia's hand in the dance, and led her at once as vis-à-vis to her husband. During the ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/344 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/345 ​gathering to Zion. Among them was the lady who had translated the sermon for Taylor, and who, influenced Apostle John Taylor.[Husband of Six Wives.] by the spirit of the discourse, and the seeming earnestness of the missionary, had become more zealous than ever in her devotion to her new and ardently beloved faith.
Imagine, if you can, her horror, on reaching Utah, at the social state of affairs which found her there, and discovered that she not only had been grossly deceived, but, in her ignorance, had helped to deceive so many others; for it was through the influence of her translation of Taylor's denial that nearly all the party with whom she emigrated had come.
She apostatized at once, but she was conscience-stricken at the part she had so unwittingly played, and could not be comforted. A more remorseful, grief-stricken woman was never seen, and she felt all the more deeply the harm that had been wrought, when she saw how powerless she was to undo it. No effort of hers could ever bring these unhappy people from the infamous community in which they found themselves, and a part of which they were destined to become. For with them, the men especially, as with all others who remain under the baleful influence long, the end was certain. They first endured, and then embraced; pity was left out altogether, although God knows there is no condition that calls for pity as does that of the polygamous wife. The lady herself left Utah, but her people were forced to remain. I wonder how those poor wives, decoyed into a strange country by priestly promises, and deceived by priestly lying, could bear ever again to look in ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/347 ​Page:Wife No 19.djvu/348