Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-02-15
EVENING STAR.
THE MORM0N's WIFE
Extract from Pryue Letter 10 a Lady

! lEiuact from Pfivne Letter TO a Lady
"You ask me to give a little
more IN detail the incident in the cars
that occurred as we werecrossinp the Al.
ieghanles, Of which l briefly spoke when
we met. / could not halt tell YOU the
story now, after the vividness with which
it impressed me has no nearly passed
away, and if / could, it would not pro-
duce the effect it did upon me. heard
1t after weeks of anxiety had weakened
my system, when my long and weari-
some journey had left me but the strue.
gle Of a child, and my restless and ex.
cited mind seized upon it in all its reali.
ty without the melioration always lent
to Q subject by our own indifference to.
and personal disconnection with it. A
wrong done to another becomes an out.
rage when practised upon ourselves.
had, through watching and fasting, be-
come so etherialized as to lose sight of
this selfish difference, and to see nv
neighbor as myself. ! felt that all wo-
mankind had BEEN insulted and sacri.
feed in the person Of Margaret. II was
my duty, not less than hers, to avense
1t. L could have sent the aggressor trni.
bling into the gorge of one Of those noun.
tain torrents, and considered it but. re-
trlbutive justice. .
| "The. Mormon elder came into our car.
near the foot of the mountains, and sat
near US. He would have been good-loo
ing if he had looked good. lie had a De-
culiar manner-it indicated such perfect
satisfaction with himself and the world.
| heard him say he had gone to Salt Lake
City before the first furrow had been
turned in the ground. | listened. for
who is not curious concerning that won
derful exodus l heard him tell of their
great temple, sad how it went on stone
by stone, and with each the power of the
devil grew less and less. How new pros.
elytes came pouring in to swell the host
that was waiting ito receive the Christ
when he should come to reign thousand
years upon the earth He was a man of
10 reading. His knowledge was like
Mr.. Gradgrind's) confined to facts but
he had natural gift for conversation,
and gave rapid and skilful outline of
bis subject in way that interested you
at once. When the night grew dark, he
came and sat behind Us. lie had fallen
into the hands Of gentleman whose
dexterity in questioning led him on to
speak freely of himself, and so gradually
they came to the peculiar institution.
He said the women seldom cared to mar
ry nen OF their own age, that their affec-
tons inclined towards the priests and
elders. This convinced me that if the
men are all hypocrites, the women arc
not wholly SO, but that they do this for
tbs exaltatiOr of their souls. av law
yer (for SO | shall ca the questionerl
asked me whether the women were not
jealous of each other, especially the
younger ones. Tie Saint answered No.
Some tcy, he continued were Z little
difficult, it was mostly conined to the
young. To be sure, bis wife felt it lit
tie when he married second time; the
rest had never cared Did she care so
very much!' continued the lawyer. Oh,
yes, | thought at first it would have
killed her. You see when | became a
convert, | did not understand that part
of it, because my wife and had been
so happy together. We married carly,
and had scarcely been day apart. When
wanted to 60 to Salt Lake, she did not
incline to go, because she did not see so
clearly as the truths of our great reli-
glon-but the idea Of my mar ying was
no hindrance. 1t did not occur TO her
as possible, and it was not for a long
time after got there that thought of it
myself
Margaret did not mix with the poo
pie. She retained her old eastern ways, |
and was always at home. | had never
let her do much work, (her hands wefe
too small fer that She was stately in
her forIh, and she had queer way CfI
twisting her long hair round her head, so
it locked like crown. The felix's said
she was proud, and one or two who had
daughters, asked me why did not take
wife, and if | were not afraid? So il
came upon me gradually, while upon
her, you see, it fell like stroke"
you must have found it difficult to
break such thing to her,
Yes, it was hard to do. But al last
| said | will do 1t on Thursday, and on
Thursday evening when came home she
was standing in the garden, and went
and put my arm around her, and told
her how it had been revealed to me that
1 must marry again"
"What did she say g.
Nothing. Not one word. She Just
gave one scream. | declare | Shall never
set that scream out of my ears. / be-
lieve l should hear it if | were on the
Andes. thought heard it a minute ago
"The sleet ratified against the wln-
dows of our car. and the bleak midnight
wind swept Gown the mountains, and |
thought heard it too"
'The Mormon proceeded And then
she fell like one dead. thought she
was dead. but she came to after a while,
and, would you believe it, she never
mentioned the subject TO, me. | could
not find it in my heart to say thing
about it again for more than five months.