Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-09-16
MR.. GREELEY on MORMON PO.
LYGAMY.


lygamy will not long endure among the Nor
mons The men all like it but the women
submit TO it only because they fanatlcally
regard it as the divine com mand but they
do not try--or if they do try they do not
succsed-to mccall their disgust at the rela-
tiOn which their religion forces upon them
Mr.. Greeley says
"Yet Polygamy is one main pillar OF
the Mormon Church. He who has two or
more wives rarely apostatizes, as he could
hardly remain here in safety and comfort ae
an apostate and dare not take his wives else
where. | have heard of but single instance
in which man with three wives renounced
Mormonism and left for California, where
he experienced no difficulty; for said my
! informant(a woman) 'he introduced his two
younger wives [girls of l9 and II as his
| daughters and married them both Oft IN the
course of six weeks"
| am assured by Gentiles that there is Il
large business done here in unmarryng as
| well as marrying some OF them assure me
! that the Church exacts a fee of so on the
marriage of each wife after the first, but
! charges "a stIli heavier fee tor div rcng. |
| do not know that this is true, and | suspect
my informants were no wiser IN the premises
! than am. But it certainly looks to me as
| though rich dignitary in the Church has
! freer and fuller range for the selection of
! hIs sixth and eighth wife than poor Young
man of ordinary standing has for choosing
| his first. And | infer that the more sharp
sighted young men will not always be con-
| tent with this"
"Since the foregoing was written, have
enjoyed opportunities ior visiting MOrmOns,
| and studying Mormonsm. in the home If
its votaries, and of discussing with them
what the outside world regards its dis!in-
gushing feature, in the freedom Of friendly
social intercourse. In one instance, ter
an apostle Of the faith, having first INTRO
duced To me worthy matron OF fifty five OF
sixtv-the wife OF his youth, and the mother
OF his grown-up sOns as Mrs. [. soon after in
troducej IL young and winning ady ot per-
maps twenty-five summers, in these words
Here is another Mrs. T. This lady is a re-
cent emIgrant from our State gilmore than ay-
erage powers Of IN nd and graces OF person,
vino came here with her brother, as u CON
vert, Il little over year ago, anu has been the
sixth wife of Mr.. I. since few weeks after
her arrival. the int'rmediate four wives
Of Elder T. live on u farm or farms some
miles distant.) The manner OF the HUSBAND
was perfectly uncDnstrAined and oh-hAnO
throughout: but could not well be mistak
en- in my conviction that both ladies failed
to conceal dissatisfaction with their position
in the eyes of their visitor, and OF the world.
They seemed 10 ieel that it needed vndlrI-
ton. Their manner toward each other was
most cordial and terly-sincerely 50.
dOuh 1T not-but this is by no means the rule
A Gentle friend whose duties require him
to travel widely over the Territpry, informs
me that he has repeatedly stopped with
Bishop, some hundred miles south OF this.
W lose two wives he had never known to
address each otner. or evince the slightest
cordiality during the hours he has spent IN
their society. Tne Bishops house consists
of two rooms; and when my informant st4id
there with a Gentle friend, the Bishop being
absent, one wife slept in the same apartment
with them rather than in that occupied by
her double. | presume that an extreme
e but the spirit which Impels il 70, mt
suols met this evening a large arty Of tyOung
people consisting in nearly equal numbers OF
| husbands and wives. but NJ h"sN'--@ "o' a.
| tended bv more than one wife, and no gen
| tlernan admitted or implied, in our repeated
and animated discussions OF Polygamy, that
| he had more than one wife And | was
| s,ruck bv the circumstance that here, as
| heoetofore, no woman indicated by word or
look, her approval Of any arguu mt in favor
of Polvgamy. That many women acquiesce
/ in it as an ordinance of God, and have been
drilled ntoa mechanical assent to the logic
by which it is upheld, | believe: but that
/ there is not "a woman IN Utah who does not
! in her heart wish that God had not ordained
| it, am confident And quite 4 nun Der of
the Young men treat it in conversation as a
temporary or expeIimental arrangement,
when is to be sustained or put aside as ex-
perience shall demonstrate Its utility or mis-
chief. One old Mormon farmer, with whom
| discussed the matter privately, admitted
that it was impossible for poor working
man to have a well-ordered, well-goyerned
| househol where his children had two or
more living mothers occupying the same
ordinary dwelling. On the whole, con-
clude that Polygamy, as it was "a graft on the
original stock Of MormOnism, will be out
lived by the root-that there will be new
revelation, ere many years, whereby the
Saints will be admonished to love and cherish
the wives they already have, but not t.
marry any more beyond the natural assign
ment of one wife to each husband"