The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-09-16


Marshal Magyar was as fussy as his enormous
size and restless horse would permit, while
the old Duke of Malakof looked, thought
with an eye of jealousy on scene in which
he had not been permitted to take part.
Horace Sees the MormSn tB:die:: and
Salt Lake City Correspondence N. Y. Tribune.
do not believe the plural-wife system
can long endure; yet almost every man
with whom converse on the subject seems
intensely, fanatically devoted to it, deeming
this the choicest of his earthly blessings
With the women, am confident it is other
wise and ] watched their faces as Elder
Taylor was expatiating humorously on this
feature of the Mormon system, to the great
delight OF the men; but not one responsive
smile did see on the face of woman. On
the contrary, thought they seemed gener-
ally to wish the subject had been passed
over in silence. Fanaticism, and a belief
that we are Gods especial, exclusive favor
ties, will carry most of us great way but
the natural instinct in every womans breast
must teach her that to be some mans third
OR fourth wife is to be no wife at all. /
asked my next neighbor the name of fair,
young girl who sat some distance from us
with baby on her knee. "That is one of
Judge Smiths ladies'. was his quiet, matter
of course answer Of course, no woman
spoke pubicly-I believe none ever speaks
in a Mormon acknowledgement l shall
not ask any one her private opinion of
polygamy, but l think I can read an I'M
favorable one on many faces. 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 as an apostate, and
dare not take his wives elsewhere. 1 have
heard of but single instance in which
man with three wives renowned Mormonism
and left for California, where he experienced
no difficulty d" for" said my informant IA
woman) "he introduced his two younger
wives (girls of 19 and l4) as his daughters,
and married them both off in the course of
six weeks" I am assured:by gentles that
there is large business done here in ,tn-
marrying as well as marrying; some of them
assure me that the Church exacts fee of
$40 on the marriage of each wife after the
first, but charges still heavier fee for d.
vorcing. l do not know that this is true,
and suspect my informants were no wiser
in the premises thanI 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 or Eighth wife than
a poor man of ordinary standing has for
choosing his first. And l infer that the
more sharpsighted young men will not al
ways be content with this.
Since the foregoing was written, 1 have
enjoyed opportunities for visiting Mormons,
and studying Mormonism, in the homes of
its votaries, and of discussing with them
what the outside world regards as its dis.
tinguishing feature, in the freedom of friendly
social intercourse. In one instance, vete-
ran apostle of the faith, having first intro
duced to me a worthy matron of ffty-fve or
sixty-the wife of his youth, the mother of
his grown up sons-as Mrs. T., soon after
introduced a young and winning lady of
perhaps twenty-five summers, in these words:
Here is another Mrs. T." This lady is
recent emigrant from our State, of more
than average powers of mind and graces of
person, who came here with her brother, as
a convert, a little over year ago, and has
been the sixth wife of Mr.. II. since few
weeks after her arrival. (The intermediate
four wives of Mr.. Il. live on farm or farms
some miles distant.) The manner of the
husband was perfectly unconstrained and
offhand throughout but l could not we'll
be mistaken in my conviction that both
ladies failed to conceal dissatisfaction with
their position in the eyes Of their visitor and
the world. They seemed to feel that it
needed vin1ication.
Their manner toward each other was
most cordial and sister, y-sincerely so, l
doubt not-but this is by no means the
rule. A Gentle friend, whose duties require
him to travel widely over the territory, in
forms me that be has repeatedly stopped
with bishop, some hundred miles South of
this, whose two wives he has never known
to address each other, or evince the slightest
cordially during the hours he has spent in
their society. The bishops house consists
of two rooms and when my informant stad
there with Gentle friend, the bishop be-
ing absent, one wife slept in the same apart
ment with them, rather than that occupied
by her double [ presume that an extreme
case, but the spirit which impels it is not
unusual. met this evening large party
of young people, consisting in equal numbers
of husbands and wives but no husband was
attended by more than one wife, and no
gentleman admitted or implied, in our re-
peated and unanimated discussions of polyg-
amy, that he had more than one wife. And
l was again struck by the circumstances
that here as heretofore, no woman indicated
by word or look, her approval of any argu-
ment in favor ofpolygamy.
That many women acquiesce in in it as
an ordinance of God, and have been drilled
into a mechanical assent to the logic by
which it is upheld, believe; but that there
is not woman in Utah who does not in
her heart wish that God had not ordained it,
I am confident. And quite number of
the young men treat it in conversation as
temporary or experimental arrangement,
which is to be sustained or put aside as ex.
perience shall demonstrate its utility or
mischief. One old Mormon farmer, with
whom discussed the matter privately, ad-
mitted that it was impossible for a poor
working man to have well-ordered, we'll
governed household, where his children had
two or more living mothers, occupying the
same ordinary dwelling. On the whole, 1
conclude that polygamy, as it was gift on
the original stock of Mormonism, will be
outlived by the root-that there will be
new revelation, ere many years, whereby the
Saints will be admonished to love and cher