The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-04-25
Education and Habits of the Mormons'

On the 10Th instant, Jucge Cradlebaugh,
late one of the United States Judges in Utah
made speech at Circleville, Ohio, on the sub
iect of Mormonism. We make a single ex-
tract:
The little education the children get consists
in preparing them for the reception OF polypa.
NV. So at variance is that practice with all
the instincts of humanity that 1t has to be
messed upon the people with great assiduity
as part of their religious duty. 10 prepare
the women for the reception of the revolving
practice it is necessary to brutalize them by
DESTROYING their modesty The sentiment of
love is ridiculed, cavalier gallantry and atten-
tons are laughed at, the emblematic devices
of lovers and the winning kindness that with
us they doat on are hooted at in Utah. The
lesson they are taught, and that Is lncuicated
above all Others is increase and multiply" IN
order that Zion NAV be filled. The young
are tamiliarized to indecent exposures OF all
kind the Mormons call their wives cattle /;
thew choose them pretty much as they chose
their cattle and that great pink Of delicacy,
Heber C. Kimball, the next in prominence, as
also the nextin sin to Young, calls his women
his cows.
A man is not considered good Mormon
that does not uphold polygamy by precept and
example and he is a suspected Mormon that
does not practice it The higher the man is in
church the more wives he has. Brigham
Young and Heber Kimball are supposed to
have each between fifty and a hunered. The
reverend Mormon bishops, apostles and the
presidents Of stakes have as many as they de-
sire, and 1t is a common thing to see these
IaA old Turks cnPrnnn1nh nv. a
troop of robust young wives. The common
people take as many as they can support, and
| it is not uncommon to see house with but
| two rooms, inhabited by man, his half dozen
| of wives, and proportionate number OF chill
dren, like rabbits in warren. and resembling
very much the happy family that we read Of
the prairie dog, the owl and the rabbit. Incest
is common. Sometimes the same man has a
daughter and her mother for wives at once
some have as wives their own nieces, and
Aaron johnson, of Springvilie, one of the most
influential men in his parts, has in his harem
oftwelve women no less than fiveof his broth
ers' daughters. One Watts, Scotchman
who is one of the church reporters, is married
| to his own half-sister. On her arriving in the
country he applied for permission to marry
| her, but Brigham at first refused, and settled
| the matter by taking her into his own harem;
but in few weeks he relented, the seal was
broken, and he gave her to Watts.
To suppose that polygamy conduces to hap
piness is to suppose a total subverson of wo-
mans nature. In the matter of affection wo-
man is complete monopolist; she must have
| all the heart or none But in Utah she has to
be contented with small fraction of that
| smallest off all hearts, Mormon heart, little
attention, and no devotion. The little home
which ought to be her throne and her empire
is lost to her. They are jealously watched
and dreadfully abused if they are seen to show
| by even so much as a glance, that they are
unhappy. But the long and anxious counter
ances Of the mothers in Israel" proclaim too
plainly their entire misery The ill-aSsorted
children-the offspring of one father and many
mothers-run about like so many wild animals
| The first thing they do, after learning vulgar
ity is to wear leather belt with butcher
knife stuck in it and the next is to steal from
the Gentiles then.t ride animals; and as soon
as they can, 'by hook or by crook" get a horse
pair OF jingling Mexican spurs and reVol'
yer, they are then Mormon cavaliers, and are
fit to steal, rob and murder emigrants. The
women and girls are course, masculine and
uneducated, and are mostly drafted from the
lowest stages of society. 1t is but seldom you
meet handsome or attractive women among
| them.
The foreign element largely predominates
in Utah. The persons emigrating to the Ter
ritory are generally from the mining, manu-
featuring and rural districts of England. The
American portion cfthe Mor1nons are generally
shrewder than the rest, and are chiefly from
the New England States Most of these men
are no doubt fugitives from justice, and most
of them are bankrupt in both fortune and char
| acter.