The Van Buren press., 1869-10-19
A Mormon Hassm.
Anna Dickinson Describes Her inside
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In Salt Lake City went 70 the house
Of a Mormen elder. / was told before.
hand he had two wives, and that they had
both lived together some nftssn years,
aud were perfectly happy and contented
they lived together in their house and
were perfectly contented with their lot,
and would not change it il they could. !
was not man. | did not believe word
of it, and 80 / went to see for maself.
went into their house. and it was mag
niiicent one. Here in San Francisce it
would be 1ne house, and there in Salt
Lake it Was splendid one. Magnificent
furniture, fine rooms. fine gardens, and
numerous servants, and my friends sat
dswn in the parlor and In came enc OF
this mans wives. She,was 4 fine, good
locking, healthy Englishwoman. who
could not speak ten words Of grammas-
ical English to savs her life talked
| freely to her; there was no hindrancc 10
that asked her how long she had been
married Seventeen years" Married
here p "No." Married in England :"
"No." Where we're you married them
+" In st. Joseph" Her husband began
to ndgct, and sent her out to get . piece
Of gold, or quartz, or something OF that
kind. understood it all She came
back, and couldn't find 1t, Of course. /
knew that tried to commence whsrc
We had broken Off and her husband i'm
mediately wanted something on the top
Of the house. When she got back again,
tried to commence again where we had
left OF, and he broke in, Miss Dickin-
son came to eat Strawberries and cream;
now, Maria. 20 or and see II they are
ready" l understand it all. Yes, every
word OF it. BY and by In came another
sad looking, but handsome woman. ]
looked at her; said ! at once, Madam
you are the second wife" and - it turn,
ed out. She. also, was an English wo-
man, and the two Of them were the hand.
soonest women saw at Sal. Lake. but
she appeared sad and worn. There was
no Joyous happiness Of married lifs
about her.
There was piano in the room, and
came the little girl Of the house, and at
came the little girl Of the house, and at
once the father said something about
music, and was evidently very proud OF
his daughters capabilities in that line.
So ! asked her to play, and che did, and
made horrid din, and. under cover of
the noise and din, | had my conversation
with the wife, She had not understood
their doctrines. ] asked her: Did you
know when you married your husband
that he could, ifhe would, marry another
woman ?" mo" ibid ho not tell
you SO at the time" mo, he did not.
Our missionaries and preachers when
they 90 out never preach that" $50
you knew notAingjof it5' ",Nothing At
all. !" Z" But when you came here and saw
1t was 80. were you not greatly disap
pointed and chagrined 7" mo, was
not; Iwas sure my husband would never
marry again" (" But hs did," said !.
/" Yes" she answered, and sad, harrow
ed look came over her countenance.
I" Yes, ouly year after, be married
again" Aud do you like that dc you
like him TO have more wives than enc !"
:" Oh, yes, l do! ! wish he had six or
seven" saw through it all in minute.
! understood the state OF that woman's
mind ut once. But was not surprised.
looked blank and went back ON the
old tack. commenced and questioned
her about her English life, and | painted
the picture Of the little cottage at homo
and the codrtship. and at last the mar
riage to one whole soulcd, honest hus.
band and how they would live together
and how she would wait at the door OF
their home aud watch for his coming in
the evening; and asked her IL she could
not be happy there. And she put her
handsome hand to her face and bowed
her head aud cried, "a Oh, my God.
couldn't ~ And then it was plain, it
was easy to see how that woman really
thought and felt. sa 4, IA
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