Litchfield enquirer., 1869-10-07

tdevout disposition, and realier than mer to make sacrifices for the cause. He did not claim that everything ran smoothly al
 ways in these multitudinous households "Of course" said he, ssthere are occa sional bickerings and strifes and manifes i tations of jealousy and envy. We should Il be more than human if we didn't have them, and we do not claim perfection fo, the whole church., We are only human and these are human frailties, which nei ther monogamy nor polygamy are proo against. Practically. however, the institu tlon works we'll. Our women"-and ob served that he spoke almost invariably O. the Females as "women," not wives''- believe in the institution more complete ly than the men, and very often the mer are urged by their first wives to take nor, women." ~
 How many wives has Brigham Young?'
 "l don't know exactly" said he. ssl believe he has some eighteen or twenty il his house here; then there are a good ma ny others; widows of members in tn. church in different parts of the territory whom he provides for and takes care of. From this he went on to speak of the gen .efal character of the women of Brigham :: harem. never saw 8 finer looking O, more intelligent lot of women than Presi- dent Young's," he said, very much as he Wonld speak of the qualities of herd o1 1 cattle. Some of them he took pains f. describe to me quite minutely. He seem ed very honest about it, and not to dream that all he was saying was perfectly proner and decent It was the kind of talk that to any man, who remembered, mother sis. ter, or wife. grated very harshly. How many children has Preside,, Young? inquired. g.4r |1--'N'
 "Slxty-eight," said he, "and as fine q lot of children, physically and intellectn. ally. as ever saw. It would do you good some morning when he is out on his grounds with his children, to see them play round him. He takes string of them on each hand, and plays all sorts of cannes with them. as though he was as young as any of them. He wears an old dressing gown, and it was real fun to see the chii. dren chamber over him, hanging on to his neck, rummaging his pockets, and making as free with him as they do with each oth. CT. He knows them all by name, and who the mother of each is; his memory of such things is wonderful.''
 Think of the wonderful memory man must have to remember the names and fa- ces of his own children.
 They are very orderly and well behay- ed children. all of them," he continued Indeed, never knew a man who had such good government in his family as President Young. They all sit at one ta- ble, and not hand is stirred till he has asked the blessing; then they commence faG4fesaf9h santher- sitting by her own substantial, consisting principally of fruits and vegetables. with very little meat, and no pork or any klnd of wines or other li- quors. At night the bell IS rung, and all the families assemble in the Presidents room. with the children kneeling in the center. when prayers are said and then all retire. "'
 The Elder was very enthusiastic over Brigham's domestic discipline and house. hold arrangements, and some of his re- marks on that head were exceedingly quaint. @'
 : In reply to an inquiry as to the physi- cal health of the people, he said there were but very few deaths, and those chiefly among the children-the mortality among them being caused principally by scarlet fever and diseases of the throat. "We have no doctors mi nisters or lawyers among us, he said, {" for we do not need them. When any of our people are sick they send for an Elder of the church, and he comes and prays over them. If they con- tinue sick or grow worse, council of FL ders is called, who annoint the sick person with holy oil, and then all gather round, lay their hands on the person, and pray for his restoration to health. This," said he with the utmost simplicity and apparent 1 faith-ss has never been known to fail. '' But" said I,g"do zone of your peo- pie die? You certainly do not expect to ] live forever?" -..,.-..,
 !" President Young believes there is no need of anybody's dying before they are at least a hundred years old, and know l that if the elders are called in when g per l son is first taken sick. and he has been 8 l good Mormon and has faith, he is sure tc get weli."a ~'4 ESQ adult Mormons do not die?" said. h"No," he replied, and I dropped the subject then, for suspect he took me fol l marine. ~
 He was very free to talk upon all subjects l but one. The Endowment House. he fought shy of, because he said there were : some of the ceremonies of the Endowment which could not be explained to outsiders, they were so liable to be misunderstood land construed to the prejudice of the church. This Endowment business is said by the Gentiles here to be the worst fea ture of the whole concern. and l suspect that even if he had gratitied my curiosity upon the subject, should have got hold tof nothing fit to be reported or printed.
 Speaking of the virtues of the people he laid particular stress upon their habits of sobriety, and the fact that they used nc stimulants whatever. "There is no whis. key drinking among us." he said" Oul people use neither whiskey, wine, tobacco, tea, or coffee, and the consequence is, we are the healthiest people in mlnd and body in the world.'' 9i"$',fet oil' 'e~@" ..'-'
 .sSpeaking of temperance," said, "re I minds me that some of thereports ofPres ide1t Youngs discourses would seem to in, dicate that he was not always as tempe rate in his language as you say he is in hii habits. Don't he sometimes rant a little in the pulpit? indulge in what we New England people call profanity
 i ''Well," said the elder, q" don't know about that. He has sometimes when hs was very much .incensed at the slanders and lies that have been published about him and his family and the church used rather strong language. suppose yor have seen the sermon in which he speaks of sending the enemies of the church te He'll across lots He was very angry al
 the time--at the course that had been pur sued hv some 0f tha anomioe If fB,cs rhnrch