Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-07-29
BRIGHAM,S BEREAVEMENT.

BRIGHAM'S BEREAVEMENT.
brigham Youngs wife, Emiline, died last
Saturday" Such is the laconic announce.
ment by telegraph of a recent bereavement
in the household of this latter-day saint; and
in this sad atHiction, Brigham, no doubt, feels
peculiar degree of anguish that will fall to
the lot of few men Of the present generation.
He is now, if popular tradition regarding the
number of his wives be true, the one-sytieth
part of widower; and hence his aflictiuu,
so far from being smooth and evenl y cut, is of
the ragged edge description. As slow torture
is most painful, so must this laceration of the
tender cords of his loving heart cause more
poignant grief in his afectionate breast than
falls to ordinary men, who, in similar circum-
stances, if bereft of an only partner of their
griefs and joys, have the consolation of know
ing that though they may be alone, they are
at least once more free.
How man would feel as the one.sixtieth
part of widower, can, by the most of US,
only be conjectured. Indeed, we doubt if any
one not absolutely in Brigham's sad condition,
can have realization Of the extent of the
moral Niagara, on the brink of which so sad
a catastrophe would place him. While dry
ing our tear-moistened eyes in contemplation
of the subject, we had the temerity to ask the
counsel of lady for whose opinions general
ly we entertain great respect; but the ques-
ton was left about where we found it, while
we soon made the discovery that we had ap-
piled to the wrong person for information.
But in this dispensation we are again re-
minded of the compensating laws even of
mans moral destiny. According to arithmet-
ical progression, if Brigham is the one.slxtieth
part of widower, ffty-nine living and ten
derly-loving wives are happy in the thought
that they have each the one.6fty.ninth part
more of husband than formerly, which, in
the declining years of this fraction of hus-
band, is not without its solace. And while we
make due allowance for Brigham's grief, may
we not conclude that the funeral of the de-
parted Emiine was not altogether scene of
sombre mourning and dark despair? Did
not ffty-nine pairs of sparkling eyes-black,
hazel and blue-lght the scene of mourning
with just the slightest scintillation of pleasure,
as if to assure the much. married but grief
stricken man that he might yet be happy in
the ownership of those gems, and that he
could bask indefinitely in the doting love of
more wives than any other saint or sinner in
America? If woman's woe in her devotion
does sometimes take all eccentric course, who
can doubt its sincerity? And who, by out
ward appearances, can fathom the depths of
her grief?
What effect this afliction of the prophet
will have upon the Mormon problem, is of
course undeveloped That the peculiar doc
trine has its devotees all over the world is a
fact clearly demonstrated. 1t is violation
of the statute law of this land, which is prob.
ably we'll enough for if left to regulate itself,
as social equality is expected to do under the
civil rights bill, many reckless men outside
the pale of Mormonism would become ire
trievably entangled in the matrimonial moose,
and their marital relations would be as intri-
cate as any question that has puzzled Louisi-
ana or Arkansas politicians for the last ten
years.
True, in such condition of society, certain
abuses, now so prevalent, might and no doubt
would be, corrected. The frugal husband,
with a bevy of wives on his hands, would
have an. eye to the extravagant tendencies of
the sex in the matter of dress, and a reform
in this particular would be inaugurated
throughout the land. We now recall para
graph we read some years ago, in which the
afflicted man who forms the subject of this ar
ticle was the central character. Thequestion
of spring bonnets had been discussed in his
household, until in the babel of voices, and
the various phases presented, it became mo-
notonous in the extreme. So to end the wrang-
ling, the festive old gent marshaled his wives,
and addressing them on the subject of bonnets,
he prescribed the particular style that they
each and all should wear, gave plain and
simple directions for the making of them, and
with flashing eye and martial mien that
would have been creditable to Julius Cesar,
he pointed to their bewildered gaze the iden-
tical straw-stack that had been set apart to
furnish the material for their headgear. With
singular unanimity the style was adopted, nor
has the fashion in that household changed to
this day. Other reforms of similar charac.
ter might be noted, were it necessary. Though
far from our intention would it be to cite them
as arguments in favor Of polygamy. The
best institutions have their abuses, and not
every man is Brigham Young. We have
often fancied that his is military mind
Surely none other could discipline and control
a platoon of wives as he has done, and none
but the stoutest hearts and most strategic
heads should make the attempt.
We once knew a vain little husband, who
prompted by his vanity, while in the presence
of company, put his wfe's CATERS on his own
feet to show that in that point ofsymmetry, al
least, he was her equal. 1t ranked her bos
ON her womanly pride was touched, and she
had her revenge At the very first opportu
nifty that presented itself she donned the pan
falcons, and has proudly and defantly worn
them ever since. With squad Of wives
around him, this man would always be in
sad predictament. He did not know how to
manage one-much less sixty-and we cite
I I'll hnch pIc