Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-10-10
WHL0E NO. 1888
Brigham YOung's Polygamy.

OalIl, tlt DllilldliJ NCW Olh COl-
respondent Of the Cincinnati Enquirer
comes to the defenre Of Brigham
Young, in a letter from which we
make the following extract -
1t is very little to the credit OF the
charity or the scholarship Of this coun.
try to let such a man die with scant,
ribald notices, when we spend in
dustrious years digging up some dead
Tecumseh OF King Philip whose
squaws and scalps were equally pro
fuse. Those nomads never put Up
brick or stone dwelling they never
resisted the introduction of whiskey,
nor any other white mans vice: they
bad 10 jealousy of their women, and
their religion at the best Was poly
thcism, about OF the tone of the Fee
jecs. Frenchmen hlve written re-
spectful books on Brigham Young's
kingdom, and the date is not distant
when Young will be considered here
for what he was in spite of his con-
ditionS. He did not create nor pre-
vent himself, but was the growth of
causes and Influences, and among them
was that powerful influence of perse-
culion necessary to every strong
agency. How much worse would
weak aud wicked man have been in
his place, than Brigham Young? for
he had in a measure ali the oppor-
tunites Of Nero, of Francla, of Fran
siso Lopez, OF Paraguay. His tutor,
Joe Smith, was weaker and worse
than Young, and he authorized the
polygamy which brigham practiccd
aud respec ted as Abraham or Jacob.
Young married few wives under all
thn circumstances. How many you
and | might have married unCer The
same circumstances, is pertinent i'll
quiry now. The Christian world was
50 much worse than Brigham tn t it
always overesitnated his family, ma
king it about forty to sixty wives, ard
that, | suppose, would be the average
morality of men dndcr the same temp
tattoo. Young WAS IN excellent hus
band under those conditions, and had
therespect u aiin'a "i'N" "''>' ~......-..
The woman Ann Eliza, was hardly an
exception, and she would have devil.
cd sixteen husbands to death. 4 wo-
man who has consented to be the 18th
wife of IN old man, and then makes a
travelling show Of herself on that
qualification only, is very tough
chicken. The natural relation OF men
is polygamous. That is proved by
the way all the women watch their
husbands. As the previous history Of
the world and nine tenths OF its pres
ent society supports this view, let us
merely add that mopogamy was a
civil convenience before it became
religious medication, even in the New
Testament The economical and bar
monious Greeks got it up, along with
the Order in architecture, the Unities
in the drama, and the Phrygian night
cap Po'ygamy is the institution Of
nature scarcely savage tribe is
found without it. Relapsing almost to
sayagery, driven from frontier TO front
ier, and finally to the alkaline plains
beyond the Sioux, the Mormons, re-
lapsed to the marriage institution OF
the mounds around them and relied
for its sanction on the revelation OF
Joseph Smith. 1t is also alleged and
believed among them that its intro
luction was a piece of statesmanship
to make the men adopt aud protect
! the supertIuous women of the colony,
, who were greatly in excess. "And
. Boaz said Who art thou And she
. answered, | am Ruth, thine hand
maid spread, therefore, thy skirts
over thine hand maid for thou art 4
, near kinsman." This is not from the
! book Of Mormon, but from the book
} of Ruth, that Moabite widow who
5 married the pol, gamist Buaz, and
} their grandson was Kiug David
| Such an exquisite story ofpolygamous
] lite as Ruth is allowed to lio around
among people and is preached from
, constantly, and yet we feel outraged
r that in the year 1882, VIXEN so much
: ignorance aud pulpit tanatlclsm pre-
+ vailed in this country, a young man
=. of thirty-one should have heard his
: preacher commend the example Of
e Boaz, and did not feel indignant
/ about it.
1t is stated that Mrs. Hayes
ex erts benign influence at Washing.
, ton." A seven benign perhaps, while
: her husband has TO content himself