The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-11-07

wealthy parents In the East Coming t.
Utah with her husband, they embraced tn
Mormon faith. By and by followed TIN
curse, polygamy. To the other women he
husband calls wife she is all kindness ant
courtesy. Her children regard her as almos
a saint, and do not wonder, for II suffer
ing can purify, her soul must be white a
wool.
And so with others whom I met. 1t wa
the same answer: 1--WE pray and weep: it /
woman's lot; but the reward is hereafter
They do not find the yoke easy nor the bur
den light; but who of us shall say tina
their path shall not lead them to the green
pastures and beside the still waters u thu
Great Hereafter where we shall all be judged
not by what we do or what we do not dt
here, so much as by the motives which con.
trolled our lives.
+ Donot fall into the error OF thinking am
defending polygamy. God forbid. loathe
and hate and despise 1t. 1t is stain which
our Government should stamp out Of exis-
tence; an excrescense OF society which
let alone, will sooner or later die OF its own
rSHefiness. looked upon Brigham Young
with much the same feelingas did Margarut hs
Wuffner, Prussian lady who visited Utah.
She described him as "a human hypopota-
mus a moral monster, calmly setting all
the moral aud social laws Of the country at
Defiance" and of those men who were asso-
ciated with him and are now carrying on
his work, see no reason to think better.
One man, who boosted to me Of the number
Of his wives, plainly told me 1t was the only
remedy for the social evil. He had been
driven to the wall in argument, and in des-
peration, dropped the cloak Of religion, re-
vealing the skeleton of evil which controlled
him.
| An anecdote is told of an Irish Judge who
was called upon to sentence man who had
been convicted OF bigamy. When the pris-
oner rose to hear his doom, the judge said :
Faith, an It's meself that sintences ye to go
free; fur If ye've lived wild two women at
once ye've been punished enough entoirly,
fur its meself as can't live wild one.''
Arguing from this standpoint many Nor
mons say that polygamy is greater cross to
men than to women, for, while a man may
have Joined to himself score OF wives If he
will, no women can possess herself Of more
| than one living husband. There are cases in
Salt Lake where man has married, firstthe
daughter in family, then his widowed
mother-in-law, and so on to the end Of that
family. A teacher in Salt Lake told me of a
puzzling question asked her by pupil, who,
accompanied by little girl younger than
himself, came to school. If any Of my read.
ers can answerit, will be happy to enlight-
en- the teacher.
This was the puzzle the little ones brain
told In his own childish way
Teacher, how is 1t anyhow? What rela-
ton is Jennie to me? Ny father is her faith
er, and her mother is my grandmother. And
SO it was-a result Of Brigham Young's
message from the Lord; puzzle for little
heads now, but by and by believe their
| eyes will be opened and they will renounce
these terrible things.
| If the husband was compelled to support
ibis numerous wives and children, he would
Indeed be burdened, and the result would be
most gratifying, for polygamous marriages
would be decreased in ratio to Brighten the
very elect; but it is, I believe, usu-
ally quite the reverse. 1t they do not sup
port the husbands in some instances, 1
know they do, they are, at least, self sup
porting, and in no way a care or burden to
the man whose name they bear.
| The newest wife, like the latest baby, is
queen for a time, but her reign is usually
brief. Brigham Young had made Amelia
Tolson his favorite, and the seventeen 9TH
ers gathered the few crumbs OF comfort he
vouchsafed to throw to them and went their
way in silence. When one Of them, the
mother of large number of children, lay
on her death bed she said:
II do not know but my whole life has
| been failure. have meant to no right s;
1 have tried to do my duty, but I don't
know but it has all been mistake.''
Down on the very brink of the valley and
shadow of death she saw with clearer Wis
ion and felt, what perhaps many another
has done, that her life had been sacrificed
to a superstitious faith, rather than in the
cause of him who said ~ am the way and
| the life."
Brigham built for Amelia an elegant and
expensive residence known as the Amelia
palace. but dying before its completion he
| could not install her there, and failing to
alter will made years before, she found
herself even poorer than others less favored.
| She grieved his death with more ostenta.
ton, and, as natural result, was the first
to marry again.
The well known favoritism OF the great
Apostle of Mormonism is only an illustra-
| ton of the same course among the lesser
| lights.
Among the young saints I met some as
sweet, pure girls and as manly. true men as
ever knew; who are anxious to make the
most of their life; who are impr owing every
opportunity for study, keeping up among
themselves literary and musical societies, and
striving to make Of themselves men and
women deserving esteem and honor. Their
devotion to their mothers is remarka BILE in
her patient suffering, in her faithful perfor-
nance OF duty, they see the only beauty OF
the religion in which they have been trained,
1T IS mymotAer's reli aion, and achere is a
better Christian than she. ''came impetuously
from more than one young person with whom
I talked.
They sec the terrible varying o social laws
and customs; they are already hating be-
tween two opinions, and pray that theil
eyes may be opened, that they may see the
bitterness Of the cup which is preparing fol
them, and turn from it before 1t is too late
Once let them shake off the shackles of the
Mormon Church and they will stand ou
among the men and women Of Our countr,
against whose name may be written
''Benefactors of their race;'' for they posses
will and brain power sufficient to lead ~
they have been led, and to bring out O
thraldom others less strong than themselves
Brigham Young has gone to answer for hi
| Gins q tho har NJ God ono hy, o,,< t;, o..,