The Ottawa free trader., 1878-04-13

When IA Mormon takes il into his head that he
wants a certain woman, he makes 1t known ana
the farce Of revelation" is trumped up, Wheh
.trairhtwav two more saints have single thought
ana two hearts beat as one, though there may
be two or three wives in the liarcIn.'
The Governor, in hio message to the tan Leg
slaturc lately alluded to polySamy IN the follow
inp manner: This system Of marriage has con
tinued here thirty years and for fifteen years III
violation Of the law. In all States and lerrltor-
les. cyrcrt Utah II j. considered grave oiichsc
and severely punished rolygamy is n" less Il
crime here than in other portions OF the country
and vet the law remains dead letter upon the
Statutes | regard this system Of marriage an
evil undermining the peace of society brought
within its influence and carrying with it a shade
like blight upon the Offspring of these Illegal re
lations, and the women who are maintained in
them. The number Of polygamons wives in Utah
is large: how large have no means of knowing,
vet they say they number thousands. such con-
dition Of things is an anomaly, nowhere else to
be found in Christian country
The Gcntilcs tell many good jokes about Nor
mon fathers 1t is said many of them cannot tell
their own children when they meet them on the
street. The story i, told for fact, that Brigham
Young was walking down street one day and hap
pcning to meet one Of his children, but not know
ing-sad to him, "Wcll, little boy what is your
name" MY name is Young, you're my father,
Brigham Young, don't you know me"
"THosE WIVES or OURS
said a Mormon to me one day, "llve con,en;eu
andhappy, in their plural state, more SO than you
would imagine" doubted the truth of this as
sertion and put him through his catcchiSm on
the subject as much 4, | dare. "You must ad-
nit, sir" vcnturcd to say, "that human natnrc
is the same the world over, and that religion Will
not change our disposition and scnsibities. Now,
this being so, it is the disposition and nature Of
woman to be Jealous when she finds the love and
affection of a husband divided"
"Our wives are not jealous they never think
of suchnonscnsc, for their time is too much taken
up with household duties to bother themselves
with idle thoughts like that. Look at my wife,
do you think she has any time for jealousy? To
be sure she is my only wife, but with her house
hold duties fourteen children and five or six
servants to look after, she has her hands full"
Fourteen children Is that all after sixteen
years of married life among the MormonsE'
Wen, sir" he replied, "you may consider it
quite a family, but we hold with the psamist that
children are our heritage, and we can have no
surcr sign Of Gods grace and blessing than a
large family of children s. The women
have as much interest in the welfare and pros
perity of the territory rs the men; they have been
content with their simple nccessarics of life and
loc Sborn in, tbn Str uln nd
toll of the infant settlement Now polygamy has
changed little. Each if she choose lives in
her own home apart from the others in perfect
privacy with her children, or, if they prefer, all
combined in one united household" He said as
far as his own daughters were concerned, he
should prefer to see them the sole wives of their
husbands, but that should be as God willcd and
they chose. We don't expect that everybody will
believe us, and no matter what We say, most peo
pie will consider that we are cnumerating our
true state Now You newspaper men sec great
deal Of the world and you know Of much that is
in it which comes to the support of our advocacy
of a change in the marital relations. You need
not wander far from home to see this, but look at
Chicago ana other large cities and see the state
Of society in them. Why, sir, it is perfectly ter
riblc There is no such degradation existing
among the Mormons as there is with you Gen.
tiles; we never have any such thing as divorce,
no cause for it; we never have among us the de
grading vices that exist among the upper ten Of
your so-caed civilization. Look, for instance,
at your cities by night, and consult your medical
men, this will give you an inkling of the dire
full state of society," make no reference TO the
,F LnJ nd la. |
point to your best streets and avenues. "Thc
fact is society is dsointcd, there is but little sta
bility, reliability or confidence anywhere"
"You don't mean to tell me that your people
are without scandal, such a. you accuse the Gen
tiles of"
I'VE are human, and have had troubles Of a
kind but there is nothing destructive in our trials
and difficulties We encourage early marriages,
and every industrious Young man can Keep 4 wife
and rear family in our country; and nothing
would please our leaders better than to see every
maiden on reaching womanhood become the wife
of wcll.bchaycd young man. We have none of
the modern notions about us of preparing to get
married by first making fortune. Two young
folks that come together in love with the deter
to he true to each other, have all the
elements within their reach to live and iulhl the
measure of their creation. There need be none
of the evils of modern society in Utah, for every
man can get 4 wife and every woman can get Il
husband"
Those who know anything of Mormon doctrines
and faith know that the more usual teaching of
charity humility, patience and forgiveness Of
enemies is never made the leading topic of ser
mon but as the Mormons are apcoplc likencd to
the children of Isracl-as they say-and peculiar
to the Lord, such lessons are generally drawn
from "thc dcnunciations of the Prophets, whom
they interpret with litcralncS, not found in other
forms Of faith"
II is quite amusing 10 attend their ward meet
ings. The subjects and oratory of the speakers
are sometimes astonishing to Il stranger. 1t i
said that you are rs liable To hear a sermon ON
"bcd. bug poison, or the culture of tobacco, or