Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-11
S5ourual aro Courier.
SINGLE COPIES THREE CENTS.
Monday, june II, 1883.
SINNERS AND SAINTS.

L LA 4AOOAu6Ous WuO WEObc 81 AOoG44A5AJ
and vividly concerning life in India, has
written another book with the title Sinners
and Saints, " in which he makes hearty and
elaborate defense of the Mormons. OF course
he does not defend polygamy, but he evi-
IDENTIFY thinks pretty well of the polygamists.
He spent three months among the Mormons,
which is of course long enough to enable an
Englishman to find out anything that is
worth knowing about any other country
than his own
Mr.. Robinson has, he says, seen, spoken
to and lived with Mormon men and women
of every class, and never in his life in any
Christian country, not even in happy, ru-
raj England, has he come in contact with
more consistent piety, sobriety and neighbor-
ly charity. Without particle of odious
sanctimony the Mormons in their words and
actions seemed to him as Christian as he had
ever thought to see men and women. He says:
ga perpetual spirit of charity seems to pos
sess them. and if the prayers of simple, de-
vout humanity are ever of any avail it must
surely be this wonderful Mormon earnest
ness in appeals to heaven. I have often
watched Moslems in India praying, and
thought then that had seen the extremity
people on their knees in their kitchens at
morning and at night, and heard their old
men-men who remember the dark days of
the faith-pour out from their hearts
their gratitude for past mercy,
their pleas for future protection,
find that 1 have met with even
a more striking form of prayer than I have
ever met with before.' OF their charity
this public notice, which is a regular bylaw
in the Mormon settlements Is proof:
NOTICE TO ALL-s.If there are any persons
in this city who are destitute of food, let
them be who they may, if they will let their
wants be known to me, privately or other
wise, will see that they are furnished with
food and lodging until they can provide for
themselves. The bishops of every ward are
to see that there are no persons going hun
cry" Signed by the presiding bishop.
Another conspicuous feature of Mormon
life is sobriety. Mr.. Robinson was guest
in fifty different houses and only once was
he offered even beer. That exception was il
Danish household, where the wife brewed
some curious stuff. And even tea and cof-
fee, being discouraged by the Church, are
seldom used. Tobacco is virtually unused.
Individual Mormons drink and smoke, hui
the great majority of them strictly refrain
from using Intoxicating liquor as beverage
and from tobacco in all its forms"
1t is dep1orable that such fine people
should be addicted to polygany, but they are
According to Mr.. Robinson, however, theil
poIygamy is not what most people think it &c
be. The plural marriages of Utah are who'll
ly unlike Oriental polygamy, unlike any
thing else on the face of the
earth. Polygamy in Utah is not compul
sorry. Men and women are entirely free
to marry or to remain unmarried. The
church interferes with the domestic relation1
of the people only so far as to see that q
man does not turn his wife adrift without
provision. A woman can get a divorce if
she is unhappy. Her husband must provide
for her, and she is free to marry again. The
question of polygamy is sadly complicated
by the women themselves. There are un-
happy marriages, but apparently not nearly
so many as in some of the States of this
great, glorious and homogeneous country, and
large majority of the plural wives uphold
the institution. A great number of them
are advocates of Woman's Rights; they
have Woman's Rights newspaper and have
contemplated evangelizing the eastern States
on this very subject, and organizing cru
sade against the polyandry of the eastern
cities. One of their most popular writers,
Lille Freese, speaking of the evil OF
the contempt for the marriage obliga-
ton. says, "Only among the despised Latter
Day Saints will the true foundation of social
happiness and prosperity be found upon
earth" and this seems to be the opinion OF
most of the Utah women. Naturally Mr..
Robinson thinks the Edmunds bill a mistake,
and declares that f'the fashionable milliner'
is the most formidable adversary that polyga-
my has yet encountered. ''That old serpent
the fashionable milliner, has got over the
garden wall, and Lilith and Eve are no long
er content with primitive garments of home
manufacture" AS consequence of this
polygamy will, he thinks, before long be i'm.
possible, except to the rich.
OF course it is impossible with the little
space at our command, to give an adequate
mondom, but we have indicated their gen.
eral nature. If he is correct in his state
ments and opinions most of the previous
writer's on Mormonism have been wrong.
But it is fair to say that most of them have
been avowedly hostile to the system. Mr..
careful observer, and are well worth atten-