The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-26
UNHAPPY MORMON WOMEN.
1t Is Because of the Decline of POlyg-
amy.

Chicago Times-Herald.
The recent jubilee in honor of the ftteentn
anniversary of the founding OF Salt Lake
City has stirred up the Mormon element TO
a renewed interest in plural marriage. AL
though the law forbCs e, still polygamy
exists to certain extent Ana, strange
rs il may seem, it is the women of the Lat
ter-day Saints who grieve particularly Tor
the return of the old institution, which they
claim benefited and uplifted them.
1t is not excess of religious fever which
induces the women of Mormon faith to
make their disconnected and bald state
ments concerning the suppression of plural
marriage. True, religious enthusiasm and
the influence of the church has much to do
with it, but it is the loss Of beautiful UNI
selfish home life, based on rare Utopian
plan that they decry. 1t is the loss OF a
kind of domestic life where silly sentiment
atty, where petty jealousy and hatred has
10 leeway but a life made attractive by
practicability, self-sacrifice, love, kindness
and an instinct to live not for ones self,
but for others.
life which l did once, said a beautiful,
white-haired Mormon woman, now well ad-
vanced In years. She lives in her little
matched cottage, with its quaint plastered
walls and it's tiny rose garden. the same
little cottage which she occupied in the
heyday of her young married life.
Il was the first wife of a Mormon huS-
band There were three other wives. But
l have outlived them all. l have outlived
even their children. had none of my own.
There is Just my husband and re-
naming. We are getting DID, and we miss
the cheerful cries of our once happy home
and big household.
beauty of plural marriage is. They imagine
that 1t is very attractive for the husband,
suffer from association with one another.
That is not So The only person in Nor
mon family who ever becomes discontinued
or unhappy is the huband himself. For it
takes a man of unusual qualities and of
good-natured temperament to manage more
than one woman to the utter satisfaction
of all concerned.
"Why, plural marriage is the very gift
of heaven itself. Among us there are no
homeless women, no outcasts in society,
no beggarS in the street. no starving chill
dren. Each woman has a place in society
and in a home. She is not only q helpmate
to her husband but a helper in the COM
munity. And the more wives a Mormon
possesses the more prosperous he becomes.
For the women in plural marriages are all
sew, they cultivate their gardens, they vote
in municipal affairs. Are gentle women
so energetic? 1t seems even now as if the
Mormon women, deprived of an institution
Such is the wisdom of the law.
Then, where there are sister wives a
children and to her own mental advance
ment The general household duties are
divided and there is more time for leisure.
No Mormon woman ever needs to be a
household drudge.
I'VE understand that gentiles hold the
union of two beings as most sacred. Yet
contemplate all the divorces and unhappi-
ness which exists among them. There is
no domestic infelcity among Mormons We
decry domestic differences, and by common
sense practices avoid them.
ut is the MormonS who are the only ones
to discover how naturally polygamous man
really is. No matter how many wives a
man possesses, he cherishes and loves them
all. While woman is narrow and her life
is bound up in one thing, man is versatile,
broad a creature of many moods and di-
verse contradictory tastes. Can he, then,
be content with the monotony of one small
minded woman? The women at least are
not content without the cOmpanionship and
loving helpfulness of sister wives and the
blessings of Mormoni household.