The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1905-07-25


discover that afternoon that she herself had been
married to polygamous Mormon only short
| time before
| A man must have revelation that it is
the will of God before he can take plural wife,
but such revelations" have way of coming very
| easily when they are wanted. About the best ex-
position of the whole affair is furnished by Miss
Marion Bonsall who was sent to Utah by the
Housekeeper Magazine to make unbiased re-
port of conditions, and whose articles now ap-
pearing in that publication. She went, she says,
| with sympathy for the Mormons; she came back
hopeless declaring: "I wonder if I will ever have
the same view of the United States as had before
| T came to know something of what was taking
place day in and day out in the very heart of it.
If there was a stronger word than tragedy to use
| to describe the lives of many of the women, L
| would use it. What they suffer in the name of
their religion is beyond belief" We shall print
| some extracts from Miss BonsalPs papers next
week.
My impression is that a good Mormon cannot
| marry a Gentle without the consent of the
| Church. though [ am not sure of this. Certain
it is that these Latter-Day Saints look upon 'Mul-
| tiply and repenish the EARTH as the first great
| commandment, and early marriages are heartily
| favored. Amusements and social gatherings
| are encouraged, and friend of mine who lived
| sometime in Utah tells me that after church
vices the seats are often cleared away for the
dance that follows the doxology.
The Missionary Zeal of the Mormons.
And now what of the future of this Church of
Latter-Day Saints? I confess do not know. It
looks if the trend of the times would be against
such curious conglomeration of religion super
stition, lust, and autocracy, and that it would
eventually die out. But its wonderful missionary
zeal makes this doubtful. Any young man may be
sent out on mission" by the authorities of the
Church; and we all know that hundreds of these
are now at work in this and adjoining States.
A friend told me of a young man who had been
married only two weeks when the Church officers
told him he must go off and "work for the Lord
two years. He left his bride and went without a
murmur. Nor does the Church pay the expenses
of the missionaries; thev must support themselves
or have their families support them. In good
| cause bad, such zeal cannot fail to have it's
reward, and it is not surprising that newly-con-
verted recruits are sometimes brought in by the
carload. Formerly, large portion of these came
from England, but the Church now draws quite
| as many from the more ignorant classes of Hol-
land, Sweden, and Germany while "many of the
| immigrants" says one magazine, 'Ecome from the
poorer whites of our Southern States"
One Man Who Kicked Against the Church.
| The President of the Norman Church seems to
be something more than a mere Pope Not only
is he the representative of God, but he is proph-
ct receiving direct revelations now-and this is
more than the Pope of Rome claims, I believe
The general conference meets once year to rati-
fy the apostles acts but this is mere formality
There is practically any serious objection
1t is said, however, that one young man did