The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-08-09

smiled Julina Smith, and my children
made a party for me- 1 do not hesitate
to tell you that only the limited size Of
my daughters home prevented us all from
being there, with our children and oul
children's children"
SHARING ONE MANS LOVE
The "all' refers to the other Mrs
| Smiths, one of whom was at the party
| And If wonderment is buzzing in your
| head as to how they felt-how they have
! felt for all these many years in regard
! to sharing the love of the same man, lei
me assure you that my own curiosity
| spurred me into asking Julina Smith that
| very thing She answered me like the
frank, intelligent woman she is:
II was IS when my first baby was
born" said she in her quiet, thoughtful
voice. land very happy, very proud
When few years later a new, pretty
young wife was presented to me, it hurt
me; cannot deny it, and there is no rea-
son why I should deny it. We are all
human, and humanity frail. Well cried
over it.
She paused for a moment and thought
little mist welled up behind her eye
! glasses, but perhaps I only imagined it.
"Of course you did," I thought; maybe
| said it aloud. For a wonan's woman,
for all her dutiful subscription to the 10
articles of the Mormon faith
And what happened then?" ]
prompted.
"why, got over it, that's ALL" said
Juina Smith. when a Gentle wife"
she went on, finds she is not the only
one. she is tragicaliy unhappy. She stays
unhappy. Or she rebels and breaks her
ties. She can see 1t only from her view
point-the wrong one, we Mormon wives
think We may cry little over the sit
uation, but we know it is right, and we
soon go on quite happily
A MATTER OF FAITH
1 asked Mrs. Smith if the Mormons
embraced plural marriage because they
recognized in man a polygamous animal
or because several helpmeets and many
children were necessary to the develop
ment of the community in the hard old
pioneer days, or--or why. She shook
her head emphatcally, denying both rea-
sons.
1T was part of our faith" said she be
cause it was a Biblical command" And
I had to be satisfied with that.
"Why did your people give up plural
marriage when the edict abolishing 1t
went forth in 1890? Why didn't they, hun
dreds of thousands strong, as they were.
insist on it as one of the rights of their
religious faith? You couldn't all have
been put in jail
1--WE did fight for it, answered Mrs.
Smith quietly. I'VE TOOK IL TO the mig n
est courts But when we lost we submit
ted. One of our articles of faith reads:
eve believe in being subject to kings.
presidents. rulers and magistrates in
obeying, honoring and sustaining the
law"
Far be it from me to tell the saints
Gsn't it too naive for anything, calling
themselves saintsD how to order their
own lives But it surely does seem in
consistent to obey the law of the land
and abdicate the law Of their own faith,
''Our men did. however, refuse to aban-
don the wives they had taken" submitted
Mrs Smith And they were sent to
Jail for supporting them!'
WHERE THE LAW ERRED
I do not think it is generally known
that when plural marriage was forbid
den and the support Of the existing
plural wives made felony. the fed
eral government built in Salt Lake City
a large and commodious residence for
the shelter of abandoned Mormon won-
en-. In it's blessed innocence the law
supposed that these wives were III
treated and in tragic need of help. OF
course, none applied at the refuge. Come
to think of it, the story goes that one
poor lady suffering from dementia did
try to establish residence there, but
it didn't pay to keep the place open
for Just one female, however appre-
ciative. So they closed it, and the build