MORMONS
643
MORMONS
This document was not officially promulgated at Salt Lake City until August 29, 1852 (Kemy, ii, 112-130), when it was given to a great conference, to be thereaf- ter as a possession unto all the Saints (Stenhouse, p. 182 sq.). The Prophet's widow at once denounced it as a forgery, and with four of her sons declaimed against it as gravely unjust to the memory of their husband and father. There seems to be, however, no ground for this protest. Mormons who knew Smith and afterwards apostatized, as well as more recent apostate Saints, insist, after a most searching inquiry, that Smith must have been the author, or the supposed " seer," of this " revela- tion." Says Stenhouse : " The sons of the Prophet have been very restive under the imputation of polygamous practices being attributed to their father. They have labored indefatigably in decrying polygamy, and have devoted a large share of their time, talent, ink, and pa- per in hostility to it, as they evidently believe it is both a great error and a great sin. But as the facts of Jo- seph's marital relations with 'sisters' who claim to be his ' wives,' in the Mormon sense, are overwhelming, the sons, in denying their sire's polygamy, are driven to the alternative of silently allowing the uievitable charge of practical ' free love,' ' adultery,' or whatever others may choose to call it. At the present time there are probably about a dozen ' sisters' in Utah who proudly acknowl- edge themselves to be the ' wives of Joseph,' and how many others there may have been who held that rela- tionship ' no man knoweth.' . . . Mrs. Emma Smith may feel justified in denying that her husband was a polyg- amist ; for she may neither assent to the use of the term nor acknowledge the principle. But there is to the au- thor's mind the most satisfactory evidence that Joseph Smith had ' sealed' to him a large number of women some time before his death, many of whom have stated to the author that they were 'the wives of Joseph Smith;' that 'Mrs. Emma Smith was aware of the fact,' and that it was the trouble growing out of the discovery of such relationship that called forth the revelation" (p. 185-188). "We have not room here to quote further from the writings and sayings of the Saints on the sub- ject of "pluralism." In the article on Polygamy the Blormon position will be carefully considered. Suffice it to say here that the practice of pluralism is now car- ried to great lengths among the Saints, their leading men having from fifteen to forty wives each. Mr. Young is known to have nineteen " real, living wives." "How many spiritual wives he has had," says Mrs. Stenhouse {Tell it All), "it would be impossible to say. Probably he himself does not know their number. Late- ly, I believe, he has been making his will, and, if so, I suppose he has ' taken count of all.' He has besides in various parts of Utah many other wives, who are all more or less provided for ; but they are of little account, and he seldom or never sees them. The nineteen whom I have named form his family at home, as I may say — are ail under his own roof, or, at least, they live in Salt Lake City, and are known to every one of his wives" (p. 290). Tlic universal testimony of all travellers is that if tlie effect of polygamy has not been to corrupt the morals and deteriorate the character of the people, it has certainly degraded their physical condition. It is be- lieved that the women submit to a yoke which they ab- hor because they see no escape, or that they bend to it from a mistaken sense of duty. The wives generally live apart, in some instances in separate houses. The first wife is practically recognised as the head, though not always the favorite of the husband.
We quote from Mr. Bowles's pages, who epitomizes in a paragraph the common testimony of all observers against the polygamous practices of the Mormons of Utah : " It is a dreadful state of society to any of fine feelings and true instincts; it robs married life of all its sweet sentiment and companionship ; and while it degrades woman, it brutalizes man, teaching him to despise and domineer over his wives, over all women. It breeds jealousy, distrust, and tempts to infidelity ; but
the police system of the Church and the community is so strict and constant that it is claimed and believed the latter vice is very rare. As I have said, we had lit- tle direct communication with the women of the Saints, but their testimony came to us in a hundred ways — sad, tragic, heart-rending. One woman, an educated, hand- some person, as j-et a single wife, said, with bated breath ' and almost hissing fury, to one of our party in some aside discussion of the subject, ' Poh-gamy is tolerable enough for the men, but it is hell for the women !' " ' Even stronger and more heart-rending is the testimony of Mr. and Mrs. Stenhouse. The latter's book. Tell it A II (Hartford, Conn., 1875, 12mo, pp. 623), gives the story of a woman's life experience in Mormondom in such detail that it really constitutes the fullest review of pluralistic life. Her husband's work is, however, more valuable to the inquirer, as it is written more impartial- ly and considerately. And his picture of pluralism has enough to sadden the most cold-hearted. Says he : " To assert that any true woman living in polygamy is m heart and soul satisfied and happy, is to simply libel her nature. . . . The women are, however, not alone the suf- ferers by polygamy. The intelligent of the fair sex among the Jlormons will readily admit this, and some even go so far as to pity their husbands, and to extend to them the genuine sympathy of their hearts, though polygamy has been their own curse. Whatever else it has achieved, polygamy has at least been impartial with the sexes, and while it has martyred the woman, it has not failed to enslave the man. . . . No man ever regained his senses after the act of sealing without feel- ing that he had fatally wounded the wife of his youth. It is a cruelty that he realizes as well as his wife, and he, the nominal but innocent cause of her wrong, seeks to assuage her sufferings by greater kindness and ten- derness. But no smooth words, nor the soul-speaking affection of his eye, can heal the wound. It steals her life away, and in her true heart she curses the day she ever heard of Mormonism. For the man who realizes and shares tlie misery of his wife, the future life is but ' a living lie.' Were the man an angel, it would be im- possible for him to act justly towards two or twenty wives, and divide to each the full measure other rights. . . . Polygamy may be the marital relation of the sex- es in heaven ; it may be the ' celestial law' of the gods — of that there is no discussion or dreaming; but one thing is certain, that it is not the true marital relation of the sexes upon the earth, and thirty years of its practice under the most favorable circumstances have stamped it as a withering curse" (p. 58-1-588).