menu_book Chapter 43

CHAPTER XLIII. INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES. THE MORMANISM AND MORMANS OF TODAY. The world was all before them where to choose their place of rest, with providence their They hand in hand with trembling steps and slow, through Eden took their solitary way.

PARADISE LOST. When we left the Mormon church we were not quite as badly off as were our first parents when they began life, although in some respects we certainly resembled them. The world was all before us, and it was necessary that we also should choose a place of rest, but it was by no means Eden from which we were dismissed, or rather had dismissed ourselves,

and in the matter of experience in the thorny ways of that world in which we were about to begin afresh the battle of existence we certainly had the advantage over the exiles from Paradise. The crisis of our own lives had now arrived, the act of sending in our resignation as members of the church cut us off from all the associations of the past, and all the friendships and pleasant intimacies of so many years, a great gulf divided our bygone life from the unknown future which lay before us. My husband was now made painfully aware that it was altogether useless for him to attempt to carry on his paper,

for his subscribers, as I before stated, had been counseled to discontinue taking it in. The Daily Telegraph had had a very large circulation, but as there was very little money in the territory, the yearly subscriptions were mostly paid at harvest time, and many of them in grain. At the time, therefore, when the paper was finally given up, the Mormon people, as the bookkeeper in Ogden informed us, owed about $20,000, but when it was discovered that we were apostates, the majority of them considered that they were released from all obligations on that score,

and my husband being an easy, generous-minded man, most of them evaded payment. The idea that, because we had left the church, no saint was bound to pay us any debts which they might happen at the time to owe, was the natural result of the teachings of the tabernacle. Apostates are delivered over to the buffeting of Satan, and the saints consider it is their duty to begin in this world their master's work of castigation. Any ill turn that can be done to an apostate is consequently a good action in the opinion of the Mormons,

and they neglect no opportunity of showing that these are the sentiments which influence them. Although we had now left the Mormon church, never to return, my husband could not at once shake off entirely that influence which had so long held him captive. His thoughts and belief, his hopes and ambitions, had for a quarter of a century all pointed in one direction, and the very idea of rebellion on his part against the authority of the priesthood would, but a very little while before the time of which I speak, have been considered by him an utter impossibility. It was impossible, in a few short months only, to undo the work of five and twenty years, the best years of his life.

He could no longer remain in the church or conscientiously support Brigham Young, but he had not outgrown Mormonism sufficiently to enable him to throw off the yoke entirely and make his paper an opponent of Brigham and his faith. Could he have done so, I think it is highly probable that the telegraph might yet have been saved, for I know that many of the more influential of the Gentiles would have aided him materially in such a course. As it was, nothing remained but to give it up with the best grace he could.

Two offers in reference to the paper were received by Mr. Stenhouse, and it remained for him to decide which he would accept. One of them came from a Gentile who proposed to run it in opposition to Brigham Young, and the other came from a certain Mr. Fuller, who had for some time been my husband's traveling agent and was a very intimate friend of John W. Young, Brigham's youngest son by his first wife. We knew that this Fuller had nothing beyond his salary, but as the friend of Brigham's son,

we thought that probably it was the prophet's wish that he should have this paper, and we believed that he was simply buying it for the church. My husband argued that, although he could no longer unite with the Mormons, he could at least refrain from doing them any injury. He therefore concluded that, rather than let the paper go into the hands of an avowed enemy, he would sell it to Mr. Fuller, who on account of his friendship for the prophet's family, would, he presumed, try to be just to the people. This, no doubt, was very conscientious and just, although, of course, no Mormon would give my husband credit for entertaining such sentiments.

For my own part, I naturally wished him to accept the offer that would pay him the best, which was that made by the Gentile. He could not, however, bring his mind to do this. The paper, therefore, was sold to Mr. Fuller, who ran it for a few months, and then himself ran away, leaving behind him debts enough to swallow up everything. Thus ended the telegraph under that name, but destined, however, to rise again as the Salt Lake Herald, a paper devoted to the interests of Brigham and the priesthood. To my husband it was an utter loss, but it was hardly fair that his conscientious conduct should meet with such an ill return.

It was now necessary that some steps should be taken to provide for our family. The reader may perhaps remember that when we first arrived in Salt Lake City, as I stated, I myself engaged in business until my husband was able to find some suitable and profitable employment. When the telegraph, however, was established, and proved such a great success, and we were in a position of affluence, I considered, the pressure of necessity being removed, that I should do well to resign my own business connection and employ my time more profitably in domestic affairs. This was a great relief to me, for I always felt considerable repugnance in mixing with the world in any way of business, while among my children and attending to their wants and interests I found myself in my own legitimate sphere. But there was now no alternative. All interest in the telegraph had been resigned. My husband's property had been wasted in an attempt to keep it up, and he had nothing now to depend upon.

Something must be done, and I resolved that I would not be backward in bearing my full share of the burden. It was only natural that we should feel very much unsettled in mind by the great change which had taken place in our position, for it is no easy matter to cut us under the ties and associations of a lifetime. Anyone suddenly changing his religious faith would, to a certain extent, feel and understand what I mean in this respect. But in reference to any ordinary religion, the person forsaking it would probably experience comparatively little alteration in his everyday life. In Mormonism it is very different, especially to anyone who has occupied a prominent position among the saints.

To resign our religion was to revolutionize our lives. Everything was changed. The friends of years would look coldly upon us and avoid us. Persons whom we had beforeshund as Gentiles or apostates would be the only individuals who would regard us with favor. Our entire position in the midst of a most exclusive community was completely reversed. In a word, we ourselves were now apostates. Thinking to turn the current of his thoughts and believing that change would be beneficial to him, I suggested to my husband that he should pay a visit to the Eastern states. In New York I believed he could find employment which would help to divert his thoughts from Mormon affairs and at the same time would be profitable to him in other respects.

My suggestion was acted upon and my husband set out east while I prepared to engage again in the same business which I had formerly conducted so successfully. Now for the first time since I embraced Mormonism I mixed freely with Gentiles and those who had left the church. And it was not long before I found that this intercourse with the outer world produced a marked and decided effect upon my mind. My views were enlarged and my thoughts became more liberal in their tone. My husband's letters showed me that a similar change was taking place in him.

We were not the only apostates from the church at that time. The new movement as the reaction against the tyranny of Brigham Young was called and the minds of all intelligent saints were led to reflect upon the unheard of claims of Brigham's infallible priesthood. At this time the prophet endeavored to rivet still more firmly the fetters which bound his deluded followers by establishing Zion's cooperative mercantile institution and reviving the order of Enoch. The cooperative institution was announced as a joint stock concern, established under the pretense that it would be a benefit to the working classes and all the members of the church were invited to purchase shares which were sold at $25 each. The statement so often made by Brigham and repeated by strangers to the effect that the exorbitant prices charged by gentile merchants necessitated the establishment of such an institution was, as every Mormon knows, only a pretense and a very shallow one too.

For the Walker brothers and other merchants had for many years supplied goods to Mormons and Gentiles alike at what, under the circumstances, were reasonable and just prices. For the railway not then being constructed and every article of commerce being of necessity carried across the plains, a distance of over a thousand miles, by horse-teams, prices were of course very high, and would, if this circumstance were not taken into consideration, appear extortionate. In fact, subsequently the cooperative stores, which had started with high rates, under the belief that every rival would be crushed, were compelled to lower their prices to those of the Walker brothers, or, in spite of their faith, the Mormons would have forsaken Brigham's institution for the sake of their pockets. Many, in fact, did secretly go to Gentile stores, but they were watched by the police and reported to the teachers. That large Mormon store, in which Brigham Young had such a heavy interest, was to become the parent establishment, the fountainhead from which temporal blessings, in the shape of cheap goods of every description, were to flow unto the people.

Each ward was to have its own store, and there the saints of that ward were expected to deal exclusively, and, as the teachers said, keep off Main Street, where the Gentile stores were located. These ward stores purchased their goods from the parent store, where nothing was sold by wholesale. All the lesser Mormon merchants were counseled to sell out their stock to the church for just what the church chose to offer them, or dispose of it otherwise as best they could, and then they might go farming or on a mission or anything else, but sell out they must, for they were plainly told that they would not be allowed to carry on business in opposition to the new institution. Now, instead of benefiting the poorer saints by supplying goods to them at a small advance upon cost prices, as was at first proclaimed to be the object of the co-op, as the institution was briefly and familiarly called, the reverse was the case, for competition was altogether banished. All the trade of the Gentile merchants, with one or two exceptions, was forcibly taken from them, for the people were not to trade in any store without first looking to see if the sign of the institution, a picture of the all-seeing eye, and the words, Holiness unto the Lord, were over the doorway.

How often I have seen groups of country people straggling along with their heads thrown back, and their eyes straining aloft in eager quest of that sign, although perhaps their purchases would only amount to a few yards of ribbon or a paper of pins. No one can predict what the Church, otherwise Brigham, will do if money should chance to tempt him. In this case, the parent cooperative store turned, as I might say, traitor, to the ward stores, its own children, for no sooner had they all been established, and had bought up all the old stock from the parent store, then it was whispered abroad that the latter was about to open in the retail line with the splendid stock of new goods, to suit the Gentiles, of course, for the saints were not allowed to trade outside of their own ward stores. In fact, in order to gain Gentile trade and fill the pockets of Brigham and the leading elders who really constituted the institution, and do so still, the same prices were asked at the parent store, as had been charged at the poor confiding stockholders of the ward stores at wholesale. This, of course, caused great dissatisfaction, and many of the saints rebelled, declaring that they would go where they pleased to spend their money, when they had any to spend.

The ward stores, in consequence, were obliged, at great loss, to look for the best of the children, and to buy the best of the children. Others, which had more capital, tied it over the difficulty, and learned a lesson concerning the honesty of the church leaders, which it is to be hoped did them good. As an example of the way in which matters were managed, I may instance a very good example of the way in which the church leaders were managed. She came to me one day and said, Sister Stenhouse, will you buy out my stock in the cooperative store? Our store has failed, and I have my twenty-five dollars worth in my basket.

I pitied her, and she said, Sister Stenhouse, will you buy out my stock in the cooperative store? Our store has failed, and I have my twenty-five dollars worth in my basket. I pitied her, and asked her to let me see her stock, and thereupon she brought out a pound and a half of nails. I did buy out her stock, for I thought that the nails might be handy to have in the house, although I did not give her twenty-five dollars for them. Another person, a Frenchman, whom I knew, bought a share, and when he saw certain ruin looming over his ward store, he went to the headquarters and purchased twenty-five dollars worth of goods, and having got them all secured, laid down his shareholder's receipt in payment, and beat a hasty retreat.

He was a fortunate man, and acted prudently. But, alas, for the poor souls who ventured all their little savings in these church institutions, and then were left to poverty and starvation. The Order of Enoch is the crowning swindle of all. Its victims, under a legal form, make over a large number of people, and the rest of the world, and the world is a place of rest. The Order of Enoch is the crowning swindle of all.

Its victims, under a legal form, make over to the church every cent of which they may be possessed, even to the very close upon their backs, and place themselves, their whole life and being, entirely at the command of the church. They do, in fact, literally make themselves slaves, only their slavery is infinitely worse, and more debasing than the bondage of the negro, for they give soul and mind, as well as body and goods, utterly, absolutely, and forever, into the iron grasp of the Mormon priesthood. This Order of Enoch is quite a favorite institution with Brigham Young, who has lately been preaching it up throughout Utah, and many hundred fanatical and deluded saints have at his instigation given, not sold, for they receive nothing in return, themselves into the subject slavery. And yet these are the institutions which, unprejudiced newspaper reporters and editors, when they visit Utah, and are, according to the fixed and ordinary custom of Brigham, treated and toady to, until poor dupes they think that the favors they receive, are simply marks of the appreciation of the Mormons for their own, conceited or deluded selves personally, and not part and parcel of the These, I say, are the institutions which such visitors laud to the skies when they speak of the prophet's generosity, his open-heartedness, his patriarchal benevolence, and his other saintly virtues.

When we left the church, these institutions were attracting a good deal of attention among the saints. The cooperative still flourishes, and the Order of Enoch has within the last few weeks been gathering into its net not tens, but hundreds of dupes. About this time also it was that the Mormon women, under the auspices of Eliza R. Snow and the Female Relief Society, got up that petition to Mrs. Grant, to which I have referred in another place, begging her to use her influence with the President in favor of a toleration of polygamy. The names to that petition were affixed without any reference to propriety or right. Hundreds of names were copied from the books of the Society without any permission being obtained, or even asked of their owners. It was then, as I before stated, that the names of the dead were actually added as subscribers to the petition.

And in one case, when a lady mentioned that her dead daughter had never belonged to the church, as she died before her mother heard of Mormonism, she was told that her daughter would now of course have found out that polygamy was the true order of domestic life in heaven, and that she would certainly be willing to subscribe if she could return to earth. Her name was therefore added without any further ceremony, although she had been dead a good many years. In January 1872 a counter-petition was got up by the Gentile and Apostate Ladies. It set forth the cruel bondage which polygamy inflicts upon women, spoke of the heartless conduct of the Mormon leaders, and of the murders and other foul crimes which had been committed by them or at their instigation, showed that should Utah become a state under the name of Deseret, which has ever been the ambition of Brigham Young, there would be no protection for life or property, stated that the authorities themselves had declared that when statehood was conferred Gentiles and apostates would have good cause to tremble, and finally prayed the national government to stretch forth its long arm of power for the defense and protection of honest and law-abiding citizens.

This petition was signed by 440 ladies of Utah, whose real names were all fairly and openly affixed by their own selves. It was presented to the Senate by the Honorable Schuyler Colfax, then Vice President, was read, discussed, and ordered to be printed. As might be supposed, it excited a great deal of angry discussion on the part of the Church authorities, and the following Sundays the names of those who had signed were read out in the tabernacle, and strong remarks made upon their conduct, in order to intimidate them and prevent others from following their example. The consequence was that many of their husbands and sons were threatened with loss of employment, and they were thus forced to retract. That same year, a bill was brought into the territorial legislature, providing that boys of 15 years of age and girls of 12 might legally contract marriage with the consent of their parents or guardians.

In stating this disgraceful fact, I feel certain that the reader who has never lived among the Saints, and is not versed in Utah affairs, will think that I must be mistaken in what I say. It is, however, I am sorry to say, only too true, and the records of the legislature will bear me witness. The fact was stated in the New York Herald of January 27, 1872. It will be a matter of interest to the advocates of women's suffrage to learn that Brigham Young conferred the franchise upon the Mormon ladies. This at first appears to be a very liberal measure, but let not the innocent reader be deceived thereby.

The opening of the mines, and the great influx of Gentiles, consequent upon the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad, proved very clearly to Brigham that the day might come when the Gentiles would have an equality, if not a majority of votes. And in that day the slavish despotism of the Mormon priesthood would be overthrown. The time certainly was very far off, but it was wise to provide for contingencies, so a bill was brought in conferring upon women the privilege of voting. No Mormon woman would for a moment ever dream of voting otherwise than she was directed by her husband, and no man would think of voting except as he was counseled by the priesthood. Thus a man with half a dozen wives would now have half a dozen votes, and Brother Brigham, instead of having only his own single vote, would have nineteen for his nineteen wives, to say nothing of his daughters and the whole array of spiritual wives which he might produce.

I have often seen one solitary man driving into the city a whole wagonload of women of all ages and sizes. They were going to the poll, and their votes would be won. It is very easy to see how, in this way, the influence of the priesthood has been extended, and women themselves have been made the instruments for riveting still more firmly their own fetters. But it is by no means easy to see that women in Utah have derived any benefit from being permitted to vote. Voting among the Saints has always been carried on in a very free and easy manner. One gentleman, an English convert, not long since told me that when he had been less than two months in the States, and of course was not naturalized, and had no rights as a citizen, he was counseled by the Mormon leaders to give in his vote.

He did so, and in obedience to instructions received, he gave in also his wife's vote, and a vote of their little baby girl, an infant of only a few months old, although that was before the voting of women was legalized. Others have voted two or three times, so as to make sure that the Church should not lose their interest. And this very common practice of the same persons voting over and over again renders all statistics given by Mormon authority utterly untrustworthy. Besides which, the voting tickets are all numbered, and the voter's names carefully registered in a book, so that the priesthood can tell at a moment's notice on which side, or for whom, a man has cast his vote. In this way, the ballot in Utah becomes a most ridiculous farce instead of a means for obtaining unbiased and uninfluenced elections.

Anxious to obtain admission into the Union as a State, it is the interest of Brigham Young and the leaders to swell the numbers of the population by every means in their power. For this they have strained every nerve to bring over converts from abroad, and with the same object, to build up the Kingdom. They have forced polygamy upon the people. The most unscrupulous measures have been resorted to, and it is even said that on one occasion, when a goodly show of names was needed, not only were the names of the dead and of relations and converts who had never been in the country at all added as subscribers to the document, but that they actually christened their mules, conferring upon them the names of men, and then made them vote also. Notwithstanding the vigilance of the priesthood, many young Mormon ladies have preferred Gentile husbands, and some of them have left the territory. But they have been invariably reduced and scandalized, and whenever the rumor of misfortune occurring to any of them reached Salt Lake City, it was retailed with undisguised gratification as a sweet morsel by the priesthood.

Some Mormon mothers, hating the idea of their daughters marrying polygamists, have encouraged the addresses of Gentiles, and were only too glad to have their children marry out of Mormonism. Such mothers, of course, are apostate in heart, although nominally they may not have left the Church. The extravagancies of modern dress render it every year more and more difficult for men of moderate means to support many wives. Fashion is proving a deadly foe to polygamy, and the feminine taste for finery is in Utah helping to bring about some really good practical results. There is now a pleasing change noticeable in the plural marriages in Salt Lake City.

There are not nearly so many marriages of this kind among the actual citizens as there were three or four years ago. The opening of the mines and the construction of the railroad brought so many strangers among us that it was impossible to withstand their influence. Many of our young Mormon maidens have been beguiled into matrimony by those wicked Gentiles, against whom Brother Brigham has so often warned us. And not only so, but many good Saints have apparently come to the conclusion that though polygamy was so absolutely necessary to their own salvation, it is not by any means essential to the salvation of their daughters. Thus, some of them have given their daughters to the sons of strangers to become in due time mothers of a race of wicked Gentiles.

And if one might judge from their conversation, they do not appear to regret it very much. The dislike of the women to polygamy has increased, especially in Salt Lake City, although in the settlements fanaticism is as rampant as ever. And the celestial system is the order of the day. Young Mormon girls are disgusted when they hear young men, and even boys, talking of their privileges, boasting how many wives they mean to take, and how they will take two on the same day in order to preserve peace. Girls of the slightest feeling or intelligence resent all this, and the more refined regard these little would-be polygamists and all they say with intense loathing and contempt.

To Gentile girls such insults are, of course, unknown, and the Mormon girls, when they have the opportunity of mixing with the outside world, are not slow to discover that, well, if they marry among people of their own faith, they will never occupy their proper position in society. If they become Gentile wives, they will be the cherished companions and equals of the men to whom they are united. Sensitive girls will say that they would rather have a little less glory in the world to come, and have a little more comfort in this. Then, too, the married women compare the condition of the Gentile wives with their own, and the comparison is by no means in favor of polygamy. A polygamic wife who is one of many, and only sees her husband occasionally, and that as a favor, cannot well visit a Gentile wife in her own home without drawing a comparison by no means in favor of Mormonism.

Many Mormon wives have thus become unhappy, and hence the most strenuous exertions are made on the part of the leaders to prevent as far as possible all intercourse between the saints and the outside world. Notwithstanding this, a leading attorney in Salt Lake City told me that during the year succeeding our abandonment of Mormonism, more than one hundred first wives called upon him, proposing to enter suit for divorce and alimony. And this represents but a small proportion of those who would sacrifice almost anything, if only they could escape from polygamy. Left to itself, Mormonism would long ago have perished, so great has been the number of apostates. But England and Scandinavia furnish yearly a multitude of dupes, who come over every summer by the thousands to aid in carrying on the imposture.

These with the people in the settlements, who are purposely kept in ignorance, slavery, and poverty, perpetuate polygamy in Utah. John W. Young, the prophet's son, to whom I have already alluded, became disgusted with polygamy and abandoned it. Therefore, according to his father's teaching, he cannot now enter into the celestial kingdom. But Brigham Young says that he, as the successor of Joseph Smith, holds the keys of the kingdom. He probably thinks that he will be able to shuffle his son, John W., in a quiet way.

For my own part, I do not suppose that Brigham Young believes one word of the nonsense he teaches to the people. He is far too shrewd for that. A certain Utah official once said to my husband, Brigham has got the best thing in America, and he means to hold on to it. That is about the sum and substance of Brigham's religion.

About eight years ago, John W., who is a handsome, gentlemanly young man, married a Miss Lucy Canfield of Ogden. It is said in obedience to the counsel of his father. Two years subsequently, he married Miss Clara Jones, whose father, when living, had occupied a prominent position in the church. This lady also, it was stated, he married in obedience to a command of the prophet, who had been known to say that he wished one of his sons to marry her, and that if they did not, he would marry her himself.

Brigham has often told men to marry certain women, and they have felt bound to obey, believing, probably, as Mormon men generally do, that it makes very little difference, after all, who they married, as they have got to have a certain number of wives in order to enter the Celestial Kingdom, and among them all they will be sure to find one whom they can love.

Mormon men are not very different from other men, for, although they tell their numerous wives quite another story, they can truly love but one woman at a time. Some good saints, I do not doubt, do really believe to the contrary, but love thus divided is not worthy of the name.

In this respect, men resemble women, no woman can love two men at the same time. The two young girls, the wives of John W. Young, of course each in turn, believed that she was the beloved one, but subsequently they discovered how greatly they had been mistaken, for John W. had not yet met with his affinity.

In the course of time, however, the Fair One appeared who was to enslave his heart, and John W. submitted without a murmur. Mrs. Lucy Canfield Young, the first wife, had cousins living in Philadelphia, and as John W. was returning from England, where he had been on mission, at the request of his wife he called to see them,

and there he met with his fate in the person of Miss Lizzie Canfield, one of his wife's cousins. He immediately fell deeply in love with this young lady, and requested her to go with him to Salt Lake City to visit his wife. She agreed, and with her sister, accompanied him,

and before they arrived at the termination of their journey, she had promised to marry him. She had no faith in Mormonism, but everything was forgotten in love. After their marriage Miss Canfield, now Mrs. John W. Young, number three, became very unhappy, for she felt deeply her degraded position,

and though she dearly loved her husband, would have left him, had she not felt that such a step would render him perfectly miserable, for it was evident that he cared nothing at all for his other two wives. They, poor girls, were also destined to become victims to this disgraceful system, abandoned in their youth, and one of them the mother of two or three children.

The first wife, Lucy Canfield Young, perceiving that her husband no longer cared for her, withdrew womanly dignity, withdrew from his husbandly care, obtained a divorce, and became Miss Lucy Canfield again. Miss Clara Jones Young could not so easily bring her mind to leave the father of her children,

but still hopes that her truant husband will return to his unhappy wife, from whom he has not yet been divorced, although he no longer lives with her. In this, however, she is mistaken. John W. will never return to her, for he is completely disgusted with his father's pet scheme of celestial marriage,

and undoubtedly would be formally separated from his second wife, were it not that according to Mormon law, the wife alone has the privilege of applying for a divorce. He is in fact, at heart, a vile apostate, as his father calls seceders from the church,

for no one can possibly be a good Mormon without believing with all his soul in polygamy, take polygamy and the endowments from Mormonism, and there is nothing left to distinguish that faith from any other of the absurd religions which have from time to time been advocated by fanatical men.

John W. Young, notwithstanding the apostate spirit which has fallen upon him, has lately been appointed to preside over the saints at St. George, in southern Utah, and I sincerely trust that he will lead all those good saints over whom he is sent to preside,

to think as he does respecting plural marriage, and that his wife may do her best to create in the minds of the unhappy and degraded sisters around her a desire for that higher social position, that perfect equality with man,

which is the inalienable right of every woman. It is very fortunate for John W. Young that he is the son of his father, for if he had been any other man's son and had abandoned polygamy,

he would never have been appointed to preside over the saints in St. George or anywhere else. But Brigham is all-powerful in Mormonism, it is he who controls the affairs of the kingdom, and if he chooses to allow an apostate son

not only to pass muster, but to be accounted worthy to rule among the saints, who shall gainsay it? Brigham has a bitter hatred of apostates and apostasy, the very name apostate is the most cruel arrow in his quiver,

and yet the very man who, if Brigham's own precedent were followed, ought to succeed him, or Sennheide, the president of the Twelve Apostles, was once an apostate in Missouri, and a very cowardly one at that.

Brigham himself, little as he perhaps imagines it, is the prince of apostates, he became an apostate Methodist when he left Methodism and joined the Mormons, and certainly he is now an apostate from Mormonism

as Joseph Smith first taught it. The change from Methodism to Mormonism as it was first presented to the world was nothing near so great as the departure which Brigham has made from the original faith of the saints.

There have been many apostates from the teachings of Joseph in early days, but of all apostates Brother Brigham is the chief. It may perhaps surprise the reader to learn that in Polygamus, Utah, notwithstanding the constant importation of young girls from abroad,

there are 2,056 more males than females. In four counties only are the females in excess of the males. In Salt Lake County, which includes Salt Lake City, there are 299 more females than males. In Cache County there are 93 more.

In Iron County there are 31, and in St. Pete there are 238 more females than males. In all the other 17 counties, the males are in excess of the females. In many instances the sexes are singularly balanced,

as for instance in Washington County, where there are 1,532 males and exactly the same number of females. Weber County has in excess of 336 males, Paiute has 69 males to 13 females, and in Sevier County there are 19 unfortunate males

who are not blessed with the presence of a single female. These figures I obtained from the Census Bureau at Washington. They speak for themselves and clearly demonstrate that as far as Utah is concerned, instead of polygamy being a necessity

on account of the preponderance of the female sex, the facts are exactly the reverse. And if some men have two, four, six, eight or ten wives, for every wife that they take, some other man is forced to remain single.

Considering the multiplicity of wives among the more pious saints, and the large number of minors who, of course, are either unmarried or have not brought their wives with them to Utah, it is quite evident that there must be a good many single men in Utah. But before closing my narrative,

I must add a few words relative to myself. After my husband had been in New York for some months, it became necessary on account of business that I should join him there. I did so and found him busy upon a history of Mormonism which he had for some years contemplated writing,

and for which he had collected a large amount of valuable facts and statistics from the historian's office in Salt Lake City. While still a Mormon, he had proposed to vindicate the saints and justify their leaders. But now that his eyes were open to the degrading superstition,

and the cruel bondage of the system, he was determined, as far as he had the ability to do so, to expose the corruption and tyranny of the priesthood. I heartily coincided with him, and encouraged him with wifely commendations.

At that time I had no idea of becoming myself an author, and it was not until the close of that same year when I made a second visit to New York that I first seriously entertained the idea of appearing before the public. I was induced to write a little volume

which I thought would expose some of the cruel wrongs which Mormon polygamy and flexipon diluted, helpless women. My work was very kindly received and extensively circulated, but it was, I must confess, only a very imperfect and brief sketch.

In this present volume I have endeavored to supply the deficiencies of the former, and in a truthful, if imperfect, sketch of my own life, and my own experience in, and observations of, the working of the polygamic system,

I have endeavored to give my readers a just idea of what polygamy and Mormonism really are. With the exception of the little literary efforts which I have made from time to time to expose through the press

the iniquity of the celestial order of marriage, no event of more than personal and private interest has, since I left the Mormon Church, interrupted the even tenor of my life. Last year, however, I was able to deal another blow,

weak it might be, but still it was a blow, directed at that false system against which I have sworn eternal enmity. I lectured upon Mormon polygamy in Washington

and Boston and other large cities, and attempted in my humble way to attract the attention of the Gentile world to the iniquities of that terrible superstition which in Utah has degraded womanhood

and the happiness of thousands of my deluded sisters. I met with sympathy everywhere, and then as now, I resolved that efforts like these I would never relax until, if God spared my life,

I should see the last stone in the fabric of Mormonism overturned, and Mormon polygamy counted among the sins and follies of the past. His literary work accomplished,

and it was called Lake City. Looking back over the past, our missionary life and our faith in brighamism seems like a dream. So difficult is it for us to realize

that we ever submitted our souls to the slavery of the priesthood, or placed any credence in that mass of folly, superstition, and licentiousness known as Mormonism.

And speaking by inspiration, can I blame him when I remember that I myself was actuated by the same faith? It was impossible to obliterate utterly the education and influences

of a whole life's experience. That wall of partition, polygamy, which separated my husband from me for so many years, is now forever broken down. But the effects of Mormonism

are still present in our lives, and we will, no doubt, though unconsciously to ourselves, tinge the whole of our future life. We can never forget the past.

The mournful sympathy which, according to the poet at Perry at the Gate of Paradise expressed, over the sins and sorrows of humanity, is now a living spirit.

Dearly ye pay for your primal fall. Some traces of Eden ye still inherit, but the trail of the serpent is over them all. The terrible effects of our religion

will, I know, follow us to our graves, but that temporary alienation has, I think, like the quarrels of lovers, only made us still dearer to each other. With our children growing up around us,

untainted by the fearful superstition which embittered and wasted their parents' lives, we feel that in them is our greatest blessing, and thank God that we have lived to see the day when our greatest ambition is,

by every effort which lies within our reach, to aid in undoing that work which we spent the best years of our life in endeavouring to perform. End of chapter 43