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Women of Mormonism
Chapter 11 - Fanaticism
THE WOMEN OF MORMONISM:
or
THE STORY OF POLYGAMY
As Told by the Victims Themselves.
Edited By
JENNIE ANDERSON FROISETH
Editor of the Anti-Polygamy Standard, Salt Lake City,
PUBLISHED BY
C.G.G. PAINE, DETROIT, MICH.
1886
Copyright, 1881 and 1882
By Jennie Anderson Froiseth
Degradation of the
Fanatics.-Joseph Smith's Holiness.-Brigham Young's Opinion of Joseph.-Mormonism Justifies
Lying for the Truth.-No Cross, No Crown.-One Man the Husband of Three Generations.-The
Mormon Elder and His Wives.- Advice of a Mormon Woman.
[131] THE third class of the
women of Mormonism, those who believe, or pretend they believe, in polygamy as a divine
ordinance, are the most degraded of all the women of Mormonism. This class may be divided
into fanatics and hypocrites.
The fanatics are degraded, because they sacrifice reason, modesty,
happiness, and all a true woman holds dear, to a false principle. Of course, the majority
of these are totally uneducated, and mostly from the lower walks of European society, but
one meets occasionally among them a. woman who whose birth and early training should have
rendered her proof against such superstition and bigotry.
If you try to reason with them, and talk to them of the unhappiness
existing in polygamy, and its evil effects, they will answer you that the flesh must be
mortified and the moral woman sacrifices in this world the greater will be her reward in
the next.
[132] It is hard for a woman to share the affections of her husband
with others, they will admit, but they will add that it is only for a little time, and the
glory she will obtain in the hereafter will compensate her a thousand-fold for the trials
she has endured in this life.
In regard to the many evils of polygamous life, and the utter
wretchedness and misery which invariably accompany it, they will tell you that these
things exist because the divine principle iq not carried out as God intended it should be
If polygamy is practiced properly, there is no need of unhappiness; but should a principle
be condemned because some people do not understand it, or know how to carry it out in a
proper manner?
A husband should certainly treat all his wives alike, and not show
any favoritism, and it is the duty of the wives to bear and forbear with each other. But
if they fail to do this, is that a competent argument against the fact that God revealed
the principles of polygamy to Joseph Smith? If men and women are weak or rebellious, and
fail to do God's will, is that to prove that he has never revealed his will to men?
If you attempt to question the authority of Joseph Smith as a
prophet, or venture to intimate that he was not the kind of person whom a pure and holy
God would choose as a medium his will to men, you will be indignantly assured that Joseph
was a God-like character himself, notwithstanding a mass of indisputable facts existing to
the contrary.
[133] We heard one of these women assert, and she was apparently
honest in her convictions, that all the reports about Joseph's immorality were fabricated
by his enemies, that his life was as pure as that of Christ Jesus, and she added
pathetically, "Jesus was crucified on Calvary, and Joseph was martyred at
Carthage."
Not without a little hesitation, we inquired, " Do you consider
that Brigham Young was also a prophet of the Lord?" " Yes? certainly," was
the immediate reply. " The mantle of Joseph descended on brother Brigham."
"Then how do you account for the very poor opinion entertained by Brigham of his
predecessor? We have read in one of his published sermons reported by your own church
stenographer, a statement to the effect that 'Joseph was anything but a saint; that his
virtues were few, his vices many, among the least of which were gambling, drinking,
horse-racing, and seducing women."' Of course, she could not give a satisfactory
reply as she could not reconcile the statement of Brigham Young with her own belief in the
purity of Joseph Smith, neither did she wish to admit that she had any doubts of Brigham's
veracity. So she quickly changed the subject, saying, " Let us talk of something
else. You outsiders cannot comprehend the depths of our religion, and if you could, you
are too prejudiced to do it justice, or judge it fairly.”
This woman had been born and bred id New England, and had received a
fair education; but she
[134] was so thoroughly imbued with the truth of Mormonism and
polygamy, and so blindly and fanatically attached to them, that she frequently declared
she would willingly die for them.
At another time we said to her, " Why have your leading and
representative Mormons on certain occasions denied the existence of polygamy? Why did John
Taylor, and even Joseph Smith himself deny it? If, as you assert, your religion requires a
sacrifice of all things, even to 1ife itself, and polygamy is an essential part of that
religion, why did not these and others die, instead of cowardly denying it in order to
shield their craven heads?”
"But our religion teaches us that it is justifiable, under
certain circumstances, to lie for the truth," was the ready answer.
"Lie for the truth! Does not that idea strike you as being
rather absurd?" we asked.
Not absurd at all. There are numerous instances in the Bible where
deception, and if necessary, even out-and-out falsifying, were practiced and apparent1y
approved. We Mormons believe the Bible and our faith is founded upon that book. Search out
the Scriptures, and you find them full of Mormonism, including our doctrine of celestial
marriage which you Gentiles term polygamy."
It is entirely useless to try to reason with these women, to endeavor
to convince them that they are liable to misinterpret sacred writ, for they claim to have
received through Joseph Smith the gospel in all [135] its fullness, by which it is
impossible to err. If, for the sake of argument, you grant that polygamy may have been
practiced by the ancient Israelites by God's sanction, but attempt to show them that the
system is not in accordance with the civilization of our day, and that its evil effects
are sufficient condemnation of its practice, they will still assert that the principle is a. divine one.
They are willing to admit that polygamy has its sorrows and evils.
They even acknowledge that some men enter it from wrong motives, from lust instead of
religion. But they insist that all the misery is produced by a wrong mode of practice and
they are too ignorant or too bigoted to see that the system itself is responsible for all
its effects.
The entire burden of their song is, that the cross must be borne in
order that the crown may be won. Is it not enough to make a woman almost ashamed of
herself to see so many of them deliberately rejecting the pure teachings of Christ, and
holding with so much tenacity to the degrading, doctrines of a loose, immoral, soi disant prophet, of whom even his best friends
were compelled to admit that he was a rake and a libertine?
Numberless illustrations of the bigotry and fanaticism of this class
of women might be given, but a few incidents will be sufficient. Our readers may think
some of them exaggerated, for it is difficult to even imagine that women who are wives and
mothers can sink to such depths of depravity, through blind devotion to a false doctrine.
[136] The following was related by the wife of a noted United States
explorer to a Gentile lady of Salt Lake City, who will vouch for its genuineness. There
are cases well known in the annals of polygamy where three generations of women have been
married to one man; but we trust, for the credit of our ,sex, that the circumstances
attending the marriages have been different from those in the instance under
consideration.
"While traveling in Southern Utah, we came to a small settlement
where we were detained a day or two by inclement weather. We found .shelter in the humble
but neat and hospitable home of a monogamist Saint, whose family hated polygamy, and
through whose influence we were permitted a glance at some of the beastliness that
characterizes the peculiar institution.
"Only a short distance from the dwelling of my friendly
entertainers, there stood a miserable adobe hut, I could not conscientiously call it a
house, where lived a Saint with three wives, all of whom had families. My hostess made
some neighborly errand an excuse for paying them a visit, and permitted me to accompany
her; but before going she made me acquainted with the relationship existing between the
three women who were living with, and had borne children to, the same man.
"The first and second women were sisters, and the latter had
been a widow with one child when she married her sister's husband. When this child had
grown to be about sixteen years old, her step-
[137] father had also married her, but not succeeding in winning the
husband entirely away from her mother and aunt, she left and became sealed to another man
as plural wife. She had two children by him; then he died, and she returned to her first
husband bringing her children with her, the eldest of whom at the time I am speaking of,
was a girl about fifteen years old, and my informant stated for a fact, that the old
wretch had thoughts of marrying her too.
"When we entered the hut, the scene that met my eyes totally
beggars description. Imagine one low, smoky, filthy room serving as living room and
sleeping apartment for three women and their offspring, some of the latter almost grown
up, the majority, however, being little children. I could never have even dreamed of such
dirt, rags, and squalor existing in a Christian country. I had seen nothing equal to it
among the Digger Indians; in fact, the latter were quite civilized in comparison.
“But the worst of my story is yet to come. The young girl of
whom my hostess had spoken as a probable bride of her grandfather, was, sitting in a
corner sobbing, and crying bitterly. Upon inquiring the cause of her distress, we were
told quite frankly that her grandmother had given her a severe castigation for speaking
disrespectfully of polygamy, and declaring that she would never become the wife of her
mother's and grandmother's husband.
" After we left the house, I could not restrain my indignation,
and I said, ' What a lovely religion this is, to make such beasts out of human creatures !
'
[138] "'It is not religion, but
the lack of it, that makes them beasts,' quietly rejoined my hostess, 'and you will find
many cases as bad as this one if you travel far in Utah. There is a man in this very
settlement who has for plural wives his own half-sister and her mother, and their house
has only two small rooms.' As my friend had predicted, I found more families like these as
we traveled farther south. No one who has not been through the country can form the
slightest idea of the degradation existing, among the people of Southrn Utah.
"But the sequel to this 'o'er true tale' is still more horrible.
I hesitate to tell it, and only do so to show how Mormonism blunts the moral sense of its
votaries. About a year afterward, we had occasion to pass through that settlement again,
and for a day we were guests of our former hostess. She told me that the young girl was
really sealed to her grandfather, being literally forced into it by her own mother and
grandmother, under circumstance so revolting that
delicacy would not allow me to repeat them, even to one of own sex.
" The grandmother was determined that the child should become a
polygamic wife in order to save her soul, and excused her conduct by saying that she would
not like to see her own flesh and blood go to perdition, that brother B. was as good a
husband as she would be likely to find, and it was better for her to marry among her own
family than to go among strangers. "Even in that polygamic community, the excitement [139] was so great that there was talk of lynching the
degraded trio, the man and the two elder women; but the feeling soon passed over, and was
eventually forgotten, or only remembered as an episode of the 'peculiar
institution."'
Another incident, which is too well known to hundreds of persons in
Utah for any one to attempt its contradiction, will illustrate this astounding fanaticism
which is so characteristic of this class of women.
A certain elder was sent to England to have charge of the British
Conference of Latter-day Saints, and though he left two wives in Salt Lake City, yet this
trifling fact did not prevent him from paying devoted attention to a number of young
girls. It seems he had obtained permission from Brigham Young to marry while he was
abroad, but at the same time he was instructed to represent himself as a single man, so as
not to become liable for bigamy under English law, in case he should find a new affinity.
In a very short time, he married a young English girl, and he
informed his wives in Utah of the event, taking good care however to conceal from his new
wife the existence of the two other Mrs. C.'s in Utah. These received the tidings with
resignation, for they expected nothing different, and were consequently prepared for it.
They had seen too many missionaries make additions to their kingdom in the same manner to
be in the least surprised to hear that their husband had gone and done likewise.
[140] When this good elder had been
married about two years to this English girl, his first wife went to the Eastern States on
a visit to her relatives. Her health was exceedingly impaired,-the result of mental
suffering, though she would not own it, even to herself,-and she was recommended to take a
sea voyage, whereupon she immediately wrote to her husband, asking permission to join him
in Liverpool, where he was then stationed.
He accorded her the desired permission upon one condition, that she
would temporarily abrogate her rights as a wife, and allow herself to pass as his sister.
He was willing to give her the benefit of the change in climate, but he stipulated in
return that she should shield him from the consequences of his transgression. If his
English wife should by any means become possessed of the truth, she would undoubtedly hand
him over to the officers of the law, and thus avenge her wrongs. We venture to assert that
not one wife in ten thousand would have entered into so degrading a compact, but she was
so anxious to take the voyage on account of her failing health, that she agreed to do as
he desired.
On her arrival in Liverpool. she found that her husband was so
infatuated with his new love, that he scarcely noticed her at all, and many were the
comments of the Saints at his indifference to, and neglect of, the "sister" who
had come such a distance across the ocean to visit her brother. The poor woman was almost
bowed to the earth with grief, and she soon regretted having taken the [141] journey; but there was no way of escape from the
trial. She had no means of returning until her husband's mission was ended, which would
not be for two years at the least.
Our saintly elder, almost entirely ignoring the existence of his
legal wife, traveled all over Europe with his English bride, introducing her everywhere
as- Mrs. A., while the poor "sister" remained in Liverpool, dependent upon the
bounty of the charitable Saints. The despised and neglected wife had not even been
supplied by him with the merest necessaries of life, but every luxury of dress and
adornment was lavished upon the concubine.
But notwithstanding all the neglect she experienced, and the cruel
treatment she endured, though she had lost both love for and faith in her husband, yet her
devotion and loyalty to her religion never wavered one particle.
"You would not have found me enduring such treatment,"
remarked a friend to her, after she had returned to Utah and the facts had become known.
"I would not have lived in poverty and seclusion, and known that he was running round
the country with her, squandering money on her as if she had been a princess,-money, too,
that was squeezed out of the poor deluded Saints. I would soon have had him landed in Old
Bailey."
"I could have done that, I suppose," responded the poor,
heart-broken wife, "but it would not have availed me anything, and it would have
brought so much discredit and scandal upon the [142]
church. I was tempted more than once to take such a step, but was always restrained by the
thought that my religion required me to sacrifice everything for its sake, even to life
itself. There can be no denying the fact that polygamy is a dreadful ordeal, and involves
the most terrible sacrifices; but, 'No cross, no crown.' "
We never hear the word "cross" employed in Utah without
wishing that we had the tongue of an angel, and could proclaim to these poor misguided
creatures the Cross that was borne and raised for the sins of the whole world. But, alas
their infatuation is so deep seated that we fear they would not believe, even if "
one from the dead " should come to them. Truly, if, as Mrs. Browning says,
"Earth's fanatics make heaven's saints?" these women will not go without their
dearly won reward.
One more illustration of this fanaticism before passing to the
hypocrites of Mormonism.
A certain good Mormon, whose intelligent, lovely, and exemplary wife
had exercised her influence successfully in keeping him out of polygamy for a number of
years, at last came to the determination that he must live his religion. The poor wife,
who was to have the sanctity of her home thus invaded, went to a certain representative
woman in the church for sympathy in that sorrow which to her was far worse than death.
This woman is perfectly insane on the subject of polygamy, though
otherwise said to be amiable and intelligent. She listened to the poor wife's tale of [143] woe, condoled with her, said she presumed it was hard to
give up her husband, or share his affections with another, but reminded her that it was
for his future exaltation, and urged her to bear the cross bravely, and she should be duly
rewarded.
"Oh, I cannot bear it," wailed the poor grief stricken
wife. "We have been so happy together. I shall die if he takes another. I cannot live
and have another woman come between us."
"Die, then," responded the female apostle of polygamy.
"There are hundreds of better women than you lying up in that graveyard, who have
died for the same cause! "
Women of America, do not the words of this votary of polygamy prove
that the cruel system is a foe to every household in the land?
Next: CHAPTER XII. TOOLS OF THE PRIESTHOOD
Remarkable Statement.-Polygamy Instilled into the Young.- Apostates Become Infidels or
Spiritualists - No Sympathy for the Tools.-A Young Girl's Statement.-Attempts to Keep a
Young Lady from Apostatizing.-Corruption Fund.-Woman to the Rescue.
Back: CHAPTER X. STILL IN THE TOILS
Help of the Nation Needed.-Timidity of the Women Still in the Church.-Their
Despair.-An Infatuated Wife.-A Sad Story.-Wives without Legal Rights.-The Third Wife.
Index: INTRODUCTION AND TABLE OF CONTENTS
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