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Show i I - WOMAN'S EXPONENT. the charge! for v?e know, there cannot be found a class upon theearth, wh-- occupy a more elevated position in the hearts of their husbands, or whose most, delicate and refined feelings are so respected adhere in Utah. Let our work speak for us. We are a temperate," people. We consider I! ) en . virtue and chastity the crowning ornament of woman s character. Our ladies are educated and refined, and their lives are constantly characterized by acts of nobility, fortitude and usefulness. ; . "To err is human .to -- forgive divine." We forgive "and pity our enemies, realizing that God and one man are a great majority; .ami that the Lattecrday Saint will '.ultimately pre- - van ana inumpn over me opposition oi tne ; whole world. ; The.next address was by " ' LAURA IIYDE MINER. The head "Of the nation has said, the welfare of a country wa3 centered in the homes of the land, where the husband and the pure monoga mous wife ruled their children in love. Can he lay claim to such a home, a wife and child- -- ren, heirs to a -- father's fame virtue? Are the priests and sisterhoods of the Roman Catholic chuch, bound to celibacy by , the strictest vows, doing their duty to their country according to that standpoint? Yet who would dream of Congress legislating away . the bachelor s freedom or f jrcmg priest or nun to sacreligious marriage. Another illegal point in our treatment ,is, all women are disfranchised who are living with a polygatnist; the legal wife as well as the hold that if she others, for our lives with him to. whom she was married for better or for worse, she is equally guilty. Yet a learned judge has lately dragged a legal wife into court to testify, in a case against her hus- band, holding that the wrong was against her, so she was a competent witness and must testi- iy, or De aajuagea guilty or contempt. The law now; pending in Congress proposes to disorganize our institutions and apply the surplus means to other purposes than the peo Are the religious bodies of ple intended. these united btates prepared lor such a prece dent? We are not only pleading, protesting and suffering lor our own liberty, but for the future freedom of every citizen of this country. What' laws are made for the bene fitof the whole nation,, we are willing to abide by or bear the penalty or their infringement without complaint, for we. know that God is able and willing to reward His servants. Now we wish to bear our testimony to those that are array ing wives and children against their husbands aud fathers that, "With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. fold her. arms and sleep, or araher unheed the cries .of her child. 'that anneals to he.t: distress? ' Have wo not appealed and protested land, and asked them to investigate our cause and see if we were obedient children? What wa3 the response? The waste basket received the protest, unanswered. Men are imprisoned because they will not disown their wives, and if they dare say they believe in God,and intend to carry ouHIis latvv they must be sent to the penitentiary. DareT say I believe?. Yes, I will say more.. I know-thaGod has spoken from the heavens, and that He has called and chosen His sons ani daughters to carry out His law. Suppose it be at the" sacrifice of liberty, or evenife; after the sacrifice comes the reward, and we can aftifl-- to .wait the recompense of the Almighty. There is no righteous jurisprudence for a Latter-da- y Saint in our courts herein Utah. In the song of the "Paupers Last Ride" the chorus is: t -- d "Drive fast his bones, over the stones, For he is a pauper whom nobody oipns." .But the chorus d-a-mother's -- rs ' , DR. E. 8. BARNEY 'was the next speaker. She said: It is said we live in a free country, for which our lathers fought and bled, where is enjoyed free speech, a free press, and a right to worship Cod according to the dictates of our own conscience.. Not so; rumor hag falsely spoken. Utah is the exception. Her-histor- has not been read: it has lain a closed book to the mass of the world, and to the fifty-fiv- e millions of Not a tithe of that number has ever '"heard of the peaceable, industrious moral and people that live in the little Territory of Utah, called Latter-day Saints. Yet some' few politicians, eagar for pelf, stigmatize us as a people, and say we are a "blot" on the body politic, and that fifty-fivmillion people are opposed to us. That is a fallacy. There are some who are like the story of a Quaker with the ddg. lie PaJ3, "I would, not hurt thee, but I'll give thee a bad name." So he turned him loose, and cried Mad dog! Mad dog! Should a nation peopl e of the United States. God-fearin- e g la3t of-th- e versisr- - "Drive gently his bones, over the stones, For he is a pauper whom his Father yet. owns." . law-make- 7 J ' to whom God ad ministered by sendtog angels them Himself, were anxioun for posterity i and in some instances, as we find "recorded in sacred 'rit, where women that had husbands failed to have children through somo irregularity of nature, gavej their hand maid j to their husbandsto be their wives far in-- " stance, Sarah gave her hajdmaid Hagar to Abraham to be hi3 wife. After this the Lml blessed Sarah in her old age and gave her a son, from whom was descended Jesus of Nazareth, the veritable. Son of God: Jacob was first married to h't3 cousin Leah, then Rachel, and after this their handmaids, who were given to Jacob by their, mistresses in order to enlarge theirrfamiliesand through the sacrifice made by Rachel she herself became fruitful and bore children to her husband, arid ,the children of these four wives were the twelve Patriarchs vh03e names are to be written on the gates of the Holy Jerusalem which is to descend out of heaven. The great Prophet ,Samuel was the son of Elkanah, who had two wives, Hannah and Penninah. Hannah had no children, on. account of which she was very sorrowful. She repaired to the temple on a certain day arid" sought her God in prayer. There she. .met with Eli, the priest; after learning that she had been offering up a petition, he promised her that it should be granted. God not only sanctioned polygamy, but great-J- y blessed in every way men and women who entered into these principles. The Apostla t Paul mentions men and women of great faith- -; that were in polygamy, and that they obtained a good report on account of their faith. I am free to state that the principle of celestial marriage is an integral part of the faith of the Latter-da- y Saints, because' I have an abiding kuowledge within myself of its truthfulness. In the light of these facts, then, and in view of the truth that in this Territory there is a ruthless disregard for the local rights of the people ("rights inestimable to themselves and fbrmidaDle to tyrants only), I, for one, as a consistent daughter of Utah, anxious to protect the rights and privileges of my sex, deem it my duty to join with you in repudiating the accusations against us, and the injustice and extreme measures of the courts and Federal officers of this Territory. The following address by or"sr(qg .. " -- . Courts and jurors need not think for one moment, that they will not be held accountable to God for thi3 last ride that some the j and Samts have taken through the sickness distress brought upon them by this oppression.: U .1 'J.-n. W m c uu auu iiavu iL!., L..i ncu7 iur UUlfllUg DUl OUT rights under the government. We. ask for just laws to be made. We ask to peaceably occupy our homes that we ourselves havetmade, in which we intend to stay. Ave ask for the same right under government that our sister states and Territories enjov. While we honor the nams of Washington; jenerson, iuaaison, Monroe and the iramers of the grand old Constitution, we cannot fail to see the undermining power that is sapping the ! 1.1tne me ana1.1" tne essence of our govern vitais, ment and honeycombing the entire fabric, and will leave it in the near future a tottering structure, which will disgrace the land and the God that gave it birth. , should a mad nation dog! mad Why cry dog! when her capital cities are filled with such infamy and crime? Instead,, she tiad better borrow some of the examples of purity' and .virtue oi her polygamous sisters. We re learning the lessons that .will give us long life, peace and happiness; that kings and queens might be proud to possess: and onr examples are towering heavenward, from w hich source we look for tha response that God has promised the bursting of our fetters,' the conquering of our foes, and a final millennial reign. -- 159 -- ' A -- A MRS. JULIA CRUSE HOWE. . was read by Mrs. Cornel fa H. Clayton: -- Mrs. President and Friends: In contemplating the position we as a people occupy at the present time, politically, so- cially, morally and religiously, attracting as we. do the attention not only of this great nation, but the nations of the earth; misrepresented, maligned and despised as ye are, I feel tfrat as a woman and a member of the Church MRS. JENNIE TANNER , of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints am proud, and would not exchange my position of Provo, was called and spoke as follows: with any queen or empress. True, we are passing. through persecution. Our noble husSisters and Friends: bands and sOns'are imprisoned, as Christ said 611 masse to ear We have met here they would be. Their, affectionate wives and nestly protest against the indignities that 'have children are left without their protection Sub- recently beeu heaped upon members of our jected to insult and derisioa by theirinquisitors, sex ny the courts and ie deral. olhcials, and and many left without means of sustenance would-b- e political autocrats of this Territory. not however to the cold charities of the world Our mothers aud sisters are dragged into court' for as a people, if one sufters, all sufTer; and and asked the most indecent tiuestion?:' in thanks to - our Heavenly Father, .who, causes many cases separated from their families. His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the Homes are broken up and inmates scattered. good, there is enough for all, and it will prove Our fathers and brothers are cast into prison us a3 a people, whether or not we love our or exiled. And for what? For obeying God-g- i neighbor as ourselves. The young who might -- heaven .: have been deceived into believing the objecrof veil principles; laws revealed-iVoY e hud by reading the sacked book called the our religious persecutors to be the correct:ug of Bibta that God commauded Adam and Eve to our morals are thoroughly - convinced to tbe multiply and replenish the earth; thh comcontrary through their lying and misrepresentamandment evidently was intended as much tions. How we hongr and admire our noble for Eve as Adam. Hence, holy women of old, sires and husbands for their integrity. They J to-da- v -- A. ....----- ; m |