Show THE RECENT MASS meetings THEIR rual BEAI significance tue tup THERE is an old saying sayin gr the truth of which is seldom disputed that great talkers are seldom great workers but it will not hoad good when applied to our awn own nation for in enterprise as well aa as ingenuity it is admitted universally that we are ahead of the world the multiplicity of laborsaving labor saving inventions abundantly attest the truth of the latter part of the proposition and we need only point to the transcontinental other great works in various the country in proof that we ard are the most enterprising people in existence it is also true that we area are aro a nation of talkers and it is as natural for an american to talk as it is to eat hence the continual holding of caucuses and conventions on almost every subject from the nomina tion tionA vand and election of the municipal officers of the smallest burgh to that of the highest d officer in the land the president of the united states this itching to discourse in public is by no means confined to gentlemen but the ladies of america delight to shine in the forum and of late years lady lecturers on womans comans rights have become an acknowledged public institution the territory of utah however has not been a very profitable or lucrative field for this class of public professor als for the tho ladies of utah know thab that they live in a community where womans comans most sacred rights are held inviolate in which any man who would not nat dare anything even to hazarding life itself in the defence of womans comans honor is deemed unworthy of a standing n g therein it is to be deplored that utah t ah is the only part of the civilized world where such is the case hence there is some excuse for the ue frequent r unfeminine displays that take pla pia place ce where women congregate to ad advocate voca te their favorite movement A womans comans lights rights meeting even in utah J h is not quite unknown however though h until a few days ago apo such a thing attended by ladies only had never been heard of on friday last such a meeting was held in the tabernacle of this city and in many other cities in the territory but this though in the strictest sense a womans comans rights meeting w was as of a very dif dlf different character fro from such meetings held in iff the states it was not to assert and maintain wo mans equality with man either mentally at the polls or in any other capacity but it was to maintain and assert the dearest of all womans comans prerogatives roga tives namely her righetto right to chose a husband in no other civilized country under heaven is this right disputed at least in the eye of the law but as measures designed to deprive the ladies of utah of this most inalienable of all womans comans rights are talked of and contemplated in certain quarters they very properly assembled bem sem bled bied to protest against them we refer of course to certain notorious bills much talked of of late framed by cragin and cullom designed expressly to abolish the practice of patriarchal marriage as revealed from v heaven to and practiced among amon the members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints now the ultimate passage or rejection fl ion lon of these or similar bills by the lawmaking department of our nation in reality causes us nd anxiety aw lety we know in whom wo we have believed the nature of the cause we llave espoused and are laboring to sustain and though in the providence olour of our oun father eather we while laboring to establish his kingdom upon the earth earthy may be called id in future ag as we vve have been in the past to endure persecution and tribulation we know that all things that may come along will be overruled behim by him for the sanc tm cation of his saints and for the triumph of his kingdom upon the earth and that even the wicked will be made him hence it Is not nob in the light of a protest against any bills that we attach any cance to the indignation mass meetings of the ladies of utah we know that it lias bas long been customary in the religious N world and land to answer their baso base ends among politicians ians and their tools the press to make a terrible howl about the degraded condition of the ladies of utah because of the practice of plural marriage in the territory this commiseration how ever is only sham for the majority of those who are most lou iou loudmouthed loud 1 mouthed in its expression would extend no more real keal sympathy towards those whose condition they profess to commiserate be so deeply than a ravenous wolf would to a jamb camb they would lead them from the paths of virtue from places where they are honored and their rights respected mao mae make mako them the objects of their lust and then abandon them to shame and in famy even if this much vaunted sympathy were real it is entirely sary for without fear of contradiction we assert that the moral and social condition of the ladies ladles of utah taken col actively is superior to that of a like number similarly situated with regard to gordly wealon in auy any part of the world much of this feigned sympathy to which we have referred above is because the sympathizers say the ladies here are compelled to submit to the law of patriarchal marriage and that had they the power they would gladly hail hall deliverance from such a yoke it is in connection with this that we attach real importance to the recent mass meetings because they most emphatically give the lie to the above oft re heated assertions of the sympathizers if the ladies of utah were as degraded and as anxious to get from under this so called yoke as they are said t to 0 be is it to be supposed for one mome moment that thousands of them would voluntarily assemble in mass meeting and declare their knowledge of the divinity of the order of patriarch ial lai marriage an and d their determination to sustain I 1 it t such a supposition would be the night hight of absurdity and would be entertained by none having substantial claims to sanity or the possession of common sense many of our sisters have endured the severest trials and afflictions since their coni connection lection with the church of god all have perfect freedom whether they remain true to it or not whether they live married or single lives and yet thousands voluntarily step forward and avow their determination come life or death to sustain by their faith prayers and practice the order of heaven with regard to marriage and to do all in their power to defeat measures designed to abolish the same viewed in this light we think the indignation dig nation meetings of the ladies ladie of utah are deserving of consideration by all and for the noble stand taken in defence of that which they know to be true they deserve and will receive blessings in time and eternity |