| Show it reflections E UPON A S SUBJECT OF olf IMMEDIATE INTEREST may ad iss z editor deseret hetos hevos when your description of some of yesterdays proceedings in court was read last evening in hiir our family circle some of us groaned aloud I 1 looked at an unmarried sister whom I 1 have hoped to see allied with some good brave man roan even though she should be a plural wife and I 1 saw haw her blush with shame and auger unger I 1 hope she Is too fructo true to her religion to be influenced unfavorably by the dirt eating process which v iii lii ch too took 1 p place lac e in cou con count court rt yesterday it is a sad and discouraging spectacle however to see sec a man who has solemnly covenanted with a yeung ayoung and ft et maiden in the heyday of bouth and comeliness to be her husband us f for or time and eternity agree to lay her aside as he would an gid old oid garment after she has borne him children and ana been his patient and devoted wife for a quarter of A a century if it a man make such promises in judge zanes court will there ever be a court in the great hereafter tar when lie he can come forward and claim as his wife the woman whom he has thus agreed to repudiate when the claims wives are finall finally adjudicated adjudicate dl none but valiant men if r I 1 read aright are to have nave them there fiere is a place ex expressly press ila ill provided for the fearful I 1 and no faithful altaf al woman need stand in any doubt as to whether she will be compelled to live in eternity with a man who is not in every way admirable and worthy of her for if we believe tiie tile written word of god none but that class will be permitted to have wives in eternity I 1 auf ant puzzled about some things which I 1 hear bear and see one is why wily men who have plural families should be so anxious to have it appear that they he y have kept the edmunds law faw do the they swish wish people to think that they esteem it of more binding force zhan than the they d do 0 the covenants they nave llave made with their wives if so then I 1 f for or one conclude they have bowed bowel the thel knee to baal though I 1 am not in a position to inquire ot of or be intimate tj with the apostles I 1 would like to know if it is not better and more honorable to state all the reasons which have caused some at least to obey the edmunds law I 1 than to have it go tu to the world that it 13 Is 13 their anxiety to honor that infamous act that has prompted their conduct itis it is common balkon talk taik on the street that there are physical reasons why one man roan who has gone into court and made an agreement to not live with his wife can not f fulfill fulfil the marital obligations it is said that dickson was informed of it and it ia is not improper to assume that zane also knew it yet with cruel and heartless persistence judge zane tormented this man and heartily enjoyed the eating of dirt to which he subjected him A more cowardly advantage ge of weakness and debility was never resorted to than was taken yesterday by judge zane in the treatment of this case if there are any who have had bad an idea of agreeing to obey the edmunds law I 1 should think the spectacle of yesterday would cause them to pause if men think it best to repudiate their covenants let them for sake do so before going to the courtroom court room and save themselves from the brutal and humiliating interrogatories of judge zane or the insolent and patronizing familiarity of dickson and Vanan varian my sly sister tells me that if she had bad a husband who was to be tried for violating the edmunds law she would infinitely prefer that he would give her a divorce before going to court than for him to be badgered or frightened by the legal harpies harples now in office here into repudiating her in open court I 1 myself in I 1 elf eif think this would be preferable icat but to return why would not the statement of physical inability einab I 1 lity to violate the edmunds law have been more honorable yesterday than the abject surrender of the wite without reason tr true e men do not like to make such ack acknowledgments but when the result of accident and already widely known and understood I 1 fail to see why that was not the tte best line of defense if judge zane had then pronounced sentence he would have been left to be pilloried by public opinion as he undoubtedly will be anyhow in the near future I 1 am informed that the most if not all of those who profess to have kept the edmunds law N are e etheral either elther I 1 aged edmen men and their wives aged or are men whose wives have passed a certain age now while irmay be in questionable taste to avow this yet there certainly talai talal are physiological leai leal reasons which chave I 1 have been told the prophets joseph and brigham taught why in such cases the edmunds law might be kept if so why not state this instead of letting the impression go out that there is a bowing of the knee to baal I 1 have very dear relations who are lare wives and I 1 know they would prefer if domestic affairs must be piled into and exposed that the true physiological reason should be given by their husbands for their observing 12 the edmunds law than that it should appear that they had ne neglected lecter them because of fearon fear of man in other words they would woul d prefer that the world should know that they obeyed a law of god written by nature in their constitution and organism than that they bowed in abject year tear to a law of man designed for the destruction of their religion I 1 know my mother I 1 know my sisters and though I 1 do not have the experience with womankind that I 1 hope future f u years will give yet I 1 can speak for them and I 1 believe belleve I 1 would not be mistaken if I 1 were to speak for every true woman among us this explanation it seems to me would be hon honorable orabie in man relieve him from misconstruction and not be in the least degree dishonorable to woman it involves no dishonor for it to be known that ve we only obey the laws of god written by him in our very being of course I 1 speak of this reason j in this strain under the supposition I 1 that it actually exists where it does I 1 not exist then let it not be mentioned butin but nut in these trials dellea delicacy ev is blown to the winds these men dickson bickson and varian revel in nastiness they plainly reve reseal reveal althe the character of their minds judge zane gray haired as he is e evinces Cs by his bis manner that he is fast drifting d in the same direction if d domestic mestie 0 secrets and all the sacred privacy of the married life must be exposed let the accused avail himself of the exposure the statement of the reasons I 1 refer to need not convey the idea that because this physiological law is observed the wives are slighted cast aside or are unloved I 1 have women among my acquaintances pure saintly and venerable whom I 1 gave lave have A admired and venerated from f rom early boyhood because of their obedience to the tates tales ot of conscience in this and other respects they chey 9 are beloved by their husbands almost idolized by their children and esteemed and vene venerated by all who have the pleasure of their acquaintance As our institutions are upon trial this is an excellent time to let the world know that the A mormon lormon men and women are governed by principle and not by lust lest that they aim to lift the commerce ot of the sexes through the holy ordinance of marriage high above all and the damning practices that are enfeebling and destroying destro yin our race I 1 was about to use the word 46 animalism in connection with sual ism but it would be injustice to the ani aul animals mals mais they do observe laws which monogamous men and women are accused of or treating with utter contempt no RETREAT |
