Show FAMILY LIFE AMONG THE MORMONS BY A DAUGHTER OF BRIGHAM YOUNG we make the following extracts from an article by susie young gates in the north norm american review forthe current month the common statement that plural marriage debases husbands degrades wives and brutalizes offspring la h false it was not the case in ancient israel it is far lees so in this enlightened age if any one wishes to prove this here in utah are men women and above all children to peak for themselves my father brigham young had fifty six living children all born healthy bright and without spot or blemish in body or mind thirty r tyone one ono of the number were girls twenty five were boys seven died in infancy three in childhood seven more since reaching maturity what bright memories we cherish of the happy times we spent beneath our fathers tender watch care supplemented ted by the very sweetest mother love ever given to mor mortals talef ever thinking of us and our welfare father was particularly anxious about our education deprived of all advantages in his youth but the often mentioned thirteen days schooling eho oling he determined we should hould have the opportunities he had missed such schools as our first ones across the road from the lion house stood the big high low lew windowed one roomed schoolhouse at one end was a small entry way far above which swung the brazen voiced bell in its lofty spire while on one side was a tiny wing fr the use of the teacher what a merry noisy stamping of feet in the entry just before nine summer and winter the room must be thirty feet b high iab with long deep windows on one side here we all are a restless giggling merry little crowd looking upon the unlucky school maam or master as a sort of moral necessity what lazy intellectual tel happiness in the cool breezy spring mornings to sit down after the lengthy fervent prayer and hear the teacher call out first readers come to your classa class there we gathered dozens of little legs unable to reach the floor kicking back and forth while little restless tongues whispered faces alternately rained in questioning glances to teacher or hid wit with h quick giggle behind the look in my papers is a relic of the second university year in the shape of a modest printed papers called the college lantern on whose editorial staff appear th the names of two of brigham youngs children a son and daughter among the weighty list of editors six there were in all lot let anyone who wishes to know the mental calibre of polygamous children ask the genial and learned dr park who has stood at the head bead of this university for twenty years who have been his brightest and keenest pupils his unhesitating answer will be a convincing argument for my position about that time 1868 the best befit stenographer in the territory was engaged by my father to come twice a day one hour before school two after to teach all his children the useful art of no need to dwell on the seventy or eighty pupils who crowded the schoolroom for the first week or two or on the slim company of seven who faithfully clung to those trouble some lines and curves through the whole two years course A black silk dress had been promised by fa her to the girl who should first report his sermon in full it was won it would not become me to say a little u unjustly nj estly by a dear recently dead sister our crusty lame harsh red haired but buit good teacher told us all in lite his rusty crusty way the very first week just how we would act and thereafter as one and another would fail to appear he would say triumphantly 1 I told you so you are a lazy set cant half appreciate preci reci li ate te the advantages your father favish lavished lavishes lavis hes es upon you pulling his fiery red whiskers resentfully as he talked music was from before my remembrance the constant companion bore and comfort of fathers family himself a natural musician and a fine lass bass singer he early bought musical instruments piano organs and a beautiful harp and procured as competent musical teachers for the children as the country afforded we inherited almost universally distaste his taste in this direction fand and the old piano in the long parlor was rarely allowed to rest its weary keys but was ever laughing under phebea phebe s or netties hands sighing under fannies or ellies skilful touch or rooming groaning or rattling beneath the in friction action of more juvenile learners how pleasant were the seasons of evening prayer when ten or twelve mothers with their broods of children together with the various old ladies and orphans who dwelt under the sheltering care of this roof came from every nook and corner of the quaint old fashioned roomy house at the sound of the prayer bell even the bell has a memory all its own for no matter how faintly the sound came to our distant ears we always knew whether father rang it or some of the others he had bad a peculiar measured deliberate that could not be successfully imitated once when in st george a town in southern utah I 1 said to him at his prayer time 94 father we cant quite get the same ring of the bell that you do we were generally pretty good mimics and prided ourselves on the accomplishment cant you my daughter well I 1 believe you are right abut ab ut that but listen diug tang ting tang ting tang ting tang four times you see I 1 tried hut but somehow the bell refused to sound exactly as it did in his bis hands he smiled and again ringing it slowly remarked were it possible for me to suddenly step into my home in salt lake city to night and ring the prayer bell every one in the lion house would know iwas I 1 was at home without any au an of my arrival to the clang of the familiar bell we crowded I 1 from upstairs u and downstairs each one taking his accustom ed place mothers surrounded by their children while near father asat aunt eilza snow the honored plural wife of joseph smith the prophet A little merry or grave chat questions asked and answered then the quiet paternal request come now let us have prayers succeeded by a subdued rustle as every knee bowed and every tongue was stilled as the dear voice prayed for the poor the needy the sick and the afflicted the widow and the fatherless that he might be a staff and a stay to the aged and a guide to the youth the prayer was always a short simple earnest one not too wearisome for the tiniest restless listener while the sweetly solemn hush of the room held a calm over even the babas laughing voice with the general amen all resumed their seats and were at liberty to return to their rooms or to stay and hear bear the chat that usually followed sometimes especially on sunday evenings the girls would be requested to sing and play or we would all join in a hymn afterwards father would kiss the children dandle a baby on his knee with his own particular accompaniment of liba illiac e ladle iddle bodle surprising baby into round eyed wonder by the odd noise then a general goodnight good night and we would all separate father returning to his duties in the office what a blessed time that regular never neglected prayer time wasl was for every one complied with one of the few unwritten laws of the bouse household that nothing but stok bess uess was an excuse for absence we were so numerous that we seldom went beyond our own home for amusement except to fin an occasional dancing party or theatre instead we got up theatres theartres the atres and concerts pantomimes panto mimes and minstrel shows show with unwearied vigor viger and fun father was seldom so busy that he would not spend an hour or so witnessing the theatrical performance for mance or aid in the final rites of pulling candy and braiding it into creamy sticks of de deli licous c ous sweetness one of my sisters dora a bright beautiful girl when twelve years of age wrote a play which she called love and pride at the performance of which she was principal character stage manager costumer and musician for this little phy which contained the lover over distracted maiden and villain with quite the orthodox denouement we were allowed to borrow costumes from the regular theatre and we were surprised in the opening of the piece to see father step in accompanied bythe by the manager of the theatre H B clawson they to be sure nure were complimentary witnesses but the reet rea of the aud audience Jence paid for admission in good straight pins or proper CaDd candles les after the girls began to grow up beaus beans naturally appeared on the scena one trait of fathers which surprised sC strangers rangers not a little was his excellent memory for names faces and I 1 incidents U Cid tints when he met john smith say for the first time his inquiries were oftentimes so searching so minute as to every member of smiths family as well as his history nd md progeny tors that ever after no matter if years elapsed he could readily recall every one of the numerous smiths smithe and ask kindly after each one this information was sometimes obtained from outside friends but it was always obtained especially was he particular about those who came to associate with his children young men were closely questioned and scrutinized on one occasion just as he was stepping into his carriage h ha 3 saw a strange you nor man about to enter the house gate I 1 instantly the flood of usual questions was poured out upon the embarrassed youth apparently patently ly not quit i satisfied with the answers given father asked abruptly are you a mormon onVy well 11 floundered the lad whose parents aunts had taken him away from ch utah au an 1 the church when a child but whose longing for the lovea loved scenes of childhood had bad brought him back when a man slightly father burst into his quiet guiet mellow mellow laugh and often afterwards in speaking of the young man whose name was scipio kenner would jocosely call him skippie sinner dinner one night there happened to be about eight or teu couples most of whom were already engaged lovers now as walking in the street was out of the question and as the parlor was the only resort it was found ta be avery a very u unsatisfactory place for a lover who woul 1 if ithe he could whis per sweet nothings or even venture to steal an arm about his sweetheart put it to yourself could you be unreservedly happy if i every time you yott cast a loving look or offered a slight caress there were eighteen pairs of disinterested eyes observing the performance for mance mi bately nil tely eighteen voices to twit you in a gradual scale of ridicule I 1 never knew who made the proposition on that particular sunday night but certain it was that in the course of the evening the one large lamp on the contro centre table was discreetly lo 10 lowered a trifle w while h ile around it in a close barricade stood a small army of books shocked no doubt to find themselves so ignoll bously stood upon end ani compelled to stand witnesses to the love scenes enacted in ten convenient corners and winlow recesses of the darkened room very charming no doubt but some stray wind carried a whiff of what was going on in the parlor to the presidents ear less than half an hour of the happy gloom had been enjoyed before the parlor door quietly opened and on the threshold lighted candle in hand stood father without saying a word he walked slowly and deliberately up to the first couple hold ing his candle down in their very faces looked keenly at them then to the next couple repeating his bis former scrutiny and HO go on clear around the room not a word said he but pulling down the scandal iced books anti and rg them gravely in their places he turned on the full blaze of the lamp and walked quietly out of the room As asa a physiological fact of the fifty six children born to brigham young oung not one was halt lame or blind all being perfect in body and of sound mind and intellect no defects of mind or body save those general ones shared by humanity the boys are a sound ie althy industrious and intelligent group of men noted everywhere for their integrity and for the excellent care and attention bestowed upon their families in short the name young is a sy noname of a good kind faithful husband among them are mer chants lawyers a railroad king a banker an architect a civil engineer and a manufacturer one of them is a colonel in the united states army while several have graduated from the annapolis naval school and from the ann arbor law school the girls are finely developed elect physically quick and bright in intellect telle ct high spirited and often talented especially in a musical way A few of them were beautiful girls and are still handsome women all are nice girls kind in dispost disposition ton generous onerous and social in their natures an fn in short outside of one or two of either sex they are a family that any mau man might well be proud to call his own this to is given by way of argument not boasting in describing the family of brigham young I 1 have in the main described the large polygamous families of heber C kimball daniel H wells orson pratt and others who are or have been our leading men with the various differences of character and mind naturally inherited by the various children the women or wives 91 as they were affectionately termed of these various families undoubtedly saw heartaches and sad hours do they not suffer lot let me ask in monogamy our tr brothers others were the pioneers in this new order of things sni they b hail ai I 1 no ex experiences perle nees of elders to gu guide ide them norrien I 1 ly voice to say here did I 1 stumble take beed lest ye too fall yet they were sustained by the knowledge that their sorrows were such as broade broadened tied and deepened the channels of their beings and their tears watered into existence the lovely flowers ot of unselfishness and charity tn in saying this I 1 would not imply that the wives were at all the meek humble slaves one might infer anyone who thinks so is at liberty even at this day to examine the curves of aunt T Is s mouth observe the glitter of aunt E B eyes listen to the two elded sharpness of aunt H Is s tongue to mark the proud poise of aunt A s head the firm lines of my mothers aunt Z 19 s L s and H B a faces nay many were the thrusts given sometimes maliciously licious ly anon recklessly often while misunderstandings were ot of frequent oe occurrence currence but the one retreat of silence and prayer the general rule of forget and forgive added to the wisemon ductoc duct of the husband who sympathized with none or with all alike made it possible for the brave hearts to overcome their own weakness and selfishness selfish ness the polygamous women of utah know the value of the experience they have gained and to a woman would refuse to exchange places with any other be she queen upon her throne or supposed sole queen of her husbands heart one of my well loved friends had bad a happy contented family in which were three wives and many children this in the good old bays of yore and he laid justice to the line anti and righteousness to the plummet in the management of his do bestic affairs so equally and well were his attentions and time divided that few except intimate friends knew which was first and which was last wife I 1 have tra traveled velea with him and his first wife and have noted with pleasure his bis constant attention to all her wishes and wants refined reserved yet courteous to all he was to his wife tenderness itself nothing could exceed the sweet gentleness with which this father of twenty babies watched and guarded every separate bit of humanity that came near him I 1 have been with this man too when ht bito first enjoyed the companionship companions bip of a young beautiful bride nota whit more devoted or tender was he to hettman hex than he had been and was to the cherished wife of several years indeed that would have been impossible for he was to each and every one oneall all that a true affectionate husband |