Show FROU THE standpoint STANDI it is usually supposed that plural marriage 1911 is very distasteful to tho mor mormon I women and that they only submit to it as an in act ct of faith and nd simply because their reli religion gien ion imperatively requires it buttrom but from the following quotations from lettera letters of prominent mormon we women men it would teem this is not tally fully so go this first letter ia is from mrs pratt a first wife I have as you see in ill all good consciences founded on the word of god formed family and kindred ties which aro are inexpressibly dear to m roc e and I can nev netar er bring ray my feelings to consent to t dissolve I have a good and virtuous husband whom I f love we have four little children who are naturally and inexpressibly dear to us and besides this my husband ha has seven other living wives and one who has bas departed ed to a better world he ile haa has in A all I upward of twenty five children all atkeso mothers and chils chil dren are endeared to tome me by kindred ties by mutual affection b by a acquaintance c quain tanca and affection and t the b mothers in particular by mutual and long exercises of toil patience long suf suffering kring and sisterly kindness wo we all have our imperfections in thi this life but I know these are ar good and worthy women and that my husband is a good and worthy man one who keeps the commands of jesus christ and F preside asides in in his family like an in abbau abraham M mrs eliza R snow young wrote the following I am proud to state that I believe ia in tho the principle of plural marriage jut just as sacredly as I beliefs believe in any other institution which go god 11 bus to ro ve coaled a led I believe it to be necessary fa for the redemption tion of the human family from the th low low state of corruption into which it lisa has sunken cirtno is r the foundation of the prosperity of our nation and nd this sacred principle of plural marriage tend to virtue purity and holiness holl nou mrs bethsheba W smith wrote the following fol lowine As a loyal citizen of this preat republic I enter my prot eist this unlawful and unhallowed crusade founded on misrepresentations AB an well ell might that honorable body le legis is late ao against baptism by immers immersion ion an av against plurality of wives god has revealed those principle principles find and they roost must be sustained with our own free consent our husbands take more wives wn es and when ft lien eld children idren crown our joy around our sacred family altars we vre bow the lie knee and rejoice in liis his divine farras legitimate wives with honorable children we regard our husbands hui hus ai ag men nien of true virtue and inte integrity gifty who tako take upon themselves the great responsibility in honoring the law laws s of bod and we bear them up jn our faith and secret prayers mrs irs zina D young wrote thus W the principle of our boly religion reli eion t that hat hi assailed is one that lies d deep e I in we are brou prou proud of the tle principle because we w understand its true worth and we want our children to practice it that through us a race of men and women may grow up possessing sound minds in bound sound bodies mrs hannah T aking king wrote I felt that its law laws coincided with the laws of my nature M my Y daughters entered into the arderia order ia all their youth and beauty educated as they had been in all the refinements ants of the world and they have ever honored it and been an honor lionor to it and to the church whose r plea they have left homo home and P a all i ii its cs attractions to obey I have now been in the church twenty eight years ears aud my path has not been ono one of ro roses roes es bezny means hut but I have no fg regrets I would not no return to former forma things for queen victorias ahn chrono no mr and all its appendages mrs margaret T smoot said aid fhi I have hae been a mem berof the church of jesus christ of latter day saints for forty four years and havo hava now lived nearly seve seventy aty years I a am m the wife of a other er wives and hisch his children ildron by those wivel ar apart a part of his lans family ily as me nit and mind I being bis first wife and his other wives are aregust just as an honorable and lawful in the sight lit I of god clod asla naad bis children flon consider siderto to be just as lawful and honorable as any children born in wedlock these thew are not only my feelings but I know them to bethe be the feeling of many others abo who occupy a position like that which I occupy and aud I believe them to be be the feelings of this whole community thus wrote dr romania B pratt the days of silence and patient endurance of calumny calnin ay on of the L utter atter day dav saints concerning the subject et of plural marrage ma triage are over suba an that neglected calumny soon e expires P r es the great ian im poi tance odthe f fact t that at bur children and stud our childrens children ve been boru born and bred under the deac teaching h ing and practice othet great principle ale and the s four duty t to pre oger ave hallowed halIO az aad id paro pare in t thear e hearts the altar of loye love ti lou gir subordinate or to our higher duty of obed ence to god ia is au an inspiration not to be or unheeded mra phoebe woodruff ir aid said if it hax bas been upwards of forty yeara years I baik lafirst first acquaintance with these this people and the prophet joseph smith sal ith L knew tiam to be an honorable virtuous and pure inan wan and his brother iby rum alo also proud lais thir world it is is that I accepted the principle of plural in marriage abage amage and remained amone the people called mormons cormons Mor mons and am numbered number td with wn theato theli today to day dar ican I can truly tay that I am satisfied to for r one and I dont guess at it nor fait i it because oue gue hai has VS told od but because the spirit of god baa has brae borne testimony to me ol 01 the troth truth of this work and stud of this truthfulness I am A awit nes mrs E B lyells said thou though spose I abe f ria lh no ill felling towards those who have arrayed themselves against this principle of our faith plural marriage yet y et a they op pose it vt we mast must and wo we intend to meet it with all the he t energy we poi po pos i cess sees and it will be diamond cut dia i mond I asakura yoa you phoebe young said taia aberry the cry has ever bean the downtrodden women of utah they would laye the world beliele us be the moat most degraded and neglected beings of all goda gods creation now we know this is i not so we enjoy full as a much liberty as they do and A great deal more with all their boasted civilization we enjoy all the rights that are accorded to our sex anywhere which we know ac as well how to use aa any of our compean compeers com peers ia in the eastern cities would ingeld we enjoyed more before they kindly introduced BO so much of their vaunted civilization into our midst the day lias has been when one could walk the streets of salt like city at any tiny hour odthe of the d day sy or night if necessary without fear of f insala for every man we met would be b a brother and a friend mrs isabella home wrote in this wise you say you would like to know how the Sl mormon ormen women do feel I will tell you vou they all know they are ho honored wives and m moth en acknowledged now ledged in society with their child ren and are happy ia knowing that the their r husbands are true to their marriage covenant whether they have one wife or more the lord seeing the wickedness and corruption en on the earth in his lis wisdom has revealed reye aled the principle of plural marriage to purify society and elevate women from the degradation in which man has las placed her and woe will be unto the man that degrades woman forshe ia is a gift ift from god and I can positively positive as ls sert that in no place on the eart earth iz a are re chastity and virtue in woman more honored and protected than among people calledo emily B spencer thus celestial marriage that gives us its power ower over death that unites auit in beaven heaven rs js well as upon earth and has no dissolution in it is the present target celestial marriage that brings the tile blessings of the lord that is a commandment from heaven is what they he y pretend resul to aim at really it is the ME kingdom dm d m of f god the truth from aea heaven and d ile the people who obey the commandments of god against whom this hatred exists helen mar war whitney expressed herself thus if faw who believe thi this s pie to be a righteous one c can an afford to endure it certainly the stranger ought tu to leave ca ve ns its alono alone to work out the problem blem if those who c call air t themselves b ems elyes christians would come to us with a spirit more in accordance cor dance with their profession sion if we could not all ali see alike we might at least be friends but the unrighteous and inhuman course taken to root out what they call twin relics relies only arouses in our hearts a more determined spirit of ID and fills every virtuous an and since jre mormon woman with indignation and we tell them with the saine spirit the heroic defenders of liberty at bunker hill when they thy said to the infuriated monarch of england we have chosen righteous war in preference evence to voluntary slavery to their false idea a and edthe the of acknowledged 13 Mor formon mou eaters and virtue and life destroyers thess these extracts from letters arc are not given because I have havo the least faith in the book about the revealed will of god or because there is tho the slightest probability that any god has revealed himself to ibm people more thin to any others it Is an eld old claim made by the devotee devotees of various I sects and systems of religion that god has bas made mado a special me lation to them and that they consequently know more about the secret will ot the inscrutable being whom noman no man haa has ever see seen nthan than other people but I have given them to show how how 1131 mormon ormon women feel foel upon this subject of plural marriage TO BE |