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Show 53 Feb. 17th 1873 When I made this solemn earnest request of my Heavenly Father I did not realize in what way my prayer would be granted; for a year and a half'7 Elizabeth Hilstead has been Milford's wife and I feel to strive with all my power to be kind, considerate and charitable. Polygamy, with its many ramifications, has been carefully explored by many thoughtful writers. Anyone with sufficient interest can find a range of treatments of the rather short-lived phenomenon. It is not our purpose to focus on it, except as it affects Ellis. Laced through the writings of her lifetime are seemingly genuine testimonies implying that she would be willing to jump through fiery hoops if necessary to defend the principle. This simply makes her human vulnerabilities, and her perennial struggle to transcend them, all the more touching. Our problem, when we have reviewed the entire seven years of her first-person reporting, may be to decide whether to envy or pity her that built-in refiner and purifier of the human spirit which is not available in today's Church. At this juncture, where Lizzie has become a part of the family just three months following Milford's return from England with the Hillsteads (Ellis misspells Hillstead, using only one "1"), it may be apropriate to view Milford's experience with the family as recalled by Bardella, a daughter of that marriage. While on his mission, Milford was drawn to them by the "queenly cultured mother" and the "spirituality of the father" and by the ebullient spirit of one of their daughters. The mother and all eight of the children were singers, led by the father. Although |