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Show CHAPTER XVII POLYGAMY CONTINUED. That the wives of polygamists in Utah are unhappy and discontented I have already endeavored to show, and it is a fact patent to all who have observed them. But the reader will be somewhat surprised to learn that discontent and " whining," as it is called, existed, even in the harem of the Prophet, as long ago as 1856. That such was the case Brigham Young admitted in a sermon preached in the tabernacle that year for the special benefit of the women. Polygamy among them that is among all but the few that had been favored, was in its infancy ; but the little leaven of discontent existing then, even in high places, has been going on leavening the whole. Brigham's plain talk on this occasion was as follows : ct Now for my proposition. It is more particularly for the sisters, as it is frequently happening that women say they are unhappy. Men will say : ' My wife, though a most excellent woman, has not seen a happy day since I took my second wife.' ' No, not a happy day for a year,' says one ; and another has not seen a happy day for five years ( and such must have been among the clandestine wives of polygamists, for it had not been published as a doctrine of the church but four years before). It is said that women are tied down and abused, that they are mis used, and that thev are wading through a perfect flood of tears because of the folly of some men as well as their own folly. |
