“When you understand better the order of the kingdom, you will not speak in that way,” she said. “Do you suppose that I shall be satisfied to be the wife of a man who could not exalt me in the celestial kingdom—a man with only one wife? Why I have often told my husband that if he did not get other wives I would leave. It is necessary for a man to have two wives, at least, if he would enter into the celestial kingdom. That is why I have been so anxious to get wives for my husband. At the same time there is no necessity for him to fall in love, and act in a silly way over them. The only way in such a case is to set one to watch the other, and then they are pretty certain to keep the old man straight. You think, perhaps, that I don’t feel all this, but you must not be deceived by appearances. I try to do the will of heaven with a smile on my face; and the brethren have often told me that if the other sisters were more like me they would not have so much difficulty in establishing Polygamy. But, dear me, Sister Stenhouse, what a long talk we’ve had! I’ll come and see you soon again, but I must hasten away now, for my husband will be home to supper by this time.”
So she left me wondering over her strange story of a woman’s experience in supplying her own husband with wives.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SOCIAL LIFE IN SALT LAKE CITY:—BALL-ROOMS, “WALL-FLOWERS,” AND DIVORCE.
We had not been long in Salt Lake City before the ball-season commenced. These balls afford splendid opportunities to the men for flirting with the girls. No matter how old and homely a man is, he thinks that he has as much right to flirt and dance with the girls as the youngest boy; for they all look upon themselves and each other as boys and single men, even if they have a dozen wives. There is no limit to their “privileges.” They are always in the market. Brigham, in his public discourses, has said that the brethren “are all young men under a hundred years of age.” With such an extended privilege, it is here in Utah that hoary Winter and smiling May can be seen galloping forth in the dance together—a thoughtful subject for the artist’s pencil.
It is of no consequence how much a man may flirt in the presence of his wife or wives. They must not presume to say one word to him about it; for the husband is free to do whatever he likes. He is one of the lords of creation. He is master of his wives, of his children. Then, how can one of his own dare to call in question anything he may think fit to do? She may, it is true, do so; but she must take the consequences of that rash act.
Oh! how I loathe even the very remembrance of those hateful ball-rooms, where I have seen so many unhappy wives, and have heard so many tales of sorrow. For, while the wives would be sitting as “wall-flowers” along the sides of the halls, after having danced the first dance with their husbands, as a matter of form, I have heard them many times telling each other about what they had seen their husbands doing during the evening; and how they had been compelled to pay attention to some simpering girl that their husbands chanced to fancy; and how they had had to do it for peace sake, and appear to be satisfied.
I do not mean to say that I did not like these social amusements myself, for I did; and could, under other circumstances, have enjoyed them very much. But I had been told so many things of the unpleasantness of a ball-room in Salt Lake City—at least, to married women—that my apprehensions were aroused. But all that was ever told me never half came up to the truth; nor can I possibly myself give the reader any correct idea of the heartaches and sorrows which these scenes bring to the wives of Mormons.