Although we had now left the Mormon Church, never to return, my husband could not at once shake off entirely that influence which had so long held him captive. His thoughts and belief, his hopes and ambitions, had for a quarter of a century all pointed in one direction, and the very idea of rebellion on his part against the authority of the Priesthood, would, but a very little while before the time of which I speak, have been considered by him an utter impossibility. It was impossible, in a few short months only, to undo the work of five-and-twenty years—the best years of his life. He could no longer remain in the Church or conscientiously support Brigham Young; but he had not outgrown Mormonism sufficiently to enable him to throw off the yoke entirely and make his paper an opponent of Brigham and his faith. Could he have done so, I think it is highly probable that the Telegraph might yet have been saved, for I know that many of the more influential of the Gentiles would have aided him materially in such a course. As it was, nothing remained but to give it up with the best grace he could.
Two offers in reference to the paper were received by Mr. Stenhouse, and it remained for him to decide which he would accept. One of them came from a Gentile, who proposed to run it in opposition to Brigham Young, and the other came from a certain Mr. Fuller, who had for some time been my husband’s travelling agent, and was a very intimate friend of John W. Young, Brigham’s youngest son by his first wife. We knew that this Mr. Fuller had nothing beyond his salary; but, as the friend of Brigham’s son, we thought that probably it was the Prophet’s wish that he should have this paper, and we believed that he was simply buying it for the Church. My husband argued that, although he could no longer unite with the Mormons, he could at least refrain from doing them any injury; he therefore concluded that, rather than let the paper go into the hands of an avowed enemy, he would sell it to Mr. Fuller, who, on account of his friendship for the Prophet’s family, would, he presumed, try to be just to the people.
This, no doubt, was very conscientious and just, although, of course, no Mormon would give my husband credit for entertaining such sentiments. For my own part, I naturally wished him to accept the offer that would pay him best, which was that made by the Gentile. He could not, however, bring his mind to do this. The paper, therefore, was sold to Mr. Fuller, who ran it for a few months and then himself ran away, leaving behind him debts enough to swallow up everything. Thus ended the Telegraph under that name, but destined, however, to rise again as the Salt Lake Herald—a paper devoted to the interests of Brigham and the Priesthood. To my husband it was an utter loss, but it was hardly fair that his conscientious conduct should meet with such an ill return.
It was now necessary that some steps should be taken to provide for our family. The reader may, perhaps, remember that when we first arrived in Salt Lake City, as I stated, I myself engaged in business until my husband was able to find some suitable and profitable employment. When the Telegraph, however, was established and proved such a great success, and we were in a position of affluence, I considered—the pressure of necessity being removed—that I should do well to resign my own business connection and employ my time more profitably in domestic affairs. This was a great relief to me, for I always felt considerable repugnance to mixing with the world in the way of business, while among my children and attending to their wants and interests I found myself in my own legitimate sphere. But there was now no alternative. All interest in the Telegraph had been resigned; my husband’s property had been wasted in an attempt to keep it up, and he had nothing now to depend upon. Something must be done, and I resolved that I would not be backward in bearing my full share of the burden.
It was only natural that we should feel very much unsettled in mind by the great change which had taken place in our position, for it is no easy matter to cut asunder the ties and associations of a lifetime. Any one suddenly changing his religious faith would, to a certain extent, feel and understand what I mean in this respect. But in reference to any ordinary religion, the person forsaking it would probably experience comparatively little alteration in his every-day life. In Mormonism it is very different, especially to any one who has occupied a prominent position among the Saints. To resign our religion was to revolutionize our lives. Everything was changed: the friends of years would look coldly on us and avoid us; persons whom we had before shunned as Gentiles or Apostates would be the only individuals who would regard us with favour; our entire position in the midst of a most exclusive community was completely reversed; in a word, we ourselves were now “Apostates!”
Thinking to turn the current of his thoughts, and believing that change would be beneficial to him, I suggested to my husband that he should pay a visit to the Eastern States. In New York I believed he could find employment which would help to divert his thoughts from Mormon affairs, and, at the same time, would be profitable to him in other respects. My suggestion was acted upon, and my husband set out East, while I prepared to engage again in the same business which I had formerly conducted so successfully.
Now, for the first time since I embraced Mormonism, I mixed freely with Gentiles and those who had left the Church, and it was not long before I found that this intercourse with the outer world produced a marked and decided effect upon my mind. My views were enlarged, and my thoughts became more liberal in their tone. My husband’s letters showed me that a similar change was taking place in him.
We were not the only Apostates from the Church at that time. The New Movement, as the reaction against the tyranny of Brigham Young was called, was then in progress; and the minds of all intelligent Saints were led to reflect upon the unheard-of claims of Brigham’s “Infallible” Priesthood. At this time the Prophet endeavoured to rivet still more firmly the fetters which bound his deluded followers, by establishing “Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution” and reviving the “Order of Enoch.”
The Co-operative Institution was announced as a joint-stock concern, established under the pretence that it would be a benefit to the working classes, and all the members of the Church were invited to purchase shares, which were sold at twenty-five dollars each. The statement so often made by Brigham and repeated by strangers, to the effect that the exorbitant prices charged by Gentile merchants necessitated the establishment of such an institution was, as every Mormon knows, only a pretence, and a very shallow one too; for the Walker Brothers and other merchants had, for many years, supplied goods to Mormons and Gentiles alike, at what, under the circumstances, were reasonable and just prices; for the railway not then being constructed, and every article of commerce being of necessity carried across the Plains—a distance of over a thousand miles—by horse-teams, prices were, of course, very high, and would, if this circumstance were not taken into consideration, appear extortionate. In fact, subsequently, the “Co-operative” stores, which had started with high rates, under the belief that every rival would be crushed, were compelled to lower their prices to those of the Walker Brothers, or, in spite of their faith, the Mormons would have forsaken Brigham’s Institution for the sake of their pockets. Many, in fact, did secretly go to Gentile stores, but they were watched by the police and reported to the teachers.
That large Mormon store, in which Brigham Young had such a heavy interest, was to become the parent establishment—the fountain-head from which temporal blessings, in the shape of cheap goods of every description, were to flow unto the people. Each Ward was to have its own store, and there the Saints of that Ward were expected to deal exclusively, and, as the teachers said, “keep off Main street where the Gentile stores were located.” These Ward-stores purchased their goods from the parent store, where nothing was sold by retail.