There was no argument between Mr. Stenhouse and myself. It would have been worse than useless, for it was not his doing, and he assured me that he had as great a repugnance to the doctrine as I had. He had at first only hinted that it might eventually be acknowledged by the leaders of the Church; but it was a matter of too deeply a personal character for me to keep silence, and I did not rest until he had told me all. He had not seen the revelation, but the information which he had received was beyond a question; and singularly enough Elder Margetts, the London Elder of whose flirtation in Southampton I have already spoken, was at that time on a visit to Switzerland, and confirmed all that my husband had said. Thus the very man who, two years before, first excited my suspicions, now confirmed my fears, and openly stated as a fact that which he then was ashamed almost to suggest.
Elder Margetts had been in Utah from the time I saw him in England, and was now on a mission to Italy. He knew, therefore, very well what was said and done among the Saints in Zion. I, and those like me, whose faith was not too strong, were spoken of as “babes” to whom milk only must be given; and in this way any deception necessary to quiet our tender consciences was allowable; but Elder Margetts was one of the “strong men,” to whom meat was necessary—in other words, they were initiated into all the mysteries of the faith.
My husband enjoined me not to speak of what I had heard, and I felt very little inclination to do so—my heart was too full. The pleasant dreams and hopes of life were ended now to me. What could I look forward too? Henceforth the stern realities of a lonely and weary existence were all the future that should be mine.
Still, the “Revelation” sanctioning a change in the doctrines and practice of the church, was not yet published; and until polygamy was openly avowed I felt that the doom of my happiness was not yet sealed; and like many another heart-broken woman, I hoped against hope.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE REVELATION ON “CELESTIAL MARRIAGE.”
And time flew by; and at length the dreaded Revelation came.
One very pleasant morning, early in January, 1853, two Elders of the Italian Mission, Jabez Woodward and Thomas Margetts, took breakfast with us; and with them also was Mons. Petitpierre from Geneva, the Protestant minister of whom I have already spoken. While I was busy preparing the meal, Mr Stenhouse and the two English elders went to the post office to get their letters, for at that time they were expecting important news. When they returned, breakfast was quite ready, and they took their seats at the table. I asked if there were any letters from England; and my husband said, “No, no letters; but there is a Star, and it contains the Revelation on Polygamy.”
He handed me a copy of the Millennial Star, a Mormon paper published in Liverpool; and as I took it, I felt as if I were receiving my death-warrant. It was indeed the death-warrant to all my hopes of happiness. I rose from the table, asking them to excuse me; and overcome with agitation and conflicting emotions, I retired to my own chamber. There, for the first time, I read that document which has since brought such sorrow and misery to so many wronged and heart-broken women. The reader may perhaps like to see the only foundation and authority for the practice of polygamy ever produced by the Mormon leaders. So I copy exactly from the Millennial Star what I then read, leaving out only a few lines here and there, which had no special reference to the subject, but helped to swell the size of the “Revelation:”—