In course of time, however, the visits to Connecticut came to an end. The Apostle obtained Brother Brigham’s permission to practise a little Polygamy among the Gentiles, and Miss Young made him an excellent housekeeper in a handsomely furnished house in Brooklyn. The poor High-Priest and the Seventy did not fare so well: they were expected to wait until they reached Zion. The two young ladies to whom they were engaged were amiable and good girls, who would without doubt have met with excellent husbands either in or out of the Church; but the name of an Apostle or High-Priest—when the men themselves were away from home—carried with it many charms, and won the hearts of the young ladies and their friends. The Apostle was, of course, well used to the training of wives in the “celestial order,” and when he returned home with his youngest bride he suffered no particular inconvenience. But the High-Priests realized the truth of the adage “The course of true love never did run smooth.” The first wife of one of them refused to have anything to do with his new bride, and kept him at a respectful distance from herself then and ever afterwards; while the first wife of the other declined to acknowledge the claims of her youthful rival. The first High-Priest has gone to heaven; the other, in the course of time, gave a bill of divorce to his wife. What happiness either of these three girls found in Polygamy they best know, but the young widow appears decidedly the happiest of the three.
I had heard much while in London about men taking wives “from principle,” and that, after the first wife, they made no open display of their love, but I could not see that they differed in the slightest from their Gentile brethren in that respect; the Utah Elders of whom I have spoken always seemed to be very human. In all Polygamic courtships that I have since witnessed, the brethren have appeared to think that the “Lord’s” revelation was a trifle too slow in arranging affairs of the heart, and they have been zealously preparing for its coming. In some instances the revelation has come too late, and in many others it would have been very disastrous if it had not come at all. In all cases it may be safely asserted that all that has been said about getting the consent of the first wife and obtaining a revelation from the Lord as to whether it is pleasing in His sight for a man to take another wife, or not—is pure folly and nonsense. Brigham Young is the only “lord” who has ever been consulted on that question. If he acknowledged this to the people and they chose to abide by it, they alone would be to blame; but it is the grossest of frauds for men claiming to be the representatives of Jesus Christ to play upon the credulity of an honest people, trifling with the most sacred subjects, and telling them that God answers by special revelation and declares whether or not it is His will that each of these plural marriages should take place. The Apostles and Elders themselves are not deceived. They know well enough that there is no truth in all this mockery; they know that the only source of all their revelations is the man Brigham Young.
CHAPTER XIII.
SAINTLY PILGRIMS ON THE WAY—THE “DIVINE” HAND-CART SCHEME.
One Sunday morning in early spring I attended a meeting of the Saints in Williamsburgh.
My husband was there, and took part in the service, and so did the Apostle Taylor, and one or two other Utah Elders. I went to that meeting in a very desponding state of mind, for our prospects since the day of our arrival had not brightened very much, and I felt the need of some comforting and cheering words.
Whether it was the influence of the clear spring morning, or that the Elders had noticed the depression of spirit among the Saints, I cannot tell, but I know that on that particular occasion their words seemed to me more earnest and encouraging than they had been for a long time past.
As we came out from the meeting, Brother Benton, one of the Elders, stepped up to my husband, and said, “Brother Stenhouse, they are expected to arrive to-night or to-morrow; I suppose you will be down at the ‘Gardens’ to meet them.”
I knew well enough who “they” were who were expected to arrive, and so did Mr. Stenhouse. “Yes,” he said, “of course I shall be there, but most likely we shall have to wait a few days before they come.” Then he stopped and talked over the matter with Elder Benton.