MARTHA BOWKER YOUNG.
[Number Seven.]
Martha Bowker Young is a quiet little body, with piercing dark eyes, and very retiring. Brother Brigham acts towards her as if he had quite forgotten that he had ever married her, and she lives in all the loneliness of married spinsterhood.
HARRIET BARNEY SEAGERS YOUNG.
[Number Eight.]
Harriet Barney Seagers Young, the eighth wife, is a tall, fine-looking woman. She was another man’s wife when Brigham made love to her. It is not supposed to be the correct thing for a Saint to court his neighbour’s wife, but the Prophet did so in the case of Harriet Barney, and in several other cases too. Harriet was married to a respectable young Mormon gentleman, but after she had lived with him some time and had borne three children to him, the Prophet persuaded her to join his ranks, and she did so, believing that the word of the Prophet was the revelation of the Lord to her, but she has since had bitter cause to repent of her folly. To a Gentile mind such an infatuation must appear very strange, but the Mormon people personally understand the powerful influence which their religion exercises over them, and to them there is nothing very singular in all this.
ELIZA BURGESS YOUNG.
[Number Nine.]
Eliza Burgess Young is the only English wife that Brigham has. She fell in love with the Prophet, wanted him to marry her, and even offered to wait, like Jacob, for seven years if she might be his at last. So she served in the family of her lord for the appointed time, and he finally took her to wife as a recompense for her faithfulness. She has added one son to the Prophet’s kingdom.
SUSAN SNIVELY YOUNG.
[Number Ten.]
The tenth wife on my list is Susan Snively Young. She is a German woman—smart, active, and industrious. She has no children, but has been quite a help-meet to her husband in making butter and cheese, in which she excels. Smart Mormons have always had an eye to business, and while living up to their privileges have not invariably sought for wives who were only fair and pleasant to look upon, but have frequently taken them for their own intrinsic worth: one as a good dairymaid, another as a good cook, a third as a good laundress, and a fourth as a lady to grace the parlour—perhaps even two or three of this last kind, if the Saint were wealthy. There is a good deal of practical wisdom in this. Brother Brigham has gathered of all sorts into his net, and has then sorted them out, placing each lady in the position where he considered she would be most useful and profitable to himself.