In his habits and mode of living, Brigham Young is very simple, or at least was so until recently. When I first knew him he dressed in plain, home-spun, home-made, and every article about his person and his houses was as plain and unostentatious as could possibly be. But the importation of Gentiles and Gentile goods, since the opening of the railway, has worked a great change. His wives, who once carried simplicity of dress almost to the verge of dowdyism, have now acquired a taste for Eastern fashions.
The Prophet’s first home in Utah was a little cottage which is now known as the White House.—The same house, I believe, which was valued at sixty thousand dollars, and which Brother Tenant supposed he bought:—a more scandalous and barefaced robbery never was perpetrated.
This is on the hill-side, north of the Eagle Gate, and is now the residence of his first wife, Mrs. Angell Young. The Bee-Hive House is the official residence of Brother Brigham. There he used to reign supreme as “Governor” Young; and thence he now issues secular and ecclesiastical edicts to all who acknowledge his sway. There is one lady resident in this house—Mrs. Lucy Decker Young—and no one else is permitted to intrude upon its privacy. Here the prophet has his own private bedroom, and here he breakfasts when he has been at home over night.
The Lion House is what ought to be the home of the Prophet, for here nearly all his wives reside. (He has, however, many other houses in the city.) On the basement floor is the dining-room, kitchen, pantry, and other general offices. The first floor is divided by a long passage with doors on each side. On the right hand, about half-a-dozen wives with small families find accommodation. On the left, at the entrance, is the parlour, and the other rooms on that side are occupied by mothers with larger families, and ladies who have a little more than ordinary attention. The upper floor is divided into twenty square bedrooms.
There is no extravagance in the furniture or apparel of these wives, but they are comfortable and are kept neat and clean. Again and again, the Prophet has declared that the ten-dollar fees which are obtained from the divorces provide his wives with pin-money. I do not believe a word of this, as the amount thus obtained is far more than the avaricious soul of the Prophet would allow to pass out of his hands for feminine vanities. But I know of another source of income which is open to the wives. They are allowed all the fruit—peaches especially—which they or their children, can gather or dry. This, in fact, is pretty nearly their only “pin-money” their “lord” is not a generous man, and they have to make the most of trifles.
The Prophet usually dines in the Lion House at three in the afternoon. Mrs. Twiss Young, as I mentioned before, acts the part of housekeeper, and she acts it well. At three punctually the bell rings, and the mothers with their children move down to the dining-room. They are all seated at a very long table which is lengthened by turning round at the end of the room. Each mother has her children around her. Brigham sits at the head of the table, with his favourite—when at home—vis à vis, or on his left, and if a visitor is present he sits at the Prophet’s right hand. The repast is frugal but ample, for Brigham is a sober and exceedingly economical man. This is the first time he sees his family. In the evening at seven o’clock the bell again rings, and the mothers and the children again fill the sides and end of the parlour. When they are all seated, the patriarch enters, takes his seat at the table and chats quietly with those who chance to go in with him to prayers. When all the members of the family are assembled, the door is closed. All kneel down and the Prophet prays, invoking special blessings upon Zion and “the kingdom.” This is the last that his family see of him for the day, unless they have occasion to seek him privately.
With his family Brother Brigham is said to be kind; but it is supposed to be more the awe which his position as Prophet inspires, than the love which they bear him as a man which renders him successful in managing them. At the same time, that sweet familiarity is destroyed which should exist between husband and wife, father and children. With such a number of wives, he cannot possibly wait upon them in visiting, and in the ball-room, and other places of amusement. With the exception of his reigning favourite, whoever for the time she may happen to be, no one expects his attentions. At the theatre a full number of seats are reserved, and his wives attend, or remain at home, as they please. They sit in the body of the parquette, among the rest of the people; but one of the two proscenium boxes is reserved for him, and beside him is a chair for the favourite Amelia.
When he goes to the ball, the same special attention is shown. He dances first with the favourite, and, if half-a-dozen more of his wives have accompanied them, he will dance with each of them once in the course of the evening; but with the favourite he dances as frequently as any youth in the ball-room with his first maiden love. The Apostles and leading men of the community, who dance attendance on him and desire his favour, are sure to seek the pleasure of her hand and place her in the same cotillion with Brigham, who is thus able all the evening to enjoy her company.
Some of the Apostles and Elders look with pain upon this boyishness of the Prophet, and deplore it. Many of them are attached to their first wives, and have shown them consideration and attention which has not always pleased Brother Brigham. I have heard more than one of them, express a wish that the Prophet had been a little more attentive to his own first wife.