Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1881 — MORMONISM. [ARTICLE]

MORMONISM.

Un, A am EUm Urn* tatonrtewe4 bj t**i BeSrcr Tlllssi -.. ' v T»iere is no bright side to Mormonism. It’» «»l swnber, all of Ha tendencies are debasing. That Is one reason why plays and novels which have taken Mormon eocial life for their theme have never yet been sneeeaafol. There is nothing either In the ftdth, customs or habits of Mormondom that can fhrnlsh material for a sunnv picture. Wbat can there be that la pleasant in the licentious bondage of Mormon social relations ? Ia it any wonder that it is too revolting a theme for the caricaturist and too sensually commonplace for the dramatist. There is nothing romantic In Mormonistu. All the bright impulses of youth which give such a rosy coloring to the passions in the morning of life are unknown in Utah, because feelings are stilled and impulses trammeled bv the horrible social usages which make Mormon women ,aa so much cattle to be driven into the fold of their masters. Yes, the question has often been asked why did we submit to it. It is Easily answered. Brought up from infancy in the Mormon faith, of which polygamy is the corner-stone, taught to believe that to disobey Brigham •Young’s will was to disobey God, who can wonder at our submission to what outside of Mormon life would seem revolting? , T . a _ When did I goto Utah? I can scarcely remember the time. I have dim recollection of crossing the plains with an emigrant team when I was •nly four years old. I grew up surrounded by Mormon ism. When I was nineteen years old Brigham Young saw me and claimed me for bis own. I resisted, but all of my surroundings forced me into the marriage. After five years of the bondage I determined to escape from it. The way in which I did it is now known to e\'ery one. What do I think will be the outcome of Mormunism ? * Its destruction is certain. How or .when can scarcely be predicted, because it is in the power of the United States government to stop it at any time. If the government of this great nation has not the courage to take this action, I think the evil may cure itself. You ask me in what way? Well, the one plea of Mornionism to the outside world has lieen that their system of polygamy destroyed the great social evil which te said to exist in all countries. This was true in years gone by. The Mormon women submitted themselves to the teachings of •their church in implicit faith that it was born of divine authoritj’. They were faithfol victims to its heretieal teaching, but they have grown wiser in one respect,, unwise perhaps in another. The systerii of polygamy is growing into its inevitable conclusion r-concubinage. The blind faith which made the early Mormon women faithful to their segment of a husband has lost its hold, and the svsteni itself, is now spreading the seeds of its own destruction. Like all false systems, it can not have any permanent endurance. But why let the poisonous social reptile wear out' a disastrous existence, when “the heel of .power” could crush out its life at once?