Greenwood Gleaner

February 2, 1900

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

HOW MORMONS PROPOSE

And How a Mother Feels to Have Her Daughter Become a Plural Wife

Mrs. Hudson describes graphically in the New Lippincott what she saw and heard in a Mormon household during a significant visit from the elders of the church. 

Below is an extract;

Three men were ushered into the room.  One was tall and of strong, well-marked features and dignified presence.  The other two were stout and florid and rather nervous in manner, brothers apparently.

Without waiting for a formal introduction, one of these motioned inconsequently towards me and said, “Is she of the Lord’s people?”

The woman offered then chairs, with a slight inclination of the head that might have been taken either for answer or for an invitation to be seated.

Was she afraid?  I could not tell.  The men paid no attention to the invitation for the moment and ignored my presence.  They had come upon urgent and important business they announced, and would state it at once.  It was their duty to bear a message to her, one that specially concerned her.

“Yes,” said the tall and solemn elder, “It is indeed nothing less than a revelation received by the head of the church last night.  It concerns both you and your daughter.”

“My daughter,” gasped the woman, in scarcely audible tones, and I saw one hand grasp the back of a chair convulsively.

“Your daughter, who has now grown to womanhood,” continued the elder, “and owes her allegiance to the church.”

“What is the revelation?” the woman forced her drawn lips to ask.

“Through the grace of the all-wise Father it has been revealed to His Disciple, Brigham Young, that your daughter, Clarisse, should become the third wife of Elder W----, here present with us.”

An awful silence ensued, and then a convulsive movement in the woman’s throat, as if her voice refused to utter a sound, attracted the attention of all, and the men bowed their heads that they might not see.