Under the Prophet in Utah

n my early interview with Joseph F Smith-and he received me with the gracious affectionateness of

porarily. The axe will not fall for a few moments. It d

ild with a secret. And pattering along ahead of me, quick on his feet, he signed to me to fo

bowed with his age, and partly with an intentness of curiosity that glittered innocently in his guileless eye

warned him that the passage of the measure of disfranchisement had been no more than retarded. I pointed out the fatal consequences for the community if the bill should ever become law-the fatal consequences for the leaders of the Church if the non-polygamous Mormons, deprived of their votes, were ever left unable to control the admin

reverent; and when I had done-looking at me without a trace of cunning in his benignity, with an expression, rather, of exalted innocence and f

nce, by a "revelation" of the Church we were ordered to give obedience to the government of the nation, and since we had exhausted all our legal defenses, it

President Woodruff, our friends expect, and the country will insi

ouldn't have to meet this trouble this way. You know what it means to our people. I had hoped that the Lord might open the minds of the people of this nation to the truth, so that they might be converted to the everlasting covenant. Our prophets have suffered like those of old, and I thought that the persecut

ed that

again about it," he said, at last. "I hope the

the life itself and by the hatred of all civilization arrayed against it. They had grown to value their marriage system by what it had cost them. They had been driven by the contempt of the world to argue for its sanctity, to live up to their declarations

esident Woodruff and me before he went to Washington, but I'm sure I can't see how we can do anything." When my father returned home, I went to him many times-without however learning an

d that it would be permissible for me to speak my opinions freely. I hastened to Salt Lake City, to th

; for, by the subsequent "covenant"-and its acceptance by the Federal government-the nation did but confirm their freedom and accord them their constitutional rights. Here, shaking in the hand o

buted. Some of the present-day polygamists say that it was I who wrote it. Chas. W. Penrose and George Reynolds have claimed that they edited

sed the faithful "to refrain from contracting any marriages forbidden by the law of the land." In spite of this mildne

rousing resistance. With the exception of the comparatively few men and women who were living in polygamy, the community would accept it gratefully. Rather, I made bold

ointed out this danger to him. He asked

whether it meant an absolu

red that

member-that the word of the Mormon people had passed current in the political and commercial circles of the country; that I had several times been the bearer of messages from them to prominent men; that we had been taken on

ing us for." There was not even a shrewdness in his voice when he added: "You know they

se of polygamy (which was a felony) because the marriage records were concealed by the Church; but they could prove plural marriage living (a mere misdemeanor) by r

anklin S. Richards; and while I trusted the President's unworldly faith, I trusted more the sagacity of h

es, the Presidents of Seventies, and the presiding Bishopric, composed of three members. These quorums aggregate twenty-five men; and to their number may be added the Chief Patriarch of the Church, making a body of twenty-six general authorities-the Hierarchy. It was from the

them; and this insignificant-looking apartment-of such tremendous community significance, because of the memories of its past-seemed to take on the gravity of another momentous crisis in the destiny of its people. The portraits in oils of the dead presidents, martyrs, and prophets of the Church, looked down on us from the facade

, and he desired from them an expression of their willingness to accept and abide by it. He knew what a trial it would be to the "whole household of Israel." "We have sought," he said, "to live our religion-to harm no one-to perform our mission in this world for the salvation of the living and the dead. We have obeyed the princi

ne, and the other brethren who had been in Washington, had found that the situation of the Church was critical. Brother Franklin S. Richards had advised him that our last legal defense had fallen. "In broken and contrite spir

the faces of those opposite me. A set and staring pallor held them motionless. I was conscious of a chill of heart that seemed communicated to me from them. My brother Abraham was sitti

hren to read the manifesto. When it was concluded, he said: "The ma

e called on my father to speak. The First Councillor rose to make a statesmanlike review of the crisis; and I understood that with his usual diplomacy he was

s of some of the faces. Several of the men-including my brother Abraham, and Joseph F. Smith-asked wheth

ord had taken back the principle from the children

arriage living-whether they would be required to separat

hren in Washington found it imperative; that it

the covenants which they had made "in holy places" with the women who had trusted them. One after another they offered themselves for any sacrifice but this betrayal of the women and children to whom they owed an everlasting fa

n of statute and constitution, that we were without grounds for our plea of religious immunity, we had but the alternative either of defying the power of the whole nation or of submitting ourselves to its authority. For his part he was willing to do the will of the Lord. And since the Prophet of God, after a long season of prayer, had submitted this revelation as the will of the Lord, he was ready for the sacrifice. The leaders of

ves, but whose fate was trembling on the event. I rose to speak for them, with my hand on my brother's shoulder, knowing that my every word would be a stab at his heart, and hoping that my grasp might be a touch of sympathy to him-knowing that I must urge these elders to sacrifice themselves and their families for a redemption of which I w

the people. I told them how cheerfully and bravely the non-polygamists had borne the brunt of protecting them in the practice of their faith, and yet how patient a hope had

tial covenant, into which they had entered, they were assured that they should have their wives and children with them throughout the endless ages of eternity. The people had given much to them. Surely the

se his selfish love and yearnings between the people of God and their worldly opportunity. The others followed. Not one referred to the equivocal language of the manifesto or questioned it. They accept

d covenanted, at the altar of God's house, in the presence of his Father, to cherish the wives and children whom the Lord had given him. They were more to him than life. They were dearer

g stature like a man stricken with a paralysis of despair

evelation from God," he sai

s if in the blinding glisten of the tears in my eyes, a radiant vision of our future, an unselfish people freed from a burden of persecution, a nation's forgiveness born, a grateful state created. I saw it-and I looked at Smith and loved him for it. I knew then, as I know now, that he and those others were at this moment sincere. I knew that they had relinquished what was more dear to them than the breath of life. I knew the app