and live their religion, or they may leave, for I will not have them about me. I will go into heaven alone, rather than have scratching and fighting around me. I will set all at liberty. What, first wife too? Yes, I will liberate you all.
"I know what my women will say; they will say, 'You can have as many women as you please, Brigham.' But I want to go somewhere and do something to get rid of the whiners."—Deseret News, October 1, 1856.
Even in Brigham's family, and that is the best-managed in Utah, there is still "scratching and fighting."
From all I have seen of Salt Lake polygamy, I can assert the almost universal rule—a man does not marry a second wife, until he finds somebody he prefers to the first; and when he is married, it is not long before he exhibits the preference. It is pretended that the consent of the first wife is obtained to such subsequent marriages. That consent is asked by the husband, and who knows not the thousand petty tyrannies that a husband can use toward his wife to extort or compel acquiescence! If the consent be given, she is willing to contribute to his glory, and the ceremony is performed. If she do not consent, women must not be an impediment either in doing one's duty, or obtaining one's salvation; so, therefore, the ceremony is performed just the same, whether she consent or no, whether she like the girl or no; for her husband to will it, is for the Lord to will it, and nothing is left to her but to bend and groan. Polygamy, however, does not thus affect all the first wives at Salt Lake. That which will crush one woman into the grave, and I know more than one such case,
