WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
activity, but more zest of life. The Mormons are temperamentally akin to the Boers; they resemble them in their manner of life. A sombre form of religiosity pervades the society.
Mormon women, in the view of my informant, are very imperfectly educated. Their level of intelligence is low; they seem like overgrown children, and have no conversational aptitude. This deficiency in education may be due in part to the inferior status that polygamy often imposes upon women. But Mormonism is scarcely an intellectual creed, and its tenets do not appeal to women of strong intellect.
Women have, however, proved ardent converts to the Mormon faith, and enthusiastic upholders of the system of polygamous marriage. They have supported the creed with their money, and given themselves willingly as "spiritual wives." It has been said that Mormon polygamy finds its most zealous advocates among women, and that the practice of plural wedlock has survived through their influence.
The early missionaries, who scoured Europe for proselytes, inspired a large number of women with ardour for the new gospel. Wealthy women left home and kindred to join the settlers in their wilderness, facing privation, and engaging in severe labour, with astonishing eagerness. Young and old women,
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