hildren
of the holy covenant," and they were esteemed accordingly.

But as the history of the Church shows, plural marriage was always a
heavy cross to the Mormon women; many had refused to bear it, in the
face of the frequent pulpit scoldings of the Prophets; and few did not
sometime weep under it in the secrecy of their family life. In the days
immediately preceding the manifesto of 1890, there was a general hope
and longing among the Mormon mothers that God would permit a relief
before their daughters and their sons should become of an age to be
drafted into the ranks of polygamy. The great majority of the young
men were monogamists. It required the strong persuasions of personal
affection as well as the authority of Divine command to make the young
women accept a polygamist in marriage. And when the Church received
President Woodruff's anti-polygamous revelation, every profound human
emotion of the people coincided with the promise to abstain.

Only among a few of the polygamous leaders themselves was there any
inclination to break the Church's pledge--an inclination that was
strengthened by resentment against the Federal power that had compelled
the giving of the pledge. Almost immediately upon obtaining the
freedom of statehood, some of these leaders returned to the practice of
polygamous cohabitation--although they had accepted the revelation,
had bound themselves by their covenant to the nation and had solemnly
subscribed to the terms of their amnesty. To justify themselves, they
found it necessary to teach that polygamy was still approved by the law
of God--that the practice of plural marriage had only been abandoned
because it was forbidden by the laws of man. Joseph F. Smith continued
to live with his five wives and to rear children by all of them.
Those of the apostles who were not assured of that attainment to the
principality of Heaven which was promised the man of five wives and
proportionate progeny, were naturally tempted (if, indeed, they were not
actually encouraged) to take Joseph F. Smith as their examplar. It was
scarcely worse to break the covenant by taking a new polygamous wife
than by continuing polygamous relations with former plural wives; and
when an apostle took a new polygamous wife, his inevitable and necessary
course was to justify himself by the authority of God. He could not then
deny the same authority to the minor ecclesiasts, even if he had wished
to. And, finally, when the evil ci