A REMARKABLE MORMON MARRIAGE IN UTAH.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1183, 27 January 1880, Page 2

A REMARKABLE MORMON MARRIAGE IN UTAH.

We have to do with a large white adobe structure which stands upon the eastern edge of the town, in the midst of a garden, wherein are trees that overtop the roof, and grass that is gemmed with flowers. It is Mrs Ballygag's Boarding School for young ladies. Two young meu met at the gate. We recognise them, as young Mormons. One is Thomson Dunbar ; the other is Arbutus Jones. Arbutus is speaking. "Yes, sir, I shall marry them; clean out the school. I have had a special revelation; the entire senior class has been sealed to me, and I am going to marry the two ether classes so as to make a complete job of it." " But the senior and junior classes have engaged themselves to me," replied Dunbar. "I proposed to them yesterday, 'and they said they could love me alone." "Can't help that," said Jones. "I have arranged the matter with the Prophet and the parents. The entire concern has been offered me in marriage, and I am now on my way to see Mrs Ballygag, and to get her to wind up the term and graduate them at once." " But you don't want the whole thirtytwo of them." "Yes, sir; I want them all. I claiiL 1^ them as my bride." " I love them all dearly," said Dunbar; " but sooner than have any fuss I'll let you pick sixteen, if you'll leave me the rest." Arbutus Jones opened the gate, and turning away with a light laugh, he said, " Dunbar don't talk like an idiot," and then he walked up to the porch, pulled the] door-bell, and called for Mrs gag'lhomson Dunbar sauntered sadly down the street meditating upon his plans. Secretly he entered his office, and writing thirty- two letters, he despatched them througli the post, and then went towards the livery stable. Midnight came— dark, cold, and silent. The belated wayfarer, walking into town, was startled to perceive, rushing by him in the gloom, a man, who seemed to be carrying a coil of rope upon his arm. Behind him eight carriages proceeded slowly, and with little noise. The man stopped in front of Mrs Ballygag's mansion, 'ihe carriages halted by the kerbstone a hundred yards below. The man opened the gate noiselessly, and walked quickly around to the rear of the house. He uttered a low whistle, and a sash in a second-story window was carefully raised. H flung towards it the end of a rope, which was seized and hauled until a ladder of rope stretched from the window to the ground. " Come, dearest," said Thomson Dunbar, in a loud whisper. "Do not be afraid. I will catch you if you fall." Then the form of a lithe and graceful girl emerged from the window, and glided slowly, but easily down the frail ladder. Then another descended. Then another, until thirty-two lithe and graceful girls had reached the ground, as they came, Thomson Dunbar clasped them one by one in his arms, and kisbed them fervently, pointing the way to the carriages. The last one whispered in his r wished ear that the thirty-two trunks were standing, ready packed, in the chamber above, and tlut Thomson had better see to getting them down. But the idea did not seem to strike Thomson. He asked himself what lov3 had to do with trunks ? He thought how little pure aftection cares for material things. He knew that he was ready to die for his darlings. That would be heroic. But to carry thirty-two trunks down a rope-lader, he considered, in the strictest sense, a prosaic performance. Did Romeo shoulder Juliet's trunk ? Did Paul take Virginia upon one arm, and her trunk upon the other ? Did Petrarch interrupt his sweet . converse with Laura with struggles with her luggage? He thought not. Let the trunks remain as a souvenir with Mrs Ballygag. He gloated over the thought that she and Jones would weep tears of anguish and helpless rage over those leathern receptacles. He went toward the carriages. They were all filled, and the doors were closed. He mounted upon the seat with the driver of the foremost one, and paid : — Drive like mad, now ! Forty dollars extra for you, if you reach Osrden by daylight !" Ihe day was faintly breaking over the summits of the Wtisatch range when the procession entered Ogden. Thomson ordered his companion to drive at once to the house of Bishop Potts. The Bishop's dwelling showed 110 sigus of life. He was asleep with his family — at that early hour. I hom&ou rang the door-bell fiercely The Bishop's grey head was thrust from the window. " Who is making all that racket down there 'r" he said. " What's the matter ? What do you want I-" '"It's I, Thomas Duubar : I've ruu over from the city to be muiried. Hurry down and perform the ceremony please." " Can't you get married at home less unearthly hour than this '< I've been up all night Avith the twins and sixteen others of the eldldron, and four of Mrs Potts have not had a wink of sleep, and hero you come routing us out just an we arc do/ing off : I'll many you after breakfast. There is no hurry about it, I reckon." " But these is hurry though. J'vo eloped with Mrs Ballygag's boarding school. It loved me and they wanted to marry it to another man. Arbutus Jones, you knoAv ; so it fled AAdth me. We arc bent on instantaneous consolidation !" "How man} of her arc there?" asked the Bishop. "Only thirty-two."' "And you're fcingler" "Yes." " Very well. That'll do to begin with, but a man of your standing- must disembowel a couple more boarding schools if you want to hold your own in church ! I'll come down and see what I can do for you." Thomsou helped his bride to alight. .-«. most charming picture she presented, standing 1 there in a row in the early morning light blushing with modest joy beneath the wuiles and caresses of her devoted plover. A moment later the front door opened, and the Bishop appeared in dressing gown and ulippors. Mr Dunbar ushered the bride into the Bishop's drawing room, and seated her on the .sofas and chairs. Then he drew the Bishop aside. "By the way, Bishop, what are you going to charge ? What are your rates !J! J " " Well," said the Bishop, smiling, " Where there is only one couple my regular fee is two dollars. But of course I allow discount on wholesale transactions. I'll tell you what I'll do. Seeing that you are a young man, and there are evidently in you efforts to start properly in life, I'll put you the whol» lot in f or forty-five dollars. How's that?" I' Reasonable, very reasonable indeed," said '1 hompsou. " Stand up my dear," said the Bishop to the bride. fhe bride stood up in a eesmi-circlc, while in the doorway gathered seven or eight of the Bishop's wives, to wittness the impressive scene. Thomas Dunbar then advanced and tafcing from the pocket of his coat tail a quarter of a peck of gold rings he put them in his hat and handod to the Bishop, who began the | service. " Thomson Dunbar, you take these women for your wedded wife ? You promise to love, honour, and cherish ?" Sec, &c. Thomson Dunbar said, " I do." Tho Bishop,, turning to iha bride, aaid 4

— " Emma, Henrietta, Louisa, Geraldine, Polly, Mary Jane, Matilda, Gertrude, .Lucy, Jlmogene, Sally, Rebecca, Maria, G-eorgina, Hetty, Oolubia, Martha, Caroline, Patty, Julia, Emily, Anastasia, Baehael, Sapphira, Ethelberta, Hannah, Josephene, Bertie, Mignon, Patience, Agatha. Aiim Jane — yon take this man to be your wedded husband ? You promise to love, honor, and obey ? &0., &. And the feride said she did, and she would. Then Thomson, with gladness in his eyes, and wild emotions in his bosom, took the hat from tha Bishop and walked around the semi- circle of tho bride, and placed the rings on her fingers. Then the Bishop pronounced them man and wife, and Thomson started around the bridal curve again to clasp her in succession to his heart. He was just releasing himself from the twenty-sixth clasp when a wild tumult was heard in the street ; the noise of hurrying wheels, the quick tramp of horses, and crying of voices. The Bishop went to the casement to ascertain the cause of the tumult which disturbed the happy marriage festivities. Before he reached the window the door was hurled j open with violence, and in rushed Arbutus Jones. Behind him waa Mrs Ballygag. Jones was white and breathless. Mrs Ballygag panted, and brandished in a threatening manner a protuberant umbrella. "Stop! stop!" shouted Jones, as he projected himself into the room. "Don't go on! I forbid the marriage! These women are to be my wife ! This man is a depraved villain! I command you, Bishop, not to perform the ceremony ! ' "Don't you dare to do it, you greyhaired old mwoster !" shrieked Mrs Ballygag, menacing him with her umbrella. " You do it at your peril !" "I think," said the Bishop, serenely, "you had better try to be calmer. Try to restrain your emotion, as the weather is too warm for violent excitement." "Let 'em go on," said Dunbar. "It makes no difference if they get their emotional thermometers up to a hundred and ten in the shade ; nobody cares." ♦ ♦ * * What the result might have been if the dispute had proceeded further can only be conjectured ; but as soon as the weapons were produced the bride shrieked wildly and the whole thirty-two of her fell fainting on the floor, while Mrs Ballygag collapsed, and, embracing her umbrella, sank unconscious in the corner. For a moment wild confusion prevailed ; but the Bishop retained his presence of mind, and running into the garden he seized a huge watering-pot, and bringing it in, he sprinkled the faces of the bride with water until ©ne by one she revived. Mrs Ballygag came to without assistance, and sat up looking the picture of distress. "You have treated me shamefully," she said. "The last quarter's bills of these girls are not paid. I can't have any commencement; the reputation of the school is ruined ; and lam a poor lone widow- woman, with nobody to help me !" And Mrs Ballygag sank down upon a sofa and sobbed violently. Then the bride began to cry also. It was altogether too melancholy for a wedding. The Bishop drew Thomson aside. " Dunbar," he whispered, "you'll have to do something for this woman. You must do the fair thing." " What do you recommend ?" " Well, to tell the truth, if I were you, I'd marry her. Just throw her in with the rest as a kind of job lot. You might as well go the whole figure while you're at it." " I suppose I might. I'll take her." With a wild cry of joy, Mrs Ballygag rushed forward and threw her arms about Dunbar's neck and nestled her head in his bosom. "Do you love me, Thomson P" she asked, looking up at him. "Well, yea; that is, of course, as it were, to a — to a — to a certain extent !" Then Dunbar took Mrs Ballygag by the hand, the Bishop began the ceremony, and in a few moments she was made a thirty - third of him.