Polygamy was a topic for persuasive prose, not poetry in nineteenth century Utah. Perhaps you can speculate on why after reading the following. Written by Mary Elizabeth Woolley Chamberlain when she was in her late teens or early twenties (during the late 1880s\/early 1890s), the poem was obviously meant to be a rousing anthem. (Can anyone think of a matching tune?) <\/p>\n
For what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d had a rather difficult time taking her own advice when Thomas Chamberlain proposed she be his sixth wife. Her telling of the courtship is altogether amusing, something I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever said about polygamous romance before. Without further ado (and for your reading pleasure):<\/p>\n
Have Courage My Girls to Say Yes<\/p>\n
The dark clouds of hatred are gathering,
\nThey menace the saints with distress,
\nThe nation in pride is forbidding
\nThe saints to obey God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behest.
\nWill the daughters of Zion be fearing
\nTo choose for the right and for God?
\nWith fines and imprisonment threatening
\nWill they hold fast the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Iron Rod\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/p>\n
Chorus:
\nHave courage, my girls, to say yes,
\nHave courage, my girls, to say yes,
\nIf an Elder that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true, should come wooing to you,
\nHave courage, my girls, to say yes.<\/p>\n
The nations of earth are corrupting
\nThe fountain of life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flowing stream,
\nIniquity rank and corroding
\nIs festering, yet their lives with it team,
\nGod has commanded his people
\nTo obey laws celestial and true
\nWill the daughters of Zion be faithful
\nAnd the trials of life bravely view?<\/p>\n
(Chorus)<\/p>\n
Better marry a man who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be constant
\nThough wives he may have more than you,
\nIf he is faithful to God and his covenants
\nBe onward he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be faithful to you.
\nThrough of Babylon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proud wealth he can boast not,
\nDon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fear if his heart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only true,
\nThe riches of earth can compare not
\nWith affection eternal for you.<\/p>\n
(Chorus)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Polygamy was a topic for persuasive prose, not poetry in nineteenth century Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-history","category-creative"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6138,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808\/revisions\/6138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}