The time has been when my conscience forbade me to speak of these things, and no cross questions have made me reveal the facts. The time had not come to publish to the world this "holy order of matrimony." It would have brought great trouble upon the Prophet and the people; but now I feel it my duty to bear my testimony to the truth of Joseph Smith teaching and practicing plural marriage some years before his death. And the revelation given through him was no less true because it was not written as soon as revealed. Emma was a witness to Joseph taking plural wives, on one occassion at least, and if she has denied it on her death bed (which is very hard to believe) even forty times over, it does not destroy the facts; . . . Emma seemed well until the ceremony was over, when, almost before she could draw a second breath, she turned, and was more bitter in her feelings than ever before, if possible.

. . .

I have never repented the act that made me a plural wife. It has been to me like an anchor cast within the veil. It gave me a hope that was like a rod of iron to cling to while wading through heavy mists of hatred and persecution.

. . .

I have often looked back with joy and thanksgiving that I listened to the "still, small voice that whispered to my soul." The door is open–enter! It may look dark, dreary and desolate, but peace, joy and exaltation lie beyond. The longer I live, and the more knowledge and understanding I get pertaining to the principles of the eternal worlds, the more I rejoice in the one act of my life that made me the wife of Joseph Smith, and bound me to him for time and all eternity. I feel perfectly secure under his guardianship. I know he was a prophet of God, and I know that he received the revelation on celestial marriage years before it was written. . . . I rejoice in my religion, and I appreciate the blessings that I enjoy as a Latter-day Saint.

. . .

For my part I am not ashamed of my religion; I love every part and portion of it. Neither am I ashamed of my name, nor would I be even if it was,

Emily Dow Partridge Smith Young, etc.