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Show purpose in courting her the first time he had seen her. And he knew that reason had failed when he decided to win and marry her. All previous logic meant nothing when he felt convinced that there must be answers to his problems, and Katie could help him find them. He knew he would be able to provide a living for a wife, for hadn't he always worked? And wouldn't he continue to do so? But he also knew that earning a living for her would still not give her the companionship she was entitled to in marriage. The long separations when he would be in camp assumed unbearable proportions in his mind. Why had he chosen such a lonely path for earning the ever-important dollar? Hadn't there been another and more favorable choice he could have made than that of a shepherd's life? What had he been thinking of? He surely had not thought of an eventual marriage. And all the while he continued to court Katie by letter or in person. During those days of spring, summer and fall (1898) John K was bracing himself for a possible rejection; then he relaxed when he discerned in her deep, grey-blue eyes the love reflected in his own eyes of a lighter, all-blue shade. After accepting his proposal, Katie went to Salt Lake to work for the winter months and earn money for her marriage preparations, and John K spent another winter on the desert. In their letters to each other they formed plans for a June wedding. In early spring (1899) he met her in Salt Lake to buy a few of the most necessary pieces of furniture. Returning to Sanpete, Katie began making quilts for her marriage while 72 |