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Show in my father's house/ 272 my father could bring them flour and honey, dried milk and potatoes. Besides my brothers, other had "selfish desires" - since Aunt LaVona had left the group, she no longer paid her tithes to my father's priesthood order and had made no attempt to help other members of the family for a long time. And Aunt Gerda bought new carpeting or new furniture or draperies every so often, saying, "If I give my money to Rulon, he'll just spend it on someone else." She stated openly that she worked hard and if others wanted what she had, they should be willing to work for it, as she did. Some of the mothers rationalized if we lived together, a united effort would flow naturally. Aunt Gerda would never stand by and actually watch Aunt Rachel's children starve. I remembered Aunt Rachel's bare rooms at the white house, the orange crates for furniture, the tiny allowance for what remained of her children after Aunt Gerda took over. My mother confided her feelings to me. "Look at Rachel. She doesn't have Gerda's drive or energy. She has twelve living children to Gerda's three, and most of them are still at home. And she's not trained for any sort of work! She was so young when she married - and didn't even finish high school! Now Gerda worked for nearly ten years before she married. You tell me how Rachel would earn a living? Housecleaning or babysitting? Why, she can hardly keep up with what she has now!" Whenever my father broached the topic of my brothers' selfishness, I could almost feel my mother thinking of Aunt Gerda's although I never heard her say so. But when one of us children complained about our financial state, my mother would shake her head and cluck her tongue. "Daddy's right. We should be living the United Order. Then |