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Show 5f3 I knew about Alec Joseph. He had made himself notorious by marrying a growing number of beautiful young women and by seeking the r e p o r t o r i a l s p o t l i g h t . He had broken the fundamentalist's cardinal rule: that p l u r a l marriage is to be lived in secrecy; to deflect persecution and to maintain the p u r i t y of the l i f e s t y l e. But then, he was not r e a l l y a fundamentalist. Newly-converted to Mormonism, his f a i t h seemed to be a hashing of opportunism and diletanttism, combined. He wore "Lamanite" clothing and carried a s i l v e r p i s t o l . He said that the Principle of Plural Marriage was a p o l i t i c a l issue, rather than a r e l i g i o u s one. I found him loud and amusing, but my mother said, "He's such a caution!" "What do you mean, he defied Daddy's authority? Did he ever recognize i t in the f i r s t place?" "Oh, yes. That's how he found out about the Principle, from some of Brother Reardon's friends. They brought their whole ward with them when they came." She smiled softly, to signify her exaggeration. It was the f i r s t smile of the evening. "Anyway, he went off to Butte or Missoula and brought back a couple of new wives - and t h e y ' r e nice g i r l s, intelligent and/rell-educated. But t h a t ' s wrong, you know. The Lord i s supposed to give a man h i s wives. If i t doesn't oome through the proper a u t h o r i t y , then i t i s n ' t really a marriage. When your daddy reprimanded him, and told him he couldn't take any more wives on h i s won, he stood up to your father and said, 'Rulon, you taught me by your example that if a man knows what he's doing and h i s leader won't sustain him, he should go ahead and do whatever he wants.' He's just capitalizing, I guess, on the old s p l i t in the group - which he knows nothing |
