| OCR Text |
Show 164 Utah Historical Quarterly at times if the God of their new religion really cared about them after all. Thus Lead Pencil Peterson prayed to the Lord for rain in very pragmatic terms: Lord, as you can see if you will look down u p o n us, ve haf a very bad d r o u g h t — d e vorst von dat I can remember. De crops in Cane Walley iss already b u r n t u p . D e r iss no vater in Gobblefield D i t c h ; Andrew Kinnikinick's potatoes are vilting right down, so how can he feed his twelve children? Even M u d Lane iss so dried u p dat de cows come home without m u d caked on der bags. Now Lord, we do vant you to send us rain. But ve vant it to be a yentle ra in—a long, yentle rain. Ve d o not vant a cloudburst d a t vii bring a flood out of de canyon to p u t m u d and boulders in our gardens and fields. And, Lord, ve do not vant a big hail storm like de v u n you sent last year d a t knocked all the heads off de hveat yost ven it was ripening. Ve vant a nice, yentle rain. And, Lord, ve know d a t if you vii tink of it, you vii see the reasonableness of vat ve ask, and how it vii be an advantage to bote us and to you. Because if ve do not get the yentle rain dat vii safe de crops, neither vii you get your tithing. 4 1 The Mormon church's constant requests for financial aid—to build temples, to build churches, to support missionaries, to support the Perpetual Emigration Fund—were a heavy burden, becoming at times more than some of the Saints were willing to bear. Thus, when Brother Olsen was asked for a donation he pleaded poverty. "But Brother Olsen," the church leaders responded, "you have raised more wheat than anyone in town and sold it at a good price." "That's true," said Olsen, "and that's the very trouble, because—just think what the wdieat sacks cost me."43 The most difficult principle for these coffee-loving Scandinavians to follow was the Word of Wisdom, the Mormon health code that prohibits the use of coffee, tea, alcohol, and tobacco. Speaking at the funeral of his friend, one Dane said, rather wistfully, that his friend had gone to that "happy hunting ground where there is no pain nor tears—nor Word of Wisdom."46 In a Mormon testimony meeting one day, a brother stood up, boasted that he did not use coffee, tea, liquor, or tobacco, and claimed that these things were only for the "yentiles." When he sat down, another brother jumped up and asked: "Brodders and sisters, vy iss it dat all the good tings shall be for the Yentiles."47 When another Dane, speaking in church, had to confess that he did drink a little coffee on occasion, he argued that it was all right because "it don't boil,"48 a reference evidently 44 Thomson, "Ephraim Stories," p. 24. Chris Jensen, "My Funny Home Town," Ford Times 53 (February 1961) : 3. 40 Butler, pp. 4 6 - 4 7 . 47 Ibid., pp. 107-08. 48 Ibid., p. 117. 45 |
