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Show 34 THE MORMON LION " One moment, Jake. Brother Chilcott says that he is close to an Apostleshi~ ... Will it be long, do you think before he IS elected . " J~st as soon as one of them what's in goes to glory," answered Waller. "My cousin, his wife, wrote me that he was already a High Priest. It Will reward her still more for the sufferings she has endured in the past to have her husband elected an Apostle." "Brigham']] nominate him for the next vacancy, according to my t ell, and m course that settles It. All Bill's wives']] be mighty glad of the prospect of being stars in an Apostle's eternal crown. But 1 guess Sister Cora']] get most fun out of Ius exaltatiOn here on earth, even if she has give him only one child." " Only-{)ne-child ! " 1 stammered. " She-you mean that she--" "Yep," replied Waller, mistaking the cause of my dismay. "Too bad, ain't it? Y'know, that's the onlr, thing Brigham has agin Brother William. He ain t doing his full share towards populating the Kingdom. Polly and her seven are all right. But he never had only two by Mandy, and only the one by Cora. He oughter make Cora live up to her duty. There's been time for three more by her. Then there's his habit of taking on a pair of girls and turning 'em off soon's he gits tired of 'em." " What I " I cried. " Do you charge my cousin's husband-a BishoP. of the Church-with breaking God's laws in so vile a manner? " He glared at me, his cunning face grey with abject fear. " For the Lord's sake, Brother Ford, you'll not tell on me- you'll not accuse me of what I didn't mean. No, I didn't! I was only talking. I didn't mean any slur agio a High Priest! " " What worse charge could you make than that he is a polygamist ? " I demanded. " P'lygamist! " he repeated, gaping at me, THE MORMON LION 35 between terror and perplexity: " P'lygamist ? You mean I tned to msmooate he am't one ? But I didn't -I swear I didn't, Brother Ford. You must be joking. Why, I'd be plumb looney to say Brother William ain't living up to the doctrine, when he's got five. I ain't got but one besides my first, and you know as how It takes three to make a man certain of exaltation. But I'm waiting for the Lord to prosper me a bit more." "Then it- it is true what the Gentiles say about the doctrine of-plural wives being- practised in Deseret ? " I stammered. " In course it is I " he answered, his fear 9i ving place to blank astonishment at my ignorance. ' Why there ain't nobody what don't know that." " I was told that all plural marriages arc purely spiritual relationships," I explained. " Well, ain't they? " he argued. "Ain't the women scaled to us Elders so's to provide tabernacles of clay for the spirits what've got to be born into the world in order to be saved? " " You say that the practice is now open- undenied - in Deseret ? " "Didn't you know that? Well, I'll be clanged! Back in Nauvoo, J'ou know, and before that, when Joseph first starte practising spiritual wifeism, there were the ungodly Gcnhhsh courts to reckon with. So we had to keep the practice hidden from the world. But it's been three year or more since Brigham published the doctrine what commands us to increase and multiply. You're joking me, Brother Ford. You've heard tell all about it." "No, you sec I- Thc Elders at Florence told methat is, they thought it best not to go into details." " Didn't want to stir up no rumpus among the cussed Gentiles, hey ? Folks what ain't been converted are so dummed narrcr-minded," commented Waller. "Why, even a whole slew of Joseph's own converts apostatized when he first begun to confide |