The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1907-01-10

EattaGhl ~ G4EgEfS fE4TS4 $.f& .,4 E4rSEs Af34fElss
port Of this contumaclous wire.
They parted outside the door Of the
little office, and he kissed her for the
first time since they had been married
-on the forehead.
Christina would now be left alone
with the cares of the house, aid he
knew he ought to have some n to
help her. The fever of sacrifice was
also upon him. And so he found an
other derelict, to whom he was sealed
forever.
At a time of more calmness he
might have baked at this one. She.
was a cross. to be sure, and it was
now his part in life to bear crosses.
But there were plenty OF these, and
even one vowed to a life of sacrifice,
he suspected, need not grossly abuse
the powers of discrimination with
which Heaven had seen fit to endow
him. But he had lately been on the
verge Of a seething maelstrom, balanc-
ing there, with unholy desire and
wickedly looking far down, and the
need to atone for this sin excited him
to indiscretions.
It was not that this star in his
crown was in her late thirties and less
than lovely. He had learned, indeed,
that in the game which, for the chas-
tening of his soul, he now played with
the Devil, it were best to choose stars
whose charms could excite to little but
conduct of a saintlike seemliness. The
fat, dumpy figure of this woman,
therefore, and her round, fiat, moon
like face, her mo~use-colored wisps of
hair cut squarely off at the back of
her neck, were points of a merit that
was in It's whole effect nothing less
than distinguished.
But she talked. Her tones played
with the constancy of an everything
fountain. Artlessly she lost herself in
the sound of their music, until she
also lost her ems of proportion, of
light and shade, of simple, Christian
charity. Her name was Lorena Sears,
and she had come in with n Of the
late trains of converts, without friends,
relatives, or means, with nothing but
her natural gifts and an abiding faith
in the saving powers of the q dis
%pensation. And though she was so
alive in her faith, rarely informed in
the Scriptures, bubbling with enthu-
siasm for the new covenant, the new
Zion, and the second coming of the
Messiah, there had seemed to be no
place for her. She had not been asked
l. Z - n ~ - ~; n oo 1T 80 1ol 1ho found ~
easy to secure work to support her
self.
"She's strong" said Brigham, to his
inquiring Elder, "and a good worker,
but even Brother Heber Kimball
wouldn't marry her; and between you
and me, Brother Joel, l never knew
Heber to shy before at anything that
would work. You can see that, your
self, by looking over his household"
But, after the needful preliminaries,
and a very little coy hesitation on the
part Of the lady, Lorena Sears, spin
ster, native of Elyria, Ohio, was duly
sealed to, for time and eternity, and
became a star forever in the crown of
Joel Rae, Elder after the Order of
Melchisedek in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints and Presi-
dent of the AMAZON Stake of Zion.
In the hustle of the start south there
were, Of necessity, moments in which
the crowns new star could not talk;
but these blessed respites were at an
end when at last they came to the
open road.
At first, as her speech flowed on, he
looked sidelong at her, in a trouble of
fear and wonder; then, at length, abb
sently, trying to- put his mind else
where and to leave her voice as the
muted murmur Of a distant torrent.
He succeeded fairly well in this, for
Lorena combined admirably in herself
the parts Of speaker and listener, and
was not, he thankfully noted, watch
full of his attention.
He was called back by the stopping
of her voice, but she had to repeat her
question before. he understood it. The
Devil tempted him in that moment.
He was on the point of answering,
Because she talked too much" but
instead he climbed out of the wagon
to walk. He walked most of the 300
miles in the next ten days. Nights
and mornings he falsely pretended to
be deaf.
But he had taken up a new cross
and he had his reward. The first
night after they reached home he took
the little Bible from its hiding place
and opened it with trembling hands,
The stain was there, red in the can
delight. But the cries no longer rang
in his ears as on that other night
when he had been sinful before the
page. And he was glad, knowing that
the self within him had again been put
down.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Wild Ram Of the Mountain.
Offers to Become a Savior on Mount
Zion.
In the valley Of which AMAZON was
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