“Well, she ain’t capable, and she ain’t a pretty person, so what can she do?”
“I believe if the Lord is willing I will have her sealed to me.”
“It will be your own doings, Brother Rae. I wouldn’t take it on myself to counsel that woman to anybody.”
“I feel I must do it, Brother Brigham.”
“Well, so be it if you say. She can be sealed to you and be a star in your crown forever. But I hope, now that you’ve begun to build up your kingdom, you’ll do a little better, next time. There’s a lot of pretty good-looking young women came in with a party yesterday—”
“All in good time, Brother Brigham! If you’re willing, I’ll pick up my second on the way south.”
“Well, well, now that’s good!” and the broad face of Brigham glowed with friendly enthusiasm. “You know I’d suspicioned more than once that you wasn’t overly strong on the doctrinal point of celestial marriage. I hope your second, Brother Joel, is a little fancier than this one.”
“She’ll be a better worker,” he replied.
“Well, they’re the most satisfactory in the long run. I’ve found that out myself. At any rate, it’s best to lay the foundations of your kingdom with workers, the plainer the better. After that, a man can afford something in the ornamental line now and then. Now, I’ll send for Christina and tell her what luck she’s in. She hasn’t had her endowments yet, so you might as well go through those with her. Be at the endowment-house at five in the morning.”
And so it befell that Joel Rae, Elder after the Order of Melchisedek, and Christina Lund, spinster, native of Denmark, were on the following day, after the endowment-rites had been administered, married for time and eternity.