"My son," said he, "can you imagine Elder M.... T.... when he was a missionary in England eating a carrot in a barn while I indulged in a warm meal in the house."
The son responded that he could not imagine such a situation. "On the contrary," he said, "I remember distinctly that he never called at our house without being invited to eat, whether it was meal time or not, and that the choicest cuts of meat were bought to provide him the best meal possible, and that you paid thirty-six shillings for silk with which to make a pair of stockings to present him with to bring home for his wife when he was released from his mission, and that when those stockings were made they were admired by everyone who saw them and declared to be fit for any queen or princess to wear."
"Well, my son," the father added, "I don't regret anything I ever did for a missionary. When I embraced "Mormonism" I did it because I was sure it was the truth, and I afterwards tried to serve the Lord just as thoroughly as I had ever served the devil before. The truth is not affected by men's actions, and men's actions are not always affected by their knowledge of the truth. Brother T.. probably knows that the Gospel is true, but it has apparently not changed his nature. I don't envy him his nature or his possessions. Better live on raw carrots and retain our love for the truth and our respect for those who have served with us in its promulgation, than have the wealth of this world and forget or cease to respect our former friends and associates in the ministry."
The son was impressed with the change the Gospel had wrought in his father, for he could easily recall the time when he would not have looked charitably upon any action that savored of meanness or parsimony in one of his fellows, and when the more pretentious the person was (be he preacher or layman) who displayed any such characteristic, the more bold and ready he would have been to denounce him to his face.
The rumination was ended. Brother T.... returned from the house and the unloading of the carrots was resumed, Brother T.... keeping tally with a pencil on a board as the baskets were emptied. When only a few bushels remained to be measured he exclaimed: "Never mind measuring any more, I see you have forty bushels, allright."
Then the son decided that it was his turn to speak right out in meeting. "But, Brother T——, I do mind! It was you that wanted these carrots measured. I would have sold them to you for forty bushels if you had been satisfied to take them without measuring. Now we will finish measuring, and if there are more than forty bushels, we will take the overplus home, if you do not want to pay 25 cents a bushel for them."
The measurement of the balance disclosed the fact that there were forty-two bushels in the load, and Brother T.... rather shamefacedly handed over $10.50 in payment therefor.
[A Sailor-Saint's Adventures]
[CHAPTER I.]
E. R. S. SCHNELLE'S BELIEF IN A PROVIDENCE OVER HIS LIFE—BIRTH AND SUCCESSION OF ACCIDENTS—GOES TO SEA AS CABIN BOY—CRUEL TREATMENT—PUMPING SUGAR AND WATER—SHIP CRUSHED AGAINST BREAKWATER—RECKLESS JUMP—WOES AS A COOK.