On another occasion I lost my team. I was satisfied it had been stolen. I was in Salt Lake City a short time after the occurrence, and was speaking to my uncle about my team being lost. He advised me to go to an old lady close by, and she would tell me where it was by means of cards. I told him I would do without the cards.
When I returned home my wife and I knelt down and prayed that the person who took my team might be prevented from taking it out of the country, and that we might get it again.
The team was taken in the summer, and in the fall of the same year a man came to me, in my field, and asked me if I knew of any person that had lost such and such animals, describing my horses. I told him they belonged to me. He then directed me where I should go to find them.
I thanked him for his information, and asked him how he happened to come to me, as we were strangers to each other, and my horses were not branded.
He said he did not know, only that he felt impressed to ask me.
Early next morning I started after my horses. That night I found them in charge of a man who told me that a person came to him in the summer time and desired to stop with him over night. The fellow had a band of horses which his host believed he had stolen. In the morning, as they were both looking at the horses, he said to the man who brought them there, "Here are two stray horses; I will take charge of these and get them to the owner." He accordingly left my two horses and took the rest of the band with him.
You can see, my young readers, how literally our prayers were answered. We recovered our horses in good condition, and thanked the Lord.
These, with many other blessings, served to keep us humble and faithful to our covenants.
Now, the result of our early marriage is this: my family numbers twenty-four. I am the father of nineteen children, four of whom are married, and I have seven grand-children, and my present age is forty-four. I have filled many positions of trust, and I think to the entire satisfaction of my superiors. I am now a Bishop in Zion, and I think I have the faith and prayers and confidence of the Saints over whom I have the honor to preside.
I mention this to show what can be done by being faithful and observing the counsel of those whose right it is to guide and direct.