The Mormon girls are married at an early age, often at fifteen or sixteen. I asked whether, the custom of the Church being to make the marriage rite binding to all eternity, the girl should not rather be allowed to attain maturer years before making a choice fraught with such heavy consequences.

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But is not there a more logical deduction from our doctrine ?' rejoined Mr. Orson Pratt. 'Is the woman ever qualified to make so important a choice? How if we revert to the patriarchal order, and let the father choose for her ?'

'But we have not got that far along, brother,' said Apostle Carrington, after a moment's pause in our group.

The Mormons profess to be ignorant of the term Spiritual Wife. 'Celestial Marriage' is the name by which they distinguish a union for eternity. Under this title the celebrated authorisation of polygamy was introduced, 'The Revelation on Celestial Marriage given to Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, July 12, 1843.' It is commonly asserted by the Latterday Saints that many of their plural marriages are of the Celestial' order only; that is, are contracted expressly for the eternal state, and not for time. They deny that in such instances it is necessary that the marriage be consummated here.

In most of these cases the woman is the wife for time' of some other man. She married him, perhaps, in the old country, before their full enlightenment in the mysteries of the faith. Upon the arrival of the couple in Salt Lake Valley, she finds that she would prefer to be the fifth or fifteenth wife for eternity' of some apostle or bishop, rather than the first spouse of her own humble mate. Or perhaps her temporal husband offends the Church, and threatens to prove apostate. Or the case may be the not infrequent one of a woman converted

to the new faith, while her husband remains unregenerate. Here there is an imperious necessity for a separate celestial marriage, for the very security of her soul.

'But do you not find a danger from this relationship?' I enquired. 'There is always trouble and danger in the relations of the sexes,' an apostle answered.

'But in the case you give me surely an especial danger. The woman, while married, makes choice of another man whom she loves or respects more, and with whom she is to enter upon the closest relations in the next life. With this man she undergoes a secret rite of celestial marriage. Will she not be an adulteress in heart, if not in fact?"

I was assured that cases of such

marriages were very rare, and that no evil results had been known to arise from them.

'Is the husband apprised of his wife's entering upon a celestial marriage?' I asked.

Most likely not,' was the reply. 'It could do no good, and might disturb the peace of the family.'

It must not be supposed that polygamy is practised universally among the Mormons. They are too poor for the most part to support several wives and a number of young children. The proportions are probably these: about one Mormon in eight has two wives; one in thirty, three; perhaps one in a hundred, four or more. Brigham's sons have three apiece. Squire Wells, as the third president is called, or the General' (of the Mormon militia), and old apostle John Taylor, have seven each. Franklin Richards boasts nine; the orator Orson Pratt is content with six; and the amiable, courteous George Q. Cannon with four. The rest of the apostles have burdened themselves with similar household cares. The bishops and elders take their full proportion. As for the

pre-eminent President, the wives whom he visits more or less regularly are variously estimated from sixteen to six and thirty, with 'more than he knows of' sealed to him for eternity.

The system has not been worked long enough in Utah to demonstrate fully its good and evil qualities. Scandals abound, no doubt, and there is a large amount of domestic misery; but it is not certain that in these respects the Mormon community is worse off than any other of similar proportions. On the other hand the Saints claim that their system has done away with concubinage, and the existence among them of a class of outcast women.

The Mormon women do not betray any consciousness of degradation, or any unusual sense of unhappiness. The universal look of melancholy in the eyes' which some travellers have seen was probably the reflection of their own sympathetic gaze. The women and girls laugh and gossip, and sing about their doorways and bits of garden, just as they do anywhere else in rural districts. In the streets of Salt Lake City they walk about freely, nod to their acquaintance, or stop, and smile, and talk gaily, with a freedom borrowed from American customs rather than from the English. In their private houses, as far as my experience goes, in the ward-meetings, tabernacle, or theatre, they have just the ordinary look of untroubled content, ready for smiles at the least provocation, which one finds in the faces of women in a similar rank of life anywhere in England or America. No doubt they have frequently occasion enough for discontent, jealousy, and regret in their homes, possibly (though I have no reason to think so) greater than that experienced in monogamic communities. At all events, human nature here usually asserts itself in cheerfulness, and in various activi

ties, whatever hidden sorrows may exist.

But the attitude assumed by Mormon polygamists is scarcely an apologetic one. They assert, and apparently believe, that their system is necessary for the purgation of modern society, and the salvation of the Christian world from destruction through its wide-spread vices. Mormon preachers and missionaries inveigh in the strongest terms, and not altogether without reason surely, against a variety of social corruptions which are deteriorating the peoples of America and of Europe. Their ordinary periodicals are filled with accounts from Gentile newspapers of marriage infidelities, divorce scandals, and the miserable results of prostitution. Their thoughtful writers point out the infesting evils of our modern civilisation, and assert that Mormonism is alone concerned for their cure. The physical health of the present generation, they say, is undermined by infectious diseases attributable to vice. The evil increases. The growing luxury and effeminacy of society threaten to accomplish its ruin. In the great country in which they are settled, they aver that social corruption abounds to an alarming extent. The American ladies, they say, are given to the use of drugs to avoid having families to rear. Abortion and infanticide are common. They believe that the social condition of England and of the continent of Europe is equally bad and dangerous. A social reformation is necessary for the salvation of the race: Mormonism supplies it.

The Mormons assert vehemently that so far from their system pandering to vice, it controls and checks all sensual indulgence. Some men have joined them, they do not deny, to abuse the liberty they allow ; but they pray to be judged by their legitimate fruits, and not by exceptional unfaithfulness. It is their

or not on grounds of public morality is a question admitting of much debate: it seems, however, pretty certain that the world at large could very well afford that the system should have a full and fair trial, and there are many Americans who have sufficient faith in the destiny of their country, and confidence enough in the primary article of their political creed, that all men all men should be allowed the widest liberty consistent with the liberties of their neighbours,-to make them willing, or even anxious, that this novel religious and social organisation should follow unhindered its natural course.

The establishment of a religion so grotesque, with a social order so retrograde, as that of Mormonism, is doubtless a reproach to our civilisation, and a symptom of the unwholesome condition, mental and spiritual, of our people. But the mere repression of the symptoms of disease is never a wise policy. CHARLES MARSHALL.

to travel thither myself. When I arrived at this resolution I had

already and almost unconsciously accomplished a considerable part of the journey; and, much to my

κινεῖσθαι,

Τὸ δὲ ποιεῖν καὶ κινεῖν ἑτέρας δυνάμεως.

A

FTER many adventures in divers regions governed by different kings and queens, most of whom were, however, invisible to their subjects, and ruled by means of great ministers, I resolved to pay a visit to the famous empire of Hulee. This empire seems to date its origin from the earliest period of the world's history; and although its significance as a political and social power has varied considerably at different times, yet it has always maintained the same laws and institutions, and has been governed by the same dynasty of kings, which, like similar dynasties elsewhere, has always borne the common dynastic name of Hulee. During my travels in other regions I had heard much of Hulee and Hulean institutions, but the report was often accompanied by some doubt of its real existence. To these doubts, however, I gave little heed. That Hulee existed I felt assured by certain family records preserved in our house, from which I learnt that not a few of the noble race from which it is my pride to have sprung had at different times both visited, and, in a few instances, settled in that country, and had risen to eminent positions in the State. These records had for me a marvellous fascination, so that I made up my mind, after I had investigated other lands and found out the nearest road to Hulee,

comparatively short distance from Hulee even while I was making up my mind to go thither. This wonderful expedition was fortunate, inasmuch as any avowed purpose of setting forth to such an ill-famed country would have been attended by not a few perils. As it was, I had to encounter the opposition of my friends; not that I acquainted them with my deliberations, for I hardly dared avouch them to myself. But they, it seems, got scent of my purpose long before I had come seriously to entertain it. They had noticed how diligently I studied the maps of the country, the different roads which led to it, as well as my constant perusal of those family records that treated of Hulee. They accordingly set themselves in extreme opposition to my supposed project. They tried to alarm me with the issue of my journey, especially with the danger of settling in Hulee. They spoke in strong terms of the low-lying situation and consequent unhealthiness of the country, the godless character of its laws and ruling powers, the reported cruel nature of the inhabitants, the strangeness of their manners and customs, &c. Finding I was not easily frightened, they resorted to other methods-gentle expostulations, earnest prayers, pathetic appeals to my fondness for my country and home. And, for my part, I must admit that these various devices often took considerable effect on me. Often did I waver while forming my resolution, and draw.

back from the half-resolved enterprise. Sometimes I summoned courage to follow the road for a little distance, but, enticed by the affectionate appeals of the friends I was leaving behind me, or else frightened by the loneliness of the way, I hurried back again to my old home.

At last, after much hesitation, I had, as I have said, come to a resolution on the subject, and was already far on my road to Hulee. I was, perhaps, led to this final determination by the fact that the road, which had once deterred me by its loneliness, was just about this time becoming more frequented. There had been a time, as I discovered in my researches, when for hundreds of years together scarce a single pilgrim could be seen along the solitary route. Now, however, there were several persons from my own neighbourhood, men of eminence too, some of them, who had made up their minds to see, and possibly to settle down in Hulee. Of course the pleasure of company removed one objection to the enter prise, still it was reputed to be a most hazardous one, not to be undertaken except under the stimulus of an all-powerful motive. The motive in the case of most of my companions I ascertained to be something of this kind: They had got hold of a notion that in Hulee alone was there rest for enquiring, dissatisfied, and restless minds. In other lands there were mysteries, obscurities, puzzles of every kind; nothing was plain, self-evident, and demonstrable. A secret lurked in everything; unknown causes were rife; mysterious rumours of existences dark and inscrutable were prevalent. Ruling powers were invisible and intangible, and yet they had laws by which they governed, and they even claimed, or were said to claim, worship. Such a state of things had naturally been very irritating and distasteful to my com

panions, and hence they were now journeying with all eagerness to Hulee. There everything was reported to be plain, easy, and selfevident; no more provoking secrets and unintelligible mysteries, no more painful riddles destined to last a lifetime, and only receiving solution when the power of comprehending it was possibly lost for ever. True, the journey had cost them, as it had me, much. They had to tear themselves from old associations; friends and home had to be abandoned; country, Government, and King, all of which they had been trained to love and respect, had to be given up; the lessons of half a lifetime had to be unlearned; old hopes and affections had to be repressed; nothing was left to them but the present, their own individuality, and their strong, unconquerable faith in Hulee. Notwithstanding these sacrifices, they went on their road rejoicing, hoping to find in the new country a full and ample recompense for the trouble their journey thither had cost them.

For my own part, however, these considerations had on me but a limited influence. I had not as yet made up my mind to settle down in Hulee. True, I knew something of the inconveniences of dwelling under the government and laws of other countries; but I was by no means sure that Hulee, though reported to be free from many of them, might not have peculiar ones of its own. My main motive was not emigration, but a traveller's restless ambition to investigate foreign lands. For this reason I did not follow the main road to Hulee so persistently as did my companions. I

often turned aside to see something of the country that lay to the right or left of the road. I was indeed the only one of our company who allowed himself these occasional deviations: all the others were so zealous in their undertaking