or yearly pay, but they pay their own passagemoney to the scene of their labours, and there live as they can.

Of course, they may decline to go, and there are no means of active compulsion; but probably a man who had been ordered to pack off at a week's notice, and who pleaded business or family ties, would have a bad time of it among the faithful. President Taylor told me excuses are very rarely offered, and only in extremest cases. The most common response to the command is an assurance that the newly nominated missionary will be ready to start within a week, or sooner if it be desired. Most Churches have missionaries, but I do not know any Church that exclusively has missionaries on these terms; and one that can command a constant supply will always be a power in the world.

When Mr. Cannon had fired off his list, the congregation were asked whether they approved it, and whether they would sustain those going forth by faith and prayer. Those who were in the affirmative were asked to hold

up their right hand, at which invitation about a third of those present held up their hand. When the question was put in a contrary sense there were no supporters. So the missionaries were unanimously, if not enthusias

tically, nominated. A similarly listless ceremony was gone through when, in accordance with custom at these half-yearly conferences, the whole of the officers, from the President downwards, had their names submitted for confirmation in office. This is purely a matter of form, designed with the object of tickling the popular palate with the notion, that though the President, Apostles, and Bishops sit in high places, they do so only at the royal pleasure of the populace; but it is plain to see that this formula contains the seeds of a possible revolution. Nothing has hitherto happened to lead the people seriously to exercise their rights. A name or names have been submitted to them, and having no alternative, they have languidly approved. But crises in the history of a nation silently grow, and one may have birth which will see the Tabernacle filled with a crowd terribly in earnest.

Just before the proceedings commenced the President, advancing to the desk, firmly proclaimed that silence must be kept.

"If," he declared with all the weight of apostolic authority, "any of the babies cannot be kept quiet, they must be carried out."

Hereupon there arose a wail of defiance from the assembled infants in arms, before which the President assumed his seat. It was

all very well to say the babies must be carried out-but where to begin? To make a wholesale raid upon them would have had as much appreciable effect as attempting to empty the Serpentine with a bucket. Accordingly, in spite of the high authority invoked, the babies, with the exception of the few prematurely choked, remained and wailed, their united voices frequently drowning that of the President of the Apostles, and throughout the whole of his address and of others that followed prevented people beyond the middle of the hall hearing a single consecutive sentence.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MORMON PRESIDENT AT HOME.

MR. JOHN TAYLOR, President of the Mormon Church and State, lives in a fine house within a few minutes' walk of the Tabernacle. Brigham Young first selected this spot as a residence, living in earlier years in the Lion House immediately opposite. This house is so called because it has a plaster cast of a lion over the porch. It is a very inadequate lion in point of size; but it is big enough to give the house a name, just as the cast of a bee-hive on the next door serves to name it. Both these houses are occupied by the family of the late Prophet. A much larger and showier house over the way, in which President Taylor lives, is popularly known as the Amelia Palace, the current impression being that it was specially built for Brigham Young's favourite wife. This is, however, a story resolutely denied by high authorities, it

being plainly contrary to the spirit of Mormonism that one wife should be exalted above the rest. The Amelia theory is quietly ignored, and the house that has come to be recognized as the official residence of the President is, or should be, known as Garda House. It is a building of somewhat florid style, but is roomy and convenient. The drawing-room where the President courteously received me is a large double room facing the road. It had not about it the knicknacks and careful colouring of an English drawing-room, but it looked very comfortable with a large coal fire burning in an open grate. There were one or two oil paintings on the wall. Faust talking to Marguerite was the somewhat striking subject of one which held the principal place.

The President is about seventy years of age, but his tall, powerful figure shows little sign of advancing years. His hair, snow white, sets off a strong, kindly, and still ruddy face. Like all the officers of the Church, the President has earned his living by the sweat of his brow. Since he was elected to the Presidency he has, of course, given up his farm, a fixed salary being attached to his office. The tendency to pay officers of the Church appears to increase as the revenues