HOME STUDY SLIPS. Three Grades. M. C. Hazard, Editor. M. C. Hazard, Editor. THE WELL SPRING. Mrs. J. H. Boynton, Editor. THE MAYFLOWER. Mrs. J. H. Boynton, Editor. THE GOLDEN TEXT-Book. CHURCH AND SUNDAY-SCHOOL REQUISITES. CHURCH RECORD BOOKS. 4 sizes. By Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, D. D. THE MODEL SUNDAY-SCHOOL. A hand-book for superintendents and Sunday-school officers. By Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, D. D. pp. 175, 75 cts. SUNDAY-SCHOOL PRIMARY TEACHERS' MANUAL. By Louise Ordway Tead. pp. 83. Cloth, 35 cts. ; paper, 25 cts. ORDERS OF WORSHIP FOR THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. Arranged by D. e. Curtis. PILGRIM SUNDAY-SCHOOL RECORDS, CLASS CARDS, Etc. CHURCH SERVICES. RESPONSIVE READINGS. By Rev. Joseph T. Duryea, D. D. SUNDAY-SCHOOL CAROL SERVICES. BY M. C. HAZARD AND JOHN W. TUFTS. Christmas. -THE HOLY CHILD, THE GUIDING STAR, CORONATION. Thanksgiving, Missionary, etc. -WHITE HARVEST FIELDS, GRATEFUL THE PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE DEMAND FOR NEW WEST WORK.1 BY REV. CHARLES B. BLISS. THE directors of the New West Education Commission not only accept, but strongly assert, the doctrine that no benevolent society should prosecute work that is not justified by imperative reasons existing in the condition and needs of the people or the section in whose behalf it is performed. Whether the question of giving aid 1 Page 31. pertains to the support of a home missionary, or to the building of a meeting-house, or to the erection of an educational institution, or to the planting and sustaining of mission schools in the Territories, the rule is one and the same. The necessity of the recipients of the proposed gift determines the propriety of bestowing it. It would be a species of fraud, and would involve a gross wrong of which many would be the victims, to draw from the churches funds to support alleged missionary work that could not be justified on such grounds. Guided by this principle, the New West Commission has prosecuted, during the past twelve years, a work which God has blessed in a wonderful manner; which good men universally recognized as beneficent, and which still claims from the churches a liberal share of their attention, gifts, and prayers. MISSION COMMON SCHOOLS IN UTAH. No question can arise concerning the good already done by the schools which different denominations have maintained during the past twelve years among the Mormons. It is conceded on all hands that they have been among the most effective agencies by which the arrogance of the Mormon Church has been humbled, its external power crippled, and all reformatory agencies, especially the public schools, introduced and made powerful in Utah. But shall they be continued longer? Have not the reforms already inaugurated in Utah become so far advanced, have not public free schools become so widely established and so excellent, as to obviate the necessity of maintaining mission schools, not only in Salt Lake, but in all the towns of the Territory? Various facts meet us on the threshold of this inquiry : First. Mormon statehood is at the present moment a peril of great proportions. Political parties seem to be bidding for the Mormon vote. They declare that the era of good feeling has come; that the Mormon serpent, having permitted his polygamous fangs to be abstracted, is harmless a household pet, with which the children may play. Both parties have, therefore, committed themselves, or must do so, to the Mormon position regarding statehood. Since the Mormons demand it, the party which receives their votes must promise it. Suppose it be gained; the Mormons throughout the Territory outnumber the Gentiles, three to one, and possessing the power, as they will, what shall hinder the repeal of the school law which, not a few Mormons declare, was forced upon them, and all other laws of Gentile origin? Recovering the power to exercise leniency toward polygamy, will they not exercise it? From previous knowledge of Mormon tactics and policies, there is not a particle of ground on which to rest confidence in their purposes. Whether, therefore, at the present juncture of Mormon affairs, with the possibility of early statehood hanging over the Territory, it is wise to suspend Christian schools, is a question which wise men, both in the Territory and out of it, will not answer in the affirmative without great hesitation. Second. Public schools are totally unequal, as yet, to the task of educating the children of Utah. Take Salt Lake City for example recent facts furnished by the census and by Prof. Millspaugh, the superintendent of public schools in Salt Lake City, show that only sixty-one per cent of the school population can be accommodated in the public schools, and to accommodate even these, the children in some parts of the city must attend in divisions, one in the forenoon and the other in the afternoon, while many of the hired apartments into which the pupils are crowded are dingy, adobe, poorly-lighted rooms. When the buildings now planned shall be finished, they will barely accommodate the pupils now in hired rooms. The city, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, needs $750,000 more in order to provide accommodations for its children; but it has already exhausted its power to borrow, while at the same time the school population is increasing at a rapid rate. Under such conditions as these, it requires singular boldness on the part of any person to say that mission schools, in a city which has still a preponderance of Mormon children, should be suspended. Much testimony from citizens of Utah, not connected with New West schools, bearing upon this point, has recently come to the office of the commission. One man over his own own name writes, "If every hall and church building were turned into schools they would be filled to overflowing, so great is the percentage of children in this community." Another says, "There are lots of small children in this city [Salt Lake] who can go only half a day alternately, for the want of room; and the School Board are renting all the buildings they can get in localities where needed." Two other persons say, "The public school in our district is so overcrowded that they have to take one set in the morning, which is released at noon, when they take in another set; therefore you see the necessity of the continuance of the Phillips School.” Another says, "It will be years before the schools will be sufficient in number for the children to obtain a common-school education." There is some evidence that seems to conflict with these views, but it evidently comes from persons who have trusted to their general ideas concerning the rapid progress of affairs in Utah, rather than to any careful study of the facts as they actually exist. Third. The powerful religious influence of the schools supplies another fact which deserves attention, in deciding the question of their discontinuance. When public schools shall become adequate, in respect to their accommodations and to the force of teachers employed, to meet the wants of the children; and when also they shall cease, as they have not yet ceased, in country towns, to be Mormon both in spirit and instruction, the fact that they are Christian cannot be urged for continuing them, since the conditions of the question will then be exactly similar to conditions prevailing everywhere, where common schools exist and Christian churches are few. until that time shall come, the fact that they are Christian adds vastly to the force of the reasons for sustaining them. The opportunity for exerting the most beneficial kind of power is prolonged, without causing the abatement of a particle of our loyalty to the common-school system. But, We still enjoy the right to shape character, and exert a powerful influence upon the destinies of Utah, by imparting to children the truths of the Bible, and bringing them into personal relations of love and trust with Jesus Christ. While I speak to you, scenes are passing in some of our Utah schools-the Phillips and the Burlington—which excite our deepest joy. The teacher of the Burlington, under date of Oct. 1, 1892, writes: "It is glorious to be living in these days. Out of forty living in this neighborhood who signed cards at the Mills meetings, over thirty are at present, or have been, members of our school. After the meetings closed, seventeen more took a decided stand for Christ. Many who have thus come out for Christ are young men from seventeen to twenty. In the day school we have enrolled one hundred and twenty-five, and more are coming in every day. In Sunday-school we had over one hundred last Sunday, in Christian Endeavor nearly sixty, and fourteen new voices were heard in that meeting. It really seems as if every child in school is deciding this question. Mr. B. said this morning that he thought we would have a church organization in Burlington. This matter is very heavy on my heart. What will become of all these young people who have so lately taken a stand for Christ? " From a large number of letters lately received from citizens of Utah I will quote brief sentences: "We think there is no better evangelical work than educating the children right up in the church." "Our children get better educational and Christian training from the teachers than they could get anywhere else for money." “There can be as much good done from a religious view in continuing these schools as in any other way; for you know it is the young you are reaching, and it is impossible to reach the old Mor mons. "The New West School is the only place where I would send my little ones to Sunday-school." "The teachers on all suitable occasions give such instruction in personal and moral channels as stamp the school with a distinctive character." "Our last teacher had Sunday evening meetings, and I have seen them without sitting room, time after time. If there were only one brought to Jesus, how the angels would rejoice, and your work would not be in vain." A "Eastern people may think the conditions have changed, but I who have lived here fifteen years can assure you that the residents here are as much under the influence of Mormonism as ever. minister established here could never reach the hearts of the parents as the school has done through their children. It has been the one refining and elevating influence felt in Sandy." "The closing of the New West School here would be a great calamity. The day-school, the Sabbath-school, the reading-rooms, the young people's meetings, and the temperance meetings are all well attended. The people of Sandy feel very much excited over the possible closing of the school. The Mormons do not want their children educated; they are easier managed when they do not think for themselves. They have always fought education with all their might " "If your school is closed we shall have to stop our children |