That great subject of marriage is the theme of our present lesson, that wonderful and serious condition that awaits you in the near future. Why should we not be free to discuss it? You have thought and talked about it since you were old enough to have any idea as to its meaning, always expecting that some day you would be a happy wife and mother. Is it not so? Now, whether you are to realize your dreams of happiness, or whether the state of wifehood will bring you regret and unhappiness, depends entirely upon yourself. There are laws and ordinances laid down by our Heavenly Father to regulate marriage among His children. First of all read what He has said about the divinity of marriage. Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 49: 15 -18. The fact that our Heavenly Father gave a companion to Adam to be a helpmeet to him, commanding them to multiply and replenish the earth, justified the Apostle Paul in making this declaration: "The man is not without the woman, neither is the woman without the man in the Lord." Without marriage our earth would be in a condition

worse than chaos. Degradation and immorality would abound, barring peace and happiness. The attributes and passions of the human being must be held in subjection, and con trolled by righteous laws to insure happiness.

God planted in the breasts of His sons and daughters a strong desire for companionship, with power or magnetism to attract the opposite sex. These emotions must be regulated by marriage. All unholy gratifications of these desires is inevitably followed by sorrow, disease and death. And our Father knew that the happiness He designed His children to enjoy must be attained through obedience to matrimonial law.

The bond of marriage is closer than any other tie or relationship on earth. God has even called the "twain" "one flesh," and says they should leave father and mother and cleave unto each other. Gen. 2: 24. Matt. 19: 5.

Our Heavenly Father has given in connection with the Gospel a "new and everlasting covenant of marriage," through the observance of

which husbands and wives are sealed or united for time and for all eternity, by those holding the authority to perform the marriage ceremony under this covenant. There is only one man on the earth at a time, the Prophet and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, who holds the keys of this ordinance, though he may dele gate the power to others.

Adam and Eve being immortal before the fall, or when first placed upon the earth, must have been united in an eternal bond, Eve being given to Adam to be his companion forever, as death was not known at that time. And we may reasonably suppose that as long as men were governed by the laws of God, made known through His prophets and seers, the same eternal covenant of marriage prevailed. But after a while men fell away from the truth into darkness and unbelief, and then marriage was relegated to a civil contract, which bound the contracting parties only so long as they lived. At death they were separated, and destined to live singly throughout the countless ages of eternity, However strongly they might have been attached to each other in life, though their souls had been knit together by the welding links of children, immortal spirits given into their keeping, though their longing to remain together might be most intense, their agreement was ended and they must separate, unless there could be a vicarious work performed for them. The Savior said: "For in the resurrection they neither mar、 ry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." Matt. 22: 30.

Neither have they any claim upon the children born to them in such wedlock, their union not being au thorized or sanctioned by our Heavenly Father.

It would appear, judging from the

numerous marriages solemnized outside the holy Temples, that many of our young people have imbibed the false idea that if they are married by their Bishop or some one of our leading Elders, they have been married by the authority of the Priesthood. In fact, such a marriage is no more nor less than a civil contract which ends with this life and is not more binding than if performed by a justice of the peace. Our Prophet Joseph gives us the word of the Lord on this subject so plainly that none can err who will read with a desire to un-" derstand. Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 132: 15-18.

Be

Another most serious objection to such marriages is that it robs the children born to parents so wedded. of the right to be born heirs to the Priesthood without adoption. cause of this mistake or carelessness of parents, there is much work done in the Temples which there should be no necessity for doing. Day after day, families of children are brought to the Temples in order to have ceremonies performed, which will bind them to their parents eternally, because they have been born outside of the covenant.

In connection with this, let us consider a more grievous folly committed by some of the sons and daughters of Zion, viz: marrying those not of our faith. The Apostle Paul says: "Be ye not unequally yoked together." (2 Cor. 6: 14.) Harmony can not prevail in a family where the parents are divided in their faith. Confusion must exist in the minds of the children, and where they try unsuccessfully to reconcile the conflicting ideas of father and mother, both of whom are loved and respected, the result is often that all religion is discarded.

Thus the designs of our Father to secure the happiness and perfection of His children, are baffled so

far as they are concerned; they are led away from Him, and there can be no true happiness except in Him, and in the observance of His laws.

God gave laws to the children of Israel, through their lawgiver, Moses, on this subject, found in the seventh chapter of Deuteronomy. A penalty was inflicted upon them for not observing this commandment. Husbands and wives were required to put away their companions by law, with the children that had been born to them.

While there is no penalty of this kind inflicted by our Church, sooner or later there must be deep regret and sorrow, over the loss of the blessings and privileges of eternal marriage. Those "unequally yoked" are comparatively cut off from God's people. The marriage is not recorded in the books of our Church, the husband's name is not there and the innocent children, though brought before the Saints to be blessed by the Elders, are not heirs to the covenant, and are thus deprived by their parents of precious opportunities and rights in connection with their progenitors, who are looking to this generation to do a work that will bring them into the light and joy of the Gospel.

This great and far-reaching sub

It was decided in a former lesson that each member of the family has the right to accumulate and retain property which should be sacred to him. The individual has other rights, which may be briefly mentioned. A girl has the right to use her individuality in dress, to encourage natural tendencies in the right direc

tion. The mother has the right to carry on the workings of her household in her own way. When the daughter has a house of her own, she has the right to do likewise.

The boys and girls have the right to invite their friends into the house under the supervision of mother. In fact, each member of the home has

the right to do as he pleases, as long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others.

In this lesson we will discuss courage, or self-control. There can be no courage without self-control, and where there is self-control there is always courage to some extent. Very closely associated with courage is patience and forbearance. Mrs. Lange is placed in a responsible position in our Church. She knows she was called there by God, vet she dislikes her work; it conflicts with her tastes. With His help she performs her duty. What courage this required only those who have been placed in like positions can imagine.

Miss Fielding, a young Mormon girl, assists with the housework in a non-Mormon family. She makes delicious coffee for the members of the family. In her previous life she acquired such a taste for coffee that it amounted almost to a passion. When the aroma of the coffee fills the room, she feels faint and weak so great is her longing for it, but, having determined to keep the word of wisdom, she exercises self-control and refrains from taking it.

Mrs. M was intensely jealous of her husband, who, though not faithless in the least to his wife, admires other women. She suffered agonies if he was even courteous to beautiful women. Finding how miserable she was becoming, she determined to crush out the devilish jealousy in her crooked nature. Did she accomplish it? Well, she is trying and she has arrived at a point where she can say, "I can trust my husband, and there is no foundation for my jealousy." Did she exhibit any courage or self-control?

Miss Alley is a beautiful young girl intensely fond of pretty clothes. She was to graduate from the Brigham Young Academy. Her father said.

a beautiful graduating dress if you wish, but I would like my daughter to graduate, and not the dress. Will you graduate in your school dress, as an example to other girls?" After a while she looked with brave eyes into her father's face. "Yes; I will," she said, and she did it.

Miss Alice was extremely frightened of cows. She did not dare to to pass one on the street. At last she said to herself, "I suffer mentally more from my fear of cows than I could suffer bodily if I were hurt, so I am going near this one." She did so with a throbbing heart and was not touched by the cow. After some time she gained entire control of herself in this matter. How many of us suffer from terror like this which finds existence only in the mind!

Volumes could be made of just such acts of courage and self-control. Some of us think that a courageous act is one out of the ordinary. Let me ask you a question, Does it take more courage for you to rescue a child from being run over, or to perform faithfully all your tasks, controlling your thoughts and words?

It doesn't take so much courage to face a severe trial, but how much courage does it take to control the quick tongue, to perform cheerfully hated tasks, to be courteous at all times, to carry out the golden rule, to do favors which inconvenience ourselves, to abstain from food which is not good for us; to control the desire to speak ill of a person we do not like, to always be neat and clean about our dress.

Self-control comes only through great self-effort and the help of God.

QUESTIONS.

1. Thinking of the definition of ethics, is self-control an ethical principle? 2. Relate the most heroic act you

know.

5.

What is the relation between habit and self-control?

6. Explain the psychological principle that every one should perform each day a duty which is unpleasant.

7. Relate an instance in the life of Christ, when He practically asked

God for self-control.

8. How is it possible for a teacher to

control children if she has not selfcontrol? For a mother?

9. What faculty of the mind is developed, when we control ourselves?

10. What is the principal cause of nervous prostration?

11. How does a nervous person betray herself?

The friendship that existed between Longfellow and other literary men whom he knew, is noteworthy. For many years the poet was a professor at Harvard, the oldest institution of learning in the United States, and his associations there with his brother professors afforded him the keenest enjoyment. His home at Cambridge was the gathering place of the literary lights of Boston.

Of all his friends, there were none whose society he loved better than that of Charles Sumner. For a time, Sumner was a lecturer of law at Harvard; he was a man of great learning, of marked ability, and a United States senator from Massachusetts for twenty-three years. Between the poet and the statesman an intimacy and sympathy existed. Sumner was "Lest man" at the wedding of Longfellow and the beautiful Francis Appleton in 1843, and afterwards was a weekly guest of the poet and his wife at their Sunday dinner.

In regard to their literary productions, there was an interdependence between the poet and the statesman. Longfellow was always deeply interested in the writings and orations of Sumner, and at the latter's death became his literary executor. The suggestions for the poem "The Arsenal," Longfellow obtained from reading Sumner's "True Grandeur Nations," a treatise opposed to war. His "Poems on Slavery" were written only after the earnest entreaties of

of

Sumner, who was a staunch abolitionist and the foremost of his party. The poems evidently pleased the statesman greatly, for he thus wrote of them: "The Poems on Slavery' are valuable as contributions to a just cause. There are hearts that will be reached by their melody that have remained deaf to facts, to reason and to the exhortations of moralists."

This thought expressed by Sumner is in accord with the opinion of many that "Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, did more to liberate the slaves than all the speeches and orations delivered in the House and the Senate.

Before Longfellow's poems were given to the publisher, they were submitted to the opinion of Sumner. Sometimes he reported favorably and then again his criticisms were adverse. Two of Longfellow's best. poems, "The Skeleton in Armor" and "The Children of the Lord's Supper," he did not consider as up to the poet's usual standard. Sumner afterwards admits, however, that his own judgment must have been at fault. His frank confession calls to mind the statement of Edgar A. Poe: "The arbiter of poetry is not the intellect but good taste."

In January, 1874, Charles Sumner died. Soon after his death, Long. fellow wrote two sonnets and a longer poem to the memory of his friend. The sonnets by Longfellow.