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Show -THE UTAH EVANGELTST.- <br><br> The cry from many points is for enlargement. What say friends at the East? <br> The whole number enrolled in our schools since last September, is 1,850; of these, 600 have been under the influence of our twelve new schools. <br> Miss Abbott, of Midway, had a school of seventy-three for some time last winter. She is needing a library, for no one in the town of 500 inhabitants seems to have any books, whatever; at least not for even private circulation. <br> Some teachers left places where there were four feet of snow on the level. At Ogden, lawns were green. <br><br> THE PLAN OF GRADED WORK IN THE SCHOOLS. <br> One of the wisest acts of the Presbytery at its last meeting was to arrange and systematize the school work conducted under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church in this Territory. By its action the schools are divided into three classes, viz: Primary, Academic and Collegiate. <br> Every one will at once see the wisdom of this. "In union there is strength." Ten men working together, with a common motive and a united spirit, will accomplish more than ten times as much as one man, working alone, however heroic and praiseworthy his work may be. This rule will apply equally as well to schools as to individuals, and seems to be especially applicable to those in Utah. In a work so difficult as that here, surrounded by so many embarrassments of all kinds; so many things that try to the utmost the patience and courage of the teacher, there should be the closest unity in spirit, purpose and mode of work. 1st. There should be unity of spirit. The teachers should all feel that they are working in the same cause, and they should have that feeling of sympathy for each other which is a great encouragement and stimulus to work. 2d. There should be unity of purpose, else the Master's cause itself will suffer from inconsistent and combative efforts. 3d. The plan of work should be accurately mapped out and systematically followed up, else widely diverging results will be arrived at. <br> Heretofore the sixty Presbyterian teachers with their pupils have been working individually without any definite aim or uniformity in anything, except to educate their pupils by Christian teaching, and to accomplish as much good as possible on the outside. The plan of Presbytery and of the General Assembly to establish a college in Salt Lake City, as well as the best interests of the schools themselves, demand that they should be well graded. It should be a regular ascent from the A B C to the graduating essay. Again, there are towns of some size in the Territory where a merely common school will not meet the demands. <br> Grown pupils attend who may wish to study the sciences or languages in a brief manner, and have not the means to go from home for this purpose. This requires that Academies should be started in these towns with competent teachers to meet this want. <br> Presbytery has seen the need and wrought out a regular plan instead of the aimless manner in which the school work has heretofore been conducted. The schools are to be accurately graded, so that pupils may pass by test examinations from a lower to a higher grade. This will furnish motives for study and incentives to industry. A uniform series of textbooks will also be adopted-a thing which ought to be done by all the Evangelical schools in Utah Territory-and a regular time allotted to the completion of one branch, so that pupils of the same grade in different schools will pass over the same ground at exactly the same time. This is certainly better than the old irregular unsystematic way. Teachers will know just what they have to do, as the road is all surveyed, and mile-stones set up to indicate progress. Students will know what is in their power to attain by a proper exercise of industry. In a country as changeable as this Western region, where people change their plans and aims so often, and a restless impatience characterizes their actions, it is well to have a fixed standard to set up before the young, a goal towards which to direct their eyes, and by which to arouse their ambition. They should be taught the duty of persevering effort for the accomplishment of one worthy object. In this way they may be prevented from becoming cow-boys or midnight riotors [sic], and may be made useful and worthy citizens, and frequently exemplary and noble Christians. <br> This plan will also cultivate more of the esprit de corps* among the teachers. The work will be more hopeful and be more energetically carried on everywhere. System conquers where everything else fails. Napoleon never entered upon a campaign, without first getting all the maps accessible and fixing thoroughly in his mind, positions, distances and topography. He had mentally fought all his battles before ever a drop of blood was shed on the field of carnage. In the war against ignorance let us be as painstaking, trusting ever in the Lord, and we shall certainly come out victorious when the campaign is ended. <br><br> CONFERENCE NOTES. <br> The spring Conference of the Church of the Latter-day Saints convened in Salt Lake City, Friday, April 4th, and was one of the largest gatherings of the kind ever held by the Mormons, the crowd being so great at times that the large Tabernacle was unable to accommodate the people. John Taylor, the President of the Church, made the opening address. Among other things he said that the destinies of the nations depended upon the Latter-day Saints, not as individuals, but as a people and a kingdom*-emphasizing the word kingdom. We would like to ask the thoughtful Mormons what their President means by such statements? Is this Church a political association? Has it the organization of a kingdom? If so, who is the King? We have heard that the machinery of the Church is not only ecclesiastical, but also political, and that one essential element in a true Mormon's faith, is the belief in the final supremacy of the Latter-day Saints ever, not only our own Nation, but all the Nations of the world. Such statements as Taylor made, strengthens such an impression, and this is why the American Nation is beginning to realize that there is treason involved in the Mormon problem. Let it be distinctly understood that as purely a form of religious belief, the American people have no discussion with the Mormons, Presbyterians, Catholics, or any denominations, but whenever any set of men, under the cloak of a religious belief, devise, concoct and aim to carry out that which has in view the subversion of our free institutions, they bring on a conflict that is inevitable and for which they alone are responsible. <br> Moses Thatcher, one of the Twelve Apostles said in his address to the Saints at this Conference, "We are opposed by the so-called Christian world for our virtues rather than for our vices. We do not throw our infants in the dark alleys or on the ash heaps, or leave our old and feeble friends to die uncared for, as do the so-called Christian world, hence they oppose us." <br> When the speaker said this, he knew that the Christian world did not sanction infanticide, or any of the forms of the social evil. He well knew that crime of this kind meets with swift condemnation in all the Christian churches. He also knew that charitable institutions for the old, the feeble and the unfortunate are connected with the Christian world, and not found even among the Latter-day Saints, for it is a noticeable fact that there is not a benevolent institution of the kind in Utah. These things are all well known to the speaker, but not being known to the most of his audience his statements would have the effect desired to set the people against the Nation. <br> If time and space would allow, we could take up the remarks of the various speakers, and show how they all endeavored to establish two things: 1st. That polygamy is a God- ordained institution, and must be maintained at all hazards; that its observance is that work of righteousness which will secure all the reward in this world and the next, that are promised to the faithful. <br> 2d. That the Latter-day Saints are a peculiar people, designed by God to conquer all the world, and that there never was a time when the people were more united and more zealous to live their religion than the present. <br> The vast audience sanctioned the remarks of each speaker at the close by a hearty "Amen." <br><br> Those teachers and ministers who wish railroad accommodation going east to Chicago or St. Louis this summer, will correspond with Professor Wm. Boyle, Salt Lake City. No arrangements have been made east of Chicago or St. Louis. We suggest that a stamp should always be enclosed. <br><br><br> * the following words are italicized: "esprit de corps" and "kingdom" <br><br> |
