ated by the sunshine or the wind; or possibly, if the country is not level, it may run off the hillsides to the rivers, and be carried down the valleys early in the spring.

In spite of the best that we can do, much of the rain and melting shows will run off in this manner, and the great problem before the citizens of an arid country is to reduce the quantity to a minimum. In an open place, not sheltered by forests, the heavy rains, which often occur in the mountains, strike the soil with great force and pack the upper layers of soil very solidly; and, also, if a large number of animals are allowed to tramp upon a piece of ground, the surface is packed until percolation of water into the soil is prevented. Under the forest cover, the case is quite different; for the force of the raindrops is so broken by the trees that a gentle drizzle falls upon the forest floor. It is, of course, true, that a great number of animals tramping continually upon the forest floor, finally pack the soil as effectually as is done in the open.

Leaves, falling from the trees year after year, form a soil rich in vegetable matter with a very great power of absorbing water. It is porous and elastic, and not easily compacted by the rains or by animals. It has been found that soil which contains considerable moisture is prevented from losing its water, if the top layer of soil is quite thoroughly loosened or cultivated. It is, of course, impossible or impracticable to cultivate all the top soil of our mountain ranges; and in fact it is unnecessary, for it has been found that the loose, porous vegetable mould which is formed on the forest floor has the same effect in retarding evaporation as has an earth mulch, that is to say, this loose layer of top soil will allow moisture to pass into and through it with great rapidity, but is inactive in drawing the water from below upward. It has been shown that one-eighth as much water is evaporated from soil in the forest, covered with loose vegetable mould, as from a bare soil exposed to the full action of the sun. Within the forest, two plots of ground have been compared, one of which was bare, and the other covered with vegetable mould-and it was found that one third as much water evaporated from the covered as from the bare plot. This fact, when we consider the thousands of tons of water that reach the mountain soils in the form of rains or melted

snow from year to year, is of the highest importance to the dwellers of this inter-mountain country.

Plants, in their growth, evaporate, or transpire, a certain amount of water from their leaves and thus occasion a loss of soil moisture. Experiments have determined, first, that the transpiration of forest trees, comparing equal areas, is less, not much more than one-half--than that from ordinary farm crops; and secondly, that the amount of water transpired by the leaves of trees is very small, compared with the total amount that soaks into the soil. This factor, therefore, though it means a certain loss of water, falls into insignificance when compared with the great gain due to the saving influence of the forests.

Such facts, and many more that might be produced, lead to the firm conviction on the part of unbiased students that the preservation of our forests is an absolute necessity for the proper husbanding of the water supplies of the state.

It should be a question, not of personal preference or desirability, but of state patriotism to maintain our forests; to graze the mountain hillsides in a careful, scientific manner; to take out trees only that are mature, and to replace, as far as possible, those trees with young ones, so that our forests, instead of diminishing in extent, will increase, and with that increase, our water supply will also increase. The mountains we have, no one can destroy them, but over the forests, which are equally important, man has complete control. For years forest denudation has been going on, chiefly from ignorance, seldom from malice. But recent years have brought to light the true relations of forests to water supply; and we, children of Utah and lovers of our homes, should use all our knowledge, all our influence, all our powers, in changing the methods of the past, and in preserving for ourselves and our children, the water supplies upon which the present prosperity and future growth of Utah depend.

"IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY

MANSIONS,"

BY JOEL NIBLEY, LOGAN, UTAH.

To us, living in the most highly civilized, and most enlightened age the world has ever seen, it is quite impossible to understand the almost total intellectual darkness into which the people of the Middle Ages fell. Truths which are clear as can be to us were to them often clouded and sometimes entirely obscured by their absurd superstitions and ignorance. And some of the truths are not to this day wholly free from the crust of error they received while traveling through that unwholesome period.

Long before the time of Christ, the more important nations of the world, such as Greece and Rome, had had their religions. Those people were very imaginative and poetical, and their forms of religion, though not the truest kinds, were often fanciful and sometimes beautiful. When, however, Christianity became the world's religion, partly because of its intrinsic worth and partly because the emperors saw it as a tool to accomplish their political purposes, some of the smartest men undertook to bring about a reconciliation between it and the older religions of the world. The result was most disastrous. The doctrines of Christ, which hitherto had been uncorrupted, were now tainted with pagan mythology, and it was not long before the beauty of both systems was lost.

Not only were the finer parts of the gospel changed, but even the forms of the ordinances. Thus, it is not difficult to see how the true idea of heaven was lost to men; and how, in later times, it has gone through an evolution from a barbarous to a more human conception, though being still far from divine.

It is, indeed, to us a very mournful picture,—this of heaven

-where one may find rest, after having lived a most vicious and wicked life, through an hour before death having permitted the sprinkling of a few drops of water upon one's head; yet, where he will be denied who has weighed the balance to his damnation, by so much as a single misdeed, and who must suffer the most excruciating torments throughout all eternity, and can never regain what, through the thoughtlessness of perhaps one moment, he has lost. But to the saints has been revealed a thought which is becoming the essence of the intelligence of this age.

It is that there are different degrees of glory in heaven; one glory which is compared in brightness to the sun; another, to the moon; and still another, to the stars. And these are divided and sub-divided until we have a place for every person who has lived upon the earth, except those who are called the "sons of perdition."

We understand the state of man's happiness after death to be due entirely to the harmony or discord that exists within his own bosom. That as no two men are constituted alike, either in character or disposition, their acts will necessarily be unlike, and the inexorable law of justice demands that a man's place in this universe be determined by his deeds; that he stand upon his own merit; that my neighbor, having lived, perhaps, a better life than I have lived, will enjoy the greater happiness. And so it goes with the world.

This is so plain and beautiful that we really do not understand how anyone could entertain a different view. It is when, and only when, we place it in contradistinction to the old idea, that we can understand how beautiful, how literal, and how true are the words of our Lord when he said: "In my father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

IS BAPTISM ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION?

BY WILLIAM A. MORTON, EDITOR OF "ZION'S YOUNG PEOPLE."

The object of this paper is to show that water baptism is essential to man's salvation. Nearly all the Christian sects believe in and practice some form of baptism, but, with two or three exceptions, none of them believe that baptism adds, even in the slightest degree, to the salvation of the souls of men.

The Latter-day Saints believe that baptism is one of the first principles of the gospel, and that it is as essential to man's salvation as any other principle that God has ever revealed.

It seems to me that this is the only feature of the subject that needs to be considered-the essentiality of baptism; for so long as people believe, as many in Christendom believe, that baptism is not essential to their salvation, they will not be very much concerned about the mode of administering the ordinance. Why should they? If baptism adds not one jot or tittle to my salvation, why should I concern myself about the form in which the ordinance is administered? I might go farther and ask, Why need I observe the ordinance at all? In this connection I might paraphrase the words of Christ, and ask, What shall it profit a man if he be baptized, either by immersion or in any other way, when it in no wise adds to the salvation of his soul?

But let people become convinced that baptism is essential to their salvation, and they will be careful to see that the ordinance is administered to them in the proper manner.

The task before me now is to prove that baptism is essential to salvation. I shall endeavor to do so. My authority? Jesus Christ. I need no other. If people will not accept the testimony of the Son of God, it would be useless to bring any other witness