prayer was heard, and with renewed courage he commenced his labors. In a few hours he had sold all his tracts, and the people listened attentively to what he had to say. He said: 'I spoke Norwegian with more ease than I have ever spoken English.' Considering the short time he has been in Norway, we were all astonished to hear him use the language so well."

A young missionary sent to Germany, who had received but three lessons in German before leaving home, preached to the Saints in the German language seventeen days after arriving in their country. His rapid progress continued till he could speak the language as perfectly as could the natives themselves. He attributed his success to the help of the Lord which he received to assist him in his studies.

The writer recollects hearing the late Elder George G. Bywater relate an incident in his experience while upon his first mission. He was laboring in Wales in company with another Elder of more experience than himself. The senior Elder generally did most of the preaching. Upon one occasion the latter took a severe cold on his lungs and became so hoarse that he could scarcely whisper. An appointment had been made for him to preach at a certain place where the congregation would be mostly composed of Welsh-speaking people. The experienced missionary was unable to speak on account of his hoarseness, so he informed his young companion that he would have to do the speaking. Elder Bywater felt his weakness and inability to satisfy the people's expectations, as he did not understand the Welsh language; but, on being requested to do so, he arose to address the audience as best he could, depending upon the Spirit of the Lord to assist him in his utterances. He began by speaking in the English tongue—the only one he understood—but soon he found that he was speaking words which he did not understand, and the fluency with which they came from his lips astonished him. After he had finished preaching his companion, who understood the Welsh tongue, told him that he had delivered an excellent sermon in that language, and that if he lived to the age of Methuselah he would not be able to preach a better one. He had been blessed with the gift of tongues that his hearers might understand the message he had to declare to them.

President George Q. Cannon relates how he was in a marvelous manner enabled to understand the Hawaiian language. He had been sent while quite a young man, as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands. He soon found that the white inhabitants of the islands cared very little about hearing the Gospel, so he resolved to master the native tongue and deliver his message to the Hawaiians. How he was divinely aided in carrying out his determination is given in his own words:

"My desire to learn to speak was very strong; it was present with me night and day, and I never permitted an opportunity of talking with the natives to pass without improving it. I also tried to exercise faith before the Lord to obtain the gift of talking and understanding the language. One evening, while sitting on the mats conversing with some neighbors who had dropped in, I felt an uncommonly great desire to understand what they said. All at once I felt a peculiar sensation in my ears; I jumped to my feet, with my hands at the sides of my head, and exclaimed to Elders Bigler and Keeler who sat at the table, that I believed I had received the gift of interpretation! And it was so.

"From that time forward I had but little, if any, difficulty in understanding what the people said. I might not be able at once to separate every word which they spoke from every other word in the sentence; but I could tell the general meaning of the whole. This was a great aid to me in learning to speak the language, and I felt very thankful for this gift from the Lord."

CHAPTER VIII.

PRESENTING THE GOSPEL TO THE PEOPLE.

The experiences of missionaries in getting the Gospel before the people are varied and interesting. The general method of presenting the message is by distributing tracts from door to door, and seeking in this way to get conversations with the people. In addition to this, meetings are held and the people invited to attend them. In Great Britain and some parts of the United States street preaching is done to a considerable extent when favorable weather permits. In some countries out-door meetings are not allowed in the towns and cities. In such places the meetings are generally held in public halls or private dwelling houses.

In distributing tracts from door to door a missionary meets with all kinds of people, and, it might be added, with all kinds of receptions. His first day's tracting is generally made memorable by some occurrence which is of a novel character to him. Approaching the first house on the street selected for his field of operation, he timidly knocks at the door. It may be opened by a child, who, on seeing it is a stranger, or at his request, calls its mother to see what is wanted. She has all sorts of surmises as to who it may be. If she is expecting the rent collector she hesitates about meeting him as she may be unprepared. If she suspects him to be a peddler or book agent she approaches with a scowl of impatience on her face. Finding he has only a Gospel tract to offer her, and that without cost, she is willing to accept it, but hastens to cut the conversation as short as possible on account of being so busy.

The missionary may meet with a similar reception at a number of places, but sooner or later he is almost sure to have the door closed in his face before he can deliver his message. This kind of treatment may cause his hopes to fall somewhat and his courage to fail him for a moment, but soon his determination is renewed, and his timidity vanishes. He may consider his first visit in tracting fairly successful. By introducing himself as a Latter-day Saint, or merely leaving the tract without further introduction, on his first visit he is looked upon as nothing less than a respectable gentleman.

By the time he calls with the second tract some of those who received the first will have read it, and without doubt were deeply impressed with the truth of its teachings; but learning later that the Latter-day Saints are the same people as are commonly called "Mormons," they refuse to investigate further or to have anything to do with such a people. Not because of their doctrines do they shun them, but on account of the prejudice which exists against the Saints. It is indeed astonishing to the young missionary to discover on his second visit how some of those to whom he handed tracts show their extreme contempt for him and the literature he is circulating. On seeing him at their doors they will at once go and get the tract left the week before, carrying it by one extreme corner, as if afraid of contamination, and push it out to him at arm's length, telling him to never come again to their door. Some have been known to carry the tracts back with a pair of fire tongs, in order to express more effectively their utter abhorrence of everything connected with "Mormonism."

Such are some of the unpleasant features of tracting. There is a bright aspect to this same avocation. The satisfaction of having performed a most important duty in the service of God gives joy to the heart, no matter how little encouragement one may receive from the people in his labor of tracting from door to door. But often through diligent and prayerful searching a missionary finds those who are willing to listen to his message and testimony, and his visits result in the conversion of precious souls to the great truths that lead to eternal salvation.

A young man who recently filled a mission in Great Britain, one day while distributing tracts felt impressed to call at a certain house, and present his message to the inmates. He obeyed the prompting, and was met at the door by the lady of the house. She listened to what he had to say and accepted the tract he offered, but showed no unusual interest