almost universal cry of choir leaders is: "We cannot get the young men to sing," and in too many instances, they cannot get the older men to sing. Visit our associations, quorum meetings, and other gatherings, except our Sunday services, and we find a lack of singers. In some of these meetings we find one person only, who sings-the rest sit idly by tak ing no part in the singing. Now this is not right. Singing is just as much a part of our worship as praying or preaching, and in many instances, is as great a factor for good. Who has not felt his soul inspired by the power of song, and by its influence, had his thoughts carried beyond this mundane sphere? If there be such a one, to him we may apply the words of the immortal bard: "The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concords of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, strategems and spoils." There are very few however, if any, among us, to whom the above will apply. The festivals held in Salt Lake City, are evidences of the progress that is being made in music, and what has been accomplished is due in a great measure, to the energy and ability of Professor Stephens. While the smaller towns do not possess the same advantages and facilities as Salt Lake City, yet, we think they have them proportionately. The excellence attained in music, in larger towns, depends more upon culture than upon numbers, and while smaller places cannot excel in point of numbers, they may excel in quality. Already the good work that is being done in Salt Lake City by Professor Stephens and others, is extending its influence throughout various parts of the Territory by way of stimulation. The young people of Utah have made considerable progress in vocal and instrumental music during the past few years, but we should make greater progress in the future. One way, by which young men may learn to sing, is to each have a hymn book, and always take it to meeting, and never fail to sing the hymns that are announced. One writer has said: "If you want to learn to sing, sing." This is the secret of the whole matter; we learn to do by doing. We learn to sing by singing, and we can never learn to sing by not singing. Therefore let us make up our minds and commence now, for there is no time like the present. Do not let us wait till we are called upon missions before we realize the necessity of learning to sing, because, it is just as important at home as abroad. The season for our associations to commence work, will soon be upon us. Let us begin now by making preparations that will enable us to make the best possible progress in this department of our work during the coming fall and winter. Classes should be formed in every asso ciation and the best teachers secured to conduct them, and our efforts should continue in this direction until we have a first-class glee club in every association. John Quigley. "a matchless piece of handiwork," as though the pliancy of human fingers alone were equal to such skill; and the following passages from Mr. Charles Dixon, bring vividly before the mind the extent of ingenuity which these little creatures can display in order to shield their young ones from danger: "Here on this grassy bank, in a gorse bush, dry and withered, killed by the relentless frosts of winter. Amongst its prickly branches, however, a chaffinch has made her nest. Found merely by accident, let us examine it closely. The outside of the nest is thickly covered with little pieces of decayed wood, obtained from a log close by, which assimilates her nest most admirably to the brown, dead foliage of the gorse bush, and its withered blooms. So closely does it resemble surrounding tints, that, seen at a short distance, it appears part of the bush itself. Take another instance, on the lichen covered branch of this heavy birch tree, something is seen which appears to be a knotted prominence of the bark; closer inspection reveals the nest of a chaffinch, the whole harmonizing so closely with the tints of the bark as to defy all but the keenest gaze to detect the bird's secret." THE simplicity which renders birds seeds, Mr. Seebohm calls the structure unsuspicious of human force or fraud until harsh experience has forced them to believe in it, seldom extends to the care of their young. They, however, want no visits of inquiry to the tree tops and rock ledges where these are placed. The parent birds in many species avoid no trouble in caring for the welfare and comfort of their young, and when the trouble taken seems to be the very least, as when the sea-bird lays its eggs upon the naked rock, the health and safety of the young are no doubt cared for by the seeming carelessness. In nests and nesting places there is a wonderful variety exhibited. Leaving unnoticed the structures which are sewn together by the tailorbird, and the marvelous work of the weaver-bird, there is abundant diversity of type nearer home-the elaborate, the gigantic, the ingeniously hidden, and the laboriously excavated. In many the choice of materials is sufficiently strange. Some are noticeable for the apparently intentional absence of effort in concealment. This is natural enough in birds like the swallow, which have learned to confide in man's protection; but this explanation will not apply to the wary missel thrush, which, contrary to the custom of the family, ceases to sing in the nesting season, yet appears to counteract the precaution of silence by its exposure of the nest; but this may be due to a crafty negligence, just as in the children's game of hide, when the object supposed to be secreted, escapes discovery by not being hidden. More often, however, those nests which are not secured by being comparatively inaccessible, are withdrawn from observation, either by natural circumstances of position, or by artifice, or by both combined. The wood-owl sometimes breeds in the burrow of a rabbit or a fox. Touble is saved and privacy is gained by sagacity which injures no one. Far different is it in regard to trouble taken with the nest of the chaffinch, carefully constructed of rootlets, moss and grasses, strengthened with cobwebs and lichens, softy lined with hair and feathers, and the down of Wonderful as this capacity of adapta- . tion appears in the little insignificant bird, the facts may be illustrated and their truth supported by what occurs among life of still lower type. There are species of crabs, which, not indeed for the benefit of their young, but for their own individual advantage, pluck pieces of sponge and sea-weed, and actually plant on the spines of their own shells, so that they, being creatures of slow movement, may lie in the submarine garden, as if a part of it, and thus pounce on unsuspecting prey. This surprising circumstance has been further noted, that, when these custaceans are removed to other surroundings of a different character, they proceed either to cover up, or pluck off the no longer suitable costume, and replace it by a suitable and better match. Respice Finem June 6th, 1840 Liverpool Britannia 2 Sept. 8th, 1840 Liverpool North America 3 Oct 15th, 1840 Liverpool Isaac Newton 4 Feb. 7th, 1841 Liverpool Sheffield 5 February, 1841 Bristol 6 Feb. 16th, 1841 Liverpool Echo 7 March 17, 1841 Liverpool Alesto 8 April 21st, 1841 Liverpool Rochester 9 Sept. 21st, 1841 Liverpool Tyrean 10 Nov. 8th, 1841 Liverpool Chaos 11 Jan. 12th, 1842 Liverpool Tremont 12 Feb. 5th, 1842 Liverpool Hope 13 Feb. 20th, 1842 Liverpool John Cummins 14 March 12, 1842 Liverpool Hanover 15 Sept. 17th, 1842 Liverpool Sidney 16 Sept. 25th, 1842 Liverpool Medford 17 Sept. 29th, 1842 Liverpool Henry 18 Oct. 29th, 1842 Liverpool Emerald 19 Jan. 16th, 1843 Liverpool Swanton 20 March 8th, 1843 Liverpool Yorkshire 21 March 21, 1843 Liverpool Claiborne 22 Sept. 5th, 1843 Liverpool Metoka 23 Oct. 21st, 1843 Liverpool Champion 24 Jan. 23rd, 1844 Liverpool Fanny Tons. The following detailed account of the thirty two companies has been compiled with great care, and with a special view to accuracy, from public and private documents, both in printed and manuscript form: FIRST COMPANY.-Britannia, 41 souls. The following is recorded in the history of Joseph Smith: "Saturday, June 6th, 1840, Elder John Leader of Company. John Moon Total No. of Souls. Emigration Agent. 41 Brigham Young Theodore Turley 200 Brigham Young Samuel Mulliner * Hiram Clark Daniel Browett Thomas Smith Brigham Young Joseph Fielding Peter Melling Amos Fielding 529 William Kay 25 Feb. 6th 1844 Liverpool Isaac Allerton 594 26 Feb. 11th, 1844 Liverpool Swanton 27 March 5th, 1844 Liverpool Glasgow 28 Sept. 19th, 1844 Liverpool Norfolk 29 Jan. 17th, 1845 Liverpool Palmyra 30 February, 1845 Liverpool 31 Sept'mb'r, 1845 Liverpool Oregon 32 Jan. 16th, 1846 Liverpool Liverpool Miscellaneous Liverpool Miscellaneous Approximate. 677 594 Hiram Clark 691 Amos Fielding 650 600 Hiram Clark * 50 Brigham Young 235 Brigham Young *181 Brigham Young 109 Brigham Young 143 214 54 Brigham Young 130 Brigham Young 207 P.P.Pratt and Amos Fielding 170 P.P.Pratt and Amos Fielding P.P. Pratt and Amos Fielding 270 P.P. Pratt and Amos Fielding 200 P.P.Pratt and Amos Fielding 200 P. P. Pratt aud Amos Fielding 180 P. P. Pratt and Amos Fielding P.P.Pratt and Amos Fielding 157 P.P.Pratt and Amos Fielding 250 P.P.Pratt and Amos Fielding 212 Amos Fielding and H.Clark 83 Amos Fielding and H.Clark 106 Amos Fielding and H.Clark 280 Amos Fielding and H.Clark 91 Amos Fielding and H.Clark 210 Reuben Hedlock 60 Reuben Hedlock 81 Reuben Hedlock 150 Reuben Hedlock 143 Reuben Hedlock 200 Reuben Hedlock 86 Reuben Hedlock 125 Reuben Hedlock 45 Reuben Hedlock 137 Reuben Hedlock †There is a discrepancy in the number of souls on the Emerald. Elder Hiram Clark, who assisted to fit out the company, says she carried 314, but I have taken the number stated by Elder Pratt. i. e. Second trip made by that ship with "Mormon" emigrants. Moon and a company of forty Saints, to wit: John Moon, Hugh Moon, their mother, and seven others of her family, Henry Moon, (uncle of John Moon), Henry Moon, Francis Moon, William Sutton, William Sitgraves, Richard Eaves, Thomas Moss, Henry Moore, Nancy Ashworth, Richard Ainscough, and families, sailed in the ship Britania from Liverpool for New York, being the first Saints who have sailed from England for Zion." The Britannia arrived in New York on Monday, July 20th, 1840, from whence the emigrants continued the journey to Nauvoo, Illinois. SECOND COMPANY.-North America, about 200 souls. Saturday, September 5th, 1840, Apostles Brigham Young and Willard Richards went from Manchester to Liverpool, and in the evening organized a company of Saints bound for New York, by choosing Elder Theodore Turley, a returning missionary, to preside, with six counselors, among whom was Elder William Clayton, one of the earliest English converts. Apostles Brigham Young and Willard Richards went on board the North America on Monday the 7th, and remained with the Saints on board over night. On Tuesday morning, about nine o'clock, the vessel was tugged out by a steamer. The Apostles accompanied the emigrants about fifteen miles, and then left them in good spirits. The company had a prosperous voyage to New York, where they arrived in the beginning of October, and from there they continued the journey to Buffalo, New York. Owing to the expensiveness of the route many of the emigrants fell short of means to complete the journey to Nauvoo; they therefore divided at Buffalo, a part going to settle in and around Kirtland, Ohio, while the balance, under the leadership of Theodore Turley, continued the journey to Nauvoo, to which place Joseph the Prophet states he had the pleasure of welcoming about one hundred of them, about the middle of October, 1841. THIRD COMPANY. - Isaac Newton, about 50 souls. This company, embracing the first Latter-day Saint emigra tion from Scotland, has not been noted before in Church history. The following particulars are gleaned from the private journal of Samuel Mulliner, who was the leader of the company: "The ship Isaac Newton sailed from Liverpool October 15th, 1840, with a small company of Scotch Saints, under the direction of Elders Samuel Mulliner and Alexander Wright. The passage cost £2 178 6d for adults, and 198 3d for children. After a most pleasant passage of forty-eight and one half days, the company arrived in New Orleans in the evening of December 2nd. On the 4th they started on a steamboat for St. Louis, the fare be ing $400 for an adult. The water in the river was low, and the emigrants were de layed several days in consequence thereof; but they finally arrived in St. Louis December 17th. Elder Mulliner was unsuccessful in his attempt to hire a boat to take the company to Nauvoo, and therefore a number of the emigrants remained at Alton, Illinois, until the following spring, when they reached Nauvoo in safety." This was the first company of British Saints who emigrated by way of New Orleans. FOURTH COMPANY.-Sheffield, 235 souls. The following is culled from the history of Joseph Smith: Saturday, February 6th, 1841, a council meeting was held at Brother Richard Harrison's, seventy two Burlington Street, Liverpool, for the purpose of organizing a company of Saints going to New Orleans on the ship Sheffield. Captain Porter, Apostles Brigham Young, John Taylor and Willard Richards and other officers were present. Elder Hiram Clark was chosen president, and Thomas Walmsley, Miles Romney, Edward Martin, John Taylor, Francis Clark and John Riley, counselors to President Clark. Edward Martin was appointed clerk and historian of the company. President Clark and his counselors were blessed and set apart for their mission. The Sheffield sailed from Liverpool, bound for New Orleans, with two hundred and thirty-five Saints on board, on Sunday the 7th. In the Millennial Star, |