98 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



daily for six weeks had played " Partant pour la Syria," 

 " The low-backed car/' " The Red and the Blue," and " God 

 save the Queen " — never anything else, and always pitilessly 

 out of tune. But P.'s sense of the ludicrous overcame Ms 

 musical susceptibility, and condemned us to hear the hymn. 

 Shortly afterwards, the preaching began, and as we ascer- 

 tained that it was Mormonism then being expounded, we 

 resolved to go out and be edified. It was worth the effort. 

 Standing on a chair was a young man, scarcely above 

 twenty, swinging his arms about, and flinging forth in 

 harsh ejaculations a torrent of repetitions and abstractions, 

 quite distressing to listen to, from the total want of any- 

 thing that could arrest the interest of his audience. Open- 

 air preaching is meant to coerce the attention of those who 

 will not go to church ; but this Mormon preacher never 

 once alighted upon a phrase which could awaken an idea in 

 the minds of those he addressed ; so that we marvelled why 

 he should have been chosen as a preacher of a doctrine 

 which addresses the worldly interests. On each side of him 

 stood an Elder — and I wish I could paint the portraits of 

 these Caryatides of imbecility. One was a well-washed 

 middle-aged man, who may have been a sentimental tailor ; 

 he rested his elbow on the chair which served as a pulpit, 

 and, inclining his head, allowed his finger to indent his 

 cheek. The other was a short, tawny, grey-haired man, 

 who must have been a cob])lc'r troubled with metaphysical 

 misgivings. It is to be presumed that they were edified by 

 the preacher's rhapsodies and repetitions ; the audience was 

 utterly unimpressed. Indeed there was what P. called a 



