mothers those qualities which are stamped on the soul
through upright living and a creed that is formulated in true
doctrine. But Mormonism is dying out, and woman in Utah is receiving
the rightful place assigned her by her Creator in the work of building
up the race and perpetuating the virtues and forces of a true manhood.
The followers of Mohammed are still numerous and powerful, and the
Religion of the Koran has shown great vitality for centuries. The
nobility of character, however, which has manifested itself in such
lives as that of Saladin the Great is the product of other causes than
the specific teachings and views of Islam respecting domestic life
and the position and office of woman. The destinies of men have been
determined often by their environments. We must also bear in mind that
from time to time, under the sway of the Crescent, different sections
of the civilised world have been brought under the rule of the
Sultans, and all that was good and noble in the lives of peoples newly
incorporated into the faith of the Arabian Prophet has contributed in
no small degree to the strength of a system which has in its own bosom
the seeds of decay and which will ultimately become effete and pass
away. Mohammed Ali, the founder of the present Khedivial house of
Egypt, had in his veins old Macedonian blood, and his views respecting
marriage and domestic life, as well as the traditions of his family
in his old home at Kavala, had much to do with the development of his
character and his brilliant career; and hence neither he nor others
like him in the Turkish Empire can be singled out to prove that
a religion which looks upon woman as an inferior being to man is
excellent in its tendencies and produces a noble fruitage. What
Napoleon once said with respect to France, that she needed good
mothers, is true as regards China. Where woman is held in honour and
where the domestic virtues are woven into a beautiful chaplet of
spring-time blossoms to bedeck her brow, there you will find good and
great men. Our own nation is an example of this. To regenerate
China then, to improve the morals of Chinatown in San Francisco, or
Chinatown in New York where there are between seven and eight thousand
sons and daughters of the Flowery Kingdom, you must create pure homes,
and to do this you must first of all sweeten them with the precepts of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Confucius will fail you. The Son of God
will reform you and save you!