balance, and his cause appeared to be lost, or that the class of earnest
men who constituted the rank and file of his early following would have
been so long deceived by a deliberate hypocrite. It appears to me more
likely that Smith was genuinely deluded by the automatic freaks of a
vigorous but undisciplined brain, and that, yielding to these, he became
confirmed in the hysterical temperament which always adds to delusion
self-deception, and to self-deception half-conscious fraud. In his day
it was necessary to reject a marvel or admit its spiritual significance;
granting an honest delusion as to his visions and his book, his only
choice lay between counting himself the sport of devils or the agent of
Heaven; an optimistic temperament cast the die.

In describing the persecutions of his early followers I have modified
rather than enlarged upon the facts. It would, indeed, be difficult to
exaggerate the sufferings of this unhappy and extraordinarily successful
sect.

A large division of the Mormons of to-day, who claim to be Smith's
orthodox following, and who have never settled in Utah, are strictly
monogamous. These have never owned Brigham Young as a leader, never
murdered their neighbours or defied the law in any way, and so vigorous
their growth still appears that they claim to have increased their
number by fifty thousand since the last census in 1890. Of all their
characteristics, the sincerity of their belief is the most striking. In
Ohio, when one of the preachers of these "Smithite" Mormons was
conducting me through the many-storied temple, still standing huge and
gray on Kirtland Bluff, he laid his hand on a pile of copies of the Book
of Mormon, saying solemnly, "Sister, here is the solidest thing in
religion that you'll find anywhere." I bought the "solidest" thing for
fifty cents, and do not advise the same outlay to others. The prophet's