ACT I. SCENE I.

[_Enter Candidates._

_Clerk._ Good-morning, brethren and sisters. Be seated. Brother White, please state the time and place of your birth, date of your marriage, and the time when you were baptized into the church.

_Bro. W._ I was born November 3d, 1801, in the town of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire. I was married January 1st, 1824, and was baptized into the church April 1st, 1860.

_Clerk._ Have you paid your tithing punctually? If so, produce your receipts. [These are read, and handed back.] That is sufficient. You are entitled to receive your endowments.

Sister White, will you state when and where you were born, and when you became a member of the church?

_Sister W._ I was born September 18th, 1815, in the State of New York, and became a member of the church in 1852.

_Clerk._ Sister Mary Brown, please state when and where you were born, and when you became a member of the church.

_Sister Mary._ I was born June 20th, 1849, in Great Salt Lake City, and was baptized into the church in 1860.

[The Clerk propounds the same questions to all the candidates, and enters their answers in the record.]

_Clerk._ You will now proceed to the washing-room, the brethren on the right, and the sisters on the left.

_Apostle Peter._ You will remove your shoes, that the dust of earth may not pollute the holy ground on which you are about to tread.

[The candidates are then washed in tepid water, and each member blessed with a blessing peculiar to each. They are then pronounced clean from the blood of this generation, and a new name is given to each by the Apostle Peter. They then return to the waiting-room, where the brethren are anointed with oil, the sisters receiving their anointing in their own washing-room.

This ceremony consists in pouring olive-oil upon the head of each, well rubbed into the hair, nose, eyes, and mouth, and allowed to run down over the person. It is accompanied by a blessing, similar to that received at the washing. Brain to be strong, ears to be quick to hear the words of God's servants, eyes to be sharp to perceive, and feet to be swift to run in the ways of righteousness. This is the anointing administered preparatory to being ordained a "King and Priest unto God and the Lamb."

Thus greased and blessed, the "garments" are put on. A dress of muslin or linen is worn next to the skin, reaching from the neck to the ankles and wrists, and in shape like a little child's sleeping garment. Over this a shirt, then a robe, made of fine linen, crossing and gathered up in plaits on one shoulder, reaching to the ground before and behind, and tied around the waist. Over this is fastened a small, square apron, similar in size and shape to a masonic apron, made of white linen or silk, with imitation of fig-leaves painted or worked upon it. A cap made from a square yard of linen, and gathered into a band to fit the head, and white linen or cotton shoes, complete the dress of the candidates.]