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Improvement Era
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VOLUME FIFTEEN
Published by the General Board Y. M. M. I. A.
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Edited by .Joseph F. Smith and Edward H. Anderson Heber J. Grant, Manager, Moroni Snow, Assistant Manager
1912
"The Glory of God is Intelligence"
IMPROVEMENT ERA, VOLUME XV.
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
PAGE
Ax at the Roots of the Tree.. 1103
Back to the Home 690
Beginnings of Human History,
The 408
Be Prepared Now 1111
Betrayal, The 158
Biggest of California's "Giants,"
The 38
Birthplace of the Bard of Avon,
The 524
Bishops as Presidents of
Priests' Quorums 1039
Builders 1078
Charles W. Penrose 341
Chimney Rock 842
Chip or Two Hewn from the
Tree of Life, A 344
Church and the Lottery, The. . 521
Church Schools, The 65, 149
Cigarette, The 457
. Cliff Dwellings 669
Conquest of Aida, The 43
Conjoint Sessions of the Sev- enteenth Annual M. I. A.
Conference 825,910
Brigham Young as a Pioneer 825 Intellectual Development . . 921
Physical Development 919
Place of the Y. L. M. I. A. in
the Church, The 836
Place of the Y. M. M. I. A. in
the Church. The 839
Remarkable Deliverance, A. 913
Remarks 917
Safety in Prayer 915
"Talk on Language, A" 832
"Three Pioneer Women of
Utah, The" 828
Country Life Movement, The. 619 Criticism, and Soiritual and Temporal Condition of the
Church 671
Cuernavaca 710
Custom 898
Debating and Its Future 1013
Department of Vocation and Industries 1083
PAGE
Don't Be a Scrub 1106
Early Day Scouts 985
Economics of Agriculture, The 218
EDITOR'S TABLE:
An Appeal with a Promise.. 742 Annual M. I. A. Conference,
The 845
Articles of Determination. .. 1046 Birthday is Mother's Day... 80 Close of Volume Fifteen. .. 1122
Commercialism 555
Communication to the Quo- rums of Seventy 273
Every Day Affairs 172, 370
Get Busy 466
Heaven and Hell 464
Inspiring Hymns 467
"Lest We Forget" 740
Messenger to the Indians... 79 Missionary Correspondence
Course 279
Monroe Doctrine, The 557
Official Appointments 280
Old Forms vs. New 736
Patriarch John Smith 175
Peculiar Questions Briefly
Answered 1042
Pre-existent States 462
Presidential Election, The. 1120
Rose, The 176
Smith, Hyrum Gibbs 847
Smith, John Henry 77
Strive to Be as Broad as the
Gospel 743
Testimony of Jacob Gates.. 463 "Titanic" Disaster, The.... 646 To Subscribers of the Era.. 648 Tribute to John Henry
Smith, A 83
Two Corrections 374
What Determined Brigham Young to Settle in Salt
Lake Valley? 738
Who and What are the An- gels? 949
Word to Ward Teachers. A 78
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
Equality of Opportunity 1093
From Nauvoo to Salt Lake in the Van of the Pioneers,
53, 165,
246, 359, 452, 551, 642, 770, 1107 Fuji San, Mecca of the Jap- anese Pilgrim 117
Glimpse of the Scottish High- lands, A 817
Granite Stake Musical Contest 645
Gretna Green 779
Health Topics 420
Higher Law in Politics, The.. 385 History of the Mexican Mis- sion 486
"House of the Lord, The". 289, 291 How the Edlers Should Live
at Home and Abroad 869
LIow to Become a Great Man. 983 How to Conduct a Class Reci- tation 638
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Above Shoshone Falls 14
"Against and Across Each Other in a Tangled Mass" 971
Alder, Mrs. Lydia D 667
Altar in One of the Cere- monial Rooms 297
Ancient Danish Monastery,
An 707
Anne Hathaway's Cottage,
Stratford-on-Avon 525
At Clayton's Ranch 941
Baptismal Font. The 293
Barber Shop, The, Salt Lake
Theatre 535
Barton, Robert H 664
Battleship "Utah," The 239
Bay Esplanade, Durban 886
Bernhisel, Dr. J. M 985
Black's Canyon, Shoshone
River 5
Blue Stones, The, Kimberley 319 Bountiful M. I. A. Scouts. .. 1030 Buffalo, by Avard Fairbanks 368 Burbank's Cactus, Santa
Rosa, Cal 40
Burbank, Luther 38
Buried Church Amidst Su- preme Desolation 602
Caine, Honorable Tohn T. . . 191 Camp at Foot of Big Moun- tain 948
Camp of the Sioux 988
Carlquist, C. A 332
Chaise and Four, A 783
ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd) Champion Baseball Team of
Weber County 186
Christopherson, Martin .... 479 Church Blacksmith Shop,
The 700
Cigarette, The 412
City Hall, Phila., Pa 572
Clawson, Hiram B 732
Cliff-Dwelling, Canyon Del
Muerte 670
Column of Steam Caused by Contact of Lava with Sea 578
Council Bluffs 989
Council Room of First Presi- dency and Twelve 305
Council Room of the Twelve
Apostles 301
Crew of the Neptune, The.. 881 Crossing the Foothills after
Leaving Yoshida 120
Cummings. Horace H 492
Dalebout, Tessie 753
Decker, Charles 986
Down 2,500 Feet in 20 Min- utes 124
Dressed in Khaki Suits, Kim- berley 317
Eagle Gate in Early Days,
The 699
Eagle Nest Rock, Edge of
Shoshone -. . . 13
East Canyon Reservoir, The 940 Elders and bisters in Chica- go, 111 1127
Elders and Sisters in the
Mexican Mission 498
Elders of —
Adelaide, South Australia... 741
Arkansas Conference 224
Auckland, New Zealand 284
Baltimore, Md 179
Basic City, Va 178
Battle Creek, Mich 1123
Belfast, Ireland 953
Billings, Montana 850
Birmingham Conference ... 112
Bloomington, Illinois 329
Carlisle, England 748
Central States Mission 550
Charleston, West Va 851
Copenhagen, Denmark 653
County Armagh, Ireland.... 90
Denver, Colorado 358
Denver Conference 652
Derby. England 91, 851
East Providence, R. 1 375
East Texas Is'
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd) Fremont, Nebraska . . . .369,
Georgia Conference
Gisborne, N. Z
Greeley, Colorado
Greenville, S. C
Hammerfest, Norway
Haugesund, Norway
Hico, Texas
Holbark, Denmark
Holdenville, Oklahoma
Hull, England
Independence Conference . .
Keene, New Hampshire
Leeds Conference
Louisiana Conference. . .362,
Lynchburg, Virginia
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri Conference
Montgomery, Ala
Montreal, Canada
Mosjoen, Norway
Newcastle Conference
Newport, England
Norfolk, Nebraska
Norwich Conference, Eng- land
Nottingham Conference
Odeuse, Denmark
Oklahoma Conference
Pittsburg, Pa
Queensland Conference Rhode Island Conference. . . .
Richmond, Ky
Richmond, Va
Rotterdam, Holland
San Antonio, Texas
San Diego, California
San Francisco
Sapporo, Japan
Scottish Mission
Sidney, Australia
Sioux City, Iowa
Snohomish, Wash
South Africa
South Bend, Indiana
South Dakota Conference.. South Texas Conference....
Sookane, Wash 331,
Stavanger, Norway
St. Joseoh, Mo
St. Louis, Mo
Sunderland, England
Swiss German Mission
Tacoma, Wash
Te Hauki, New Zealand Con- ference
PAGE PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd)
375 Tokyo, Japan 470
366 Toluco, Mexico 854
1123 Toronto, Canada 86
1012 Transvaal Conference 561
176 Trondhjen Conference. .244. 746
333 Trondhjem, Norway 1124
745 Trenton, Missouri 651
559 West Pennsylvania Confer-
990 ence 871
641 Zeeland 900
471 Ensign Stake Patrol No. 1,
747 The 1033
546 Eyring, Henry 493
315 Fairbanks, Avard 367
1110 Famous Old Blacksmith
862 ^ Shop 779
330 Farris Opera House, Rich-
250 mond. Va 266
472 First M. I. A. Normal Class
747 in Athletics 236
850 Fishing Craft on the Shore
87 of the North Sea 709
456 Fjeldsted Monument, The,
472 Logan Cemetery 162
749 Forth Bridge 817
Fullmer, Franklin J 47S
560 Garden in Salt Lake Valley,
136 A 482
560 General View of Shoshone
652 Falls • 1
178 Glimpse of the Great Sho-
853 shone Falls. A 2
654 Glimpse of St. Johns, Ari-
748 zona 523
473 Grave at Soldier Crossing. ..1070
743 Great Fence, Kimberley 318
730 Great Temple, The, Salt
749 Lake ,'ity 290
88 Going up Dutch Canyon .... 942 852 Green Room, The, Salt Lake
432 Theatre 540
574 Half Way Down, Fuji San.. 125
281 Halvorsen, John 146
333 Hanks, E 986
316 Harris, H. S. 495
469 Henefer Meetinghouse and
177 Grounds : . . 1034
88 Hill Cumorah, The 237
956 Flome of David Whitmer,
330 Richmond, Mo 258
473 Home, Sweet Home, in
180 Idaho 542
1125 Hopi Indian Building, Grand
332 Canyon. Ariz 78?
90 Tlousley. Joseph 371
In the Basaltic Gorge, Sho- 207 shone 9
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd) In the Petrified Forest, Ari- zona 816
Inverness from the Castle
Hill 819
Island and the Two Bridges,
Inverness, The 819
Ivins, Anthony W 489
Jensen, Christian, Jr., and
family 570
Jensen, Jay C 664
Just Two Little Shoes 731'
Lake Pagahrit, in Southern
Wilds of Utah 974
Lambourne, Alfred 530
Lava Field, Smoking and
Steaming 603
L. D. S. Choir, Copenhagen,
Denmark 52
L. D. S. Church, Franklin,
West Va 89
Little Mountain 947
Looking East from the Sum- mit of Big Mountain 946
Looking into the Crater 122
Looking into the Gorge 16
Looking up the Findhorn
from the Dure 818
Main Temple on Top, Fuji
San 123
Maori Wedding 1128
Marching up Little Moun- tain 1036
Medicine Man, The . . 987
Megatherium Cuvieri 616
Miller. James A 664
Moorish Fountain, A 711
Mount Vernon 322
Mt. Fuji 118
Neilsen. Judge C. M 146
New City Cemetery, Rich- mond, Mo 256
New Mission House, Bergen,
Norway 889
Old City Cemetery, The.... 255 Old Home of the Prophet
Toseph Smith 242
Old Pratt Observatory, The 200
Old Tahernacle, The 536
Oliver Cowdery Monument,
Richmond, Mo
252. 259. 260. 269, 272
Only One of Countless Fis- sures in the Lava 604
On the Findhorn 818
On the Henefer Bench 939
On the Rond to the Theatre- Pioneer Home 696
PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd)
Our Carriage, Fuji San 125
Outlet of Subterranean Lava
Flow 578
Over the Pioneer Trail, 7
views 1037
Part of Burbank's Home
Grounds, Cal 38
Patio, A 712
Peavine Grove 1069
Penrose, Charles W 340
Peter Whitmer's House,
Richmond, Mo 257
Photographer, The 948
Pomeroy, Talma E 496
Pratt, Helaman 490
Fratt, Orson 194, 196
Pratt, Rev L 497
Pulsator, The, Kimberley . . 320 Ray County Court House,
Richmond, Mo 254
"Rock Knolls Washed by a
Thousand Storms" 962
Rosenlund, Louis 753
Russell, Dr. Samuel J 420
Rustic Mill, The 702
Sacred Grove, The, Palmyra,
N. Y 240
Salt Lake Theatre, The.. 531, 696
Scene in Echo Canyon 936
Scene on Way up Big Moun- tain 943
Scenes in Denmark 708, 709
Scene Painter's Gallery, Salt
Lake Theatre 538
Scout Company, The.... 944, 945 Scouts Greeting the "Bridge
Builders" 1035
Second Y. M. M. I. A. Nor- mal Athletic Class 566
Section of Fence Around
Church Farm 208
Seventeenth Ward Chapel... 703 Shakespeare's Birthplace ... 527 Sheffield Conference, Eng- land 85
Shoshone, from the Northern
Bank 12
Shoshone River Below the
Great Falls 15
Singing "Come, Come, Ye
Saints, Echo Canyon 1033
Small Cars Attached to Ca- ble, Kimberley 317
Smith, Presiding Patriarch,
John 98
Smith, Presiding Patriarch, Hyrum G 849
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd)
Smith, President John Henry 58 Spectre Forest, Fringing
Lava Flow 605
Spiral Staircase in Main As- sembly Room 309
Spire and Gable of Buried
Church 601
Stand Reserved for the Mel-
chizedek Priesthood 307
Stone Arches Rise from the
Water 710
Street in Woodruff, Ariz.... 232 Sunrise on the Plains of Ne- braska 841
Sun Stone from the Nauvoo
Temple 571
Tabernacle Choir Special
Train 261
Tabernacle Choir, The, on
Summit of Cumorah 241
Taft, President Wm. H. and
Governor Spry 69
Talmage, Dr. James E 346
Tenney, Ammon M 494
Thatcher, Moses 486
Thomas, Dr. George 868
Thomas, Elbert D 664
Time for Me, The 245
Tokyo - American Baseball
Team, The 663
Town Hall, Durban 885
Trolley, The, Kimberlcv. . . . 321 Two Oat Stacks on the Farm,
Korangata 209
Tvpical Knoll of Bald,
Smooth Sandstone 976
Under the Walls of Shoshone 1 Union Pacific Station at
Echo 937
Utah State Flower, The 762
Valentine, Hyrum W 384
View from Hill Cumorah .... 238 Viewing the Floor, Kimber-
ley 319
View of Clay Hill 972
View of the Salt Lake The- atre 534
West Street Looking East —
Durban 884
Whale and Whaling Station
—Durban . 887
Where the River Enters the
Valley 7
Wilcken, August H. F 488
Winners of Granite Stake M.
I. A. Dancing Contest.... 569 Witch Rocks 938
PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd)
Wright, Elder Ernest J 188
Yawning Mouth of the Cra- ter 606
Young, Seymour B., Dedicat- ing Fjeldsted Monument.. 763
Zurich Branch Choir 1 126
Ingenuity 1102
In Memory of Christian D.
Fjeldsted 161
In Sunny Africa 880
Interesting Stories 169, 511
International Dry -Farming
Congress, The 609
Interview with King Haakon
VII of Norway 146
Intimate View of the "Mor- mons," An 890
Is there Marrying and Giving
in Marriage in Heaven?.... 437 John Engleman and the Spirit
of Christmas 126, 210
Joseph Smith and the Advent
of "Mormonism" 99
"Joseph Smith's Teachings".. 637
Keep the Track 36
Kimberley and the Diamond
Fields 316
Letter to a Missionary 415
Little Problems of Married Life.. 29. 113, 425, 517, 634, 683, 806, 906, 991, 1098
Love Story, A 773
Man in Scarlet, The 579
Maori Agricultural College at
Korangata, The 207
Messages from the Missions, 52, 85 177, 281, 284, 329, 358, 366, 369, 374, 419, 432, 456, 469, 485, 546, 550, 559, 641, 651, 730, 742, 850, 862, 952. 1012, 1038, 10,47
M. I. A. Scouts 400
Monstrous Beast, A 615
"Mormon" Sunday Schools... 703 "Mormon" Woman's Sacrifice, A 1018
MUTUAL WORK:
Activities in Logan Fourth
Ward 567
Annual M. I. A. Conference. 755 Annual M. I. A. Convention
Program 661
Champion Base Ball Team
of Weber County 186
Checking un the Work 95
Cheering Words from Box
Elder 285
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
PAGE
MUTUAL WORK (Cont'd)
Convention Dates for 1912.. 857 Department of Vocations
and Industries 954
Improvement Era — Trust
Fund 1134
June M. I. A. Conference... 565 Leaders in Athletics and
Field Sports 95
Members of Second Normal
Athletic Class 565
M. I. A. Dancinng Contest.. 568
M. I. A. Fund 1131
M. I. A. Scouts 287, 754
Monthly Conjoint Meetings. 568
Music and Oratory 755
Nebo Stake M. I. A. Day... 861 New Members of the General
Board 96
Normal Athletic Class, The. 285 Officers and Members Gen- eral Board Y. M. M. I. A.. 857
Pioneer Trail 755
Reading Course 1912-13, The 858 Resolution Respecting
Weekly Half-Holiday .... 860
Saved the Child's Life 753
Season's Work in Debating,
The 183
Second Annual Athletic
Meet 662
Second Annual M.I.A. Field
Day 859
Some Problems in Athletics. 1137 Stake Meet in Snowflake. . . . 567 Story-Telling and Oratorical
Contest 569
Subject for M. I. A. Debates 185
Summer Work 753
Tokyo - American Baseball
Team, The 663
To Stake Superintendents... 569
Need of Religious Training in
Childhood, The 433
New Mission Field, A 899
New Testament in Literature
and History, The 963, 1053
New Wards and Changes 187
Oliver Cowdery Monument at
Richmond. Mo.. The 251
On Cheerful Giving 905
Only One God to Worship... 483 Open Road. The, 17, 107, 225, 350,
442, 499, 623, 715, 790, 923, 1085
Orson Pratt 195
Our Good Angel 811
Over the Pioneer Trail.. 933, 1030
PAGE
PASSING EVENTS:
Affairs in Mexico 957
Allen, Dr. James X 381
Andelin, O. A 863
Arizona Became a State 475
At the Olympic Games,
Stockholm 957
At the Republican National
Convention 958
Bang. Herman 554
Barton, Miss Clara 757
Battleship Utah 191
Biographical Sketch of James
Jensen 380
Bishops of the Various
Wards, The 287
Bleak, George 0 862
Board of Trustees of the
Utah Agricultural College. 758 Box of Beautiful Peaches and
Apples 957
Bunnell, Elder J. Lamond.. 574 Caine, Honorable John T. . . 191
Cannon, Sarah Mousley 562
Carnegie Library, A 380
Carver, John 380
Changes in Wards, Bishops,
etc .187, 189
China Became a Republic... 475 Chinese Insurrection, The. . . 171
Christensen, C. C. A 958
"Cities of the Sun, The".... 339
City Elections, The 192
City Hall, The, Philadelphia. 572
Clawson, Hiram B 666
Clawson, Margaret G 576
Clawson, President Rudger. 288
Cole, Elder Thomas T 957
Committee on Priesthood Course of Study, The . . . 957
Christopherson, Martin 478
Cuba and Intervention 475
Democratic National Con- vention, The 958
Democratic State Conven- tion of Utah, The 757
Direct Election of Senators. 756
Doctor Sun Yat Sen 380
Dr. W. H. Groves L. D. S. Hospital Training School
for Nurses 866
Evans. Rear Admiral Rob- ley D 380
Exile of Some Elders from
Sweden, The 190
Facts Concerning the Potato Growing Competition .... 668
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
PASSING EVENTS (Cont'd) Floods in the Mississippi
Valley 756
Following the "Titanic" Dis- aster 758
Forest Dale 863
Fullmer, Franklin J 478
Government Land Sale, A. . .1050
Grant, Frederick Dent 759
Great Coal Mine Strike in
England, The 665
"Great Temple," The 381
Hatch, Abram 575
Hibben, Rev. John Grier,
LL. D 475
Hill, Elder John Leonard ... 380 History of the Y. L. M. I. A. 321
"Holy Land, The" 677
Irish Home Rule Bill, The.. 757 Italian Army in Tripoli, The 192
Jensen, Elder Christian 570
King Frederick the VIII of
Denmark 757
Knox, Secretary 756
Lambourne, Martha W 756
Lund, President Anthon H. 575 Maeser Memorial Building,
The 865
Marshall, Elder Robert 571
Metta: A Sierra Love Tale. 865 Mexican Situation, The 759, 1050 Mexican National Election.. 106 Michigan Divorces are Cry- ing Evils 477
Mild and Wise Answer Turn-
eth Away Wrath 3S2
Millet, Francis D 756
McKenzie, David 576
Most Powerful Fleet of
Warships, The 180
Murdock, May Bain 94
Mutsuhito, 121st Emperor of
Japan 1050
New Mexico Admitted to the
Union . 475
New President for the Swiss
German Mission 384
New Wards and Changes in Bishops, etc., 288, 382. 477, 575, 667, 760, 866, 959, 1145 Oregon Short Line Railroad 380 Out of Doors in the West. . 379 Panama Canal Shipping Bill,
The 863
Picture of a Sun Stone, The 571
"Piney Ridge Cottage" 864
Potato Growing Contest, A. 476 Relief Society Day in Samoa 867
PAGE
PASSING EVENTS (Cont'd) Republican National Con-
. vention, The 864
Republican State Conven- tion, The 757
"Restoration of the Gospel,
The" 866
Revolt in Cuba, A 865
Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir,
The 189
Schley, Winfield Scott 96
Scrap Book of Mormon Lit- erature 383
Senate "Titanic" Investigat- ing Committee 864
Situation in Mexico 665
Situation in Persia, The 476
Sixteen Cardinals 192
South Pole, The 575
Standard Oil Company, The 155 State Agricultural College,
The 960
Stolypin, The Russian Pre- mier 164
• State Tickets 945
Strawberry Valley 957
Strik e of Coal Miners of
England, A 576
Strike of Shopmen on the Harriman and Illinois Cen- tral Lines 192
Strong Argument for Prohi- bition, A 573
Summer School of the Agri- cultural College 665
Sun Yat Sen, Dr 666
Taft, President William H.. . 69 Third Party Convention. ... 1050
Thomas, Dr. George 868
Thomas Smart Gymnasium
of Logan 957
Thompson Memorial Schol- arships, The 863
Three Northern Kings, The. 863
"Titanic" Disaster, The 1050
Trouble in Mexico 574
Turks and Italians, The 475
University of Utah Central
Building 960
Utah Agricultural College,
The 864
"Victim of the Mormons." A" 576 War Between Italy and Tur- key 76
What is the Greatest Educa- tion? 960
Wiley, Harvey W 665
• Wilson, Judge C. C 576
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
PAGE
PASSING EVENTS (Cont'd)
Winnie, Elder K. N 572
Winters, Mary Ann Stearns 759
Woodward, Mr. Charles H 476
Woodruff, Emma Smith 665
Wright, Elder Ernest J 188
Yuan Shi Kai 574
Passing of the Horse, The.... 548 Peep into the Depths of Moth- er Earth, A 600
Penrose, Charles W 341
Pharisee and the Publican, The 311 Pilgrim Fathers and the "Mor- mon" Pioneers, The 774
Pioneer Incidents 733, 822
Place of the Young Men's Mu- tual Improvement Associa- tions in the Church 871
POETRY:
A Wish and the Answer 1077
Arizona, Bright Star 695
Beloved Apostle, John Hen- ry Smith, The 116
Burst of Light, The 528
Courage 42
Dawn 64
Doer, The 244
Evening Primrose, The 961
Everlasting Inquiry, The... 156
Ever Look Upward 160
Hiking the Trail 1060
Holy Christian's Task, The. 577 Home, Sweet Home, in Ida- ho 542
How Trouble is Forged .... 3b In Memorium, John Henry
Smith 60
In Memory of the "Titanic"
Victims 725
Inspiration of Cheer, The... 706
Just Two Little Shoes 731
"Maine" and Her Dead, The 614
Memorial 714
Message, The 143
Moneylogue, A 632
One Everlasting Grip 516
Peace 233
Prayer, A 345
Rescued 608
Rose, The 144
Sonnet. Composed at Mt.
Vernon 322
Sources 57
Springs Awakening 769
The Harvest Moon 1118
The Sunflower 1119
Time for Me, The 245
PAGE
POETRY (Cont'd)
To a Missionary 441
To the Mummy of the Cliff
Dweller 688
To the Sego Lily 761
True Riches 349
Two Letters 1092
"Wireless" : 813
Words Un-Recalled 622
President William H. Taft 69
PRIESTHOOD QUORUMS' TABLE:
Address to the Priesthood.. 655 Art of Teaching and Study- ing, The 283
Bishops and Priests' Quo- rums 1129
Commendable Resolutions.. 378 Course of Study for the
Priesthood Quorums 1912 282 Deacon with a Good Record,
A 377
Explaining Reference in Doc- trine and Covenants 135:4 855
Good ' Report, A 1048
Harmonize Matthew 1:1-17
with Luke 3:23-38 856
How to Take up a Lesson
376, 474
How to Question a Class.. 752 Important Report of the
Priesthood Committee ... 92 In the Spirit of Fraternity. .1049
It is Reported 474
Juab Stake Priesthood Con- vention 182
Labors of Special Mission- aries 563
Last Testimony of Hamil- ton G. Park, The 750
Lesson Preparation 182
Local Missionary Work 377
New Course of Study for
Melchizedek Priesthood.. 856 New Season of Work, The.. 181 No Short Cuts to Knowledge 855 Number Not Enrolled in
Quorums 1048
One Hundredth Quorum at
Bountiful. The 564
Respect for Office and Priesthood Held by Oth- ers 181
Seventies Convention 182
Something About the Sev- enties' Year Book 564
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
PAGE
PRIESTHOOD QUORUMS' TABLE (Cont'd)
Suggested Text Book for
1913 1129
What Deacons Can Do 1129
Who Should Preside in the Absence of the Bishopric. 282
Purpose in Life, A 814
Questionable Goodness 900
Reason for Opposition to the
Latter-day Saints 70, 137
Reminiscences of the Salt Lake
Theatre 529, 533, 696
Respectability 800
Resurrection and Marriage for
Eternity, The 763
Reverie During an Organ Re- cital at the Tabernacle, A.. 1026
Scenes in Denmark 707
Sing Only What We Believe.. 784 Smoker, The Discourteous. .. .1097 Some Impressions of Utah... 61 Some of the Activities of Pres- ident John Henry Smith... 59
Special Exercises in the M. I.
A 323
Spring 481
Talmage, Dr. James E 347
Thoughts of a Farmer 788
Tobacco Curse, The 547
To Teach the Young 451
Tour of the Tabernacle Choir. 234
Tribute to Erastus Snow 363
Tribute to Mary Freeze 459
Use of Nicotine, The 901
Valley of Ras-el-Nasir, The... 334 Visit to Shoshone Falls, A.... 3 Voice of the Intangible. . .969, 1067 War Between Italy and Tur- key 76
What Constitutes Success in
Life? 543
What the Returned Missionary
Can Do for Himself 1073
When Great Sorrows are Our
Portion 726
Why I Became a "Mormon".. 513
Would You Win or Lose? 922
Young Sculptor, A 367
INDEX TO AUTHORS.
Adams, John 2, 600
Anderson, Christian N 349
Anderson, Edward H
... .97, 193, 340, 367, 481, 910, 1077
Anderson, Nephi 126, 210
Barrett, J. T 344
Beck. W. J 207
Beesley, Clarissa A 913
Bennion, Milton 521
Brimhall-Foley, S. T 813
Brimhall, George H 858, 915
Cannon, Elizabeth Rachel. . .43, 710
Cardon, A. F 218
Chipman, Stephen H 707
Christensen, Jennie Snow 725
Christenson, A. B 408
Clark, Joseph W 485
Clawson, Hiram B 733, 822
Connelly, Mary E 836
Cummings, Horace H 65
Curtis, Theodore E 64
Decker, Z. N 543
Dixon, Charles J 890
Dwyer, Augustine 1026
Eardley, Roscoe W 415
Evans, John Henry, 17, 107, 225.
350, 442, 499, 623, 638, 715, 790,
923, 963, 996, 1053, 1085
Fisher, Ila 830
Fox, Ruth May 116, 706, 921
Frost, Grace Ingles
143, 244, 608, 714, 1092
Gardner, Hamilton 334
Gates, Jacob F 463
Gates, Susa Young 441, 459
Gillilan, Strickland W 57
Goddard, J. Percy . .' 1073
Gowers. Alfred J., Jr 316
Grant, Heber J. 80, 271. 363, 467,
529, 648, 726, 742, 784, 839. 871
Halls, William 548, 1103
Halvorsen, John 146
Hardy, Annie Kay 1018
Harris, Frank S 619
Henderson. W. W 149
Hewlett, Frank J 880
Higgins, William 529
Hogenson, Prof. J. C 36, 1111
Hope 761, 961, 1119
Hull, Thomas 916, 1131
Hyde, William A 385, 579
Jensen, Jay C 117
INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
Jones, Shirley Penrose
158, 524, 817
Jordan, William George
29, 113, 425,
517, 634, 683, 806, 906, 991, 1098
Kimball, Solomon F 985
Kirby, George D 169, 5il
Lambourne, Alfred 3, 144, 233, 322,
529, 669, 688, 696, 841, 1118
Larson, Louis W 60, 516, 622
Leishman, Le Roy 528
Lund, Anthon H 462, 483
Lyman, Albert R 696, 1067
Martineau, L. R 354, 859, 1137
Merrill, H. R 245, 731, 769
Mitton, Sarah E ■ 160
McConkie, O. W 814
McKay, David 0 655
Nebeker, John L 437
Nibley, Charles W 1039
Nibley, Preston 774
Olsen, Dr. Charles L 161
Ottinger, George M 529
Park, Hamilton G 750
Peay, Ida Stewart 811
Penrose, Charles W
462, 483, 949, 1042
Peterson, Elmer G 901, 1093
Peterson, J. H 433
Peterson, Wallace B 825
Pratt, Rey L 486
Pratt, Orson 933
Purvis, Miller 61
Quinney, Joseph, Jr 800
Riper, Guernsey Van 632
PAGE
Roberts, Brigham II
919, 954, 1083, 1134
Robinson, Ann 577
Rolapp, Judge Henry H 311
Russell, Samuel J 420
Rust, David D 156
Sagers, John S 542
Scrymgour, A 513
Service, P. H 779
Smith, Andrew K 1046
Smith, Bernard Herman 545
Smith, Calvin S 466
Smith, David A 234
Smith, President Joseph F. 70, 137,
172, 279, 280, 370, 462, 483, 555,
646, 671, 736, 763, 843, 1120 Snow, Moroni 53 165,
246, 359, 452, 551, 642, 770, 1109
Spry, Governor William 1078
Stewart, M. A 695
Talmage, Dr. James E 291
Talmage, Sterling 615
Tanner, Dr. J. M 557, 788
Taylor, Joseph E 690
Thomas, Kate 38
Wells, Junius F 251, 832
Whitney, Horace G 323
Whitney, Orson F 195, 1060
Widtsoe, Dr. John A 609, 1013
Wilkinson, William C 42
Woolley, H. R 899
Young, Brigham 869
Young, Dr. Seymour B. and
Council 273
Young, Levi Edgar 99, 855
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Vol. XV OCTOBER, 1912 No. 12
The New Testament in Literature and History
BY JOHN HENRY EVANS, OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS UNIVERSITY
III
However great the literature of the New Testament may be, that is chiefly a matter of form, of dress. It is also, and mainly, by reason of the ideas it contains that this invaluable book is to be held in such reverence.
The New Testament, in the first place, contains the wisest things that have ever been said.
Ewald declared that "in this little book is contained the best wisdom of the world."
"Take the five classics of Confucius," says Canon Farrar, "the Vedas, the Tripitaka, the whole collection of the Sacred Books of the East, the Dialogues of Plato, the Ethics of Aristotle, the moral treatises of Cicero, Enchiridion of Epictetus, the let- ters of Seneca to Lucilius, the Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, the Koran of Mohammed — all that represents the very crown and flower of Pagan morality; then turn to the Christian literature, and cull every noble thought you can find in the Fathers, in the schoolmen, in the Mystics, in the Imitatio Christi, in the Puritan divines, in Tauler and John Bunyan, in Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Sanderson, or Butler in the Whole Duty of Man, and the writ- ings of the early evangelisticals : and while in all Pagan and some Christian books you may find imperfect and even pernicious ele- ments, you will not find, either before or after Christ, one single or fruitful rule or principle of morals (to say nothing of the
1054 IMPROVEMENT ERA
deepest truths of religion) for which we could not quote deeper reasons and a more powerful enforcement from the brief pages of the New Testament alone."
And, putting the same idea in different words, Whittier says :
"We search the world for truth; we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful, From graven stone and written scroll, From all old flower-fields of the soul; And, weary seekers of the best, We come back laden from our quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read."
As examples of some of these wise sayings, take the fol- lowing:
"Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy."
"Ye can do nothing against, but for, the truth."
"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, [love] I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cym- bal."
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear."
"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"
All these sayings go down for their origin into the very deeps of our common nature.
The New Testament, secondly, contains an account of the only ideal character known to history — Jesus Christ, our Lord.
When we speak of an ideal we mean something that em- bodies all that we are striving to attain for ourselves. Jesus is such an ideal. If you look at the lives of the best men and women that the race has produced, not only will you find some- thing here and there in their character that is more or less un- worthy, but you will find that those of them who knew of Christ looked to him as their pattern, while in the lives of those who knew him not, their character and conduct and sayings are admir-
NEW TESTAMENT IN LITERATURE AND HISTORY 1055
able only to the extent that they conformed with what he was and did and said.
Here is what some men of varying beliefs have said of Christ as an ideal. Strauss declared that "Christ is the one char- acter without the idea of whom in the mind personal piety is im- possible." "The Man of sorrows," said James Martineau, "is an exemplar, the Son of God our spiritual ideal." John Stuart Mill believed that there was no better life for a man to live here below than such a one as Christ would approve. "Our highest Orpheus," says Carlyle, "walked in Judea, eighteen hundred years ago. His sphere-melody, flowing in wild native tones, took captive the ravished souls of men ; and, being of a truth sphere-melody, still flows and sounds, though now with thousandfold accompani- ments, and rich symphonies, through all our hearts ; and modu- lates, and divinely leads them." Thus Christ has become the accepted ideal of human life — "the conscience of humanity."
It would take up too much space to describe even briefly the qualities of Christ's character. But a few of the main traits may be mentioned.
Christ was sincere. Examine yourself and your associates and see how common insincerity is in the world. We say things to our friends which we do not in our hearts mean. We act insincerely, assuming to be what we are not. But Christ was always and invariably sincere. It was easy and natural for him to be so.
Christ was reasonable. Reasonableness is not so common as we sometimes think. We are always doing what we know is not reasonable. We dress unreasonably. Jesus never did. "Swear not at all," "life is more than food," "the body is more than raiment," are some of his precepts. His test of truth is the most reasonable ever advanced: "If you wish to know whether a thing is true, then live it."
Jesus had perfect poise. "Most men are so poorly balanced you can push them with very little pressure into an unmanly speech, into an un-Christian disposition. Jesus was so firmly poised that under the pressure of the most venomous vituperation that has ever been hurled against a man, he stood erect, unmoved, immovable. "
Christ had patience. He calmly waited for what was to be.
1056 IMPROVEMENT ERA
He was never excited, in a hurry. He endured uncomplainingly. Knowing early as he must have known, that he was the Christ, he yet shows no impatience during thirty years to begin his mis- sion. He patiently waited for the time of the Lord.
Christ exhibited great courage. He never showed fear of anything. Not only did he have courage in the face of physical danger, but he possessed courage in moral situations — which is always higher. It took courage to announce himself before those among whom he had grown to manhood. He spoke out to those who sat in the high places when it was necessary. He exposed wickedness and hypocrisy wherever he found them. "And yet his courage never overleaps itself and becomes audacity or reck- lessness."
Jesus was reverent. He was perpetually reverent, with that reverence that "moves in high altitudes." He it was that taught us "Hallowed by thy name." One of his earliest exhortations was "Honor all men." His reverence for the temple and for houses of worship was unfailing. Unlike us, his associates could not, had they so desired, have tempted him into irreverence.
These and a great many other qualities were exhibited in Christ in a perfection never reached in any other person on the earth, and these it is that ever since his day we have been en- deavoring to imitate. The best men and women are those who most nearly approach these qualities in him.
The New Testament, in the third place, contains ideas that have altogether changed the course of history and made life dif- ferent for each one of us from what it would be had not the New Testament been written. "For seven hundred years," says Les- sing, the New Testament Scriptures "have exercised human rea- son more than all other books, and enlightened it more."
To speak briefly again, these are some of the main truths of this great volume which have influenced the minds of men :
First, The fatherhood of God. Christ was the first to speak of God as "our Father." On the face of it, it does not matter what relation we bear to God, or whether we bear any. In reality, however, it makes the greatest difference. To the Pagans, for the most part, God was a power external to themselves which showed itself beneficently in the rain and the sunshine, but ma- lignantly in the thunder and the flood — there was no relationship
NEW TESTAMENT TN LITERATURE AND HISTORY 1057
between them and him. In a sense he was, in Carlyle's phrase, "an absentee God sitting idle, ever since the first Sabbath, at the outside of the universe, and seeing: it go," without any other con- cern as to how it was going. That is not the God of the P.iblo. The name "Father." used for the first time in the New Testament, implies a relationship of interest, of concern, of love, of watch- care, of direction, of helpfulness — in a word, of every good affection of an earthlv parent, onlv in a perfect degree. This relation, too, has changed our conduct. God is nearer us than he would otherwise be. and we are anxious to please him. That is what the fatherhood of God signifies.
Nor is that all. Tn the word "our" is involved a second great idea — the brotherhood of man. "All ye are brethren." is the em- phatic doctrine of the New Testament. This is essentially the same as the doctrine of equality and fraternity in politics and Cfovernment. Tt has taken centuries for men to grasp the mean- ing of this great truth, and we are yet a long way from its prac- tical application. The New Testament takes no recognition, ex- cept in way of condemnation, of class distinctions based on wealth, color, blood, or any other artificial, arbitrary classification. The only class distinction it recognizes is that between those who do right and those who do wrong. Otherwise all men are the same in the sight of God.
The effect of this idea in civilized history has been enormous. Before Christ, and for a long time afterwards, racial distinctions, and, within nations, class distinctions, were very pronounced. Even the Jew of Christ's day regarded the Gentile as a dog to be spit upon and spurned. But during comparatively recent years we have learned that at bottom all men are much the same. "The race mind of the Chinese," says Professor Ross, in The Changing Chinese, "is not appreciably different from our own, and their so-called race traits are what we would probably show if we had been subjected to their circumstances and historical develop- ment." And so we are learning more and more that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." And as a result of this doctrine, in time, hate between races and classes will be done away with, and war, as an outgrowth of hate. Universal peace must reign and every man seek, not his own, but his brother's welfare.
1058 IMPROVEMENT ERA
\ third idea which is developed in the New Testament and which has had large influence on the minds of men is the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the future existence. Briefly explained, it is this: That there is a soul in man which existed before it tabernacled in the flesh, and will continue to exist after its mortal state; that mortality is merely a stage in the develop- ment of this spirit, its contact with grosser material being neces- sary to its eternal progress; and finally, that this earth, which was prepared for man, will be his home after the resurrection of the body, where he will continue to exercise all the wholesome soul- functions as he did in mortality, becoming more and more God- like as he develops. This, of course, is not the precise form in which this idea has always influenced men. Nor do I mean to infer that immortality is first taught in the New Testament, for it has been understood, in one form or another, by every nation of men ; but it is there developed and clarified as it is nowhere else in ancient writings.
Bishop Carpenter, of the English Episcopal Church, names three ethical ideas as including the basis of Christ's teaching as found in the New Testament, and as having greatly influenced the stream of civilization. They are (1) the doctrine of goodness, (2) moral sympathy and responsiveness, and (3) love as the ruling thought which gives coherence to the other two principles and to all that grows out of them.
It is impossible to over-estimate the influence of these three ideas. To them is traceable the constantly growing effort to work righteousness individually and collectively. "There can be, so long as we are honest men," said a presidential candidate recently, "no quarter with any man who deals privately or publicly in a practice that is unrighteous ; and a man who lays himself, his life, down for that purpose, ought to die more happy than he lived." Such a standard is that set down by Christ nearly nineteen hun- dred years ago. The torch still burns. To these ideas are trace- able every effort to ameliorate the condition of the down-trodden, the oppressed, the unfortunate among our fellows. That we have hospitals, asylums for the insane, schools for the blind, the deaf, and the dumb, is due to the operation in the human mind of these three ideas. It is the influence of these ideas that overthrew slavery in English territory and in the United States. It is the
MEW testament in literature AND HISTORY 1050
spirit of these ideas that is at work in the slums of our larger cities everywhere in the civilized world endeavoring to make the lot of those poor people a little less hard to bear. It is this same spirit that has enacted laws protecting women and children who work in shops and factories. And, in a word, so long as we go on feeling helpfully for the weak, the unfortunate, the help- less, the down-trodden, it will be due, directly or indirectly, to the principles of righteousness, of humanity, of sympathy, and of love taught so clearly and beautifully in the New Testament.
To sum up: I have attempted in these pages to give two reasons why we should familiarize ourselves with the New Testa- ment. Those two reasons are ( 1 ) that it is part of the greatest Book in the world, judged purely from a literary point of view ; and (2) that it contains ideas that have influenced the world of thought and conduct more than any others. I have tried to show, under the first, that the masters of our English speech have been unstinting in their praise of the literary form and style of this volume, and that one cannot really appreciate our mother tongue, in its greatest works, without a knowledge of the Bible ; and, under the second heading, that the New Testament contains the wisest sayings known to men, that it contains an account of the only ideal character of which we have any record, and that its teach- ings concerning the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the life everlasting, the principles of goodness, sympathy and love, as the standard of life, have made life, individual and social, vvholly different from what it would be had not the New Testa- ment been written.
What remains is for us to make up our minds not to let a day pass without giving a little of our time every day to the great- est Book in the world.
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: for a day in tin- courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace an 1 glory: no good thing will be withheld from them that walk up- rightly.— Psahns 84.
Hiking the Trail
A Ballad of the Boys
BY ORSON F. WHITNEY
(Air: Mountain Air)
Didn't hear of the hike of the M. I. A. Scouts?
Why, where have you been, you lazy louts?
Swinging in hammock on holidays,
While patriotism its homage pays
To the heroism of earlier days!
Didn't hear how we tramped on the Pioneer Trail,
O'er craggy crest and through verdant vale,
Past sagebrush slope, on sun-flowered plain,
How we marched up the hill and marched down again?
Didn't hear of the hike? Well, you'll hear of it now,
Whether jumping the counter or pushing the plow,
Whether driving a bargain, a mule or a cow,
You'll hear and you'll see, for I've taken my pen
To make the dead past live over again.
So come with me o'er the old beaten route,
With ringing laughter and resonant shout.
Hark! 'Tis the five o'clock bugle — turn out,
And list to the tale of the hiking Scout!
'Twas Sunday, the 21st, sharp 7:10, When the Burley forms of the railroad men Got out of the way, and the boys got in, With blanket and haversack, greeting and grin, And rumbled away from the O. S. L., Beginning the trip and the tale I tell. In khaki suit and with straw-thatched pat*., Knife, fork, spoon, and a bright tin plate, They looked like yellow journalists, Fleeing from roused up hornets' nests. But no — true blue each husky feller, And yet in every sense a yeller. There were no drones, from A to Z, Each yellow jack was a working bee.
What need of "nine tailors to make a man,''
With the kind of Taylor that led our van?
A better man or Scout Director
You've never met, and you needn't expect ter.
And Midgley, he no midget either,
Imperfect any hike with neither.
Of Master Scouts the Woods were full;
Beyond that push was the Bowers pull;
Then Bountiful Briggs with jackets of tan,
Bayard Taylor, the Coalville clan,
And Irwin Clawson — gentleman.
HIKING THE TRAIL 1061
Who would not with such troopers train — Something's the matter with his brain, But not gray matter — that is plain.
Our wheel had felloes from the Huh,
Who spoke through The News and the Herald Repub.
Ben Franklin Roberts and Doctor Brown, too —
Gee! how the wireless, tireless flew,
While their cameras made us "too good to be true".
Our army, strong and well equipt,
(One hundred eighteen I think we shipt)
Boasted a General who'd ne'er been whipt,
A regular Boanerges' son —
General Order Number One.
We followed him where'er he went —
At least until his force was spent,
And General Order Number Two,
Succeeding him, hove into view.
Of General Orders there were more,
Of General Boarders nigh a score,
Smashers of baggage, three or four,
Committeemen and guests galore.
Top-heavied by the titled horde,
The M. I. A. looked rather Board.
And other trials thronged the path,
Foreshadowing the Day of Wrath;
Ed. Anderson, Moroni Snow
("Era"-tic pair) along must go,
And June Wells — yes, fate willed it so —
To certain observations make,
Uncertain observations take.
They had a sort of instrument
(And reverently above it bent)
Which proved the sun as far from us
As we from it; they made a fuss
If incredulity sought out
The cooling shadow of a doubt.
They figured Earth was nearer Heaven,
By "sixty feet" than in forty-seven.
And J. H. Paul affirmed it, too,
For he had looked the same lens through.
But why, O Muse, anticipate?
Tn ordered sequence now narrate
The various happenings that befell;
That Historv may hereafter tell
How we trudeed the trail of the Pioneers,
Woke slumbering echoes of sixty years —
Sixty and five, to be accurate;
Stormed the walls of the Bee-Hivo State,
Unhonored, but likewise un stung,
Thanks to the line throuph those passes flung,
And those other "passes" of "Grandv" Young.
Then, on fair Utah's natal date.
Came down to the Park to celebrate.
1062 IMPROVEMENT ERA
Back now to the front of the M. I. Scouts — The Mutual Improvers on one of their "outs!" You've heard how they left the O. S. L. And now on other deeds I'll dwell.
At Peter-Skeen-Ogden — famed old town,
Dehyphenated and cut down
(They gotta quit kickin' that name araoun) —
Our special car, on rails U. P.,
Sped on to Echo. We could see
The Pulpit Rock, the Devil Slide,
A big Red Fork the waters divide;
And still the wonders multiplied.
Nor least, young Ncbeker's bugle call,
Re-echoing from the rocky wall.
Near to "The Narrows," loved and hated,
Where Johnston's army hesitated,
Wells in front and Winter behind,
And then to halt made up its mind.
"March!" said the military powers,
"This day fair Henefer is ours!"
So spake the second in command.
Lord Roberts, General Grant's right hand,
Assisted bv the Morgan band.
And reinforced by General Lund
And General Lyman — each a fund
Of loyal valor — in good form
Charged on and took the town by storm.
They charged us nothing. My! 'twas warm — ■
Hot gospeling they got that day,
Hamsandwiching our staff and stay,
Ere to the hills we hiked away,
To hear Paul preach and Roberts orate.
And Whitnev stale jokes perpetrate.
We made a Rule — to 'predate
(Whether ap or de was somewhat mixt —
Rule took his choice when the pre was fixt)
A ^ood Rule (Wells) whose proxy smirk
Saved the whole camp a lot of work.
Main Canyon was our halt that night
(No other halt or maimed in sight);
But ere we slept, by bonfire bright,
Saluted we with might and main
And sang, "The Flag Without a Stain,"
Then heard of noble Orson Pratt,
Who led the "vanguard" and a' that.
The time, the place, the theme, were pat,
And the orator his best was at.
At half past nine the bugle said:
"Quantum sufficit — get to bed!"
"Taps" sounded, and the camp seemed dead,
Save that anon the billows of snore
Began to break on the Lethean shore;
They kept on breaking more and more,
Every rumble becoming- a roar,
Till other horns mingled their musical pour,
HIKING THE TRAIL 1063
And "reveille" sounded for half past four. So Hyrum Smith said, and so the rest swore. l!y the way, he who cussed on the Pioneer Line Got a cup of cold water put next to hifl spine.
Up for the hike at break of day,
The hungry Scouts, with some dismay,
Heard — and at the hearing groaned —
That breakfast hour had been postponed.
A march of two miles intervened,
Ere one might have his soup tureened,
Or munch a morsel of difficult tack
From individual haversack.
"What did I hear?" asked Junius F.
"Nothing — march on!" The stern-eyed Chef
A fig from out his wallet took,
Gave him one Barbara Freitchie look,
Then flung a Stonewall glance at us,
And mounted his Bucephalus.
For some must ride while some must walk,
And listen while the others talk.
A mutiny seemed "breaking out,"
And smallpox threatened every Scout.
"Who touches a hair of yon soup," said he —
'Twas enough; that quelled the mutiny.
All hungry cravings now were stayed,
All appetite was lowly laid.
The boys marched out in gallant style.
Hills rose before them, pile on pile —
But no grub-pile, yet hearts were gay,
With breakfast just two miles(?) away.
There's little truth in much of this, But it makes good reading, hit or miss; And what would comic poets do, If limited to what is true?
Along the road four miles or so,
As measured by Moroni Snow —
Who almost melted then and there,
So summary the simmery glare —
We halted upon Dixie Creek.
That hungry we could hardly speak.
Endurance would no farther go.
And every joy there turned to "whoa!"
"Nature abhors a vacuum" — The Scouts knew how she hated 'tim; And each the void now sought to fill. Thus winning back the Dame's sweet will. And soon, with every want sunnlicd, On, onward o'er the hills we hied. Pray do not deem us gourmands nuite; Eating was thought of last — at night.
Brown got off a good thing that day- Got off his horse on a high dug-way.
1064 IMPROVEMENT ERA
Surrendering into Whitney's hand The liveliest centaur in the land: \ Revolutionary horse, From old Colonial days, of course, Stumbling, revolving o'er and o'er. From mountain road to reservoir, Rolling till he could roll no more, Then sticking fast in the muddy shore. Though with the Scouts he took no swim, None needed it much more than him. I lis pedigree no doubt was cure — A genuine 'Colt revolver," sure, But went off rather premature.
Where Woods met Bowers beneath the trees, And from these woods made bowers of ease, We formed Camp Clayton, named for him Who wrote the sweet consoling hymn, "Come, come, nor toil nor labor fear" — A brave true-hearted Pioneer. There ting-a-linged the light guitar To ballads of the Civil War, Marching with Sherman to the Sea, Reviving days of minstrelsy.
O. F. had heard B. H. orate,
And now tried hard to imitate,
Giving the orator tit for tat,
A "Brigham Young" for an "Orson Pratt."
Paul, the apostle of birds and bees,
At home among the rocks and trees,
Warned us of ivy — not Ivy Paul,
Sweetest, most dangerous plant of all —
But ivy of the three-leaved kind
You're more than glad to leave behind.
Poison segoes, they might be seen,
But swallowed — Presto! change of scene.
He taught with fluency and force,
"Fought a good fight" and finished the course.
We bundled into bed at ten, And slept till after midnight, when Two horses owned by Hyrum Grant Began to snort and puff and pant, Tug at their ropes and rip and rant, Pulling the wagon here and there, Rattlety bang and rattlety blare, Till on each head stood every hair. Most everything comes Heber's way, And when it comes it comes to stay; He feared 'twould be so in this case, And with those horses ran a race — They for his bunk, he from the same, In costume that I dare not name. No handicap nor steeple chase — In plain night-cap he set the pace. "Whoa! whoa!" — and jumping out of bed, Incontinently broke and fled.
HIKING THE TRAIL 1065
The nightmares roamed no more that night. And next time Hyrum tied more tight.
"Build me a bridge, Horatius,"
Quoth Consul Grant next day. "Ye with three more to help ye —
Build with what speed ye may." B. H. (bridge hiker) streamward strode,
Hyrumius likewise went, And Junius and Moroni S.(
With that blamed instrument. The bridge, when built, hung tottering
Above the boiling tide; The Scouts — d'ye think they'd head that way? —
They chose the steep hillside. 'Twas well — with splash like thunder
Fell every misfit beam, And many a dam about that time
Went sputtering down the stream. "Come back, come back, Horatius!
Yeast Canyon Creek hath riz! Back, Hyrum M., back, Junius F.,
Back through the foaming fizz!" Back waded brave Horatius,
Hyrumius waded back, The look their faces wore, the kind
That looking glasses crack. Hilarius laughed till he was sore,
June waded in his track, And July "waded into" "June" —
All but "the cat came back." None welcomed them on Palatine,
Nor any other ridge, For though they kept explaining things,
They had not kept the bridge.
The hikers, with a right good will. Climbed the ravined and wooded hill Where Salt Lake Valley first appears. There halted had the Pioneers While the great leader of the band Beheld his people's Promised Land. "Ye Mountains High!" — with vocal vim We rendered the immortal hymn! Where Pen-rose up to lyric heights. Now lung and tongue took airy flights, But nerched while History told the tale How sire and grandsire trod the trail. Then slid adown Big Mountain steep, In Mountain Dell to sup and sleep.
Camp Grant, the last and best of all,
We christened for our captain tall —
Tall in an elevated land,
Towering in most things good and grand.
The pleasantest of all our camps,
A precious memory, it stamps
Its image on the plastic brain,
1066 IMPROVEMENT ERA
Ne'er to be blotted out again.
The shady grove, the long rich grass,
The limpid stream, the lofty pass,
The feast beneath the willows spread,
The multitude on manna fed —
Or was it hard-boiled eggs instead,
With Richards raspberries o'er them spread?
There Paul re-rendered Tennyson, And small-pox minimized to one. I will not say his reading did it — If so he thought full well he hid it. Happy the man whose terse translation Can take the place of vaccination. Why need he quake with foolish fears, Or e'en indulge in "idle tears?"
Adieu! fair camp amid the wild, Where Nature on good nature smiled, As happy-hearted as a child. And not a word and not a deed To sow of bitter thoughts tne seed, Or make the heart or conscience bleed!
Ere Wednesday's sun was out of bed,
Ere Twenty-Fourth had breakfasted,
Along the road our column sped.
The way o'er Little Mountain led.
And there the Scouts with all their scars,
Like veterans coming from the wars,
Boarded the Emigration cars;
But left them at Mt. Olivet,
And marched to where the sections met
Of that unparalleled parade
Wherein our banners were displayed;
Halting betimes when trumpet played,
While Charlie Johnson snapshots made.
O ye that sulked in tents that day,
Or soft in silken hammocks lay,
While we climbed crags with the M. I. A.,
Led on by Moroni, B. H., and H. J.,
O'er sunflower gold and sagebrush gray,
Ne'er scorning, though scouting, the Pioneer way!
Do you hear the echoing bugle call?
Have you clambered with me o'er the mountain wall,
Heard the ringing laugh, the lusty shout,
The mirthful fling and the merry flout,
That cheered and enlivened the lonely route?
Some day, perchance, you'll pass over it too. That hike had a purpose — 'twill dawn upon you When the National Highway Act pulls through. But you'll have no such time on your sputtering wheel, In your tire-punctured, tooting old automobile, . As the laddies who tramped it with toe and with heel.
g Intangible
:
LAKE PAGAHR1T, SOUTHERN run *^^^K
Chapter III — A Prying Curiosity
When Ben Rojer reached home, ragged and sunburnt from that first trip; when he turned Stripes into the pasture and sank with the fond attachment of childhood into arms held out to receive him ; when he heard their commiseration for his lean and battered appearance, it is not surprising that he felt a strong desire to stay at home a long time. But what a thrust to that desire when, after the second day at home, his father said, "Now, son, the next thing on the program is to gentle those colts on the mountain."
A father like Fred Rojer could not fail to see how offensive the range had become to his son. Nor did Fred Rojer fail to see it. Better still, he caught Ben's eye in such a way, and brought his own fatherly love to bear in such an irresistible look of kind- ness, that the boy blushed for his displeasure and his shallow nature so. quick to give it away.
"You see, son," pleaded the kind, bearded lips, "there's noth- ing here for you to do, and after going alone all these years and building up so much on your company, I hate to go alone any more."
"I don't want you to go alone any more, Pa," declared Ben, his heart in his eyes; "I'm plum willin' to go right now."
The little brown face with sore lips followed into the hills again, and Bowse brought up the rear. It was not the old trail over the Cedar Ridge, but nevertheless a trail leading through forests of cedars, and up rocky canyons to the flat-topped tim- ber region of the Elk Mountain.
K)(.S IMPROVEMENT ERA
The two made camp in a qnakingasp grove, near a spring known as Peavinc. The mountain abounded in crystal springs, green leaves and shade. The summer breeze from the canyons below, and the summer birds concealed in the aspen leaves, seemed to declare the place a paradise of rest, where servile work would be little short of sin. To this sentiment of rest, Fred Rojer seemed to voice a decided Amen — in fact, this Amen appeared to be no small part of the premeditated business of the trip.
They rode leisurely among the cool timber, corraled their colts, and by mild, unhurried means began breaking them to lead. They always quit work early in the day, and some days they did no work at all. Stripes and Bowse improved in flesh all the time. It seemed like a pleasure-trip, and young Rojer wondered if his father had forgotten the purpose for which they came. All the same he looked and listened. Sometimes he looked so intently at the wooded canyons below, or listened so earnestly to the wind and the birds, that for a while he lost account of everything else.
Fred Rojer spent a great part of his time reading books, of which he usually carried a supply, and Ben found time to ramble about among the trees to his heart's content. He learned the habits of chipmunks and squirrels, he watched the coyote skulk and sneak, he found the tiny eggs in the humming-bird's nest, and learned the grouse-hen's secret of hiding her chickens.
When Stripes grazed over the grassy hills, Ben often wan- dered near by, noting the love and trust between horse and dog, and assuring them with pats and caresses of his own unchanging fidelity. The yellow pony never once thought of resenting cap- ture ; he whinnied to his young master on first sight, and looked his horse-regret when they parted. If Ben could have no hand- ful of oats or corn in his pocket, he made it a point to cut a sweet bunch of grass from among the rocks, that he might court the pony's favor whenever they met. As to Bowse, he was sure of a dainty morsel whenever it could be had.
In all the pines and aspens of the mountains, there was noth- ing more delightful to Ben than racing over the smooth flats with Bowse frolicking ahead or behind. No wild band could out- run them, and in the horse round-up, young Rojer and his buck- skin were recognized as a swift combination. Ben liked to take up the shapely little feet and trim them carefully, if they were not
PEAVIN'Ii GROVE
shod, and he enjoyed watching them plough into the soil when he was "making a run." No stripe, or joint, or mark, on the shapely little creature escaped the boy's notice, and he often looked a long time into those loving horse-eyes, and tried, by careful search, to find the gallant horse-soul behind them.
By a grove of oaks, not far from the Peavine camp, Sooro- wits, the Pahute, had pitched his summer wickiup. Young Rojer watched the Pahutes hunt in the twilight, or come loaded with venison in the gray dawn of morning. He watched them milk their goats, ride their vicious cayuses, and prepare their magic medicines from herbs, and roots, and the bark of trees. He stood by with their own half-clothed children while the flesh of the deer was smoked and dried. He watched them transform its hide to the soft buckskin.
Toorah, for that was the name of Mrs. Soorowits, had no objections to Ben in the camp, and he watched her nimble fingers prepare the fine bead-work, and make the dresses of red and yellow and green and blue, so dear to the heart of every Pahute woman. She had a handsome face, a straight form, and with her thirty odd years was quite an attraction to young Rojer, especial- ly since she showed a pronounced solicitude for his welfare in his tenderness of years.
Soorowits and his chief disciple. Buhhre, belonged to a tribe who refused a reservation. They took pride in roaming where they pleased, often making bold to tell where they had murdered
1070
IMPROVEMENT ERA
white men in the earlier settlement of the country. Soorowits said nothing against the white boy's presence in camp, in fact he did not deign to see him at all, but stalked back and forth with great dignity — the silent, sullen dignity of a red man.
Since white men arrived in the Rocky Mountains, and planted their orchards and gardens along the desert streams, the appe- tite for fruit and melons has become a mania among certain Indian tribes. This abnormal appetite began to breed discontent in the
THE OLD GRAVE AT SOLDIER CROSSING, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH,
WHERE TWO WHITE MEN WERE KILLED BY PAHUTES,
IN THE EARLY 80's
summer home of Soorowits, and brought him to the bank of the river by the desert village, about the time Ben and his father returned home. Booths of cotton-wood limbs were prepared for a shade, and the Pahute household anticipated two fat weeks of peaches and water-melons.
Then a terrible misfortune filled the camp with grief : Sooro- wits shot Toorah with a Colt's-45. He swore it was an accident,
VOICE OF THE INTANGIBLE 1071
and it may have been. Also it may have been a quick flash of his cantankerous temper. No difference, he felt genuinely "cut up" about it, and sat in tears and sobs on the shady side of his wick- iup. A swift messenger, probably Buhhre, went for a medicine- man, and the singing and chanting and mixing of herbs went on incessantly during a week. The grief-stricken red man employed all the skill the village afforded. It was a hopeless case. One evening the chanting ceased; the camp resounded with shrieks and cries, for Toorah had gone to the Happy Hunting-ground.
The news of this tragic affair found in the village no more sympathetic heart than that of Ben Rojer. On the day following her death, he chanced to be hunting cows in the sandhills, just as a shot rang out and a great smoke arose from a certain cave up among the cliffs. He knew Toorah's remains were in the fire, and he resolved to visit the place next day. He confided his dis- covery to two boy companions, Jim and Mort, and the three set- tled upon the next afternoon as the proper time to pay their respects to the cave.
Now the cave was hidden behind a pointed sand-knoll, and when the three young adventurers reached the top and looked down into the great hole, Mort decided to stand guard on the hill, while his fellows went to view the cremated squaw, and the horse whose spirit had been sent along for her to ride.
The ghastly sight that met the two pairs of youthful eyes should have satisfied the most prying curiosity; it no doubt sat- isfied them, for with one look and never a word they turned to climb again to their horses. All was still save for a little breeze moaning in the cavernous depths behind them, and the boys in- stinctively climbed faster and faster.
All at once a deafening yell seemed to chill the very marrow in their bones, and the black and furious visage of Soorowits appeared over the hill-top above them. He used the most awful words in the English language, and a great many others which no doubt meant even more to him.
He charged down the hill on his cayuse, trying to trample the boys beneath its hoofs. He struck at them with his quirt, and drove them about over the sand and among the rocks till they were half dead with exhaustion and fright, when Fred Rojer came dashing up on Mort's pony.
1072 IMPROVEMENT ERA
Mort had bolted for town at the first sight of the Indian, forgetting to give his friends the alarm ; and when they climbed breathless and pale to their saddles again, they had something to remember always. Ben's lungs burned like fire, and twenty years have hardly sufficed to repair the damage of those fifteen min- utes. He was also badly unstrung, having expected every minute to be shot.
Just what the whole affair meant to the red man is not quite clear. It seems that visiting a funeral fire before it has gone out is a grave violation of some old Pahute tradition. It is also probable that shooting the boys on that ground would have dese- crated the place. But the three became singularly obnoxious to the Soorowits gang, who pointed them out on the street as profaners of sacred things.
Soorowits himself felt a mortal fear of his wife's brother Nariant, and as soon as possible after the fire had died out, de- parted to Pagahrit, or the Navajo Mountain, to abide in hiding till their friendship should be patched up again.- Before going, however, he sent word to the boys that some time he would come back and punish their offense with the torture it deserved. This message, accompanied by the memory of the cruel, sombre face, became a ghost of fear and dread, haunting the boys at home and in the hills, in the day and in the night.
[This story of the mysterious Pagahrit country, in southern Utah, will continue in Vol. 16 of the Improvement Era. It consists of twenty- seven chapters that awaken the readers' interest and attention on every page. There are cowboys, Indians good and bad, outlaws, wild animals, mountain trails, round-ups, box canyons, the call of the gen- uine wild, the silences and voices of the desert, a boy's love for his horse and dog, and whisperings and communications of the Voice of the Intangible. A young boy begins this wild ranch life with his father, and grows up in these surroundings. There is a clean, inspira- tional and faith-promoting spirit penetrating the text, and the descrip- tion is true to conditions in one of the wildest districts of the Wild West soon to vanish.]
What the Returned Missionary Can Do For Himself
BY J. PERCY GODDARD, A. B.
It has always been my opinion that a missionary who does not continue his activity and usefulness in the Church after his return, and who does not retain the spirit which should char- acterize one holding the holy priesthood, has only himself to blame.
It always appears to me that a young man who wants to be active can find plenty to do, and that as a rule bishops and other presiding officers are very ready to make use of men who are willing to work.
But I believe it is a false idea that a man must be assigned some office or other on his return, in order that he may continue his activity. The returned elder can be as active and often just about as useful as a member of one of our ward organizations as he can be in the capacity of officer or teacher.
In the class session of his priesthood quorum, the man who studies the lesson and is therefore prepared to take part in the discusion will be welcomed by the presidents and by the teachers. Also in a Sunday School or Mutual Improvement class, a live member is greatly appreciated, and can be almost as great a help in promoting profitable discussion and active interest in the work as the teacher himself. Of course, to do this a man must be will- ing to study and work. The elder in the field who does not keep active and diligent in his labors, qualifying himself also by earn- est study, soon loses the spirit of his mission, and he can't expect to retain the spirit of his priesthood at home, unless he is will- ing to work for it. My observation has been that many mission- aries exhibit a very lazy disposition when they come home, and cannot be relied upon to do the work they are asked to do. Such cases are much more numerous than those instances often com- plained of where they are not asked to do anything.
I believe there is not a ward in which the bishopric is not
1074 IMPROVEMENT ERA
anxious to use capable men as block teachers, and if we will seri- ously contemplate this work and read the revelations that the Lord has given concerning the duties of the teacher, I am sure we shall conclude that there is scarcely a higher, holier, or more serious service to be performed in the Church ; but there is prob- ably no other institution in the Church that is falling so far short of its possibilities. Herein is a wonderful opportunity for the returned missionary to use his experience to advantage and to keep alive within him the spirit of a savior of souls. But to do this work successfully a man must give it careful thought and study, and must go about it just as humbly and prayerfully as he did about his successful missionary work.
I believe that one chief reason why many returning mission- aries disappoint us, is that they assume an entirely false attitude toward their completed missions. I am not sure that the talks we sometimes hear from our stands, particularly at missionary farewells, are not partly responsible for the mistaken idea that the missionary makes a great sacrifice for his Church and is deserv- ing on his return of recognition and reward from trie Church and from the Almighty himself.
This is entirely wrong. The sacrifices of the missionary should scarcely ever be mentioned, for they are not worth mentioning as compared with the incalculable benefits that a faith- ful missionary obtains. The Lord has repaid every faithful mis- sionary a hundred fold, for anything which he might consider a sacrifice, long before his return. Instead, therefore, of regard- ing himself as one having just made a great sacrifice worthy of recognition and reward (and some seem almost to think that their everlasting salvation is earned without doing another thing), instead of such a spirit, the returned elder should regard himself as one having enjoyed a supreme privilege, and should set about proving to God that he appreciates that privilege, and desires gratefully to acknowledge his Father's love and goodness by using for the advancement of the work of God his experience and gifts which the close communion with the Spirit of God has cul- tivated within him.
It is a curse to any man to get the idea into his head that either God or the Church or humanity is indebted to him, and the quicker we begin to talk of a mission as a privilege for which
WHAT THE RETURNED MISSIONARY CAN DO 1075
we are indebted to God, rather than as a sacrifice, the better it will be for the Church.
Again, missionaries often overlook the fact that while they are away their loved ones and tens of thousands of Saints are praying that they may be magnified.
Most certainly many of us need magnifying, and if the Lord hadn't magnified us by surrounding us with, and endowing us by, his Spirit, the spirit of power and light and intelligence, we should often have presented a sorry and humiliating appearance. The Lord does magnify his elders, and they do not always realize it, and when they get home some are somewhat shocked to find that they are not nearly so important or large as they had come to think, and that as compared with the work of the Lord as a whole they are indeed very microscopic. Some never rise from this shock, and men who manifested great power and gave great promise while enjoying the spirit of their missions come home and shrink and shrink and shrink, until they are almost a neg- ligible quantity in the Church and community at home.
If possible, our young men should be made to know that the Lord does magnify them in their faithful service in the mis- sionary field, and that he will continue to magnify them at home, if they will continue to serve him with the same zeal.
Again, unfortunately, some of our missionaries who win a place in the respect and esteem of the people among whom they labor, think so little of this reputation that they come home and sacrifice it all by falling prey to such low and niggardly vices as smoking and beer drinking. Doesn't it seem hard to believe that a young man who had ever tasted of the inspiration of heaven should allow himself to fall victim to such degrading vices, so far beneath one who has been forth as a soldier of the Almighty to battle against "the powers of evil in high places" ?
I have heard of two rebukes to such weaklings the last day or two, which I thought rather effective. My friend, Brother R. Leo Bird was talking with a young returned missionary a few days ago who was smoking a cigarette, and asked him what he thought the Saints with whom he had labored should think if they saw him with that cigarette. The returned elder answered that he didn't know, but there was one thing about it, he wasn't afraid to do his smoking openly; he didn't sneak behind a corner to
1076 IMPROVEMENT ERA
do it. Brother Bird answered him quickly and characteristically that "if he wanted to do a dirty trick like that, he'd be glad of something to hide behind."
As another instance, my father, while waiting for a car, a few days ago, met a returned missionary smoking. He addressed the man very frankly about as follows : "Brother So-and-So, do you know that your friends are looking at you with feelings of sor- row to see you smoking? It's a cowardly thing for a returned missionary to smoke, and your friends are hoping that soon you'll become enough of a man to drop such a weak and foolish vice." The young man thanked father for the word.
This leads me to a concluding thought that I want to leave with you. The boy to whom Brother Bird spoke said "he wasn't afraid to do his smoking openly." Father knocked such an idea of bravery or courage out of the other youth's head by telling him at once that it was cowardly. A great curse to young people is this idea that it takes courage to do what one knows is wrong.
Last winter, while conducting a lesson on companionship, I took occasion to give our junior Mutual boys an idea of what is brave and what is cowardly in such cases, by asking them to imagine two boys who had been taught to stay away from saloons. They are going down the street with a group of school friends. The one of my two boys is a weak character. For want of a more descriptive adjective I told the youngsters that he was a "wishy-washy" sort of boy. My second boy was a strong, cour- ageous, brave boy.
The group comes to a saloon and someone suggests going in. Our two boys, due to their training, hesitate, when their com- panions begin saying, "Oh, you're scared to," "You daren't," and so no. (Don't you know such taunts from companions are the hardest things in the world to resist?) Now what are my two boys going to do? My class all declared that the "wishy-washy" boy (they rather liked the word) would go in, but the brave, strong boy would say "No," and leave the group. The cour- ageous boy dares to do right. And which boy would the bunch respect most? Again the response was unanimous. To sin or to act contrary to one's convictions is never brave, it is always cow- ardly.
Young men aren't the only ones influenced in this way.
WHAT THE RETURNED MISSIONARY CAN DO 1077
Young men and also older men often fail to act and speak in accordance with their convictions for fear of ridicule of associates.
We find some "wishy-washy" returned missionaries, and when they fall in with former companions who have bad habits, to avoid their taunts they join them in their smoking or drinking or perhaps worse. They are cowards, and their companions who tempt them know it, and have contempt for them.
What can the returned missionary do for himself?
He can be brave and keep himself pure before men and be- fore God, preserving his reputation as a servant of God holding the holy priesthood. In recognition of the privilege he has en- joyed, he can be diligent in his service in the priesthood and in our organizations, whether officer or member, and by valiant ser- vice call down the blessings of God by which he shall be magni- fied before all the world, and by which, if he continues to the end, he may win a place with the brave, and the pure, and the valiant, in the kingdom of our God.
A Wish and the Answer
A WISH
"I wish I knew what I could sing
That others would repeat When I have sung my little song
And made my life complete."
THE ANSWER
If you had said, "I wish I knew
What useful work I best can do To help a fallen creature rise," Your song would echo to the skies,
Would sing itself, and speak of you !
Edward H. Anderson.
Builders"
HON. WILLIAM SPRY, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF UTAH
"The world is made up of two classes of people — those who build and those who tear down." The builders are called pro- gressive, successful ; those who tear down are styled retrogressive, failures. The scheme of creation makes no provision for a neutral ground between these two types on which one may stand. One must succeed or one must fail. When we arrive at the time for analyzing life's stewardships we are judged by the record of our activities, and the Great Ruler of the universe never intended the ledger of any man's life to be blank.
When a man acts, he acts under an unchangeable law and makes either for success or for failure. Under that same law, when a man refuses to act his very inactivity tends to tear down, makes toward failure and spells retrogression. This is an un- failing law of the universe. And it is this law in the uniformity of its application that constitutes the corner-stone of the structure of human equality.
When I speak of building, I have reference not alone to the building accomplished through manual labor, but to that broader meaning of the word which compasses the building forces that go to rear homes, communities, states, nations. I use the word to include character-building, the improvement of business, social and civic conditions, and, above all, moral conditions as existing be- tween the individual and that higher power to which the individual is alone responsible.
It is a blessed thing to build, and richly blessed is he who is equipped for life's work, not only with the physical inclination and ability to labor, but with an eager, trained, orderly, masterful mind, to guide and direct aright his physical and mental undertakings. You will find it a glorious thing to respond to the God-inspired desire to build ; to reach after, gather together, control, direct and put to useful and noble purposes the material things of earth.
*A talk to the graduating class of the State Agricultural College, 1912.
BUILDERS 1079
You will find it a soul-satisfying labor to ply the tools which you have acquired within this temple of learning, with the power that comes of self-confidence, in the accomplishment of this purpose. As the years come and go, you will be led to rejoice in that deeper insight education has given you into moral and ethical questions of life ; and every step you are enabled to take on the ladder of moral uplift, by reason of your intellectual refinement and culture, will afford you increasing satisfaction and a peace of mind and contentment sweeter than anything else life has to offer you. Yours is the period of fascinating uncertainty of a distant goal, the gaining of which involves sacrifices and effort, this day un- dreamed of. It is but the span of a few brief years when each shall have reached his goal. Perhaps not the goal of youthful ideal, but the goal life's work — life's individual building — shall have merited. Then for the retrospective. Our building for this life is completed, and the structures of intelligent, earnest labor, or the ruins of shiftless, idle waste are behind us. Life's highest aim, therefore, is the building of monuments that will endure, as well as bring satisfaction and honor.
"Year after year, behold the silent toil
That spreads his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door.
Stretched in his last found home, and knew the old no more.
"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul
As the swift seasons roll;
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free;
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea.
It has been my experience that one can best attain those highest ideals of human yearning when the commonplace, routine duties are daily performed; when every opportunity, great and small, is seized and worked into the structure we have set about to build. Before and beyond the material things of existence that engage our attention, there is a great purpose of life, hidden, yet constantly hinted at in all nature, and in man's inward conscious- ness. Toward or away from this purpose, our daily acts lead us. And we are builders, rearing not alone the structures of Individ-
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uality, but influencing with subtle certainty the work of building being carried on by our neighbors. The theory of our common law of civilization is that so long as our acts do not interfere with the person, rights or property of another, we are good citizens ; but there is a higher, unwritten law of inward consciousness that teaches us the sacredness of moral rectitude; that fills the heart with divine regard for the influence our moral acts may have upon another. And the structures of our rearing, to be perfect, must be built in accordance with the higher law.
To build, we must labor. Carlyle said : "Labor is life ; from the inmost heart of the worker rises his God-given force, the sacred celestial life-essence, breathed into him by Almighty God, and from his inmost heart awakens him to all nobleness, to all knowl- edge, self-knowledge, and much else, so soon as work fitly begins. Knowledge, the knowledge that will hold good in working, cleave thou to that, for nature herself accredits that, says yea to that."
I am convinced that the knowledge which you have been acquiring, during the time of your connection with this institution, is the "knowledge that will hold good in working," as I likewise am convinced that all of you are leaving these doors with a firm determination to cleave to that knowledge and apply it to the tasks of life, whatever they may be.
The faithful use of our entrusted powers is but a just return for the privilege of possessing them. Capacity for improvement and opportunity for usefulness involve acountability and demand diligence. When we think how much labor is required to make us what we wish to be, and to do for others what we should ; when we remember that consequences which eternity alone can measure are involved, we know that there must be ceaseless activity. Sir Joshua Reynolds said : "If you have great talents, industry will improve them ; if only moderate abilities, industry will supply the deficiency. Nothing is denied to well directed labor ; nothing is to be obtained without it."
In a spirit of deep solicitude for your individual welfare, allow me to suggest that on leaving this college to engage in the affairs of life, you will doubtless plant your feet in this section, founded and built by men and women who braved hardships, who fought well, and who conquered — men and women whose deeds are epochal in the winning of the West, and whose lives are worthy
BUILDERS 1081
your emulation. If it be your purpose to continue the work of your fathers, keep in mind the fact that you are following the paths that were trodden by noble predecessors, who laid the founda- tion for a great agricultural, mining, commercial and social center. With honest pride in the work of those who reared the super- structure of this western civilization, with the quickening inspira- tion that comes from nature's magnificent environment, with un- bounded faith in the promise of ample returns on the investment of your talents and energies, with unshakable confidence in your ability to cope with the problems you will meet, plunge into the work of building! For God has given us a wonderful land — a heritage such as a wise father would leave to a son whom he truly loved — an estate that will yield only to the beneficiary according as he labors and honestly earns.
It is a source of genuine pleasure to me to direct your atten- tion to the careers that are being carved out by those who have preceded you in this college. Their labors are daily reflecting credit upon, and adding prestige to, this great state institution. Results are being attained by the women as well as the men who have partaken of the advantages here afforded ; I mention the women especially, at this time, for the reason that in view of the widespread inquiry to discover what effect the liberal education now afforded will have on women, particularly on their domestic lives, I have followed with deep interest the lives of many of the women-graduates of this institution. In my visits to the various sections of the state, I have frequently received entertainment in the homes of mothers who a few years since were graduated from this school ; I have marveled at their management of the home, and felt thankful that Utah is awake to the possibilities of the training afforded by the domestic science courses. The strength of the nation depends upon the homes, and here domestic science has been so incorporated as to add to the sensible assuming of the responsibility of home-making ; and it has had a positive influence in increasing the power of every young lady in superintending a family, and added greatly to her dignity as a wife and mother, enabling her to properly direct the little ones in the never-to-be- forgotten beginnings of life.
Permit me at this time to remind you of the obligations you. as recipients of its favors, are under to the state which has made
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it possible for you to avail yourselves of the splendid educational opportunities afforded in this institution, of the debt you are under to those who have contributed so faithfully and well to your ad- vancement ; of the deep feeling of gratitude you should bear this institution, and, lastly, the deep regard in which you should ever hold, and the fidelity with which you should always maintain, the principles and ideals for which it stands.
In summing up, let me impress upon you this fact : the very best habit of life is the habit of building, because it calls for the exercise of industry — that quality of action demanding earnest, steady and continued attention to any useful or productive work or task — manual or mental — in which you may be engaged.
Build ever, therefore, with diligence, investing your best effort and strongest exertion, with a deep love of your labor, and an abiding interest in its accomplishment ; bend to the completion of your chosen life's work with application, concentrating all your powers upon it with utmost intensity. Add patience by working on, in spite of the annoyances which you will encounter ; and, by unswerving devotion of heart and principle, bring constancy to your purpose. Exercising these qualities, the trait of persever- ance to triumph over hindrances and difficulties cannot be with- held from you.
Honorable aspirations, steadfast, persevering toil for the realization of your ambitions will make of you upright, useful citizens, honorable and worthy fathers and mothers, and leaders among the builders in this mighty nation of builders. The accom- plishment of this end discharges the obligations I have mentioned, and compasses the interest the State of Utah has in your welfare.
IN THE SILENCES OF SAN JUAN, UTAH
Department of Vocation and Industry
BY B. H. ROBERTS
II.
The keynote in this department of M. I. A. activities will be found in the fact that occupation influences character. One of the old Greeks said:
"It can never be, me thinks, that your spirit is generous and noble while you are engaged in petty mean employments ; no more than you can be abject and mean spirited, while your actions are honorable and glorious. Whatever be the pursuits of men, their sentiments must necessarily be similar."
If the principle here announced be accepted as true, and I do not know on what ground it could be rejected, then it follows that it is important that the very highest and noblest occupation shall be secured which one's abilities and opportunities justify him in seeking. In a word, every one should be encouraged to under- take that vocation in life which, while it yields the necessary material results for his support and the support of those depend- ent upon him, will at the same time be up-lifting and ennobling in its effect upon his own character.
It may be objected to this that the result of such encourage- ment would be to stampede our youth in the direction of the arts and learned professions to the neglect of the trades, the varied forms of business pursuits, and agriculture. Such, however, will not be the effect, since those suitable for vocation in the arts and professions are necessarily limited by temperamental and other specific qualifications. And again, it will not have this supposed effect, because it is the intention in this department to give such consideration to vocations and industries as will place true values upon vocations other than those that fall into the category of arts and professions. We shall take the ground that no vocation of honest industry need be ignoble or debasing in its effects, but by properly correlating it with the general welfare of human life can be in effect both honorable and glorious. And this is true of manual employments as well as those in which intellect predom-
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inates. We may not within the limited space available for the discussion of these questions be able to make this apparent at once, but as we proceed with the unfolding of this department of M. I. A. work, we feel confident that the truth of it can be established.
Just now our chief aim is to get the questions entering into this subject considered by our organization, and to this end invite questions and correspondence upon the subject by the Stake Board Committees and Ward Committees appointed at our current con- ventions of this fall to take charge of the work in the respective Stakes and Associations of the organization. Also to make such suggestions as may occur to them to be of interest on the subject, and necessary to our progress.
All communications for the present can be addressed to the Improvement Era, Department of Vocations and Industries; and our correspondents may be assured that their suggestions and questions will receive respectful and also careful consideration, for in this work every one and every one's ideas are accounted necessary, and especially should an effort be made to interest the parents of families and the teachers in our public common schools, high schools, and church academies in this subject, so that by much thinking and active co-operation we shall be able to establish systematic effort that will result beneficially for the present gen- eration and those following after it in our community.
Thoughtless Youth?
In general I have no patience with people who talk about "the thoughtlessness of youth" indulgently ; I had infinitely rather hear of thoughtless old age, and the indulgence due to that. When a man has done his work, and nothing can any way be materially altered in his fate, let him forget his toil, and jest with his fate, if he will; but what excuse can you find for wilfulness of thought at the very time when every crisis of fortune hangs on your decisions? A youth thoughtless, when all the happiness of his home forever depends on the chances of the passions of an hour! A youth thoughtless, when the career of all his days de- pends on the opportunity of a moment! A youth thoughtless, when his every action is a foundation-stone of future conduct, and every imagination a fountain of life or death ! Be thoughtless in any after years, rather than now, — though, indeed, there is only one place where a man may be nobly thoughtless, his deathbed. Nothing should ever be left to be done there. — Ruskin.
The Open Road
BY JOHN HENRY EVANS, OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS UNIVERSITY
Stage XIII — In Which Brocketts Sees a Light
Brocketts did not soon recover from that earthquake at the Bishop's. He had lost his bearings. His mental geography had been upset. It was as if he had revisited, after only a brief ab- sence, familiar scenes to find that convulsions of nature had altered the face of things — made mountains of the valleys, depressed the high places, obliterated the old landmarks, and left nothing which the eye could rest on and say, "This I know."
He had gone to the Ward residence with the elastic tread that only a lover can feel, and then only when he is accepted and when he is young. He had thought only of Bessie and the future as he walked. He had pictured her, waiting in the midst of all the well-known objects in the room, every article in which he could place, and always in reference to her. Nothing in that future was separable from her. Forward as far as he could see — and how far can such a one not see? — there was hope and happiness for them together.
But he was going away now with very different feelings. All this vision of the future had changed in a moment. The cup had been struck from his hand just as he was lifting it to his parched lips. From his dream of bliss he had been rudely awakened to a disagreeable reality.
Plunged in thought, he walked on through the unlighted streets. The way was easy. It would not have gotten much of his attention had it been hard.
Most bitter were his feelings against the Bishop. "What business is it of his, anyway?" he wanted to know. "We have a right to one another. Nobody has any call to interfere. It's no one's affair but ours. Her mother didn't object. Why should he?"
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Then he thought of what the Bishop had said about Brocketts being a non-member of the Church.
"Religion!" he cried contemptuously. "'Pooh! What has religion got to do with it? He don't like me — that's all." And yet, try as he would he could not see any grounds for such a dis- like in the Bishop. "He doesn't know anything against me — he can't! What is it, then?"
And so he always fell back on the total absence of any reason for the Bishop's "interference." He was up in the air, as the saying goes, without support from anything above, below, or around him, and he did not know how he was to get clown.
He slept little that night. But sleeping or waking only one thing was in his thoughts. With the buoyant hopefulness of youth he found himself time and again seeing the obstacle between him and Bessie swept away. He saw himself handed a letter the next morning which proved to be from her father telling him there had been a mistake, and so very real did this thought become, by con- stant dwelling upon it, that when morning came he was vaguely conscious of listening to hurrying footsteps just outside his door.
But there were no hurrying footsteps, there was no letter, and no mistake had occurred. Nothing but the hard fact of the earth- quake stared him in the face.
The week after that, he called at the book store one evening. He had purposely kept away lest Mr. Dargan might detect his secret, the book-dealer was such a discerning creature and Brock- etts so transparent.
"I saw you at the Tabernacle Sunday, Brocketts," his friend began. "How did you like the sermon?"
The sermon was on marriage, and so he had been delighted with it, he said — which was true.
"Orson Pratt is a great preacher, Brocketts, a great preacher," commented Mr. Dargan, "and you won't hear many like him any- where."
Brocketts assured his friend once more that he had been very much pleased with the discourse, but that he was not sure that he understood the "Mormon" view of the subject. Would Mr. Dar- gan mind if he asked a few questions on it?
"Why no, Brocketts, not at all! Glad to answer any ques- tion— if I can."
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And, in truth the book-dealer was more highly pleased than he cared to show. For ever since he had learned from Brocketts himself that the boy was not a member of the Church, he had set his heart on bringing him in. But it was a delicate matter, this broaching of religion to a young person. It could not be forced on one, and Brocketts had never, in Mr. Dargan's presence, even so much as shown an interest in religious things. That is why the subject had not come up in their conversations. But here was Mr. Dargan's opportunity. Brocketts had voluntarily taken up the gauntlet thrown down by the book-man.
"Mr. Pratt," ventured the young man, "said something about marriage for eternity. Now, what does that mean?"
"You see, Brocketts, we believe in the immortality of the soul, like all good Christians. But we believe in the immortality of the body, too."
"Will my body exist in the next world, then?"
"That is what Jesus taught, and we follow Him in everything. He rose from the dead. The very body that was laid in the tomb he took up in the resurrection, only of course, in an immortalized form. The same thing is true of every one else."
"And this body of mine, will I have it in the next world?" Brocketts did not catch the idea readily— it was so new.
"Exactly. The very body you have now, only changed and perfected and quickened, as the Bible says."
"I've been taught that we didn't need our bodies after death.'
"That is what all the churches teach, except ours. But the Scriptures are dead against them there, Brocketts, dead against them As if God would create a beautiful body like ours merely as a sort of every-day garment, so to speak ! It's all nonsense, and there's not a hint of a justification for it in the good old Book.
"Well, it does sound reasonable."
"To be sure ' Well, then, as to this matter of marriage—
"Yes " said Brocketts, "that's what I want to know about."
"Suppose you love some young lady in this life, Brocketts. Brocketts tried to look unconcerned. "Well, do you think such a holy thing as love endures only for a little while?" Brockett thought nl It was impossible that he would not love Bes e forever But he didn't say so. Mr. Dargan answered his own question "No !" he cried with an emphasis that would brook no
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contradiction, "no ! All these holy affections of the mind will continue in the next life, only higher and nobler than in this. And so, as I was about to say, if you love a young woman here, and marry her properly, why she will be yours and you will be hers forever. Isn't that a beautiful idea?"
Brocketts could easily believe it — it sounded true.
"But I said if you were properly married," said Mr. Dargan, sitting up straight on the edge of his chair in his eagerness. "Brocketts, if you and I should form a partnership in the book business for, say ten years, what would happen at the end of that period?"
"Why, I suppose the partnership would be dissolved, wouldn't it?"
"Exactly! Dissolved — that's the word. Now, in the other churches you're married only till death. These are the words of the ceremony. Now, what happens to a couple married in this way? Answer me that."
"They'd be no longer married?" Brocketts suggested inter- rogatively.
"Right again. But when God joins them, it is fqr time and eternity."
"'But how is God going to do it?" Brocketts asked.
"Through men whom he has called to do it — through His priesthood. Now, I may sell all these books here," Mr. Dargan went on with a flourish of his hand in the direction of the shelves, "for they belong to me. But if I wanted to I could authorize you to sell them, and it would be exactly the same as if I sold them myself. Well, it's about like that in religion. The Lord gives authority to men to do certain things on the earth in his name, and it's just the same as if He did it Himself."
"Then why don't the other churches marry that way, too?" inquired Brocketts.
"Ay, there's the rub !" as Shakespeare says. "They can't. They haven't the authority to do so."
"Why, they preach and baptize, and do other things !"
"Very true, but they have no authority to do so." And Mr. Dargan explained in detail how an apostasy from the teachings of Christ had taken place, how the churches had lost the authority of the priesthood, and how this authority together with the gospel
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Sfs.
had been restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith by heavenly beinu "There are only two places on the earth," the book-man went on, "where marriages for eternity can be performed at present— the St. George Temple, not long dedicated, and the Endowment House in the City here, that building just north of the new tabernacle." "I believe all that you've told me, Mr. Dargan, it sounds true," Brocketts declared; "and so when I get married I'll be married in your way."
"Ah, but you can't, Brocketts, my boy."
"Can't? And why not?"
"Because you're not in the Church, Brocketts. You'll have to join the Church first."
Brocketts saw light for the first time on the subject. Maybe it was religion, after all, that had come between Bessie and him. He ventured another question —
"But suppose the girl I wanted to marry was in your Church — wouldn't they do it, then ?"
"Mo ; and what's more the girl's father, Brocketts, if he knew anything of the gospel, would object to your marrying her at all. if you were not in the Church."
A larger ray of light entered Brockett's mind.
"But suppose I was a perfectly good young man otherwise," Brocketts argued, "industrious, moral, and even religious — wouldn't that make a difference?"
"Not a bit, Brocketts !" Mr. Dargan viewed closely the puz- zled expression on the boy's face. "That sounds narrow, doesn't it?" the book-dealer added. "But it isn't. Our people believe that the most important thing we can do in this life is to form lasting marriage ties. Now, when a man believes that, he wouldn't wii lingly do anything that would hinder the prospects of his own children in the next life."
"Then you don't believe — the 'Mormon' people don't believe, that a 'Mormon' boy should marry a 'Gentile' girl?"
"No; and the main reason is what I have just given you. Another reason is that a couple who have different faiths don't usually get along so well. And so, for these two great reasons, our people are against such marriages. Brocketts," Mr. Dargan added after a pause, "you'll be falling in love presently with one
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of our 'Mormon' girls, and you ought to join the Church before you do so."
This was a clever trap, into which the unwary Brocketts could not help but fall. His face grew suddenly crimson. But he quickly recovered.
"Suppose I should do so this week, Mr. Dargan?"
Mr. Dargan affected to believe this a purely hypothetical question, which he knew it was not. "Then you'll very likely meet with a sad disappointment, Brocketts — for which I would be very sorry personally."
"Well, but suppose a case like that. Suppose I should, as you say, meet with such a disappointment? Would you join the Church just to get a young lady?"
"No ! Nor would any honorable man. Nobody but a rank hypocrite would. And I've known some such in my life. Noth- ing good can come of it — nothing good."
"What would you do, then?" Brocketts asked with as much composure as he could gather under the circumstances.
Mr. Dargan considered. "Well, I should look into matters a little. If I wanted to marry a girl who had a different religion from mine and her father objected for that reason, why, I would investigate her faith, and if I found that I could conscientiously do so, I would embrace it. Not, mind you, unless I was convinced it was true, especially if they made such claims for it as we 'Mor- mons' do for ours. For you know, we believe that the Lord has given us a special dispensation of the gospel by revelation to us and not merely to our ancestors, and that this generation can be saved only through the gospel, as thus revealed. Now, I would look into that matter a little, Brocketts — that's what I would do."
"And wouldn't people be apt to say you were joining the Church to get the girl?"
"Very likely, Brocketts," the book-dealer answered. "But what would that matter?" And then putting his hand affection- ately on the young man's shoulder, he said in an earnest tone which implied that he was answering a very personal question, "Brocketts, my boy, we can't afford to govern our conduct in the great things of life by what people think and say of us. Life's too serious a matter to permit us to do that. The only sure guide is
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our conscience. We must follow that, come what may. In the end the only thing that counts is what we think of ourselves."
Notwithstanding this solemn statement of a simple truth there was a merry twinkle in Mr. Dargan's eye as, shortly after- wards, Brocketts took his departure from the store. The book- dealer watched the retreating figure till it went out at the door.
"He thinks he's got a secret !" Mr. Dargan said to himself. "Well, he has. I don't know who she is, nor what has happened — exactly. Yes, I do, too. All I don't know is who she is. I've got him started on religion now. For one thing I'm glad it hap- pened, though it goes to my heart to see the lad so miserable. We'll see what we can do to patch up matters. But it's got to be done right, James, my boy — it's got to be done right."
And he rose, set things in order about the store, and pres- ently closed the shop for the night, and went home.
As for Brocketts, he rested content about that secret. He flattered himself that he had not revealed it. The thing was too sacred to talk about, even to Mr. Dargan. As if we do not say things without uttering them with the tongue ! Poor, blind Brocketts !
He went away in a sober mood. Those last words — indeed the whole conversation, but especially those last words — of the book-dealer's had set him thinking. Even before his conversa- tion with his friend he knew a good deal about the beliefs of the Latter-day Saints. He had associated with none but "Mormon" boys and girls ; he had been both to the Tabernacle and the ward meetings many times ; but he had not given the "Mormon" religion much thought. He was interested in others. Still his having lived almost constantly in a "Mormon" atmosphere had had its effect not the less definite because unconscious. But this talk with Mr. Dargan had given him the Bishop's point of view in the whole matter of his relationship to Bessie. He saw it all now, and he did not entertain hard feelings any more towards Mr. Ward. Marriage was a serious thing after all, viewed in this "Mormon" light. There could be no doubt about that.
Nevertheless, the situation, so far as he and Bessie were con- cerned, was unaltered. Was it unalterable? Time alone could tell. One thing, however, was certain : Bessie was to be won only by honorable means. He would give every spare moment to
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studying this new revelation. If it appealed to his conscience, he would join it; if not —
That little matter of what people would say if he embraced "Mormonism" was, notwithstanding, a nettle in his hand. For deep down in his consciousness, he felt vaguely that somehow his destiny was wrapped up with his faith. There came over him now distinctly the feeling that had possessed him long ago when as a hungry, penniless boy he had sat by the Weber river near Ogden eating a solitary loaf with only the dog for a companion to whom he had tossed the few last morsels.
(There will be two more installments of this interesting story which will be concluded in the December number of the Era.)
Two Letters
Friend of Mine: I am sorroy that you have so many little ones. No doubt
You are growing old too soon from so much care. You are missing much of profit and no end of pleasure, too,
And you never can have pretty things to wear; To say nothing of the havoc children make within the home,
As they rant and race and pull and soil and tear. I am not extremely happy even now, and I confess
I do not know what I should be if when I desired something greatly, I must disappointed be,
Just because I must remain at home with them.
My Sister : There is smear from tiny fingers on the sill and window-pane,
The chairs are left askew from eager play; There are dresses worn at elbows, stockings out at knees and toes,
Work enough to keep one busy night and day.
The house is quiet only when the Sandman comes along,
And I tuck my babes in bed all tired out. From sunrise until sunset they scamper and they climb,
They laugh and romp and tease and cry and shout.
But when, at night, I stoop to kiss each upturned, rosy face,
As at my knee my darlings kneel to pray, I wonder what this life would be if it were not for these,
The little ones to care for day by aay.
Sometimes, when grown aweary, I think of other homes
With stillness undisturbed by childish voice, And my heart resumes pulsation with thankfulness to God,
For the blessing, doubly mine, through right of choice.
Grace Ingles Frost.
Equality of Opportunity
BY ELMER G. PETERSON, A. M., PH. D., UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
Factors in the Movement Toward the Ideal Which will Be the Glory of Mankind.
The ideal of the government of the United States is impartial justice which, in the hearts of the American people, goes deeper than perfunctory law, reaching down into the life of the Nation, promising an equality of opportunity, a goal, the attainment of which, under our most enlightened system of government, there is grave reason for questioning. A government founded upon this lofty ideal proceeded joyously for many decades in the hope that the ideal was to some extent an automatic one and that the nobility of purpose and the rare patriotism which founded this common- wealth would continue to guide its destiny to the highest plane.
But the history of the United States of America, as is the history of the rest of the world, is a history of human frailty with occasionally great thrills of righteousness which find their way into law, and less frequently into practice. A government founded on the ideal that all were equal before the law, and further that all would be given equality, has drifted, as a result of enormous industrial development, away from this ideal and is becoming, we must all say, to some extent, sordid in practice. Yet any student of government who has followed the history of the United States of America carefully must realize that continuously fighting the great greed of selfish interest is a life of unsurpassed purity which finds expression in times of great crises. America has faced three such great crises in its history, as admirably portrayed by Presi- dent Eliot of Harvard University in one of his addresses. At the time of the founding of the Nation we were face to face with a great problem which was solved only as a united people with righteousness can solve such a problem.
We may read, if we so desire, into this great conflict the hand of Divinity. Surprising the world, the States were granted hide-
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pendence fulfilling the so-called dreams of the pioneers of America. After a complete separation from the mother country, adrift upon the face of the world, the new nation confronted a second crisis more serious than the first. Theirs was now the problem of organ- izing their dreams into statutes. There arose up to meet this exigency great and good men who are heralded today as world figures. Men trained in the organization of finance, in the func- tions of government, and men blessed above all with freedom from the restraint of, but without disrespect for, precedent, and with a vision approaching that of the old prophets.
The government so founded was organized and began a course of unparalleled development toward a world power. There crept in the great curse of slavery. One-half of this magnificent commonwealth was industrially adapted to the service of slavery, and consequently in the course of development the whole South became blighted. The great slave traffic drew further and further apart two sections of the United States, to some extent already distinct industrially, until the gleeful world looking on saw the great structure of government crumbling to ruins. The monarchs of Europe smiled indulgently at this great blow-up of a dream which had come, in their minds, already too near attainment. H>re arose again a great figure whose duty it was to give his life on the altar for this great cause ; whose life and death must sym- bolize the great travail. The American people crystallized a sen- timent more quickly, more surely, and effected a remedy more absolutely than could have been done by any government differ- ently organized, however well administered it may have been. The voice of the people was sure and liberty arose cleansed of this great curse.
The government then leaped forward in bounds hitherto un- believable. The industries of the country were organized ; the government, now assured of its existence, welcomed the invest- ment of capital, and the nation rapidly assumed place with the foremost of the world.
As a result of such rapid movement errors have crept in, abuses exist in the administration of law and justice which are not surpassed in the civilized world. The people are alive to the fact that the dawn of the Twentieth Century is indeed a time of read- justment nationally, and are going about the business with the
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY 1095
same calmness, the same perseverance, the same surety of purpose that characterized them in the other great crises which have been mentioned.
The motive back of this Twentieth Century movement is this : realizing slowly but surely that the government may have drifted from its first purpose, good men are attempting a reorganization which will bring it back to this first purpose. In the working out of this ideal of equality of opportunity we are able to trace the administration of human intelligence in its several divisions. Va- riously, the departments having to do with the bodily health, hav- ing to do with the intellect, and having to do with character forma- tion. That department which has to do with physical well being must receive our serious consideration, because upon this is based our success mentally and our success morally. It is probably true that great governments were never administered by dyspeptic leg- islators, and so in any fight for equality of opportunity equality in obtaining physical health and development must be included. Realizing this great truth far-seeing administrators and citizens have gone deep into the life of the nation to determine whether in reality the poor and the rich have this equality of opportunity which means their physical well being. There has crept in as a result of knowledge of this fundamental truth, and as a result of recent scientific advance, an amount of legislation having to do with the conduct of our schools, our streets, our water supply and our food, with the idea of protecting to as great an extent as possi- ble those who have not the protection of wealth from abuses of one kind or another.
Here we must pay high tribute to the character of Utah com- munities which have forced prohibition legislation on our statutes, and here we must decry the character of the community which does not force observance of this legislation.
Great in the pages of history will be the names of such as Miss Jane Addams who in her work deals with fundamentals. She talks less of the refinements of society and more of the simple problems of health and how to obtain it. She is deservedly called the "Second Citizen" of America. Around these great movements are grouped the pure food and drug act, and in the fight for the maintenance of this great measure the two forces have been equally aligned, those fighting for equality of oppor-
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tunity and those fighting for special privilege. Here also comes onr long list of legal measures regarding sanitation, proper struc- ture of buildings for the poor, that they may not suffer needlessly from disease ; proper width of streets that the poor may not be shut out from the sunlight ; and other measures of equal benefit, includ- ing sanitary control of factories and the limiting of the working hours of factory hands.
We find that education is closely and more closely aligning itself on the side of the majority in an effort to give equality to each, and a square deal in the fight for valuable information. So there have been great reforms accomplished, and great reforms are pending in our public school systems and in our colleges.
For many years the college course has served as a barrier between the great group of highly trained educators who make up the faculties of our colleges, and the people who ultimately pay all the salaries and to whom therefore is due the service of these insti- tutions. But of late years there has developed in the colleges of the land an idea that their prime function is to help not the edu- cated few alone but the majority of the citizens. These institu- tions have paid less attention to entrance requirements and more attention to graduation requirements. Disregarding so called scholastic dignity, disregarding a certain element of alleged cul- ture, looking only for results and willing to make any sacrifice in order to obtain these results, these institutions have contributed a large share toward the betterment of American society. They have frequently held their academic standards low that their standards of service might be high. They have driven their pro- fessors into the field and have thrown open their doors and wel- comed all who sought education, in order to give the poor boy and girl equality in the fight for learning.
The politics of the nation, following as politics always follow instead of leading, is attempting to align with this new movement and so insurgency has placed a big mark on American history. Of the merits and demerits of this it is obviously unnecessary to speak. The situation just now is too partisan to make a discussion of it very fruitful, because the facts are colored. History alone will be able to place a proper valuation upon this movement.
All these reforms as they affect the home are doubly valuable because the home must always be the foundation of our civiliza-
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY 1097
tion. Here the future of the child is made or is unmade to his everlasting good or evil.
Many careful students of economics believe that in Utah is the finest opportunity in the world for a working out of the ideal of equality in opportunity, and an investigation of the situation warrants this belief. We have here indeed a fine and great work to do.
Consider the character of the people— at once idealists and workers, men who see as in visions great things, and whose muscles are strong and souls persevering in the working out of the vision. Men of purity of character and resolution to face any hardship in righteousness. Citizens are these of sterling integrity whom the world admires while it criticizes. Consider our social organiza- tion, one which reaches and gives a useful work for every member of its body. Of the men who built this organization we may talk, of the mothers in these mountains we can not say anything to add or detract. They are above our encomium. They have made this empire. They have given us a heritage unequaled in the world. No man who has given thought to this situation and to the character of the men and women who conquered for us what we call home, can receive with anything but reverence the fruits of their labors, nor can approach with anything but reverence the tasks which fall from their tired hands.
LOGAN, UTAH
The Discourteous Smoker
People who don't smoke also do not want to be smoked. And yet people who do smoke, don't seem to appreciate this obvious fact. Why cannot smokers learn a little courtesy in this respect ?
A woman and a man, her employer, were walking down the street together. They walked together merely because they hap- pened to leave the office at the same time and their ways lay in the same direction.
He pulled out a cigar, lighted it, and began to smoke. Where- upon she turned on her heel, and abruptly left him without a w >rd.
Next day she said to him : "I am going to quit."
"Why?" he wished to know.
"Because I am mistaken in the thought that I was working for a gentleman !"
Little Problems of Married Life
BY WILLIAM GEORGE JORDAN
XIV — Danger of Growing Apart Mentally
When two friends start out for a long walk together they seem instinctively to adjust their steps so that they walk side by side, within touching distance of each other. If one gradually quickens his pace until he is yards ahead of the other and, in his self-absorption, increasingly widens the distance between them, they cease to be two walking together and become two walking alone. Marriage is a lifelong walk together of two who have se- lected each other from the world. It is community of thought, ideals, aims, needs and sentiments that tends to keep them in step. It does not mean a sacrifice of individuality, nor does it demand unanimity of opinion, but there should ever be progressive har- mony on essentials and progressive sympathy on non-essentials.
Some men feel a pleasant glow of satisfaction in fulfilled duty when they divide generously with their wives their material pros- perity. If money were the only thing in life, or even the greatest thing, their view would be correct, but the really greatest things in the world are those that money cannot buy. When a man finds himself growing broader mentally and does not share his new self with his wife, he is taking an intellectual elevator and letting her trudge alone up the stairway as best she can. When he grows into a larger and finer social world and does not make her a part of it he is traveling in the parlor-car and keeping her in the day coach. When the larger interpretation of life and its problems strengthens his spiritual and ethical vision, while his wife continues in the narrow horizon of unilluminated household cares, he is monopolizing the telescope, which brings the great things near and larger, leaving her the microscope which only increases the im- portance of her trifles.
Growing apart mentally must, under these conditions, become
♦Copyright, 1910, by Fleming H. Revell Company.
LITTLE PROBLEMS OF MARRIED LIFE 1099
inevitable. It may be that he alone is to blame; it may be her fault, or it may be the blind thoughtlessness of both. His repeated attempts to talk over with her his ideals, his dreams of ambition, his plans, purposes and progress, to stimulate her interest, to share with her his intellectual uplift may be met with no real compre- hension, no sympathy, no inspiring response. When comradeship in marriage dies, it really makes very little difference what the post-mortem verdict as to the decease may be.
When the husband is out in the world of business which tends to blend with the social world, he may broaden mentally as he prospers materially. He travels over the country, and in a wider acquaintance with men and conditions has many of the rough edges of provincialism worn smooth. He meets men of attain- ment and action, men of power and prestige, and under a more stimulating environment develops latent strength of his own. He brushes up against keen minds that put a new edge on his think- ing ; he is in closer touch with current thought and opinion ; he has acquired a polish. The key-note of his living, so far as society is concerned, is higher. His tastes become more discrim- inating, his demands more exacting. If he has not been sharing these things with the wife of his youth, he finds she has been standing still while he has been progressing.
She who faithfully struggled with him and for him, helped him to get the foothold of his present success, and become absorbed in working, planning and saving, may now be a mere drudge. He has a new standard of life now, and she falls sadly short of it. He measures things more superficially, and though her heart may be unchanged her head is not up to date. He may be ashamed to introduce her into the new society of which he has become a part ; she is plain, unattractive, over-retiring or over-loquacious. She is aggressive in her dress and display ; she is not familiar with the rules of the social game — with the "technique" of his new set.
The old equality between them has been destroyed — killed through neglect. It is not the work of a moment, but the slow, widening process of years of growing apart. But the realization of it all may come in a moment. There may be suddenly an illuminating flash of consciousness, when he involuntarily faces it, in comparing her with other women.
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Some little mannerism of hers that once was sweet, just be- cause it was hers, jars on his sensibilities and strikes a discordant note. Once he did not care whether she thought it was Homer or Carl vie who wrote Silas Marncr, or whether she had heard of either author or book. Perhaps at that time he did not know the book himself. The red tape of society's 'cards, passwords and methods may have become second nature to him, and he is unjust in his condemnation of an ignorance which would not have existed had he been sharing with her his expanding life. He may notice with a grating sense of dismay that she does not put the soft pedal on her laughter to conform to the proper rippling notes of mirth prescribed by the social code. She, too, may have her saddening moments of realization and refuse to enter a world where she feels her inferiority, or not realizing, may, to his chagrin, insist on her rights. Usually she boldly takes the plunge into the social waters, confident that she will, somehow, get back to shore.
She may live, in his presence, in an atmosphere of patronizing tolerance, fearing at every word that she may stumble into some pitfall of mispronunciation or an inadvertent phrase, or, growing self-assured and reckless, she puts on a full head of steam in the presence of a position requiring tact, and just crashes through it like an engineer running his train over a burning bridge. His bearing may reach its melting point ; in his acquired supersensi- tiveness he puts fictitious values on points where she is deficient and his tolerance fades into positive neglect. He may then devote his whole time to finer minds, fairer faces and freer morals. How far they may drift apart, no one can tell.
It may be that it is the wife who advances mentally, and he who is the laggard. The increased prosperity may mean close confinement for him to the drudgery of business. The society of d few old friends, survivals of the time when he was poor and struggling, may be all he cares for. Literature may not appeal to him. His daily paper supplies all his needs. The activities of the world of modern science, thought and culture have for him no real interest. His wife, left free to the rounding out of her mind and life, may develop a taste for reading, for companionship that is mentally worth having, for original thinking, for the charm of true conversation, for the discussion of subjects of real importance. She may gather around her a circle of friends who feed her mental
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1101
hunger and stimulate her thinking. He feels vaguely out of place with these new friends of hers, like a poor relation at a Christmas dinner.
She has found her way into the land of the intellectual and has established a residence there, while he, in his loneliness and isolation, is camping on its frontiers. He feels somewhat a stranger in his own house at social gatherings of her friends. He may chafe under the feeling that he is on the wrong side of the proscenium arch; that he is not one of the performers, but merely a spectator. He longs to cut out all "this heavy intellectual busi- ness" and go off quietly with a friend or two and just sit, and talk, and smoke.
This growing apart mentally may assume any of a hundred phases. Husband and wife may be subjected to any class of dif- fering environments that change their mental standpoint and their moral sympathy. New ideas and new ideals may sweep old land- marks of mutual understanding far out to sea. It is a sad out- growing of a union of love and companionship, a growing un- satisfiedness where speech that meets no sympathetic response lapses into silence. When sympathy and recognition of one's ideals are found only outside the home walls, when the instinctive impulse to tell of a success or a failure turns to some one else, when ears grow hungry for outside praise, there is serious danger to the happiness of married life.
It is so easy to keep together if both realize the vital impor- tance to all that is sweetest in life in keeping in step, in true com- radeship. Talking over the affairs of their individual lives and their life in common, the hopes, the longings, the doubts, the joys and the problems, gives each the basis of knowledge from which most truly to understand and advise each other. Reading the same books, discussing the same current events, hearing the same music, seeing the same plays, criticizing the same pictures, having dearest friends in common, agreeing on the same spiritual and ethical attitude towards life, and sharing in thoughts and plans will do much towards making a growing apart mentally an im- possibility.
This keeping in step does not mean the sacrifice of the stronger to the weaker, but the stronger ever, through love, raising the weaker to higher planes of thinking and living. It is not nee-
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essary that they should even agree as to the value of each other's pursuits or views, but that both should know them, understand them and respect them and be lovingly tolerant where they are not united in their sentiment or desires. They should give ever their best to each other.
When the husband is a clever, delightful companion at some one else's dinner-table, but a sad, still-life study in silence at his own, he is not giving his best at home. He is retaining his best for the export trade and reserving none for home consumption. When the wife has charity, consideration and sympathy for the cares of others outside the home, and only sharpness and sarcasm for those inside, the time-table of that home requires instant re- vision or there will be a crashing disaster to their train of happi- ness. Sources of discord multiply like Australian rabbits when the growing apart intensifies. It is the sacred duty of both to prevent it at the very beginning, to determine that they will permit no thoughtlessness, no drifting, no false sense of duty to family or to the world, to separate them from each other.
("Throwing Overboard the Old Friends" will be discussed in the next chapter, and eight chapters more will conclude this series in volume 16 of the Era.)
Ingenuity
A young man whose mother in her girlhood crossed the plains, relates the following anecdote from her life showing that ingenuity is a most excellent characteristic, and was needed in pioneer times. It is no less necessary today, to those who would succeed :
"One day on the plains my mother and a companion, while the train was encamped near a beautiful river, went down to the waters to bathe, and there discovered that a recent flood had sub- sided, and had left in a hollow near the river a large number of fish which were still alive and fresh. They had nothing to carry the fish in, and were so far from camp that if they returned it would be impossible for them to go back in time before the train left to get the fish which were very much needed to replenish the larder of the emigrants. In keeping with the necessity for in- genuity, on the part of these early travelers, what did she do but take off her jacket, tie the sleeves with a string, fill them with fish, and so carry them to camp."
The Ax at the Roots of the Tree
BY WILLIAM HALLS, AUTHOR OF "SELECT WRITINGS'
"And now also the ax is laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire."
When the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that all the Chris- tian churches were without divine authority, that "they teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of godli- ness, but deny the power thereof," the ax was laid at the roots of the tree of modern Christendom. The Prophet Daniel saw the time that the God of heaven would set up a kingdom that should break in pieces all other kingdoms, fill the whole earth, and stand forever. The ax would be laid at the roots of all human churches.
When the Lord gave the Latter-day Saints the law that governed the people in the day of Enoch, the ax was laid at the roots of plutocracy, pauperism, strikes, lockouts, boycotts, an- archy, tyranny, slavery and militarism : "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness, and there was no poor among them." Being equal in material privileges, and none being poor, there was no incentive to industrial strife, nor any cause for war. In the revelation called a "Word of Wisdom," the ax is laid at the roots of intemperance, and physical, mental and spiritual degen- eracy. The law of "celestial marriage" lays the ax at the roots of divorce, suicide, prostitution, and all unlawful commerce of the sexes. All these trees bearing forbidden fruit must be hewn down, not to leave the field barren, but to give room for the "tree of life" that its branches may fill the earth, whose leaves (the principles of the gospel of Christ) "are for the healing of the nations."
When the elders go into the world and proclaim a new dis- pensation, and testify that the priesthood has been restored by the ministry of angels, that the Church of Christ is organized
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with all the officers, doctrines, ordinances and spiritual gifts that were in the Church in the days of Christ, they put all the mem- bers of the Christian churches in general, and their ministers in particular, on the defensive, since to accept the authority of the elders is to deny their own authority. A man that is educated exclusively for the ministry, who has a congregation that furnish him and his family a living, if he should be convinced of the divine mission of Joseph Smith and the truth of the message of the elders, a change would come into his life, new conditions would be forced upon him. If he continues in the ministry, he must act in violation of his convictions, and the consciousness of hypocrisy will destroy his self-respect, his peace of mind, and his hopes of future reward. His mind will be darkened till he will be led to fight against the truth. On the other hand, if he should resign his ministry, and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he will lose the respect of his con- gregation, and his present means of living. To take the Cross and despise the shame, under such conditions, requires such faith and courage as few men possess. The ax is laid at the root of his pride, his social standing, and his means of support. The same is true, but in a less degree, with the lay members. As in the days of Christ, so today, the gospel is apt to set father against son, mother against daughter, children against parents, and mas- ter against servant. We have known a father to disinherit his son, a mother to turn her only daughter out of doors, regardless of what might befall her. We have seen children turn against their parents, and a master discharge his servant, because of their joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The ax was laid at the roots of parental, filial and fraternal affection. A young man in a good position, with every prospect of ad- vancement, is called to go and preach the gospel among strangers, for several years, to give all his time, labor, and several hundred dollars, bearing his own expense. The ax is laid at the root of his worldly prospects. A young woman is acquainted with a young man, a non-member of the Church, who makes her an offer of marriage ; her affections say, "Yes ;" but her conscience says, "It is not wise. It will bring sorrow and disappointment," and so she says, "No." The ax is laid at the root of her most ardent desire.
THE AX AT THE ROOTS OF THE TREE 1105
The Savior said to the man who had kept all the command- ments pertaining to the moral law, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasures in heaven, and come and follow me." The merchant sold all he had to purchase the pearl of great price. The price of eternal life is self-denial and sacrifice ; yet in the application of this law, it is not the design of the Lord to keep his people poor, but rather to make them rich. By self-denial we overcome those habits that weaken our bodies, darken our minds, and bring us under the bondage of sin ; and we adopt those habits that give us health, wisdom, and freedom from the bondage of sin. By sac- rifice we overcome selfishness and learn to use our means wisely for our own happiness and the good of others. Jesus said to his disciples, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
When men use their wealth in the right way, the more they have the better. The man whose income is ten thousand dollars, and who pays one thousand in tithing has nine thousand left. The man whose income is ten hundred dollars and pays one hundred in tithing, has but nine hundred left. While each is justified, one can do more good than the other. In making sacrifice for the gospel's sake there is no risk, as the reward is sure. Jesus prom- ised "a hundred fold in this life, and in the world to come, eternal life."
The young man who goes on a mission makes a good invest- ment of his time, labor and means. He gains an experience that lifts him to a higher plane; life means more to him; he has a brighter conception of his relationship to his Father in heaven, and to mankind. The Spirit of the Savior animates his soul, his charity and sympathy are extended; he is a broader and better man. We must be stripped and washed clean before putting on the wedding garment. All our evil trees must be hewn down be- fore we can partake of the fruits of the tree of life. In this dispen- sation of the fulness of times, the Lord is pruning his vineyard, he has given to Joseph Smith, and, through him, to the elders of Is- rael, the keys of the Priesthood, with a divine mission to lay the ax at the root of every principle of evil that leads in the broad road to destruction ; and to plant in their own hearts, and in the hearts of all who will receive it, every principle of good that leads in
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the narrow way to eternal life. This in order that when the Bride-groom comes the Church may be clothed in righteousness, as a bride prepared to meet him. This work has to be carried on by mortal men and women having all the imperfections com- mon to fallen nature to overcome, and though they may be criti- cized and opposed, and their weaknesses magnified in the eyes of the world by misguided men, the Lord of the Vineyard is watch- ing over his servants, and directing their labors, and at the ap- pointed time he will come and reward every man according to his work, and no faithful laborer will be condemned because of his weaknesses.
MA NCOS, COLO.
Don't be a Scrub
A story is told of a leading banker of Salt Lake City, not a member of the "Mormon" Church, who, in relating his experience with men in his employ, was heard to say:
"I haven't any use for a 'Mormon' elder who smokes ; there is something wrong with him ; his character is the kind that we cannot tie to."
Asked the reason why he held that opinion — for he employs and is pleased with a number of "Mormon" men who do not smoke, although he, himself, smokes, as do most of his non- "Mormon" clerks, — he said:
"The Latter-day Saints are taught that it is wrong to use tobacco, or strong drink. This thing is impressed upon them from the beginning. It is a vital part of their religious teaching. They have grown up with the idea. Young men go on missions and teach these principles to the people of the world. Now, when men of this class return and use tobacco in any form, or drink, there is something wrong about them, and they are not the kind of people I want in my employ."
Dr. Karl G. Maeser, the great Latter-day Saint educator, once said, and he may have had reference to this class of people :
"Do not be a scrub, nor a veed."
From Nauvoo to Salt Lake in the Van of the Pioneers
The Original Diary of Erastus Snow
EDITED BY HIS SON, MORONI SNOW
XVII
In the July number, the returning pioneer company was left on the Loup Fork. The journal continues: We crossed the Loup Fork about twenty-five miles above the old Pawnee mission. The water was about the same depth as when we crossed it in the spring. Elder Amasa Lyman and a few others of the best horse- men left us after crossing the Loup Fork to go to Winter Quar- ters and carry news of our near approach and to return and meet ns with provisions. For some time previous we had subsisted almost entirely upon animal food, and when we passed the old station we gleaned a few ears of corn from the fields, which was quite an addition to our diet and seemed to us quite a luxury. We crossed the Elk Horn river on the 30th of October, and camped upon the east bank. Here we were met by a large company of brethren from Winter Quarters with horses, car- riages and wagon loads of grain and provisions for ourselves and teams. With them we had such a meeting as none but partners in tribulation realize. We ate, drank and rejoiced with them that night, and early on the morning of the 31st we started and drove into Winter Quarters, a distance of about twenty-five miles, and were welcomed again to the bosom of our families and friends. My family I found in tolerably good health, though one less than when I left. My lovely little Mary Minerva had fallen asleep August the 4th, age ten months. Brother Edwards, whom I left in charge of my family in the spring, had been sick and had raised but little for the sustenance of my family. My stock were also nearly all used up, some in one way and some in another. Some had died, some lost upon the rush bottoms by the herdsmen last winter, others killed by the Indians, etc., so that out of nineteen head which I had one year ago, I had five left. Then I needed
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all I had, now I have no use for more than I have. When I need more to prosecute my journey with my family to the Great Basin, I trust that the Lord will open the way by which 1 may get them.
Soon after the return of the pioneer camp, in accordance with the wish of the general government of the United States, it was resolved by the Saints west of the Missouri river to vacate the Omaha lands next spring and those who cannot go to the valley, to re-cross the Missouri river and settle upon the Potta- wattamie purchase.
About the 10th of December, some forty-five or fifty of the "Mormon" Battalion arrived in Winter Quarters from the coast of California, via Salt Lake. The weather was so cold that the Missouri river was frozen over in places when they arrived. They had suffered much and some had perished by the way. They had been compelled to subsist for some time upon their worn-out horses and mules. By these brethren, we received letters from the Saints in the valley as late as the 18th of October, which gave us an account of the safe arrival of the emigrating companies in the city of the Great Salt Lake, and of the general health and prosperity of the Saints there.
During the month of December I spent two weeks with Mrs. Snow visiting our friends and brethren on the western side of the Missouri river, visiting and preaching in several different branches, and all the Saints attended the special conference held December 24, 25, 26, and 27, in the log tabernacle, a commodious block house 63x43 feet, which had been built during the three weeks previous in extremely cold weather, by the Saints upon the Pottawattamie district, expressly for the conference. It was one of the best conferences ever held in the Church, and although the Saints generally were in the depths of poverty and want, yet they were full of the riches of the grace of God — peace within and joy in the Holy Ghost. Much rich instruction was given, and among the business transacted was the organization of the quo- rum of the First Presidency over the whole Church, and the ap- pointment of Father John Smith to be the patriarch over the whole Church. It was also determined in council to send dele- gates to the rich Saints in the southern and eastern states to solicit from them donations of money and clothing for the relief of the poor and distressed Saints to enable the council and the
FROM NAUVOO TO SALT LAKE 1109
camp of the Saints to prosecute their journey to the Great Basin. Elder E. T. Benson of the Twelve and myself were appointed to visit the eastern and middle states, and Elder A. Lyman and Preston Thomas, the southern states.
Elder E. T. Benson and I visited New York, Boston and many other eastern towns and states, soliciting aid. Some re- ceived us kindly and contributed money and clothing, but by far the greater portion of the people turned a cold shoulder to us. We left Winter Quarters about the 1st of January, 1848, and returned about the first of April. While traveling, we were some- times together and at other times traveled separately, visiting dif- ferent places.
On my return trip I passed through Ohio and visited the Kirtland Temple, and at St. Louis fell in with several returning elders and a company of Saints with whom I ascended the Mis- souri river. Soon after our return to Winter Quarters there was a general stir and bustle getting ready for starting with our fam- ilies to Salt Lake Valley, and gathering our year's supply of seeds and provisions. Most of my oxen had perished during the winter or had been eaten by the Indians, and I was under the necessity of yoking up my cows and all my growing stock to work with my few oxen which were left, in order to haul the wagons for the journey.
I started in company with Presidents Young and Kimball, and had a very pleasant and agreeable journey, my teams holding out well and my family enjoying good health. We reached our destination with much joy on the 2'Oth of September. Soon after our arrival I was appointed one of the presidency of the stake, and during the following winter 1 was called and ordained into the Quorum of Twelve Apostles (Feb. 12, 1849), together with Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, these all filling vacancies caused by the apostasy of Lyman Wight and the re-organization of the First Presidency out of the Quorum of the Twelve.
From this time on, the labors of Erastus Snow were so inti- mately connected with the early settlement of southern Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Mexico that he ceased to keep a private journal. His history now becomes a part of the his-
1110
IMPROVEMENT ERA
tory of the various colonization missions of the Church. In clos- ing this series of articles we deem it appropriate to include a dis- course delivered by Erastus Snow in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 25, 1880, on this subject, which will appear later in the Era.
Elder William W. Farley, who labored in the Louisiana confer- ence, has returned home and reports the conference in excellent condition. The elders have disposed recently of much literature, espe- cially the Book of Mormon, which has been used as their principal tract. "Mormonism" is fast taking root in the hearts of the self- thinking class of people, and "manifesting itself in the spirit of inves- tigation and wishing us God-speed, though we meet people who op- pose us. Yet, as President Young stated, 'Mormonism' is like a rub- ber ball, the harder you kick it the higher it bounces. We have sev- eral organized Sunday Schools throughout this state doing good work in teaching the gospel. Elders in the picture are, right to left, stand- ing: C. C. Pendleton, Cedar City; T. Norton Brunker, Willard; Price Brinkerhoff, Woodruff, Arizona; William H. Facer, Malad, Idaho; Joseph W. Alston, Magrath, Canada; Austin Sessions, John T. Grant, Chesterfield, Idaho; Frank Hartle, Vernal. Sitting: Alexander Brown, Lehi; M. W. Lewis, Kamas; Bennett Lindsay, Heber; J. H. Hutchison, Marysvale, Idaho (center); Tnomas L. Butterfield, Riv- erton, Utah; Ray Parkinson, McCammon, Idaho, Conference Presi- dent; Eugene Morris, Beaver; William W. Farley, Peterson, Utah.
Be Prepared Now
BY PROF. J. C. HOGENSON, OF THE UTAH STATE AGRICULTURAL
COLLEGE
"Now," is the voice that nature breathes
To those her book can read; The changeful cloud, the fleeting beam, The fading rose, the restless stream
Confirm her warning creed.
"Now," is the word that wisdom writes
On palace, hall and bower; The buried past from hope is free; The future, what is that to thee?
Improve the present hour.
"Now," though another morn may rise
In purple and in gold, Thine eye, made dim by failing breath, And shrouded in the dust of death,
May not its light behold.
"Now," not tomorrow, oh, my soul,
Obey the Master's call, Lest darkly on the scroll of fate Stand forth the dreadful doom — too late,
And thou be 'reft of all.
The boy scout movement which is creating so much interest today has as one of its fundamental rules, "Be prepared." Be prepared for what ? for anything and everything that comes your way. In other words, be prepared for the duties of life. The duties and positions as they come to us, cannot wait for us to prepare ourselves for them, but we must be prepared for them when they come. So I say the, "Be-prepared"-rule in the Boy Scout Law is a splended rule. There are always positions for those who are prepared, but the person who is not prepared is always looking for a place, and seldom gets it, and if he finds one, does not keep it long. This is an age of usefulness and efficiency,
1112 IMPROVEMENT ERA
and those who have both of these qualifications are well prepared and equipped for life's work.
Procrastination, the purtting off of duties and the non-prep- aration for the duties to come, is one of the great evils of the day. Nature never procrastinates. The seasons come in their turn, day follows night, sunshine showers, and all through we find no hesitating but everything coming along exactly in its time and season.
There is perhaps no one who is affected so much by procrasti- nation as the farmer, who depends upon the natural moisture in the soil for the growing of his crop. Crops for their development must have a certain amount of moisture. It is the business of the farmer, to conserve this moisture by effective cultivation. This is done by deep plowing, by thorough harrowing, in the spring, so as to form a mulch which prevents the escape of moisture, and also the growth of weeds. If this work is not done when it should be, most of the moisture is lost by evaporation, and as a consequence the farmer gets no crop.
I shall give one illustration. During the month of May a farmer was plowing his land. He was induced to harrow one acre immediately after plowing, and to leave another acre as the plow had left it unharrowed for one week. Samples of soil were taken to the depth of eig'ht feet upon both of these acres, just as they were plowed, and it was found that they both contained about sixteen per cent, or 2,560 tons of water on each acre to the depth of eight feet. After one week, samples of soil were again taken, as before, on the acre that had been harrowed and also on the acre that had not been harrowed, with the following results: the acre that had been harrowed contained about 15.5 per cent of moisture, or had lost only one-half of one per cent during the week, while the acre that had been left rough as the plow had left it contained 10.5 per cent. During that week the sun had drawn out of that rough soil to the depth of eight feet 880 tons of water, or enough, if conserved in the soil, to mature 19.5 bushels' of wheat. The farmer who harrows when he ought to, as early in the spring as possible, conserves his moisture and gets a good crop, while the farmer who procrastinates and allows his moisture to evaporate gets no crop.
There is a particular time for doing everything, and if it is
BE PREPARED 1113
done then, the best results are always secured. We might say with Shakespeare, "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in. shallows and in miseries ; and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures."
"Procrastinating Peter, short of tools and seeds; Eight and eighty acres growing np to weeds! Ere the summer's ended, you will hear him growl, Nothing has done well for him, crop, nor beast, nor fowl."
Be prepared, or the duties of life may come and find you procrastinating. The person who is not prepared is usually the "knocker," while the prepared man says of the days as they come:
"These are the best days!
Stars were never brighter,
Hearts were never lighter, Songs of birds and rippling brooklets
Never were more sweet; There were never fairer flowers
Than those at our feet, In these fair days, these rare clays,
The best days of all!
"These are the best days!
Skies were never bluer: i
Friends were never truer; There was never less of sorrow,
More of joy and song, Than we find beside our pathway
As we trudge along In these fair days, these rare days,
The best days of all!"
The best days of all ! Surely these days are exactly that ; and there is yet the heartsome knowledge that there are better days in store than the best that we have known. We have only to trust, to persevere, to declare good in all our ways; to believe in it: whatever the present seems, to hold fast to it in the very teeth of impending disaster. If we do this, there can be no doubt of the result; nor need we worry how or by what path our good will come to us— indeed, that very worry is most apt to defeat its own
1114 IMPROVEMENT ERA
end, or to put it further from us. We must know, with the "Sage of Concord," that our welfare is dear to the Heart of Being; that the best is the true, and that we cannot set our ideals too high. Often it may happen that because we do crave the best, because we do hitch our wagon to a star, we meet disappointments which for the time seem bitter enough. One for whom we have cared proves unworthy of our faith in him; a business venture meets disaster ; or we fail to accomplish one thing or another on which we have set our hearts, and then comes the world-old question, "What's the use?" and our mental sky is dark with discourage- ment. Yet, if we "hold fast," the days to come will bring to us a friend that is true, a larger success than would have been possible in the business venture that failed, a higher attainment than we dreamed. If we keep to the best and the noblest, everything not in accord with those ideals will drop away. We should never be sorry for that, but rejoice in the expectation of "something better than we have known."
In a certain land which shall be nameless there is a sermon in stone : at every turn of the road three little carved images, one above another, the first with finger on his lips, the second with fingers on closed eyes, and the third with finger tips thrust into his ears : "Speak no evil — see no evil — hear no evil !"
To refuse to listen to unkind things is to be negatively good ; to say kind things is to be positively good. There is a difference. We once knew of a dear little woman who by her tact and friendliness kept an entire village, naturally quarrelsome, good- natured, sweet and wholesome. It was long ago, before the word "knocking," as applied to chronic faultfinding, was coined, or "burning the hammer" thought of. Everybody in the village loved the plain little woman, who owned a plain little home, and sewed for a living that was not always abundant. Her rule was, "If you're going to tell anything, tell the best you know or have heard, and keep the rest to yourself."
One of the neighbors, a well-to-do farmer, hired a boy from a rather shiftless family, and one day Miss Abigail asked how the lad was getting along. "He's no good," said the farmer. "I'm going to let him go when his month's up ; we're out of all patience with his slipshod ways."
BE Pk££Ak£t) 1115
"Why-e !" said Miss Abigail, "I always thought he was a real likely boy."
"So he is," acknowledged the neighbor. "He's got the making of a fine, smart man in him. I wouldn't ask better help, if he'd take an interest in his work, but he won't. I guess it's his bringing up, but I can't bother to teach him new tricks."
A little while after, Miss Abigail, on the little porch that overlooked her neighbor's cornfield, saw the recreant lad cutting across lots with his fishing-pole. He came out by the little house. "Hello, Jimmy !" called Miss Abigail. Jimmy looked up rather shamefacedly. "Come and get a drink of cool buttermilk," piped Miss Abigail, cherrily. "I'm glad you've got your work done, so you can go fishing. Only a little spell ago I was talking to the deacon about you, and he said he wouldn't ask better help when you take an interest, as, of course, you do. He says you've got the making of a fine, smart man in you."
The boy lifted his head and looked straight at Miss Abigail. "Did — did the deacon say that?" he asked.
"His very words," declared Miss Abigail.
There was silence for a moment. "Can — can I leave my pole here till after supper?" asked the lad. "There'll be plenty of time then, an' — an' I ain't got my work quite done."
Back to the cornfield he went ; and all the long, sultry after- noon he hoed and pulled weeds. And Miss Abigail had another little talk with her neighbor, who had the deepest respect for her judgment; and the boy stayed; and today he is of the "foremost citizens" of the little town, respectable and respected. That was Miss Abigail's way; she gave everybody the biggest and best estimate possible, and everybody lived up to it, as everybody is pretty sure to do. Isn't there a lesson right here for us all ?
It is our duty to give to our fellow-men the best there is in us. We can, if we will, rise above our environment, if it has not been the best, and make of ourselves that which God intended us to be, successful, pure and God-fearing men and women. Hans Christian Andersen illustrates this point of rising above our environment in his "Ugly Duckling," where he says, "It matters not if one is born in a duck yard if he was lain in a swan's egg." That is : it matters not where or under what environment one is born, if he has within himself the will power and determination
1115 IMPROVEMENT ERA
to make something of himself. It is a common saying, "He can who thinks he can." In other words, in order to succeed, a person must have confidence in himself. If he goes about his work with doubt in his mind, as to whether or not he can do the work, in nine cases out of ten it will result in failure. Such a person has an atmosphere of failure about him, and is really defeated before the battle is begun. If a person has confidence, which comes from thorough preparation, he has an atmosphere of a conqueror about him, and has really won the battle before it is begun. Suc- cess always lies in learning well the things we undertake to do. This, of course, requires long study and toil in preparation, but proficiency, understanding and success along every line come only through study.
Many people say, "I do not believe the gospel ; I see nothing in it." Why? Because they have not made it a study. They have only given it a passing glance, and do not understand it. We could see nothing in, nor could we enjoy, the so-called sciences, if we had not studied them so that we understand and compre- hend them. What would you think of a man who said, "I do not believe that there is anything in astronomy, or chemistry, or bacteriology, or the practice of medicine or law, if he were ig- norant of them and had not made a study of these sciences and professions ? You would immediately conclude in your mind that he did not know what he was talking about, and that he was a man of poor judgment and could not be relied upon. Yet, with regard to the gospel of Christ, many reason in just that way, they say there is nothing in it, before having made the least study of it, perhaps not even having learned its first simple doctrines and teachings. No one, who has made a thorough study of the gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints, has ever been able to say, "There is nothing in it;" because it is so full of inspiration, so full of good and glorious principles that any person with the Spirit of God burning in his soul cannot help but be lifted up and made better by understanding these principles. Yet, the things of God are understood only by the Spirit of God, so that if a person studies with a prejudiced mind, not being open to con- viction, and not having the Spirit of God with him, no inspiration or enlightenment can come to him.
Be prepared now for the inevitable hour, for we know not
BE PREPARED NOW 1117
the day nor the hour when it shall come. How grand it is to see persons ripe in age, whose life has been filled with good deeds, happy and contented as the hour draws near, ready and glad to meet their Maker face to face ! How contrasting this would be to a scene where one is called who is not prepared, whose life has been full of idleness and selfish deeds, pleading for a little longer time in which to change his mode of life and prepare himself! Are we prepared? now? today? If not, we should be preparing.
Then wake up, and do something,
More than dream of your mansion above;
Doing good is a pleasure,
A joy beyond measure,
A blessing of duty and love. — W. L. Thompson.
The Golden Age lies onward, not behind; The pathway through the past has led us up: The pathway through the future will lead on, and higher, If we will but do our best, And do it now.
LOGAN, UTAH
Sleep
I hail the close of feverish day The luring voice that calls to me
When I may sleep; From out the deep
My sorrows soar on wings away, Grows dim across the stilly sea;
Ah, could I bid the shadows stay, My phantom boat is sailing free,-
That I might ever sleep. I sleep— sweet restful sleep!
I yield my eager grip of things Full compensation for the light,
So I may keep A time to reap,
Inviolate the rest that brings From fitful day a brief respite;
The silent night on sable wings, Enfolded in the arms of Night,
And sleep —sweet restful sleep! I sleep— sweet restful sleep!
The bitter tears have ceased to gall;
No more I weep. The boon of Night is come to all. Forgetful now beneath her pall,
I sleep, — sweet restful sleep!
Louis W. Larsen.
THE HARVEST MOON.
Sonnet written on the Plain of Shoshone.
The sun has gone, around the twilight falls.
Dark in the west doth crouch each cedar'd butte, Pale stand the jagged Rockies' distant walls,
The earth is hushed, the solemn air is mute. And in the east, where purple skies are clear —
The river hath its mighty passage hewn — Round, full and ruddy bright, a golden sphere,
Above Shoshone lifts the Harvest Moon. For ages lay untilled this waiting soil,
Unchanged this plain beneath a stainless dome, And now the harvest answers to man's toil,
This moon looks down, and in each grove a home : Where roamed the savage, or lay battle-slain,
Behold the farmer's wealth in sheaves of grain !
ALFRED LAMBOURNE.
Clothed are the hills and the valleys below
With rich yellow tints in the sun-set glow.
To make the rich Autumn scenes the more fair,
The countless sun-flowers are blooming there.
A whispered welcome to the dawn is sent
As to eastward at morn each head is bent.
Through the day, you hold to the sun your face
To feel his warm kiss through infinite space ;
And thus you follow the god on his way
Till westward you look at the close of day.
Your grace so sturdy, ah : now we may view
Nature's gift to Autumn, 'neath skies of blue.
By the road you stand till October wan,
When the white frost comes and your life is gone.
Your days have been honest, and bright, and strong—
A glad note you add to Nature's wild song.
Editor's Table
The Presidential Election
The forthcoming presidential election is one of profound importance, and opens to the student a wide field for the study of applied political economy, as well as for leading social questions that are before the nation to be solved.
No reasonable citizen who has investigated the political sit- uation, with a view to learning the true status of the claims set forth by the various political parties, can in any way justlv find fault with the present administration. President William H. Taft has met the just needs of the people and the economic demands of the country with steadfastness and wisdom. In the treatment of the great questions that have come before the nation, he has risen to the occasion and applied such conservative legal remedies as have won him true admiration from patriotic citizens of all parties.
The extremely delicate situation with Mexico has been han- dled by him in a way to establish confidence in his ability, and notwithstanding the criticism of his action, in this matter and in that of the Central American republics, time will doubtless prove that his policy is best. Most people do not understand what inter- vention in Mexico would have meant when it was most advo- cated. American colonists, in large numbers, were distributed over various scattered sections of that country, and had not the situation been handled as carefully as it was, war would inevitably have been the result. War would have meant the destruction of railways and perhaps the massacre of many Americans in the interior. It would take a long time for soldiers to reach points where they could be a protection to the colonists, in view of the great stretches of cruel desert which would have to be traversed. The recognition of the rebels, besides making war almost inev- itable, would have given them a legal standing. At present they are looked upon as mere citizens in arms, and the Mexican gov- ernment may be held responsible for their depredations, which
EDITOR'S TABLE 1121
might not have been the case, had they been recognized. Every- thing considered, the administration has dealt properly with this very delicate situation. The colonists who were driven out were well treated by our government, being provided in their extremity in great kindness, with food and means.
The only charge of any consequence that the opponents of President Taft bring against him is that he has been and is a tool of the "Interests," which means, doubtless, that he unduly favors "big business," or trusts. His administration has proved the contrary, and the careful student will find that he has done as much to regulate the trusts as was ever done by any other incumbent of the presidential chair, and he has done it legally. He believes strictly in the judicial application of the law in these cases, and as firmly as any one in the need of just and fair laws to deal with the important question. It is a perplexing prob- lem, which not even the experts know just how to handle, and which can not be solved by a mere change of presidents. Presi- dent Taft believes in finding out what is necessary, and then in applying the law as a remedy without resort to unconstitutional means, to lawlessness and anarchy. This has been his policy, and what he has accomplished has been effective without being revo- lutionary and illegal.
At no time has the country been more prosperous than now, and as far as politics may affect prosperity, the people of the country have no occasion to complain at the administration, on this matter. So that, on the whole, whatever may happen through the elections in November, whatever may be the final outcome of the people's choice, it is clear that President William H. Taft has made a good president, and his administration has been a suc- cess. Should the people call him once again to the presidential chair, it is not likely that they will regret it, but, on the contrary, will find their action wise, sensible and sound.
Joseph F. Smith.
Close of Volume Fifteen
This number of the Era closes Volume 15. We are grateful to our friends, to the Church and Mutual officers, and to our sub- scribers and writers, for the support given our magazine in the past. We invite attention to the announcement for Volume 16,
1122 IMPROVEMENT ERA
and solicit every present subscriber to send in his renewal on the blank found in this number. From writings already on hand and promised, we can truthfully insure our readers a continuation of the high class, instructive and interesting literature for which the Era is conspicuous. We shall appreciate prompt action on the part of our loyal friends of the Y. M. M. I. A. who have been, or will be, appointed to canvass the wards and stakes of the Church for Volume 16, and bespeak for them the kind considera- tion of Church officers, and the public generally. Thankful for past success, we look forward to a year of unexcelled prosperity and usefulness for our magazine, and invite the kind co-operation of all our friends to this end.
Messages from the Missions
Elder Thomas E. McKay, who presided over the Swus German mission, gave the following report to Elder Rudger Clawson, president of the European mission, before his departure, on February 29, 1912, to his mountain home. It was printed in the "Millennial Star." He presided over the mission about there years, and the following statis- tics give an idea of the work done during the three years of his pres- idency—1909-10-11:
"Today, February 29, 1912, at 2:30 p. m., our boat left the port at Liverpool. In a few hours all sight of European shores will have van- ished from view. It will be three vears next Tuesday, March 5, since I arrived at headcmarters <n Zurich. The following: statistics will give an idea of the work that has been done during the three years 1909-10-11:
"Number of families visited in tracting, 762,422; number of gospel conversations, 594,002; number of tracts distributed, 2,499,320; number of books distributed, 94,466; number of hall meetings, 11,429; number of cottage meetings, 3,552; number of open-air meetings, 175; number of Priesthood meetings, 2,190; number of fast meetings, 1,962; number of elders released, 231; number in field December 31, 1911, 169; number of members now on record, 6,120; number baptized during the three years, 2,431.
"I think our elders, as well as our members and friends, have just cause to be proud of this splendid record. We shall be disappointed, however, if it is not greatly improved upon during the next three years.
"This is a beautiful world after all — God's world, and it's his work in which we are all engaged. You have heard this testimony from me many times, but I want to bear it again. I love you all; and my only desire has been, and is now, and always will be to help you; to do and say those things that will help you to be happier; that will bring us all nearer our Father in heaven."
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Elder S. W. Merrill writes from Gisborne, New Zealand, May 24:
"Little is ever heard through the Era from the New Zealand mission.
We are too busy with our duties to report our work. We labor both
among the Europeans and the Maoris, teaching them the gospel of Christ. The elders herewith are laboring in the Waiapu district. Elders Matthews and Ricks labor among the Europeans at Gisborne. They meet new friends every day. Elders Virgin and myself are la- boring among the Maoris in this district and are enjoying our labors very much. Left to right, standing: J. S. Matthews,
Castle Gate, Utah; L. S. Virgin, Sugar City, Idaho; sitting: E. A.
Ricks, Benson; S. W. Merrill, Trenton, Utah.
Elder A. E. Peterson, writing from Battle Creek, Michigan, May 28, says: "We have two lady missionaries and four elders in this dis- trict. We have made a systematic canvass of nearly all the factories here giving a series of five tracts published by the mission. We have had good success in dis- tributing them, having passed thousands of tracts to the work- ing men, and to the moving pic- ture shows, when the 'Victim of the "Mormons" ' was here. We have a few Saints and a good class of friends. On May 26, I baptized two exemplary per- sons, and a large group of friends and strangers came to the river bank to witness the sacred ordinance. We have never been represented heretofore in the Era. Elders, left to right: A. E. Peterson, Carey, Idaho, presiding elder; A. C. Clufr, Pima, Ariz.; Joseph S. Williams, Blackfoot, Idaho; front row: Ruby Tattersal, American Fork; P. R. Helm, Calders Station; Sarah E. Meeks, Thurber, Utah.
Elder Lorenzo Swenson, Christiania, Norway: "During the past two years we have learned that each time the enemy persecutes us, fresh impetus is added to our cause. Ministers in this country are dil- igently working against us. Tracts and books derogatory to Utah and her people have been published, setting forth the alleged immoral con- ditions existing, and the awful slavery to which the women are subject- ed in Utah. Lectures have been held warning the people against con- versation with the horrible 'Mormons.' On March 26, Pastor Karl Schriner lectured in one of the largest halls in Christiania, at which
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1,130 people attended, but happily they were not all sympathizers with the speaker. Since this lecture was held, exposing the "Mormons" and warning the people how dangerous their organization is to society, our meetings have been bettor attended than ever. Elder Anthon J. T. Sorensen spoke lately to a congregation of some six hundred people. The accusations were refuted, and the truth was told about the Latter- day Saints. Though many had to stand during the meeting, there was no disturbance; hence, this pastor's lecture did us a world of good. Twelve elders are laboring here in Christiania. We are happy in the faith and know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.
Elder Fred C. Mickelsen, president of the Trondhjem conference, Norway, writing May 5, 1912, says: "President Andrew Jenson, Mar- tin Christopherson and I visited the chief of police and had the pleas- ure of a private conversation with him. While he gave us to understand he was not our friend, he did guarantee us the same protection that other religious bodies receive. President Jenson im- proved the opportunity to relate some facts regarding our faith, and we feel that good was accomplished. Prospects are bright here. We have baptized five persons in the past two months, and have several good investigators. The elders are: Martin Christopherson, president of the Scandinavian mission, John H. Even- son, and Leroy L. Larsen, all of Farm- ers ward, Granite stake, Utah. Evenson and Larsen labor in Bado, which lies within the arctic circle, in the most northerly branch of the Church in the world.
Elder J. Eugene Lichfield writing from Sunderland, England, Au- gust 3, says: "We are still doing all in our power to maintain our rights to establish the truth. No doubt all have read something concerning the agitation in this city and the tirade of abuse and slander from the mouths of some would-be religious leaders who are either innocently misrepresenting or willfully and maliciously lying concerning Utah and her people. Owing to their agitating the more ignorant class with their weird stories of woman slavery in Utah, we have had a very lively and exciting time for about four months. Even our meeting- house has been very roughly handled. Windows have been broken, furniture damaged, books destroyed and sign-board demolished. On two occasions the mob forced its way into our meeting and threw out the elders, Saints and friends alike, regardless of sex or age.
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1125
Ultimatums were .served by the mob notifying us to leave by a certain time fixed by them, or take the consequences. They went so far as to try to frighten, and then to bribe, our landlady to have her turn us out of lodging. The mob began at a street meeting on March 30 and continued until stringent measures were taken by the officers of the law two weeks ago. On that occasion one hundred police officers were in the vicinity, and mounted men were in readiness for action if needed. At times there were ten thousand people around the meeting house to escort us home, and when the city fathers did not have a goodly number of men in blue coats on the scene the elders came in for exciting if not interesting journeys to their lodgings. Lately several arrests have been made and fines of one pound and cost inflicted. This seems to have cooled the zealous anti-'Mormon' leaders, and we are now able to walk to and from the church with- out being escorted by several thousand hoodlums led by religious bigots singing, 'We'll hang all the 'Mormons' on a sour apple tree.' Since the strong arm of the law assumed its rightful position there have been no more rotten eggs nor brick bats thrown at us as we elbowed our way through the crowds to the church door. All seem to be coming to their right minds, and once more peace is gaining supremacy in this part of Christian England. The Saints have been valiant and have attended their meetings through thick and thin. The weather is very cold and stormy, and on account of the windows being out, our meeting house is exceedingly well ven- tilated. In spite of our trouble, many investi- gators attend the ser- vices, and we have good opportunities to explain the gospel and to give a reason for the hope that is within us." Elders in the picture are: Joseph Parmley, Winter Quarters, Utah, secretary; J. Eugene Lichfield, president, Provo; sitting, Nathaniel Ludlow, Spanish Fork, branch president; Victor E. Gilbert, Winter Quarters, Utah.
President Hyrum W. Valentine, writing from Zurich, June 11, says: "During the last few years we have been busy building up strong branches of the Church. We have been advising the people not to emigrate, but to stay and help the elders in spreading the mes- sage of life and happiness. You realize that our freedom in Germany is very limited, as often the elders are banished as undesirable for-
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eigners. In spite of this, we have grown and increased considerably so that quite a number of our branches compare very favorably with our organized wards at home. Some, I think, are larger than a good many in the organized stakes of Zion. I enclose a picture of the
Zurich branch choir. There are about twenty choirs like this one in our mission, and all of them are doing a great deal of good. In fact they are a very great factor in getting our friends to meetings and get- ting them interested in the gospel. We enjoy reading the Era, and profit by the splendid information contained therein.
Elder Leonard B. Christensen, of Richfield, and William H. Squires, of Hyrum, Utah, state that they have a Sunday School in Helsingor, Denmark, which was organized May 14, 1911, and has thirty-two members enrolled. It is a real live organization in spite of the fact that the outside element is continually endeavoring to hinder its progress. There are thirty-eight members of the Church in the branch, the greater number of whom reside in Helsingor. The city has about 40,000 inhabitants, and is located in the northeastern part of Sjselland on a point projecting into the beautiful Oresund, which is but two miles wide at this place. The famous Kronberg castle, at one time the proud mistress of the north, to which all foreign vessels were required to pay toll for entrance into the Baltic, holds com- manding view over the sound. It is also prominent because of the fact that it was the scene of Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Prospects for the growth of the gospel in this branch are very favorable, and the elders have been quite successful in the past.
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Rebecca Atkin, writing from Chicago, Illinois, June 26: "The true light of the work of the Lord is being placed before the people from day to day. and the result is growth. We feel impressed with the people we have met in North Chicago, and have had the privilege of bringing the truth to many. We are holding cottage meetings every night with the people and begin to see the fruits of our labors. Many good, honest people are here, and the missionaries are putting forth
their best efforts to place our literature before them. Elders, reading from left to right, top row, are: J. H. Buckmiller, A. N. Smith, A. H. Wells, C. Stephens, John Schenk; bottom row: G. F. Wendell, Viola V. Howard, Rebecca P. Atkin, Leona Ossman, N. B. Chugg
Elder Martin Mortensen, writing from Toronto, Canada, July 9, says: "On June 23 we held our summer conference at Toronto attended by Mission Secretary W. S. Langton, ten elders laboring in the con- ference and Saints and friends in and near Toronto. We have some twenty-five members in Toronto with many friends who are interested in our work. We have a Sunday School with all local officers, regular hall meetings on Sunday and cottage meetings almost every night in the week. Four elders are laboring in western New York and report meeting many friends and distributing considerable literature. They are re-visiting where elders worked years ago and hope to find some of the fruits of the labors of their faithful predecessors. Two elders are traveling through Canada and report some little bitterness, but are making progress towards allaying it.
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President A. Lester Francom, writing from Konumui in Waira- rapa, states that their district conference, recently held, was enjoyed by a large number of Maori Saints and friends. The elders baptized one member and two more are ready for baptism. The elders are laboring hard, often through mud and rain, for the advancement of the cause. The marriage photograph herewith shows one of the many beautiful marriage ceremonies which President O. D. Romney is per- forming from time to time. The Maori people are fast setting aside
their old customs of marriage and are adopting the European custom — a far better one. The couple shown in the picture, who are being married, are Te do Te Whaiti, and Te Rena Te Maari. The group of elders are: President O. D. Romney and wife, to the left; and stand- ing, left to right, Conference President A. Lester Francom, William Bird, Wesley J. Beck, H. H. Jensen, D. H. Wood, and Barrey W. Harris.
Elder P. E. Wrathall writes from Muskagee, Oklahoma, May 26: "The 'marvelous work and a wonder,' commenced by the restoration of the gospel, is moving forward with successful strides in this district. Prejudice is diminishing gradually, and the people are beginning to understand our doctrine in its true light, and as a rule prejudice is displaced by admiration. People are coming to hear the truth ex- plained and investigate for themselves, refusing longer to listen to the old worn-out tales told by fabricators."
Elder