|
m |
|
|
iJ(i |
|
|
i- |
|
|
^9 |
#.^^
i)^4
f§ §
\W1
»W^'
^^?-
• •
■»?
r-^.
SEPTEMBER, 1937
Voiume 40 Number 9
rUHH POSTAGE GUARANTEEO SALT LAKE City, UTAH
T
stands for Tiger— a super-sized cat— So TOUGH that he'd eat you in two seconds flat!
stands for Monkey— A FAST- MOVING gent.
When you he sees coming, He's already went!
Now mix them both up, and mix them up well.
And there is the secret of New Golden Shell.
Like two oils in one, it's Tough and it's Fast. It Cuts Starting Wear,
and how it does last!
TIGER -MONK
Starting causes More Engine Wear than all the running ... New Golden Shell Motor Oil is Fast- Flowing to reduce this wear . . . Tough so it stands the heat of steady driving.
The New Motor Oil
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
With
Ironrife
the only ironer on the market with TWO OPEN ENDS, a feature which is indispensible to the satisfactory ironing of garments with plaits, ruf- fles, gathers, etc. No garment is too fussy for this perfected ironing ma- chine . . . hand finishing is never necessary. Controls are automatic, leaving both hands free at all times to guide the garment through the roll.
Only Ironrite offers —
1. Two Open Ends with stationary forming board; the natural way.
2. Knee Control and Knee Pressing Control — both hands free all of the time.
3. Selective Heat Control — vary- ing degrees of heat for differ- ent kinds of work.
LJ. „5 for a FREE Home Demonstration
SCHOSS
ELECTRIC CO.
Ogden, Brigham City> Tremonton, Utah, Malad, Idaho.
QUALITY
APPLIANCE SHOP
45 West Broadway Salt Lake City. Utah
For further iniormation call or write Gordon E. Wilkins, Factory Representative. 3100 Telegraph Ave.. Oakland, Calif.
TO JAN
On His Fourth Birthday By Jonreed Lauritzen
A father's message to his
SON, WHOSE LIFE WAS TAK- EN BY DROWNING, WHEN THE CURIOSITY OF A CHILD CAUSED HIM TO REACH TOO FAR . . .
Vou loved hfe as we loved you. Why must we always lose the thing we love most? If you could speak to us through the silence I know you would answer and your answer would be surer and more satisfying than ours were to all the myriad questions you used to ask.
You loved life with a joyous, dancing, breathless love. Your happy mind was like a mirror in which we saw life and earth and heaven in a clearer light. No flower, no tree, no bird, no insect, no mo- tion, quality, or attribute of anything escaped you, for your curiosity was boundless. To meet it one needed the omniscience of Deity. We felt helpless before your constant seek- ing, but we tried to explain every- thing as best we could.
Perhaps that is one reason you went away. Perhaps you sought the place where there are no mysteries, where all questions are answered with satisfying certainty; where there are no veils of prejudice nor blind gropings through mazes of self-interest and false notion; where truth shines with a steady, all-re- vealing flame. Only there could your unquenchable spirit be content.
As for us, you were the center of our every thought. Our hearts danced with your little feet and our lives swung along on the rapturous rhythm of your laughter. But I suppose you were never meant to be ours. This dull world was no place for such a limitless soul. So the angels came and got you when they saw their mistake.
You were a limitless soul. Some- times you seemed to live in a world we knew nothing of — to skip on the fringes of an infinity that frightened us in our poor ignorance. And we would hold you close, close, in the fear of losing you. But it was no use. Fresh from Paradise, and steeped in its beauty and ecstasy, you were glad in the very thought that made us dread. So you reached for the flower that floated on the pond — reached out too far . . .
One day, before you went away, you said: "Mama, I'd like to go up to the moon and slide down on the rain." . . . And that is where
cJhe UJoors of (college . .
To thousands of young men and women, Brigham Young University will open its doors this autumn . . . doors leading to larger opportuni- ties, better chances to serve and to progress upward.
Preparation is given leading to- ward success in hundreds of occu- pations in business, industry, edu- cation, arts, and sciences. Added to this is character education and spir- itual development that afford a basis for enduring happiness.
•
STANDARD COLLEGE
TRAINING
Five Colleges -35 Departments
•
REGISTRATION— September 24, 25, 27
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
PROVO, UTAH "Scholarship — Spirituality — Character"
we like to think you are — riding the moonbeams, your white hair shining like the mists; your feet, along with myriads of other merry little feet, dancing on the topmost billows of the clouds. And now in the long night, when the moon breaks radiant through the storm, we feel a happy spirit slide down on the rain into our tear-drenched hearts, and the very buoyancy of you carries us for awhile into that shining realm where there are only music and beauty and young laughter — where sorrow is a load too heavy to be lifted on the moonbeams.
529
VOLUME 40
Improvement
SEPTEMBER, 1937
"THE VOICE OF THE CHURCH"
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE PRIESTHOOD QUORUMS, MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS, DEPART- MENT OF EDUCATION, MUSIC COMMITTEE, WARD TEACHERS, AND OTHER AGENCIES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
'The Glory of God is Intelligence"
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lyhurcn cfeatures
The Log of a European Tour — Part II.. Lucy Grant Cannon 533 The Articles of Faith — IX — The Preservation of God's
Word John A, Widtsoe 534
After One Hundred Years Parry D. Sorensen 540
Illinois Yields Church Documents Richard L. Evans 543
North of the Border Abel S. Rich 546
"Zion" as It is Today Elias S. Woodruff 556
In Switzerland with President Grant Albert E, Blaser 570
From the Centennial President of the European Mission, 533;
Church Moves On, 562; Mormon Missionaries in the Meissen
Cast, 572; Josiah Quincy on The Pearl of Great Price, 572;
The British Centennial Pageant in the Salt Lake Tabernacle,
James H. Wallis, 573; Changing Attitudes, 573; Priesthood:
;' Melchizedek, 574; Aaronic, 577; Ward Teaching, 577; De-
;; partment of Education, 579; Mutual Messages, 580; Field
U Photos, 580, 581, 582.
Special Creatures
I"]
!!
536 539 550 554
Companionship Adam S. Bennion
A Kick in the Overalls Jack Sears
^ The Qgarct "Lift*' L. Weston Oaks
North to Europe....... C. Frank Steele
The Burial Ground of a Lost Civilization
v -— - ...— - - Verona Toronto Bowen
Life Abundemt '... O. F, Ursenbach
..^^Jhe "Era Tree" „ 571
"" To Jan ori His Fourth Birthday, Jonreed Lauritzen, 529; Exploring the Universe, Franklin S. Harris, Jr., 563; On the Book Rack, 568; Homing, 569; Ada Mohn-Landis Contest, 572; Index to Advertisers, 586; Your Page and Ours, 592.
564 566
ibditonals
W Who Is Your Friend John A. Widtsoe 560
Of What Shall Our Hands Be Clean? Richard L. Evans 560
The Nearer Reaches Marba C, Josephson 561
cfiction, Lroetry[, L^rosswora [Puzzle
The Outlaw of Navajo Mountain Albert R* Lyman 544
Golden of Evergreen — A Short Short Story
Sidney DeGrey 549
Career Girl John Sherman Walker 552
Frontispiece: Field of Wheat, Christie Lund, 532; Similarity, Jean McCaleb, 539; Page for Young Writers, 553; Poetry Page, 567; Sanctuary, Helen Timpson, 576; Scriptural Cross- word Puzzle, 586; Prayer, Lalia Mitchell Thornton, 587; When Day is Done, Catherine E. Berry, 591.
Qjhe C(
over
Tn this issue we salute again our friends and fellows "North of the Border." The ■*■ Jubilee year of Mormon colonization in Western Canada calls to mind a period of much longer Church activity in Eastern Canada. The cover photograph is an unusual view of the "Peace Tower" on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the Canadian capital. It is a national shrine in which are chiseled in stone the names of Canada's war dead. The photograph was made available to the Era through the courtesy of C. Frank Steele of the Lethbridge Herald.
530
Heber J. Grant, John A. Widtsoe,
Editors Richard L. Evans,
Managing Editor Marba C. Josephson,
Associate Editor
George Q. Morris, General Mgr. Clarissa A. Beesley, Associate Mgr. J. K. Orton, Business Mgr.
DO YOU KNOW-
What we mean when we say "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated cor- rectly"? 534
•
What are the three C's of Com- panionship? 536
•
What new Church documents have come to light? 543
•
Where missionary work was started in Canada and under what cir- cumstances? 546
The truth about the cigaret "lift"?-550
•
What the Bay Route is? 554
What American port is 1,000 miles farther inland than Montreal, and yet closer to Liverpool by ocean than Montreal? 554
• -
How Jackson County appears to- day? 556
•
The new member of the Church Security Board? 562
Why heels were invented? 563
• — ■
Anything about Cervetri, the burial ground of a lost civilization 564
•
One way in which the Gospel mes- sage was preached in Meissen, Germany? 572
•
How the British press dealt with the Mormon centennial in the United Kingdom? ..._ : 577
•
The mission of the seminary? 579
• ■ ■
How Sweden is responding to "Mor- mon" basketball? 580
e
How the New Zealand press looks upon our sports? 580
EXECUTIVE AND EDITORIAL
OFFICES: 50 North Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah Copyright 1937, bij the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-dai) Saints. All rights reserved. Subscription price, $2.00 a year, in advance; 20c Single Copy.
iEntered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October, 1917, authorized Tulv 2, 1918.
The Improvement Era is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, but welcomes con- tributions. All manuscripts must be accompanied by sufficient postage for delivery and return.
A MAGAZINE FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 193 7
200 NORTH MAIN STREET
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
&m
McCune School of Music and Art
TRACY Y. CANNON, director
CLnnounces
cJhe hjall (cypentng of me School
SEPTEMBER 1, 1937
PRIVATE INSTRUCTION IN ALL BRANCHES OF MUSIC
PRIVATE OR CLASS INSTRUCTION IN
DRAMATIC ART AND DANCING
BEGINNING, INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED STUDENTS MAY ENROLL AT ANY TIME DURING THE YEAR
COURSES LEADING TO DIPLOMA, BACHELOR OF MUSIC DEGREE, AND MASTER OF MUSIC DEGREE
The McCune School of Music and Art since its inception has held strictly to highest standards in its teaching and idealism. Its courses of instruction are in accord with the best modern practices of teaching music, dramatic art and dancing to students of all stages of development.
MODERATE TUITION FEES
SEND FOR CATALOG
AN INSTITUTIONAL MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS OF MUSIC
sai
•!,'■ ■■,■%„
FIELD OF WHEAT
Photo by Wayne B. Hales.
npwiCE- BLESSED, this field of wheat that shimmers here
Beneath the caressing sun, stirred by the breeze. Whispering a hushed song to the hstening ear, Thrilhng the beauty-hungry heart to ease And deep content. Had it no destiny Beyond this hour, this moment in the sun. It would be quite enough, for it would be As other lovely things, full-blown, then done.
Yet here is something more, something besides The pleasure to the sight, the passing reel Of satiation. These golden, swaying tides Of grace and symmetry are strong and real. Here in these beaded stalks, waiting man's scythe. Are hidden deeply, health and youth — and life.
— Christie Lund,
._.Ji^i«*M-*^
532
Photo bg Pictorial Peatuces.
JhiL LOG OF A
■^ii^Skf^
The General Presidency of the Y. W. M. I. A. at the British Centennial; left to right: Lucy Grant Cannon, First Counselor; Ruth May Fox, President; Clarissa A. Beesley, Second Counselor.
PART II
Preston, Friday, July 30, 1937.
EVER since we left America and traveled in ease, comfort, and elegance over the ocean to the British Isles, we have had vividly in mind, by contrast, the voyage and journey made by those courageous and faithful men who, one hundred years ago, brought the message and commenced the work of spreading the Gospel in this land. Even as our pilgrim fathers and as pioneers in all fields of endeavor have battled with adverse conditions so did our first missionaries to these Isles. But as the history of that trip across the United States, and voyage to Eng- land, have but recently been re- viewed in the Era we turn our thoughts now to the celebration which commences today.
The commemoration of centen- nials has always been a fascinating event to me. One hundred years of history to scan, — its advancement, its retardment, its trials and triumphs — as it steadily, slowly moves for- ward. I believe in celebrations. I think it is time profitably spent to glory in the past, to recall deeds of valor and sacrifices of our forebears, and to do their memory honor. Such honor, such respect, we accord here today to those men of faith who brought the message, and to those courageous men and women who accepted the torch of truth. Many of them under the standard of "Truth will prevail," left their native lands and journeyed to a country so dissimilar to theirs that only a knowledge that divine Providence v/as their guide and that they were obeying that invisible spirit of gath- ering, which the Lord endowed them with in order to strengthen his Church and give it new life, could have kept them from faltering by the way.
EUROPEAN TOUR
By LUCY GRANT CANNON
Of the General Presidency of the Y. W. M.LA.
AT THE point where Sister Cannon left off in her last account in the August Era she joined Vida Fox Clawson's party and made a tour on the Continent visiting points in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, arriving in England July 21. During this period Presi- dent Grant, accompanied by Elders Richard R. Lyman, Hugh B. Brown, and Joseph Anderson, visited the French, Swiss and German Missions, itinerary and accounts of which have been given in the Era and elsewhere.
FROM THE CENTENNIAL
PRESIDENT OF THE
EUROPEAN MISSION
Manchester, Aug. 1, 1937.
WE ARE in the midst of a celebra- tion— this Centenary — a won- derful affair! Our meeting yesterday morning — -the hall packed — was a fine success . . . The great interest and earnestness of President Grant and the eloquence of President Clark, made an atmosphere and occasion I am sure no one will forget who was present. . . . Then came the pageant last night — grand and glorious! The Rochdale Town Hall was "jammed" - — and as many more who could not get in. ... I am sure it is going to be a matchless day.
Yes, Friday on the banks of the River Ribble we had a multitude — and lookers-on across the river, near the fences, on the hillsides — all glori- ous— the beginning now of the sec- ond century, during which time Zion (the pure in heart) will be built in the British Isles.
— Richard R. Lyman.
Members of the Mutual Improvement Association at the British Centennial pictured as they formed a human M. I. A., while singing "Carry On."
Early this morning I looked with some concern out of the window and although the sky was comparatively clear I knew we could not be sure there would be no rain because the two weeks spent here thus far have made us feel that the day has not been quite complete without occa- sional showers during the day.
At about a quarter to one people began to gather at Vauxhall Chapel. Vauxhall is an old brick church, weather-beaten and shabby outside. It has a high stone wall in front and a small plot of ground in which are some slabs of granite, showing it had formerly been used as a ceme- tery. The interior is very quaint. There is a high pulpit and the pews are small and severe with high par- titions, above which only the heads of the worshipers could be seen. The Elders tell us it is just about as it was one hundred years ago. It looks as if it has had no paint or renova- tion since that time. Services are still carried on there.
By one-fifteen there were several hundreds of people on the grounds and in front of the church. Such a friendly group of people, calling to and shaking hands with one another, greeting Elders whom they had not seen for months. The Elders, too, were having a reunion. There were some new ones who had just arrived and every now and then some one would recognize an old acquaint- ance. There was also a group of spectators, and they stood and {Continued on page 578)
The articles of faith
IX. cJhe preservation of (^ods ivord By DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE
0[ the Council of the Twelve
(Read the Eighth Article of Faith )
(
THE Lord spoke to Adam, the first man, and taught him the
Gospel. Adam, in turn, taught the Gospel to his posterity. Thus, a knowledge of the Gospel became current among all men. Similarly, the Lord has spoken, whenever necessary, to other men, who have taught to their fellows that which has been divinely revealed to them.
That is the divine method. The Lord imparts knowledge to men, usually called prophets, who thence- forth are under obligation to trans- mit the substance of their revela- tions, as far as possible, to all the world. Then, to every man is given the companionship of the Holy Spirit, by which the truth of the prophetic teaching is revealed. The prophet and his followers are both taught by revelation; both may be equally certain of the truth of the message.
The revealed word of God may be spread among all people from generation to generation by word of mouth, by oral tradition. This w^as the earliest method and in some re- spects the best. No teaching is quite so powerful as that which comes from the mouth of a great teacher. However, as the years receded, it became increasingly difficult for suc- cessive teachers to make from mem- ory accurate renderings of the words of the prophets. Moreover, the hu-
man voice does not reach far, yet the divine message is for all men. Therefore, a second method became of prime importance, that of com- mitting the words of the prophet to writing, and of making many copies for wide circulation. To the arts of w^riting and printing, man- kind owes the more accurate preser- vation and wider distribution of the revealed Word of God.
The Bible and the Book of Mor- mon are collections of writings in which the truth of existence and the divine formula for correct living are taught and taught again. The mes- sage of these scriptures is conveyed in various forms. Sometimes the writer quotes the words of God; at other times he comments on the di- vine message in poetry, story, alle- gory, exposition or simple admoni- tion; and as often he shows the ef- fect of conformity to the divine will as illustrated in the history of na- tions— in the Bible, especially of the Israelitish nation, and in the Book of Mormon of the branches of that nation which settled in America.
One dominating doctrine runs through the books of the Bible and the Book of Mormon: There is one God, the Father of mankind, who reveals as may be necessary the laws by obedience to which men may alone win happiness in life. Whether in direct statement, in figure of speech, or in historical narrative, this doctrine is the concern of the writers of the scriptures. Indeed, the Bible and the Book of Mormon contain the most complete exposition existing of God's law for human conduct and destiny. It is this mes- sage for the moral guidance of hu- manity, coming from the Lord, that makes the Bible the "Book of Books" and the Book of Mormon a witness for the Bible.
The Lord does His work in man's behalf through earthly instruments. All human writings, therefore, how- ever exalted by the power of in- spiration, are in the language of the writer. Were it not so, perhaps the readers could not understand. This
has been made very clear as con- cerning the revelations to the Prophet Joseph: "These command- ments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understand- ing." Moroni, the Book of Mormon prophet, expressed this condition in a beautiful statement: "Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words: and I fear lest the gentiles shall mock at our words." In such a spirit of humility have the scriptures been written.
The message of the scriptures is divine; the words in which it is clothed are human. Failure to make this distinction has led to much mis- understanding. Intelligent readers will separate the message of the scripture from its form of presenta- tion, even as is done today, whether listening to a speaker or reading a modern book. It is in this sense that the Latter-day Saints look upon the Bible and the Book of Mormon as "the Word of God."
pTsPECiALLY is it necessary in read- ing the scriptures to place one- self in the position of the people, thousands of years ago, for whom the writings w^ere made. The cus- toms, habits, and possessions of the people of that day are of necessity reflected in the expositions of the revelations of the Lord to His chil- dren on earth. Events and acts that seem foreign to us of this day, of necessity appear in the scriptures. In a terse question, Brigham Young made this clear: "Do you read the scriptures, my brethren and sisters, as though you were writing them, a
534
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
thousand, two thousand, or five thousand years ago? Do you read them as though you stood in the place of the men who wrote them?" If that were done, much carping crit- icism of the scriptures would vanish.
Likewise, honest translators, working with present manuscripts, often find it difficult to render with full accuracy, in living tongues, the meanings expressed in languages long dead. Also, despite the best intentions, the translations are likely to reflect the point of view of the translator. While the Church uses primarily and officially King James' translation, it welcomes every effort of scholarship to improve present translations.
Before the day of printing, each copy of the scriptures, as contained in the Bible, was copied by hand. Naturally, errors crept in. Words, sentences, or whole paragraphs might be left out. Misunderstand- ings led to false renderings. Count- less such cases have been found. Then, some scribe might change the very text to conform to his precon- ceived ideas. Such variations from the oldest known texts have also been found. Since the original manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments have long since been lost, it is impossible, except through revelation, to restore the scriptures to their original purity.
Nevertheless, the hand of the Lord has always been over these divine records. Neither writer nor copyist has been able to distort or erase the essential message of the Bible. Throughout the ages, amidst the vicissitudes of time, in the face of apparent inaccuracies and contra- dictions, showing human imperfec- tions, the Holy Scriptures stand un- clouded as a witness for God, His nature and relationship to man, the true way to human happiness, and the eternal and glorious destiny of mankind. The scriptures have never been wholly at the mercy of
ARTICLES OF FAITH
Of the Church o/ Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints
1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be pun- ished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
3. We believe that, through the atone- ment of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentancej third, Baptism by immer- sion for the remission of sins j fourth. Laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.
I. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc.
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated cor- rectly ; we also believe the Book of Mor- mon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has re- vealed, all that He does now reveal, and wa believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes ; that Zion will be built upon this continent ; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
II. We claim the privilege of worship- ing Almighty God according to the dic- tates of our conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them wor- ship ho'w, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magis- trates, in obeying, honoring, and sus- taining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in do- ing good to all men ; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul ; We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. — Joseph Smith.
mankind. He who reads them to- day may know, as the prophets who received them, of the eternal truths of existence.
In this sense, one must read the statement that "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly," The mes- sage of the Bible is accepted; its mutilations by careless men are re- jected.
In the first year of the restored Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith set about, under divine command and direction, to correct errors that had crept into the Biblical text. He may be said to be one of the early "higher critics," but one who worked with faith in the divine message of the Bible. Some parts of this work are found in the Pearl of Great Price; others are not yet published by the authority of the Church.
However, every change and cor- rection made by the Prophet illumi- nates the content of the Bible, and shows how carefully single texts should be weighed against its one great message. In fact, Latter-day Saints are less concerned with the texts than with the whole message of any book of the Bible.
The Book of Mormon differs from present versions of the Bible in that it was translated by "the gift and power of God." The translation is correct. The errors of copying found in the Bible are practically absent in the Book of Mormon, for, as far as known, the only copying is the condensation by an ancient prophet of material on certain plates, into the text of the Book of Mor- mon, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, records in his journal: "I told the brother that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." With this we can safely agree.
The Bible and the Book of Mor- mon are their own witnesses for the truth of their message. No other literature in the world abounds in such lofty teachings. None has such power to lift the soul of man from the sordid things of life. None speaks with such convincing power of God and his dealings with man. None gives such courage to walk the path of truth. None so clearly points out the true and safe walk of life. These books contain the most pre- cious truths of humanity; without them, the earth would be poor in- deed.
All should read the scriptures regularly, daily. Better than gold or fame or power are the vision and growth that come to him who feeds upon the life-giving, immortal thoughts spread over the pages of the Holy Scriptures.
535
Photo by Paul S. Bieler.
COMPANIONSHIP
By DR. ADAM S. BENNION
0[ the General Board, Deseret Sunday School
Union
T can't presume to pick your crowd BUT WILL YOU BE GOOD ENOUGH TO
LOOK OVER YOUR LIST OF FRIENDS. WhO ARE THEY AND HOW DID YOU COME TO HAVE THEM? "ChANCE" AND "cHOICE" BOTH PLAY THEIR PART, AND FORTUNATE IS HE WHO CONTROLS "cHANCE" WITH "CHOICE."
SOMEBODY suggested courtship as a topic for discussion, and I begged off; frankly, I don't know enough about it to discuss it intelhgently. Then, too, that's a subject so intimate and personal. I prefer to deal with companionship a little more generally, because it's so close to all of us. It's so get-at- able. There's no theory about it; it's so everlastingly real — it is your problem — your whole life is bound up with it.
To help you meet it, the best I can hope to do is to draw^ out of the years that I have lived a few hints which may prove helpful to you as you continue along the trail of life. Really I'd rather sit around the table with you and discuss these problems. But here may I ask your attention to a few basic consider- ations in the hope that you will do a good bit of thinking about them on your own score, and proceed to find your own answer. Your lives will be happier or less happy be- cause of your answer to this prob- lem called Companionship. Let me give you two experiences out of the 536
DR. ADAM S. BENNION
recent past that tell me how real companionship may be;
Because I once chanced to do a little kindness to one of the members of his family, there has come into my office every spring the last quar-
ter of a century a man who is now in his ninetieth year. I always know it's spring because he brings me pussy willows. His family is gone, all save one. She's in her forties, and she's paralyzed. She hasn't been able to walk for nearly a year. At ninety he can't work. When last he came in he said: "Brother Ben- nion, if you ever doubted it in your life, won't you let an old man tell you it's a wonderful thing to have friends."
I travel up and down the land a very great deal and talk to all kinds of people. But I think the group that has told me most is a group over in Boise, Idaho, in the state penitentiary. They were having a week for youth up there, and they asked me to go up. We spent six days, the most invigorating days I think I have spent in a long time. One of the afternoons was given over to a visit at the state peniten- tiary. There were so many young men there — one hundred and sixty of them. They said they wished I would talk so that it would help some of them to get hold of them- selves. I said: "Some boys are
f^
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
here this afternoon that don't need to be here."
After we had stayed an hour, I said: "I wish you men would linger a little while. I want a dozen of you to stay and let me listen to you." They said they would. Fourteen of them stayed. I shall never forget that group, because among them were five who were in there for life. It wasn't any "pink tea" that after- noon. As we sat around the table, we just talked about this and that and the other thing, until we broke the ice. Then ., >^i said: "Men. if I | won't give offense, / won't you be good ; enough to tell me j what you think it was \ that brought y o u | here?" — *
I wish you could have listened in, be- cause you never would have forgotten the way they put it. I can see one colored boy now who follow- ed me as I left, and said: "Mr. Bennion, you've got to promise me to do one thing. You've got to promise me to tell them this one thing." — I've never read it in a book; it's bad Eng- lish, but it's a won- derful idea: "Don't never kid yourself that nobody ain't never gonna find out." I couldn't say anything better than that. His eyes gleam- ed as he said it. He came over twice, and again, he said: "Mr. Bennion, you've got to promise me to tell them. 'Don't never kid your- self that nobody ain't never gonna find out'."
As WE sat around that table there, I can't bring you a tenth of what they gave me. It was a laboratory, and everything turned loose; but what they did say without exception was: "We're here because we got in w^ith the wrong crowd."
I cite you these two extremes — •' an old man whose life has been made kind toward the end of the trail out there at ninety, and he thanks Prov- idence that he has friends; and a crowd of boys, some of whom will never amount to anything, some few
who may. |rhey're willing to say that what they are now enduring and what they look forward to is a result of going with the wrong ^ crowd. ■
I can't presume to pick your crowd, and sometimes you don't know just what you're running into. But next to the influence of their mother, I am concerned with the companionships my youngsters form \
I. A. DANCERS, POSED BY REGINALD WAINES AND MARGEURITE CLARK
Photo by Eckec.
in those years from fifteen to eighteen. Their lives are made or broken in this way. No boy can ever take himself safely into a crowd of roustabouts. ^
One evening as we were driving along the highway, two little young- sters had parked themselves beside the road. They had a squirt gun, and as we passed, the squirt opened and came in the open window and hit the people in the back of the car. Well, that's fun; but suppose three years later those same youngsters decide it would be awfully smart to hold up the next car that passes and
take a dollar or two to use for a little celebration.
We drove down one evening to see the other side of the hill on which a plane cracked up last December. If it had flown ten or fifteen feet higher, the passengers would all be alive today. The little difference, a year here, a little elevation there, a companion here, and the whole course of a life is changed. God touched you young people with the gen- ius to know that the difference between going over here and going over there is so shght that very often you can hardly see it. When I went to the University of Utah, I sat next to a young man in algebra — as fine a boy as I had ever come to know; his father and mother were of the salt of the earth. Let me skip ever so many years. The day I came home from the University of Cali- fornia with .a final degree, the papers announced that fact. My picture was in one column with a statement that the California institution had given me a doc- tor's degree that day. In the next column was the photograph of this boy, who was being executed in San Quentin.
Don't tell me it's any theory. We sat in algebra class side by side. We went to gym. We did the things that boys will do. It wasn't long until he used to say — I can hear him to this day— "Let's not go to this class today. Let's slip downtown." I knew how his father and mother were struggling to get him through. He chanced to go downtown. Then he went down- town some more. To do what? Well, he discovered he was a pretty good pool player; and when he got a little better at that, he thought he would put a little money into it. He used to win a little money; and then he'd lose some money. And when he lost, he had to pay; and so he went out to get it. I don't need to tell you the details of that long story. It was from picking up a little
537
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, S E PT E M B E R, 1 93 7
change here to meet an obhgation in a pool game, to the robbing of a bank, to getting caught and killing a man who stood in the way of free- dom, to a sentence at San Quentin, and execution in that penitentiary.
Let's consider the three C's of Companionship:
The first C is what I call the C of chance. Will you be good enough to look across your friend- ship list? Who are your friends and how did you come to have them? Don't you sometimes look back and wonder? It's chance. When I used to be in charge of the schools for the Church and we'd have to send a teacher over into Arizona or Nevada, I would say: "Are you willing" — if a young man - — ^"to marry a young girl down in Arizona?" He would always laugh. Once in a while we'd get a girl to go away to the Big Horn Academy in Wyoming. I would sometimes say: "Are you and your family pre- pared, once you go up there, to have you stay?" She would probably say: "I'm not goinq to stay." But I used to remark: "Don't be so sure about that; you might meet him up there." You go to a dance and dance with somebody, and he has just the right step. Life turns on such happen- ings.
Where did you meet the friends you have? You go to a party, and you look out of one eye and there sits somebody. A glance comes back. Nobody knows the control of the eye. Nobody knows how it operates or when it's going to hit. I'm not saying to you to go down the trail of life and look over here and there, and pick them. You can go down the line and not think you're looking, and somebody steals a glance, and something happens. There's much in circumstance.
l^Y DAUGHTER who is married went to an office to work, and she met the young man in whom she became interested. Suppose she hadn't gone down there to work? You go over to visit with your uncle's aunt, and there they have visitors from their second cousin's side of the family. You didn't go to meet anybody, but somebody bobs up. Chance is a tremendous factor in hfe; don't fool yourself; but you know, sometimes we live as if it were the only thing in hfe, and we just chance to meet our friends. I have talked with boys and asked, "Why do you go with this partic- ular boy?" Almost invariably the answer is, "I just picked up with 538
SPEAKING OF THE "WRONG CROWD"
Pres. Heber J. Grant and Counselors Dear Brethren:
I AM writing this letter in the hope of doing some good to someone, besides helping me with my problem.
I am a young, Latter-day Saint girl, having good Latter-day Saint parents and coming from a large family of respectable brothers and sisters. Up until a few recent years, I was a faithful follower of the Church, having high ideals and liv- inga good, clean, moral life.
Then, as the old saying goes, "I just got mixed up with the wrong crowd." Then everything changed. I thought I had been missing a lot, and proceeded to make up for lost time," by being what was termed a good sport, and going the ways of the crowd. It seems strange that a person could go from one extreme to another. I stopped attending meet- ings, and, before I knew it, foimd my- self slipping. My life was entirely different; my friends were different. Drinking, smoking, etc., meant noth- ing to them. Although I was never very much in favor of it, I was in with the rest of the crowd, and as a result, found myself weakening and unable to resist them. It became harder and harder to break away!
A short time ago, I went away for a few months. I met many types of people and more temptation arose, but through some effort I was able to combat them. I began to realize what my religion meant to me and made up my mind to live worthy of it. I began to attend Church, which was about ten miles from where I lived, and was glad of the opportun- ity to get to Mutual and Sunday School. While there, I met a very remarkable person, who had just recently joined the Church at great personal sacrifice. It made me feel ashamed of myself to think I had everything and was just throwing it away; also it gave me more respect for my home and the teachings there.
Now I have started my fight back to gain good friends and associates, and to be a true, sincere follower and worker in this Church. By writ- ing this letter I know it will give me more strength to regain health and win spirituality once again.
Through my own observation and personal experience, I have learned that those who live their religion are much happier and seem to have higher ideals and aspirations in life, never complaining or finding fault. Also that we only hurt ourselves by not standing firmly by our convictions and living the way we know is right.
I know that the Lord will forgive me for my mistakes, if I attempt to do right. My main ambition now is to seek good in everything I do, and to try to help someone else, if I possibly can. There is one thing that I am striving for above all and that is, to deserve to have a devoted companion and a good family.
I am appealing to you in all hu- mility and respect and am Sincerely,
"A Daughter of Zion."
him." Life is too full of this "pick- up" business.
I want to hurry from that first C, the C of chance. The second C is the C of choice. The more I study the Gospel the more I think it centers around that wonderful principle of free agency — man's privilege to choose. There's a young couple in our organization with whom I am sharing some con- fidences right now. They're facing one of the most serious choices they have ever made. He's just back from a mission. He has a job, and so has she. They care enough for each other to make it a life partner- ship, but he wants his training. He wants to go East to study engineer- ing and he says: "Shall I do it?" She comes in and says: "Shall I let him go?" Then she says: "Shall I go with him? Do you think we could make it if we both went? It would be at least four or five years." I ask: "What's in your mind, young lady?" And she replies: "I want him to become what he wants to become; I don't want to block that. But I don't feel like waiting. I've waited two years while he's been on his mission. I think I'd rather struggle for four years if at the end of that time he could rise to what I know he has in him. I'd rather struggle along in that four years than remain in mediocrity for the rest of my days."
I said: "Young lady, you're thinking wisely. Why don't you go? I think you'll go." I can't be prophetic enough to see the future, but I can see visions of a young couple, some hardships, some de- nials, but at the end of four years a young man trained to be an en- gineer; twenty years from now a responsible position, a young wom- an happy she was willing to make the sacrifice.
Choice is a wonderful thing. Let's translate it into concrete terms. Out of ten thousand people that may live in your vicinity particularly, how many do you know? What friends have you chosen and why? I'd like to offer this suggestion while you're young. Why not cast about to find the friends that you'd choose to put in the roll that you're going to keep. That's a matter of choice. There isn't a boy who can't go out and in a few days meet ten other boys, one of whom will make your whole life different.
The revelation to me has been to
find how fine people are; seek to
come to know them. You hold back.
You wonder whether you dare go
{Concluded on page 591 )
By JACK SEARS
Nationally Known Il- lustrator and Cartoonist and a member o[ the Faculty, Department of Art, University o/ Utah.
Come few years ago, I met a young fellow whom I had previously been told was a genius as an artist. It did not take me long to realize this. This man of plain living and high thinking was all that had been claimed for him, plus a lot more. I visioned him a few years hence in New York City, holding his own with the best of them.
This young fellow was of a re- tiring nature or it was hard to pic- ture to him and get into his head just how good he was in his line; he had many misgivings as to his artistic fitness.
I knew^ that in some way our men- tal attitude under right contact will infuse correct balance of thought in others, so I went systematically to work on him, determined to keep after him until he made the jump which would land him in New York City.
He was very fearful and said to me one day after about six months of almost daily contact, "I guess I am a coward. I don't think I have the nerve to jump into New York City. I would make a failure of it and would have my family on my hands — would be out of a job — no, I can't do it."
I was moved to remark, "You have your family on your hands here; you are not turning the world upside down financially; and I know you will succeed in New York. Of course you will get bumped, but do you realize, and I feel you do, that you are getting plenty of bumps here?"
I went on preaching New York City — its great possibilities, and the big dividend it paid to those who made good.
This young fellow finally made the jump, and three months after he landed in New York, I received a letter which said:
"I am glad there is one man living who had faith in my ability and I want to thank you for kicking me in the overalls so hard that I landed in New York. I am making three times as much money as I did out West, and enjoying every day the opportunities New York offers."
SIMILARITY By Jean McCaleb
STUCCO plasterers are Like cake makers. With Deft trowel strokes, These "pastry cooks" Frost their "cakes" — The assorted groups Of newly-tinted Bungalows of gay Spanish design.
The frosting on the Bungalow "cakes" is Generous, and of vari- Tinted hues — rose, Green, blue, and orange. Then the southwest sun Softens the bright Tints, till the houses Are like a platter Of pastel pastries that Have been created by The master chefs, the Skilful plasterers.
Today this young man is sought after by leading editors of New York. He gets his work in all of the show window publications he cares to contribute to. Editors bid for his services and fight to get his drawings. He is busy all the time, owns a big bank account, a beau- tiful home, and has a fine family. He manages to take a trip to France, Spain, Italy, and other countries, about every two years, and has de- veloped from a promise to a great reality.
Just such things as this is my excuse for writing my impressions,. and if I can inspire others to realize the great talent stored away in their make-up and get them to understand! "to be themselves," I will feel re^ paid.
If you are floundering around in doubt, get a grasp on yourself, and start the workinq of that mind and forget all about "If" — that tight rope which stretches from doubt to de- spair and is sure to land you on your head for a bump of life-long regrets.
In doubting your own ability and failing to act, you turn from one form of slavery to another. Op- portunities gone are gone forever, but we know that new opportunities are born continuously for the fellow who is up on his toes looking for them. Jasper, a little colored boy, one of the delightful characters in Thunder Cave, that great children's story by Jeremiah Stokes, remarks when in a tight place, "You ain't neber done for till yo' bref's all shut off an' you kain't run no mo!"
539
After
ONE HUNDRED YEARS
N BRITAIN
PRESIDENT GRANT BEING WEL- COMED TO GREAT BRITAIN BY DR. RICHARD R. LYMAN.
Associated Press Photo.
AN EVENTFUL hundred years of Mormonism in Britain came to completion on July
19. It was on July 20, 1837, that Heber C. Kimball and his six com- panions stepped off the Garrick at Liverpool to bring the restored Gos- pel message to their British cousins across the Atlantic.
On the very day that the Church's first century w^as coming to a close, a crowd of almost two hundred members and missionaries gathered at London's Liverpool Street station to welcome their President to Brit- ain's shores. He was coming to at- tend the Mission Centennial celebra- tion and write a memorable first chapter in the history of Mormon- ism's second century in the British Isles.
And a memorable chapter it w^ill be! From the time he stepped from the boat train, which had brought him to London on the last leg of his journey from Berlin, until he de- parted for Holland a few days after the Centennial to continue his tour of the European Mission, President Heber J. Grant filled a schedule that took him two thousand miles by automobile through England and Wales, dedicating no fewer than seven chapels, delivering speeches on other occasions, attending lunch- eons and dinners in his honor, doing a little sightseeing, and then 540
Jt L^entur^ ibtids — and a i^entur^ iJoegins
By PARRY D. SORENSEN
Associate Editor of The Millennial Star
being the principal speaker and guest at the four-day Centennial conference in Preston and Rochdale from July 30 to August 2.
Besides President Grant, a con- tingent of other Church officials, headed by President and Mrs. J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and including George D. Pyper, General Super- intendent of the Deseret Sunday School Union; President Ruth May Fox, her two counselors, Lucy Grant Cannon and Clarissa A. Beesley; three Y. W. M. I. A. General Board members. Rose Wallace Bennett, Laura P. Nicholson and Vida Fox Clawson. In addition, there w^ere President Richard R. Lyman, his wife, Amy Brown Lyman, President and Mrs. Joseph J. Cannon, retiring British Mission heads, and Presi- dent Hugh B. Brown, President Cannon's successor. All aided in writing that first fascinating chap- ter in the second century's history.
Before describing the Centennial, let us review briefly the ten days pre- ceding it, beginning with President Grant's arrival, when the strains of
Above; President and Mrs. J. Reuben Clark, Jr., upon their arrival at Paddington Station, on Thursday, July 22.
Right: At the River Rihble services. The plaque which President Grant unveiled is In the background. Left to right are President Hugh B. Brown, President Richard R. Lyman, President Grant, President Clark, and President Joseph J. Cannon.
"We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet" echoed through the rail- road station as the members enthusi- astically greeted him and his party, consisting of his grandson. Elder Richard G. Smith, Joseph Ander- son, his secretary, and President Hugh B. Brown. President Lyman, who had traveled with the group through the French, Swiss-German, and Czecho-slovakian missions re- turned to London a week early to make final arrangements for the visit and to address the Interna- tional Assembly of the World Fel- lowship of Faiths, on Saturday, July 17, at Whitefields Institute.
The day after arriving. President Grant motored to Liverpool to dedi- cate the recently acquired branch chapel there, exactly a. hundred years to the day after the first mis- sionaries had sailed up the Mersey River and landed at that city. The chapel is on Edge Lane, only a few steps from where Durham House, European and British Mission head- quarters for a quarter of a century, stood. It was President Grant who purchased Durham House while he was presiding over the Mission.
Next day the President dedicated the Burnley Branch Chapel, about thirty miles from Liverpool, and then, on Thursday, July 22, he dedi- cated the Bradford Chapel, return- ing to London the following day.
Meantime, President and Mrs. Clark had arrived on the S. S. Columbus July 22, and were on hand to welcome the President back to London. President Fox also ar- rived, with her counselors, and more than half a hundred other Utahns
Below: President Grant bidding farewell to the M. I. A. members at the conclusion of the mass demonstration at Spotland Field. He left immediately after for London.
and Church members from a tour of Europe and all these were in Lon- don when the presidential party re- turned from the north.
W
''hile Church members across the Atlantic were celebrating the 24th of July, the day was not for- gotten in England, 6,000 miles away. President and Mrs. Lyman were hosts at a dinner party given at the exclusive Royal Automobile Club in honor of President Grant and the other visiting Church officials. Al- though other engagements prevented his remaining the entire evening, Robert Worth Bingham, United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, was at the party for a part of the evening and chatted with President Grant and President Clark for some time. Among the other guests were Captain and Mrs. George Eyston. Captain Eyston, a pioneer in automotive record-break-
Above: The bronze plaque unveiled on the banks of the River Ribble, near Preston. President Grant unveiled it on July 30, 1937.
ing on Utah's Salt Flats, announced at the dinner that he would shortly be leaving to make another record attempt on the Bonneville Salt Beds and also expressed his appreciation for the hospitality accorded him and his crew during their annual visit to Utah. Another British auto racer. Sir Malcolm Campbell, who is a per- sonal friend of President Grant, was on the Continent making speedboat tests at the time and therefore un- able to be present. However, Sir Malcolm hopes to entertain Pres- ident Grant when he returns from his tour of the Scandinavian mis- sions.
Two chapels in London were dedicated Sunday, July 25, with overflow crowds being present on
Left: Taken after the Sun- day evening meeting when President Grant received three bouquets totalling eighty roses. Catherine L. M. Horner, who read the poem "To President Heber J. Grant," is standing between Presidents Grant and Clark.
both occasions. At the Southwest chapel, dedicated in the afternoon, part of the crowd heard the services over a public address system in an- other room. The North Chapel, seating more than 400, was packed to capacity in the evening.
The sixth chapel to be dedicated in seven days was at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, where President Grant went with Presidents Can- non and Brown, On the return journey, they drove through Here- fordshire, the section where Wil- ford Woodruff's rich harvest of converts was reaped. At noon they met President and Mrs. Clark at Stratford-on-Avon, where they were luncheon guests of Lady Flower, wife of Sir Archibald
541
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
Flower, at their beautiful home atop the hill in the city of Shakespeare's birth. Lady Flower also took the group through the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. She visited Salt Lake City several years ago as the advance agent for the Stratford-on- Avon players, who gave perform- ances at Kingsbury Hall.
Driving to Preston from the open- ing services of the Centennial cele- bration, the President's car was greeted at Chorley, just outside of Preston, by flag-bedecked streets and cheering throngs who lined the streets. The reason for such an unexpected "Welcome" became ap- parent in the center of town, when
This photo of Pres- ident Grant was taken in Herefordshire, where Wilford Woodruff reap- ed such a rich harvest of converts. The Mal- vern Hills are in the background.
Below: Another olimpse of President Grant delivering his farewell speech at the Sprtland Field Dem- onstration of the M. I. A. The officials can be seen on the stand. Left to right, they are Clarissa A. Beesley, Lucy Grant Cannon, President Lyman, Gen- eral Sunday School Superintendent Georgie D. Pyper, Joseph An- derson, Ruth May Fox, Amy Kathryn Lyman, Ramona W. Cannon, Rose Wallace Bennett, and Mrs. Harry H. Russell. Standing in the back are President Cannon, and Dr. Ray M. Russell, Superin- tendent of the British Mission Y. M. M. I. A.
the Duke of Gloucester, with an es- cort of a dozen or so cars, drove by on his way to Wigan.
The meeting spot for the first day's activities in Preston was at Vauxhall Chapel, where the glad tidings of the restored Gospel were first proclaimed a century ago. The doors of the chapel were thrown open on that day for members to visit the interior of the quaint little hall and imagine themselves as be- ing present on that historic occasion in 1837. From Vauxhall, President Grant led a pilgrimage through Preston's streets to other points of historical significance in Mormon history. They included the old Cock- pit, scene of the first conference, now^ merely a vacant lot where a building is in the process of con- struction; Preston Market Square, where the first street meetings were held; and a red brick house on Wil- fred Street, a few steps from the center of town, where the first mis- sionaries found lodgings.
Then, at 3 p. m., while a bright sun overhead furnished a perfect setting, a crowd of more than 500 gathered on the green banks of the River Ribble, scene of Britain's first baptisms on the same day a hundred years ago. The climax of the ser- vice came when President Grant, {Concluded on page 576)
Left: The Pioneer Day Bantiuet given at the Royal Automobile Club by President and Mrs. Richard R. Lyman. Beginning at the far end to the left of President Grant and reading clockwise, those present are. President Lyman, Mrs. Dudley Foster, William Goodair, Lucy Grant Cannon, Dr. Ray M. Russell, Vida Fox Clawson, Joseph Anderson, Laura P. Nicholson, Alma J. Larkin, Mrs. Harvey Fletch- er, Clarissa A. Beesley, Frank Wise, Mrs. George Eyston, President Joseph J. Cannon, Mrs. E. Mum- mery, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Mrs. Amy Brown Lyman, Captain Dudley Foster, Miss Florence Simpson, Andre K. Anastasiou, Mrs. Harry H. Russell, Dr. John Bleakley, Mrs. W. K. Firmage, Professor Alice Louise Reynolds, Parry D. Soren- sen, Mrs. Andre K. Anastasiou, President Hugh B. Brown, Mrs. Ramona W. Cannon, Captain George Eyston, and President Grant.
(Ruth May Fox, and Mrs. J. Reuben Clark, also at the banquet cannot be seen in the picture.)
Left: President David 0. McKay, Wilford Wood and Cliurcli Historian, Josepfi Fielding Smitli examining tlie Churcli documents brought bacl( from Illinois.
Below: Charles E. Bidamon shown delivering the notarized bill of sale far the documents to Wilford C. Wood.
ILLINOIS YIELDS
CHURCH
DOCUMENTS
Dart of Pearl of Great Price manuscript and other PAPERS IN Joseph Smith's own handwriting included in
PURCHASE OF WiLFORD C. WoOD PROM ChARLES E. BiDAMON.
By RICHARD L EVANS
For some time past Wilford Wood has been running the follow- ing display notice in the Nauvoo Independent:
Joseph Smith, Mormon Prophet. Any- one having authentic deeds, abstracts, let- ters, documents, publications, relics, per- taining to Mormon Prophet, write Wilford C. Wood, Woods Cross, Utah.
In response to this advertisement, there came from Mr. Bidamon, dated June 28. 1937. at Wilmette. Illinois, a letter which read in part:
Wilmette, 111., June 28. 1937.
Mr. Wilford Wood Woods Cross, Utah
Dear Sir:
I saw your advertisement in the Nauvoo Independent in regard to deeds, documents,
{Continued on page 565)
A fragment of the original translation of tha Book of Abraham in Joseph Smith's own hand- writing.
OUT OF the scenes wherein were enacted some of the happiest and some of the most tragic events in the lives of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his peo- ple, have come now to the Church a rich store of highly valued docu- ments, pertaining to the Church and its early leaders. Many of these pa- pers are in the handwriting of the Prophet Joseph. All of them have historical as well as sentimental value.
The recent purchase was made personally by Wilford C. Wood on his own responsibility. However, through the interest of President David O. McKay and Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, they have now found their way into Church ar- chives, to be permanently preserved. The possessor, until the recent ex- change of title to Elder Wood, was Mr. Charles E. Bidamon, of Wil- mette, Cook County. Illinois, son of Major L. C. Bidamon, husband of the Prophet's widow, Emma Smith.
/^> (^^ ^ a-V^^**^ A-»iJlX<^ ^-^jltk. ^ Xj-«^<:-eUC»-«-««^ 4'C*Vi'^
-'/
' >C^ *'*'***♦ <''^.^»
'-- VJ ^Z-
SNATCHING HIS AUTOMATIC FROM UNDER HIS ARM, THE SKUNK STRUCK THE COYOTE A QUICK BLOW IN THE FACE AND SPRINGING TO HIS SADDLE, DASHED FOR COVER.
The OUTLAW of NAVAJO MOUNTAIN
cJhe Story of IjPosey, JLast LPah- Lite (cyutla^
By ALBERT R. LYMAN
THE STORY THUS PAR: Doivn in the wild and lawless region of Fourcorners, where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado come together, more than kali a century ago Kit Carson rounded up the Navajos and drove them into Santa Be, New Mexico, to keep them there in the "bullpen" for three years. While the Navajos were being thus harshly disciplined, a disaffected handful of Pah-Utes broke away from their tribe north of the San Juan River and took possession of Navajo Mountain in Navajo territory. When the Navajos came back, these Pah-Ute renegades refused to vacate the Navajo country and bad blood resulted. Sowagerie (Posey) the central character of this story, was a child of one of the Pah-Ute renegades. He grew up in a cradle of anarchy. Bitseel, a son of the ousted Navajo, was Posey's most bitter enemy. In the midst of this tense situation in 1879 a colony of Mormons was sent down to settle the San Juan country, largely for the purpose of improving relationship with the Indians. Thales Haskel was their chief interpreter — a man skilled in Indian dialect and psychology. But the Navajos and Pah-Utes continued to prey upon each other and upon the Mormon settlement. Dur- ing one skirmish when cowboy avengers scattered the tribe, the renegade son, Sowagerie, was momentarily separated from the tribe with Toorah, little sister of Poke, the Pah-Ute leader. This brief interlude marked the beginning of a smoldering romance that caused Sowagerie bravely to change his name to Posey and vainly dress himself in fine clothes, braid his hair, and put on war paint. This interest in his little sister, however, was relent- lessly disapproved by Poke, who looked upon the "apostate" Posey as "Skunk," and so referred to him. During one period of tribal disorganization, Toorah, Posey's beloved, disappeared with her brothers, and all Posey's searchings for her were in vain. Posey finally secured vague information concerning Toorah's whereabouts, and these two lovers madly dashed to freedom. Their new found freedom together was soon interrupted, how- ever, when Poke accidentally stumbled upon their hiding place. But he was in trouble and his ugly threatening gave ivay to surly compromise. Posey now entered upon the
544
»eiO'HCj \i.'^i^^^ t'r
most recklessly happy part of his life. In an act of playfulness occurred the greatest tragedy of Posey's life — the shooting of his beloved wife by his own hand. His un- bounded sorrow was made more terrible by the avenging pursuit of Toorah's brother. Poke. But the two met under circumstances which enabled Posey to save Poke's life, wherefore Posey was relieved of further vengeance on thai score by agreeing to pay a high indemnity and by agreeing to marry another of Poke's sisters — a disagreeable superannuated maiden — which circum- stance began another career of heckling evil. Later a handful of Mormon settlers from Bluff captured Posey in a humiliating manner, put him in irons and brought him before a justice of the peace, where he was bound over to appear at the next session of the district court. By a ruse Posey later escaped and went into exile at Navajo Mountain. He was shaken by his first per- sonal experience with white man's justice and sent word to the inhabitants of Bluff, asking their forgiveness and pledging to mend his ways. The charges were with- drawn and Posey returned to the com- munity on temporary good behavior. But as the terror of his exile began to fade, the humiliation of it loomed greater in his mind, and he took steps to see that it would not happen again by going to Colorado to purchase a long range gun, and by learning how the recently installed telephones could be used and how communities could be separated by cutting wires. Thus prepared, he returned to his old ways with a ven- geance. In the midst of this situation Poke's son, Tse-ne-gat, was accused of robbing and killing a sheepherder. Peace officers came to arrest him. In the skirmish that followed both Pah-Utes and whites were killed. Posey had treacherously used a flag of truce to protect him while he gained shooting position. General Hugh L. Scott was sent out from Washington to represent the government in this tragedy. Poke, Posey, Tse-ne-gat, and Jess Posey were taken to Denver for trial. Royalty treated and exonerated, they were released by the government and sent home. This generous treatment they interpreted as an act of weakness, and began to plan further mis- deeds.
■^
4
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
Chapter XVI — The Black Mare
N,
o ONE understanding the Pah-Utes, their behefs about themselves and their beloved coun- try, looked for any improvement to follow the big excursion. When Posey returned with his unwarrant- ed conclusions, it became clear at once that the truth of the matter would sooner or later have to be brought home to him by a process too stern to be misunderstood.
As if his delusions were not suf- ficiently unfortunate without their interference, a certain society in the eastern states took trouble to assure him, while he was away, that he had endured an unfair deal in San Juan. They told him he must fight for his rights and they promised to give him assistance. They also sent mes- sengers to him after he returned, and if there had ever been any possibility of his ever getting started off on the right foot, these meddlers spoiled that possibility.
He returned from the big excur- sion more sure than ever of his im- munity from results and penalties. He believed the fates would protect him from Uncle Sam, from every- thing and everybody. The big court had sent him 'back to complete freedom, even though he had ap- proached under a white flag and shot an unsuspecting officer. Poke too had come home in peace after killing a representative of the law. And Tse-ne-gat, in spite of the con- vincing proof that he had murdered the young Mexican, had been treat- ed like a prince and sent home with every good thing he could eat and drink and indulge.
This allayed Posey's last linger- ing fears of the big government. The Mormons had missed him three times; Poke had been turned twice from a firm determination to kill him, and he flattered himself that Bitseel had always got the worse of the clashes between them. To his own mind he was surely untouchable. He cherished the thought of it, and he found new proof of it in every experience from which he came out unhurt where he might have been killed.
Explaining it one day to a man in Blanding he declared that a bullet fired at him would make a detour around him or fall to the ground be- fore piercing his body. Nothing could reach him to cause death.
And still he made no big talk about any immunity from the erod- ing influences of that implacable
second wife^never a threat of de- serting or punishing her, no matter how often she told him how the old bear would do it, and how there- fore he should do it. He had ac- cepted her as an inevitable phase of a hard-driven bargain with a dread- ed adversary and he would abide the conditions, at least as long as that adversary continued in robust health.
But Old Posey had still another adversary. Real or fancied, he had an adversary of which he dreaded to think, and of which he tried never to speak. From that day in August, 1903, when his camp-neighbors de- serted him, leaving him and his fam- ily to effect their escape alone — leaving him to run in humiliating nakedness from the river and to re- treat humbly into exile, he had a growing fear of the stern fate meted out by his people to bad medicine men. Any man disagreeing with the whole tribe was a heretic, a witch, the author of trouble. He might be found responsible for any kind of calamity, and be turned on by the tribe without mercy.
Woe to the man adjudged to be the author of bad medicine. His own people became his deadly ene- mies. It severed all his ties of af- fection, cut off his kindred in an hour, and made him fit only for death.
Bridger Jack, as fine a man as ever the tribe produced, dared to think for himself and to be different from his people, and he lost his great influence and also his life in a sur- prisingly short time. Kane too, in spite of his bravery and his worth, had dared to be unorthodox and they shot him to rags. No escape for the man credited with making bad medi-
cine! Worse still, no one told him of his danger; they shot him in the back. * ]
i
When Posey returned from the big excursion, the bad medicine cloud was very far away and no larger than a man's hand. He saw it, it caught his eye in spite of himself, and he knew the wind could bring it with deadly increase of size on short notice, yet so far he stood in the bright glow of an ex- ceptional immunity.
But this immunity was not a thing apart from faith and works — not at all. The more immunity, the more works to maintain it, and the more works, the more faith in the im- munity. The first thing he called for after the excursion was his mag- nificent gun. His hands had been itching for weeks to hold the treas- ured weapon again. He fondled it affectionately, looked into the bar- rel, examined the breech. He had resolved to own another just like it, and when he heard that a Mexican sheep-herder on North Elk had the thing he wanted, he collected his assets for purchase or barter and made the trip.
With the two strong shooters, his saddle, gun, his Colt automatic and his indispensable knife, he became the most formidable arsenal ever produced by the tribe. Yet his preparedness was sadly incomplete; he couldn't rest for thinking about it. He must have a skin-em-all horse, a tree-smashing invincible, to carry him with thunderous bound past the fastest Mormon on the range. He wanted a brute on which he could run away and hide from the last panting pursuer. Some bright day things were going to hap- pen again and he must be mounted on the metal and the velocity to ride in the lead of the big stir.
He had gone to Dolores for his first trans-canyon gun, and to North Elk for his second; where should he go for his trans-country horse? He scrutinized everything he saw under a saddle and then began to inquire what kind of riding-stock they had in other parts of the world. He wanted a horse made to order; he was ready to specify the gears, the fibre, the material, the dimensions. He wanted something tough as a cayuse but not so coyote-like in size. For a real Arabian he would have promised all the horses he could steal in five years.
Somebody had noticed a few
mighty good-looking animals over
beyond the big river — somewhere in
(Continued on page 587)
545
THE Dominion of Canada with its vast area and close prox- imity to the United States be- came one of the earhest missionary fields of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In June of 1832, four missionaries (Phineas Young, Elias Strong, Eleazer Miller, and Joseph Young) came to Eastern Canada to do missionary work. They remained but six weeks and returned home rejoicing in their success. They established a branch of the Church at Ernestown on the St. Lawrence River, twelve miles east of Kingston. This was the first branch of the Church in British America. The following December Brigham Young and Joseph Young visited Kingston and vicinity, bap- tized forty-five people and estab- lished a branch at West Loughbor- ough.
In October of 1833 the Prophet
HIS EXCELLENCY LORD TWEEDSMUIR, GOV- ERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA. HE IS PERHAPS BETTER KNOWN AS JOHN BUCHAN, SCHOLAR i AND WRITER.
NORTH
OF THE
BORDER
a glimpse of the great
commonwealth of
Canada, of the Canadian
Mission, and of the cities of
the east in british america,
By ABEL S. RICH
President o/ the Canadian
Mission
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon visited parts of Eastern Canada. They held meetings at Brantford, Mt. Pleasant, Colborn, and Water- ford. Large groups attended their meetings and manifested very great interest in the doctrines taught. The Prophet writes: "Great ex- citement prevailed in every place we visited; "we leave the results in the hands of the Lord."
A number were baptized and spiritual gifts were made manifest in meetings held in homes and in halls. After a stay of seventeen days, the Prophet and his party left for Kirtland via Lake Ontario. Of these experiences the Prophet writes: "We had good meetings, the Spirit was given in great power to some and peace to others. May God carry on His work in this place until all shall know Him."
From that time to the present, mis- sionary work has been carried on throughout various parts of Canada with varying degrees of success and
L. D. S. ALBERTA TEMPLE, CARDSTON
disappointment. Many of the early missionaries to Canada were the stalwart leaders of the Church whose testimonies and striking per- sonalities touched the hearts of good and great men and women who ac- cepted the message, joined the main body of the Saints, and became pil- lars of strength in the growing Church. Outstanding among these early missionaries to Eastern Can- ada were: The Prophet Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Brigham and Joseph Young, Parley P. and Orson Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, David W. Patten, and Orson Hyde. Their preaching met with the same en- thusiasm that it did in almost every country in which the Gospel was in- troduced in that early period of the Church.
As would be expected, these stal- wart men met and converted men and women of their own caliber. Notable among these were John Tay-
RIGHT HONORABLE W. L. MACKENZIE KING, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, .SEPTEMBER, 1937
lor and the Fieldings. As the work in Canada increased, branches of the Church were estabHshed in many parts, and converts were made happy by spiritual manifesta- tions and individual testimonies of the divinity of the restored Gospel. Much opposition, however, was met in some parts, resulting in persecu- tions and mobbings quite similar to conditions found in other parts of the world.
The spirit of gathering rested so heavily upon these early converts in Canada that they had a desire to join the main body of the Church as soon as possible. As a result the great majority of the converts soon joined the Saints in their various gathering places, depleting the branches in Canada but adding strength to the central group.
The Canadian Mission became a separate mission in 1919. Up to this time it had been part of other missions, and was so far from mis- sion headquarters and covered so much territory that little intensive missionary work over this large area was attempted. At first the mission was made up of the eastern half of Canada. In July of 1925 the Prov- inces of Manitoba and Saskat- chewan were taken from the Can- adian Mission and added to the North Central States Mission, which had been organized from four other missions. Maine was added to the Canadian Mission, from the Eastern States Mission, September 6, 1925, and New Hampshire and Vermont were added February 7, 1928. The territory covered by the Mission was so extensive that much of it was far removed from mission headquarters and difficult to reach. For the pur- pose of closer supervision and more intensive work, the Church Author- ities created a new mission of the New England States, May 18, 1937. Maine, New Hampshire, and Ver- mont were taken from the Canadian Mission, and Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were taken
Photos supplied by Courtesy of C. Frank Steele. OTTAWA FROM THE AIR
from the Eastern States Mission. What is now known as the Canadian Mission includes the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
nPo VISIT the established branches of the Church and sections where missionaries are working one must travel 3500 miles. Over this vast territory there is a wide variation in climate, soil, and industrial and so- cial life. In the northern provinces the climate is cold and the soil shal- low. The people are scattered and make their living from the natural timber lands that furnish wood pulp for the great paper industry. They also live by various types of agri- culture. It is not uncommon to see the ox team on the roads and in the fields in the northern parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Then Annapolis valley in Nova Scotia is one of the most famous apple sections in North America. In apple blossom time it is a veritable flower garden, attracting travelers from far and near.
Ontario is the most fertile part of the entire section. The soil is rich and deep, and the rainfall plentiful, and the long summer days make ideal conditions for agriculture of great variety. Grains and hay, ap- ples, peaches, cherries, vegetables of all kinds, and tobacco are grown in abundance. Beautiful well-bred horses are still used in great num- bers, yet many farms are equipped with the most modern machinery.
Mining is also a prominent in- dustry, especially the mining of gold and asbestos. It is, however, from manufacturing and shipping that the great centers have been built. Montreal, the largest city in Canada, has a population of one and one- quarter million; one-tenth of all the
Abel S. Rich, President of the Canadian Mission
Heber S. Allen, Former President of Taylor Stake
CHURCH LEADERS IN CANADA
Edward J. Wood, President of
Alberta Stake and of the
Alberta Temple.
T. Georpe Wood, President of Taylor Stake
Asael E. Palmer, President of Lethbridge Stake
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
JOSEPH SMITH
people of Canada live in this city. It is situated on an island formed by the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers. The latter river makes a line harbor and gives easy access to the ocean several hundred miles away. Its location has made Mon- treal the largest grain shipping cen- ter in the new world. Montreal is a city of churches, there being more than three hundred, some of which are famous for their architectural and historical significance.
Quebec city with its crooked streets, its battlements, fortresses, castles, monasteries, convents, and feudal gates and walls suggests a medieval city of Europe. Lower town is chiefly remarkable for the antiquated style of its buildings and its narrow streets, many of which date back to old French days and give the tourist a feeling that he is in the Old World. It is still a fortress and is considered the strongest natural fortress in Amer- ica. Approached from the river the "Rock City" presents a view almost unsurpassed for beauty. It has been pronounced one of the twenty most
beautiful cities in the world, and is unsurpassed in North America.
Quite in contrast to Montreal and Quebec is Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and Toronto, the Eng- lish intellectual center. Ottawa is situated in the Province of Ontario on the Ottawa River, and in the heart of a rich agricultural valley, surrounded by extensive timber lands. It was not until the end of the 18th century that the first white man settled on the present site of Ottawa. In 1854 it was incorpor- ated as a city and its name, Bytown, changed to Ottawa. Queen Vic- toria selected it as the capital of Canada in 1855, much to the disgust of the rival cities of Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec.
The most attractive features of Ottawa are the government and Parliament buildings, which stand on Parliament Hill overlooking the city. They are built in Italian Gothic style of Canadian sandstone from the Ottawa valley and Devonian sandstone from Potsdam, New York. Next to Toronto, Ottawa is the chief English intellectual center of Canada and the headquarters of the Royal Society of Canada. Its population in 1931 was 126,872.
The Canadian Mission maintains headquarters in the city of Toronto, which is one of the most beautiful cities in North America. Its resi- dential section and tree-lined streets make it a city of unusual attraction; all residences are built of brick or
DISTRICT PRESIDENTS IN CONFERENCE AT MONTREAL AND MONTREAL MISSIONARIES Front, fi-om left to right: Gordon T. Ballantyne, H. Carma Wilson, Laurel Hill, Abel S. Rich, Pres. Canadian Mission; June Chadwick, Florence Lloyd, Albert L. Payne of Mission Office, Raymond J. Pace of Toronto. Back, from left to right: Seth A. Dodge, Eugene E. Campbell, Montreal District, Kenneth E. Hacking, Maine District; Newell D. Dickson, Wendell C. Day, Ottawa District; Irving E. Anderson, Toronto District; Owen J. Cook, London District; S. LeVan Kimball, Eugene B. Manwaring, Hamilton District.
JOHN TAYLOR
stone, and 75% of its 850,000 inhab- itants live in their own homes and they seem to vie with each other in making them beautiful and attrac- tive. A five-mile water front on Lake Ontario gives Toronto a de- lightful climate all year. The city has an important place in Church history, for here was the home of John Taylor, third president of the Church, and of the Fieldings, and of the Toronto Society from which many converts were made.
npHE PEOPLE of Canada are largely from old European stock with the great majority of English de- scent except in Quebec which is largely French. They are dis- tinctly a religious people, as evi- denced by the hundreds of most beautiful churches which they at- tend in large numbers, and their strict observance of the Sabbath Day. All places of business, ex- cept eating-houses and drug- stores, and all places of amusement, are closed on Sunday. Even in fruit harvest time people do not work on (Concluded on page 585)
A SHORT SHORT STORY
COMPLETE ON THIS PAGE
Golden of
EVERGREEN
By SIDNEY DE GREY
T
i'vE ALLus been sort o proud o' the folks that make up the pop'lation of Evergreen. O' course, this is my home town— was born two houses down from where you turn the bend afore you come to the Court House, and about all the travelin' I've done was when I went away to Tarn my barber-trade. But there's a-quite a few fellers who live here, that waren't natives at all, but who fer some good reason trans- planted themselves here and they are among our most progressive citizens.
You take the case of George Ben- son, Evergreen's mayor, and who has run Benson's Drug Store since Heck was a pup. This story con- sarnin' George has a lot o' sentiment attached to it, so I thought I'd better get his permission afore I tells it. He was jest in my shop 'bout an hour ago fer to get slicked up with a hair-cut and a shave and I asked him if he'd mind if I told about him and Penelope Green. "No," says he, so here goes.
Wal, sir, George is a man of 'bout fifty-five y'ars now, and when he was a young 'un they didn't have sech things as automobiles and prob- ably it was a good thing, fer George loved his horses and a-ridin' was his fav'rite pastime.
Wall, on a sartin day in June 'bout thirty y'ar ago, George was a lookin' 'round fer a location to open up a drug store and he had heerd that Evergreen was a thrivin' spot, so he came here to look over the prospects.
He'd made friends with old Caleb Foster — »Caleb used to run the livery stable back in those days, and he had some purty durn slick mounts, I'm a'tellin' you.
Wal, Caleb rented one o* his fastest horses to George. I'm a- goin' to tell you his name 'cause he played a mighty important part and made a heapsite more noble a sac-
#l^'fV<5M
l^^l^^i-
rifice than some humans we read 'bout. His name was Golden. They named him that 'cause he was a roan and sort o' that color.
VJEORGE was at that time and still is today a sort o' athletic built-chap, and it made a purty pair, those two, horse and rider.
Wal, George was a saunterin' on the road that crosses town and goes over the Santa Fe Railway tracks when up from behind him came women's screams and fast gal- lopin' hoofs and 'most before he knowed it, one of them rigs that carry four passengers in it rushed madly past him.
Strange to say, at that pertickler moment. Number One was a comin' on, and it looked fer fair that she would meet that run-away full- square and smash the occupants to bits.
Wal, George gave Golden the full rein and, the horse, he jest seem- ed to know what was expected of him, fer he let out all the speed he had.
Wal, the engineer on Number One saw that the rig approachin' the crossin' was out of control, so he slapped on the air brake, but it
e-3i
b
didn't stop soon enough. George caught up with the runaway mare, jumped off Golden, and swung the mare up the Millcreek Turnpike that runs along-side the tracks, but Golden couldn't stop and the train met him full abreast.
Wal, out near where George lives is a tombstone, markin' the burial spot of Golden and it bears these words, "Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his brother." And I rather think it per- tains to horses, too.
It ain't presumin' anything to say that out of that mirac'lous escape and mutual sympathy for the horse, a warm friendship developed which, as time passed, ripened into love.
The gal who was a drivin' the rig was Penelope Green. A lot of the boys in Evergreen was sort of stuck on Penelope, but when she first saw George and realized what he had done fer her there seemed to be a gratifyin' look in her eyes.
Nell, as we alius called her, was one of the peaches of the village. She had beautiful brown eyes that talked when they smiled. She was just a slight gal, but she was into everything.
George had an offer to open a drug store over in Covington Cor- ners in Nebrasky, But I guess Penelope was the reason for his re- mainin' in Evergreen. Leastways, a few months later George started his drug store here, and they was married.
But talk to George 'bout Golden, even to this day, and a tear will come up in his eye as he tells you 'bout that horse.
549
CIGARET
IN RESEARCH laboratories at Yale University, some four years ago, a chance observation by two workers, H. W. Haggard and L. A. Greenberg, brought out the fact that, under certain conditions, smoking a cigaret caused an increase in sugar content of the blood. It is quite generally believed that a form of sugar represents the substance most readily burned by body tissues to yield energy. Accordingly, Drs. Haggard and Greenberg reported their observation and stated they felt this fact must account for at least a considerable part of the gratifica- tion felt by a smoker from his smoke. Always alert for any information that might be helpful in their deter- mined campaign to make every man, woman, and child an addict of to- bacco, American tobacco interests avidly seized upon this thought. With incredible swiftness, English- speaking countries were flooded by
"Get a lift from a ," "
will not let you down," etc.,
etc. Attached to this usually went some champion, or near champion athlete's photograph — or several of them — then a story such as the fol- lowing, which is quoted from an ad- vertisement occurring in one of our most highly rated periodicals:
"Tired? No matter! Here's a delightful way to restore your flow of energy . . . as now revealed by science. After swim- ming . . . after a hard day's work . . any time when you need new vim and energy
. . . light a And as you enjoy
its cool, rich flavor, your flow of natural energy will be restored. This 'energizing
effect' in , a discovery confirmed by
a famous research laboratory in New York, occurs in a harmless and utterly delightful manner. As your latent energy is made available, your fatigue and irritability be- come a thing of the past!"
One English writer, who implied that he was an athlete of some prowess, spread himself over his newspaper in an editorial entitled "Energy from a Cigaret." In it, he wrote, among other similar things, the following:
"Do you take a medicine chest around in your waistcoat pocket? I do. So, without realizing it, do millions of others. Every man, in fact, and every woman who carries a cigaret case. Ten little white tubes. What do they do? They each contain an alkaloid, nicotin, which stimulates your adrenal glands. . . . these tiny glands, when stimulated, send sugar coursing through the blood stream. Why is that important? Sugar means energy. Indeed, the best indication of a person's energy, at any given time, is an analysis of his blood sugar concentration.
"There can be no doubt. It is a medical
550
\\
LIFT
n
By L WESTON OAKS, M.D.
efore y^ou let them lift ifou up read now they let you down
T\r Oaks of Provo, Utah, has long been a careful medical observer of young men and women, an enthusiast for athletics and athletes, and a student of the effects of stimu- lants and narcotics on human physical welfare. He here invites attention to one of the many advertising abuses that have been foisted upon the American public by the tobacco interests.
fact, supported by human experience. Cigarets are a medicine; a stimulant; a pick-me-up which there is no reason to believe does you harm. So go right ahead with your cigaret smoking. Don't be afraid of it any more . . . Smoke bad tobacco, and cigarets become your enemy. Smoke well-known brands, and cigarets will remain your friend."
It might be difficult to discover a more blatant misuse of scientific facts
— a more childish drawing of in- ferences and conclusions, baseless and far afield from their claimed reasons, than is represented in the vast amount of tobacco advertising — sampled by the above — which is daily inflicted upon an unsuspecting populace.
Reluctant to use the gray matter nature endowed us with, and stand- ing always ready to be coaxed softly into line by anything crying an ap- peal to our senses, we contentedly swallow such gross untruths and accept commercialism's statement that they are "scientific" and there- fore indisputably true. We even accept such statements as this: "Smoke bad tobacco, and cigarets become your enemy, known brands, and remain your friend." contain the same alkaloid, nicotin; but those "well-known," because of being supported by wealth, and widely advertised, acquire therefrom great virtue!
It is interesting to examine a little into this question and to learn what research workers actually do say. With your indulgence, the writer should hke to call attention to one point bearing upon sugar in the blood. The English writer stated that — -" . . . the best indication of a person's energy at any given time, is an analysis of his blood sugar concentration." His understanding of physiology appears to have been sadly neglected. He seems unaware even of the long recognized fact that in diabetes mellitus { sugar diabetes ) ,
Smoke well- cigarets will All tobaccos
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
blood sugar is much above a normal level, yet the victim of that disease is far from being a shining example of "latent energy awakened," as some such advertising tells us. Furthermore, any person whose blood sugar is persistently above normal, is an ill person. Following a meal, especially if it be rich in starches and sugars, the blood sugar rises to a high level for an hour or so, yet few of us are greatly ex- hilarated or "energized" right after eating! The effect is more one bor- dering upon sluggishness, especially if we have eaten heartily.
Also, it has been pointed out by Dr. William J. McCormick, in a paper published in the July, 1935, issue of American Journal of Hy- giene, that other poisons, both ad- ministered as drugs and those manu- factured by infecting germs, cause a rise in blood sugar. This, as has long been taught, comes from a re- action of body defenses against the toxin; and sugar is used in render- ing the poison as nearly innocuous as one's body is capable of making it.
reserve protects our endurance powers and enables us to carry on over long periods without tiring seriously. It is a well-known and often observed fact that any habitual smoker loses in endurance so that he cannot hold up under long con- tinued stress. If an emergency arises,
A
GREAT deal is said about "adren- als," but no note is taken of the fact that each adrenal gland is com- prised of two portions having func- tions at least in part diametrically opposed to each other. Hence, ap- plying so glibly the term "stimula- tion of adrenals" is, to say the least, a long-shot presumption. Every established fact yet known about nicotin brands it as a narcotic or depressant — the exact opposite of "stimulant" — and reason whispers that any effect it has upon adrenal glands is more likely to be achieved by depressing the one part, and thus allowing the other to overact.
Observations are recorded which cast some doubt upon the likelihood of an average smoker's blood sugar being increased. However, let us grant it for the moment, and try to picture what happens.
Under normal conditions, there is maintained at all times, a reserve store of glycogen or "animal starch," mostly in the liver. When more sugar is needed in the blood, animal starch is converted into sugar and poured into the blood stream. De- mands upon this vital reserve are carefully controlled, and it is really lowered only under conditions of fasting or when a great emergency arises which calls for such exertion and endurance as to leave us, at its finish, spent and exhausted. When other things are normal, and no great emergency is experienced, the
when he must give all that he can in a critical struggle, he soon drops panting, with gray face and staring eyes. If it is a long, steady strain, such as a full day of heavy physical labor, his activity level breaks be- fore the day is done, and he will be found lagging. This is an incontro- vertible fact that one need not enter the laboratory to prove. Has the smoker then gained anything by tampering with the vital reserve which nature provided for his pro- tection?
An editorial, in the March 10, 1934, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (p. 770), discussed the work of Drs. Haggard and Greenberg relative to their discovery of the increase, by nicotin, of blood sugar. This dis- cussion points out a thing not men- tioned by the tobacco advertisers, for obvious reasons. In their study, the investigators found that, when blood sugar is at a normal level, and oxidation is going on in the body tissues at a normal rate, the smoking of a cigaret causes no
appreciable change in blood sugar level, which would reasonably in- dicate that sufficient is already pres- ent to meet the body's need in trying to overcome the nicotin, without any drawing upon reserves being neces- sary. However, when tissue activ- ity and blood sugar are at a fasting level, a smoke causes the sugar to rise, within fifteen minutes, up to around the normal value. But, — and this, too, the commercial adver- tisers forgot to mention — -the rise lasts for only thirty minutes, then it falls to its former low point. This information sounds a note of warn- ing— changes the vaunted promise to a threat. For we can at once see a jaded effort by the body's defenses to meet a serious insult thrust upon them at a time when they are already low in preparation to respond, and not the gentle "ener- gizing stimulation" we have been led to expect.
Since Drs. Haggard and Green- berg published their paper, others have studied the problem. Some have verified their work; some are casting doubt upon it. However, the hopeful thing is a definitely awak- ened interest shown by people in medical research in effects of tobacco upon the human body. Heretofore tobacco, perhaps because of its gen- eral use and a lack of any wide- spread belief that it was hurtful, has been casually accepted as harmless to the majority. Now we shall, as truly scientific investigation gathers momentum, have the truth verified and some of the error branded.
"POURING the last several years, ma- terial has been rapidly accumu- lating relative to nicotin's effect up- on heart and blood vessels in hu- man beings. One series of investi- gations dealt with angina pectoris, that most common of all diseases, causing sudden death. In a promi- nent German medical publication. Doctor J. Pawinski averred that to- bacco was the most frequent caus- ative agent in producing angina pectoris in man. Other students of the question are not agreed with this; but all writers of standing seem to consider that the use of tobacco does precipitate the attacks and ag- gravate the disease.
Somew^hat akin to angina pectoris, in the nature of its mechanism, is a disease of blood vessels, called thrombo-angitis obliterans. Where- as angina pectoris affects blood vessels of the heart muscle itself, this condition occurs in arteries of feet and legs especially. Its end [Concluded on page 5M)
551
CAREER GIRL
A SHORT SHORT STORY OF THE MUSIC IN A woman's FINGERS THAT FOUND ITS WAY TO HER HEART.
BY
JOHN SHERMAN WALKER
there was the gUmmer of lights somewhere ahead near the engine and a shuffling noise at the baggage
HER SHARP OUTCRY OF PAIN WAS LOST AMID THE SHRILL BLAST OF THE LOCOMOTIVE WHISTLE, JANGLING OF BELLS, AND CLICK- CUCK OF THE WHEELS GATHERING SPEED AS THE TRAIN GLIDED OFF WITHOUT HER.
fl
BOVE the fine, sweet strains of the violin she played, Sonia was increasingly aware of the swift click of train-wheels as the Limited carried her westward.
Her compartment was the last word in luxury, as became a virtuoso of such brilliance as to have been acclaimed by the critic, Krimm, in his ordinarily caustic review, as "Madamoiselle Paganini."
That was a triumph for Sonia Marnov, who from her little- girl days — when her small fingers would scarcely reach around the neck of a violin — had set the goal of her career high — as high, even, as that which had been reached by the greatest of the master-men of the violin.
Her father, a maker of fine violins and a gifted player himself, had taught Sonia well the traditions and technique of the violin — and Sonia very early had shown a natural genius for playing the instrument.
As she progressed she had been impressed, however, with the fact that all of the more noted violinists had been men. Naively, as a girl, she had asked herself, why couldn't a woman surpass them all in this art with the bow and strings?
So, it was a triumph — Krimm calling her, "Madamoiselle Pagan- ini"— and Sonia exulted as she end- ed her playing with a confident, swaggering sweep of her bow over the strings.
Swaying slightly with the rhythm, she was an exotically lovely figure 552
in the subdued light, the clear white- ness of her skin in cameo-contrast with the smooth-drawn black sheen of her hair and the shining jet of her eyes.
For a moment she held the violin under the soft glow of the lamp, admiring the darkly-red luster of its wood. Could any lover speak to her in nobler tones than her Cremona; would anyone be so responsive to her touch and mood as this, her violin-love? Was there any mortal experience to compare with the pleasure of creating beautiful music; what greater career than that?
Sonia held the violin to her breast in a passionate moment — then lightly touched her pale lips to the satin-wood of the Cremona before placing it away in its case.
With her exultation, however, had come a dread apprehension. How long could a career such as hers last? A few short years of strenu- ous concert playing — after that, the inevitable waning, mediocre years that she knew she could not endure — until, oblivion. The thought seem- ed to suffocate her and the train compartment was all at once stifling.
It was then that the smooth speed of the train slackened and the click- a-click of the wheels came slower in Sonia's consciousness. The train was stopping, and to Sonia, at that moment, it meant a brief release from the confining compartment — a breath of outside night air that would clear her mind of the mood that tormented her.
The train now was stopped amid a jangling of bells and muffled words from down the track. Quickly Sonia went along the aisle and out down the steps of her car. Outside
car.
OONIA stepped from the lowest car-step, but with a startled cry, tried to catch herself from the fall upon the steep embankment by the tracks, which in the dark, she had mistaken for a station platform. But a high-heeled ankle buckled un- der her as she struck the cindered slope.
Her sharp outcry of pain was lost amid the shrill blast of the loco- motive whistle, jangling of bells, and click-clack of the wheels gathering speed as the train glided off without her — and in a matter of minutes had left only the dull glimmer of a red tail-lamp disappearing into the vast dark of the western night.
Not entirely lost, though — Sonia's outcry into the cool night air. The twin glare of auto-lights came pierc- ing the dark, down a road paralleling the tracks. Sonia's sprained ankle was sickening her — and only half- consciously she heard a masculine voice from the automobile saying:
"Here, take the wheel, Gracie! Someone's out there by the track. I'll see."
Sonia felt herself lifted into the back seat of the sedan, then was lost in a feverish, half-waking sick stupor that continued in a gently-jarred ride for hours it seemed as the car eased its way along a rough-hewn road that led on to a rustic lodge in the depths of a pine forest.
A morning later Sonia was seated on the sunny, rustic porch of Pine- view Lodge — a studio in the pines — beside the man who had rescued her from the terrifying night at the train- stop. He was saying:
"You're Sonia Marnov, of course.
I realized that as soon as I'd got you
here — 'Madamoiselle Paganini' —
{Concluded on page 587)
Page for young writers
(C KklX^fc
JUST NINETEEN
By Pearl Bingham Age 19
JUST nineteen, but sometimes old, Sometimes timid, sometimes bold, Sometimes young, sometimes sad. Sometimes blue, sometimes glad, Sometimes sulky, sometimes glum, Sometimes smart, sometimes dumb, Sometimes gay, sometimes angry. Sometimes simple, sometimes lonely, Just the moods at times I feel. Some in spite of — some at will, Just nineteen, but when all's done, O what happiness and what fun!
YOU REMEMBERED
By Lucille Waters Matfson Age 20
WHEN YOU went away. People nodded and told me with a smile, "You needn't worry. He will come back. Absence makes the heart grow fonder." But I was blue and lonesome — For awhile — And wrote you often — and wondered.
Today you returned!
And I found they were wrong,
Time makes one forget.
For when I answered your knock
A total stranger stood outside my door.
You remembered — It was I who forgot!
LOTS OF TROUBLE
By Norma Louise Kartchner Age 10
SCHOOL is lots and lots of trouble. On examination day, And your heart is all aflutter. And you don't know what to say. But we surely must have knowledge To be really great and wise. And not too much complaining, Even from a girl my size. But I'll bet when I am fifty-five And getting old and gray, I'll have some kids to send to school. And I'll stay home and play.
MY GARDEN
By Mildred Hurst Age 15
MY GARDEN covers the earth, Daily it struggles onward Through constant effort; Millions of flowers bloom in it; Other millions are lying dead or are slowly
wilting with age. There are bright, balmy days when the
flowers, none alike. Dance in the breezes and are happy, There are rainy days when the silver rain
falls plentifully. Some weak blossoms are beaten down by
the storm; Others are strong and survive. Often a great scourge comes — The powerful and destructive god of Mars Tramples many tender buds Beneath his horrible feet. And the garden quails beneath them But always revives. Ofttimes the flowers in their follies Kill each other,
But always the garden remains and Flourishes under the watchful care of the
Gardener. The Gardener is God — My garden is the Garden of Life.
APRIL RAIN
By Barbara Robinson Age 16
APPLE trees that sprinkle fragrant snow upon the grass. The poignant smell of wet, perfumed violets
— a mass Of purple . . . Cool, rain-washed air, a
rain-filled tulip cup. The artistry of slim young willows that
raise their branches up . . . The swift, exuberant rush of impetuous
winds on high. The exultant, soaring sweep of vivid wings
against the sky . . .
Black branches dripping silver rain . . . April comes — with ecstasy that knoweth pain.
WONDERING
By Vevedeen Woolsey Age 13
I WONDER what is beyond the hedge That separates me from the rest of the world? It's thick and green and thorny And I cannot see through — I wonder what is beyond the hedge That stands so high above my head? When I grow a little taller Perhaps I may see over. But while I'm, oh! so little, I'll lie on the cool green grass Close by the cottage wall And gaze at the clear blue sky. And I'll dream of many fanciful things About the hedge that separates The rest of the world from me. Still — I wonder what is beyond the hedge?
INTERMISSION FOR TEARS
By Lois Powell Age 18
I TURNED a quiet comer in my mind today Walked a mossy, cone-strewed path In my mind. And found within a clump of mountain
columbines A memory I thought I'd lost. Suddenly,
Like a child above her rain-soaked doll, I cried. . . A little- Cried over a forgotten memory I stumbled on Accidentally.
AND THEN MY HEART REJOICED
By Beverly Larrick Age 16
TODAY I found a flower in my garden, Just one, an early harbinger of spring. Unafraid, its golden head a-nodding. It faced the chilling winds the springtime brings: And then my heart rejoiced.
Today I found a robin in my garden. Just one— an early harbinger of spring. Unafraid, he hopped among the grasses, And swelled his throat his lilting song to sing;
And then my heart rejoiced.
Today I found a thought out in my garden; For all a new beginning, God has said. So unafraid, like springtime's birds and
flowers, I'll start anew to reach the goal ahead. And then my heart rejoiced.
553
N
\\"K ToRTH to Europe!" This may sound like a fairy tale*, yet there it is — stretching out on your map. The Hudson Bay, a great inland sea, jutting deep into the center of Canada and Hudson Strait, are the waters involved in the new shipping route. The bay, in- cluding James Bay, measures nearly one thousand miles from north to south and six hundred miles from east to west at its greatest breadth. The strait, which carries the boats from the bay into the Atlantic Ocean, is about five hundred miles long and has an average width of about one hundred miles. The Hud- son Bay drainage basin is approxi- mately one million, five hundred thousand square miles.
Although lying in the far north, the Hudson Bay route offers no seri- ous barriers to shipping during the months the route is open. The Arctic is a "friendly Arctic" in many respects; not the bleak, pitiless land often pictured on the screen and in the picture books. The route is wide, remarkably free from shoals, and the nine hundred mile stretch from the mouth of Hudson Strait to Churchill is made in only four courses. The vessels of the Hud- son Bay Company, that powerful and ancient trading organization in northern Canada, have been travers- ing the route for more than two hundred fifty years. In that period not more than three ships have been lost.
Churchill is the port on Hudson Bay being developed by the Can- adian government. It is the ter- minus of the famous Hudson Bay Railway and the harbor for shipping via the northern route. At Churchill there is one of the magnificent har- bors of the world, deep and shel- 554
NORTH
TO
EUROPE
By C FRANK STEELE
City Editor o/ "The Lethbridge Herald"
tered, and the genius of man has contributed to the gifts of nature's splendid shipping facilities. These facilities are extended as the route expands.
Now you have something of the picture of "North to Europe." The Hudson Bay Railway, built with no little difficulty and at great expense, connects Churchill with The Pas and thus the New North is linked with a network of steel covering the whole North American continent.
The north is astir from Alaska to Labrador. There is no depression there. Here is the last frontier and into it the pioneering spirit of man has carried him. The fur trade, fish- ing, agriculture in the great Peace River valley and other mild sections, lumbering, and in the last few years — mining. The Great Bear Lake with its deposits of radium believed capable of freeing North America from the radium monopoly, the Flin Flon, Red Lake, and other richly mineralized areas in the pre-Cam- brian Shield^these are rapidly
CHURCHILL ON THE HUDSON BAY WATER- FRONT, SHOWING THE GOVERNMENT GRAIN ELEVATOR AND ONE OF THE FIRST GRAIN BOATS LEAVING FOR LIVERPOOL, VIA THE "SAY ROUTE".
growing in importance, the airplane playing a glamorous role in the epic story.
A ND NOW we are hearing much of a great motor highway through the interior of Canada linking the cities of the United States with Alaska. This highway would run through Alberta and the northwest territories to Uncle Sam's far north- ern territory. Its tourist and com- mercial possibilities are limitless, while from the standpoint of military strategy, such a road would be of primary importance in the emer- gency of war on the Pacific. A ma- jor U. S. naval and air base in Alaska is discussed from time to time in the press, giving additional sup- port to the Alaska highway pro- posal. While official Canada has not spoken on the subject it is be- lieved it would be friendly, for the British Commonwealth of Nations has vital interests on the Pacific.
But back to our immediate theme — the Bay Route.
No more fascinating location for a bold adventure could have been found than this. Churchill Harbor, Hudson Bay, and Hudson Strait, in fact, the whole region, breathe romance. For centuries it has been the setting for desperate struggles against the forces of nature — cold, storm, famine, isolation. Glamor- ous history reaching back to the beginnings of white man's civiliza- tion on this continent. Here we have a sublime, a grand touch to the enterprises of man, an added nobility to his achievements.
It is strangely true that the Hud- son Strait never actually freezes over. However, navigation is un- dertaken only during a short sum- mer season, as the movement of
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
C. FRANK STEELE
vessels becomes hazardous on ac- count of floes workinq down the Fox Channel, which blocks the pas- sage. Icebergs come down the Davis Strait, enter Hudson Strait at Resolution, and work their way westward along the rock-bound shoreline. Curiously enough no bergs enter the bay. Patrol ships, wireless warnings, lighthouses, and other safeguards are provided ship- ping on this "shortest route" from America to Europe. Fog conditions are not serious.
Freighters have berthed in Chur- chill harbor a fortnight after leav- ing continental ports. This is a striking achievement, for Churchill lies a thousand miles west of Mont- real, yet the distance from Churchill to Liverpool is less than the dis- tance from Montreal to Liverpool. The significance of this becomes ap- parent when we note that five hun- dred miles by rail from Churchill lie the vast grain fields of Western Canada and closer still are the tre- mendous mineral deposits of central Canada.
Exploring the Bay Route's possi- bilities a little farther, we vision its even drawing traffic from the mid- west United States. And when the time of important expansion comes, Churchill will be in a position to handle the trade, for the Canadian government is building harbor, ter- minal, and other facilities on broad, modern, permanent lines. The gov- ernment-owned grain elevator has a capacity of 2,500,000 bushels and provisions have been made for ex- tending the plant to accommodate 10,000,000 bushels.
Behind this drama of modern en- gineering and business enterprise is a stirring chain of historical events going back to the year after the dis- covery of America's mainland. Cabot, in his second voyage to the New World, coasted as far north as the entrance to Hudson Strait and from that year the region was
explored by intrepid English navi- gators, notably Henry Hudson. In 1610, Hudson in his gallant little Discovery sailed through the north- ern straits into the waters of the bay which later was given his name. He was really seeking the "Northwest Passage," to India, for years the quest of navigators, but as it turned out, he had discovered a great northern "sea." He was compelled to remain the winter, being frozen in on November 12.
Hudson's experiences with a mu- tinous crew during that cold and bitter winter and his cruel fate com- prise one of the dramatic chapters in the history of exploration. He and a few loyal members of his crew were cast adrift and what his fate was has never been known. The Discovery and a skeleton crew after terrible hardships finally got back to Britain. Legend has gro^wn up around the fate of Henry Hudson, the daring captain, and it is still believed by some that liis spirit hovers near the seas his courage made known.
Later came the ships of the Hud- son Bay Company and the opening up of the great fur trade. And now comes a new day for the "Bay Route" with the conquest of the north by rail, sea, and air. Through Churchill in the years to come will pass a large volume of North America's trade.
THE HUDSON BAY RAIL- ROAD, RAIL LINK WITH CHURCHILL AND THE "BAY RO-UTE," SHOWN CROSSING THE NELSON RIVER, LOOKING NORTH- EAST.
THE LAND of Zion today is beau- tiful— even more so, possibly, than when the first group of Latter-day Saints viewed it as they came with the Prophet Joseph Smith to see this region which had been designated of the Lord by revela- tion as the central gathering place of His people.
Its rolling hills are covered with green pastures, some timber, and with productive farms which are dotted by well-kept homes, housing a contented and happy people. Pro- gressive little cities and towns have grown where once there was a wil- dpiness, giving to Jackson County, In addition to its placid agricultural aspect, a decidedly urban appear- ance. Jackson is likewise a county made beautiful, not only by its natural endowments, but by a well- developed community planning pro- ject, the results of which have given this region a pleasing distinctive- ness.
Jackson County is keeping well abreast of the times, and is growing commercially, industrially, educa- tionally, and religiously. Fine paved highways form a network over the entire area, passing by farms, through cities and over bridges.
While riding through the county today, one is reminded of the vivid description of the Prophet who was later to suflFer so much because of tribulations arising there.
The Prophet spoke of Jackson County — the land of Zion as record- ed in the History of the Church by Joseph Smith, Chapter XVI, pages 197-198— as follows:
"The country is unlike the timbered states of the East. As far as the eye can reach the beautiful rolling prairies lie spread out like a sea of meadows; and are decorated with a growth of flowers so gorgeous and grand as to exceed descrip- tion; and nothing is more fruitful, or a richer stockholder in the blooming prairies
556
\\
Zion
VIEW OF INDEPENDENCE TAKEN FROM THE BLUE RIDGE LOOKING EASTWARD DOWN DM THE CITY.
//
AS IT IS TODAY
By ELIAS S. WOODRUFF
President o[ the Central States Mission
**T ET YOUR HEARTS BE COMFORTED CONCERNING ZiON;
FOR ALL FLESH IS IN MINE HANDS; BE STILL AND
KNOV^ THAT I AM GOD. ZiON SHALL NOT BE MOVED OUT OF HER
PLACE, NOTWITHSTANDING HER CHILDREN ARE SCATTERED. ThEY
that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion — And all these things that the prophets might be fulfilled." d. and c. 101:16-19.
than the honey bee. Only on the water courses is timber to be found. There in strips from one to three miles in width, and following faithfully the meanderings of the streams, it grows in luxuriant forests. The forests are a mixture of oak, hickory, black walnut, elm, ash, cherry, honey lo- cust, mulberry, coffee bean, hackberry, boxelder, and bass wood; with the addi- tion of Cottonwood, butterwood, pecan, and soft and hard maple upon the bottoms. The shrubbery is beautiful, and consists in part of plums, grapes, crab apple, and persimmons.
"The soil is rich and fertile; from three to ten feet deep, and generally composed of a rich black mould, intermingled with clay and sand. It yields, in abundance, wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, cotton and many other common agricultural products. Horses, cattle and hogs, though of an in- ferior breed, are tolerably plentiful, and seem nearly to raise themselves by graz- ing in the vast prairie range in summer, and feeding upon the bottoms in winter. The wild game is less plentiful of course, where man has commenced the cultivation of the soil, than in the wild prairies, Buf-
falo, elk, deer, bear, wolves, beaver, and many smaller animals here roam at pleas- ure. Turkeys, geese, swans, ducks, yea, a variety of the feathered tribe, are among the rich abundance that graces the de- lightful regions of this goodly land — the heritage of the children of God.
"The season is mild and delightful near- ly three quarters of the year, and as the land of Zion, situated at about equal dis- tances from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as from the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains in the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude, and between the sixteenth and seventeenth degrees of west longitude, it bids fair — when the curse is taken from the land — ^to become one of the most blessed pices on the globe. The winters are milder than the Atlantic states of the same parallel of latitude, and the weather is more agree- able; so that were the virtues of the inhab- itants only equal to the blessings of the Lord which He permits to crown the in- dustry of those inhabitants, there would be a measure of the good things of life for the benefit of the Saints, full, pressed down, and running over, even an hundred- fold."
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
ELIAS S. WOODRUFF
The Prophet in writing about this land spoke of the lack, in his day, of physical improvements, such as mills, schools, and the benefits of science, but continues:
"But all these impediments vanish when it is recollected what the Prophets have said concerning Zion in the last days; how the glory of Lebanon is to come upon her; the nr tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of His sanc- tuary, that He may make the place of His feet glorious.
"Where for brass, he will bring gold; and for iron he will bring silver; and for wood, brass; and for stones, iron; and where the feast of fat things will be given to the just; yea, when the splendor sf the Lord is brought to our consideration for the good of his people, the calculations of men and the vain glory of the world van- ish, and we exclaim — 'Out of Zion the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.' "
With such enthusiasm did the Prophet speak of this land of Zion, which was Jackson County.
TfHE ADVANCE of the Latter-day Saints to the "borders of the Lamanites" came early in their his- tory, and hardly a year had passed from the date of the organization of the Church before the Elders were seen in the land of Missouri, for the Lord had told them that there would He reveal unto them the gathering place, and the site of His house.
In consequence of this promise, after the brethren had asked "When will the wilderness blossom as the rose? and when will Zion be built up in her glory? and where will Thy temple stand?" the Lord spoke through His prophet to those who were assembled in Zion and said :
"Hearken O ye Elders of my Church, saith the Lord your God, who have as-
sembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the Saints:
"Wherefore this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. And thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom, here is wisdom. Behold, the place which is now called Indepen- dence, is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the court- house; wherefore, it is wisdom that the land be purchased by the Saints, and also every tract lying westward even unto the line running directly between Jew and Gentile; and also every tract border- ing by the prairies, inasmuch as my dis- ciples are enabled to buy lands. Behold, this is wisdom, that they may obtain it for an everlasting inheritance."
The Lord was careful, however, to give instructions to the effect that the movement into Jackson county should be in an organized manner, and toward this end, He designated, by name, those individuals who should have charge of various phases of this movement, and He went so far as to prescribe their duties.
Therefore He said, for instance, "Let my servant Sidney Gilbert stand in the office to which I have appointed him, toi receive moneys, to be an agent unto the Church, to buy land in all the regions round about.
inasmuch as can be done in right- eousness and as wisdom shall direct,"
Also He said, "Let my servant Edward Partridge stand in the office to which I have appointed him, and divide unto the saints their inherit- ance, even as I have commanded; and also those whom he has ap- pointed to assist him."
After like manner, the Lord des- ignated Sidney Gilbert to move to this gathering place and establish a store where "he may sell goods without fraud,"
William W. Phelps was appoint- ed in the same revelation to go there to become a printer to the Church, and Oliver Cowdery was named to assist him. It was made clear at that time that only those families commanded to go should go, and the Lord said, "unto the residue of both elders and members further directions shall be given hereafter."
A short time later these addi-
TOP: VIEW OF PART OF DOWNTOWN KAN- SAS CITY FROM TOP OF POWER AND LIGHT BUILDING. THE KARO RIVER RUNNING. INTO THE MISSOURI IS SHOWN IN BACK- GROUND. THIS WAS "THE BORDER OF THE: JEW AND THE GENTILE."
CENTER: MISSION HOME AND CHAPEL AT INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI.
BOTTOM: VALLEY OF ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN. DAVIESS COUNTY, MISSOURI.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
tional instructions were given, but again the Lord spoke of those who \yere not appointed to go, saying, "And now verily I say concerning the residue of the elders of my church, the time has not yet come, for many years, for them to receive their inheritance in this land, except they desire it through the prayer of faith, only as it shall be appointed unto them of the Lord."
■pOLLOWiNG the settlement of the first families in Jackson county, disappointments arose. Finances failed to come from other parts of the Church as had been desired. There was a lack of unity among the Jackson County Saints them- selves, and the Prophet came to Independence from Kirtland to effect a more peaceful status in the land. Upon his return from this visit, which had apparently been success- ful, more disputes arose among the Missouri Saints, many of whom felt that they were bearing more of the brunt of pioneering in a new land than the Saints at Kirtland. There was a feeling among some of them that the people in Kirtland were figuratively living "upon the fat of the land," while they, the inhabitants of Jackson county, were suffering in many ways for the necessities of life.
Then came a new revelation from the Lord to His prophet in Kirtland — a revelation known as the "Olive Leaf," a marvelous unveiling of the purposes of the Almighty, revealing the love of God for His people. Speaking from the depths of His in- finite soul to His troubled people the Omnipotent One said:
"Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you who have assembled yourselves together to receive kis will concerning you. Be- hold, this is pleasing unto your Lord, and the angels repice over you; the alms of your prayers have come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth and are recorded in the book of the names of the sanctified, even them of the celestial world. . Where- fore, I now send upon you another Com- forter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts, even the Holy Spirit of promise, which other Comforter is the same that I promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John."
After portraying for them the glories of His Kingdom, the Lord called upon His people to sanctify themselves, to become united, to cast away their idle thoughts and to de- sist from excess of laughter, and to labor in the vineyard, and He promised them that if they would have "minds single to God, the days will come when you shall see Him,
558
^;^
ps>«
TOP: GENERAL DONIPHAN'S STATUE tN RICHMOND, CLAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
CENTER: CHARLES A. CALLIS STANDING NEAR ADAM'S ALTAR ON THE HILL JUST NORTH OF THE VALLEY OF ADAM-ONDI-
AHMAN.
MEMORIAL OF THE THREE WITNESSES TO THE BOOK OF MORMON, RICHMOND, MISSOURI —MRS. RULON S. HOWELLS AND DAUGHTER, AND HELEN WHITELEY STANDING BY.
for He will unveil His face unto you, and it shall be in His own time and in His own way, and according to His own will."
With such a glorious promise made to the people in the Church over which he presided, the Proph- et was thrilled. He hastened to send a copy of this revelation to the Saints in Zion, of Independence, that they, too, might feel its influence and resolve more faithfully to perform the missions to which they had been assigned. It seemed literally, to
the Prophet, an "olive leaf" plucked from the tree of paradise, a mes- senger of peace, binding more stead- fastly together, the Saints in Kirt- land and the Saints in Jackson County.
But even this failed to bring the harmony in Independence which was necessary to make of it a Zion. The constant increase of bitterness and disobedience among the resi- dents there, brought forth a strong warning from the Prophet at Kirt- land.
In a letter addressed to William W. Phelps, and referring to the "Olive Leaf," the Prophet declared to the Saints in Missouri that "the brethren in Kirtland pray for you unceasingly . . . for though our brethren in Zion indulge in feelings towards us which are not according to the requirements of the new cove- nant, yet we have the satisfaction of knowing that the Lord approves of us, and has accepted us."
In kindly warning to his brethren in Jackson county, yet with full sense of his duty to warn them of the judgments of God if they failed to repent, the Prophet declared:
"Let me say unto you, seek to purify yourselves, and also all the inhabitants of Zion, lest the Lord's anger be kindled to fierceness. Repent, repent, is the voice of God to Zion; and strange as it may appear, yet it is true, mankind will persist in self-justification until all their iniquity is exposed, and their character past being redeemed, and that which is treasured up in the hearts be exposed to the gaze of mankind. I say to you (and what I say to you I say to all ) , hear the warning voice of God, lest Zion fall and the Lord swear in his wrath the inhabitants of Zion shall not enter into his rest."
He further said, "If Zion does not repent, the Lord will choose another place to bring forth His word to the Nations."
Again the Prophet wrote "With feelings of unexpressible anxiety for your welfare, we say again, Re- pent, repent, or Zion must suffer, for the scourge and judgment must come upon her."
CuBSEQUENTLY history records the falling of the judgments upon the inhabitants of Zion, for nearly twelve hundred of the Saints were driven from their homes by mob ac- tion; they saw their homes, many of them, destroyed; some of the breth- ren were beaten, others tarred and feathered, and all were forced to flee to the river beds in the dead of winter, where they suffered untold hardships until finally they were taken in by the residents of neigh-
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
boring counties and permitted again to locate themselves.
Speaking of their distress, which the Lord acknowledged, the Al- mighty addressed these suffering Saints in firm language, but yet with mercy:
"Verily I say unto you (he spoke through Joseph the Prophet) concerning your brethren who have been aflFlicted, and persecuted, and cast out from the land of their inheritance — I the Lord have suf- fered the afflictions to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions * * * Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore, by these things they pol- luted their inheritances. They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God, therefore the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers to answer them in the day of their trouble."
But compassionately. He said to them:
"Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified." (Doctrine and Covenants 101:3)
The Saints, by the end of the year 1833, found themselves divested of their property in Zion, and they never went back to reclaim it, al- though many vain efforts were made to obtain legal redress.
Following the departure of the Saints, Jackson County returned to the hands of non-Mormons, and for years remained so. Only compar- atively recently has the Church re- entered this area, but it has been with great success. Friends have been raised up to the Latter-day Saints where once there were none to defend them, and today Mormons and non-Mormons live peacefully side by side.
The Church has a beautiful chapel in this "center place," this former central gathering place. It has a progressive printing estab- lishment, and the headquarters of the Central States Mission are lo- cated there.
The word of the Lord is going forth from Independence in the form of millions of tracts and pamphlets, as well as copies of the Book of Mormon. This literature is sent to the far corners of the earth, and from the office in Independence the missionary activities in four states are directed.
The Church owns much of the original temple lot of sixty-three
acres, the mission headquarters be- ing located but a short distance from this lot. The presidents of the mission have been accepted on an honored basis among the busi- ness men of the city of Independ- ence; have been accorded member- ship in civic organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club, and have wide circles of friends and acquaintances.
A NOTABLE feature of Independ- ence today is the high type of citizenry who reside there. They seem a group apart from the in- habitants of many surrounding sec- tions, and seem to represent in their lives the best attributes of depend- able, loyal citizens.
Because of progressive and con- structive tactics, the county has be-
TOP: OLD COURT HOUSE IN INDEPEND- ENCE, JACKSON COUNTY.
UPPER CENTER: VALLEY OF ADAM-ONDI- AHMAN AND VIEW OF LYMAN WIGHrS OLD HOME.
LOWER CENTER: TEMPLE LOT, INDEPEND- ENCE, MISSOURI, SHOWING CHURCH OF CHRIST.
BOTTOM: OLD MORMON JAIL, LIBERTY, MISSOURI, IN WHICH THE PROPHET WAS IMPRISONED, 1837.
come one of the leading sections of this entire region. It has an area of 600 square miles, or 294,939 acres. Forty-eight per cent of the land area is crop land, while 451/^ per cent is in pasture. On this acreage are 3,494 farms, divided as follows: 615 dairy farms, 592 general farms, 550 livestock farms, 159 grain farms, 120 truck farms.
Of the total 3,494 farms in the county, 2,410 are operated by their owners. In 1934 there were 15,108 acres in wheat, which yielded a total crop of 278.090 bushels. In the same year, 7,285 farmers raised 124,997 bushels of oats, and in the production of com the ten year average is shown to be 30 bushels per acre. In 1934 there were 48,- 620 acres in this crop. In the same year there were 10,897 acres in al- falfa, 3,464 acres in lespedezaj 2,019 acres in potatoes, raised for commercial distribution; and there were 2 1 2,657 fruit trees and 185,138 grape vines. Eighteen thousand cows in the county produced eleven million gallons of milk.
Figures for 1930 show that the country produced $1,032,000 farm produce, $1,460,000 livestock, and $2,993,000 meat and livestock products.
The assessed valuation of Jack- son County is $461,396,210. There are 1300 miles of hard-surfaced highways, not including 742 miles of paved streets in Kansas City, With the exception of Westchester County, New York, Jackson County has more paved roads than any other county in America. There is no single point in Jackson County that is not within two miles of a hard surfaced highway.
Among other interesting informa- tion regarding Jackson County, is the following: Twelve trunk line railroads and four electric rail- roads run into Kansas City. In 1931 more than 125 million bushels of wheat were harvested; which with 1,665,445 head of cattle and other animals made a total value of $139,- 500,000, There are 6,274 retail stores with a total net annual sales of $375,000,000.
Kansas City, compared with other American cities, has established itself in a commendable manner. It has one of the largest livestock ex- changes in the world; boasts a great winter wheat and hay market and flour milling production; and pos- sesses a great horse and mule mar- {Concluded on page 587) 559
vi/no fS^s LJour CJnena?
TX/ho is your friend? The companion who says, "Aw, be a good sport! Have a cocktail or smoke a cigaret," who urges you to do something contrary to good morals or the high ideals of your people? Is he your friend?
"No," says "a daughter of Zion" whose letter is reproduced in this issue, (See page 538) With the "right crowd," reaching out for a clean, moral life, she was happy; after she was caught by the "wrong crowd," depending upon unnatural stimu- lants for joy, unhappiness weighed her down. Now she is fighting to return to the old, good ways.
"No," shouts "a young mother in Israel" who has just been divorced. Her husband was a model citizen and Church member, prosperous in busi- ness, loving to his wife and child, until a companion urged him to be a "good sport." Now he is di- vorced, has lost his business, is intimate with alco- hol and gambling, and consorting with evil men and women. The descent was rapid; five years from his wedding day.
"No," warns society. Millenniums of human experience declare that whoever lives in opposition to the immutable laws of nature is a dangerous companion — never a friend — who should be avoid- ed as pestilence. The only excuse for contact with him would be the attempt to heal him, and then with full precaution against contagion.
"You are missing a lot," says the companion who wants you to be a "good sport," himself un- der the thralldom of evil. A weak and flimsy invitation! Things are known by their effects. Alcohol makes drunkards; rifle bullets kill men; that is well known. Should you take the chance of drunkenness — a person ever so little under the influence of alcohol is drunk to that degree — to prove the known effect of alcohol; or do you need to be shot to understand the known force of the bullet? What your tempter really asks is that you surrender yourself to the control of a drug or a vicious habit, to be something less than a man, in exchange for a temporary exhilaration, ultimately injurious and inferior to any normal enjoyment.
The person who says that you are "missing a lot" by not carousing is really making the offensive implication that happiness cannot be won through normal, healthful ways of life. He imphes that for success the athlete should be sick, the teacher ignorant, the writer without ideas, the artist with- out vision, that the whole world would be better off, if tipsy. That is contrary to truth. It is the breaker of nature's laws who may be known by weakness, ignorance, and a lack of ideas and vision. Through obedience to law alone may real happiness be won.
"^Your friends will influence your course of life; they will pull you down or lift you up; therefore choose them carefully. It is better to have no friends than bad ones. People who read trashy literature, tell foul stories, or prefer night-life ex- citement to earnest effort by day, should be avoid- ed; those who seek the best thought of the ages, who converse about worth-while subjects, and who bravely toil along the path to success should be I sought out and cherished.
To stand out against the crowd, the "wrong crowd," takes courage. That is graiited. But, cowards get nowhere — their fate is failure. The sense of victory, when right is upheld in the face of ridicule or ostracism, will lead you to the con- quest of all obstacles, to true success. Many suc- cumb in life's battle because they fear to take a stand against well-meaning but mistaken friends. Don't be one of them.
Friends are soon found in the "right crowd." Your mistakes, if any, will be forgotten in your new way of life. Those who live righteously find it easy to forgive, for they know the command of the Lord, "Of you it is required to forgive all men." Then, out of wholesome, righteous, natural asso- ciations will come a sense of freedom, a joy that can be found in no other way.
The old proverb may well be remade: Evil associations corrupt good morals. Whoever would find happiness would do well to remember the warning. — /. A. W.
Gf What Shall Gur cKanas uje C/ean ?
pOR THE coming year the Mutual Improvement Associations again place before the young peo- ple of the Church a theme from the word of scrip- ture. It is taken from the 24th Psalm. It asks vital questions of all men and answers them for all men:
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and right- eousness from the God of his salvation, (24th Psalm, verses 3. 4. and 5.)
For a man to have clean hands is something more than an idle phrase and something more than a washing ablution. That man or woman — that young man or woman — who would have clean hands must have hands free from the guilt of any violation of chastity or the moral code. He must have hands clean from the rust of idleness, from the corrosion of inactivity, from the decay of indolence. He must have hands clean from the tarnish of other men's goods or from the taint of reaching after other men's goods. Thus saith the Lord God of Hosts:
Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. (Psalm 37, 1 and 16.)
He who would have clean hands must have hands clean also of that which belongs to his Father in Heaven. A service withheld from a neighbor in his hour of need, or from the Church, is time and effort belonging to the Lord. May our hands be clean from withholding such service. The same is true of tithes and offerings that find not their way from the coffers of men to the pur- poses of God.
Nor can hands be clean which lift to the mouth of man those things which have been forbidden — those things which the word of the Lord counsels are not good for man, including alcohol and to- bacco and all other things which are hourly flaunted in our faces or carried to our ears in the printed and spoken media of the day.
560
To have clean hands means so much else that cannot here be written. But no hand that is use- lessly idle, or indifferently employed, or actively engaged for the furtherance of unholy and forbid- den things, can be clean. Clean hands are the hands that are assiduously used for furthering the purposes of God and the joy and happiness and temporal and eternal well-being of man.
Something is said concerning a pure heart. The heart was anciently thought to be the seat of thought and emotion. A pure heart is the sym- bol of pure thought, and right thinking is the preface to right living. No hand may be clean whose directing impulse comes from a mean or small or unrighteous thought. "As a man think- eth, so is he." Having a pure heart is another way of saying, "think straight." And straight thinking is the crying need of the day. There are men and women in all walks of life, many of them in high places, who are trying to make this generation believe that two and two are equal to something other than four. Proof against such highly supported deception is obedience to the com- mandments of God and companionship with His Holy Spirit. A pure heart — straight, clean, sound thinking, that harbors no unrighteous motive and no warped intent.
Who hath not hfted up his soul unto vanity —
There are many kinds of vanity and most of them are deeper and more serious than a woman's idle admiration for herself — or a man's either, for that matter.
It is vanity of the worst order that prompts men to suppose that they can ignore the laws of God or man without reaping the rewards of disregard for law^.
It is vanity of a very foolish sort that would lead anyone to believe that because he had discovered a few of the laws of nature and learned to harness a few natural forces, that his wisdom transcends those laws, or the Maker and Administrator of those laws.
It is vanity of a very dire nature that would lead any young man or woman to believe that the richest rewards of life could come to him or her without broad and arduous preparation for the responsibilities and opportunities of life.
More could be said of him who has "lifted up his soul unto vanity," but there is yet to consider that part of the theme which deals with swearing deceitfully.
To pledge a covenant and break it is to swear deceitfully. In its broader sense, to profess to be that which we are not or to profess to believe that which we do not believe is to swear deceitfully. To forsake principles and ideals once espoused is also a kindred thing. To be silent when to speak would exonerate another, or to speak that which destroys the truth of silence, is to swear deceit- fully.
Such is the new year's M. I. A. theme in its application to this life we live. It is the lan- guage of David, inspired of the Lord, poetically phrased. It is merely another guide in the eternal quest for happiness, which is the pursuit of all men, and the end of all righteous living. It is another way of saying, with our fathers: "Our heart is
not turned back; neither have our steps declined from thy way." — R. L. E.
c/ne liearer Uxeaches
"VSTiTH an aim such as Latter-day Saints have taken, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," we must guard against discouragement. The climb upward stretches so far ahead that the mountain top is lost in veiling mists. If we do not fix clearly in our minds what the goal is, we may wander off and become lost.
Having once fixed our aim in our minds, we can turn our attention to the nearer reaches of the path which leads to that goal. We must keep the nearer parts of the road clear from crowding and malignant growth which shuts off the view and leaves us to wander into box canyons from which there is no outlet and where stagnation and death await. Sometimes we become content with a lesser goal and lose sight of the ultimate destina- tion towards which we were formerly working. Sometimes we wander aimlessly rather than pursue our course. We find that we have covered as much ground and expended as much energy in our wandering as we should have used had we con- tinued straight ahead. We stop to cool ourselves by a wayside brook when, if we had climbed on- ward, we could have refreshed ourselves at the spring from which all who drink will never thirst again. We discover too late that we have been satisfied with a temporary palliative when we might have had eternal satisfaction.
Mothers particularly need to keep the nearer reaches of the path clear, because in addition to traveling the distance themselves, they must also lead the children along the way they should go. With both children and adults, often only short distances can be covered. In safeguarding against serious trouble, time should be provided for rest. The periods of rest must be wisely directed. The relaxation will oflFer time for meditation and con- templation when we can consider for ourselves and those who travel with us the many truths which have been revealed to help guide us in at- taining our goal. While we are resting, we have a chance to contemplate the heavens, not the earth. We are forced to remember that it is by the kindness of heaven that earth brings forth her fruits for our material bodies. It is by the mercy of heaven that inspiration comes to guide our eternal souls.
The inspired moments are precious and exceed- ingly rare. We must, through our periods of rest, try to build for some of the inspired moments that we may keep in tune with the Higher Will and become instruments of His accomplishment. Since it is by contemplation alone that man touches the infinite part of himself, which is above reason, we should consider the plans for the day's journey. We shall find that as we plan, day by day, without adding the burdens of the past and the future — and yet keeping the end always in view — we can find in the nearer reaches of our journey a satis- faction from our accomplishment that will leave us with a renewed desire and a confidence that we shall attain our goal and indeed reach perfection.
— M. C. /.
561
NEW ENGLAND MISSION PRESIDENT CHOSEN
"PVr. Carl F. Eyring, Dean of the Col- *-^ lege of Arts and Sciences at Brig- ham Young University and a member of the Deseret Sunday School Union General Board, has been appointed president of the recently organized New England Mission.
Dr. Eyring graduated at B. Y. U. in 1912 and remained as instructor in physics. He received his M, A. degree from the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1 924. In addition he served two years in the research laboratories of the Bell Telephone Company. Most of his professional career, however, has been spent as a member of Brigham Young University faculty.
Dr. Eyring has long been active in the Church, having won recognition in his Boy Scout activity and teaching. For the past three years he has served on the General Board of the Sunday School.
PRESIDENT LYMAN ADDRESSES WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF FAITHS
HThe Millennial Star carries the mes- •*• sage that fifty-four religious leaders from nine different countries spoke at sessions of the International Assem- bly of the World Fellowship of Faiths which convened in London, July 7-17. One of the speakers at the final session of the Assembly was President Rich- ard R. Lyman. His subject was: "The Missionary System of the Mormon Church as a Factor in the Peace of the World and International Under- standing."
CHURCH OF THE AIR BROADCAST
/^AKLAND and San Francisco Stakes ^-^ rendered the nation-wide Church of the Air broadcast of August 1, conducted weekly by the Columbia system each Sunday morning. Elder Eugene Hilton, president of the Oak- land Stake, was the speaker and the music was furnished by the San Fran- cisco Stake choir.
IDAHO HONORS PIONEERS
JUSTICE Alfred Budge of the Supreme Court of Idaho delivered a Pioneer Day address at St. Anthony, Idaho, on July 24th, before an audience of be- tween four and five hundred people. This tribute to the Pioneers was re- produced in full in the Teton Peaks Chronicle.
562
LEFT: DR. CARL F. EYRING, PRESIDENT OF THE NEW ENGLAND MISSION. RIGHT: J. FRANK WARD, NEW MEMBER OF CHURCH SECURITY BOARD.
NEW MEMBER APPOINTED TO CHURCH SECURITY BOARD
"Plder J. Frank Ward, former bishop of the Emigration Ward and at present a member of Bonneville Stake High Council, has been appointed to the Church Security board by the First Presidency. The appointment was an- nounced August 12, 1937.
Elder Ward is general manager of Mid-Western Dairy Products Com- pany, a member of the Rotary Club, the Country Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Utah Manufac- turers' Association.
"OLD BARN" RAZED
'T'he so-called "Old Barn," located immediately north of the Deseret Gymnasium, is being razed. This "Old Barn" was used for many years as a granary for the Presiding Bishop's Office. Later it was used as a gym- nasium for the Latter-day Saints' Uni- versity, where many championship games of basketball were played and won by the teams representing this school. It was also the scene of many dances conducted by the Latter-day Saints' University. During the last several years it has been the home of the foreign language papers of the Church, namely, "T h e Bikuben," "Utah Posten," "Salt Lake City Beo- bachter," and the "Utah Nederlander."
PIONEER OF 1847
PASSES
Bashua Dorcas Kingsbury Fryer, one of the five women honored at the Pio- neer Days Celebration of July 24, 1937, passed away August 9, 1937. Mrs. Fryer was born at the Old Fort, Salt Lake City, on November 19, 1847, and thereby won her right to be classed with the original pioneers. Mrs. Fry- er's parents were members of the A. O. Smoot company. The surviving Pioneers are: Melissa Lambson Davis, Mary A. Parks Brockbank, both of Salt Lake City, Utah; Hulda Thurs- ton Smith, Lewiston, Idaho; and
Young Elizabeth Steele Statley, Mona,, Utah.
Sunday, July 4. 1937.
L. D. S. Church Projects: Three ward projects, involving an outlay of $45,000 are being carried to completioni in Salt Lake City, as part of the Churchu security plan. One is the new chapel! in the 32nd Ward. Improvements are reported in the Fifth Ward and Lincolrt Ward.
Wednesday, July 7, 1937.
President Rulon S. Wells, of the First Council of Seventy, who was bom in Salt Lake City, on July 7, 1854,. was honored with an informal re- ception at his home in Salt Lake City> He has been active in Church work since early youth and is still active and vigorous.
Augusta Winters Grant, wife of President Heber J. Grant, celebrated her eighty-first birthday with a family- dinner at Pinecrest.
Thursday, July 15, 1937.
Building Activity. Excavation be- gan on the Salt Lake City Temple ground for an underground addition to- the Temple Annex. There will be a new cloak room, 30 x 65 feet; an en- larged dining room for Temple Work- ers.
Improvements to the value of $15,000 are under way in the Logan Temple,, and the approaches to the Manti Tem- ple are being paved.
July 25, 1937.
Elder Frank Evans of Salt Lake City, was installed as president suc- ceeding President Don B. Colton.
July 29, 1937.
Ground was broken in Rotterdam,^ Netherlands, for the first chapel and', recreation hall built by the Latter-day- Saints in Holland.
July 30, 1937.
President Heber J. Grant unveiled a. bronze plaque marking the place where Heber C. Kimball baptized nine per- sons in 1837. President J. Reubem Clark, Jr., in an address recalled the fact that 52,000 "comrades" have gone to the United States from England, and' that the time now has come for the British Saints to "strike out for them- selves" and not to depend on Amer- icans for leadership. President Grant said, "You people have furnished more leaders for the Church than all the missions throughout the world." Other speakers were Dr. Richard R. Lyman, president of the European Mission, and George D. Pyper, superintendent of the Sunday Schools, and Ruth May Fox^ president of the Y. W. M. I. A.
Exploring the Universe
XJeels are of Persian origin, intro- ^ duced to elevate the feet from the Iburning sands.
A NEW historical confirmation of the "'*' Bible account is reported by a British Museum expedition digging in northern Syria. Important new dis- coveries throw fresh light on the Hittite •occupation there which confirm refer- ences in the Bible to relations between the Hittites and the people of Palestine to the south. This is of especial in- terest since before these diggings the Bible references were thought to be Avrong in time.
"^Tatural bridges are sometimes "^^ formed across the Nile river by ■drifting materials. One bridge, com- posed of vegetable matter with a soft soil surface, is 1200 feet in length and 370 feet wide. A herd of elephants has been known to cross on them.
'T'here are five times more donkeys "^ than camels in Egypt.
-♦ ■
A nother "don't" for drinkers: "Per- ■^^ sons taking strychnine as a medi- cine must not drink whiskey or other alcoholic liquor." Taken together strychnine and alcohol are both de- pressing and act on the same vital organs, affecting especially heart and breathing. They are deadly poisons even in small amounts. >
Cheepmen in Texas are using rubber *^ bands instead of the knife to bob lamb's tails. The band is put on tightly in the right location to stop circulation and after a time the tail drops off. 4
Tt is estimated that a farmer plowing with a two-horse walking plow has to walk about seven and a half miles to plow an acre.
X-IousEwiVES cannot only soften the "*• ■*■ water but improve the cleanliness of the dishes by adding sodium meta- phosphate to the water used in dish- washing machines. Ordinary soap and water softeners frequently trap the bac-
By FRANKLIN S. HARRIS, JR.
teria in an insoluble film which does not form with this softener recommend- ed by the Mellon Institute for Indus- trial Research.
A GOLFER who plays 18 holes on a
warm day may lose two glasses
of water in perspiration and give off
enough heat to raise the temperature
of a ton of water one degree.
'T'he preying mantis is an insect which devours her mate and deserts her children.
A STONE catapult is used by the ant- ■^ lion to help catch its victim, the ant. The ant-lion makes a slanting funnel in the sand. The ant slides down the slant and is stoned by the ant-lion from the bottom of the funnel to prevent the ant from escaping. The tiger-beetle, too, has a clever ambush. The beetle digs himself a perpendicular hole, which he stops up with his flat, bronze head. If any other insect steps on this de- ceiving trap-door it immediately tips up and the stranger disappears inside. 4
/^oiTER has been reduced from 38.6 to 8.2 per cent among the school population in Michigan in eleven years through the use of iodized salt, and goiter can be practically wiped out doctors believe. >
HThe rails of the Japanese Govern- ment Railway's system contract at the rate of several miles a year, quite apart from temperature fluctuation. It is conjectured that this puzzling con- dition is caused by train vibration re- moving the initial stresses in the rails. 4
Tt is estimated that 35 billion gallons "^ of blood are pumped by the human heart in the average life-time.
^
Cynthetic resins are being used in *^ Germany for bearings of even heavy machinery. They use water in- stead of oil for lubrication.
>
Cteel workers take a pill when they *^ are exposed to intense heat to keep comfortable. The pill is mostly salt with some dexfrose, effective heat com- batants.
Ctudies for the Rockefeller Founda- ^ tion have given a new but dark picture of yellow fever. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is no longer the sole carrier and there may be other "hosts" than man. Vast areas of hinterland of both South America and Africa are centers for the jungle form of the disease, different only in that it occurs in rural districts and forests instead of cities.
A RAT which is indiflFerent to offspring ■^ given to her for adoption will eagerly adopt and mother as many as may be placed in her cage after being given a few injections of prolactin, a hormone from the pituitary gland. The maternal instinct becomes so universal that the rat will not only cherish rats, but also baby mice, rabbits, or even baby squabs which would otherwise be eaten by a healthy adult rat. ^ .
/^LOTHES moths can live five years without food.
t-TuMAN beings, such as divers and
tunnel workers, who are working under high air pressure, may get com- pressed air illness, but not so with whales. The whales in South Atlantic Ocean live on lower animals existing at great depths. The whale can go down 300 feet, stay there for 15 minutes, and return rapidly to the surface without any ill effects.
>
"Dlood stains on furniture, walls, or wood even after several weeks and supposedly wiped clean can now be detected by use of chemicals which react with hemin in the blood to give a blue luminescence. Photographs taken in the dark of areas where the solution of peroxide and a derivative of phthalic acid has been spread show a bright blue light where blood has been.
Photographs can be taken in "pitch dark" by using the invisible infra- red light from flat irons at ordinary ironing temperatures. By using the same infra-red rays from the sun which have passed through rain and clouds into a reflector concentrating them, the infra-red sextant can determine the position of the sun. This sextant is reported to be so sensitive that it will record the heat rays coming from a man's face a mile away.
563
The burial ground of a
LOST CIVILIZATION
THIS IS TYPICAL OF THE BEAUTIFUL VASES FOUND IN THE BURIAL GROUNDS AT CERVETRI.
WHEN THE prophylactic sun rays of Italy pierce through the dull clouds, all Italy basks in their warmth. On such a morning it is good to get out the dusters, the bonnets, and the veils, and pack up an impromptu tasty snack before rolling out the Ballila (the Italian less-than-a-Ford ) — and then off for the day to Cervetri, the famous old Etruscan ruins. Our Indian mounds are supposedly in- sect rivals of theirs.
These Etruscans? — And who were they?
A person interested in ancient lore would find a day at Cervetri very valuable. The Etruscans were the mysterious and long-vanished race of people who lived before the advent of Christ. Supposedly and from all indications they were sav- age in morals and religion and pos- sioly by nature. They show consid- erable of the Egyptian and Grecian influence and are thought to be of this derivation. In certain of their artistic tastes they were quite as civ- ilized as most modern nations. Cer- vetri represents one of the three strongholds of the Etruscans, about one hundred kilometers southwest of Rome. They lived in the country of this region before Rome began and from them part of the back- ground of the Romans comes.
The ancient Cervetri was built on
564
A PERSON INTERESTED IN AN- CIENT LORE WOULD FIND A
DAY AT Cervetri very valuable. They w^ere the mysterious and long-vanished race of people whose burial customs are so similar in many respects to those OF THE American Inehan.
BY
VERONA TORONTO BO WEN
an oblong-shaped tufo promontory. In Etrurian it was called Caere, A fragment or two of wall is all that remains of the city itself unless fur- ther excavation reveals more. It is not these remains that one goes to see but the fields of tombs which cover some three hundred and fifty acres, only sixteen acres of which have been unearthed. The remain- der may be discerned by small hil- locks or a series of raised places in the earth's surface. These tombs for centuries were known by the shepherds who wandered oyer them, and at random did some excavating for personal plundering of the val- uables they contained. Since 1910 under government and private ownership much excavating is being done.
The tombs are interesting to us because in so many instances they are so similar to our American In- dian mounds. Curious, too, were the things placed about the dead, even as many of the Indian burials. The tombs are along old streets which for centuries have been cov- ered up. The tombs were rudely burrowed out of tufo (volcanic por- ous rock) beneath the upland turf. They are as old as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries before Christ. Some are very large, containing as many as forty-eight burial couches. Some contain individual entrances and chambers. Others are for the poor and are quite small. These have flowers and grass growing on the earth that has been left cling- ing to them during the excavations.
MOUNDS AT CERVETRI
T^he nature of the rooms within the mounds is made to represent as nearly as possible the home and environment of the individuals bur- ied therein. Therefore, the early ones are small with hut-shaped in- teriors. Later ones were more ad- vanced with rooms and structure more like our present houses and have rude arches which give en- trance to other chambers. In the case of the poor, one room alone was used. In the large ones were a vestibule, a central chamber, and dependent small chambers. These houses are cut out of rock tufo and supported by columns. The walls are surrounded by sepulchral shelves, or in the case ofi small rooms, a sHelf on each side of the room that held just one body. The bodies were placed on these couch- es around which were placed vases of perfume, wine, oil, or various foods and other things precious to the individual.
This strange porous volcanic tufo contains an acid that completely de- molished the bodies of the earliest buried people, but in those of more recent date bones have been found as yet not absorbed by the ele- ments. One tomb has been left en- tirely intact, not an urn or dish hav- ing been touched by a human hand since it was opened.
The burial couch of a man is hol- lowed down about two inches with a shght rise or pillow effect at the top for the head to rest on. The couch of a lady is cut deeper, or about four inches with a bedstead effect of about twelve inches at the ends of the couch. The pillow ef- fect remains the same. The tombs were sealed by immense oblong tufo
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, SEPTEMBER, 1937
n
THIS LARGE STATUE OF APOLLO IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS OF THE ETRUSCAN ART TREASURES YET DISCOVERED.
rocks. At the entrance of the tombs are tombstones or markers cut out of rock, small houses or oblongs about a foot in size representing a lady, while the marker of a man was a mushroom topsy turvy some eight- een inches tall. In front of some mounds many markers are found placed in a tray of stone. Babies and small children were buried in
carved tufo boxes placed at the en- trance of the tomb.
In some of the more recent tombs were some early effaced paintings and carved stone. Bas reliefs were sculptured all about the walls and on the columns. This particular type is wonderfully valuable histor- ically as clothing, utensils, food, war implements, musical instruments, are depicted. Over the door of one are sculptured oxen heads.
Such tombs are vastly impressive. Among these tombs are found niches in which vases filled with human ashes showed the practise of cre- mation. In these tombs remarkable ornaments and treasures have been discovered, including much fine sil- ver and gold work. Ear rings, bracelets, pins, crowns, head dress- es, rings, of the most minute filigree and workmanship were among the things that were looted before it was government property. The
TYPE OF BURIAL COUCH, CERVETRI
earthenware is both plain and dec- orated and lovely in contour and design.
And as one leaves these tombs in the evening the dying Italian sun in the west makes a glorious base of the mist and soft clouds. It is lovely to leave at sunset, and ride down the sloping hills facing the brilliant sky against the Mediter- ranean Sea below, to the little ham- let of Palo, once Etruscan and later the site of villas for Caesar, Pom- pey, Marcus Aurelius, and other great rulers — and then in the fad- ing dusk, along the Via Aurelia to Rome, the Eternal City.
» ♦
ILLINOIS YIELDS CHURCH DOCUMENTS
{Continued Icom page 543)
letters, etc., pertaining to Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet.
I have a number of documents, etc., in which the Prophet is involved.
I have also manuscript which has been identified by Elders of the Mormon Church as part of the original manuscript of the Pearl of Great Price. Also a silver pocket piece which was in the Prophet's pocket at the time of his assassination.
These papers came into my possession through Emma Smith, the Prophet's widow, whom my father. Major L. C. Bidamon, married. I have had numerous chances to dispose of these papers, but have not seen fit to do so.
The Mormon Church has a headquarters in Chicago of which Wilmette is a suburb, and easy of access.
If members of the Church care to come to my house and examine the documents they are welcome to do so, or I can take them to them for examination.
I do not feel inclined to put a price on
them at the present time, but would con- sider an offer. • • •
Sincerely yours, (Signed) C. E. Bidamon
238 Catalpa Place, Wilmette, 111.
A CCORDiNGLY Elder Wood, accom- panied by Dr. and Mrs. W. M. Stookey, called at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Bidamon in Wilmette, Illinois, on July 10, 1937, for the purpose of examining and negotiating for the documents re- ferred to. There was a consider- able number of them, and these kindly and honorable people, who had cherished and treasured them for many years, were quite naturally reluctant to part with them, but they realized that the years were leaving them no younger and that with their
eventual passing the fate of these valuable documents would be left in doubt. And so, with characteristic generosity and sound reasoning, they agreed to yield possession for a very fair and modest considera- tion. The list of documents pur- chased, title to which was conveyed to Wilford C. Wood from Charles E. Bidamon by a notarized bill of sale, includes the following:
Part of the original manuscript from which the Pearl of Great Price was later compiled.
Deed of John Hatfield to Lorina Woods.
Inventory of Property of Joseph Smith,
Facsimile of Book of Abraham.
History of Joseph Smith's incarceration in Liberty, Clay County, Jail, etc.
Two pages of poems.
Kirtland bank scrip.
Credit statement of Joseph Smith, Jr., Nov. 8, 1839.
{Concluded on page 573)
565
Life abundant
BY
O. F. URSENBACH
President of the French Mission
I
\\T AM COME that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly," solemnly fell from the lips of our Lord.
What is that abundant life of which Jesus spoke? It is axiomatic that the Master meant for men to interpret life in all its majestic beauty, as He had felt and lived it during His short mortal career, and to weave from the warp and woof of experience those fundamentals that engender joy and gladness.
He who gropes through life un- mindful of the hand that ever busy wheels the silent spheres, must not be disappointed if he passes from life never having tasted its true mis- sion. Conversely, he who has learn- ed to sense God's handiwork in every moss and cobweb, drinks of that precious nectar that flows from the wellsprings of life.
As a child my poetically gifted mother taught me how to see in the leaf, flower, insect, bird, and beast, masterpieces of divine art, and to glory in the creations of a loving God. Knowing what a power this had on my young life, I have often wondered why thousands of children are not taught, while their minds are supple and phable, those funda- mentals essential to the life of every child.
He to whom a primrose, or even a noxious weed, is not a thing of beauty, obviously has never tasted deeply of life's true mission. On the other hand, he who with the poet, who, while contemplating the mys- tery of metamorphosis as he held a butterfly in his hands, said: "Could I but fathom you in all your history, man's climb to Godhood would lose its mystery," has really learned hfe through living it.
Instill in the mind of a child, or an adult for that matter, that an ugly dog is something more than a cur, a masterpiece of divine art, and you give him a true concept of aes- thetic beauty to the engendering of soul value.
He who understands the simple perspective lines that focus upon a definite vanishing point, may, in each vista that greets his eye, dissect
566
the majesty of fleeting visions. This alone is a powerful medium for the appreciation of what God manifests in His wondrous phenomena. The individual who muses in the great outdoors and at each turn absorbs vast panoramas of the divine, senses well what makes life worth living.
He who can gaze into the starry night and, in awe and amazement, consider how system into system runs; how solar centers are but units in clusters subservient to still greater central suns, again feels those heart- throbs that engender an appreciation of the richness that is implied in the astral vision.
jl^ANY high-souls climb the high- way to life abundant, while others with hearts seemingly closed to the divine impulse, eke out ex- istences with an "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die," atti- tude, to take with them, when the curtain is rung down, only a few withered leaves.
There is little that comes within our experience that is more soul- building than for one to feel and sense well the dawn, the glow, fully conscious of the very purposeful meaning of it all, and to know that he is. though feeling insigni-licantly small in himself, a unit in the great majestic scheme of creation. To him life is real, tangible, and poten- tial. Such an individual will need no monument to mark the place.
If, in life, we can sense, feel, and absorb the eternal muse manifest in God's wondrous handiwork, as ex- pressed in the flora and fauna of creation; if w^e can drink richly of the silent messages from the stars; if we can deeply revel in the con- crasting shades from the white cloud against the ether blue, to those in the vast arena of all out-doors, cul- minating in the evening tints ame- thyst, golden, and crimson; if we can see in man, God's greatest master- piece; if we can sense the great phil- osophy of life, knowing that God lives and that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world; that man is a son of God and brother to our Lord; that Joseph Smith and his suc-
0. F. URSENBACH
LIFE'S WONDROUS SONG By O. F. Ursenbach
BE thou my muse as now this ves- per song, While tranquil nature her sweet
anthems raise; I hear the selfsame story all day
long, That tells of love cind peace, of
joy and praise. From days of childhood mine this
treasured boon — This nectar quaffed from an eternal
spring, To turn the darkest day to brightest
noon, As this fond lyric vibrates each
heart-string. It comes not only in the songster's
note — Not only in the tree, or flower, or
bird — And not alone in crimson cloud
remote, This music that from everywhere is
heard. But in the simplest, tiny little things, This wondrous something to me
always sings.
cessors down to and including Heber J. Grant, are prophets, seers, and revelators; that Priesthood is insep- arably connected with the powers of heaven; and that the Gospel is richly embodied in our souls, — then, as- suredly, we are living that very life expressed in the words of Jesus who said: "I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly."
WAITING By Clarence Edwin Flynn
SO OFTEN Life says, "Wait." Then, mystified, I take her at her word, and bide my time In straining patience, like a child denied Some longed-for bauble of Hope's sunny
clime. Meanwhile, the days go by like falling
sands. And when Desire's rebellion long has
passed. Life comes and lays the treasure in my
hands, And makes the dear fulfilment mine at last.
Then I reflect and see how, had it been My own when I first made my failing
prayer. It would have been but pitiful and mean, Mayhap have brought me bitter ill to bear. So I give thanks that it is oft my fate. When I would have a thing, that Life says,
"Wait."
BRITISH COLUMBIA By Cristel Hastings
THESE cities well might be the rainbow's end! Vancouver with its air of British pride, Victoria of Parliamentary fame, And harbors where Alaskan steamers ride!
Here the first totem poles slant with the
wind — - Here Stanley Park and Butchart Gardens
vie With Capilano Canyon and its bridge To show one where the rairibow's end
must lie!
PITY THE BLIND By Herbert H. McKusick
HE WHO speaks of the burden of life Has never seen. In crimson and coral, The desert sunset-flame Follow the fading sun till the deepening
shadows blend With the quiet twittering of birds in the dusk.
He who tells of the cares of the world
Has never heard
A bob-white call its mate,
The whistling wings of doves,
Or listened to the sound of humming bees
at work, Or caught the liquid gold of larks on a
country road.
Some one has said that perhaps
The unforgivable sin is
To have lived with Beauty,
Not to have seen her face.
I should not be surprised if he who most
lives now Will most live also when the final sunset
fades.
LOST TRAILS By Neva Messner Buckett
FhTt. over desert mesas Where the lost trails wind, And jutting peaks stand
Sharp against the sky, Many a wanderer has pressed
With burning feet And followed sweet mirages
But to die . . . Still, still they come,
And under painted skies, The desert folds them
To her breast — and sighs.
w
SIERRA SONG By Cristel Hastings
SOMEWHERE along the edge of this old land A region lies where tall Sequoias stand Eternally through years that seem a day And snow-clad summits etch the luring way.
In dim, serrated line, blue mountains rear Themselves into the heavens, far and near — Proud places where sheer beauty dwells
aloof From lowland things — white clouds the
only roof.
High winds have flown across these sculp- tured rifts
Where snow lies in the endless glacier drifts,
And they have sped their message to me here.
Leaving my homesick eyes blurred with a tear.
I'm weary of the plains — I want to see Blue summits that, somehow, seem neigh- borly To one whose eyes are aching hungrily To see once more a high Sierra tree.
What matter towns to me, and city lights? God grant to me a glimpse of starry heights That lie beneath white moons somewhere
out West And let my homesick heart find there its
rest.
UNCLOSING By Gertrude Hood McCarthy
HEN petals tightly close, they catch no dew Which evening brings to cool the heat of
day, And tiny silver drops will steal away From flowers which hold no cups for
rendezvous.
When hearts are closed to every interest new,
Then song of birds, or merry roundelay
Which crickets nightly bring, will not con- vey
To them the joy that rightly is their due.
God rains on flowers the dew at eventide To sweeten and their loveliness to mould. To hearts He sends in showers just as wide The goodness and the mercy they enfold. Thus flowers and hearts would seem to be
allied. For each must open to receive and hold.
UNDERSTANDING By Norman C. Schlichtec
THE silent hills Need naught of speech The inmost hearts Of men to reach.
CARDSTON'S JUBILEE By Helen Kimball Or gill
OCardston fair, with glowing pride, we greet thy natal morn. All hail to thee who fifty years ago today
•was born! With hearts in tune, we'll sing the praise of
stalwart sons and true Who built in faith with vision bright, built
better than they knew! Unwavered by the tempest's blast, cold
winter's hoary hand. They proved unto the doubting ones, this
is a favored land. And Heaven looking down, upon the sacri- fice they made Beneficently smiled and said, "Thy glory
shall never fade!" And Truth and Justice from that hour have
held unbroken sway. O'er hearts that beat in unison, down to the
present dav. O Canada, we gaze in pride across thy
land far-flung And view achievements great as e'er were
told by mortal tongue; And as in vision bright, we see the future
loom in sight, Across the eastern horizon in rainbow colors
bright. It is for us to keep the faith, our emblem
e'er to wave, And trust in One who ever has been strong
and sure to save, To lead us past the reefs and rocks that he
along the way While darkness brooding o'er the land, shuts
out the light of day. Our heritage we will hold dear, attuned
our minds will be. Until our love of country will be felt from
sea to sea.
567
The School at the Crossroads (Thurra Graymar, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1937. 241 pages. $2.00.)
■jlA"R. McAndrew, editor of Eucational Review, School and Society, and formerly superintendent of schools in Chicago, Illinois, writes the preface to this book in which he points out reasons why the public needs to become more school conscious.
Mrs. Graymar from an actual ex- perience of many years' standing, writes from the fulness of that ex- perience to make all of us realize some of the weaknesses of the present school system. The author feels that unless we know the faults of our existing system, we shall not do much to rectify them.
The book is good reading and will open the eyes of parents as well as educators to what can be done by both to better the conditions of the young people who are required to attend school.
Mrs. Graymar focuses for the most part on the grade school and its prob- lems, although she does spend some time on the junior high and refers to both high school and college. Some of the chapter headings will suggest the material which the book contains : "The Old Order and the New," "Methodol- ogy," "Discipline," "Institutes," "What Shall We Teach — and Whom?"
It is to be sincerely hoped that su- perintendents and boards of education throughout the country will read the book and profit from that reading.
— M. C. /.
Careers After Forty (Walter B. Pitkin, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1937, 267 pages.)
TITr. Pitkin does a good job of con- vincing that many of the world's best drawing cards — vocationally — have really only reached their stride after the forty year old mark. He urges older people to avoid the old beaten paths for work; they must rather seek the bypaths which others have not thought to investigate. Mr. Pitkin also points out some vocations in which older people would never be successful because of special aptitudes required in their pursuit. The warnings issued, Mr. Pitkin gives a list of vocations into which older men and women may enter with a reasonable amount of success.
The author deals with the man and his chances, suggesting that we must go pioneering in the good old-fashioned way if we intend to succeed. Mr. Pit- kin makes the statement: "What one can't do, many can." By pooling cap- ital, abilities, and interests, many may win success. As a striking example of where cooperation is winning the day, Mr. Pitkin has mentioned the Church- wide Security Plan of the Mormon Church.
By the use of logic and examples, Walter B. Pitkin, author of Life Be- gins at Forty, has proved his point that people may have Careers After Forty.— M. C. ].
And So — Victoria
(Vaughan Wilkins, Macmillan, New
York. 1937. 618 pages. $2.50.)
'\TJ7iTH the interest in the coronation ^^ still fresh in the minds of the world, And So — Victoria revives a dramatic period in English history which set the present George VI on the throne of Great Britain. Intrigue, assassination, double-dealing — all in- tensify the interest in the inside story of how Victoria finally became the Empress-queen of all the domains from India to Canada.
Unpleasant situations, such as his- tory all too emphatically records as true, are revived to make us glad that present legislation has corrected at least some of them.
The story simulates Anthony Ad' verse in following the life of a boy of misfortune and questioned ancestry until he finds comparative peace. Al- though much of the nastiness of the period is true, readers may well wonder just why they should be inflicted with it in the way of fiction. — M. C. ].
Deux Enfants de France and Deux Enfants a la Mer (Juliette Macy, Macmillan, New York, 1937. $.50 each.)
Cor teaching children the French ■^ language delightfully, these two lit- tle books will be found invaluable. The pictures will reinforce the reading matter and both will serve to make the children actually think in French, rather than translate from English to French.
— M. C. /.
M. I. A. READING COURSE BOOKS
Executive: The Man of Galilee.
Adult and Senior: Ttie Return to Religion.
M Men and Gleaner: Step a Little Hioher.
How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Explorer: Real Persons.
Junior: North to the Orient.
Boy Scout: Cowboy Hugh.
568
Schooldays
CONDUCTED BY MARBA C. JOSEPHSON
/^ling! Clang! It may not be the bell of the little red school house which will summon the chil- dren from their play, because now- adays the schools are modern enough to look like any other build- ing in the community. But a bell there will be, and Mary and Susie and Ellen will scamper off joyously, while Johnny and Jimmie and Teddy will drag unwiUingly after, for school days are here again and all must share in learning.
Mothers need to think hard about the children's first days at school: the clothes they will wear, the cut of their hair, their conduct and at- titude. John's suit may be just the thing for a first grader, but if the boys hiss "sissy" at him, you'll be brewing much unhappiness for your- self and perhaps a complex for him if you don't put him in cords or overalls such as the other boys are wearing. Flowing ties and long curls were all right in the days when Little Lord Fauntleroy was a hero, but now the boy must have a manlier tie and haircut.
And then there's the teacher. She has a job that most mothers would be unwilling to tackle. She must make Jimmie take school and like it. She hasn't the right that mothers presume to take to change the pat of approval into the spat of rebuke. Mothers would be the first to resent it if the teachers should make dis- paraging remarks about mothers in front of the children. Mothers should then consider it no less an offense for them to make unkind remarks about the teachers before the children. Mothers and teachers should cooperate to the best de- velopment of the children.
Children need to be taught inde- pendence— but they also need to know that someone is in the back- ground, loving them, cheering them, praying for them. Mother must
never let them feel that she is there for them to lean on needlessly.
Mother should listen sympathetic- ally to all the small tales which they bring home, but she must not take sides. She must be careful that not by word or act does she influence unduly the easily molded attitudes of her offspring. She should main- tain more than a passing interest in the school where her young will be situated during the next few months. By visiting, by friendly notes to her youngster's teachers, she can learn in what ways she may be of most help. Often the best way to help the child is by letting him help him- self; at other times, if the child is par- ticularly timid, she can help by hav-
avail herself of them. Through her study, she will bring into the home a freshness of outlook, an alertness of mind, a quick and ready response that will radiate to her family and make them more interested in her as a person. If mother doesn't avail herself of more than the housework, she'll find that she won't be remem- bered long for having been a good housewife.
READING DAYS
ing him give his speeches at home, with much encouragement and kind- ly suggestions on how best to give it. Now while the children are in school, it is mother's opportunity to undertake some kind of school- work for herself. Too many moth- ers heave a sigh of relief and settle down to the ordinary jobs that are ever-present in the home. If mother is the least bit wise, she will try to find some kind of study which will improve her mind so that she may keep abreast of her forward-moving family. Universities and colleges are eager to offer suggestions and home study courses, many of them free of charge. It may be that mother has always had a desire to study poetry, drama, or the novel; she may feel that she needs to be- come more zealous in her study of dietetics, house management, or clothing. Now is her chance to study any — or better, all — -of these subjects. She will find often that her own community offers oppor- tunities to keep alert if only she will
]^o DAY should be complete without some good reading on mother's part. In the July issue of Hygeia . appears an article that all mothers would do well to read and reread from time to time. The title of the article is "The Right of Sight" and is written by Gabriel Farrell, director of the Perkins Institution for the Blind. To stimulate your interest, let us throw out some teasers from the article.
The author states that although in the United States the extent of blindness is probably less than in most other countries, yet there are 120,000 blind people, one out of every thousand of population, and 50,000 children with defective vis- ion. And of this number "nearly three-fourths of the blindness in this country is absolutely preventable!"
War, industry, fireworks, heredi- tary causes — all take their toll from normal eyesight. If in your house- hold there are young people of the adolescent age or above, encourage them to read the article and learn the value of social purity both for themselves and for those whom they choose for mates. We should en- courage the frankness which will make us insist on a clean bill of health and heredity on the part of those who are to become parents.
COOKING DAYS
VU^HEN the children come home in a rush from school and you are
in a hurry to get off to that class you
are attending, why not try this for
a luncheon dish?
Chocolate Cinnamon Toast
1 tbs. butter % tsp. cinnamon
2 tbs. sugar 6 slices bread
1 tbs. Ghirardelli's Ground Chocolate Cream butter, add sugar, Ghirardelli's Ground Chocolate and cinnamon. Trim edges from slices of bread, toast on both sides and spread with chocolate mixture. Return to oven for chocolate and sugar to melt. Cut slices in triangular pieces. Serve hot.
569
N SWITZERLAND WITH
By ALBERT E. BLASER
PRESIDENT GRANT
THRILLED with anticipation and delighted with their presence the good people from Switzer- land and southern Germany turned out in great numbers to greet Pres- ident Heber J. Grant and Elder Richard R. Lyman on their visit to the Swiss-German Mission.
July 2nd was really a gala day for Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Here the party was well received by Saints and friends. Newspaper photographers and reporters from leading papers were granted inter- views. The dinner at the home of District President Walter Ruf was served by sisters wearing native Swiss costumes.
The evening services were well attended, the commodious hall being packed to capacity. All were espe- cially pleased with the personality of President Grant and the convinc- ing address he delivered.
"It has been about thirty-three years since last visiting this land," said President Grant to a group of interested visitors who had gathered about him at the station in Basel ( Switzerland ) .
The following morning being Sun- day, July 4th, brought with it many surprises. Twenty Gleaner Girls, each dressed in white, assembled to surprise their guest's as they came to the breakfast table. They sang several folk-songs. Their visitors were each given a fitting present representative of Switzerland. At ten o'clock over three hundred peo- ple crowded into the church to catch the words of their much beloved prophet.
President Lyman was much stir- red by the singing of the "Hosannah Chorus" by the choir. "You may remember," said he, "that when I was here five months ago you sang that chorus so effectively I had it re- peated in the same meeting."
Brother Joseph Anderson, who some twenty-odd years ago fulfilled a mission in Germany and Switzer- land, spoke in the German language, telling of his delight upon returning to this goodly land.
Mission President Dr. Philemon M. Kelly stated: "I am not deeply concerned as to how Adam was created, but I am assured of the fact that he was here as the first father of mankind; that he was taught by 570
the Father and that we are his de- scendants. Today we are in the presence of his anointed prophet,"
'T'he opening words of President Grant as he stood up to address the eager-listening, awe-inspired audience of Swiss and German peo- ple, were: "I am very sorry that I could not understand what Brother Anderson and Brother Kelly said. You know we do not like to hear our names used and not know what is being said." Many Saints had w^ait- ed long to see and