'WsiiM'MilsMSmiSmmStMU
:';rS3j;;Wfj«.r:i
JULY 1948
u
Where does the
come from, Mommy?"
MOTHER WAS STARTLED to realize that she rarely thought of the source of abundant hot water, but took its instant availability for granted,
"IT'S LIKE MAGIC," she explained. "We
just turn the faucet and the hot water runs out. They say a little elf named 'Steady Flame' sends it, and that he lives in our automatic gas water heater, although you can't see him, of course.
"JUST THINK, grandmother used to heat water on the stove and carry it to the tub. Your bath today would have meant six trips with a heavy bucket. How lucky we are to have hot water always on tap. ..at low cost. ..with quick, dependable gas!"
FIT THE WATER HEATER TO THE HOME with the aid of this Official Chart. Thus assure ample hot water for every need, including automatic laundry machine and dish washer. A 30 -gallon size is the minimum required today.
AMPLE HOT WATER COSTS LITTLE, WITH GAS. A
modern automatic gas water heater is inexpensive to buy, to operate. You get double the quantity of hot water, or more, per dollar of operating cost, when you choose GAS.
|
MINIMUM RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NORMAL HOT WATER REQUIREMENTS. |
||
|
NUMBER BATHROOMS 1 |
NUMBER BEDROOMS IorZ |
STORAGE CAP'V. GALLONS 30 |
|
1 |
3c*4 |
40 |
|
2 |
2or3 |
40 |
|
2 |
4 or 5 |
SO |
|
3 |
3 |
50 |
|
3or4 |
4 or 5 |
75 |
The West Prefers
Better • Quicker • Cheaper
And here's "Steady F/ome" himself I
MOUNTAIN FUEL SUPPLY COMPANY
Serving twenty-six Utah and Wyoming Communities
EXPLORING
* TUP
I nt
By DR. FRANKLIN S. HARRIS, JR.
'T'he great 200-inch diameter mirror mounted in the telescope atop Mt. Palomar, California, was dedicated re- cently. This modern wonder of the world has been named the Hale tele- scope in honor of Dr. George EUery Hale, famous astronomer who first proposed such a telescope. The new telescope will permit a study of eight times the volume of space which can be studied at present. 4
A new high speed rotor has been de- veloped by Professor J. W. Beams which rotates 38 million times each minute with centrifugal forces over 400 million times that of gravity. The rotors are suspended magnetically in a vacuum and spun by a rotating magnet- ic field.
♦
jT\R. W. Goetsch, Austrian biologist, has announced the discovery of vitamin T, important in promoting growth and development. Obtained from termites and other insects that obtain it from yeast and fungi, the new vitamin seems to promote healing of wounds and reduce recovery time from sickness.
4
A n American Automobile Association
survey in Cleveland showed that among students who had special driving training in schools only one-half per- cent of the women subsequently be- came involved in automobile accidents compared to 3.8 percent of the men.
•♦
[" ake Chelan, Washington, at an altitude of over a thousand feet is fifty miles long, has an average width of one mile, but for sixteen miles it is a thousand feet deep, with a maximum depth of 1,419 feet going to 340 feet below sea level. It was gouged out by a glacier which was almost a mile deep
near the head of the present lake.
4
Come recent experiments seem to show that hens lay eggs according to when they get fed rather than ac- cording to time of daylight.
4
Come of the new golf balls have a silicone center instead of rubber to get greater distance and greater re- bound. The silicones are a type of ma- terial which acts like putty when left by itself or pressed slowly, but acts like rubber when hit hard or dropped.
JULY 1948
A school lunch can be simply adorable . . . and ever so easy to fix. Just be sure to include plenty of SNAX — the flaky, golden-brown crack- ers that youngsters never seem to get enough of. And nourishing too, rich in the nutriments of flour, with the delightful salt-tang and but- tery taste. SNAX are deli- cious — right out of the package — and wonderful with any other items that be- long in the lunch box. Reach for the bright red package next time you shop.
BISCUIT COMPANY
SALT LAKE
& PHOENIX
417
1948
*
VOLUME 51 NUMBER 7
Church and M. I. A. Activities in Picture 458
Special Features
The Need of the World: Super Men Harold T\ Christensen 429
The Land Nobody Wanted - John D* Giles 436
I Visit the Navajos S» Dilworth Young 437
The Story of the Horse Chestnut James H* Heron 438
What's She Got?— Let's Talk it Over .Mary Brentnall 439
The Fallacy of Moderate Drinking Joy Elmer Morgan 441
He Makes Me Feel Important Helen Gregg Green 444
The Spoken Word from Temple Square Richard L. Evans 445
Exploring the Universe, Franklin Homing: Pattern for a Day, Helen S. Harris, Jr 417 S. Neal 450
These Times — The Political Sig- nificance of E.C.A., G. Homer Durham 4 1 9
The Miracle of the Gulls, Albert L. Zobell, Jr 422
On the Bookrack .447
Cook's Corner, Josephine B. Nichols 452
Handy Hints 452
Church Publications 479
Index to Advertisers 479
Your Page and Ours 480
Editorials
We Go; We Come ... John A, Widtsoe 448
Is the Word of Wisdom A Commandment? Albert L* Zobell, Jr* 448
ies, Poetry
Tyee, the Valiant Hubert Evans 434
Mulek of Zarahemla— Chapter VII J* N. Washburn 442
Frontispiece: The Old Ranch
House, Josephine Mclntire 423
Poetry Page 424
Solo Flight, Georgea Rice Clark....428
Moonlight Sonata, Pauline Stark- weather 440
Wasted Effort, Mildred Goff -444
My Old Home Town, Edna S. Dustin 453
Executive and Editorial Offices:
50 North Main Street, Salt Lake City 1, Utah Copyright 1948 by Mutual Funds, Inc., a Corporation of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All rights reserved. Subscription price, $2.50 a year, in advance; foreign subscriptions, $3.00 a year, in advance; 25c
single copy. Entered 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 July 2, 1918. The Improvement Era is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, but welcomes contributions. All manuscripts must be accompanied by sufficient postage for delivery and return.
Change of Address: Fifteen days' notice required for change of address. When ordering a change, please include address slip from a recent issue of the magazine. Address changes cannot be made unless the old ' ! ■ addressas well as the new one is included.
418
The Cover
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE PRIESTHOOD QUORUMS, MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, MUSIC COMMITTEE, WARD TEACHERS, AND OTHER AGENCIES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
The Editor's Page
Some Warning Signs George Albert Smith 425
Church Features
The Church in Europe Alma Sonne 426
Service to the Young Women of the Church through the Y»W.
MXA* Marba C. Josephson 430
The Record Harvest in Wales Archibald F* Bennett 432
Evidences and Reconciliations: CXXIV — Should Church Doctrine
Be Accepted Blindly? John A* Widtsoe 449
The Church Moves On 420 presiding Bishopric's Page 456
Genealogy 432
Melchizedek Priesthood 454
No- Liquor-Tobacco Column 455
*<*tthe Arrival and Encampment of ■*- the Pioneers" is the east plaque of the Sea Gull Monument on Tem- ple Square. This monument, unveiled and dedicated on October 1, 1913, "in grateful remembrance of the mercy of God to the Mormon Pio- neers," is the work of Mahonri M. Young, grandson of President Brig- ham Young. The photograph, from the files of the Church Radio, Pub- licity, and Mission Literature Com- mittee, was adapted to cover use by Charles Jacobsen.
New Subscription Price
The new subscription price for The Improvement Era is $2.50 a year. This rate is for subscriptions in the United States and possessions, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Central America. Subscriptions in all other countries are $3.00 a year.
For over fifty years the price of The Improvement Era was held at $2.00 a year, sometimes under very trying conditions. Unusually high printing and operating costs made the boost in price mandatory.
The new subscription price will make possible not only continued growth of the "Voice of the Church," but also the carrying out of plans to make the Era "the best church mag- azine in the world."
Editors
George Albert Smith John A. Widtsoe
Managing Editor
Richard L. Evans
Assistant Managing Editor
Doyle L. Green
Associate Editor
Marba C. Josephson
General Manager
George Q. Morris
Associate Manager
Bertha S. Reeder
Business Manager
John D. Giles
Editorial Associates
Elizabeth J. Moffitt Albert L. Zobell, Jr. Advertising Director
Verl F. Scott
National Advertising Representatives
Edward S. Townsend,
San Francisco and Los Angeles
Dougan and Bolle,
Chicago and New York
Member, Audit Bureau of Circulations
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
The Political Significance of E C A
By DR. G. HOMER DURHAM
Head of Political Science Department and
Director of the Institute of Government,
University of Utah
JITan often stands on the brink of overwhelming opportunity and fails to grasp it for lack of knowledge and inspiration. Often as not he plunges into the abyss of destruction, usually because of ignorance. The quest for light and truth is eternal. What is the political significance of the monumental Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, with its establishment, the Eco- nomic Cooperation Administration (ECA)?*
It would be folly to admit possession of very much "light and truth" on this subject. But the matter touches the lives of so many people that we are challenged to focus at- tention on it. In that light the following con- siderations are offered :
■Rirst: ECA constitutes an additional devel- opment in the field of international or- ganization and cooperation. This is probably its major significance. In ad- dition to diplomacy, treaties, interna- tional custom, practice, and the UN, ECA is an additional development. In- ternational administration on a large scale is involved. Administration is the essence of government; it is where ac- tion touches the individual. Consider the legal bases for ECA as its influ- ence finally touches a man in Belgium: First, a variety of international con- ferences in the summer of 1947; sec- ond, the pageantry of American politics and public opinion during the summer and winter of 1947 and 1947-48; third, the enactment through the 435 members of the American House of Representa- tives and the 96 United States senators of a bill into law; fourth, its acceptance and execution by the American Presi- dent; fifth, the negotation of a multi- lateral treaty between the United States and the sixteen nations, in Paris, April 1948; sixth, the detailed treaty between the United States and Bel- gium conforming to the Act of Con- gress and the general treaty; seventh, the related political process, through- out, of Belgium! Here have been meshed the governmental wheels of western civilization, to grind out the rules to be followed by ECA and the governments affected. This is a re- markable development in the annals of
*For the details of the enactment of this measure, formerly popularly called "the Marshall Plan," see The Improvement Era for June. p. 335.
JULY 1948
international relations. Are we on the brink of a parliament of man, of sorts? Who can say? The following can be reported next in order.
Second; The enactment of ECA has provided the impetus for a limited "Western Union" in Europe which may become the nucleus of a United States of Europe. On or about January 22, 1948, Mr. John Foster Dulles, the distinguished churchman and Repub- lican leader, told the Senate Foreign Relations committee that the ECA measure virtually required closer Eu- ropean cooperation. The very next day, Mr. Ernest Bevin rose in the House of Commons and made his now- famous speech calling for a Western Union in Europe, of Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. By the time ECA was in course of final passage, the treaty of Brussels had been signed, and "Western Union" had become a fact — to the extent that those five na- tions had agreed on mili- tary cooperation, a basic element of knitting the governmental process. By May 1, 1948, the "Union" had been implemented by a permanent council, meeting regularly in London, and consisting of repre- sentatives of the chiefs of staff of the countries concerned. The chairman- ship of the council rotates among the powers, month by month, in alphabetic arrangement. On May 10, 1948, an un- official "Congress of Europe" com- posed of interested individuals, met by appointment at The Hague and voted unanimously to create a United States of Europe, including Germany. Win- ston Churchill was present and spoke in support of the project before one crowd of 30,000. Although unofficial, such a movement has its effect on pub- lic opinion.
Third: The United States realizes that peace and prosperity are not the fruit of one great world conference or any single effort, but are goals to be realized every day, day by day, in the life of men and nations. This realiza- tion has finally dawned, if slowly, on the American people, who by dint of their unparalleled wealth and blessings almost deluded themselves into a be- lief in political magic in recent years. We now (at least a solid majority) seem to know better. Part of this realization expresses itself in a rational preparedness program, while at the same time holding out the olive branch to the Soviet Union. An editorial in The Deseret News, May 11, 1948, "United Nations Needs Russia," bears
comment in this connection: "Ameri- cans should realize that what Russia needs is conversion, not eviction. She is a necessary member of the family of nations, and with patience, under- standing and firmness . . . she may yet make her contribution to human wel- fare." Some folk expected magical results from UN, then, disappointed, urged a new UN without Russia. The News editorial points the sober way. American standardization of arms and equipment-help for the Marshall Plan countries is suggestive of understanding with firmness.
Fourth: The geographical picture of American cooperation with Western Union and the other ECA powers is suggestive of a millennial-like world,, the vision of which may spur day-by- day efforts for peace. By means of the- new international machinery expressed in ECA (and enumerated in first place in this analysis,) the United States is linked in an effective manner, yet one in which all-around national, local in- terests may be served, in a worldwide system. Look at the map in terms of Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. What does one see? Eu- ropean landmarks only? No! Virtual- ly all of Africa; the British Empire bases, worldwide; Madagascar; Indo- China; the great British dominions; New Caledonia; the Marquesas, and the islands dotting every sea! What a dream of empire! Yet here is the be- ginning of a real basis for voluntary agreement and cooperation. Viewed with hope, there is nothing in history to compare with the prospects and pos- sibilities. Girded together with military strength and determination, we may be assured that the Soviet Union pales into relative insignificance.
Tn conclusion we may recall the say- ing, "He who pays the piper calls the tune." That is our position largely. What shall be the tune? Before the June M.I.A. conference in 1940, Presi- dent J. Reuben Clark, Jr., with keen diplomatic as well as gospel insight declared: "America's ultimate God- given destiny, planned by the Creator and testified by ancient and modern prophecy and revelation, is that out of her shall go forth the law." What shall our tune be, the "law," which shall go out via ECA? This is Amer- ica's opportunity. The tune must in- clude liberty, righteousness, justice, humility. It must be rendered in the spirit of the Master who said: "He who would be chief among you, let him be the servant of all." Are we worthy of the limited opportunities for service presented by ECA? We may all begin today, at home, not forgetting the "Nineveh cure of fasting and pray- er" previously recommended in this column.
419
Our finest, fastest trains carry low fare chair cars
No other form of low - cost transportation gives you the comfort, convenience, luxury and safety you get in chair cars and coaches on Southern Pa- cific trains.
You con read, write, play games, enjoy the scenery, or sleep as you ride. There's plenty of room to move around and stretch your legs. Most trains are air-conditioned and offer porter service. You'll find meals delicious, prices moderate in dining and cof- fee shop cars. (Eating on the train is half the fun of trav- eling.)
The engineer does the driv- ing. You relax, in perfect com- fort, no matter what the weather outside. Steel rails are the safest highway eyer built.
You'd expect all this to cost a lot — but it doesn't. Coach and chair car fares are very low, and are good on our finest, fastest trains: The City of San Francisco and San Francisco Overland, Chicago- San Fran- cisco via Ogden; the Golden State and Imperial, Chicago- Los Angeles via El Paso; the Sunset Limited, New Orleans- Los Angeles; the Beaver, San Francisco-Portland; and the Daylights, between San Fran- cisco-Oakland-Sacramento and Los Angeles. Seats on many of these trains are numbered and reserved. Reservations may be made in advance at any rail- road ticket office. (Nominal extra fare charged for the extra fast Golden State and City of San Francisco.)
Remember, too, children un- der five years of age ride free, five to eleven inclusive for half fare.
Next time, try chair cars and coaches on S.P. trains.
The friendly Southern Pacific
O. V. Gibson, General Agent 4 S. Main St., Salt Lake City 1, Utah
\nc LAxwvcXt
»©»
President Smith
"pOR his lifetime of service to the youth of the state, President George Albert Smith has received the Eagle award for civic service in Utah, given by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Sponsors of the award were the Salt Lake City, Ogden, Murray, Tooele, and Bingham, Utah, aeries, in addition to the grand national aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
President Smith has also been re- elected to the national executive board, Boy Scouts of America, at a meeting held in Seattle, Washington, and at- tended by such Church scouters as Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Coun- cil of the Twelve, President Oscar A. Kirkham of the First Council of the Seventy, Superintendent George Q. Morris of the Y.M.M.I.A., and First Assistant Superintendent John D. Giles.
He received the Veterans of Foreign Wars distinguished citizenship medal early in June in recognition of his thirty-five years in scouting.
President Smith also attended the fifty-eighth annual Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution convention, the thirty- fifth such convention he has attended. In representing the Utah group, he presented the national congress of the organization with a Utah State flag. He pronounced the benediction as the clos- ing session ended in Minneapolis this year.
Relief Society Board
A ppointment of four new members
to the general board of the Relief
Society has been announced by Belle S.
Spafford, general president of that
Church auxiliary. They are:
Alta Jensen Vance, president of the Big Cottonwood Stake Relief Society, and who has previously been president of the Mount Olympus Ward Relief Society, and has been active in many of the wards of the Salt Lake Valley.
Christine Hinckley Robinson, who, now a resident of Salt Lake City, has been a member of the Relief Society board of the New York Stake, having spent nineteen years in the east.
Josie Barnson Bay, who, before she came to Salt Lake City to live, two months before this appointment, was president of the San Diego Stake Re- lief Society.
Alberta Huish Christensen, who, for twenty years, has been active in Relief Society work on both the east and west coasts, and at this appointment, was a member of the Emigration (Salt Lake City) Stake Relief Society board.
Northwest Flood
A ll members of the Church of Jesus "^ Christ of Latter-day Saints were reported safe in the recent floods in Oregon. Church welfare assistance was begun almost before the flood wa- ters subsided.
Canadian Ranch
After returning from an inspection trip to the recently purchased Kirkaldy Ranch near Raymond, Air- berta, Canada, Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin of the Presiding Bishopric in- dicated that the property was in ex- cellent condition and that the Church would stock it with cattle this fall. At first the ranch will not be operated as a Church welfare project; however, that is a possibility later on.
New Zealand Mission
"Dishop Gordon C. Young of the Salt Lake City North Eighteenth Ward has been called by the First Presidency as president of the New Zealand Mis- sion, with headquarters at Auckland. He succeeds President A. Reed Hal- verson, who has presided over the mis- sion since 1945.
Elders with the message of the re- stored gospel first went to New Zea- land from the Australian Mission in 1854. In March 1855 the first branch of the Church was organized at Karori. At the beginning of the year 1898, the Australian Mission was divided to form the New Zealand Mission. In years past the work has been pre- dominantly among the native Maoris and the Book of Mormon was pub- lished into that tongue in 1889. The Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price were published in Maori in 1919. Te Katere, the mission magazine that is published monthly, has pages printed in both English and Maori.
GORDON
C. YOUNG
420
President Young filled a mission to
New Zealand beginning in 1919,
shortly after being released from the
(Concluded on page 466)
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
NEW BOOKS
FOR YOUR
PROGRESSIVE READING LIST
Presidents of the Church
By PRESTON NIBLEY
New edition has a section on President George Albert Smith. Now in one cover, biographies of all presidents of the Church.
$2.50 Prelude to the Kingdom $2.75
Exodus to Greatness.
$3.00
By PRESTON NIBLEY
Complete, vivid account of the migration of thousands of exiled Americans driven from their homes, denied their constitutional liberties, left to find freedom in the wilderness 1000 miles beyond the frontier.
How the Desert Was Tamed
.$1.00
By JOHN A. WIDTSOE
The exiled Americans featured in "Exodus to Greatness"
built an interesting civilization in the valleys of the mountains. This book reveals the source of power and the spirit which motivated the achievement now attract- ing the attention of the world.
By GUSTIVE O. LARSON
This provides additional, detailed insight into the forces which held the Latter-day Saints together and enabled them to achieve results which would have been im- possible by any other means.
Scouting for the Mormons on the Great Frontier $2.00
By SIDNEY A. and E. KAY HANKS
The accomplishments of the Latter-day Saints as pioneers in the western wilderness demanded men of the calibre and capacity to be inspired with steadfast, resolute de- votion and loyalty to each other and to the cause which held them together. This is the story of one of the most colorful, daring, intrepid and faithful, Ephraim K. Hanks, friend of red men and white, famous scout for Brigham Young, man of many talents and delightful sense of humor.
What of the Mormons? $1.50 Truth and the Master's Touch ....$2.00
By GORDON B. HINCKLEY
The story of the Latter-day Saints told in "Reader's Di- gest" style, condensed, direct, to-the-point, written for interested non-Mormons who want to know more about what they hear and see of the Mormons.
By JAMES J. UNOPULOS, JR.
How it seems to be on the outside looking in on the
Latter-day Saints their lives, history and doctrines. An
alert, inquisitive, untrammeled young man, tells the story of his self-conversion.
And some of the old favorites
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Gospel Quotations $1.25 Bible Ready Reference 75c
By JUDGE HENRY H. ROLAPP
Prophecies of Joseph Smith and Their Fulfillment $1.50
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Bible paper, flexible leather binding, gilt edges.
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440 East South Temple Street
Salt Lake City 10, Utah
JULY 1948
421
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it no*
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iafptte
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This comp/efe guide
to better use of your frozen food locker will save you money, bring new satisfaction from your frozen meats. Use it to buy and prepare your meats wisely — and use LOCKERAP to give better pro- tection of natural flavor and color. Get both at your grocer's or at your favorite locker plant.
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The Miracle of the Gulls
Dm bribed oL. /^lopell, dr.
A lthough its centennial took place in late May or in early June, the miracle '"^^ of the sea gulls has become so much a part of the story of the Church in the valleys of the mountains of the West, that the editors of The Improvement Era planned this for July — the month of the Pioneers.
For those of the vanguard their exodus was at an end. Their leader, President Brigham Young, and many of his closest ad- visers, had returned East for their families the autumn before and had not returned. Great Salt Lake City, a pinpoint on the map, was actually, in that spring of 1 848, four hundred log and adobe huts, all located in- side the "Old Fort," and over five thousand acres of land under culti- vation. Truly the seventeen hun- dred souls then in the valley were doing their best to "make the desert
blossom as the rose."
* * •
Then from the direction of the hills came the black, moving blan- ket of crickets. And behind that blanket, as it moved, were only darkness and despair, for the horde of insects left not a green spear of grass where but a few moments be- fore, had been prosperous fields of grain.
Every available hand was called to the fields. Every available meth- od of extermination — drowning, burning, clubbing — was tried, but to no avail. Foodstuffs, carried across the plains and the mountains the year before were nearly exhausted. The Saints knew, too, that addition- al thousands of Church members were on their way to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. All would be dependent upon this crop which was now being destroyed as it grew in the fields.
The leaders, resting momentarily in the fields, discussed the gravity of the problem. "Father Smith," said his second counselor, "it is your duty to send an express to Brother Brigham and tell him not to bring the people here; for if he does, they will all starve to death."
John Smith, president of the Salt Lake Stake, looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then replied:
422
"Brother John Young! the Lord led us here, and he has not led us here to starve!"1
HThen when all else failed, men, women, and children fell to their knees to voice the prayer that had been in their hearts from the begin- ning. And soon a cloud — a white cloud — appeared in the sky. Was this also destructive? Men looked — and wondered.
These were sea gulls, and as they lit in the fields, sharp-eyed men and women could see that they were gorging themselves not on the ten- der blades of grain, but on the crick- ets. Filling themselves, the sea gulls would fly off, disgorge, and return to the stricken fields for more crick- ets.
This was deliverance!
We know not the date of this modern-day miracle. Some histori- ans have said May 1848, some June, and some May and June. But on June 9, 1848, the presidency of the Salt Lake Stake sent a letter to President Brigham Young and the Council of the Twelve, who were then en route West, saying:
As to our crops, there has been a large amount of spring crops put in, and they were doing well till within a few days. The crickets have done considerable damage to both wheat and corn, which has discour- aged some, but there is plenty left if we can save it for a few days.
The sea gulls have come in large flocks from the lake and sweep the crickets as they go; it seems the hand of the Lord [is] in our favor. . . .2
The crops of the next two years were likewise molested during their early growing season.
The insect invaders of 1848, '49, and '50, were crickets, and not grasshoppers, as is sometimes er- roneously related.
'Thomas Callister letter to Elder George A. Smith, dated February 13. 1869; found in Journal History. lune 9, 1848
"Ibid.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
— Photograph by ]eano Orlando
the old
RANCH HOUSE
i.
/Josephine yl'IcJrntire
w,
ith leaden feet I walked up to the door. The old deserted ranch house on the plain Was drooping under years of drought and rain. A field mouse ran across the sagging floor Into the woodshed where we children wound Our lariats, hung our saddles in a row. The old corrals, through which life used to flow, By time were flung to rot there on the ground.
Good-bye, old house! I will not come again To see you stranded in a sea of grass. Old memories arise and weave a spell Around my heart. Soon now encroaching grain Will shelter you from curious eyes that pass. My childhood's home, to you a long farewell!
JULY 1948
423
cr^^^m^k
SHE SOUGHT A ZION
By Eva Willes Wangsgaard
| thought of woman on that pilgrimage •*• As following a husband, humble, sweet, Torn from her Eden to a wild of sage To make a home for man's adventurous
feet. I mourned for her, her comforts left behind, Her birth pangs borne in tent or wagon bed, Which came too often to a hillside, lined With little mounds which epidemics fed. Then I re-read her journals, and I knew How woman's heart was tinder to the spark Struck by a prophet's flint. Her fervor
grew, Illuminating ways that else were dark. Enrapt, she sought a Zion. Man might
doubt, But followed her whose faith would not
burn out.
WHEN SEGO LILIES BLOOM IN THE HIGHLANDS
By Margery S. Stewart
WHEN sego lilies bloom in the highlands, Let me not be there, nor captured. When they lift pale candles in the hollows, Let me not be bound, enraptured, Snared by their whiteness, their fragility, Lest I read a psalm in their cup, A proverb in their petals; Lest I behold where they reach up From the dour earth of the hillsides, And seeing how they grow in a gray place, Cast off my ease and reach for my burden, Content no longer with pleasure without grace.
AND THE DESERT BLOSSOMED By Helen Martin Home
f I 'he sounds of the grating of hub and •*- chain
And of creaking wagon box once heard Among hills that admitted that wagon train From plains where buffalo roamed in herd;
And the screech of clay in the valley's bot- tom
When plows in baked desert incision made,
Where hot rocks cooled when the earth was loosened,
And first crude plantings were hopefully laid;
The murmuring of voices that planned a
city; The crashing of logs, ax-felled, until With the sawing of beam and the crack of
hammer Boomed building of store and the grinding
mill . . .
These eddied away on the waves of ether
As light rays zoomed from the blistered clod;
And sounds of voices in the evening, sing- ing,
Have lifted their praise to the realm of God.
Yet, even their silence is thunder eternal — Reverberating in chorus from hill to hill — Intoning, "It's ours — This desert that blos- somed!" And "Brigham Young is a prophet still!"
424
THE YOUNG CHILD By Hatlie Grigg
'T'he young child, Freedom, reaches up to ■*■ take
Your hand, America; then for his sake, You firmly clasp his infant palm in yours
And lead him on to distant climes and
shores. With head held high and with no backward
glance You go, with him, to take uncertain chance With death. Vicissitudes along the way Will be forgotten in that happy day Of lasting peace, and in its mighty gleam The world will waken from its useless
dream Of conquest. Then may your stride in- crease,
Till, with the child, you reach the fields of peace.
—Photograph by Keystone View Co.
THE PATRIOT By Ormonde Butler
Shall he who patient bears the heavjy weight Of dull routine, find out the shining gate Opening for heroes to pass through, his own?
Without the unseen stone, no building can be great.
PATTERN By Jean Anderson
T_Te lends a hand with garden tools * ■*■ Or helps a neighbor build a fence- Pinprick-marks upon the weave Of days, and yet they can commence A simple, beautiful design, Neighbor-used, will grow apace Until no severing line Bisects the pattern of the race.
THE SAN JUAN RIVER By Mabel Jones Gabbott
LONELY in its solitude, loving all the lone- liness, Now the river twists and turns, while can- yon walls on each side press
Against a distant hazy blue. Here few people make a path;
Beauty marks the aftermath
Where with sharp tools of time and running sand,
The sluggish stream has deeply dug into this lonely land.
An old, old land where lazy clouds are
ghosts And sun and red, red soil are often hosts To wind-song from the canyon rim And storms that waken purple echoes in
the dim Stern gorges. Still the water winds its way To meet the Colorado day by day, Making as it goes in the penmanship of
ages Its lonely tale on nature's pages.
THIS DAY LOST FEAR By Fae Decker Dix
This quiet conversation On a hilltop, This tearless watch in anguish Has accord.
I break the crystal barricade
Of long delusion
To fling apart the doors
That shuttered fear.
High on a hillside
Cool against the sky,
How swiftly comes the
Sacrament of peace;
How soft departs.
The bitter need to cry,
Out of the fear-seared heart.
The restless mind,
These torn, wan symbols of despair
Shall blend to make a prism
Of our pain,
And still the inner strife,
The quenchless fire.
And silently shall fear take Soft departure,
As courage wakes the heartbeat For its own.
REMINDER IN JULY By Lucretia Penny
Waste never a scent Of roses and clover. Half the year's spent: June is over!
PEACE By Christie Lund Coles
A lways, I knew I could find peace •** Lying upon a green hill in the sun. Today, surrounded by these trees and
peaks, My darkest cares seem healed and done.
And though tomorrow I shall come Back to the world of realities, Still the mind can escape with singing joy To these hills, these organ-sounding trees.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
OME WARNING SIGN:
& l^miiaent Ljeome ^Arlbert J^mitk
I
feel very much concerned when I think of the temptations that are every- where present. I am thinking of the time when ancient Israel went astray. They wor- shiped false gods. They listened to that which was popular, but false. And then destruction overtook them.
We are just in as much danger as were any people who have ever lived upon the earth, unless we listen to our Heavenly Fa- ther. His is the only voice, and the teachings of those whom he directs are the only teach- ings that we are safe in following.
We know that the adversary is alert. If he can betray the rising generation, if he can lay pitfalls for their feet and ensnare them in evil, his desire has been realized, and their downfall is accomplished.
We are living in perilous times. It would seem that the scriptures are being fulfilled; it appears that this is the particular time when "if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matt. 24:24.)
It is remarkable how easy it is for those who desire to advance their financial interests in the world to find a reason for setting aside the plain teachings of the Lord with reference to their lives. And it is strange to me how many people fall into the habit of listening to those who say things that are contrary to the revealed will of our Heavenly Father.
The very fact that so much money has been made available to many people gives the youth in some instances the feeling that be- cause money comes relatively easy, honest toil is not necessary or desirable. And yet I am satisfied that no people have ever lived upon the earth who, having failed to earn their livelihood by integrity and industry, have not gone to decay.
If our children grow up in idleness, we know that this is displeasing to the Lord.
We should stress the necessity of morality among the rising generation. It is not safe for us to leave to our public schools and to
other institutions outside of our homes the training of our boys and girls with reference to a proper conduct in life.
If we do not teach them the sacredness of these bodies of ours, if we do not inspire in them a desire to build character that is be- yond reproach, if we fail to impress upon them the danger that confronts them in their contact with the evils that afflict mankind, we will not be justified by saying that we did not realize how serious it was.
God has warned us that we should teach our children to pray and to walk uprightly before him. He has given us schoolmasters after his own heart who have been instruct- ing us from year to year in the things that we should do.
If those of our household neglect to hold in reverence the things of God, we must know that sooner or later sorrow will come into their lives; and if it comes into the lives of our children, then we too must join them in sorrow and remorse.
It is important that in our home and by our own firesides we take more pains to teach our sons and our daughters those truths which the Lord has made plain to us are ne- cessary for eternal salvation.
What a wonderful privilege it is to live in an age such as this! No such opportunities were ever afforded the human family before. But with these opportunities and blessings there also comes temptation. It is every- where present. We must not take too much for granted, but be alert. We must feel the importance of our duty as fathers and moth- ers and safeguard the future happiness of our youth.
I hope and pray that as members of the Church we will be more diligent in the future than we have been in the past, that we will be more earnest than we have ever been in safeguarding the youth against all manner of evil.
tfgPaae
JULY 1948
T
425
Someone has summarized the needs of Europe in three words — food, fuel, and faith. To this summary should probably be added another three words — clothing, shelter, and freedom. Whatever the needs, the response to the call for relief has been most generous and is deserving of the highest praise. Shiploads of supplies have reached the ports of Europe and have been distributed where the pressure of necessity has been most acute. These shipments coming from across the ocean, have consisted mostly of food, clothing, medical supplies, and such other items as were needful and urgent to save hu- man life.
Among the most praiseworthy of these charities stands the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Probably no other organization, considering the number of its mem- bers, has done so much to meet the demands of the starving millions in Europe's war-stricken countries. Through its welfare organization,
The CHURCH in Europe
St. Mary Le Bow, Cheapside, London, one of London's fa- mous churches.
functioning in the stakes and mis- sions of the Church, lives have been saved, disabilities removed, suffer- ing alleviated, morale restored, and sinking spirits revived.
The office of the general welfare committee has been most efficient and businesslike in discharging its tremendous responsibility, which has been, and still is, a gigantic task. One scarcely needs to itemize the preliminaries and procedures of such a large-scale undertaking. They consist of assembling, assort- ing, packing, loading, providing ship and railroad transportation, prepar- ing shipping documents, notifica- tions of shipment, and many other details.
Records, requiring skill and ac- curacy in their preparation, also must be kept for the offices of the European Mission, the missions to whom the supplies are sent, the transfer companies, and the relief agencies handling the shipments. This is necessary in order to safe- guard the consignments and follow them through to their destinations.
HPhe distribution phase of the wel- fare program is perhaps the most difficult and the most trying. It requires almost daily contact with the starving populations of the war- ravaged localities. It is no easy mat- ter to listen to the cries of distress day after day, to witness the heart- rending scenes of want and misery, and to dole out common necessities in quantities which can only partly satisfy. Neither is it an easy thing
to negotiate with relief commissions that are dominated by the contend- ing, occupying, and governing mili- tary powers. No distribution is made except on a basis outlined by them, as their consent is necessary before supplies can reach those for whom they are intended. Diplo- macy, patience, and wisdom must be exercised frequently almost beyond the point of endurance. The admin- istration of relief has many angles, each one of which is a challenge to the best courage and the profound- est intuition.
But material relief, to be perma- nently helpful, must be sustained by other factors. Europe is full of tur- moil and uncertainty. In many re- spects the suffering and the anxiety among the people are far more poignant and dreadful now in so- called peacetime than during the war. Whole nations of otherwise normal men and women have lost their courage and incentive to face stern realities and grim possibilities. Discouragement and exhaustion are undermining their creative capaci- ties. Their will to live as a distinct people is rapidly disappearing. Faith, the bedrock of life, has seri- ously dwindled and lost its signifi- cance and power as a force of recov- ery.
No one who has traveled through Europe in recent months is blind to the distress which covers these lands. Her people are confused and bewildered, and her nations are sinking into a state of economic, moral, and spiritual prostration.
d5u ^ftma ^_>6
*
lOWVie ASSISTANT TO THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE
AND PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN MISSION
Wallace G. Bennett, secretary, European Mis- sion, addressing a street meeting at the Custom House steps, Belfast, Ireland. Other missionaries are in the foreground.
Family life is being disrupted; the moral fibre of men and women is weakening; economic stability is threatened; governments are in jeopardy; and the European world is sick with fearful doubts and end- less misgivings.
Food and clothing cannot save the struggling nations. Something deeper is lacking, something that is fundamental in the character of a progressive and forward-looking people. That something is a faith in God, a reliance on his providences, and a firm conviction that he will come to the rescue of those who earnestly seek him. If such faith cannot be established, the prospects
Branches of the Church in every mission have been reopened, reor- ganized, and strengthened. New life has been injected into the vari- ous organizations, and the program of the Church has been set in motion with vigor and determination. The young men of Zion, fresh from the army and navy, have accepted calls to preach the gospel of peace in the counties where they had worn the military uniforms. This is an over- ture of love and good will unpar- alleled in missionary enterprise.
In comparison to this spiritual up- lift which has come to the Latter- day Saints in Europe, other time- honored churches, directed by the highest culture and learning to be found among men, are losing their hold upon the minds and hearts of their adherents. A consciousness of God seems to have disappeared among them, and the powers of darkness are increasing their pres- sure against the unwary. Religion, once the motivating power behind great and far-reaching accomplish-
A common queue in London. Londoners line up for horse meat being sold at a butcher shop. People must queue for hours to get what little food is available.
for a better life in Europe are dismal and disheartening, for "man cannot live by bread alone" nor can he rise above his spiritual concepts.
T atter-day Saints must have a supreme sense of satisfaction as they contemplate the scope of the relief and rehabilitation program of the Church. Much effort has been expended to provide physical as well as spiritual comfort to the mem- bers who are suffering hardships and privations. While food and clothing were distributed, the spirit- ual and moral needs were not neg- lected.
JULY 1948
ments, seems to have small value in the manifold realities of daily life. Thinking people are naturally alarmed at the widespread outbreak of infidelity and skepticism.
Newspapers in London devote front page space in calling attention to the situation. In a recent issue of London's Daily Express the com- plaint of a forty-year-old vicar of Airedale-with-Fryston is quoted as follows:
I .have a parish of 7,000, mostly miners and their families; yet my adult congrega- tion in a modern church is usually twelve — often only three or four. ... I want now to go somewhere where I can be useful — do some good. Airedale is hopeless.
In another issue of the same paper, under the caption, "Reporters Go to Church," some of the comments of the reporters who attended religious services are as follows:
The Reverend J. R. H. Prophet, vicar of the Holy Trinity Church, seating 500, spoke to eighty people at Sunday's service. At Paisley with only 88 worshipers and 612 empty pews the Reverend John W. Burnside said yesterday after the morning service: "Nowadays people would rather listen to Tommy Handley and Eric Barker [radio entertainers] than their minister." Another young clergyman, the Reverend Ivor B. Cassam, 31, thinks that 200 people in his church is "comparatively satisfac- tory." It seats 800. In St Agnes Church ( Continued on page 428 )
Francis R. Gasser, assistant servicemen's co- ordinator in Europe and a member of the staff of the U. S. Political Advisor for Germany, shown addressing the L. D. S. conference in Berlin. President Alma Sonne of the European Mission is on the stand with President Walter Stover of the East German Mission, and President Jean Wunderlich of the West German Mission.
{Continued from page 427) [Bristol] only 150 attended yesterday's service, though the church holds 500. And at Stoke Parish Church, seating 1,600, only one seat in five was occupied to hear the sermon on "The Peace of God."
According to the same London newspaper the bishop of Lincoln is reported to have said,
Here in England, 70 percent of our peo- ple are outside of the church, and little ef- fort is made to win them back.
Is it any wonder that the Pope of Rome, according to the Catholic newspaper, Universe, should say:
The church today faces a religious crisis among the people which is perhaps the most serious religion has had since the be- ginning of Christianity.
The cause of this drift from re- ligion can perhaps best be stated in the words spoken to the Prophet Jo- seph Smith in reference to the reli- gious leaders of his day:
. . . they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
A report of a commission ap- pointed by the Archbishops of Can- terbury and York on religious con- ditions in Great Britain calls atten- tion to the decline in Christian morals in words as follows :
Depravity is a sure symptom of spiritual disease. The war has revealed, and also accelerated, a sharp dechne in truthfulness and personal honesty, and an alarming spread of sexual laxity, and of the gambling fever. . . . Magistrates have expressed their anxiety at the rise (in the serious nature as well as in the quantity) of juvenile crime. School teachers complain of the difficulty of impressing upon their young charges the abomination of lying and steal- ing which they copy from their elders at home. The government has found it neces- sary to resort to poster propaganda against venereal disease, and to issue to all medical officers of health a circular on the problem of illegitimate babies. . . . The gravest fea- ture in the whole situation is that there is so little feeling of shame in. loose living, still less in untruthfulness or dishonesty. The sense of responsibility and of duty has become undermined. There is no longer a generally accepted moral standard by which men judge their own actions. . . . Dishonesty in private or public affairs is waved aside as the inevitable result of the economic system. The idea of a man as a responsible person is in danger of disap- pearing with the loss of a belief in a living God.
428
THE CHURCH IN EUROPE
One wonders to what extent physical and material rehabilitation can succeed in view of the spiritual and moral disintegration in evidence everywhere. Certainly no church leader can give to others something he does not possess himself. The enthusiasm for religion is gone be- cause the basis for faith has been destroyed, and a large percentage of the people have lived without guidance, and the age-long sources of inspiration have been ignored.
Europe is a land of magnificent churches and cathedrals. Their steeples penetrate the skies from cities, towns, hamlets, and country- sides. But where is the spirit which prompted their construction? Where is the faith to sustain their use and preservation? They have evidently disappeared before the onslaught of doubt and false learning and be- neath the cataclysm and ruin of war.
'XX7'ithout doubt many people in Europe are hungry and des- perate, for there is "famine in the land." From dawn to dark it is a struggle for them to live. Homes have been destroyed; cities have been blasted; public buildings, shrines, cherished landmarks, trans- portation facilities, bridges, roads, cathedrals, churches, convents, monasteries, schools, hospitals, gar- dens, and places of recreation have been seriously damaged if not com- pletely destroyed. The picture, to say the least, is bleak and forbid- ding. Social life and home condi- tions have been profoundly disturbed and one hears much complaint and
SOLO FLIGHT By Georgea Rice Clark
The man who dares attempt the trailless flight And looks into the future without fear,
Shall mount with clearing vision through
the night And lift his craft into the stratosphere. Undaunted, he must bear the cutting pain Of jagged sleet and stinging, knife-edged
wind, For he must halt and fall and climb again And through his punishments be disciplined. The many stand below and watch him soar To the uncharted paths they never dream Exist, then turn to crowd within the door Where plodding duties fill a dull regime. The man who claims the upper realm his
own Must be resigned to make his trip alone.
sees many outward manifestations of uneasiness and suspicion.
Long queues wait anxiously for the food and the clothing offered for sale. Housewives, especially, are burdened. They are the custodians of the family ration books, clothing coupons, and ration cards, all re- quired before purchases can be made. Each one has a pressing man- agement problem, for the family, whether large or small, must be fed, clothed, and provided with the ordi- nary household necessities. It is no easy task, for the controls are rigid, and the black markets thrive. There is something superbly praiseworthy about the composure, the loyalty, the ingenuity, and the innate wis- dom of these housewives.
Politically, the nations are floun- dering. Vain and unscrupulous men have discovered a fertile field in which to disseminate their doctrines of distrust and discontent. Division and discord are paving the way for rule by minorities, and the unsus- pecting are being headed toward demagoguery and despotism. The danger is that the flourishing democ- racies of the past will forsake the principles of government to which they owe their former achievements and upon which their foundations have been laid.
These and many other factors of discouragement weigh heavily upon the people. Their hopes have been shattered, their ambitions crushed, and their deepest aspirations frus- trated. One sees on every side evi- dences of a crumbling civilization. Freedom, itself, so necessary for human happiness and progress, is being lost amid the despair and hopelessness of war's desolation.
Regardless of all these evidences of decadence and uncertainty the response to a higher and better way of life is not altogether discourag- ing. Despite all adverse influences there are visible manifestations among the people, old and young, of the fundamental virtues and the conquering faith which sustained former generations.
HPhe gospel message is being pre- sented by means heretofore un- known. It is reaching into the vari- ous avenues of society and a better understanding of Mormonism is (Concluded on page 467) THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
The Need ol (he World:
SUPER MEN
H5u ■^Maroid .J. L^kndtenden
PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND FAMILY LIFE PURDUE UNIVERSITY
t is not of comic strip characters deceptive and sterile. Knowledge
I that I write, nor is my purpose to * entertain by dealing with the imaginative. What I have to say here is both serious and practical, for it concerns forces or powers which make men great.
can be used for evil as well as for good, and it has been all too often. Perhaps, after all, motivation is more important than information when it comes to building a better world. Perhaps attitude, spirit, and
There is, of course, an analogy drive mean more in lifting men to
between the colorful feats of some new horizons than do cJeverness
comic strip men and the actual ac- and technical skill. Certainly it
complishments of superior individ- should be clear by now that a mech-
uals, for in both cases there is seen anized world does not
a power beyond the ordinary, an achievement far ahead of what is anticipated. We cannot hope to rival the feats of fiction nor should we attempt it, but with the help of God and a will to try, we can, in a very real sense, become "super- men."
Man is all that animal is. But
necessarily mean a better world. The progress concept is in need of moral orienta- tion.
Hitler made the mis- take of thinking that he could create super-
"Superiority is a quality of the soul that comes from thinking deeply and living right- eously and gener- ously"
men out of his people potentially man is something much by putting machines in more— he has an intelligence that their hands and corrupt thoughts in can be used to lift him far above their minds. Both of these tech- the animal. The saddest fact of niques are man-made, and neither our age is that this divine potential is enough. Right makes might, rath- in man is so seldom) turned into er than the reverse. No man is made
an actual force for good. There superior by merely thinking he is so, Latter-day Saints, ~then,~have "every are too many persons today who or by treading upon others. Right- reason to be supermen continue to live on the animal level; eousness is the only source of last- In the spirit of self„improvement
ing power. each of u& shou]d agk ^^ ^
It doesn t take supermen to wage he measures up. Perhaps some will war. As a matter of fact, most wars discover that they are a little bit like
thing's going my way." Now, optimism is fine so long as it doesn't cause one to sidestep issues or dodge reality. It is a wonderful feel- ing to know that all is well, but it is ino compliment to feel that way if it isn't so. Sometimes people will drink, solicit praise or flattery, brag, bully, spend money conspicuously in order to demonstrate wealth, or in other ways try to steal the feeling that comes with success or superior- ity. But these are all substitutes; none of them really makes a man su- perior; and the "hangover" from their use is sometimes terrific.
Superiority is a quality of the soul that comes from thinking deeply and living righteously and gener- ously. It is based upon knowledge, but it is more than that. It is based upon self-righteousness, but it is more than that also. The superior man or woman is the one who is fair and honest in his relationships with others. It is love, fellowship, brotherhood, and self-sacrifice that at the bottom of true great- ness. Without these virtues man is common and ordinary; with them he is superior. Greatness is born of humility, not of arro- gance; of inward Tight- ness, not of outward show or force. Christ set the example, and all have the call to be like him.
Religion is the best possible in- centive to righteous living, and the better or truer the religion the stronger should be the incentive.
are
there is too much of the common- place and too little reaching up- ward; too much selfishness and not enough bigness of soul.
Yet, never before has the world needed supermen so much as it does today.
Apparently, it is not technoloqi- . , , , ,
cal advancement alone that human- fre fBf ** OUt on theL sub-human the farmer who, when instructed by ity needs, for in this age of science _„ Tx/f^I^^^l.^^'"^"11^ hiS C°llege SOn on ^proved farming
'Knowledge can be used for evil as well as for good."
mechanical miracles are being per- formed daily and the wildest tech- nological dreams are realized in the process. In spite of all this, mankind
man. Witness atrocity! But it will take supermen to make and main- tain peace.
Others, too, have erred in believ-
goes right on suffering, and in an in9 that there are shortcuts to su- intensively never before known. perionty, and in grasping at illusions
and substitutions. Like the char- £ould IT be religion that the world acter in Oklahoma, many try to have needs? Science without a soul is that "wonderful feeling that every- JULY 1948
practices, answered, "Well, son, I am only farming half as well as I know how, now." This farmer lacked in motivation more than he lacked in knowledge. How many of us are in the same fix
An important part of any religion
is its vitality. Theology, too, is im-
( Concluded on page 470)
429
Service to the Young Women
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
LUCY GRANT CANNON President
her active Church service as a Sun- day School teacher; she then served as organist, secretary, and counselor in the Primary Association. At the age of eighteen she was made a ward president of Y.W.M.I.A., and from that time forward, she has been engaged in Mutual activity with the exception of three years.
In 1901, she filled a mission to the Western States, one of the first un- married women to go on a regular mission. In 1 9 1 7, she was called to the general board of the Y.W.M.I.A. She has acted as counselor to two presidents, Martha Home Tingey and Ruth May Fox, until she was called to be general president, Octo- ber 29, 1937, which position she held until April 1948, when her health made it wise for her to be released. Together with her appointment as general president of the Mutual, Sis- ter Cannon became the associate
^ske (\etirinq [-^redidt
\ena
v
For thirty-one years Gen- eral Presi- dent Lucy Grant Cannon has la- bored in the presidency or on the general board of the Young Wom- en's Mutual Im- provement As- sociation. The news of her re- lease has touch- ed the hearts of the many Mu- tual workers throughout the Church who have been privi- leged to partake of her fine spirit and share her testimony.
Sister Cannon has exemplified the gospel in all of her activities. Her faith has been unwavering; her spir- it undaunted in trying to bring prin- ciples of correct living to the young women of the Church. She began
430
VERNA First
W. GODDARD Counselor
LUCY 7.
Second
manager of The Improvement Era and has served in that capacity since that time. She has long been inter- ested in the welfare of the Era, for at the time when her father, Heber J. Grant, decided that the Era was essential to the Church, she with
her sisters addressed and stamped thousands of letters to the member- ship of the Church, urging their support of this vital magazine.
During the trip to Europe which she made with her father, President Heber J. Grant, she wrote a series of articles titled, "The Log of a Eu- ropean Tour," which ran in The Improvement Era and revealed de- lightful qualities of mind and spirit as well as her indomitable faith.
Married to George J. Cannon in the Salt Lake Temple, she is the mother of seven children. She has lived to the heritage that is hers as daughter of President Heber J. Grant and Lucy Stringham — and by dint of her own fortitude Sister Cannon has added to that heritage. We can be sure that Sister Can- non will carry into her new en- deavors the same diligence that she has evidenced thus far in her life. While her activities may not be so widespread as they have been as
general presi- dent of the -- -n Y. W. M. I. A. which has car- ried her into nearly every stake and mis- sion in the Church, they will be still con- ducive of great good among those with whom she la- bors.
\T E R N A
Wright Goddard, first counselor to Sister Cannon, has made a place for her- self among the young women of the Church. A daughter of Kind- ness Badger and Joseph A. Wright, she, like Sister Cannon, early be- came active in the Church, first as a Sunday School teacher and chorister at the age of fourteen. As ward (Concluded on page 476) THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
. :
ANDERSEN Counselor
of the Church L^k tL UW.WJ.-J.
bringing all young women into en- rolment in the Y.W.M.I.A.
Her gracious personality will at- tract young folk to her; her acute understanding of their problems will hold them; her astuteness will aid her in winning more of them to the Mutual.
Brother and Sister Reeder have two sons and a daughter. (See May 1948 Era, p. 265, for further details. )
Congratulations are due Sister Reeder on her latest assignment in the Church, but lest anyone think that it is all glory, let him think of the responsibilities that devolve upon one called to an office of this kind. Sister Reeder herself when she learned of her appointment be- gan to launder everything in the house that needed washing since she said she simply had to keep busy and refrain from thinking of the ap- pointment. For three or four nights
The new general presidency of the Y.W.M.I.A. comes into office with a wealth of experience in working with young people. Sister Bertha Stone Reeder of Ogden, Utah, was appointed general presi- dent of the Y.W.M.I.A. at the April 1 948 general conference, with the provision that the former presi- dency and board carry on through June conference. Like her predeces- sor she has rare qualities of mind and spirit. She has a keen, evaluat- ing intellect and a limitless reservoir of spirituality. She has experienced enough of the vicissitudes of life to develop a sympathetic response to problems which confront young women. Added to these rare and essential qualities Sister Reeder has an infinite capacity for work — a nec- essary qualification for this assign- ment.
Sister Reeder and her husband, Judge William H. Reeder, Jr., have recently returned from a mission to the New England states, over which they presided for five and one-half years. Her activity in the mission field gave her a rich, new experience which also will prove valuable in her new call- ing.
Her wide ex- perience in the Church auxili- aries has given her a varied ap- proach for her new position. She has worked in the various organizations of the Church: the Sunday School, the Primary, the Mutual — as a
ward, stake board, or a general after she had been sustained gener board member. She understands al president, she slept very little.
BERTHA STONE REEDER President
Jke V /ewiu Appointed f-^mdidi
enc
f
«^SHffl««^iM5fiJ««p^?^TW
EMILY H. BENNETT First Counselor
LARUE C. LONGDEN Second Counselor
and loves camp work and is eager to help all girls experience the out- of-doors in order to enrich their lives further. She feels sincerely the need for all girls having the ad-
But she has counseled with the former presidency (another sign of her greatness), has asked direction from the advisers from the Council of the Twelve and the First Presi-
vantages of Mutual work and is dency, and has learned her respon- especially eager to find ways of sibilities. She has a clear eye to the
JULY 1948
needs and qual- ifications o f those whom she wishes to work with her in fill- ing the assign- ment. The wis- dom and inspi- ration evidenced in the selection of her counsel- ors are indica- tions of her vi- sion. Her insight into the prob- lems that need immediate solu- tion is almost uncanny. She has been gifted with second sight in her judgment o f people and has the rare quality of being able to convert people to her point of view.
As general president, although she has a truly hospitable and beau- tiful home in Ogden, she has deter- mined to spend three days in the (Continued on page All) 431
Wales has bequeathed much to the latter-day Church of Jesus Christ — in music, in spiritual idealism, in the lineage of its leaders and members.
Welsh blood permeates the whole Church. In the final analysis it will be found that almost all families among us, in the earlier stages of their pedigrees, will trace one or more lines of their progenitors to Wales.
Many notable leaders of the past are now known tO' be of that line- age. These include the Prophet Jo- seph Smith and his two counselors, Frederick G. Williams and Hyrum Smith; President Brigham Young and counselors Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, Jedediah Morgan Grant, Daniel H. Wells, and John W. Young; Presi- dents John Taylor, Wilford Wood- ruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant; John Henry Smith, Franklin D. Richards, Joseph Young, Seymour B. Young, and George Q. Cannon; and apostles Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Orson F. Whitney, Rudger Clawson, and Reed Smoot.
Among present General Authori- ties of Welsh descent are all mem- bers of the First Presidency — Presi- dents George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and David O. McKay; at least half of the Twelve — President George F. Richards, Jo- seph Fielding Smith, Stephen L Richards, Joseph F. Merrill, Albert E. Bowen, and Spencer W. Kimball; Patriarch Eldred G. Smith; and also Elders Thomas E. McKay and Clif- ford E. Young; Presidents Levi Edgar Young, Richard L. Evans, 432
The Facade and Terraces of the National Library
S. Dilworth Young and Milton R. Hunter, and Presiding Bishop Le- Grand Richards.
The conversion of Wales was a cherished plan in the heart of the Prophet in the very last hours of his life.
On the night of June 26-27, 1844, two representatives of that land, fellow prisoners, lay side by side in Carthage Jail. Whispered Joseph Smith to Dan Jones:
"Are you afraid to die?"
"Has that time come, think you?" Dan responded. "Engaged in such a cause, I do not think that death would have many terrors."
Prophetically Joseph replied: "You will yet see Wales and fulfil the mission appointed you before you die."
Next day Joseph went to a martyr's death. Dan Jones, earlier sent from the prison by the Prophet on an important errand to Governor Ford, was prevented by the mob from re-entering, and escaped those who sought his life, living to per- form the promised mission.
"VT early a year later, at a confer- ence held in Manchester, Eng- land, April 7, 1 845, Dan Jones, late- ly arrived from America, was ap- pointed president of the Welsh Conference, then consisting of him- self and wife. An eloquent and flu- ent speaker of both the English and Welsh languages, by the help of the Lord and the earnest force of his spirituality, he had within the space of two years been the means of bap- tizing and adding to the Church about two thousand members. Thus he became the recognized founder of
The Record
the missionary work in Wales, which has sent to the Church in the west such a bounteous quota of con- verts.
That was the auspicious begin- ning of the harvest of souls in Wales.
One century later began the har- vest of Welsh records — records of the ancestry of the many thousands of Welsh descendants in the Church today.
Several years ago Colonel How- ard S. Bennion, later president of New York Stake, returned from a genealogical quest in Wales, and spoke in glowing terms of the new National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, of the scholarly and
Aberystwyth from Constitution Hill
progressive attitude of the librarian, Sir William Davies, and of the ex- cellent work being done in calling in, reconditioning, restoring, and photostating dilapidated Welsh parish registers. He felt that if we were in earnest, official permission might be obtained to microfilm such records as were under the jurisdic- tion of the National Library.
As the microfilming projects of our Genealogical Society expanded to Great Britain, Elder James R. Cunningham, genealogical chairman of the British Mission, visited the National Library of Wales in behalf of our Society on July 10, 1946. He reported:
I was very well received by the librarian and spent two and a half hours in his office and in being shown around the library. It is a very beautiful structure, one of the finest in the country. . . .
The librarian explained to me that it has already been arranged that all the parishes
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Harvest in Wales
£5u ^Tvckloald *jf. i5ennett
of Wales, some fifteen hundred, deposit their parish registers in this central deposi- tory where they will be preserved and cared for. ... It will take from two to three years to have these records brought into the library and filed, etc. To obtain per- mission to film these registers we will have to contact the Welsh Church commission- ers. The librarian has already indicated that he would be happy to let us film the registers. However, the matter will have to be put before the committee. . . .
Sir William Davies, the chief librarian, is a very fine man. He is a member of the Historical Manuscript Commission of the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, Lon- don, and his influence in Wales is great. He already knows quite a lot about our Church, and he introduced me to a man named Bob Owens, who, I am told, knows more than anyone else about the Welshmen who went to America. He knows about the migration of the early Saints. I found him a typically Welsh gentleman with a copi- ous knowledge of Welsh genealogy.
pOLLOWiNG up this first favorable response, on June 21, 1947, we boarded a midnight train from Lon- don for Aberystwyth, arriving there
GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
The Promenade and War Memorial, Aberystwyth
at 10 a.m. the next day. We found Aberystwyth a delightful seaside resort, and throughout the day many coaches came bringing holi- day groups from surrounding places. We spent a quiet Sunday, strolling around the beach and the crowded waterfront, listening to band concerts and choral singing. It was a glorious day of sunshine filled with hope and joy. We climbed some nearby hills, and from these eminences saw the shimmering sea, calm and blue, stretching far into the distance. It is said that from this place the entire coast of Wales can be seen.
No destruction of war had
JULY 1948
reached this secluded spot. But as we walked through lanes and mead- ows and golf courses, we held our own individual testimony meeting, for Elder Cunningham related har- rowing incidents of the bombings in London and testified simply but im- pressively how the Lord had mirac- ulously preserved his family and the families of the Saints in Great Britain amid all those threatening perils, so that only one Saint had been killed during the air raids on England.
Next morning was the beginning of a very important day. We were up early to fill our appointment at 1 1 a.m. with Sir William Davies at the National Library. Aloft on a hill we could see it gleaming, white, and imposing, in a beautiful setting. The future of our microfilming in Britain would depend largely on the result of the interview to be held soon within those halls, for we were about to make formal request for permission to begin one of the largest projects of that nature in the British Isles, one likely to require five years of continuous copying.
By 9 a.m. we ascended the steps and stood within the beautiful and fully modern structure. It did not open to the public until 10 a.m., but, eager to learn all we could, we made our purpose known, and Mr. Evan D. Jones, keeper of manuscripts and records, came at once and showed us through the entire library and rooms filled with precious manu- script collections.
Most interesting to us of all we saw was the immense store of records: pedigree, parish, and pro- bate. There were volumes of manu- script pedigrees compiled by famous Welsh genealogists; photostat and transcript copies of parish registers; wills from all of Wales down to the year 1858; and a book bindery do- ing unbelievably skilful work in re- storing old records.
In one manuscript room Mr. Jones unrolled one huge roll which proved to be the parchment pedigree of
The National Library of Wales (The Readers' Room)
Colonel John Jones, one of the regicides who signed the death war- rant of King Charles I in 1649. It stretched out the entire length of the room, thirty-two feet, giving not only his lines of ancestry but all the family coats-of-arms in color.
A
MONG the volumes in the Peniarth Collection were two large vol- umes containing the original pedi- grees and coats-of-arms of the celebrated genealogist and anti- quary of Wales, Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt. Here were the fruits of his lifelong efforts to seek out the lineage of his forefathers, and from him the links of life are traced back in a veritable network of family con- nections. Of him and his skilful work we had read, and we knew that his daughter, Jane Vaughan, married Robert Owen, and came with him and their well-known son, Dr. Griffith Owen, to Pennsylvania in 1684. The latter was a surgeon, judge, lawmaker, and a leading min- ister in the Society of Friends. He induced William Penn to set apart 40,000 acres in the new colony as a Welsh tract, to be settled exclusive- ly by Welsh people and where the (Continued on page 467)
T
he black bear cub stood at bay against the rear wall of the den. His woolly head was thrust forward, and there was defiance in his little eyes as he watched the flat, yellow thing creeping ever so slowly toward him from the entrance. While he had been drowsing, the dry moss and bracken had been pawed from the doorway, his mother had gone, and he was left alone to face this formless shining thing.
The cub knew nothing of what lay outside. This den in the hollow cedar was his world; weeks ago he had been born here, and until now he had shared it with his mother. This glaring enemy dazzled him. Outside, the warming April wind droned lazily through the ever- greens, and the swollen mountain stream filled the den with a vibrant undertone of movement. The cedar branches draping the entrance stirred again, and a spearhead of invading sunlight shot forward and touched his flank.
For a half second he tried to shrink closer to the wall, and then he whirled and cuffed left and right at the gleaming thing. He did not squall for his mother as other cubs might have done. He fought. In this, his first contact with the British Columbia wilderness, his staunch heart would not surrender. In body he was weak, but in spirit Tyee the cub was well fitted for the months which lay ahead.
Then unexpectedly his mother came, and the instant her body blocked the doorway the yellow thing vanished. His mother backed out and called him with throaty, coaxing growls. Warily he inclined his roly-poly body forward, shuffled on all fours to the door and ventured out. Within a few minutes he was accepting the light as unquestion- ably as did his mother.
Louring the next few days, the cub learned much of out- door scents and sounds. Sometimes he trudged at his mother's flank while she went to the bottom of the draw and dug skunk cabbage roots from the black ground. Sometimes he sat, unquestioning and patient, while she reared to her full height and raked her claws through the bark of a small cedar, gouging deep into the .white sapwood and shred- 434
TYEE
_/ k e v a u
tan
t
By
HUBERT EVANS
ding the outer bark to fluffy stream- ers in her effort to blunt and strengthen her claws after the long disuse of the winter. Then one morn- ing while the "swamp robins" piped their cool, unvaried song, the old bear led Tyee down the sidehill to- ward the blue lake in the valley miles away.
Wild things in that northland for- est were stirring, in answer to the spring's rousing summons. Blue and willow grouse hooted and drummed. Above the high tops of spruce and cedar, dense flocks of grosbeaks wheeled and spiraled in graceful, joyous flight. Tyee was pleased, curious of all things they passed. But for his mother there was the menace of the enemy who had trailed her so persistently last sea- son; for her the armistice with winter was over, and she must be on her guard.
Last spring, under the big trees through whose shadows she must pass today, she had killed an Indian. She had been crossing a small open place when a rifle shot from down wind had raked her shoulder. As she spun around, clawing at the searing hurt, a young Indian had broken cover from a devil-club thicket, and she had charged him. His second and third shots had missed. He never fired again, but as the bear mauled him, his scream brought his brother to the scene. The bear had fled, followed by a futile shot, but from that day, Kitlobe, the brother of the slain Indian, had taken up the feud. So far, by cunning or by for- tune's whim, she had escaped.
After her long hibernation, the old bear was ravenous. The warty roots of the skunk cabbage were edible, but lean and with a cub to feed, she craved flesh. She kept persistently on until, hours later, they reached the valley bottom. Sometimes she drove the cub ahead of her, cuffing
him when he dawdled. At last the afternoon sunlight twinkled through the lichen-dappled trunks ahead, and they heard the faint murmur of waves on the lake's shelving beaches. The old bear stopped, for from the shore the breeze carried to her the intoxicating odor of meat.
Swinging her head greedily she gathered the scent into her nostrils. She started, and when Tyee began to follow, she snarled and ordered him to sit down and wait for her here. Half an hour passed and duti- fully he stayed in hiding. A winter wren teetered on the tips of hemlock brush in front of him, singing a song whose jerky trills and liquid stac- catos made Tyee lift his ears and crane his neck to watch. Then from the shore a dull explosion sounded. The shy song ceased, the singer vanished, and Tyee was alone.
J. he cub knew nothing of man or man's weapons, but the surly vehemence of the report brought a danger warning. A shadow swept over the moss close by, and at the raucous jeer of a Steller's jay he swung onto his fat haunches, his paws dangling to defend himself. But the blue pirate kept on its way. It understood the meaning of that shot and knew there might be feast- ing in the brush beside the lake.
The afternoon ended. Chilling air currents came to Tyee through the spreading gloom from the snow fields high up the valley. He was hungry, but his mother would soon come to him. She always had. Night found him traveling aimlessly, but because he was Tyee, the valiant, it never occurred to him that he was beaten.
Once, long after dark, he was circling a thicket when a doe bounded up, her sharp front hoofs stabbing the moss in scared defiance. The doe snorted and vanished in
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
one clean swinging bound. But three hours later, in the blackness just be- fore the gray invasion of the dawn, an enemy that was neither fleet nor wary wounded him.
Whimpering dolorously from hun- ger and cold, he was plodding around the splayed roots of a spruce when a drab shape directly in his path stirred with a brittle rustling. Tyee read the threat and dealt the creature a cuff on the head, when with surprising agility the porcupine whirled, and a dozen quills remained in the paw's fleshy pad. The cub
of a noisy stream which ran across the timbered flat to join the lake.
Whimpering softly, he sat beside a boulder and licked his smarting paw. He could not cross this creek, and so he put his throbbing foreleg down again and started to limp lake- ward, bedraggled, crippled, but un- beaten. Dawn had come fully when he reached the creek mouth and saw the squat cabin just above the line of driftwood on the beach.
He lifted his forefeet to a fallen log and, craning his neck, he had an unbroken view of the log shack. He
Tyee, still half-crazed by the fight, whirled to face Kitlobe but this time the rifle v/as not leveled.
W^wWWiiWWWiM^iw
shook his paw and stood his ground, snarling. The porcupine waited, signaling defiance with a warning slap of its blunt tail. Then it waddled hurriedly into the gloom.
Tyee watched it go. He shook his paw again, sucking it and gnawing peevishly at the stinging bristles embedded there. Then he too shuffled on his way.
As the long night wore on, Tyee lost all sense of his location. At last, when the first of the dawn began to filter through the thatch of boughs above, he found himself on the banks
JULY 1948
saw its lean-to woodshed and the high prowed Indian dugout drawn up on the sloping gravel. The place was very quiet; even the creek slipped soundlessly here between its level banks, and on some point far across the lake a flock of Canada geese were gossiping excitedly as they circled low over some promising new feeding ground. After the sin- ister gloom of the forest, the weath- ered cabin and its meager clearing promised a vague security. Tyee scrambled over the log, limped for- ward and found himself on the trod- den ground outside the woodshed door.
J. he littered interior held memories of the den he had left, and after a few suspicious snufflings he entered, hobbled to the farthest cor- ner and curled up on a pile of clean smelling cedar shavings he found there. Instantly, like a wearied pup- py, he dropped his head and slept.
Half an hour later Tyee swayed, snarling, to his feet. Confused by the strangeness of the place, drugged by fatigue, he sensed the danger. Then he saw the man standing in the doorway.
"No need to get huffy about it, young feller-me-lad," the timber cruiser grinned. "I didn't ask you to den up in my woodshed."
Tyee, at bay, glared ferociously. Then Bill Powers, the cruiser, saw the wounded paw.
"You're pretty young for that. Have to pull those quills." Powers turned to the door. "Kitlobe!" he shouted.
Kitlobe Joe, the Indian packer, came out and eyed the prisoner.
"Wonder where the old lady got to?" his employer commented. He intended to remove those quills, but first he wanted to be sure the protests of the patient would not bring an in- furiated parent to interrupt the op- eration.
"She no hurt peoples more," the Siwash stated. He started at Tyee with complacent triumph. "Long time I hunt that old bear — now she dead. Sure."
"How you figger that?"
"You know that deer I kill up lake las' week? All right. I leave head, insides. I fix set gun. I know that bear come. That cultus bear dead now." Tyee's snarls made him turn.
"You wait here. I fix this one too," he went on and started indoors for his rifle.
"Put that away," the cruiser or- dered when the Indian appeared with the weapon. "I want to get those quills out. Go fetch a blanket."
Reluctantly Kitlobe obeyed. This big white man with his silly habit of making pets of squirrels, jays, and any other wild thing that came near the cabin, was certainly unwise in befriending the offspring of a bear who was a killer. The Indian brought the blanket and after Tyee had been bundled up in it, he held the paw of the struggling cub while his employer, with the aid of a pair of pliers, drew out the quills.
Kitlobe Joe felt sure that this cub belonged to the she-bear who had killed his brother. And that after- noon when he returned from up the lake and dumped the hide of the old bear into the woodshed, the cub's behavior was final proof of the truth of his surmise. Tyee ran to it, nuzzling the rumpled fur, whining with such pathetic eagerness and perplexity that Powers gruffly and emphatically ordered the Indian to take it away.
"All right," Kitlobe grunted. This sentimental softness of his employer made him feel superior. He would have nothing to do with such non- sense, and this fostering of the cub whose mother had killed his young brother filled him with deep resent- ment. But he could wait. His time would come.
{Continued on page 470) 435
"the land NOBODY wanted"
& /4okn <UJ. LjLie6
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, UTAH PIONEER TRAILS AND LANDMARKS ASSOCIATION AND BUSINESS MANAGER "THE IMPROVEMENT ERA"
When Brigham Young led the Utah pioneers into the valley of the Great Salt Lake in July 1847, he brought them to a land nobody else wanted. Daniel Web- ster on the floor of the United States Senate had described the en- tire mountain and plains section as worthless land infested with wild animals, Indians, and rattlesnakes. When Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, Catholic priests of the Franciscan Order, were in what is now Utah, in 1776, they reported that there might be a few desirable locations for settlement in the Utah Valley and farther south, but they had no enthusiasm for the area to the north. Fifty years later when the trappers under General William H. Ashley came, they saw no op- portunity for settlements and carried that word back to the frontier on the Missouri River and elsewhere. When Captain B. L. E. Bonneville came into the mountains in 1832 with a scientific expedition, neither he nor the men he sent out over
^Courtesy, Utah State Historical Society; from "State of Deserel," "Utah Historical Quarterly," Vol. 8
ing toward the Rocky Mountain region from the northwest, with covetous eyes upon what was then regarded as merely rich fur trapping country.
Senator Thomas H. Benton of Missouri, chief sponsor of the Fremont expedition, realized that a race was on between Great Britain and the United States for what later proved to be one of the world's richest prizes — the Rocky Mountain region. He figured that if we had colonies established in the moun- tains we would have a claim prior to that of Great Britain.
Captain Fremont, accustomed as he was to areas where vegetation grew everywhere, failed to see the potentialities of this dry and barren desert land. Irrigation was practi- cally unknown in this country, and was used in only a very primitive manner, even where it was being practised in some parts of the world.
^s Brigham Young read the reports of those who had explored this region, he realized that just such a country was what the Latter-day Saints were looking for.
this area saw any future for what is now Utah. When Captain John C. Fremont came into the present Utah in 1843, he came with definite instructions to search out places where American colonies could be located. The British-owned Hudson Bay Company was gradually work- 436
As emigrants to the west coast moved over the old Oregon Trail — there were 50,000 of them in 1845 — some were tempted to give up and settle in the mountains, but when they saw the land they would have to till and the lack of vegeta- tion, they moved on, either to Ore-
gon, then an area of uncertain boundary in the northwest, or to California, of equally uncertain boundary, in the southwest. No one, looking for farm lands, stopped in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Under these conditions, as Brigham Young read the reports of those who had ex- plored this region, he realized that just such a country was what the Latter-day Saints were looking for. He told his associates that he was looking for a place nobody else wanted. He could readily see that, at least for many years, there would be little if any competition for land in the Rocky Mountains. So he brought his people to the mountain valley to establish permanent homes and churches where they could wor- ship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.
When Brigham Young met Jim Bridger on the Little Sandy River, in what is now Wyoming, the dis- couraging picture painted by the man who probably knew the Salt Lake Valley better than any other man then living, served only to in- crease the determination of the pioneer leader to follow the course he had already charted. Referring to the historic meeting on the Little Sandy, it was reported some years later that as the Mormon pioneers continued their journey westward, Bridger said to the men with him, "I don't care what happens to those
{Continued on page 462) THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
J Mt tL NAVAJOS
Martin Bushman, Donald Da- vis, and I walked swiftly in the cold toward the waiting car. Overhead the stars seemed excep- tionally bright in the high dry air. Orion and the Pleiades seemed closer than usual as they swung in their long arc across the sky. In the low east a faint streak of light pre- saged the coming dawn. It was a great morning, an invigorating morning.
We headed the car north toward Holbrook. Beyond Holbrook we would find the desert — the painted desert — the buttes, the mesas — and the Navajos. So we were animated, eager, and interested.
"The Navajos call Snowflake To"dhiUthkisth-bee"hee" observed Martin Bushman. "To~dhil~thkisth, means 'black water' — bee-hee is the word for canyon — so you have Black Water Canyon."
"The road we are on," he con- tinued, "is called a-reen (swallow the 'n' ) ; our car is a chitti, so the road we are on is chitti~a~teen. One thing you brethren must not do is call the Indian home a hogan. It is pronounced as though it were spelled hcf~gdne, swallowing the final ne down your throat. You don't
OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF THE SEVENTY
I interrupted, "Could that be one of the derivatives of Utah, and does Utah mean 'dwellers in the high lands'?"
the cinch, and did it in great jerks. The horse was thrown off balance, and in the course of its plunging, brought one front hoof down on the
'I suppose so — at least I've heard Indian's moccasined foot, then left
that Utah means 'top of the moun- tains'— but they don't call them- selves that. They refer to them- selves as Dineh — 'the men' — 'the people.' "
The Navajos consider themselves superior people — and therefore are indeed "the men," "the people." "I'd like that to be in the hearts of our Scouts," I mused, "the men." Somehow the word makes them larger in our eyes, with new dignity.
it there. The chief continued to saddle up — his foot pinned down — with no change of expression. When he got through, he reached down, took the horse's fetlock and extricated his foot. Then he walked over to a rock, sat down, took off the moccasin, felt his foot, which was rapidly turning black and blue, replaced the moccasin, walked with- out limping to the horse, mounted and rode away as though nothing
had happened. That is one side of \\7e sped through Holbrook and Navajo character.
out into the desert. "But," he continued, "they are
"They call Holbrook D(t)ish~ a\so Very curious about things. In
yah-kin," said Martin as we drove the early days when people were
through. "It means 'square houses coming into this country, the pio-
neers were breaking a road over the Buckskin Mountain (Kaibab pla- teau ) , and one of the outsiders was Seth Tanner. Tanner was a large man and had muscles like iron bands. He was riding ahead of the wagon
under the trees.* "
"What are some of the Navajo characteristics?" we asked as we were approaching a long line of buttes and mesas.
"I can tell you a story about want your house pronounced 'hoose.' that" Martin began. »My grand. train on a strong mulCf marking out Well, the Navajos don t want you father john Bushman, was the a trail to follow. At one place a large to Anne their home, either. keeper 0f the storehouse of the juniper limb hung out over the pro-
"The Navajos are very proud United Order in Joseph City. The posed road. He rode up to the limb, people. The Apaches call them Navajos called him Naish-knee, a hooked the limb with his arm, and U~tuh~han. Sort of swallow the .tnh trader or to trade> Qne day a chief graSped the horn of the saddle with and make the han abrupt with the n came to thc post riding on a buck- his hand. He spurred the mule half swallowed. This means high up skin glaSs-eyed stallion. He tied up house — or lives high up." tne horse, removed the saddle and
went in to trade. After a while he came out, went over to the horse and saddled the animal. He was
unmerciful as he started to tighten m*uje around> tooka fresh hold, and
tried again. This time the limb broke
with a loud snap. A group of five or
Navajo braves, riding along
l^g!?55®®^^^^^^^!^^ {Continued on page 474)
which lunged forward. Although the limb didn't break, so strong was Tanner that he held on, and the force of the plunge jerked the mule up on his hind legs. He eased the
~te*os>ja'B
— Drawn from a sketch by the Author
JULY 1948
437
The story of the HORSE CHESTNUT
Horse chestnut trees have again blossomed in our land. Like sweet heralds of late spring an- nouncing the warm summer days to come they kissed our streets and lanes into joyous avenues of beauty. Yet, few of us realize what a magnifi- cent part this exotic tree has played in our history. It is not just another tree in bloom, not just another shade tree to linger under during the hot days of the summer; it is a symbol of the American nation, a memorial and monument to our early beginning as a nation. Yes, that and more, for it has become a greater symbol than it was at first when the Father of this country set out and named thirteen horse chestnut trees for the thirteen orig- inal states. This springtime bower of beauty has so adapted itself to our soil and climate that it has be- come the only tree of all the trees of our land that grows in every state of the Union, according to the Boy Scout handbook. It is truly a monument to our American nation.
Many of our people think that the horse chest- nut and the buckeye are one and the same. True, they are of the same fami- ly but are quite different in character. The buckeye has leaf- lets widest in the center while the leaflets of the horse chestnut are widest near the outer edge. The blooms also are different. The buck- eye has a greenish-yellowish tinted bloom that has an ill-smelling odor, while the horse chestnut blooms are larger and of a pinkish white in col- or, with a slight fragrance. The buckeye is a native of this country, coming from the region of the Ohio Valley, while the horse chestnut is an emigrant tree coming from the valleys and hills of Greece. History tells us it came to France in 1600 and was first recorded in England in 1633. In 1699, Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect who built St. Paul's. Cathedral was given a commission to landscape the king's 438
damei _//. ^J4t
eron
summer palace, Hampton Court, in Bushy Park, just outside of London. On a mile-long, wide avenue ap- proaching the front door, he planted a double row of horse chestnut trees. They are perfect pyramids of grace and beauty today in their two hun- dred forty-ninth year. The Sunday falling between the 19th and 26th of
FEW OF US REALIZE WHAT A MAGNIFICENT
PART THIS EXOTIC TREE HAS PLAYED IN
OUR COUNTRY'S HISTORY.
May is named, "Chestnut Sunday," and all London's fashionable so- ciety folk parade this avenue of exotic loveliness, just as society in New York parades Fifth Avenue on Easter Sunday.
f~)N Benjamin Franklin's first visit to London he saw these trees in bloom and arranged with scientist- botanist, Peter Callison, to send a quantity of the seed nuts to botanist John Bartram of Bartram's Gardens, Philadelphia. It is recorded in cor- respondence between these two gentlemen that only one of the nuts sent by Callison germinated and grew. It was during the summer of
1787, when the Constitutional Con- vention was in session in Phila- delphia, that Washington and one or two intimate associates, upon a visit to Bartram's Gardens, first were attracted by the beauty of the horse chestnut. This lone tree which grew in the front of the botanist's home was much admired by General Washington, and its shade was so inviting that, after the weary ses- sions of the convention were through for the day, he and his companions would often come to enjoy the rest and fresh air they so sorely needed. Is it little wonder then that we find in his diary:
Ap. 2nd, 1788. Transferred from a box in the garden, to the shrubbery by the garden wall, thirteen plants of the horse chestnut.
This was the spring fol- lowing the signing of the Constitution and the great man was at his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, but the young trees were not planted at Mount Ver- non. If they had been, there would have been horse chestnut trees of great age there today. Well authenticated tradi- tion tells us the thirteen horse chestnut trees were planted in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Washington's boyhood town, between his sister's and his mother's homes. It was like the great man to do this, to give into his mother's keeping these young trees he had named for the states which constituted the nucleus of the nation he and his contemporaries pro- foundly hoped would result in the adoption of the Constitution, and there was much doubt of its adop- tion at that time. The experience of these monumental trees since their planting would almost prove con- clusively the truth of the tradition.
Today, one lone tree remains which now represents the spiritual oneness of the nation, the United States of America.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
ii
WHAT'S
SHE
GOT?
M
How often we hear that question, "What's she got that makes all the boys like her?" Or, "What's he got that I haven't got?" It's usu- ally asked in fun, but it's plenty serious too. All of us want to know what it takes — to make friends, to hold office, to have a happy, social life.
For the young, friends and dates and fun are important — not as im- portant perhaps as some other things — but important because of their immediate joy and their future possibilities. Life is a spiraling sort of thing, and one success ascends to other successes; a little happiness creates more happiness; and if we don't lose sight of the important ends, we can grow from a bright young person to a charming grown person; from a thoughtful young girl, to an unselfish older woman, from a considerate youth, to a cul- tured man.
We all know this— or should know it. We all know how impor- tant it is to feel needed and a part of our group. So don't be ashamed of wanting to be liked — only don't take it too seriously!
With all this in mind, I asked a good many questions of a good many young people. We made lists — lists of what boys like in girls and lists of what girls like in boys. The lists were a yard long and included everything from good manners to good marks, from poise to "poison- ality," from a sense of humor to just sense.
We looked the list over, and I ob- served that I knew some young peo- ple who, as far as I could see, had all of these listed qualifications and yet did not quite "make the grade." Why?
"Well," said one young man, "take Carl, for instance. He's good fun, but sometimes he overdoes it. He doesn't know when he's getting too noisy and rowdy, and making a nuisance of himself."
"Or Joan," spoke up one of the girls, "she's poised, and we all would give our eyeteeth to look as well groomed, only sometimes she's just too smooth — she makes every- one uncomfortable."
"Every kid doesn't overdo it. Some of them underdo it," said an- other. "They have a swell sense of
JULY 1948
If If jam (Drentnall
humor until the joke's on them, and then they can't quite take it. They get mad or they burst into tears."
"We're asking quite a bit when we expect perfection in 'teen agers," I observed, "or even in young men
TALK IT OVER
and women in their twenties. We're all a little overdone or underdone- — ■ at least in some spots — and that doesn't rule us out from a fair share of happiness. None of you would rate yourself as 'baked to a turn' I'm sure, yet you're all averagely suc- cessful. At least you boys seem to need the family car fairly often, and you girls get out your formals rather frequently."
"Maybe it} will help if we go negative and find out what you dis- like most in your dating partners. Let's start with the girls."
"One of the things that bothers me most," said Shawna, "is for a boy to treat me like a punching bag."
"You don't mean that boys actu- ally hit you?"
"Oh, not hard, of course," she ex- plained. "In fact, sometimes they don't even touch you. But they go through a sort of sparring motion — do a little shadow boxing all around you. It's a form of nervousness, I suppose, and a little of the 'show- off' instinct."
"The thing that bothers me most is for a boy to treat me as if I were- n't even with him, when we're out at a party together." This from Ruth.
"You mean that he pays too much attention to other girls?"
"Not necessarily. He's just so public spirited that he doesn't want anyone to imagine for one moment that I mean anything to him — you know — a sort of 'one-world, and all-men-are-brothers, and all-girls- look-alike-to-me, and Ruth-and-I- just-happened-to-come-in-together/ attitude."
"Well, I get burned up most when a boy has been dating me fairly fre- quently— dragging me to all the western movies in town and all the hamburger stands— and then some- thing special comes along — a school dance, or a bang-up show, or even one of the final basketball games, and I'm dying to go, and he doesn't ask me!"
"|\AAYBE we'd better give the boys a chance now," I interrupted hastily. "What do you dislike most in girls, Charlie?"
"A girl that latches on to you, takes hold of your arm, and acts as if she had you signed up for life."
"Comes a time," I murmured. Be- ing feminine, I found myself a little on the defensive.
"I'll take anything but an untidy damsel, with ratty hair and finger- nails bitten to the bone; her stocking seams every which way, and her lip- stick smeared." Jim was speaking.
"The thing that gets me is a girl who wants to know just where she stands but doesn't give out at all herself."
"What do you mean 'just where she stands'?"
"Oh, you know — do I like her the best — would I rather date her than anyone else — and why don't we go steady? Only, of course, she can't go steady because she isn't the one who does the asking, and it would look funny. So why don't I go steady with her, and she will with me really — only not always!' "
"Or the girl who asks all her girl friends what to do about our little misunderstanding, when it should be just between us," complained Dick.
Consternation showed on the
(Continued on page 440)
439
(Continued from page 439) faces of the girls. "Let's try another point of view," I suggested. "What is it about a girl that makes you want to date her the very first time?"
HThere was quite a pause, and then Bill spoke up. "That's a hard one," he said. "I've been attracted by a lot of girls — short and tall — dark and light — gay and quiet — all very different — and the only thing I can think of that they all had was a look of being put together with care, outside and inside. Physically, they were neat — even the curly- haired redhead." We must have looked a little baffled, because he continued: "They were all in one piece. And they looked happy as if they were not all torn with anxie- ties and doubts. They had some inner assurance. They carried them- selves well, and there was a lilt to their voices. Maybe I'm alone in all this, but I think it's what first attracts me."
"There's another thing I've no- ticed," said Charlie; "the girl who appeals to me on first acquaintance is always friendly and interested and yet has something in reserve; and no matter how many times I take her out, no matter how friendly she is and how much fun we have, there's still something in reserve."
"Is that the whole story?" I asked.
"I should say not," said Larry. "What I like is just good looks. I want to be sure that when I take a girl out for the first time, all my friends are inwardly whistling and saying, 'Larry sure can pick 'em.' '
"That's Larry for you," laughed Jim. "And believe me he can pick 'em. Myself, I want them clean and well set up too, but I don't want any whistling — not even inwardly. I want to feel that there's a good chance of going on to a second or third date. So when I look at a girl and consider asking her out for the first time, I think: has she got what it takes so that if we click this time, I'll want to try again? I guess I'm a little cautious."
"How do you find out if she's 'got what it takes'?" I asked.
"I can't always, but I try to talk with her for a while and get some sort of impression. And I notice 440
"WHATC SHE GOT?"
who her friends are — who she goes around with because that's usually a clue to her thinking and her prin- ciples— not always, of course, but usually."
I turned to the girls. "What do you look for in a first date?"
"Just an invitation," moaned Mary. "Sometimes we kind of pick out a boy and work on him, but if we do, we usually know him well enough so that we're not taking much of a chance. Otherwise we go where and when we're invited and hope for the best."
"You don't mean that you'd go with anyone any time?"
"Not quite. We have to know them a little — unless it's a blind date, and on a blind date, we're cautious as all get out. We go
MOONLIGHT SONATA By Pauline Starkweather Adagio sostenuto
A
djust the dial
now this stagnant
air
Is cool with moonlight. Quiet waters flow Serene and deep, and rippling as they go. The night is still.
Someone is walking there Alone, someone with moonlight on his hair And in his heart a new adagio — This cosmic peace that all the world may
know, For all the troubled world this pure, white
prayer.
No rapids break the spell, no rocks, no
foam — Only a river rippling quietly Its muted obligato to the night; Only the waters moving toward the sea Beneath a shining coverlet of light; Only the peaceful waters going home.
» ♦ ■
in gangs and stay in gangs and the 'blindies' have to be vouched for within an inch of their lives by all the others. But really our situa- tion is different from the boys. Un- less it's someone we know well and like a lot, the first date isn't very important. We're too nervous, and we're wondering if he'll ask us out again because if there is one thing that hurts a girl's pride it's to be asked out once and then dropped. The only thing that's worse is to ask a fellow to a girl's dance and be turned down for no good reason."
"What about the second and third dates?" I asked.
"You should always try a second date," said Paul. "If a girl's worth asking out once, she's worth asking out at least twice. The first one isn't a real test. You have to put a girl at ease by asking her out again, and often when the first time isn't a rousing success, the sec- ond may be. You're on your way to getting acquainted, and while you won't find perfection, you may find something that looks mighty near it to you."
"Yea, it's on the second or third or twentieth date that you find out if a girl is 'catty.' 'Nay, speak no ill' is one of my most important girl laws," spake Jim.
"Jealousy is the black beast I de- spise in boy friend's," countered Marie sweetly. "It's nice to be al- lowed to be friendly to other boys without getting glared at."
"I'm tired of boys who feel that a date is no fun unless they've had a round of loving." This from Ruth. "Can't a boy tell that it gets pretty tough for us?"
"Well," said Bill thoughtfully, "a fellow likes to know that a girl likes him. Some girls just have an atmos- phere of interest about them that makes you feel good. They have a way of letting you know that they're happy to be with you, and you don't feel that you've got to break down 'cold country' and find out a few things. So you respect their ideas and leave them alone of they aren't the kissing kind — or you aren't. And thank heaven there are still some of us left."
"The things that really get a girl — that she likes best in a boy she dates are the little attentions — the funny notes, the Valentines, and the little unexpected things that let you know a boy is thinking about you." Katherine was speaking for the first time.
"And," Bill answered quickly, "the girl who gets them is the one that shows that she thinks it's mar- velous."
"What about the moody girl?" I asked. I had been talking a day or two before to a baffled young man about the bewildering moods of girls.
Everyone laughed. "Nearly ev- ery girl is a little bit moody. She is often embarrased about it herself (Concluded on page 464) THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
^Jke ^jrallacu of
Wilson Davis stood beside the pavement where it curved to- ward a high bank. He was looking up the road for a passing motorist as he waited near the bodies of his dead daughter and badly injured wife. Davis was not a heavy drinker. He had never been known to be drunk. He was not even a regular drinker, but on spe- cial occasions he drank with the others "just to be sociable." He had indulged this practice just before he left the pleasant vacation resort for the home to which he must now take a crippled wife and the remains of his only child.
Like many so-called moderate drinkers, he had not realized that even a small amount of alcohol so poisons the nerves as to make them unreliable in such delicate opera- tions as driving a car at high speed. With variations in detail this case could be multiplied by tens of thou- sands each year. Frequently it is not the drinking driver or his family who pays the price, but an innocent third party who happens to be on the road at the time.
Percy Moore, the only son of a rich father, came into maturity be- tween the wars when it became fashionable for young men and women to drink together. He mar- ried a promising young woman, and they thought to brighten their home life in the evenings by a social glass together with their friends.
Things went fairly well for a few years. A baby girl was born to the union, and there was promise of a happy and successful future for the family. Then the wife began drink- ing to excess and soon became an habitual drunkard — a heavy liability to the young husband and a danger to the child. What should have been a fine, happy home ended in divorce and disaster for all parties. Another home had been wrecked on the fal- lacy that moderate drinking in the home is a desirable social grace.
John Harper was a likable young man. He had earned his own way through college, and had learned how to work and how to lead — two valuable assets in modern life. Having little money during his
MODERATE DRINKING
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EDITOR,
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION
"JOURNAL"
college years, he had not used liquor. He went out into the busi- ness world where he was popular, and advanced rapidly. He had one salary raise after another, and soon became one of a group of assistant managers. As the manager was nearing retirement, the firm was on the lookout for his successor. John Harper was almost certain to be given the post.
But John, like so many others, could not stand prosperity. A coun- terinfluence had wormed its way into his life. The set he associated with had cocktail parties. He be- came a moderate drinker, then an excessive drinker. The quality of his work began to decline. His as- sociates saw clearly that he was slipping. Another man- — less able, but with steady habits — was chosen as manager. John Harper had been fooled by the fallacy that one can be a moderate drinker and still at- tain the highest success in business.
These cases from my own ob- servation illustrate the fallacy of moderate drinking as a solution of the liquor problem. They are true cases, although other names have been substituted for the real ones. Any observant person can parallel them with cases from his own knowledge. They could be multi- plied almost indefinitely.
Such incidents mount up to a ter- rible accumulation of evidence against individuals and to the social disaster that results from moderate drinking. Judgment based on such evidence does not require the added weight of so-called scientific re- search. It is more than scientific. It is common sense, the kind of com- mon sense that has made every great teacher of all the ages take his stand against the use of intoxicants.
|~)rinking in moderation is not the
solution of our liquor problem;
it is the main cause of that prob-
lem. If one drinks at all, he is likely to be caught in the network of social custom until he drinks to excess. Who has not seen in a railway club car a group of men around a table? One man buys a round of whiskies, and then a second man, and a third, and a fourth — each feeling that if he accepts a favor he must return it, each having less resistance and less sense as intoxication advances.
The moderate drinker is always a candidate for alcoholism. Not one of the 750,000 drunkards in our country — many of them men and women of the greatest possibility and promise — started out with the intention of becoming a drunkard. Not one of the three million men and women who have come to drink to such excess that their alcohol slavery is a constant menace to their lives and careers started out with the thought of becoming an exces- sive drinker. These excessive drink- ers were recruited from the mod- erates and may at any time be added to the army of drunkards. It is a terrible toll for any nation that calls itself civilized. It has no place in a high-energy, air-borne, atomic age.
It may be for our generation to decide whether we shall follow the path of less advanced peoples and allow the liquor cancer to eat the life out of our civilization, or wheth- er we shall mark out a new path as we have in other fields and raise a standard to which the wise and hon- est of all the earth may repair.
We can have freedom, peace, and progress as the full power of our technological civilization is used constructively, or we can have li- cense and much drinking. We can- not have both. We shall have to choose and to teach our children to choose. We shall have to meet with kindly reasonableness the efforts of the organized liquor interests to establish "moderate drinking" as a {Concluded on page 460)
♦-
FROM "THE MESSAGE" MAGAZINE, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
JULY 1948
441
MULEK
SYNOPSIS
MULEK loved Zarahemla, the city of his forefathers, where two factions were striving for power, one ruled by Ama- lickiah, a man of tremendous powers and winning manners, who had caused a rupture in the country, and Moroni, young chief captain of the armies of the Nephites, who went everywhere, encouraging, instructing, pleading with the people to unite in the country's defense. Accustomed to receiving the adulation of the people, Mulek was consumed with jealousy at his fall from favor. In order to call attention to himself he had mocked the priests of the church and allied himself with Amalickiah. Then, to win their praise he decided to support Mo- roni's projects. Mulek was eager to win the favor of the girl, Zorah, niece of Am- ram, a boatmaker. He devised ways of meeting her, but Zorah was too intent on the political unrest to be interested in him, and was lavish in her praise of Moroni, which added to Mulek's envy. Was he never to be free of this sense of his inferior' ity? But he determined in some way to win Zorah 's approval. When, therefore, one of his friends approached him with the idea that he become king — even as his forefa- thers had been kings — he entertained the thought. A general election was called for and granted by Pahoran, chief judge, as to which kind of government was the more desirable. In the voting the king-men tost, at the very moment when Amalickiah led the Lamanites against the land. When the king-men were asked to support the gov- ernment, they refused. Beside himself with worry, Pahoran sent word to Moroni, in the land of Bountiful to come posthaste to the defense of Zarahemla.
Chapter VII
Moroni, fearful of the outcome, did what a wise commander could do, and it was little enough. He left Teancum and Lehi in charge of matters in the east and went with all speed to the defense of the capital, to pull down the pride and the nobility of the king-men, as he put it.
Meanwhile the king-men were also busy. Pachus and Mulek set about gathering their forces and preparing their fortifications. Cer- tainly they were not to be taken lightly. There were thousands of the king-men, and they were bitter and determined. Knowing they were to fight for their lives, they provided every advantage within their power. Nor did they lack for money, weapons, or food.
One evening word came that Moroni was marching on the city and would arrive next day with his
442
army. The king-men took up their position and waited the coming of the captain.
Mulek, fuming and fretting in the darkness, his dreams dead, his fine prospects, worse than gone, was literally hot with anger and mad with mortification and disappoint- ment. To make things worse for him, his ultimate degradation, if it were to come at all, would come at the hands of Moroni whom he blamed for most of his troubles.
It was insupportable!
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see a soldier standing in the darkness at his side.
"What is it?" he asked.
"A woman is waiting and wishes to speak with you," the other in- formed him.
"A woman?"
In surprise he followed the man through the streets to the extreme limit of the position occupied by Pachus' forces. There guards pre- vented the entrance of any of whom they were not sure. There the wom- an was waiting. Even though Mu- lek's eyes were accustomed to the dark, he could not for a moment guess at her identity, so closely was she veiled. Then he recognized her. It was Zorah!
pOR one brief instant all his heavi- ness left him. The weights fell from his shoulders; the lines left his brow. He felt an upsurge of pure happiness, of instant relief. He wanted to take her in his arms, but she was so still and unrespon- sive that he dared not touch her at first. At length he took her hand and found it cold as a stone.
"Zorah," he whispered, "is it real- ly you? If there is any heaven, you stand at the door of it." For a mo- ment she did not speak but at last found her voice.
"What mad thing is this you do, Mulek?" she cried. "What utterly mad thing? Do you not know that it is not death alone you invite but
By J. N. WASHBURN
dishonor and loss of all hopes and prospects? Oh, I could not have believed it of you." She turned her head so that the tears fell upon her sleeve like drops of rain.
Mulek was overcome. But wheth- er he would have told her that all he had done had been done for her, he was never to know. Whether he would even then have turned back had she asked, it was likewise not to be determined. What more either might have said could not be known, for at that moment the girl, over- whelmed, withdrew.
"Good-bye, Mulek," she said and was gone, as she had come, alone, in the darkened street.
For a moment Mulek stood, quite without volition or command. When in the end he realized that she was gone, he knew the full weight of despair and hopelessness. His strong shoulders shook with sobs; and hot tears, unheeded, rushed in a torrent down his face. For the first time in his life he was utterly alone and poignantly aware of his loneli- ness.
I^oroni reached the capital in a towering rage. Had it not been for this, he would have faced the king-men under even greater difficulties than those under which he already labored, for with all the earnestness of his heart he hated having to destroy his own people. Only the depth of their wrong could avail to make him forget that inborn reluctance.
As it was, he fought as he had never fought before. He threw his forces against those of Pachus with all the strength he had. Pachus for his part had the advantage of posi- tion but lacked the moral support of a righteous cause.
With terrible slaughter the con- flict moved back and forth with first one side winning and then the other. From house to house they fought, and from street to street. The
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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From house to Ziouse fAey fought, and from street to street.
wounded and dead lay everywhere; cries of the sufferers made the day hideous; and the city and its en- virons, red with intermingled blood of rebel and patriot alike. Brothers, fathers, and sons became enemies within an hour and lashed and struggled powerfully to destroy each other.
Pachus went everywhere, encour- aging his men, pushing them to furi- ous efforts with his praise. He kept up their flagging hopes with new promises manufactured on the spot. Neither truth nor logic had any part in his words, but he gave ample proof of his earnestness in the fury and efficiency with which he struck.
"Come, friends, patriots all," he would shout to any he saw falter- ing, "we bear the burden of the op- pressed. Will you have your chil- dren grow up slaves?" There was nothing within his power that he did not offer and deliver on that fateful day.
Moroni, too, was like a fountain from which sprang rich streams of strength. He performed surpassing deeds of valor and of wisdom. Thrilled by his unexampled courage, astounded at his strength in time of
JULY 1948
need, his men outdid themselves in feats of greatness.
"For the oppressed!" the traitors would shout. "For the fatherland!" the defenders would answer, and in this way they distinguished each the other, for they fought every man for himself when, how, and where he would. There was little organiza- tion; each man was his own com- mander and command.
Such slashing and screaming as there were! Swords and shields, spears and arrowheads reflected the sunshine until stained to the point where they shed nothing but ruddy drops like rain upon the sodden earth.
Before nightfall one might have said that death had painted a pic- ture and called it "Desolation."
Mulek and his expert blade were known far and near. He was like a mechanical device, as dispassionate, as unrelenting. He had forgotten how to think. In slaughter he found the only release for the tempest of his soul. For hours he persisted. In spite of wishing to lose his life, in spite of inviting the strokes of every weapon, in spite of being in the thick of the unspeakable fray from
beginning to end, he was preserved as by a miracle.
The sun rose higher and higher and seemed somehow to govern the fighting, for with it at its zenith the action reached its highest point and began to wane with the lengthening shadows. The king-men, by then aware of the hopelessness of their cause, started to desert or go over to the enemy.
Moroni, heartened wonderfully by these defections, after a period when he had begun to fear his bat- tle was in vain, called upon his last resources and asked his men for re- newed efforts. And they responded nobly with such a burst of vigor as took the remaining spirit out of the rebels. These, in ever-increasing numbers, laid down their weapons and begged only for rest.
Mulek fought to the end — the last to quit — a giant of destruction! Even Moroni could not refrain from expressing admiration for his skill and strength even while he deplored their having been thrown away in a project of anarchy. Weary as night, senseless as a stone, Mulek, under heavy guard, was dragged off to a cold and lonely cell.
( To be continued )
443
He Makes Me Feel
Important
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IF YOU WANT TO IMPRESS OTHERS RE- MEMBER THE RULE TO FOLLOW IS TO LET THEM IMPRESS YOU,
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"I
saw Tom Collier today!" I overheard a neighbor telling his wife recently.
"Tom Collier! I don't quite place him. Is he the chap we met New Year's Eve with the magnetic per- sonality?'' asked Evelyn De Marinis, who has a talent for friendship.
"Oh, no, Evelyn! That was Dick Hughes. Tom Collier is a nice fel- low, but he hasn't that kind of per- sonality. He doesn't know how to make the other fellow feel important like Dick Hughes does,"
"Make a fellow feel important!" Here was Fred Thompson, one of the most useful, outstanding men in our great city, wanting to be made to feel important.
How true it is that everyone likes to be appreciated! We like to be made to feel important!
John E. Gibson in a recent brief article in Your Life writes, "If you want to impress people favorably, here's a cardinal rule to go by. A rule to cut out and paste in your hat. The best way to impress a person is to let him impress you,"
It is frequently the case that the more ability one has, the more that person bolsters the ego of those with whom he comes in contact, thus per- mitting them a feeling of well-being and self-importance. As a rule, out- standing men and women have kind- ness, compassion, and the interest of others in their hearts; generally they are the most unpretentious, the sim- plest, the sweetest to know. They 444
seem to have a feeling of being their "brother's keeper."
Occasionally, however, you are confronted with someone who has developed the habit of deflating the other person's ego.
I met a charming woman, recent- ly married to a brilliant man who had been "pressing his suit" for ten years.
I said, "My, how young and hap- py you're looking!"
She smiled, "How kind of you to say that. I just met an acquaintance who can deflate one's ego quicker than that," she said, snapping her fingers. '" You're looking well!' she told me, 'but you've gained some weight, my dear, and you're getting gray!
'T'he principle requisite in friend- ship is the simple expedient of trying to please. A note, a telephone call, a clipping mailed of a favorite hobby, any small attention takes but a few minutes.
One of my friends has told me whenever I return to my former home in southeastern Ohio, "It's so good to have you here! You're the
WASTED EFFORT By Mildred Gotf
WORRY, says a proverb, Is like a rocking chair; It keeps you busy, but it doesn't Get you anywhere.
only person who ever makes a fuss over us!"
The crowd of old friends will gather. Soon they are talking of the interests in which, because of my absence, I cannot share. Seldom does anyone think in some tactful way to switch the subject to topics which are of interest to everyone.
So often a wise man whose opin- ion I value, ( yes, it could be my hus- band! ) has said, "Why not talk about what interests the other per- son?" Isn't reciprocity fair in con- versation as in everything else? Should we not encourage everyone within a group to talk? Too often one or two persons will monopolize a conversation like the two end men in a minstrel show.
Living with yourself is dangerous. Psychologists who> know what is good for mental and emotional health advise us to associate with happy persons.
Henry Walker Hooper in It's Nice to Know People Like You says, "Think of each person as being a distinctive individual whom you try to understand and make a bit more happy. If you practise this funda- mental principle, you will find sooner or later that you are popular and in- fluential with others."
The best thing about being liked by others is that in making the ef- fort we find life fuller, richer in every way. Thinking of others, making them feel worth while and important, pays happiness dividends to those who cultivate this fine habit.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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"pEW of us actually know our own strength until we are faced with situations that test us to the last limit. We often underestimate our power to endure hardships. And we sometimes overestimate our pow- er to resist temptation. There is an oft-told tale of the boys who were seeing who could lean farthest out of a window. The boy who "won" did what too many people do: he leaned so far that he fell. A man must have wisdom and judgment as well as courage and ability and strength. And wisdom would sug- gest that we stop somewhere short of testing our strength to the last degree of endurance. Wisdom would suggest that we refrain from getting into things that might carry us beyond where we want to stop. Too many people have leaned out too far and haven't been able to get back in time to avoid tragedy. It is utter foolishness to see how far we can go in a dangerous direction. It is difficult to predict the pulling power of a magnet. And it is diffi- cult to know just how far we can go before we have gone too far. And if we want to resist temptation, we should resist it on our own ground, and resist it at a safe range. Seeing how far one can go is one of the deadliest of dangers. Mon- taigne quotes Socrates on this sub- ject: "Fly it; shun the sight and encounter of it, as of a powerful poison, that darts and wounds at a distance."1 It is never smart to trifle on the borderline. If we want to resist temptation, we should never try to see how close we can come the edge without falling off. To th plea, "Lead us not into temptation," we might also add, "Let us not lead
By RICHARD L. EVANS
ourselves into temptation." It may be fascinating to see how close we can come to a poisonous snake. But we would be wise never to under- estimate the striking distance of a snake and never to overestimate our own ability to get out of its way, once we have gotten too close.
—May 2, 1948.
xMontaigne's Essays
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I
T is difficult for those who are young to understand the loneli- ness that comes when life changes from a time of preparation and per- formance to a time of putting things away. In the eager and active years of youth it is difficult to understand how parents feel as their flock, one by one, leave the family fireside. To be so long the center of a home, so much sought after, and then, almost suddenly to be on the sidelines watching the procession pass by — this is living into loneliness. Of course we may think we are thought- ful of parents and of our other older folk. Don't we send them gifts and messages on Mother's Day and Fa- ther's Day, and on other anniver- saries? And don't we make an oc- casional quick call as a token of our attention? It is something to be re- membered on special occasions, to be sure. But such passing and per- functory performances are not enough to keep loneliness in its place the whole year round. What they need in the loneliness of their older years is, in part at least, what
we needed in the uncertain years of our youth: a sense of belonging, an assurance of being wanted, and the kindly ministrations of loving hearts and hands, not merely dutiful form- ality; not merely a room in a build-- ing, but a room in someone's heart and life. We have to live a long time to learn how empty a room can be that is filled only with furniture. It takes someone on whom we have claims beyond mere hired service, beyond institutional care or profes- sional duty, to thaw out the memo- ries of the past and keep them warmly living in the present. And we who are younger should never become so blindly absorbed in our own pursuits as to forget that there are still with us those who will live in loneliness unless we let them share our lives as once they let us share theirs. When they were mov- ing in the main stream of their own impelling affairs, we were a burden — or could have been if they had chosen to consider us as such. But. now we are stronger and they are less strong. We cannot bring them back the morning hours of youth. But we can help them live in the warm glow of a sunset made more beautiful by our thoughtfulness, by our provision, and by our active and unfeigned love. Life in its fulness is a loving ministry of service from generation to generation. God grant that those who belong to us may never be left in loneliness.
—May 9, 1948.
I^amntd ana \Jther J-^eopte
Tt is often easy to be pleasant when
we have no responsibility. This is
a profound fact that young people
often overlook. Friends and stran-
(Continued on page 446)
TUTeard from the "Crossroads of the West" with the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir and Organ over a nation-
a a wide radio network through ksl and the columbia broadcasting system every sunday at 11:30 a.m.
Eastern Time, 10:30 a.m. Central Time, 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time, and 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time.
JULY 1948
445
THE SPOKEN WORD
{Concluded from page 445) gers and casual acquaintances may sometimes seem to them to be more pleasant than parents. Other peo- ple don't restrict them as do their parents. Other people don't tell them where they can go and where they can't go. Other people don't tell them what to eat and what not to eat. Other people don't plague them to practise. Other people don't pester them to pick up their clothes and get their homework done. Other i people don't tell them when to go to bed and when to get up. Other people don't tell them when to go out and when to come in. And if a youngster really wants to make a case of it, he may at times have some cause to conclude that other people are more pleasant than his parents. Why shouldn't they be? They don't have to discipline him; they don't have to keep him well; they don't have to teach or train him; they don't have to answer for his actions; they don't have to see him make his way in life. But parents have a responsibility that they cannot, in good con- science, avoid. And since they have a duty to perform, children may sometimes suppose that parents are difficult and exacting, while stran- gers are easy and indulgent. Stran- gers let them do as they please and parents don't. Long before life is over, however, discerning children learn to realize why all this is so, and they learn to appreciate what their parents do, even though it may interfere with some of the young- ster's activities. They learn to re- spect parents who teach them what they need to be taught, who restrict them when they need to be re- stricted, who discipline them when they need to be disciplined, who encourage them when they need to be encouraged, who counsel them when they need to be counseled, and who hold the reins when the reins need to be held. And a parent who lets children do anything they want to do, who is pleasant to the point of negligence, is not long like- ly to keep their respect as do those parents who persuade them to per- form as they should perform. And before any youngster presumes that other people are more pleasant than his parents, he should remind him- self that it is easy to be pleasant when we have no responsibility.
Copyright. King Features —May 16, 1948.
446
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Quite frequently we hear peo- ple who express themselves as wanting to do something for the great mass of mankind, perhaps for their further enlightenment, or their physical comfort, or their political well-being. Sometimes the motives of these would-be benefactors are sincere and unselfish. Sometimes they may not be. But any person whose purpose it is to improve all mankind en masse should not over- look this point: Fundamentally speaking, there is no such thing as a mass of humanity. The term is often used to describe a large number of people, but men are still men, in- dividually, as are women and chil- dren, with all of their separate and distinct differences of countenance and character and body and mind and spirit. You cannot make a mass of people comfortable. A man is comfortable as an individual or he isn't comfortable. You cannot feed a mass of people. A child is well nourished as an individual or he isn't well nourished. You can't edu- cate a mass of people. You can only educate men and women and chil- dren as individual entities. Men cannot believe en masse. They must have faith, they must believe, they must give obedience to prescribed principles with each thinking and acting for himself as a child of God with an immortal spirit, an eternal destiny, and an individual intelli- gence and personality — which is and was and shall always be. Such is the basic principle of democracy; such is the essence of immortality and eternal life : the dignity and en- during identity of each individual man. And that is why those false philosophies and political systems are untenable which seek to move and hold men en masse and which seek to violate the dignity and the identity of the individual man. The condition of humanity does not change as the tide rises and falls. Whenever there is any change in this so-called mass of humanity, it is because men and women have changed individually. For conven- ience we sometimes say that we teach a class. But men only learn as individual men; men only feel as
individual men; and men only think
as individual men. And so, when
you want to help humanity, help the
individual man to help himself, and
the problem of the mass will steadily
disappear.
"^Tvised —May 23, 1948.
When <=JJeatk Loomed
Tn a letter to a friend, Thomas Jef- ferson once wrote: "There is a fulness of time when men should go." This may be easy to under- stand when men have reached an age that is old and have become weary of walking the ways of this life. But death is more difficult to accept when it makes what seems to us to be an untimely call — when it takes children who have not lived a fulness of years — when it takes the young, the vigorous — when it takes beloved companions, friends, and close kin. Seldom, if ever, are we ready for it when it visits those we love. There are exceptions to be sure. Sometimes death seems to be welcome and kindly, when it comes to those who wait for it to come — to those who are weary and would be on their way to other work. But it isn't always so. An old man may live long; a young man may die soon. A sick man may linger; a youth may be stricken. All that hap- pens in this world is not of our planning nor to our liking. There are times when decisions are in hands higher than ours. And fight- ing the irrevocable decisions of the Almighty only adds to the burden and the bitterness. Even though the pattern may not be of our making, nor within our understanding it is what it is, and insofar as we are un- able to do anything about it, we must accept it as it is. Even as we expect our own children to accept some things which we do not fully explain, so we, as children of God, our Eternal Father, are expected to have faith beyond the limits of our actual knowledge. We move by faith in many things — because we must. We move by faith or we do not move at all, because there is so much that we cannot now know. And it is for us to remember that life itself is a gift of God, and not to any man that we know of is there given any guarantee of years in this life. But for all men there is immortality {Concluded on page 469)
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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THE TRIO'S PILGRIMAGE (Compiled and arranged by Ellen By- water Valentine. Edited by H. W. Valentine. Utah Printing. Salt Lake City.) 1947. $2.50.)
7V loving daughter has here left in printed form the autobiography of her father, James Bywater, and life sketches of his two wives. James By- water heard the gospel almost by chance, embraced it, and lived it fer- vently and fully throughout a long life. He was a type of the many faithful men and women who have brought power to the Church. In his coura- geous faith and devotion he was great. Three times he suffered imprisonment rather than to surrender a principle which he held divine. The story is entrancing reading. It provokes a nostalgic feeling. Would that more of the past simple sturdiness might be in- corporated in the hurried present! As public servant, Church member, mis- sionary, husband, father, lover of his fellow men, and leader among men, he wrote his name imperishably upon the eternal tablets. — /. A. W.
THE MISSIONARY'S
HANDBOOK
(Published by the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
156 pages.)
HPhis recently revised edition of a use- ful volume is now available. It is issued primarily for missionaries to help them in the performance of ordi- nances and in the conduct of other activities pertaining to their work. It has had considerable material added to it from the pen of John A. Widtsoe and others, and has been ably edited and compiled by Gordon B. Hinckley and the Church Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature Committee.- — R.L.E.
THE HUMAN FRONTIER (Roger J. Williams, Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York. 1946. 314 pages. $3.00.)
/"Challenging, thought-provoking, and prophetic is this effort to beat "a new pathway for science toward a bet- ter understanding of ourselves," This science of human beings, to which all other sciences should and in the end must contribute, is called humanics. Only as this science is developed can full peace and happiness cover the earth. In the building of humanics the individual man, differing to some de-
JULY 1948
gree from all other men, is of first im- portance. What should and can be done in this matter is discussed simply and clearly in seventeen chapters that range from the behavior of endocrine glands to international relations. The book is an outstandingly sane contribu- tion to the possible solution of the problems of our harassed world — a book it would do all good to read. The author is one of the world's great biochemists. — /. A. W.
GOD PLANTED A TREE
(Ora Pate Stewart. Published by the
author. 116 pages. $1.00.)
'"pHE "tree" is the chosen people of God. This book is a brief story of their history to the end of the Old Testament. It is good reading for all. Among the younger set especially it should have a wide circulation. The original drawings of the "tree" add much to the understanding of how the "tree" grew„ and how the gardener had to prune and care for it. — /. A. W.
"OTHER SHEEP" A Saga of Ancient America, Centennial Edition (Robert W. Smith. Pyramid Press, Salt Lake City. 1947. 70 pages. $1.00.)
HThe Book of Mormon contains much material for the imaginative writer. This is a tale of faith and love, of apostasy and bloody error, with truth conquering in the end when the Savior comes. The book is attractively printed, bound, and illustrated. The author proposes in an enclosed sepa- rate pamphlet that out of the Book of Mormon account of the visit of Christ to America a real American passion play could be formed and urges that this be done soon. Properly done such a "passion play" might spread widely the story of the Book of Mormon and encourage greater faith among believ- ers.—/. A. W.
THE STORY OF THE MORMON PIONEERS (W. Cleon Skousen. 223rd Quorum of Seventies, San Fernando Stake. Ad- dress of Author— 3509 Marguerite St., Los Angeles (41), California. 1947. 48 pages. 50 cents.) ""The 223rd Quorum of Seventy and the author have here done them- selves proud. This pamphlet covers in simple, direct language the story of the Mormon pioneers from Kirtland, Ohio,
to Salt Lake City, Utah. Brief though it be, the brochure has omitted no es- sential data. AH statements are fully documented, implying long and careful study on the part of the author. More- over, the booklet is beautifully illus- trated by Eric and Bland Larson, and equally well printed. It is an excellent piece of work; one of the best con- densed histories of the pioneers.
The brochure was a product of the desire of author and quorum to render service in the great centennial year.
— /. A. W.
SIMPLE RHYMES OF MANY CLIMES
(Lars Mortensen. Published 1947 by the author, 3636 Washington Boule- : vard, Ogden, Utah. 70 pages. $1.00.) Tn rhymes flowing from the author's: heart this pamphlet recites the story of the message of the ages, from Adam to the present day. It is an old story which suffers nothing by being con- verted into rhyme. And, it bears the imprint of a man who loves truth above all else.—/. A. W.
THE QUESTING SPIRIT (Selected and edited by Halford E. Luccock and Frances Brentano. Published by Coward-McCann, Inc., New York. 711 pages. $5.00.) HPms is a compilation of short stories, poems, plays, and other utterances on religious, moral, and ethical themes. Its contents are taken from American and English authors, many of them eminent, including Aldous Huxley, John Masefield, John Galsworthy, Ed- win Markham, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, Arthur H. Compton, Ralph W. Sockman, William James, Albert Ein- stein, Robert A. Millikan, and others. It has a useful index of first lines and covers a multitude of quotations for. special days and seasons and subjects. Many speakers looking for stories and quotations to fortify their subjects will find this work useful. — R. L. E.
GLEANINGS
(Ora Pate Stewart. The Naylor Company, San Antonio 6, Texas. $2.50.)
/*^\ra Pate Stewart is no stranger to the readers of the Era for her poetry and stories have long appeared in the pages of this publication. Glean- ings includes her poems which have been written as a result of the wide experience of the author in her varied activities and her extensive travels. She has visited every state but one of the forty-eight states. And she has made good use of her senses — plus her woman's intuition as she has traveled. This book should appeal to all who are interested in life. — M. C. /.
447
We Go; We Come
(TIratitude, appreciation for work well done, overshadowed regret when, at the April gen- eral conference, the release of President Lucy Grant Cannon with her counselors and associates on the General Young Women's Mutual Improve- ment board was announced. This feeling from the people was well-earned, well-deserved. The service of these sisters in building Zion's womanhood to- ward worthiness cannot be measured by any ordi- nary standard. They have fitted young lives for maturity in a distraught, chaotic world. They have trained women for the firm establishment of the latter-day kingdom of God, Unstintedly, they have used their time, talents, and labor, earnestly and prayerfully, for the task before them. With eager, urgent desire, by day and in the wakeful hours of night, they have pondered and planned, always for the benefit and blessing of the girl- hood and young womanhood of the Church. Such devoted sacrifice has compelled success. Through- out the Church, through this faithful service, wom- anhood knows the gospel better, is more carefully warned against the world's evils, and is more in- telligently fitted for life's work in home and Church.
Knowledge of this is the great reward that will gladden the hearts of these sisters who now retire from active general service. We thank the Lord for them!
Sister Cannon, who really held her position in fulfilment of a priesthood prediction, has filled one of the longest missions among the women of the Church — thirty-one years a member of the gen- eral Y.W.M.I.A. board. Quiet, dignified, clinging closely to the "iron rod," with a clear conception of the work placed upon her, Sister Cannon's M.I. A. efforts form an enduring monument to her life's labors.
The tender love of Sister Goddard for girlhood everywhere, and her intelligent planning of assist- ance to youth, have endeared her to young and old, and won the respect of all.
Sister Andersen's vigorous, courageous, and un- derstanding approach to every assignment has made her an acceptable worker in every branch of the organization.
Sister Beesley, executive secretary, intelligent and dependable, has discharged her duties with enviable fidelity.
All this and more may be said also about the members of the board, without whom the presi- dency could not have met fully with their obliga- tion. To this group of capable leaders, loyal to one another and to the cause of the Church, who have shown a superb indifference to personal comfort in carrying out M.I. A. policies, all who know recent
M.I. A. progress, give grateful thanks. May the Lord continue to bless them and satisfy their in- most desires!
* • * *
Change is an eternal law. Church positions are seldom held for life. Changes increase our ex- perience. New calls, high or low, (in God's king- dom all calls are high), add to our progress and open the way for experience to others. What power these sisters may add to' any future posi- tions to which they may be called! Others take their places. New personalities come, but the old eternal principles and policies remain. Truth and its accompanying light are without beginning or
end.
* * * *
At this writing only the new presidency has been announced. We call down upon these sisters the blessings of heaven. They are capable women, stalwart in the cause of the Lord. They will be sustained gladly by the whole Church membership. Of them, when the organization is complete, we shall later have more to say.
Youth of Zion! rejoice and be glad! Give thanks to God for your leadership!
And so, M.I. A., forward and upward!
—J. A. W.
Is the Word of Wisdom A Commandment?
("\N February 27, 1833, the Prophet Joseph Smith received the Word of Wisdom which was pref- aced:
. . . not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days — *
And since that time much has been said about this "loophole" — that the Word of Wisdom is not a commandment, and therefore should not receive the prominent place that it has in the teachings and practices of the Church.
But looking at the last phrase in the verse quoted above :
. . . showing forth the order and will of God in the tem- poral salvation of all saints in the last days—
Surely, knowing the will of God is enough for his people who are worthy to be called Saints.
The reason, undoubtedly, why the Word of Wisdom is given as not "by commandment or restraint" was that, at that time, at least, if it had been given as a commandment it would have brought every man addicted to the use of these noxious things under condemnation; so the Lord was merciful and gave them a chance to overcome before he brought them under the law.2
ID. S C. 89:2 2Joseph F. Smith, The Improvement Era 17:88
-A L. Z., Jr.
448
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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"TThe obvious and emphatic answer is no, The question is admitted here only because recently it has been asked frequently. Apparently some explanations are necessary.
It seems to be the opinion of some that Latter-day Saints do not think, but accept the doctrines and follow the practices of the Church without an intelligent consideration of what they believe and do. There could not be a more un- founded and erroneous view.
The doctrine of the Church cannot be fully un- derstood unless it is tested by mind and feelings, by intellect and emotions, by every power of the in- vestigator. Every Church member is expected to understand the doctrine of the Church intelligent- ly. There is no place in the Church for blind ad- herence.
This is indispensable in a Church which rests upon the individual testimonies of its members, and in which there is no professional ministry. Church government lies in the hands of the mem- bership, every man of which may hold the priest- hood. That requires more than a blind following.
A Church member who does not study the gos- pel and try it out in his life is not really in good Church standing. Such a man cannot intelligently perform the work of the Church. With insufficient knowledge he sees things obliquely and obscurely. Indeed, he is a danger to the progress of the latter- day work.
There is nothing new in this. From the begin- ning of its history the Church has opposed un- supported beliefs. It has fought half-truth and untruth. It has insisted that its members learn the gospel and its doctrine. It has demanded an intellectual as well as an emotional acceptance of the restored truth. It is today a great educational organization. It has urged and urges today, upon every candidate, a good understanding of the gospel before entering the waters of baptism. Though a person be touched in his heart and is baptized when first hearing the gospel, he must later give it further study, else he cannot become a useful member of the Church nor can he rise to the possible heights in personal joy. The case of President Brigham Young is but an example of the general rule. It took him two years of study, prayer and reflection, after having the gospel brought seriously to his attention, before he asked for baptism.
It is this open-eyed understanding of the gospel that makes the Latter-day Saints so certain of their faith. A blind acceptance is an incomplete ac- ceptance, and usually leaves a person in doubt.
After his two years of examination, Brigham Young remained throughout his life firm and un- shaken in his faith. He knew from his careful study, beyond peradventure of doubt, that the restored gospel is true. Those who in this Church waver in their faith, need to fortify themselves by prayer for truth, further study of the gospel and practice in gospel living. So clearly understood is the gospel and its principles, that there seldom is an apostasy from the Church except by those who have allowed sin to enter their lives.
To understand the gospel a right beginning must be made. If God and Jesus Christ are ac- cepted, the search for the truth of the restored gospel must be initiated by a study of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his work. Were his claims true — that he had conversed with the Father and the Son; that the priesthood was conferred upon him legitimately by personages from the days of Jesus Christ; that he was authorized to organize the Church of Christ; and that a body of revelations was given him for the guidance of the Church?
A certainty of the divine calling of Joseph Smith must be a foundation of faith in the Church.
Then, it must be understood that some Church practices rest upon unchangeable gospel principles. We may not always understand these, but no amount of argument can change them. The strength of the gospel lies in these eternal, un- deviating laws.
Some prefer baptism by sprinkling, but the divine law is that baptism shall be by immersion. Some feel that an inward call is sufficient to per- form such ordinances, therefore making the trans- mission of authority unnecessary. This view is beyond argument, since it violates divine law.
Still others even in the Church may question the law of tithing. Why should not the requirement be a fifth or a twentieth? Why should there not be an upper limit for the rich man? Again, the Church is bound by the revelations of God through the Prophet of the Restoration, Joseph Smith.
The labor question is a live issue. Some would have the Church take sides with one or the other of the many propositions of the day. Again, the Church rests its opinion on the eternal law: that the labor confusion will disappear when all men learn to do to others as they would have others do to them. Whatever leads in that direction in- vites Church support.
All such queries, designed to question the propriety of the basic laws of the gospel, are a waste of time. Every future revelation of the Church will be in the nature of an extension of these spiritual foundation stones of the latter-day kingdom of the Lord. This is accepted open-eyed not blindly by Latter-day Saints.
( Concluded on page 478 )
JULY 1948
449
Of/.AfOM, EVEWBODy
RAVED ABOUT
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SUPREMEf
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I KNEW THEY WOULD IF YOU USED THE
NEW ORATED STHLEf
VAN CAMP SEA FOOD CO., INC.,
Terminal Island, California
There's no substitute for tuna, when you use
Will
Pattern for a Day
By Helen S. Neal
Because a woman's life can be- come so choked and strangled with routine petty jobs as al- most to rob her of her sparkle, she particularly needs a plan for each day to keep her soul satisfied. No one can make her plan. In the last analysis she must decide. It does help to hear how others plan, and borrow anything worth while to adapt to her own needs.
Without a plan, days become choked with repetitive routine, but a pattern made for each day is some- thing to look forward to.
Mine is a five-part plan. I must love deeply each day and express it tangibly. I must have definite con- tact with young growing things, both on the giving and receiving end. I must build toward something permanent. I must learn something new. And I must spend a part of each day in developing skill in something.
Loving deeply must have a con- crete form of expression if it be no more than darning my husband's socks. If one has a sick sister or an elderly friend, she can call on her or write to her on some cheerful subject referring to her feeling. One may write a letter to the brother, husband, son, or friend overseas or buy a favorite perfume for her mother, or bake one's husband's fa- vorite cake. She may put in some time with a child, reading or playing games. These tangible and concrete expressions of love keep one's own personality warm and vibrant, and fill the need of one's own soul.
There are dozens of ways of touching the lives of small children, beyond the supervision of their cleanliness and grooming. Our older ones need accompaniments for their music. Sometimes they are unsure of fractions or need drill in their spelling. If Daddy's not home to play ball, they want me to play "Authors" or "India." The next one needs stories at nap time and
450
bedtime. He loves to make puzzles, and appreciates an audience to ap- prove his speed and facility, and sometimes to participate in assem- bling the borders. The next one is in constant need of having her shoes tied or her hairbow restored. And she needs activity that can be shared, planned for her. If she can roll the dough or wield the cooky cutter, she is enraptured. If she can get a towel or put a magazine on the table, she admires mother for recog- nizing her as a helpmate. The baby finds me particularly useful in the feeding program and in making her bed comfortable.
Ror me, obviously, the first two items, love deeply and touch young growing things, overlap consider- ably. Mothers and teachers find these two categories easily fulfilled. I make a conscious effort each day to show concretely my love for their daddy, since I inevitably spend more hours with the children.
Household routines are discour- aging because they have to be re- peated. Dust thoroughly today, and tomorrow a new layer of dust will need removing. Wash dishes in the morning, and many of the same ones must be redone at noon, and often again at night. Mended clothes will tear again, and washed ones will soil again, and floors must be clean- ed again until the day produces a sense of futility — a rondo that never ends but surges on relentlessly. This is why some corner of each day must be devoted toward building something permanent.
Offices, too, can be choking in their repetitive routine. We file let- ters only to refer to them, make notations and send answers and have to file them all over again. The day's mail is written, read, signed, sealed, and sent, only with tomor- row comes a similar set to be begun. Perhaps we make a business chart, but it must be constantly corrected and brought up to date. Things don't come to an end like an artist's picture or a composer's score. Even a housepainter finishes a job and goes to new scenes.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Our "something permanent" may take on great variety. I sew for the children, weave d'resser scarves and weave items for the gift box, and write articles for magazines, espe- cially on music and children. But there are many other permanent things to work at. One can be planting an avenue of trees or work- ing on a civic project, like planning and carrying out a little theater plan. Perhaps one paints landscapes for recreation. A quilt is tangible and satisfying. One woman may crochet tablecloths or bedspreads, or knit sweaters. All these things take the odium from the jobs that need constant re-doing.
To learn something every day is an easy goal to achieve. If there is not time to sit down with a news- paper or magazine or book for even the traditional fifteen minutes a day, there is always the radio. Keep a little list of news broadcasts and book reviews and round table dis- cussions near the radio. Select one that will be going on during the dusting or dishes or baby feeding. Personally, I enjoy taking reading matter to bed. An alert mind can rise above the tiresome tasks, for it is occupied with a lively interest in things going on and in the books that are being written.
HPhe last important thing is to work toward developing skill, a little every day. I play my harp and try new pieces. Did you take piano or violin lessons just long enough to wish you had more? Go on with the lessons or lay out your own pro- gram of practice with enough time for exercises and scales to restore and maintain your facility. Take an extension course or evening classes. Do you write a little but need a course in typing so you won't have to hire your manuscripts typed for you? You are never too old for new skills. Ella Wheeler Wilcox began her study of the harp after she was seventy, yet came to write music for harp.
Friends of mine have organized a Spanish class, engaged a teacher, and are working toward skill in speaking and reading a language whose importance is increasing. An- other friend has put her leisure after nursing hours into painting pictures and attained enough skill that she is invited to exhibit at many art shows. (Continued on page 452) JULY 1948
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d — **• ^ ^ ^ ^1^ —
ean smells Sweet-
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banishes TattleTale Gray
451
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( Continued from page 45 1 ) Some skills may lead to a better position, or to a career when the children are grown. One woman developed so much skill in handling young girls when she volunteered to lead a Bee Hive group, that a few years later she became dean of women at her state university. Ana- lyze your talents. Some have poten- tialities with creative skill, while others have more interpretative abil- ity. Some have organizing and lead- ership abilities and work best with groups. Remember a skill is more than an inclination, a taste, a desire. It is attained and perfected only by practice which means long, hard work, but brings great satisfaction.
These five things belong in a truly complete day. Love deeply, and ex- press it in tangible and concrete ways. Touch the lives of young growing things, whether they be children, plants, or pets. There must be a give and take, for we learn much while we teach or direct or guide. Build toward something per- manent, for life is all too full of the over-and-over task, and the only ultimate satisfaction is to see some- thing permanent taking shape. Learn something new every day, for we are not separate entities but part of a world that is making history daily, and sprung from a past heri- tage rich in literature and music and history. Our own personalities grow by learning new things. De- velop a skill for the sheer satisfac- tion of being able to do something better and better. It may or may not lead to some lucrative endeavor later, but it will bring a great inner peace all the way along.
— Q..~!^» *
HANDY HINTS
Payment for Handy Hints used will be one dollar upon publication. In the event that two with the same idea are submitted, the one postmarked earlier will receive the dollar. None of the ideas can be returned, but each will receive careful consideration.
To extend life of cut roses: As the roses are cut, place immediately in cold water which permits the water to rush into the stems and excludes the air. The next day place roses in basin of cold water; while the stems are under water, cut off about one inch or more on a slant, holding stems un- der water for a few moments. Fill vase with cold water and quickly change roses from basin to vase. Roses treated this way
Josephine B. Nichols
Pack-and-Carry Meals
"Decipes that are easy to pack and carry to a nearby canyon, the park, or to your own back yard.
72
1 2
1
Chicken and Tuna Casserole No. 2j/2 can tuna fish Sy2 oz. jar sliced chicken can cream of mushroom soup cup evaporated milk cup water
tablespoon chopped green onion cup chopped green pepper tablespoons sliced pimento teaspoon salt 3-oz. pkg. potato chips
Heat soup in double boiler. Add remain- ing ingredients. Place one half of potato chips on bottom of buttered casserole. Cov- er with tuna, chicken mixture, spread re- maining potato chips over top. Bake at 350° F. for 25 minutes.
Spaghetti With Meat
% cup macaroni or spaghetti
2 quarts boiling water
% teaspoon salt
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons fat
1 pound hamburger x/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated cheese 2 cups tomato juice
1 teaspoon chopped green pepper
Add spaghetti to rapidly boiling, salted water. Cook until tender. Drain and wash with cold water. Melt fat and add onion; add hamburger and cook until brown. Add green pepper and tomato juice. Mix to- gether in a buttered baking dish and cover with grated cheese. Cover baking dish. Bake at 300° F. for one hour. Remove cover and bake ten minutes longer.
Savory Baked Beans
1 16 to 18 oz. can pork and beans
2 tablespoons brown sugar 34 teaspoon dry mustard 34 cup catsup
2 slices bacon, cut in one-inch pieces
Combine ingredients. Bake covered in greased casserole twenty minutes at 350° F. Uncover and continue baking twenty min- utes.
• t^ •—
452
every day (whether from your own garden or from the florist) will last for many days. This method is also effective on peonies and some other types of flowers. — Mrs. /. B. H„ Salt Lake City, Utah.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Meal in Salad Bowl
cup sliced onion
small head lettuce
tomatoes cut in wedges
cups fresh cooked or canned peas
cup sliced stuffed olives
cup cooked tongue or veal, cut in strips 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup French dressing
Separate onion rings; break lettuce in bite-sized pieces. Arrange vegetables and meat on lettuce; sprinkle with salt; add dressing; toss lightly. Serve with crisp potato chips.
Cherry Pie
3 cups pitted, fresh cherries
1 to V/2 cups sugar 34 cup flour
J/g teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 recipe plain pastry
Line nine-inch pie pan with pastry. Trim pastry one-half inch beyond rim. Roll re- maining pastry one inch larger than pan. Cut in one-half-inch strips for the lattice. Combine cherries, sugar, flour, and salt. Fill pie. Dot with butter. Top with pastry lat- tice. Flute edge. Bake in hot oven (400° F. ) about forty minutes.
Little Apple Pies
5 to 7 apples
% to 1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour Yz teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon 34 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter 1 recipe plain pastry
Pare apples and slice thin; add sugar mixed with flour, salt, and spices; fill in- dividual pastry-lined pie pans. Dot with butter. Adjust top crusts. Bake in hot oven (450°) ten minutes, then in moderate oven (350°) about thirty minutes.
MY OLD HOME TOWN By Edna S. Dustin
I just returned from my old home town; It's funny how it had changed. I found Its Main Street buildings once holding the
sky — Now only half higher than I was high. Its old muddy streets that reached so wide, Now merely four legs in a leisure stride.
The old pole fence I once climbed to sit, Cautiously locking my legs around it, To peer far up at a nest in the tree — That seemed as far off as the clouds I now
see; I was surprised I could now touch the nest
with my hand; The fence pole where I sat, my four fingers
span.
Where were its folk that once marched like
tall trees, And I running beside them could just chin
their knees? I'm still the same Johnny, just stretched out
of size, Who has lost the magic lens of a small
boy's eyes.
JULY 1948
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THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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453
Mekhizedek Priesthood Monthly Quorum Lesson for August
LESSON SEVEN: August 1948
"Priesthood Ordinations and Setting Apart"
Reference : Melchizedek Priesthood Handbook, Section IX-A, p. 55 to Section XI-A, p. 68.
1. Study the recommendation form for advancement from the Aaronic to the Melchizedek Priesthood.
2. Give the steps in the procedure for advancement from Aaronic to Mel- chizedek Priesthood.
3. Is the same recommendation form used to recommend a man to be or- dained a seventy as is used to recom- mend him to be ordained an elder or a high priest?
4. Is the same recommendation form used to recommend a man to be or- dained a seventy as is used to recom- mend a man to be set apart as a presi- dent of a quorum of seventy?
5. Whose responsibility is it to rec- ommend priests to become elders?
6. Whose responsibility is it to rec- ommend elders to become seventies or high priests and seventies to become high priests?
7. Should the bishops take the initia- tive in ordaining the seventies and high priests?
8. Study the recommendation form for ordination in the priesthood and the statement to be filled in by the person to be ordained found on page fifty- seven.
9. Who gives final approval for a man to be ordained a seventy?
10. When should formal action be taken in ordaining brethren into each of the three divisions of the Melchize- dek Priesthood?
11. Study carefully the eight steps suggested in the ordination procedure from priest to elder.
12. Study the eight steps involved in procedure for ordination to the of- fice of seventy.
13. What are the qualities of char- acter requisite for a person to become a seventy?
14. Who performs the ordination of all brethren to the office of seventy?
15. Who gives approval for ordain- ing seventies to the office of high priest?
16. Study the seven steps of proce- dure for ordination from seventy to high priest.
17. Study the six steps of procedure for ordination from elder to high priest.
454
18. Point out the principal differ- ences in the procedure of the two.
19. Are there "advancements" in the Melchizedek Priesthood? Explain.
20. How does the procedure of the ordination of the seventy differ from that of elders or high priests?
21. Emphasize strongly the precau- tions and discretion that officers of stakes should use in approving candi- dates for ordination into any office of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
22. Should all brethren called on missions be ordained to the office of seventy?
23. Should brethren with physical defects receive the Melchizedek Priest- hood?
24. Should brethren mentally defec- tive receive the Melchizedek Priest- hood?
25. What procedure should be fol- lowed when a Melchizedek Priesthood quorum withdraws the hand of fellow- ship from a member?
26. Describe the procedure in select- ing and setting apart presidencies of high priests' quorums.
27. Discuss the procedure involved in organizing the first high council of a stake and the subsequent filling of vacancies with high councilors and alternate members.
28. Point out the differences in the procedure in selecting and setting apart presidents of the quorums of seventy and the presidencies of high priests' and elders' quorums.
29. Who selects and sets apart Mel- chizedek Priesthood quorum secre- taries?
30. Should group leaders, their as- sistants, and group secretaries be set apart?
Presiding Bishopric's "Report of Quarterly stake Conference" Discontinued
A uthorization has been given by the First Presidency and the Coun- cil of the Twelve for the immediate dis- continuance of form No. 4 11-47 2M, provided by the Presiding Bishop's of- fice, known as "Report of Quarterly Stake Conference."
This form was prepared by the stake clerks, listing attendance of the priest- hood at conference, details regarding the various conference sessions, to- gether with a listing of all speakers,
Use of Quorum Funds for Missionary Purposes
A ll Melchizedek Priesthood quorums may properly collect and disburse funds for missionary purposes. Seven- ties' quorums, in particular, are encour- aged to collect and disburse, each year, substantial sums for such purposes.
Sums received or collected for mis- sionary work should not be diverted to other uses, but limitations on the use of such funds within the field of mis- sionary activity should not be adopted. If such limitations have been adopted by quorums and are now in force, it would be wise to rescind them. When monies are donated to quorums, how- ever, which are in the nature of trust funds, that is, when the donor express- ly stipulates that his grant is condi- tioned upon the agreement of the quo- rum to spend the funds for a specific purpose, and no other, such funds must be expended in accordance with such agreement.
Quorums should not restrict their ex- penditures to the interest earned from the investment of missionary funds. The principal itself should be spent and replenished.
It is entirely proper for any quorum to use its missionary funds to aid elders, seventies, high priests, or sisters in their missionary endeavors. The only exception to this would be the case where a donor expressly provides that his grant be limited to a narrower field. Prospective donors to missionary funds should be discouraged from im- posing restrictions as to the ways in which their grants may be expended.
Quorums unable to find appropriate uses for their missionary funds within their quorum or stake areas, might properly refer the matter of the use of such funds to the presidency of the stake and if no demand for such funds for missionary purposes be found in the stake, the stake presidency might confer with the missionary committee of the Church as to where the money might be used advantageously for mis- sionary work. Such funds should not be permitted to lie idle. Wise and con- tinuous use is imperative.
The Council of the Twelve
subjects treated, etc. The nature of the present quarterly stake conference pro- gram outline obviates, in large measure, the necessity for the information shown on this report; hence its discontinuance.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
#rtatti
r
CONDUCTED BY THE GENERAL PRIESTHOOD COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
TWELVE — HAROLD B. LEE, CHAIRMAN; EZRA TAFT BENSON, MARION G. ROMNEY,
THOMAS E. MC KAY, CLIFFORD E. YOUNG, ALMA SONNE, LEVI EDGAR YOUNG,
ANTOINE R. IVINS, RICHARD L. EVANS, OSCAR A. KIRKHAM, S. DILWORTH
YOUNG, MILTON R. HUNTER, BRUCE R. MC CONKIE
Who Shall Perform Ordinations and Settings Apart?
Come years ago President Joseph F. Smith gave valuable instructions relating to the seeking of counsel and conforming with the established order of the priesthood. A portion of these remarks follows:
This matter [of conforming to the order of the Church] is generally understood in cases of difficulty, but does not seem to be so well understood in what may be termed smaller, but nevertheless quite as weighty, subjects. We often find instances where the counsel and advice and judgment of the priesthood next in order is entirely overlooked, or completely disregarded. Men go to the president of the stake for counsel when, in reality, they should con- sult their teachers or bishop; and often come to the First Presidency, apostles, or seventies, when the president of their stake has never been spoken to. This is wrong, and not at all in compliance with the order of the Church. The priesthood of the ward should never be overlooked in any case where the stake authorities are con- sulted; nor should the stake authorities be disregarded, that the counsel of the gen- eral authorities may be obtained. Such a course of disregarding the proper local of- ficers is neither in conformity with the Church instructions and organization, nor conducive to good order. It creates con- fusion. Every officer in the Church has been placed in his position to magnify the same, to be a guardian and counselor of the people. All should be consulted and re- spected in their positions, and never over- looked in their places.
In this way only can prevail that har- mony and unity which are characteristic of the Church of Christ. The responsibility also of this great work is thus placed upon the laboring priesthood, who share it with the general authorities; and thus likewise, the perfection, strength, and power of the Church organization shine forth with clear- er lustre. — Gospel Doctrine (1939 edition), p. 161.
Not infrequently brethren of the General Authorities are requested or expected to care for ordinations and settings apart of priesthood members and officers although local brethren are fully authorized to do so. Such actions not only place an unnecessary burden upon these brethren, but result in some cases in a feeling that such procedures are more desirable or perhaps more efficacious. It is therefore considered
JULY 1948
timely to clarify this matter and urge compliance with practices as officially outlined in the Melchizedek Priesthood Handbook.
Below is a list of various ordinations and settings apart which may and should be accomplished by the stake officers designated:
Office
High priests' quorum presi- dency coun- selors
High priests
Elders quorum presidency
Elders
Quorum secre- taries
Stake mission- aries
By Whom Ordained or Set Apart Stake presidency
Under direction of stake presidency and high priests' quorum presi- dency
Stake presidency or high councilor assigned by stake presidency
Under direction of stake presidency
Under direction of stake presidency
Stake president
Stake and ward officers are re- quested to observe the foregoing in- structions and to use wisdom in per- forming those functions delegated to them, thus following the order of the Church in attending to these important matters.
The Council of the Twelve
Question and Answer
Question 69: We still have some quarterly group, quorum, and stake Melchizedek Priesthood report blanks left from last year. May we utilize these during 1948?
Answer 69: No. The reports for 1948 incorporate additional informa- tion which renders previous reports obsolete. New instructions are like- wise included in the revised roll and report books mailed recently to all stake presidents for distribution to the various quorums and groups.
NO-LIQUOR-TOBACCO COLUMN
Conducted by Dr. Joseph F. Merrill
Alcohol and Its Problems
A ll over the country there is a grow- ing public interest in the question of beverage alcohol and its problems — those relating to its manufacture, dis- tribution, and consumption. This in- creased interest is due in part to the fact that scientific men and medical experts are now giving more attention than formerly to the study of alcohol problems, particularly those relating to the consumption of alcoholic bever- ages. This increased attention began several years ago when the American Association for the Advancement of Science decided to have a careful study made of the effects resulting from the consumption of alcoholic drinks. In recent years, many books, magazine, and newspaper articles on the subject have been written. Cur- rently, many organizations, some of them recent, have been set up for the purpose of doing something about al- cohol.
Among the recent ones is the Yale School of Alcohol Studies at New Haven, Connecticut, and the National Temperance Movement with head- quarters at Chicago. The Yale School has set the pattern, which is being more or less followed by experts and labora- tories elsewhere, of applying the meth- ods of scientific research to these studies. The National Temperance Movement aims to take the facts com- ing from these researches and human experience, give them publicity and support movements designed to reduce consumption and lead to total absti- nence. Its method is essentially educa- tional.
Under the sponsorship of this move- ment, there was held in April 1948, at the University of Chicago a four-day conference of "The National Council on the New Approach to the Alcohol Problem." Dr. Sherman S. Brinton, chairman of the Chicago Stake No- Liquor-Tobacco committee and Pro- fessor Chauncey D. Harris of the Uni- versity of Chicago attended meetings of this conference and reported to us some of the proceedings. One of the speakers reported was A. C. Ivy, Ph.D., M.D., vice president of the Uni- versity of Illinois, one of the ablest students of alcohol in the country. He spoke to the subject "Beverage Alcohol and National Health." From Profes- sor Harris' report, we give herewith the following:
1. Nature o[ the Problem
Alcohol is a drug similar to morphine.
(Concluded on page 460)
455
WARD YOUTH LEADERSHIP OUTLINE OF STUDY
AUGUST 1948
rpHE lesson for August will be a review of the study ma- terial presented in this column for March and April 1947,
Mimeographed copies of the lessons will be sent to each bish- op one month in advance. Bish- ops are requested immediately to place the material in the hands of the leader who presents the les- sons during the monthly meeting of the ward youth leadership committee that he may have am- ple time to make adequate prep- aration.
Special to Bishops
Recommendations for Individual Certificates of Award
Ward Teaching
Dignify the Teacher
C^NE of the recommended objectives for conscientious leaders who su- pervise ward teaching is to dignify the office of the teacher. To dignify the position adds to self-respect. The bishop holds the key to such an accom- plishment. The ward teachers are the bishop's representatives and the recog- nition given to them will of necessity come as a result of his love for the program.
One of the best opportunities to dig- nify the teacher comes in the ward teachers' report meeting. Here the bishop may not only instruct, but he can place the proper appraisal upon the value of efficient work. Praise for work well done is a debt we owe the success- ful teacher, and it will also motivate the efforts of others. An occasional expression of confidence and com- mendation from the bishop in sacra- ment meeting will bring about a genu- ine feeling of appreciation from the ward teachers.
Where a death occurs, it is sug- gested that the bishop call the teachers
Tt is apparent that there are some mis- understandings among bishops as to who is entitled to receive the individ- ual certificate of award in the Aaronic Priesthood and L.D.S. girl programs. We frequently receive letters ask- ing for exceptions for one reason or another. It has been observed that in still other instances bishops approve young men and young women's receiving the award because they "haven't the heart to refuse them," or because they are "such fine young peo- ple," or because it will "break their hearts if they aren't recognized."
One mother, surprised when her daughter received the award, said, "Imagine my surprise, and hers, when she was given the award when we both know she was not entitled to it." An- other mother and daughter were seen to return the award and refuse to ac- cept it when they knew it had not been earned.
May we say, in all kindness, but in such way as it cannot be misunder- stood:
Only those young men and young women between twelve and twenty* one years of age who have met all of the minimum requirements of the re- spective individual certificates of award are to be recommended by the bishop, to receive this recognition. No excep- tions, please!
Young people know whether they are entitled to receive the award when the year's work is finished. Certainly no good can come from their receiving something to which they know they are not fully entitled.
Stake and ward committees in both programs are asked to give full con- sideration to this matter now so as to avoid further misunderstandings at the end of the year.
of that particular district, to go with him to the home to assist in making funeral arrangements. Where possible, some responsibility should be given them in connection with the service. They should also be included when
going to administer to the sick. Many assignments can be given in cases of sickness and misfortune. Any service rendered will not only benefit the less fortunate, but it will also enrich the life of him who serves.
CHALLENGING RECORDS Lincoln Ward, Granite (Salt Lake City) Stake
One hundred percent records, ranging from one to five years, are the boasts of these out- standing young people.
For the girls and for the boys it means perfect attend- ance records at sacrament meeting, Sunday School, M.I. A., and, in addition, priesthood meeting for the boys. Each one has faithfully kept the Word of Wisdom, and has paid a full tithing.
Identification, from left to right, and the number of years each one has maintained this perfect record: Marilyn Mar- lowe, one year; Darold Marlowe, one year; Gloria Trauffer, one year; Pearl Trauffer, four years; Joy Trauffer, five years; Dale Curtis, two years.
A CHALLENGING RECORD
Mapleton Ward, Kolob Stake, deacons established a challenging activity record for 1947. The com- bined records of the two quorums reveal an attendance record of priesthood meeting 80 percent; sacrament meeting 54 percent; Sunday School 66 percent; Y.M. M.I. A. 78 percent.
With the boys in the photo-