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SYMBOL of SERVICE
In 1921 Radio Station KSL began broadcasting. A few scattered listen- ers with crystal sets listened. First as KZN, then as KFPT, finally as KSL the listening audience grew.
Today KSL's 50,000-watt signal is heard literally around the world.
In these twenty years, KSL has kept pace with the demands of its listeners. Today, the call letters "KSL" are a sym- bol of service to everyone who tunes
in his radio. Expert planning of pro- grams, careful production of every mo- ment of radio time makes possible a presentation designed to serve the lis- tening preferences of KSL's entire lis- tening audience.
During 1941, as for every year, KSL dedicates its broadcasting schedule to those who listen — a service which makes the call letters "KSL" first stop on listening dials everywhere.
50,000 Watts
1130 Kilocycles
ANCIENT AMERICA
IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT FINDINGS By CHARLES E. DIBBLE
Dr. S. G. Morley (dean of Mayan scholars ) in recent writings states that about one hundred fifty Mayan glyphs have been deciphered. They deal primarily with the calendar and astronomy. There remain approxi- mately three hundred undeciphered glyphs. To quote Dr. Morley:
Whatever their significance may be, it is the same everywhere; that is to say, they must treat of matters common to all, such as generally accepted astronomy and the common religious philosophy arising there- from, and not of purely local matters. Throughout the Maya area, the unde- ciphered glyphs deal with an extremely limited subject matter and are essentially homogeneous.
Recent anthropological research re- veals ever-increasing evidence of cul- tural and material exchange in Indian America. Middle American design motifs (such as death symbols, feath- ered serpents, etc. ) appear in southeast- ern United States (Alabama and Mis- sissippi ) ; gold ornaments from Colom- bia appear in Chichen Itza, Yucatan; goldwork from Peru has been found in Guatemala and southern Mexico; ball courts, similar to those in Central America, appear in Arizona.
This sketch is of a Mayan inscription showing a series of deciphered glyphs. Deciphered, they recorded a date 1,411,200 days after a starting date 4
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
Ahau 8 Cumhu (3113 B. C). The date recorded on this inscription is 751 A. D. ( Goodman - Thompson correlation ) . The decipherable part of Mayan re- cordings consists mainly of similar or related glyphs.
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Be sure to get complete protection for your car's costly engine parts when you change — You need a fast-flowing, winter grade oil that's tough J8/ enough to stand up under terrific engine heat, yet protects even in zero weather. YlCO winter-grade motor oil gives you just that kind of protection. Drive in at the sign of service.
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jQ iADJLUL, JiJlUlItJCL&L. and loved ones away from home- There is no better way of keeping them close to home and church ties.
Send the ERA
Built to Last!
All Hardwood Durable Brown Walnut Finish
10-Inch 12-Inch and 14-Inch Heights
Utah-Idaho School Supply Co.
155 So. State St.
Salt Lake City, Utah
/MmprooementEra
"The Glory of God is Intelligence'
JANUARY, 1941
VOLUME 44
NUMBE R 1
UTHE VOICE OF THE CHURCH"
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE PRIESTHOOD QUORUMS, MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS, DEPART- MENT OF EDUCATION, MUSIC COMMITTEE, WARD TEACHERS, AND OTHER AGENCIES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
Heber J. Grant, John A. Widtsoe,
Editors Richard L. Evans,
Managing Editor Marba C. Josephson,
Associate Editor
George Q. Morris, General Mgr. Lucy G. Cannon, Associate Mgr, J. K. Orton, Business Mgr.
JobliL #(L ConhwiA.
JhsL £diitfbL (poqsL
Settlement
Heber J. Grant 9
Greetings of the First Presidency...-- 8
Wellsprings of Life Melvin J. Ballard 10
Andrew Jenson - Albert L. Zobell, Jr* 12
Concerning Marriage.- J. Reuben Clark, Jr. 19
Chemical Aspects of the Word of Wisdom M. J. Miles 26
The "Before and After" of Church Beautification 28
Evidences and Reconciliations — XXXIIL What is the Mean- ing of the Title, "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator"?
John A. Widtsoe 33
Why I Go to Church, Joseph J. Genealogy 44
Anderson 18 Tolerance, George A. Baker 44
Whole-hearted Leadership, Fred Music 45
Oliver 18
Line Upon Line, Earl Lyman Col- lins 22
Ledgers, James P. Sharp 23
Word of Wisdom Review
26, 38, 42
Church Moves On 30
Priesthood: Melchizedek 38
Aaronic 42
Ward Teaching 43
SfixiciaL ^suduMA,
Mutual Messages: Executives,
New Year's Greeting, 46
Special Interest 47
M Men-Gleaners 47
Explorers 48
Juniors 48
Scouts 48
Bee-Hive Girls 50
Field Photos 46, 47, 49, 50
Heeding the Warning, Weston N. Nordgren 51
Easy Terms Ira J. Markham 13
Orrin Porter Rockwell — Chapters III, IV -Nicholas Van Alfen 14
Hobbies E. J. Sorensen 16
Five Years on the San Juan William Mulder 20
Ancient America, Charles E. Dibble - 1
Exploring the Universe, Franklin S. Harris, Jr 4
Telefacts 4, 5
Inventory, Grace Yoneko Oki- moto — 1 9
Looking Back at Ancient Amer- ica, William and Dewey Farnsworth 22
If, Jack Sears 23
On the Book Rack 35
Homing: What Are Your
Words Worth? M. G Addi- son - 36
Handy Hints 36
Cooks' Corner, Barbara Badger
Burnett 36
Index to Advertisers - 37
William C. Clive, Harold H.
Jenson 5 1
Your Page and Ours 64
£dijt&ucd&.
Escape Richard L. Evans 32
This Day Marba C. Josephson 32
SioiieA., (paribus, Qjwmw&uL (Pu%$Isl
Orrin Porter Rockwell— Chapters III, IV. The True Story of
a Man Nicholas Van Alfen
Sweet and Sophisticated John Sherman Walker
Frontispiece: The Designer, Ed- na S. Dustin 7
Poetry Page 29
14
24
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The Gleaner's New Year, Linnie
F. Robinson 50
Scriptural Crossword Puzzle 62
Metamorphosis, Hugh B. Brown..63
* I 'his is offered as a symbol of the New Year, with old trails left behind, and new trails, * yet to be made into places not yet traversed. The photograph is by Ray Atkeson. 2
(Do QJdjjl JOwjv-
With what subjects the deciphered Mayan glyphs chiefly deal? 1
How far New York City's Empire State Building sways in a wind?— 4
How much a tenth is when that tenth is owed you — and how much when you owe it? 9
Three basic laws which constitute the wellsprings of life? 10
How a boy and a girl, strangers to each other, found romance at the crossroads of a remote western valley? 10
For how many years Andrew Jenson has faithfully kept a diary? 12
What "easy terms" led one young man to discover — sooner than he expected? 13
Why Porter Rockwell wore his hair long? 14
Whether "collectomania" is a disease or a tonic? 16
How to defend the habit of going to church? 18
What a character inventory might prompt you to put up for "sale"? 19
Where Mormon colonists were re- peatedly flooded out in their effort to found a settlement? ,__ 20
Where further evidences of the grandeur of ancient America are being uncovered? 22
The story of the woman who always had her tithing crop stolen? 23
How, chemically speaking, alcohol scars the nervous system? 26
What Cache Stake has done in the Church beautification program? 28
Who has been appointed Church secretary for finance? 30
The particular significance of the title "Prophet, Seer, and Reve- lator"? 33
How to remove ink from cloth with- out leaving a stain? 36
What the Panguitch Stake Third Quorum of Elders has accom- plished recently? 39
How a woman's forgetfulness led to a rich genealogical treasure? 44
What pioneer musician, still living,
has been home"? ...
content to serve at
51
EXECUTIVE AND EDITORIAL OFFICES:
50 North Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. Copyright 1941. by Mutual Funds, Inc., a Cor- poration of the Young Men's Mutual Improve- ment Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All rights reserved. Sub- scription price, $2.00 a year, in advance; 20c 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 con- tributions. All manuscripts must be accompanied by sufficient postage for delivery and return.
NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
Francis M. Mayo, Salt Lake City Edward S. Townsend, San Francisco
MEMBER OF THE AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS
A MAGAZINE FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY
, m Reporter *«•" .< M— * A Safeway *«•£* Farmers
„ . , s,ood, on Clarence f^g^vSW,
could see uic SOuth. Rimmea "' . r tue Great
Celery looks like a good cash crop
says Clarence Durrant of Utah
ail
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can irrigate often. ?w | asked
^TlL market for V" <^'big cel=,v .-Got a g»»° m . k Aete, to^^e seldom
"*"' "Mrt'ta JSSn. «heBSowA^eryBto shipments s«" ("m other areas. So utan taeS,
olained. "Planting fof- « „, acre. But it »
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Several artesian wells make irrigation water plentiful on the Durrant place. 40 acres are in grain, 50 acres in alfalfa seed and hay, 25 acres in alfalfa for hay only, and some fallow. The family keeps about 25 milking cows. "The milk check gives us our living expenses," said Mr. Dur- rant. "The alfalfa seed pays running costs on the farm — and with any left over we buy a new piece of equipment. Once we really get our celery underway it should give us a little for the proverbial rainy day. I've got to do well with celery — just recently they made me president of the Utah Celery Cooperative Association"
D. O. Dastrup is manager of
the Safeway store in Provo
where the Durrants trade.
"With seven young children
we naturally have to get the
most for our money — you
bet we trade at Safeway,"
Mr. Durrant told me
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
PAR SOAP
Contains "Pyro"
It's hard to believe, perhaps, that a soap that's so rough on dirt could be so gentle with clothes . . . even the most delicate of fabrics. But it's true of PAR! Par also contains "Pyro" to insure free rinsing and prevent scum and wash-tub ring.
PAR SOAP
Contains Glycerine
PAR would be easy on your hands, even without glycerine. But this "hand-lotion ingredient" makes it even kinder to smooth, tender skin. So get PAR at your grocer's.
IN
2
SIZES
Regular" and "Giant"
IN LOS ANGELES
1IXANDWA Hotel
5th at Spring Tariff from S2. 50
Recognized Utah Headquarters in Los Angeles
CLAYTON V. SMITH, Managing Director Formerly of Salt Lake City
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and loved ones away from home —
Send the ERA
There is no better way of keeping them close to home and church ties.
z=r>o<rz3o< >o^=>o<:^^o<
fcxpdouru^ thsL IAjuvsmsl
By Franklin S. Hards, Jr.
A football helmet with a molded plastic shell and lined with padding is a new application of plastics.
4
P)ew, rather than the ultra-violet rays *"^ in sunshine, seems to be the most important factor in the failure and de- terioration of automobile paint. By put- ting their cars in garages at night auto- mobile owners can prevent dew from falling on the body. Tests in Florida found the exposure from midnight until noon was harder on the finish than from noon to midnight, suggesting that dew followed by sunshine was the cause. Rain did not have the same effect as dew.
tacked, the crab wards off its enemy with the stinging tentacles of the ane- mones, and when the polyps of the anemones capture food, the crab takes the morsel from their grasp and trans- fers it to its own mouth.
As many as a hundred million dirt "^ particles have been found in a single cubic foot of air in a particularly dirty city.
>
T-Jow much does New York City's A Empire State Building move in a wind? F. H. Frankland, during a five- year test, found that in a wind of eighty miles an hour the building took a tem- porary lean of about two and three- quarters inches, and then swayed, at the rate of almost eight times a minute, through an eight-inch arc. On one side the building swayed to one and three- quarters inches, up-wind, and on the other side six and three-quarters inches from vertical, down-wind. 4
C eals can stay under water for twelve V to fifteen minutes.
7V coral-haunting crab from Mauri- ** tius Island in the Indian Ocean invariably grasps two anemones, one in each claw, and uses them both for defense and for feeding. When at-
rTfHE headache which coffee-drinkers develop when deprived of their morning cup of coffee is apparently caused by the sudden stoppage of the regular supply of caffeine, scientists at the University of Chicago school of medicine have found. If a daily dose of caffeine equivalent to from five to ten cups of coffee was given instead of caffeine-containing beverages there were no headaches until the dose was stopped. The resulting headache was accompanied by "mental depression, drowsiness, and yawning, with the sub- ject complaining of a disinclination to work."
■♦
f-fuMMiNGBiRDS have a big appetite x x for sweets. They have been known to eat two teaspoonfuls of sugar daily, about a third of their own weight in sugar. On long migration flights these birds time their travel to make use of the blossoming of the flowers that supply their food. They not only sip nectar but eat large quan- tities of insects.
-♦
HThe combined capacity of brakes on
•*■ a railroad train is often fifteen to
twenty times the tractive power of the
locomotive.
^
HPo aid in the quality production in a ■*• steel mill, a photoelectric hole-de- tector spots holes as small as one- hundredth of an inch in a steel sheet moving as fast as one thousand feet per minute. If the detector finds a hole, the sheet is automatically marked alongside the hole.
TELEFACT
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND ACCIDENTS,
1939(U. S. A.)
CLEAR
SNOW RAIN & FOG
25,180 ACCIDENTS
2,850
1,020
Science Service-Pictorial Statistics, Inc. 8-28]
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
Exploring the Universe
T_Tow effective is ceiling insulation in ■*• A keeping out summer heat through a flat roof? The Bureau of Standards found that ceiling temperatures with in- sulation above the ceiling were as much as sixteen degrees Fahrenheit lower than that of uninsulated ceilings. With only an attic floor for insulation, ceil- ing temperatures were about ten de- grees lower than on the wholly unin- sulated ceiling.
>
HpHERE are over a thousand wells A drilled each month in the United States in seeking oil. The depth runs from a few hundred feet to over two miles. The cost may be as much as a quarter of a million dollars for one well.
About one third the men examined ^* for service in the first World War were physically unfit for military duty.
4
HPhe U. S. Department of Agriculture reports that both the Egyptians and the Chinese knew how to hatch chicks artificially over two thousand years ago by using crude equipment and laborious methods.
4
"Drown sugar has been found to be rich in the growth vitamins B-6
TELEFACT
AVERAGE COST OF HEALTH CARE
AVERAGE WAGE EARNER SPENDS $59 PER YEAR
###*##««$###
FAMILY DOCTOR $13
DENTAL SERVICE $11
MEDICINE & DRUGS $10
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HOSPITAL EYE GLASSES EXPENSES ACCIDENT & HEALTH $6 INSURANCE, ETC. $19
Science Service- hctog*aph corporation 11-9
and H. Dr. W. J. Robbins found that tomato roots placed in water contain- ing pure white sugar and some salts grew, but not very well. With brown instead of white sugar, the roots grew rapidly, sometimes at the rate of al- most an inch in a day, reaching in time total lengths of several feet.
H
eart disease has been found to oc- cur more frequently among tobac-
co smokers than non-smokers under fifty years old, a group of Mayo Clinic doctors have discovered. The study was made of several thousand smokers, non-smokers, and patients with and without heart disease. It was found, for example, that among the heart dis- ease patients between the ages of forty and forty-nine, eighty per cent were smokers contrasted with sixty per cent smokers of the group who had no heart disease.
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SPRING work seems a long way off right now. But we must remember that much of next year's success will be assured by wise decisions made in the very near future!
Take your own case, for example. Are you equipped to get the most out of your acres, for your own benefit and for the good of your family? Or do you need a new all-purpose tractor, a new farm machine or two?
For more than 1 7 years, farming suc- cess has been closely linked to the Farmall System of Farming. Today, four
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Photograph by Gerald Barton, Ptovo, Utah.
'J'he Wind's crystal needles are rhythmically knitting,
Knitting and purling angora snow Into lacy medallion snowflakes; He's chaining together row after row.
'J'HE Wind's crystal needles are rhythmically knitting,
Knitted and purled with white snow thread A circular skirt and a hug-me-tight sweater, And slipped them over earth's brown tousled head.
By EDNA S. DUSTIN
GREETINGS
OF THE
FIRST PRESIDENCY
OF THE
The message of Peace and Brotherly Kindness is proclaimed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught it in person to His disciples of old, and repeats it today in the Gospel Restored.
Yet this Christmas-tide, in which Christian peo- ples celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, finds bitterness and strife rampant in many parts of the world. All Europe is being strangled by war, and armies are now moving eastward presaging blood- shed again in the Holy Land, where the Arma- geddon of prophecy is to be fought.
How glorious it would be if in men's lives there might exist conditions of contentment and peace — if there were an eradication from men's hearts of enmity and jealousy, avarice and greed, strife and contention. But such is not the case. The daily press and radio bring news of war and its horrors, of strikes, of thefts, of political corruption, of family strifes, of murders. At a time when Na- ture would proclaim the existence, handiwork, and glory of God, men in their blindness and selfish- ness choose to grovel in sin and misery of their own making.
When Jesus was born, His coming was heralded by heavenly voices singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
But man was stiff-necked and sinful then as now; consequently, about thirty-three years after His coming, and after a relatively short, intensive plead- ing for those among whom He labored to turn from the broad way of Error into the pathway of Light, Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives, and looking over the city He loved, cried:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gath- ereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."
Today, nineteen hundred years later, as Christ's professed followers celebrate the anniversary of His .birth, what sorrowful sights His eyes behold! The bounties of a productive earth He sees wan- tonly wasted while millions of His children starve. Surely, in the midst of such world confusion, human suffering, carnage, and death, we can hear Him cry once again:
O Nations, Nations, thou that killest one another and rejecteth the Words of Peace, behold your house is left unto you desolate, for, "I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;
"Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven;
"And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the
light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts. . . .
"For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometb . . . when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion."
The deplorable conditions in the world today are the direct result of failure of the children of men to keep the commandments of the Lord. As long as the world continues to ignore these commandments, so long will turmoil, strife, and misery prevail.
Men and women in a war-stricken world are cry- ing for the cessation of destruction and bloodshed, and for the establishment of peace. In the natural course of events some day the present war will end, as did the first World War, but there will be no lasting peace until it is built upon the foundation of Faith in God, and upon adherence to the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter proclaimed not an idle statement, but a glorious truth, when he said with reference to his Master: "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
No person, no nation, can enjoy perfect content- ment and peace without following the footsteps of Him who said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
As of old, so today, the Lord offers to mankind the Way to Peace in simple language as follows:
"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. . . . Because I live, ye shall live also. . . . He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
"Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me."
To members of the Church in America, and in all other countries of the world, we send greetings and prayerful wishes that faith, kindness, and charity toward all men may ever abide in your hearts, and that people everywhere will have a desire to turn from Error to Truth, thereby hastening the day when the Christ's message, "Peace on earth, and good will toward men," will become a reality.
The First Presidency.
7h Ed ilo rsTaqe
By PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT
I" HAVE FOUND A GREAT MANY PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT
THEIR TITHING IS. I BELIEVE IF I WERE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
THEM AND THEY HAD A TENTH INTEREST IN THAT PARTNERSHIP,
THEY WOULD KNOW PRETTY WELL WHAT PART THEIR TENTH WAS.
I heard a very splendid illustration given by a Sunday School teacher of the Primary class. She brought to her school ten beautiful red apples. She explained that everything we have in the world came to us from the Lord, and she said, "Now, children, if I give one of you these ten apples, will you give me one back again? Now, any one of you children that will do that, hold up your hand." And of course they all held up their hands. Then she said, "That is what the Lord does for us. He gives us the ten apples, but He requests that we return one to Him to show our appreciation of that gift."
The great trouble with the majority of people is that when they get the ten apples, they eat up nine of them and then they cut the other in two and give the Lord half of what is left. Some of them cut the apple in two and eat up one-half of it and then hold up the other half and ask the Lord to take a bite. That is about as near as they see fit to share properly and show their gratitude to the Lord.
The payment of our tithing in the season thereof — when we get our income — makes it come easy. I find that those who pay tithing every month have very much less difficulty in paying it than those who postpone payment to the end of the year, when they have eaten the nine apples, so to speak; but if they pay the minute they get the apples in their possession, there is no hardship; their hearts are full of gratitude, and they are willing to express their gratitude; but after the nine apples are eaten, they think the Lord is very hard to want all they have left.
One great trouble with tithing is that men, be- cause of their natural selfishness, become blinded and they cannot see straight; they cannot calculate properly. If we can only have the proper vision, the more we make, the easier it is to pay our tithing because of the greater amount that is left.
Now, I can talk tithing, because from the time I was a little boy earning money, I have paid my tithing. I have been honest with the Lord and I am not asking other people to do what I am not willing to do and have done all the days of my life — that is, to be honest with the Lord first. The Lord, you know, does not send collectors around once a month to collect bills; He does not send us
our account once a month; we are trusted by the Lord; we are agents; we have our free will; and when the battle of life is over, we have had the ability and the power and the capacity to have done those things which the Lord required us to do and we cannot blame anybody else.
There are a great many people who say, "I do not pay my tithing because I do not think it is expended right; I do not like the way the Church handles the tithing; I do not think they use the proper wisdom in the expenditure of the tithing."
Well, you know that if someone steals a calf, the Lord will never charge it up to my account, and He will never charge it up to yours. If the Author- ities of the Church and the wards and stakes do not make a proper use of the tithing, you will never have to account for it, but if you keep that which belongs to the Lord, you may read from one of the ancient prophets and find that the Lord says, "You have robbed me," in plain English. "Wherein have we robbed you?" "In your tithes and your offer- ings." That is the way it was laid down. The Lord, as a rule, in nearly everything He says, says it plain enough that a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein.
I have found a great many people who do not know what their tithing is. I have never met people of that kind but what I believe if I were in part- nership with them and they had a tenth interest in that partnership, they would know pretty well what part their tenth was. I do not think they would have any difficulty whatever in finding how much I owed them. So, I am inclined to think that if we wanted to, we would have no difficulty in finding out what is one-tenth of our income, and that is what we owe to the Lord — no difficulty whatever.
Now, I believe that people are blessed in pro- portion to their liberality. I am not saying that they always make more dollars, perhaps, than the other man, but so far as an increase in the faith and in the testimony and the knowledge of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged, men that are honest with the Lord in the payment of their tithing grow as men never grow that are not honest; there is no question in my mind. Moreover, I am just foolish enough to believe that the Lord magnifies those who do pay their tithing and that they are more prosperous, on the (Concluded on page 56)
WELLSPRINGS LIFE
Chi. Gpp&aL IoJ/wajl StfklL $>ah. muL Opart*
By the late
ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD
Of the Council of the Twelve
IT is well that we pause to ask: Why? Why am I here? What was the purpose of life in sending me into this world, with all of its problems and difficulties, with its mortality, with its death and suffer- ing? Why all of these?
I am going to read from the Book of Abraham, what the Lord Himself said to our ancient patri- arch and forefather:
We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them here- with, to see if they will do all things what- soever the Lord their God shall command them; . . . And they who keep their sec- ond [or their earth] estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever. (Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:24-26.)
I am sure that it was not the thought of our Heavenly Father that He would issue certain man- dates to us just to see us in action, to discover whether or not we should be competent. I am sure that every requirement that He has made was essential to prepare us to come into His presence; that the rules that have existed from eter- nity shall also be the same rules that shall govern men to the ends of time, who aspire to come into the presence of God.
The first great purpose the Lord had in giving us earth life was to effect a union of the spirit, the im- mortal spirit of man, that had lived with God in the eternal world for 10
ages — to give that glorious spirit its opportunity to be united with the flesh, with mortality, to constitute a complete soul, to qualify that soul ultimately, in the resurrection from the dead.
Without earth life there would be no immortal body for any of us. But the union of the spirit and mat- ter qualifies us to reach all heights that are spiritual, all things that are material, the fulness of the kingdom of the Father.
The second great purpose of life was to give us a chance to learn how to live in the presence of God, to train us in a course of human conduct that would qualify us to enter His holy presence. It was pleasing in the sight of our Father that we should live and cling to life. There is in operation a law ac- countable for more, perhaps, of hu- man action than any other law, the law of self-preservation, by which we love life; we cling to it, even when old age and decrepitude are upon us. There are some who de- stroy their lives, but that is not the normal action or result of human thought and conduct. We love life. It was the Lord's design, therefore, that we should cling to life and pre- serve ourselves against accident, against harm and loss of life, for life is precious. It gives us oppor- tunity to gain experience and learn how to live.
Standing next to the law of self- preservation is what we call the op-
eration of the law of appetite, a craving for the things that satisfy the physical body. But we must guard that appetite, to see that it does not run rampant and indulge itself in the things that would destroy the body, because the Almighty placed appetite for things to eat and to drink that we might build up a strong, vigorous, healthy body. To argue that the proper thing is to satisfy appetite, and to eat and drink the things that poison and de- stroy the body, is all wrong, and will bring death and destruction.
T am sure that the Word of Wis- dom that the Lord has revealed in our age is as old as the Gospel itself. It was given to Adam in the beginning. We have bits of it that still survive in the scripture, where the Lord pointed out that while He had given man strong appetite, He desired that man should master his appetite and control it, for the pur- pose of building a strong, healthy, vigorous physical body.
Third: In the operation of laws that account for human action is that tremendous power and force called sex desire; but, like the ap- petite, sex desire was not planted in men and in women that it might run rampant and gratify itself wherever and whensoever desire prompted, but that, like appetite, it too must be controlled.
If God had not placed this strong desire for food in each of us we
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
would perish for lack of sustenance. If God had not placed in the human nature that strong sex desire, the great purpose of life would fail, for it was His design and purpose that we should reproduce ourselves, for the first great command God gave to man was to multiply and replen- ish the earth. He therefore gave the man to the woman, made them one in a bond that knew no death, and advised them to cleave unto each other and keep themselves from all others. That was the con- trol of this highest power with which God has endowed the human body, the power to reproduce our- selves.
I should like my dear young brethren to have the vision of our future, with its opportunities and possibilities that the Lord has given us, and that your brethren who love you have taught, in a world that is questioning these sacred standards established by the Almighty in the very beginning of the race. We challenge you to adhere to these sacred, holy principles, if you would come unto the presence of your Father, for only the pure in heart shall see God.
In an age, I say, that looks with complacency upon the violation of this great commandment of the Al- mighty, having endowed man with these powers, He charged him, nevertheless, not to commit adul- tery, and Jesus said to those of His own time: "He that looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath al- ready committed adultery in his heart." The heart must be pure if the action would also be pure.
I want young men, whatever the temptation may be, to remember who they are. Sons of Joseph, read his story again, the story of the boy sold into Egypt and ordered away from his family and friends. There is a temptation. Nobody to watch him now; may he not yield to his natural inclination? No. He has received a training he must not ig- nore though it cost him the favor
Here is one of the messages the late Elder Melvin J. Ballard gave to the young people of the Church some months before his pass- ing. Because he loved them, and was loved of them, we give it here the voice of print, that it may call Zion's youth to walk in those ways which lead upward and onward.
of the wife of one mighty in the government, who offers him high place and her favor, if he would sin with her. Day after day he re- sists her, and then in her mad pas- sion, one day she seizes him to drag him to his ruin, when he tears away from her, leaving his cloak in her possession. Rejected and despised, she now turns against him and ac- cuses him of having assaulted her, and the evidence of defending her- self is that she had torn the cloak from him.
But there is something in virtue and in purity, that it is not only its own reward, but its own defense. While it is true that under the false accusation the boy went to prison, he nevertheless was brought out in honor and glory, to a place high in the kingdom, because he was pure.
All the world may condemn you and lie about you, but they cannot defeat you if you know in your own heart you are clean and you are pure. You can look even God in the face. I ask you to remember that, for whatever the temptation may be, you are a son of that Jos- eph, and if you expect or hope to be an inheritor of his blessings, such superior blessings that brought upon him the envy and the jealousy of his brethren, you must be like him, strong men, clean men, and pure men, that would rather die than to be defiled.
You women, you girls, I appeal to you that you shall adhere to the high teachings and moral practices and principles of your mothers, who regarded virtue as more precious than life itself. I promise you that
the girl that is modest in speech, is modest in dress, and modest in ac- tion, shall be protected against in- sult, save it be she fall a victim of some mad-man. But let her either be immodest in dress or in action, she shall invite pursuit, and be ex- ceedingly fortunate if she shall es- cape.
We appeal to you, therefore, young men and young women, with these mighty powers in your hands, to preserve them, clean and unsul- lied and uncontaminated, for the holy purpose for which the Al- mighty endowed you. And what is that? To produce here a genera- tion of men and women, the like of which the world has never seen! That is why you have been brought from the ends of the earth.
You remember the story of Abraham having a son, Isaac, and when he came to the age that he de- sired a wife, it was no matter of going out and haphazardly choos- ing, but Abraham sent a very wise man to a distant country, among his own people, to seek out and find a suitable companion. I have sometimes wished young folk would allow it today. I am sure your fathers and mothers would be better pickers than some of you are. But you won't stand for it, and so we shall have to do the next best. We cannot pick the individual for you, but we will try to select the group, and keep the wolves out and introduce you to the flock, with the hope that you will find the right one.
I" am going to tell you a true story, because it is the story of your fathers and mothers, just a little different.
There came to Utah in the fall of 1859, a Scotch family with father and mother and several children, the eldest a girl thirteen and a half years of age. She had walked across the plains. They came down Weber Canyon and were directed (Continued on page 60)
Photo by Paul S. Bieler.
ANDREW JENSON
By ALBERT L ZOBELL, JR.
ANDREW JENSON AT THE AGE OF NINETY.
HERE is the story of an immi- grant youth who came west by ox team, worked as a farm hand and fisherman, used a shovel to bring the railroads west, labored in the early copper mines at Bing- ham, has lived to retrace his original ox train route by airplane, and who now, past his ninetieth year, works daily at his desk in the Church His- torian's Office.
Andrew Jenson was born at Torslev, Hjorring Amt (County), Denmark, December 11, 1850. His parents, Christian and Kiersten An- dersen Jenson, who joined the Church when he was four years old, were among the first Mormon con- verts in Denmark. By the time he came to Utah in 1866, the natural historian in him was beginning to make itself known. He started his daily diary when he was thirteen years old and is still faithful to it. His first literary endeavor was the translating of the "Life of Joseph Smith" into the Danish-Norwegian tongue. This he published and sold as the work of translation pro- gressed, in tracts of sixteen pages each. When the work was com- pleted these pamphlets had a trade- in value in exchange for a bound copy of the book.
To Andrew Jenson has come the honor of serving ten missions for his Church, including the taking of a covered wagon from Utah, in 1935, to Rebild Park, Aalborg, Denmark, commemorating the first organized group of Danish immigrants to come to America. They were converts of the Church, leaving their native land in 1853. On this trip he re- ceived an audience with King Chris- tian X. He has traveled nearly a million miles on Church business, encircling the globe twice.
For ten years he edited the Biku~ ben (Beehive), the newspaper in the Danish-Norwegian language which the Church once published. 12
A TRIBUTE TO AN IMMIGRANT BOY WHO BECAME AN AMBASSADOR OF TRUTH, AND HAS LIVED TO ENJOY THE BLESSINGS OF NINETY YEARS' SERVICE.
ANDREW JENSON AT AGE TWENTY-NINE, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, 1879.
Andrew Jenson was sustained as Assistant Church Historian in April, 1898, and here his "photographic mind" found its rightful place. His memory is remarkable — there
are
few events in Church history that he cannot cite from memory.
Records show that The Improve- ment Era has published twenty-two articles by Andrew Jenson during its forty-three years of publication. He has done much to make the Church Historian's Office, with its library, the serviceable instrument it is today. He has compiled and edited about eight hundred and fifty manuscript volumes of Church his- tory, covering the years 1830 to 1900, and histories of stakes, wards, and conferences from the beginning down to 1930. A further monument to his researches took form a few years ago with the erection of a private museum at the rear of his Salt Lake home to house rare volumes and pioneer relics collected by him.
Today, Andrew Jenson, who has
known every President of the Church
except Joseph Smith, who has
preached the Gospel to commoners
(Concluded on page 52)
ANDREW JENSON DELIVERING UTAH'S COVERED WAGON TO REBILD PARK, DENMARK, IN 1935.
■
Easy
x
,he following excerpts are from the diary of a young man who believed all he heard over the radio and read in the newspaper and magazine advertisements about buying things on "the easy payment plan."
January 1.
Began work at my new job today. Can hardly wait until pay day. Just think what I can do with $30 per week.
January 15.
Bought a car. Very easy terms. Sure has power. Has two wind- shield wipers and a heater. Not many young men in town have a car like mine. Should finish payments in 18 months.
February 2.
Became engaged last night. Think it was the new car that did the trick. Lucy said she was proud of me. It was a beautiful ring, and she liked it. Payments will be small and weekly.
TERMS
By IRA J. MARKHAM
Weber College
A SHORT SHORT STORY
SHORTER THAN THE PRINCIPAL
CHARACTER EXPECTED IT TO BE.
February 10.
The new radio set for the car works like a top. Can get stations as far away as Chicago. The first payment was hardly anything. They gave me six full months to pay.
February 18.
A little late with car payments this month. Will have to let the radio payment go over until next week as I bought a set of books and paid $10 down. Very fine books. Everyone should have this set.
March 1.
Am to be married today. Lucky fellow. Everybody envies me. A fine job with prospects for the fu- ture, a new car, and the best-looking girl in town for a wife. From a good family, too. Well-respected. The boss gave me a week off for a honey- moon trip.
March 16.
Thank goodness all our furniture is bought. Was surprised to learn how much you can get for a little. They said my father has a very good credit standing in the community. The salesman was so nice. Bor- rowed $50 from the boss to meet the car payment and the weekly payment on the ring.
April 17.
Borrowed $100 from my insurance policy to pay the $50 I borrowed from the boss and make the payment on the furniture. The radio man came to take the radio, but we put out the lights and weren't home. The chump hung around all eve- ning and we couldn't listen to the radio or read the books.
May 21.
Borrowed $250 from the finance company to meet the payments on the ring and car and a little on the furniture. Couldn't pay all the furniture bill as I had to make a $50 down payment on a real estate de- velopment. This land ought to jump in value; then I can sell and pay off
everything. The loan is only 3% per month interest and the principal payments are monthly. Had to get Uncle Tom to sign with me to get the loan.
July 18.
Somehow I don't miss the radio much. And you can get plenty of books from the library. Am trying to arrange a character loan at the bank for $350. If I could only bor- row that much I would be in fine shape.
July 25.
Bank says they investigated and found I have no character. What a bunch of crooks. Am trying to sell the land.
September 30.
The garage man is holding the car for a labor and repair bill. What right has he to hold the car — it doesn't belong to me.
October 18.
It isn't any use. I had to let the car go. Anyway I would rather have the piece of land. If I could only raise $30 to meet the payment on the piano! Bought a second- hand automobile today on the "pay- out-of-income" basis.
November 21.
Income stopped. The creditors just wouldn't wait any longer so they garnisheed my wages. Our company doesn't like an employee whose income is garnisheed. Uncle Tom certainly raved when he had to pay my loan of $250 at the finance company. Whoever thought he would be like that? I used to be his favorite nephew.
December 15.
Lucy to have a new baby soon. Am I proud. The doctor said he would wait for his bill but I must raise cash somewhere for the hos- pital.
January 15.
Lost everything but wife and baby. Glad the baby didn't come on the installment plan.
13
Ohhm, (pjotfeA. fljoduvelL
Chapter III.
ON May 6, 1842, ex-Governor Lilburn W. Boggs was shot while sitting alone in his room in Independence, Missouri. His life hung in the balance for days, but he finally recovered. The following July, Boggs made an affidavit ac- cusing Porter Rockwell of Illinois of the crime.
Governor Boggs had many polit- ical enemies. At the time of the at- tempted assassination he was a can- didate for senator, and politics were agitated during the campaign in a very vindictive spirit.
That the Missourians should sus- pect the Mormons of this crime was inevitable: first, because Governor Boggs had proved himself to be one of the greatest enemies of the Church and had been responsible for much of their suffering, financial loss, and complete expulsion from the state of Missouri; second, because of the existing prejudice, everyone was willing to believe almost any- thing about the Mormons and par- ticularly when it looked suspicious, as in this case.
However, the facts in the case are that there were absolutely no clues strong enough to convict anyone, not even a hated Mormon. Yet Porter was finally taken prisoner on the charge, and through demagoguery and political corruption he lay in a Missouri dungeon for over nine 14
THE MANSION HOUSE, NAUVOO
months without the slightest evi- dence of his guilt. He was fed on refuse that dogs would not eat. In a dungeon without fire or bedding, Porter became so emaciated that if it had not been for his innate good health and physical stamina he would have died.
In time it became obvious that Rockwell was being held for other reasons. There was an attempt to use him as decoy for the capture of the Prophet Joseph. One day Sheriff Reynolds approached Porter with the plan. Reynolds stated that he had received letters from Nauvoo which satisfied them that Joseph had unlimited confidence in Rock- well. If Porter would take the sheriff in a carriage or on horseback where the officers could apprehend Joseph Smith, Porter could "name his pile." He could also have his choice of re- turning to Illinois or living in Mis- souri. If Sheriff Reynolds expected results, he was certainly disappoint- ed. Instead of answering with the "kiss of a Judas" Porter said, "I will see you damned first, and then I won't."
After nine months the prison doors were opened to Porter Rockwell and he was told to sneak home by night or be mobbed. He walked nearly all the way from Independence, Mis- souri, to Nauvoo, Illinois. Once he narrowly escaped being taken by a mob.
By NICHOLAS VAN ALFEN
Ogden Seminary
Tt WAS on Christmas Day in the year 1843 that Porter wearily made his way to the home of his dear friend, the Prophet Joseph. There were about fifty couples din- ing at the table of the Prophet that day. After dinner there were music and dancing. During the evening a man with long hair hanging over his shoulders and a beard hanging to his waistline came in and acted like a drunken Missourian. Joseph asked the captain of the police to put the man out. A scuffle ensued during which Joseph had an oppor- tunity to look the man full in the face. To his surprise and joy, he discovered it to be his "warm and truly persecuted friend," Orrin Porter Rockwell.
This is the first reference that can be found to Porter's long hair. It is proverbial among the pioneers who knew him, his family, and friends, that Joseph promised Rockwell if he remained faithful to the Church and did not cut his hair he would be pro- tected from bullets. It is not at all improbable that it was upon the oc- casion of this reunion that this prom- ise was made. That the promise was actually made is very difficult to question. It is established both in Mormon lore and vividly in Porter's career as a peace officer later in Utah. There are many stories about Por- ter's experiences that I have on rec- ord. Many of these are as exciting as the most imaginative fiction.
Israel Bennion, resident of Ver- non, Utah, knew Porter Rockwell as a neighboring rancher. He makes the following comment:
There was something about Orrin Porter Rockwell that so unmanned his opponents that they would not, could not, and did not outface him, even if it were possible to escape his lightning wit, eye, and hand. Was it the word of the Prophet of the Lord that he should not be harmed?
Chapter IV. "They Have Killed the Only Friend I Ever Had."
"Dorter Rockwell possessed an undying devotion for the Prophet Joseph. The Prophet in return held Rockwell in high esteem. This friendship was solid because both
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
CARTHAGE JAIL
men knew how to be true to a friend even in the face of death. The sug- gestion to betray a friend was met by Porter with:
"I will see you damned first, and then I won't."
And Joseph said:
"If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself."
We find these men more in com- pany with each other as time passed. To see the two ride out together was a common occurrence.1 Al- though there is no direct evidence of it, the common belief is that Porter was Joseph's bodyguard.
Across the street from the Man- sion House, Joseph's home, there stood for a long time an unfinished building which was to have been Porter's home. It was upon its foun- dation that a platform was laid and from it Willard Richards, the only one to escape being wounded at Carthage that fatal day of June 27, 1844, addressed the mourning peo- ple.
It was probably due to the death of the Prophet that this home re- mained uncompleted. This house seems strangely comparable to Rock- well himself. They both remained in their foundation stage, unfinished. The death of Joseph undoubtedly had a profound effect on Rockwell's later life, not only the death itself, but the manner of it. One is almost forced to believe that he nourished a growing hatred and revenge, not against society, but against the class of men that characterized outlawry. He became a peril to them. We can only imagine what might have been the future Rockwell if Joseph had been permitted to live. This grow- ing hatred by Porter was further kindled by his own treatment at the hands of mobocrats.
Porter Rockwell seems to have been more than a bodyguard. Fre- quent references are found of Rock- well's meeting in council with the
xThe Prophet had a farm out on the prairie which was the object of many of these rides.
Prophet and other Church leaders. When Joseph made a trip to Wash- ington, D. C, to lay the grievances of the Church before the national government, Porter was one of the few who accompanied him.8
On June 10, 1844, the Nauvoo Expositor, a libelous sheet published by anti- Mormons and apostates, was declared a public nuisance by the city council and destroyed. Porter took part in this destruction, and through the stormy events that fol- lowed, he supported the Prophet. The traitors, Law, Marks, and Hig- bee, found Rockwell on the alert to prevent their evil designs.
One day a posse had been sent to arrest Rockwell and some of the other brethren. Some of the posse were at the Nauvoo Mansion having their noon-day meal. Others, well armed, were outside on the street and sidewalk. It was known that they were looking for Rockwell, and a
^Millennial Star. op. cit. Vol. 17, pp. 373; 550; 585.
large crowd had gathered. Pres- ently a carriage was driven up rap- idly. The driver stepped down, opened the door, and a woman step- ped out. She was dressed in black silk, with a bonnet, and a veil cover- ing her face. She went through the crowd and up the stairway in the house. After a few minutes she re- turned and entered the carriage again, which was hurriedly driven away. It was soon circulated through the crowd that the woman was Orrin P. Rockwell in disguise. This was an easy matter for him be- cause he was small in stature, wore his hair long, and was of a rather slender build and even of feature.
In his journal, August, 1842, the Prophet Joseph recorded:
There is a numerous host of faithful
souls I could wish to record in the Book
of the Law of the Lord; but time and
(Continued on page 59)
PHOTOGRAPH OF THE FIRST PAGE OF THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE LIBELOUS NAUVOO "EXPOSITOR,"
15
Hobbies
:
No ONE seems to know when hobbies first came into vogue or which one was started first. The last few years, with extra leisure time, have made it possible for more people to follow some hobby. We have seen hobbies multiply by leaps and bounds. The definitions found in the various dictionaries differ, so let's make one of our own. Let's call a hobby doing the thing we would do if time and means and ability would permit. It is something everyone should have if for no other reason than to keep out of mischief.
With the development of hobbies have come into existence new words. The tendency to collect things is instinctive — as evidenced by the things that accumulate in the pockets of small boys and the dresser drawers of small girls. One word is "collectomania." It sounds like a loathsome disease, but it really is not so bad to be a collectomaniac. The ailment is catching, however!
If you want to see a picture of genuine contentment and complete relaxation, just happen in some time on an enthusiastic collector (not a bill collector), who has just found the object of a long search, or who has found new beauty in an old specimen. Then, if you would dis- cover the value of sentiment, ask him to put a price on some of his rarest numbers. There are things that money cannot buy.
My early life was spent on a farm along the Bear River in northern Utah. The railroad was some dis- tance from the farm but close enough so that the Cache Valley train served as the official timepiece. It aroused my desire to know what was on the other side of the moun- tain. The Butte Express — where did it come from? Where did it go? How I wanted to know! How I'd like to ride it and find out! It was too grand even to hope for. Think of what a ride would cost; think of the speed in comparison with my old plow horses. I just went up to the end of the field and back, and by night-time my flights of fancy came back to supper and to a tired bed. But I resolved to see the world, and I have seen it — and so much more than that plowboy ever dreamed of seeing. 16
By E. J. SORENSEN
Inglewood Stake
Traveling grew into a hobby. It has led me into many European countries and cities, to nearly every state in the Union, to Mexico, Can- ada, Alaska, Hawaii, and all the na- tional parks and libraries and many other interesting places in our blessed land. My hobby has made my dreams come true.
Traveling is the foundation for many other hobbies such as collect- ing things from other localities, writ- ing descriptions of the trips (per- haps in rhyme), taking pictures. Pictures make it possible for others to enjoy the trips with you over and over again. Added years make them more and more precious.
If you have a desire to see the other side of the mountain, go and see it; it will do you good. It will broaden anyone. I have failed to find a single person who is not more friendly to our people, the Lat- ter-day Saints, after traveling through our valleys and visiting Temple Square. Set out to visit all the parks in the United States, or vis- it all the historic sites of the Church. Visit famous battlegrounds, or fa- mous fruit-raising, cattle-raising, or flower seed-growing sections. It's a rare sight to see a hundred acres of sweet peas or stalks of delphiniums in full bloom. No seed catalogue has yet been able to describe their beauty.
yisiT Bunker Hill, or Georgetown, or Camden, or Trenton, or Valley Forge if you want to be impressed with the price of American freedom. Visit the tomb of Washington and Lincoln and let the examples of such men do something for you, Go to Gettysburg and try to see what price the folly of slavery and dis- union cost our country in blood and morale. You'll remove your hat when you stand where Lincoln made his famous speech.
Kneel alone in the Sacred Grove at dawn of some early spring morn- ing and see how your heart swells within you for the knowledge of what happened there in 1820. You will never regret a visit to the Hill Cu- morah if you will contemplate what
*>**'& * *"•
THE MONTANA MOSS AGATE MAKES UP INTO A VERY BEAU- TIFUL RING.
the coming forth of the Book of Mormon has done for so many peo- ple. How better could one be brought to realize what Malachi meant when he prophesied that Elijah would be sent to the earth to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children before the coming of Christ, than to stand at that same altar in the Kirtland Temple where Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery? Travel over the Mormon trail. History was made over every inch of that long, hard march. If you cannot travel, then read the descriptions given by good writers who have been there. It's the best substitute.
To collect or not to collect is not the question so much as what to col- lect. Here are a few things that sug- gest themselves, but the list is almost endless: Stamps, clocks, watches, bottles, jewelry, gems, minerals, In- dian relics, antiques, paintings, pho- tographs, first editions, signatures, guns, swords, famous letters and documents, baskets, insects, books, histories of the United States, and Latter-day Saint Church publica- tions.
Things to study: Operas, master- pieces of music and art and literature; history of the Church and the United States and one's own state; electricity, transportation, inven- tions of various kinds.
Things to make: furniture, book bindings, boats, musical instruments, carvings, paintings, poetry, air- planes, miniature implements and utensils, trains, boats, rugs, quilts, flowers, gardens, dainties for the home, baskets, dolls, marionettes, photographs, and so ad infinitum.
Had I started as a youngster to collect pioneer things, there would have been preserved to this genera- tion a rare set of tools that my grandfather used in the building of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. All I can remember now is the shavings the wooden planes made as he con- structed furniture for the neighbors in our town.
Keep a history of your family and
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
yourself. It is this that has pre- served to us some of the best knowl- edge we have of the early history of our Church. What a pleasure it is now, after all these years, to read what they went through.
Collect the old books of your fam- ily; read the book or tract that was the means of opening the eyes of your grandparents to the Gospel in some foreign land. Sing the songs from the same book they carried across the plains, songs that made it possible for them to keep up courage along the weary way.
The joy that comes in the pursuit of these many hobbies is something that simply has to be experienced.
The search for rare stones led me to the workings of the old Calico mining district on the Mojave Des- ert in California. There one of the old settlers told me a story of a dog that should make any dog-lover think more of his friend:
A mountain range divided two camps; the mail was brought from the valley below each day and then was packed over the mountain on foot because of the long distance around. This particular dog had followed his master for a year or so on his daily trips, when the master suddenly died. The dog by this time had been carrying the mail in a spe- cially arranged pack saddle. The dog finished the trip alone and brought care to his master where he lay. From that day until the dog finally died he made the route alone every day, rain or shine. He guard- ed the precious letters, and no one was able to hold him up or take the mail from him. People living in the neighborhood all have pictures of this famous dog and love to tell of his faithfulness.
This same neighborhood also has in it an interesting man worth men- tioning. He has chosen this dreary place to live because it offers him more liberties and the things he loves to do than any other section of coun- try. His love for the desert has made a rock lover of him, and he has a fine collection of semi-precious gems. Because of his intimacy with the desert he is in great demand by the movie companies as guide and by magazines for his interesting ar- ticles on desert life. He has dis- covered a very wonderful cave, soon to be opened to the public. He has developed as another of his hobbies that of archery. He can shoot birds on the wing. He has killed wild boars, sheep, deer, snakes, lizards. He calls anyone who uses a rifle for
these things a sissy. He gave me as a souvenir my card with a hole in the center made at thirty feet with an arrow. His hobbies have made him independent and famous. The world has beaten a path out to his lonely place.
T-Tere is another example of the practical side of hobbies. My boyhood friend started taking pic- tures and developing them. His hobby came in handy during the de- pression. After his business failed, he tried to find work but none was to be had. He then thought of his
THIS DOG'S PICTURE HANGS IN THE HOMES OF MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO STILL REMEM- BER THE BOOM DAYS OF THE OLD MINING TOWN OF CALICO, CALIFORNIA.
old photography hobby. He mort- gaged his furniture to buy the ma- terials with which to build himself a camera. The outcome of this was that he set himself up in business, and he prospered and now has a comfortable home in Logan, Utah, and is supporting his son in the mission field. Who knows when cir- cumstances may make a complete change in one's vocation necessary. The story is told in the Boston Transcript about old man McFadd asking young Smart, "Do you collect anything?"
"Why, yes, I sometimes collect my thoughts," said young Smart with a smile.
Old McFadd remarked with satis- faction, "Your specimens are no doubt very rare." The point I am trying to make is that anyone with- out any special interests in life is not living as abundantly as he should. Walter Russell Bowie tells of receiving a letter from one of his small nephews who was just learn- ing to write; he closed it thus, "I love
you and hope you live all your life." Most of us are not living all our lives.
My music hobby has brought to me much of the goodness of life; it cheered me up while out on the lonely dry farm as a youngster; it got me into the mandolin club at the Agricultural College in Utah; it helped me in the crowd and earned me my spending money as a lad; it put me in the band and the parades on such days as Peach Day and other celebrations; it got me my wife, for I first met her while playing in a brass quartet in her ward. Recently my hobby made it possible for me to spend the week-end at the fash- ionable Arrowhead Mountain resort in California. Learn to play some instrument even if it is just a har- monica or jew's-harp. It is not enough to be a lover of music; one should be a maker of good music.
A hobby that has just recently developed with me is that of col- lecting pretty rocks and polishing them. My collection is made up of materials from all over the world. Some of my gems are precious, at least to me. To most people a rock is just something to throw at the dog, but to a rock-hound it is in most cases a thing of beauty and a joy forever. There are over 1,500 dis- tinct minerals and each has been named. About a hundred of these are classed as gem materials. They are divided into about ten major groups. It is impossible for the average person to collect all these materials, so it is best to specialize in some field that interests one most.
It would be an oversight if I closed this article without telling you how happy I am with my book-col- lecting hobby. I have in my library nearly every book or publication the Church has ever printed. I am 'proud of my set of Eras and Con- tributors, my many Millennial Stars and Liahonas and Relief So- ciety Magazines. The lives of the leaders of the Church stand out as an inspiration to anyone who will read their histories. Bind your con- ference reports, Priesthood and Mu- tual manuals, and Sunday School leaflets. They all should be preserved and studied. Collect and save the histories of your own ancestors. This hobby is not followed as much as it should be by Latter-day Saints. Hobbies, hobbies — the word rings sweetly in my ears. May you be caused to pursue some hobby that will help you to live this life "all the way."
17
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
Why
i GO TO CHURCH
By JOSEPH J. ANDERSON
A BRIEF ANSWER TO ChANNING PoL-
• lock in "The Reader's Digest," September, 1940.
426 West 87 Place, Los Angeles, California. October 31, 1940.
Reader's Digest
New York, New York.
Attention: Church Editor:
With this letter I am forwarding, as per your invitation, a 500-word com- ment on Channing Pollock's "Why I Don't Go To Church."
Because of the conditions that exist in the world of today, doubt, distrust, departure from old, tested, established standards, I feel that the matter should have much fuller analysis. Every man has a right to decide for himself whether he will attend church or not, but it is quite another matter to use the press to fortify and exploit his fal- lacies.
Throughout an active life of 75 years I have learned that the physical body needs constant care, exercise, and change, and daily exercise has not been neglected. It is just as essential that the spiritual side of life have persistent and regular care.
Can you not see what a far-reaching effect such an article can have upon the young minds in the formative state; how it will justify remissness and short- comings along other lines as well? That is perhaps the greatest cause for the regret at the publishing of such a state- ment. Do you not think that as a rep- resentative of the press it is your obli- gation to see that the truth should be placed before your large clientele?
It would afford me great pleasure to enter into a complete analysis of the article in question. There is so much that ought to be said; so much that needs the light of correct thinking; so many fallacies that ought to be an- swered. __ , Yours sincerely,
(Signed) Joseph J. Anderson.
426 West 87 Place, Los Angeles, California. October 31, 1940. Reader's Digest,
New York, New York.
Attention: Church Editor:
IT is human nature to make alibis for any lapse of conduct or for failure to do what ought to be done. The article by Channing Pollock in your 18
September issue is illustrative of this. By his very argument against church- going and proper Sabbath observance he proves that down deep in his own heart is the consciousness that such is essential, but by specious arguments he reasons himself away from it.
Duty is a harsh word and, unless one wills to make it pleasant and profitable, it may become irksome, even repugnant and perhaps meaningless.
Upon Mt. Sinai, the Lord's finger wrote upon the stone tablets a guide to man's right action. Fourth in sequence and importance came the divine injunc- tion, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." "To keep it holy" — to refrain from the ordinary, the sensuous or sensual things, life's daily grind, and of course to concentrate upon the sub- lime, the spiritual, and the uplifting; to read and study the Divine word, learn the Divine will.
"But for me," says our writer, "go- ing to church has no more to do with religion than listening to Fourth of July orations or the singing of 'The Star Spangled Banner' has to do with pa- triotism." Thus he ignores a basic psychological law. The emotions are cultivated only as they are stirred into action. The same is true of all inherent God-given human attributes. There is no other way of growth than through self-activity. Well do I remember, as a child, how the marvelous Fourth of July oration, the expressive reading of the Declaration of Independence, the rous- ing strains of "The Star Spangled Ban- ner" caused my blood to tingle, my whole being to vibrate with intense emotions of patriotism. Just so are the religious emotions developed; they bloom into perfection by their exercise, by the study of God and His goodness, and of His will concerning man's mortal career.
"Too much," Pollock continues, "of what is said in church has been said thousands of times. Anything habitual loses its cogency." Would the author argue that because he has bathed him- self thousands of times, no further ablu- tions are necessary? or that because during a half century he has consumed a few thousand meals, no further feed- ing is essential? The spiritual part of man needs constant care and feeding just as does the physical. Millions of the human race are starving spiritually and do not know it.
Habit may become man's greatest ally. Can it be truly said that sinking essential things into habit in any sense destroys their cogency? "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." If he is looking for the truth, our friend will find it, and finding it, consistency urges following wherever it leads.
To me, church affiliation — participa- tion— seems of prime importance. Mingling with others in divine worship begets uplift, inspiration, courage re- ceived in no other way.
Joseph J. Anderson.
"WHOLEHEARTED LEADERSHIP IS THE
//
KEY TO SUCCESS
By Fred Oliver, Central Park Ward
'"Phe all-important subject of Priest- hood leadership is commanding in- creasing attention in Latter-day Saint affairs. The progress of the Church depends upon the progress of the Priesthood. That is to say, when the Priesthood is active, the Church surges forward; when it generally is inactive, through lacking in leadership, the Church suffers. The organizations of the Church are but helps to the Priesthood, which definitely places the Priesthood quorums in the position of leadership. They should be, as one of our Apostles has said, "so ably con- ducted, so faithfully attended, and so thoroughly serviceable as to set an example to all other Church organiza- tions."
That being true, the responsibilities of leadership that fall upon those en- gaged in Priesthood activity are clear. Success in quorum work being our goal, we see at once the necessity of whole- hearted leadership if we are to achieve that success.
We might logically ask ourselves: "Why do we need leadership at all? What is its purpose and why can we not get along without it?" The prophet Joseph Smith shed some light on this problem when he said: "The sociality among men is the same everywhere, here and in the life hereafter." Putting this another way, men collectively are made up of a great many followers and a very few leaders. The whole history of humanity is, in one sense, simply a study of leadership, what men have done and how they have accomplished it. All of them have been leaders, else they would not have been granted space in the pages of history. The Bible is a history of the prophets of God, leaders among men, in a very real respect.
The point we wish to draw out is that leadership is a universal and ever- lasting factor in the progress of man- kind, that it is an essential element in producing growth and achievement, which are the components out of which eternal life is fashioned. Salvation is a question of growing and achieving. It is not perfection; it is progress toward perfection. It is the increasing of in- telligence and unfolding of power. In a word, "The glory of God is intelli- gence." May we not go further and say, "The glory of man is intelligence"? Leadership is the motivating or driving force that brings about growth and achievement.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
THwudaqsL
By
PRESIDENT J. REUBEN CLARK, JR.
Of the First Presidency
There are too many marriages of our young people that are mere civil marriages — marriages for time. This is much to be regretted. It is a situation that calls for remedy from every bishop, from every aux- iliary organization, and from every parent.
After its absence from the earth for hundreds and hundreds of years, the Lord revealed in this Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, the prin- ciple of the eternity of the marriage covenant, and He restored to the earth the divine authority to con- summate it. This revelation and this restoration makes of marriage a holy relationship, out of which and out of which only, can come man's great- est glory and exaltation.
You young people are trifling with your divine destiny, you are treating lightly a great command- ment, you are casting aside as dross the greatest opportunity that comes into your life, when you fail or re- fuse to be married in our temples where husband and wife may be sealed for time and for all eternity by the men bearing the Holy Priest- hood of God. A civil marriage, and that is all any marriage is that is per- formed outside the temple, merely legalizes a marital relationship. It has none of the effects of a sealing for time and eternity.
You young people, if you think enough of one another to marry at all, you should love one another enough to wish to perpetuate your association forever; if you do not think enough of one another for that, you may well hesitate long before you decide to go forward in life otherwise. The situation is not changed by having your bishop or president of stake, or some ex-bishop friend, or like persons, perform the ceremony for time. All these are civil marriages only. — From the Oc- tober, 1940, General Conference messages.
INVENTORY
By GRACE YONEKO OKIMOTO
Of the Japanese Mission
Nathaniel Hawthorne is quoted as follows:
Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild goose chase, and is never attained. Follow some other object, and very pos- sibly we find that we have caught happi- ness without dreaming of it, but likely enough it is gone the moment we say to ourselves, "Here it is!" like the chest of gold that treasure-seekers find.
The other day as I sauntered along Fort Street, I saw a sign in a dress shop which read, "After- Inventory Sale. Big Reductions." The show window of a shoe store displayed in huge, red letters, "Clearance Sale. All goods must go to make room for new stock." The many stores lined on the street all seemed to have some kind of sale going on and the sales, though worded differ- ently, all had the same objective in view — to get rid of goods that had lain on the shelves for a long time, goods that had taken much storage space but could not be disposed of heretofore.
It occurred to me that I, too, should take an inventory of the stock I pos- sessed in my own store. I began my inventory by looking into one corner of my store, and there I found that I had accumulated yards and yards of the habit of putting things off. I had letters to answer, books to read, lessons to study, calls to make, and I had been saying all along, "I'll do it some other day," when wise men and sages of old had taught us "Never put off till to- morrow what you can do today." realized that if I kept putting things off some day it would be too late for me to make up the work which I am delaying now.
I looked into another corner of my store and discovered there a great roll of complaints that I had made, com- plaints about the material and personal things of life, about the wealth that others had and which I did not possess. Yet I had learned to recite by memory the 19th and 20th verses of the sixth chapter of Matthew, where Christ said:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in hea- ven, where neither moth nor rust doth cor- rupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
I looked into one of the shelves in my little store and saw there the hatred that I had stored toward some of my asso- ciates. I opened a box which lay there and saw there the times that I had quarreled and the consequent result of
not being on speaking terms with that person any more. TTien with a pang of regret I felt the force of Christ's glorious words in the fifth chapter of Matthew, where He had said:
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefullv use you and persecute you.
I saw that the goods under the head- ing of "laziness" were increasing. There lying before me were the times that I had fallen into the temptations laid be- fore me, when I had sat around killing time when I had much work to do. I realized that my time here is limited, that I am here to work out my own salvation, and that now is the time for me to strive to overcome all obstacles and work toward the highest degree of glory which is the ultimate reward for those who strive to come nearer unto God.
And so I continued to take an inven- tory of the stock I possessed in my little store within me. I found that I had many goods which I should dispose of and put in its place some other goods which would help to make my store one filled with unperishable assets. I found that I could increase my stock in some goods with the room I had by getting rid of the things which I did not care to have. Upon completing my in- ventory I found that I had many goods that I could list for sale under the heading of "After-Inventory Sale — Big Reductions," or "Clearance Sale — all goods must go to make room for new stock."
Though others may not care to buy these goods from me, there is one person who will take them all away for me, who will help me to keep my new goods in good order, who will com- fort me and guide me in traveling over life's solemn main, and that person is our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him and to our Father in Heaven, I can go and communicate through the means of prayer the trials and problems of my heart.
Let us remember the words of H. G. Wells: "Religion is the first thing and the last, and until a man has found God and has been found by God he begins at no beginning and works to no end." Longfellow tells us in his "Psalm of Life" that "Not enjoyment and not sor- row is our destined end or way, but to act that each tomorrow finds us farther than today." Tomorrow should find us farther on in the path of righteous- ness and glory than today, and only by making each day go farther can we expect to attain the highest degree of salvation.
19
Five years on the
SAN JUAN
ns a lad of twelve in his native London, James Davis, whose uncle David had brought the message of Mormonism to the fam- ily the year before, longed impa- tiently to "gather to Zion." Disap- pointment and heart-break were his whenever luckier companions em- barked, leaving him behind. "I think some of the zeal went from me," he wrote of one time four years later, in 1856, when his parents, who had given partial consent for his going to America, felt at the last moment that they could not part with him. But, as it turned out, 1856 was the year of the ill-fated Martin hand- cart company, and James Davis had reason to be thankful his going had been delayed.
In London, he worked as a coach- man, but it seemed he couldn't save enough money for his passage to the land of his desire. "One Sunday evening," he relates, "I went to hear Apostle Amasa M. Lyman preach, and at the close of the meeting the branch president told the people that Brother Lyman was very much in need of help. I had only the money for my living expenses for the next day, but I was prompted to give it to him, which I did. Brother Lyman blessed me and said I would soon have the greatest desire of my heart,
A COUNTRY THAT IS HARD ON MAN AND BEAST.
Photo by Sullivan C. Richardson.
Compiled by
WILLIAM MULDER
from accounts of James and Mary Elizabeth Fretwell Davis
which was to gather to Zion. I will never forget the joyous feeling I had. After, money seemed to come my way and I was blessed with the spirit of saving, so much so, that I sailed on the next ship, called the John J. Boyd."
James Davis left England without a penny but arrived in Salt Lake City with money jingling in his pocket, for while crossing the plains he had a job as teamster and cook. The least he could do, he thought, to show his gratitude was to turn what money he had left to the bishop as a "thank offering." But a friend ridi- culed the idea, and the money was not given. "But I never felt well about it, and things did not seem to go my way. I did not have any more promptings and seemed to be left to myself." In later years he was to seize an opportunity to make amends.
It came after his marriage in 1864 in the Endowment House to Mary Elizabeth Fretwell, an English con- vert three years his junior, who had
Something of what remains untold in pioneer history may be found between the lines of the simple biog- raphies of the men and women who a scant sixty years ago penetrated a remote and forbidding country at the call of their Church leaders. "Ho! for San Juan" said an early advertise- ment in the Desecet News. "There are many Saints needed with means and muscle to help settle that coun- try!" Such a call was a mission, and among the earliest colonists were James and Mary Elizabeth Fretwell Davis, who preceded the main com- pany* to the San Juan region by six months. There, in face of the multi- threat of flood, starvation, exposure, disease, and Indian attack, they suc- ceeded in making Montezuma a "com- munity" for five unbelievably difficult years.
The names of these humble people have received fleeting remembrance in published histories of the San Juan settlement and in the manuscript rec- ord of the San Juan Stake, but here appear excerpts from their own un- adorned account, singularly free from overstatement, void of a single word of complaint, and, in fact, making only passing mention of the succession of hardships that must have made up each heart-breaking day of their five- year mission to a vindictive country. They left this only witness to heroic lives as a family account to be treas- ured by their children and grand- children. It is worth a wider circle of readers. From such material is the whole cloth of pioneer history finally woven. The men and women who were so busy making history they had little time to write it, have un- wittingly borne eloquent testimony to the faith that was in them.
*For the story of this company's amazing descent through Hole-in-the-Rock and its in- credible journey over the "impassable" trail on its way to Bluff on San Juan River, read The Improvement Era for January, 1940, page 18.
crossed the Atlantic cm the ship Amazon, memorialized by Charles Dickens in The Uncommercial Trav- eler— "His eyes seemed to be on everyone, and as he walked about the ship, he was writing," was the way Mary Fretwell remembered Dickens' visit. By ox-team the young couple had journeyed to Cedar City,
20
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
MARY ELIZABETH FRETWELL DAVIS AND JAMES DAVIS.
where their first home had been a dugout, the birthplace of two of their children. About the time Dan Jones arrived in Cedar City, the Davises had been living for a number of years in a self-built log hut.
Brother Dan Jones had been called on a mission to the Navajo Indians. His stopping in Cedar City was not by choice. He could go no farther, he told the people in meeting, until he obtained a badly-needed pack animal. James Davis was there and heard the request. "The spirit told me to get the pack animal for Brother Jones. I was overcome with joy and could scarcely stay until the meeting was over. Next day I bought a young mule and gave it to Brother Jones. He turned to Bishop C. J. Arthur and said, 'That's the kind of men the Lord will not part with.' I had a feeling within me that the Lord had forgiven me for not paying due attention years before when the spirit had prompted me to pay my surplus money to the bishop as a thank offering. From this time we were blessed financially. We built a very fine brick house for those days. I was very proud of my home surroundings, and we were very happy except for the poor health of my wife."
So poor was his wife's condition that when, on December 29, 1878, they were called on a mission to set- tle the Arizona country, James Davis felt sure it was a misunderstanding. But surprise soon gave way to de- termination to magnify the call. Erastus Snow, pioneer leader in charge of the colonizaton, had asked that all be ready by the following April. Home, store, and land were disposed of at a sacrifice, and on April 13, 1879, the Davis family, in company with several young men, left Cedar City.1 At Parowan, the
xThe scouts who accompanied the Davis family on April 13, 1879. were, from Cedar City: J. C. Duncan, Robert Bullock, John T. Grower, Thomas Bladden, H. Joseph Wilson, George Urie, George Perry, and Kuman Jones; from Paragonah: Silas Smith and five of his sons; from Parowan: James Adams, G. H. Hobbs, J. B. Decker, Wilson Dalley, Isaac Allen, Del Mc- Gregor, Hanson Bayles, P. R. Butts, Z. Decker, and John C. Dalton.
family of H. H. Harriman joined them, making a total of twenty-six men, two women, and eight chil- dren as the vanguard of the larger company which was to follow them south and east in the fall, James Davis has left an outline of the events which overtook that little band, an unassuming record which leaves the greater part unsaid:
"Before we left, Bishop Arthur bless- ed my wife and told her if she would go and do her part her health would be restored, and that she would never be called on to part with another child, for out of our eight children we had buried four. He also told her that the Lord would protect us, and our lives would be spared.
"We traveled many long, dreary weeks, crossing over the same region the Spanish had crossed in 1540. The Indians said we were the first whites to pass that way since that time. The Spaniards, like the Indians, had car- ried water containers, but we were un- prepared for this emergency. We dug numerous wells with great effort under
the rocks and in the sinks. Some of these yielded water and some did not. We suffered a great deal, and one-third of our cattle died.
"Every morning my wife would ar- range the children in the bottom of the wagon, then climb to the high spring seat and drive a team all day. There were only Indian trails to mark the way, so driving was a difficult task. In crossing the Buckskin Mountains, we cut notches in the sandstone for a foot- ing for our horses. We had to hitch eight teams to one wagon to pull it to the top. Then we would take all the teams off, tie a rope to the rear axle of the wagon, and with all the men hold- ing the rope we would let the wagon down the mountain in safety. At night we would fortify with our wagons as protection against the Indians.
"About the middle of May, we crossed the Colorado at Lee's Ferry and stopped at a small village called Moen- copi, settled by some Moquich, Oriba, Hopi, and Navajo Indians, and a few white people. Among them were Wil- ford Woodruff, there on a vacation, and John W. Young, son of President Brigham Young, who was building a woolen mill to take care of the great amount of wool the Indians produced. They advised us with families to stay there on account of the danger ahead of us, and let the young men go and find a suitable country to locate. We did so, and notwithstanding the wind blew the sand continually, we enjoyed our stay at Moencopi very much.
**Tn two months, on the first of July, A five of the scouts returned and re- ported finding a place. We started (Continued on page 53)
TWISTS OF THE SAN JUAN FROM THE TOP OF WILD HORSE MESA.
Photo by Sullivan C. Richardson.
• LOOKING BACK AT /
By WILLIAM and DEWEY FARNSWORTH
Publishers of "Buried Empires of
South America" and "Grandeurs of
Ancient America."
CHAN-CHAN, THE CAPITAL CITY OF THE CHIMUS
Long ago the Chimus, a people antedating the Incas, built their great capital of Chan-Chan near the site of the present-day Peruvian city of Trujillo. Although its walls have endured time's assaults for countless centuries, they are fast crumbling now, especially from the action of repeated floods on their adobe structure. From the air, one can obtain the best idea of the once vast extent of the city and trace, even indistinctly, the remains of what once were its temples, palaces, plazas, gardens, and reservoirs. The material used in the building of Chan-Chan was of a hardened substance about half adobe and half cement. Late explorers have, in uncovering and cleaning the walls, found carvings like those on the building of Metla Oaxaca, Mexico, also carvings of the feathered serpents like those of the great cement city of Teotihuacan, twenty- eight miles from Mexico City. 250,000 people lived in Chan-Chan.
THE GREAT STONE WHEELS OF THE PRE-INCANS Evidences in Mexico, Central America, and Peru lead us to conclude that all the ancient peoples of America understood and practiced the principle of the wheel. No means of trans- portation known today is equal to the task of moving some of the huge stone remains which have been found. These huge stone wheels were all of one size and weight and so perfectly syn- chronized that they could have been used interchangeably on the same vehicle. The enormous blocks of stone used in the construction of the ancient temples of Peru were hewn from quarries four to fifteen leagues distant from the building sites, fashioned and transported across rivers and over ravines, raised to their elevated positions, and adjusted with the nicest accuracy.
THE INCA CITY-FORTRESS OF MACHU PICCHU, BOLIVIA, SOUTH AMERICA In the towering Andes Mountains, perched nine thousand feet above sea level, on top of a ridge at the foot of the hill called Huayna Picchu and protected on all sides by precipices and on three sides by the rapids of the Urubamba River, two thousand feet below, is the mysterious and ancient Inca city-fortress. Massive blocks of granite fit together perfectly without the use of mortar or cement. Many of the houses are a story and a half in height, with gable ends which have projecting cylinders and four-ring stones to which rafters were tied. These homes contain an unusual number of windows, divided in formations of three, but the most remarkable feature of all is the great number of well-built granite stairways, there being over two hundred large and small within the walls of the city. The exquisite finish of their stone-cutting resembles that of the fortress of Sacasahuaman in the Cuzco valley.
{Editor's note: "Buried Empires of South America," as announced on the book page of the December and January "Era" is now off the press and available through Deseret Book Company and other agencies of distribution. )
LINE UPON LINE
CONVERT TESTIFIES OF GOSPEL PRINCIPLES
By Lyman Collins Byron, Wyoming.
Pleven years ago a bookbinder came to Powell to rebind the books of the Powell schools which were in need of repair. As I went by the school- house one day, I saw his old car stand- ing outside. I was a car salesman at the time, and an old car was an in- triguing sight. I went in and finally broached the subject of a new car to the bookbinder. I can still remember what he said: "I'm not going to get a new car until I can pay cash for it without jeopardizing my security." And he went on to give me my first lesson in the Gospel. . , .
I was baptized and confirmed a mem- ber of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more than ten years ago. Upon joining the Church I had many problems and habits to deal with. In fact, it seemed that what I had come to believe contradicted a large part of my life. Particularly regard- ing the Word of Wisdom did I have difficulty. It was at a conference held in Lovell that I received the most valu- able advice, I believe, I have ever re- ceived. The visiting member of the General Authorities spoke on the topic of self-advancement. He recommended that, although we might not be able to live all the commandments and prin- ciples of the Gospel, we should live those within our ability. He said that our ability would grow. It is my testi- mony that increased power does come to the person who will observe well the principles of the Gospel which are within his ability.
There is one principle of the Gospel that has been my temporal and spiritual salvation. That principle is tithing. It is the principle which has been most easy for me to practice. Although at times I have been tempted to put off or reduce my tithing, I felt that only as long as I paid it I had a right to call upon the Lord to aid me in observing the other principles which might be difficult for me. I know that the bless- ings the Lord has promised those who will observe His teachings do not fail.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
IF I were at the head of a college, I would secure a man of uncom- mon common sense qualified to in- terview every student. It would be his job to help students find them- selves and to guide them into paths they are best fitted to travel happily and courageously.
This college would be made up of enthusi- astic students who would get joy out of their classwork and who would be made to feel happy in their a s signments. Such a class I jhave conducted over a period of years, for my students have told me how happy they have been. To me every student is a per- sonality, different from anyone else. Each student is given a chance to ex- press his views on what he would like to do and then is guided in that line with the greatest of care that he might be successful.
If you take a small child into an amusement park where there is a swing, a teeter, a slide, or other healthful amusements, and you keep your eyes open, you soon be- hold what pleases the child most. If he wants to swing and you insist he play in the sand pile, you at once create an un- happiness. The swing is better for him and he knows it, because it gives his play of imagination greater scope, and there is the thrill of going up and down in swinging that one does not get in a sand pile.
Well, when I am convinced after talking to a student that he knows what he wants, I teach him what I wish to teach, but in doing so I teach him what he wants also.
satis
Ledgers
orut ihsL(ljswUiL. iB&qimimq.
Along about this time of the year all good Latter-day Saints begin checking up on their tithing ac- counts. Customs as well as people change, for when I was a lad, we paid tithing in kind. That is, if a man raised ten loads of hay he paid one; if he had ten calves he gave one; or ten sacks of potatoes, one, and so on.
Now we pay in cash, and there is no chance for us to put all of the little potatoes in the bottom of the sack, so to speak, and put a few good ones on top and get credit for such as can be seen.
Some pay tithing every pay-day, some every month, and still others pay at the end of the year. Which way is correct I personally cannot say, but I don't think it matters much with the Lord just as long as it is an honest payment.
Father was a bishop for many years and was away from home much of the time, so it was up to me to receive tith- ing hay, and measure the loads, figure the weight, stack the hay, and all such. I learned a great number of tricks a few of those old-timers played, but this should be said to the credit of a great majority of those men — they paid an honest tithing.
Some of those men would wait until they cut the very finest hay and then bring that kind for tithing. The best calf in the ten was turned in, and when they brought potatoes you could de- pend on those potatoes being the best, smooth and of uniform size. Other men brought a fair average, while others just paid tithing, and every spring there would be a large pile of small potatoes that no one would admit he had given to the Lord for His share.
Father always said: "One can tell what kind of tithing a man pays by the way he prospers, or fails to prosper." Such did seem to be the case, for those who paid the best they had, seemed happier and more prosperous than those who just paid an average, or those who just brought something, anything.
By JAMES P. SHARP
We were eating supper one Sunday evening, late in the fall, when a dear old sister came to the house crying very demonstratively. Her story was that while she had been at church some one had stolen her tithing cabbage, but had not touched her own. Father asked how she could tell tithing cabbage, and she said that when she set the plants out she put a stick by every tenth plant, and those had been stolen. Father told her he did not think the Lord would care if she paid other cabbage, but she insisted those that were stolen belonged to the Lord and if He saw fit to let some one steal His cabbage she did not think it was up to her to pay a second tithing. Father said a person that stole from the Lord never prospered. She never did.
After she had gone, mother said she was going to find out who had been so mean to her. While we were doing chores, I asked father who he thought stole the cabbage, and he said: "Son, two years ago some one stole every tenth row of her carrots, the tithing ones. One year ago she raised ten tur- keys, and the tithing one was stolen. I wonder what she will have to report stolen next year."
Once a young man came in, all busi- ness. He had asked for a recommend, but had paid no tithing, so, got none. He pulled an account book from his pocket and said: "Bishop, I owe you sixteen dollars tithing for two years ago, twenty dollars for last year and twenty-two dollars for this year. Fifty- eight dollars, is that correct?" It was.
He pulled a purse from his pocket, counted out some money, put it back in his purse, his purse in his pocket, and said: "I don't have the exact change, lust credit me with that amount and I'll pay you sometime — when do I get my recommend?"
There was no pause between "Time" and "When." I saw that man today walking the streets, with not a dollar to his name, just waiting for his next relief appropriation.
23
Sweet w
kww&xL io jckfi/uL Ala. tsuumA. afjtsuv dhj&v&Jiinjc^ ihsL sjmbiadictwvL x>£, cl qihL wPw wadu JbDilv—
SOPHISTICATED
By JOHN SHERMAN WALKER
I
t should have been the quiet, grayish eyes of Miss Con- stance C confiding answer- woman of the Evening Call's "Heartthrobs and Problems" col- umn, that scanned the sheets of the letter, signed, "Mary McKean," with the further identifying name, "Sweet and Sophisticated," for the lines of that letter were as intimate as the throbbings of a maiden's heart.
Not that Bruce Gordon, of The Call's editorial staff, was violating the confidence of the "col-yum," as he opened the faintly violet-scented envelope that had come in that af- ternoon's mail. It just happened that The Call's popular answer-lady,
Constance C , had taken a
week-end trip. Her daily column feature had been made up for only a few days in advance, and did not allow for the snow-blizzard that caused delay on the return trip. It was a curious— and unprecedented — situation.
Bruce Gordon had written copy on all of the regular city runs — town and county building — night police — theatres — and sports, in his career with The Call. But never had he served in the capacity of "answer-man."
Haig, The Call's city editor, had called Gordon into the inner office of the "Heartthrobs and Problems" sanctuary one morning the week 24
previous, and had simply handed him a telegram from an isolated little town upstate. It read: "Snow- bound STOP Can you carry on col- umn until we come? Constance C ."
Gordon, vaguely uneasy as he read, had looked up questioningly. Haig merely underlined with his pencil the last words of the tele- gram, "Can you carry on column until we come?"
Gordon had asked: "Is that an assignment?"
And Haig, with a mild smile about his Scotch lips, said, "An as- signment."
Closing the Heartthrobs door quietly as he went out — he had left Bruce Gordon to solve the prob- lems within. And so, there was Bruce Gordon reading the revealing letter of this Mary McKean who stated her problem and signed her- self "Sweet and Sophisticated."
Twice, three times, Gordon read over the letter:
"Dear Constance C
"You're all I have left to appeal to — and I'm coming with a pent-up heart of gall, that must be drained of its bitterness — or else! —
"Constance, dear, have you ever scan- ned yourself in the mirror, knowing that you were very pretty — and perfect in your new party dress ensemble, as you drew the luxury of a silver cape about your shoul- ders— and twinkled off on silver slippers — to an all-promising party?
"And have you come home that night disillusioned and drooping — and cried your- self to sleep? Have you done that once and twice and thrice — and after that stayed home through evenings of loneli- ness and choked-up misery — rather than indulge in the promiscuous 'petting,' drinking, and smoking of the present-day parties?
"I'm not seeking pity or singing self- praise, but only making a sincere analysis of myself when I tell you I'm known to be a charming, more than ordinarily at- tractive young lady. I play the piano well, sing, and like dancing exceedingly. Can be a brilliant conversationalist, if the occa- sion calls for it — though I'm not a studious prude. I'm generous and can be warmly enthusiastic over a great many things.
"And so what do these enthusiasms and virtues get me — socially — in this day and age? Only — a big lonely chair at home by the telephone, that after a while doesn't ring for me at all — any more. And I love parties, and people — the companionship of girls and fellows — and dancing so much!
"If sophistication means smartness and chic and having the savoir-faire of the world — I'm asking you, woman to woman, though I more than qualify in all those things — what'll I do!
(Signed) Sweet and Sophisticated."
1 he empty editorial rooms were silent now as a no- man's-land in lull of battle. The earlier muffled barrage from the battery of linotypes off toward the composing room was but an echo. And the thundering roll of the big artillery-press downstairs had long since ceased.
Gordon mused — groping to word his reply. Vaguely, phrases were forming in his mind. Frowning, he sauntered back to the typewriter and stood for a moment idly drum- ming his finger-tips on the desk-top. He snapped on a desk-lamp.
At once another unopened letter, that he had not previously noticed, near the typewriter, caught his eye. It was addressed to Constance
C and secretary. Mechanically
Gordon slit the envelope with a paper-knife and drew out the en- closures: two miniature cardboard artist's palettes — hand-marked invi- tations for two, to the annual Arts Masque, to be held that night in the new Art Lodge.
With the envelope and palettes still in hand he went again to the window and standing with feet wide apart, as though to balance his thoughts, he glowered down — straight upon the radiant sign across the street, Ye Olde Costume Shoppe.
It was too much. Something seemed forcing his thoughts into one channel. He blinked and thought swiftly. No time for costumes now. Tuxedo — and a domino — for him.
-*-*
IT WAS WRITTEN ON THE CALL'S "HEARTTHROBS AND PROBLEMS" LETTERHEAD, AND MARY CAUGHT HER BREATH IN A LITTLE GASP OF SURPRISE— AND QUICKLY LOOKED UP AT BRUCE GORDON. HE WAS SMILING, BUT HIS MASKED EYES TOLD HER NOTHING.
A domino half-mask for her — and her own formal party dress.
Hmm-mm-n! That would be a test of one's social graces and tal- ents and apparel. To go formal to an Arts Masquerade — where per- sons would be informally critical.
Somehow, though, Bruce Gordon was inclined to the belief that "Sweet and Sophisticated" would enjoy herself immensely at that gay social event. He was certain that she could be her own sweet self — and also an entirely "sophisticated" personality there among the smart- est of the smart.
It was a nice point to prove. And more and more Bruce desired to test his theory. Of his own ability to play the part of Mary McKean's "perfect escort" — for the one night at least — Gordon was quite sure of himself.
Turning quickly, he was at the desk-phone, with Mary's address before him, calling "Information." The answer came back:
"Lakewood — The-r-ee — oh — oh — two — thr— ' '
Ltordon cut short the last trilled "three" of the operator. He was thinking swiftly. He had an exciting plan. But there should be someone who knew them both, to introduce them — he and Mary McKean.
And there was Judge Landor. The very one, of course. It was an in- spiration. Judge Landor, as a patron of the arts, would unquestionably be going that night.
The street had a familiar sound to it. The judge, an old acquain- tance of Gordon's, lived on that same street; and, by the house num- bers, not far from the Stuart home, where Mary McKean stayed.
In an instant Gordon was calling his old friend, Judge Landor, ex- plaining to him his plan for the eve- ning, of his desire to meet Mary McKean and to take her that night to the Arts Masque Ball.
Judge Landor, laughing in his booming voice, after assuring Gor- don that he knew the Stuarts and Mary McKean very well, at once agreed to go along with them to the Arts Masque and make the intro- ductions at unmasking time. Then Gordon was putting through his other "Lakewood" call.
Mary McKean was curled in a chair, listening to low music over the radio when Bruce Gordon's
APPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
phone call came, startling her from her rather blue reverie; he greeted her like an old friend. "Lucky you're home this evening, Mary. I've tick- ets for two to the Arts Masque — tonight. Will you come? It's sudden to call you this way, I know; but it'll be a surprise party for me, too. Say you'll accept."
Her perplexed voice demanded, "But, who — who is it that's calling, please?"
Bruce Gordon chuckled and re- plied, "One who knows you rather well, Mary. But it's masquerade, tonight, you know. Let's make this an adventure — keep the surprise — until we unmask. We'll not have time now for costumes. We'll go formal.
"I'm sending a messenger with a domino mask- — and violets. Can you be ready by nine?"
A trifle flurried, she hesitated, "We-U, I could. Yes, I can — be ready at nine. But — " Gordon re- assured her, "I have asked Judge Landor, whom we both know, I be- lieve, to come with us — so really there is no reason why you shouldn't accept."
"With Judge Landor?" her voice was gladly accepting then. "Oh, then I shall be happy to accompany you."
"Good," Gordon exclaimed. "At nine, then. Good-bye."
1 en minutes later Gor- don was hurrying from the costume shop across the street, then to a little flower-shop for a corsage of rose-buds and violets, and again en- tering the editorial offices of The Call, he sat once more before the typewriter.
Rubbing his fingers, still tingling with the cold, he first called a mes- senger, then, in an inspired mood, he typed out an answer to the letter of "Sweet and Sophisticated" — Mary McKean.
As the gorgon's-head door- knocker sounded, the elderly lady of the house went to the door and from the doorway Judge Landor's rumbling voice speaking:
"Good evening, Mrs. Stuart. Is Mary ready?"
The matron's voice answered from the hallway,
"Come in, please. Mary will be down presently."
Entering after the judge, Bruce
Gordon, with a black domino mask
covering his eyes, looked up the
{Continued on page 57)
25
QfaimkaL ^ Aped a . #£ ihsL
WORD OF WISDOM
By M. J. MILES
Dixie Junior College
The history of science attests the divine origin of our Word of Wisdom. On the twenty- seventh day of February, 1833, Joseph Smith condemned the use of tobacco, alcoholic drinks, the then current hot drinks (tea and coffee), offered dietary suggestions, and warned his followers against "de- signing men." At that time there was no evidence to justify the con- demnation. Its "wisdom" was not so obvious as it is today. No one can claim that Joseph Smith uttered this revelation on his own personal knowledge, for knowledge of the substances and practices condemned did not exist prior to the date of this revelation.
At the time, all science was in its infancy, and many fields of science were not known. In 1833, chemists knew practically nothing of caffeine and theobromine. No scientific study had been made of the physiological effect of ethyl alcohol. Nicotine was discovered in 1828 by Posselt and Reimann, but no information regard- ing its physiological effects was available until Haskell published his findings in 1871. Chemists at this time had no clear understanding of atomic and molecular concepts.
Even the composition of water had been known for only thirty-three years. The science of organic chem- istry had shed its swaddling clothes barely five years previous to this time when Woehler demonstrated the power of chemistry to create and control substances involved in the "life processes." The science of dietetics was just beginning to come into existence, as the first experi- ments on the digestion of foods were performed eight years previously by Beaumont.
At the present time the wisdom behind our Word of Wisdom is greatly enhanced by the findings of science. Oakes1 and Widtsoe2 have
1Oakes. Weston, "Science and the Word of Wis- dom," a pamphlet published by Deseret News.
2Widtsoe, John A., The Improvement Era, 34:516 M931).
26
O
NCE IT WAS ACCEPTED BY FAITH ALONE; NOW SCIENCE GIVES IT FURTHER SUPPORT.
related the findings of various non- Mormon scientists which show that tobacco is definitely harmful to man- kind.
The nicotine which tobacco con- tains is an interesting substance from the chemical point of view. Being alkaline, it exists in tobacco as salts of citric and other acids. During the process of smoking, it is distilled out of the tobacco as it is warmed by the heat of "smoking," and since the nicotine is present in the smoke we know that a goodly portion of it escapes being burned or becoming condensed on the butt end of the smoked article. Another poisonous alkaloid known as pyridine is also present in tobacco smoke. The nico- tine molecule contains as part of its structure a molecule of pyridine and the presence of the latter in the smoke is likely due to partial de- composition of some of the nicotine.
The nicotine in tobacco smoke exists in extremely small particles known to chemistry as colloids. These particles have little tendency to coagulate or settle by virtue of the electric charge which they carry. This condition makes smoking pos- sible, because it withholds the great- er portion of the poison from con- tact with the smoker's lungs and blood stream, thereby permitting the tobacco user to live to finish his pipe, cigar, or cigarette. This is not an overstatement, because the nicotine is fully as poisonous as the deadly cyanide.3 In the pure state, nicotine is a colorless, odorless liquid and more than ten times as poisonous as coniine, the death-dealing ingredi- ent of the hemlock which Socrates and others have used to commit suicide. Four ten-thousandths of an ounce of nicotine is a lethal dose, yet the average cigarette contains more than ten times this amount.
3Porter. C. W., The Carbon Compounds, Ginn and Co., page 320, (1931).
Ctudies made by Bush* and others have shown that the tobacco user does, however, receive enough nico- tine to upset normal bodily func- tions, causing an increase in the rate of heart action, an increase in blood pressure, and considerable decrease in mental efficiency. The effect of the poison is slow, due to the rela- tively small amount that is actually effective, and in many respects ren- dered more cruel than the quick ac- tion of a large dose. The result is often a noticeable destruction of health, coupled with financial and moral ruin. Acute poisoning from nicotine causes vomiting, mental confusion, and convulsions. This indicates on a large scale the effect of the minute doses that each cig- aret administers.
The whole evil of the tobacco hab- it is not due to nicotine alone. There are many ingredients which the chemist has not been able to dis- cover. Yet the use of tobacco does create a habit. Therefore, some other ingredient remains to be discovered which will ac- count for this habit-forming prop- erty. There is strong evidence that this ingredient will be a narcotic be- longing to the class of substances known as alkaloids and will resem- ble, in many respects, such other alkaloids as nicotine, strychnine, morphine, etc. It will not be surpris- ing if chemists ultimately isolate several other alkaloids from tobacco. Other plants yielding alkaloids are known to produce as many as twen- ty different poisons in a single plant. The pyridine mentioned as an in- gredient of the smoke from tobacco is a poisonous alkaloid character- ized by a very disagreeable odor. It is widely used at the present time to render alcohol intolerable for hu-
*Bush, Arthur D., New York Medical Journal, (1914) page 159. (Quoted by L. D. S. Social Ad- visory Committee. )
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
man use, and it is responsible for the foul odor which some denatured alcohols have. Other substances have been reported as constituents of tobacco smoke by various inves- tigators.5 Among these substances are carbon monoxide, prussic acid, wood alcohol, arsenic, and ammon- ia. Scientific studies prove that to- bacco smoke is irritating, and a great deal of effort has been devoted to searching for methods of treating the tobacco to free the smoke from its irritating ingredients. This prob- lem has thus far defied the best chemical knowledge and skill.
Certain manufacturers have re- cently made much of certain biolog- ical studies that indicated that cig- aret smoking raised the blood sugar value. Bailey and Petre6 point out that this claim has been refuted by Dill, Edwards, and Forbes,7 who have shown that the smoking of a cigaret is without effect on the blood sugar, lactic acid, and respiratory quotient.
Chemistry and Alcohol
Chemistry has provided much evidence to condemn the inter- nal use of alcohol. Wilder D. Ban- croft, "the grand old man of phys- ical chemistry," and one of the world's great chemists, has devel- oped a theory of insanity which seems to shed an interesting light on the internal effects of alcohol. This theory attributes certain forms of mental disease to a maladjust- ment of the colloids of the nervous system.
It is known that the brain and nervous system contain protein par- ticles of colloidal size and nature. Further, many chemicals are cap- able of upsetting the normal state of these minute particles. When this occurs, mental health is im- paired. Several rather common chemicals are known to affect the mind. Early workers in plants pro- ducing ethyl gasoline became vio- lently insane due to the tetra-ethyl- lead which got into their systems. The effect was found to wear off as their bodies had time to dispose of the poison. Other forms of men- tal disturbances have been pro- duced with thiocyanates. Various mixtures of carbon monoxide with other gases have produced peculiar mental effects. The nitrous oxide used by the dentist to render his patient insensible to pain produces
BBailey and Petre, Ind. Eng. Chem. 29, 16, (January 1937).
eIbid.
7DilI, Edwards, and Forbes, Am. J. Physiol.. 109, 118, (1934).
an hysteria as the patient recovers consciousness. The peculiar behav- ior of patients recovering from this gas has led to its designation as "laughing gas." Even pure oxygen under fairly high pressure will pro- duce marked effects upon mental be- havior. Other substances have been found which are capable of restor- ing the proteins of the mind to their normal condition, and many cases of insanity have been cured or im-
proved by treatment with sodium amytal or sodium rhodanate.
Alcohol is another substance which produces abnormal mental behavior, and, therefore, is believed to upset the colloids of the brain and nervous system. The state of being intoxicated is the state of be- ing rendered mentally unbalanced by chemical action. As the alcohol is eliminated, the subject "sobers up" because the colloids are restored to, at least approximately, their normal condition.
Repeated applications of the al- cohol does definite and permanent damage to the mental equipment of the alcohol addict, probably because the colloids of the brain and nerves are not restored in perfect condition after each "drunk." Each "spree" leaves its scar on the mental furni- ture of the drunkard, and the injury of each is additive. Consequently, cases of mental unbalance due to the use of alcohol are not uncom- mon. All grades of mental injury from this cause are undoubtedly with us, though we are seldom in- clined to admit that the mental pow- ers are damaged until the victim becomes so mentally ill that commit- ment to an institution is necessary.
As yet, the medical profession has not accepted all that Bancroft has had to say regarding his theory of insanity. Bancroft's8 chemical treatment of the insane has been
sJaffe, Bernard, Outposts of Science, Silver Burdett, (1935). Alexander, Colloid Chemistry. D. Van Nostrand Co. (1937), pages 301, 437, 438.
successful in many cases. It is not surprising that his attempts to re- store normal colloidal conditions in the nervous systems of his patients have failed in some cases, because certainly all mental diseases are not colloidal, or, if colloidal, would not necessarily respond to sodium amy- tal, sodium rhodanate, or other chemicals which have thus far been tried.
Nevertheless, Bancroft's theory offers a very plausible explanation of the detrimental effect which ethyl alcohol is known to have on the hu- man nervous system. It is reported that some chemicals, such as mix- tures of gasoline with milk, which seem to share with alcohol the power to upset man's nervous or mental equilibrium, are also capable of af- fecting the colloidal protein disper- sions of the brain.
Moreover, alcohol is a narcotic since it is poisonous, capable of pro- ducing a craving for itself, and cap- able of producing a mental stupor.
Science has produced ample evi- dence to show that alcohol is decid- edly detrimental to the human body. Numerous studies have been cited by Oakes0 which show that, since the first scientific study of the physi- ological effect of alcohol made in 1907, a host of medical and social data are now available which tes- tify that alcohol is "recognized as a destroyer of health in both mind and body, and a poison which will swiftly undo all effects of training and culture."
"Hot Drinks"
HThe present-day tendency to hurry justifies our admonition to ab- stain from "hot drinks." Thousands gulp down their tea, coffee, cocoa, when it is painfully hot in order to catch their car, get to work on time, or what not. This is conducive to burns on the lips and oral tissues that are dangerous and attributed by some doctors to be the cause of cancer of the mouth.
We now know that many of these widely used beverages contain chemicals that are dangerous to hu- man health. Coffee contains caffeine in amounts ranging from 0.5% to 1.5%. Tea contains caffeine in somewhat larger amounts. Cocoa and chocolate contain a similar sub- stance known as theobromine. Oth- er injurious chemicals are also pres- ent in the hot drinks tabooed by the Word of Wisdom. Among them tannic acid, theophylline, and ade- (Concluded on page 53)
9Oakes, "Science and the Word of Wisdom.'
27
JhjL "BEFORE AND AFTER
//
<& CHURCH-WIDE BEAUTIFICATION
(^ache Stake has been doing a good deal in the beautifica-
TION PROGRAM. We REPRODUCE HERE A FEW PHOTOGRAPHS
secured from Cache people showing "before" and "after"
CONTRASTS. We HOPE THEY WILL GIVE ENCOURAGEMENT AND
renewed incentive to the beautification cause through- out all our communities.
The photograph designated "b" is before and "a" after in each group.
A PRAYER FOR PEACE
By Lizzie O. Borgeson White
Let peace be ushered in, oh, Lord, the whole world round;
May strife and conflict be subdued, and love abound.
Men's lives are precious in Thy sight — You
love us all — Bring speedy peace upon the earth, and
Satan's fall.
Turn men from wicked, selfish deeds, to works of love;
May nations turn their thoughts to Thee, good Lord above.
Prepare them to receive and serve a Heav- enly King —
Send Christ on earth to reign, dear Lord — let freedom ring.
THIS SNOW
By Christie Lund Coles
'"P'here is peace in this snow, ■*■ Peace and new hope for a ravaged
earth; So silently it falls, one would not know The hour or moment of its prayer-like birth.
There is hope in this hour:
The apple orchard and the golden glow
Of wheat fields shall be testament and
flower Of the healing and the strength within this
snow.
WINTER'S KING By Lila M. Bennett
TJTail, King Winter, sage and hoary!
How I love your sombre glory! You are ruthless, strong, and raging When a blizzard you are staging. Ah! your breath is keen and stinging, And your voice a bitter ringing. Frosty eyebrows, frosty beard, And your tongue seems piercing — speared. Your laughter is both sharp and mocking, And your strength is really shocking.
But at times you change your manner, And are mild, and hang a banner Of sparkling white, and blessed peace As you don a robe of fleece. But I love you, wild or mellow, Dear old crusty, blustering fellow !
THEY'RE NICE ABOUT IT By Lucretia Penny
I like giraffes, I think they're fine: It has not turned their heads To know they can look down upon All other quadrupeds!
RAINBOW DAYS By Luacine Fox
Days are colors — Each irrevocably tinged with the flame
Of its own individuality;
And against the sweeping pattern of its contour —
Shadows move —
And milky films of memory
Slip by.
Some days are limpid —
Cool, serene.
And others, baking hot with thirsting anguish,
With zig-zag flashings of rich-green emo- tion—
Needle darts of pain, surprise.
And then,
Sometimes,
The deep expansive comfort of warm rose —
Of satisfaction.
But once, in every life,
There comes
One pure, clear day of white,
High and clear
And shining —
And that,
When night creeps in,
Then deepens to a cool, rich blue
With silver stars.
■ ■..■ . .,-,'.
SNOWFALL AT DUSK By Helen McMahan
The whole world is calm While the fluffy white flakes Come down as though each Knew its place Because of a previous Rehearsal arranged For this ritual of beauty And grace.
They pirouette earthward In billowy flight, Like down, from the breast Of a swan;
They swarm, and they dance In the cold winter night — Frail ghosts of the leaves That are gone.
VOLCANO ABOVE THE PLAIN By Harry Elmore Hard
TT 7e, the people, live in Martinique,
Which is the world, while war, which is the peak Of Mount Pelee, grown green with sugar- cane,
Thrusts terribly upward from the fertile plain
Of brotherhood where self-appointed seers
Cry peace, until our half-forgotten fears
Grow lush with promise like quiescent slopes
Of danger. Man, a victim of his hopes,
Erects his dreams about the base of wrath
And builds his towering temples in the path
Of former lava, in which to chant "Good- will
On earth" until new terror comes to chill
His heart to panic. "This horror cannot be!"
The people shout — but still the poison sea
Avalanches downward, choking breath
With cindered fumes of phosphoric death,
While in the sky the mushroom of their trust,
Contracting, showers incandescent dust
Upon the surface of a molten mass
Of crawling, cooling, cracking lava-glass.
THE COAT I'M GOING TO WEAR By Alex Faddis
I'm weaving a coat to wear some day, And I'm weaving it out of thought. The pattern my parents gave to me — - The kind that is never bought.
I'm taking many a loving thought,
With golden deeds to spare. I'm running them through the spinning wheel
In weaving my coat to wear.
I'll take some courage, a great deal of love
With confidence and cheer; I'll weave them into the coat some place
But I'll cast away all fear.
I'll persevere in faith and works With an obedience that's rare,
And I'll weave them into the warp and woof Of the coat I'm going to wear.
Then I'll line the coat with many smiles And with friendly deeds galore,
And stitch the seams with sunny beams That will last forever more.
And now, dear friends, I pray you,
Just listen to what I say — When I come to the end of this mortal road
This coat I will put away.
Then some day in the future near
This coat I'll again put on. It will be clean and sweet and a perfect fit
On the Resurrection Morn!
^
M
a
WSf\
urc
Ol
oves
Las Vegas Bishop Called To Senate Post
"Dishop Berkeley L. Bunker of the *"' Las Vegas Ward, son of pioneer parents, has been appointed U. S. sen- ator from Nevada to succeed the late Key Pittman, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Bishop Bunker, just thirty-four, filled a mission to the Southern States from 1930 to 1 932 and has been continually active in Church work. In 1933 he was married to Lucile Whitehead of Las Vegas. They have a daughter, Loretta, three years old.
At thirty years of age, Senator Bun- ker was elected to the Nevada State Assembly. Elected for a second term, in 1939, he was made speaker of the lower house.
Senator Bunker is ninth child in a family of ten, the son of Martin A. and the late Helen E. Bunker. His grand- father, Edward Bunker, intrepid Utah pioneer, founded Bunkerville, Nevada.
Division Creates New Ward in Cottonwood
"Decent division of the Mill Creek ■^ Ward, Cottonwood Stake, into east and west sections added another member to the steadily increasing num- ber of wards in the Church.
William W. Liddle was named bish- op of the eastern division, which will retain the old ward name. Appointed to serve as counselors were Wendell L. Cottrell and Melvin J. Burt, with Gotfred Stein as ward clerk.
Cyrus S. Walters was set apart as bishop of the western division, to be known as Valley Center. Leonard Croxford, David H. Newman, and Al- ma Little have been named respective- ly as first and second counselors and as ward clerk.
New Presidency Formed in Parowan Stake
avid L. Sargent, professor of biol- ogy and agriculture and chairman of the agriculture division at the Branch Agricultural College in Cedar City, was sustained in November as president of the Parowan Stake, suc- ceeding William R. Palmer, for whom the change marked completion of twenty years' service as a member of the Parowan Stake presidency, fifteen of them as president.
Under the direction of Elders Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve and Antoine R. Ivins of the First Coun- cil of Seventy, counselors W. Arthur Jones and L. E. Tueller were also re-
30
D
leased and Elder Jones reappointed as first and Oscar J. Hulet named as sec- ond counselor to President Sargent. Edward A. Parry was retained as stake clerk.
Frank Evans Assumes Church Finance Position
Crank Evans, prominent Utah at- torney and president of the Eastern States Mission from 1937 to 1940, has been appointed secretary for finance to the First Presidency. He assumes the duties performed by the late Arthur Winter in connection with all financial matters of the Church.
Elder Evans brings to his new posi- tion a great deal of valuable experience. He has taught school and was at one time superintendent of Summit County schools. Later he studied law and at- tended the University of Chicago. From 1915 to 1917, he was a member of the Utah state senate. He saw service with the Red Cross both in the United States and France during the World War.
A specialist in the field of cooperative marketing, he has been secretary and general counsel of the American Farm Bureau Federation, with headquarters in Chicago, and under Herbert Hoover's administration was appointed a member of the Federal Farm Board, serving in Washington, D. C, for nearly two years. Elder Evans is senior au- thor of a legal text on cooperative marketing, titled The Law of AgricuU tutal Cooperative Marketing, which is used in colleges and by attorneys spe- cializing in that field.
FRANK EVANS
New Warehouse Planned For Welfare Region
X)lans are being formulated for con- struction of a new regional ware- house for the north Utah region in the Church Welfare Program. The ware- house will rise on property adjacent to the present four-stake bishops' store- house at 2030 Washington Boulevard in Ogden. The new building is ex- pected to be ready for use this summer.
Churchwomen Attend Centennial Congress
Attending the Women's Centennial ■^ Congress, which was held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City beginning November 25, were President Amy Brown Lyman of the National Woman's Relief Society and Lucy Grant Cannon, President of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Asso- ciation. Representatives from every state and from many foreign lands were present at the meet, at which were re- viewed the accomplishments of women since the beginning of their emancipa- tion a hundred years ago and at which were laid plans to remove further dis- criminations.
Architects Visit Los Angeles Temple Site
/"Commissioned to make preliminary ^ studies at the site of the temple to be built on the Santa Monica Boule- vard in Los Angeles, Lorenzo S. Young, Ramm Hansen, Georgius Y. Cannon, and John Fetzer, members of the board of temple architects, recently com- pleted a series of test bores to deter- mine the character of subsoil, investi- gated earthquake potentialities, and planned landscaping and architectural features for the temple and its sur- roundings.
Democracy Becomes Study Topic in Church Schools
A special course on "the spiritual ^* basis of democracy" will be spon- sored by the Church Department of Education along with its regular week- day program of religious education. Purpose of the course is to lead students to an appreciation of the rights and privileges enjoyed under the American form of government and to promote in the students an attitude of loyalty, ser- vice, and hard work for its defense.
Three pamphlets — "Your Rights Un- der the Constitution," "The United States Flag," and "Mormon Youth and Our Government"— are being sent to twenty thousand students of high
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
school age in the seminaries of five western states and five thousand col- lege students enrolled in institutes and colleges maintained by the Church.
L. D. S. Hospitals Make Improvements
"Demodeling and renovating of the Church-owned Dee Hospital in Ogden has included enlargement and improvement of kitchens, dining-rooms, and staff quarters, installation of a new ice plant, and renovation of the receiv- ing department. Rooms on the east side lower floor of the building have been dropped to floor level.
At the Groves L. D. S. Hospital in Salt Lake City, $50,000 was spent for improvements during 1940, including chiefly modernization of the kitchen. Plans as approved at the annual meet- ing of the hospital board call for en- larging the X-ray department and for remodeling in several divisions.
Ward Makes Bricks As Major Welfare Project
■\17hat began as a ward project to v" make bricks for an addition to the Blanding chapel has now become a major Welfare undertaking, according to Bishop John D. Rogers. Bricks formerly shipped 325 miles from Salt Lake to Blanding now are being "home- made" and sold to the community. From eighty to one hundred thousand bricks have already been burned ready for use. Actually twice that number have been made, but heavy rains washed them away before they reached the kilns for burning.
Brick-making is considered by the Blanding people an ideal Welfare Plan activity because it requires little skill and not more physical effort than can be exerted by old men or young boys, or persons physically handicapped.
Missionaries Return From South Africa, Tahiti
"Decalled in accordance with the re- ^ cently announced decision of the First Presidency to confine missionary labors to the Americas and the Ha- waiian Islands, thirty-three Elders from the South African Mission arrived in Jersey City, New Jersey, December
I, aboard the President Polk, second group to arrive from the -Pacific area: missionaries from Australia, New Zea- land, Samoa, and Tonga reached San Francisco early in November.
On December 9, three additional Elders from Samoa and one from Australia arrived in San Francisco aboard the Monterey, and on December
II, the entire contingent of missionaries from Tahiti, accompanied by President and Sister Eugene M. Cannon, arrived at the coast port on the 5. 5. Lurline. Facing the prospect of a six months' delay before they could book passage on the few steamers now calling at Ta- hiti, Elders there chartered a hundred- foot motored trading schooner for the fifteen-day journey to Hawaii, where they boarded the Lurline.
MISSIONARIES LEAVING FOR THE FIELD FROM THE SALT LAKE MISSIONARY HOME ARRIVED NOVEMBER IS— DEPARTED NOVEMBER 28
Reading from left to right, first row: Dean Fowley, Eldon LaVar Coates, Don B. Colton, Mary Duke, Maudie Robinson, Gladys Stoker, Beth Markham, Doyle Richards, Eldren Butler, Jerome R. Johnson.
Second row: Robert H. Graham, Leon B. Black, Grant L. Judd, Betty Ann McKenzie, Hazel Andersen, Norma Hansen, Dorothy Anderson, Claire Van Dam, Vern Ringwood, Lynn Smith.
Third row: Rex K. Crane, Blake J. Anderson, Richard B. Stephen, Avard W. Booth, Max Milligan, Alta Valberg, Odessa Ford, Ernest Max Engeman, Rodney Alsop, Wm. E. Berrett, instructor.
Fourth row: Wayne Bellows, John Jacob Van Leeuwen, Bernell Hales, Jr., Sylvester Hart, Florence Tucker, Evert Gale Martin, Ralph Clavin Memmott, Richard Melvin Mecham, Ernest Cook, Thomas Donald Hunsaker.
Fifth row: R. W. Christensen, Melvin L. Smith, Stanley L. Udall, Frank W. Jackson, Alice Briggs, Lynn Nelson, Cleveland Cook, Adrain Neilson, Emory Neal Benson, Newell Bastian.
Sixth row: Arthur Campbell, Max J. Fenn, James T. Crowther, Lewis T. Patterson, Roland N. Wille, Clyde D. Tidwell, Robert T. Macdonald, Eldred Johnson, Paul Merrill, Jr., Robert Walter Anderson.
Seventh row: Afton Ploock, Howard Smith, Merrill Bushnell, Charles Esplin, LaMar Sayer, Keith Merrill, Dean T. Kunz, Gaylord Whitney, Lyle Bunker, Ronald Hutchison.
Eighth row: Leon Judd, Jack Lyon, Kenneth Baugh, Merlon C. Christensen, Harland S. Russon, Rufus B. Astin, Milton D. Rogers, Gordon W. Mitchell, Fred W. Hunzeker, Raymond W. Fritsch.
Ninth row: Claud Haws, Harvey Hansen, Calvin P. Christensen, Wells Meeks, Ray H. Moore, R. Kent Fielding, Norman E. Hansen, George VeH Henrie, Abel John Peterson, John Armstrong Ellison.
Tenth row: Burton Bushman, Philip A. Smith, Ovid L. Farnsworth, Clive Bradford, Loyd M. Sleight, R. Sears Hintze, Elliot Howe, Richard L. Gunn, J. Emerson Hallstrom.
Eleventh row: Charles Eugene Busath, Lee Taylor Jarvis, John A. Neal, Newell Miller Washburn, Wayne M. Winegar, Wendell Blackburn Cheney, Henry M. Schumann, Herman W. Jepsen, Derrah Bybee Wiggill, Eldredge R. Shakespear, Eldon Wesley Hughes.
MISSIONARIES LEAVING FOR THE FIELD FROM THE SALT LAKE MISSIONARY HOME ARRIVED DECEMBER 2— DEPARTED DECEMBER 12
First row: James Clair Kendall, Alma J. Duersch, Norma Holley, Lenore McKinney, Don B. Colton, Ruth M. Hill, Afton Wilkins, Clarence Guy Walder, De Var Haws.
Second row: Miland G. Draper, Lester W. Martin, Alvin W. Taylor, Wilma Burton, Ada Whetten, Rowene Robinson, Thora Pearce, Shirley Hoyt, Wayne Charles Dalton, William C. Holmes.
Third row: James C. Hansen, James V. Terry, Frank S. Hardy, Orville P. Allen, C. Lowell Mecham, Lova Tolman, Spencer Glen Beck, Richard Woodrow Tracy, Audun Rudie Shobaken.
Fourth row: Walter Merle Anglesey, Dean Chancy Garner, Wendell T. Belnap, Dale Walters, Elizabeth Welker, Lewis Bassett, Shin-ell Jensen, Grant Williams, Dee M. Harris, Verl F. Scott.
Fifth row: Alvin L. Davidson, Jos. A. Bailey, Hugh Crae Wilson, Richard Bigelow Grant W. Hodson, Melvin P. Leavitt, William J. Jackson, Allen C. Williams, Lawrence Angerbauer, Wm. E Berrett.
Sixth row: Albert L. Egbert, Jr., Verl W. Simpson, Louis B. Bouddren, Arnold P. Maughan, Lora Lee Huff, Maxwell G. Erskine, Wallace R. Elkins, Douglas Farrow, David J. Wells, John R. Groberg.
Seventh row: Robert J. Cox, Russell McDonald, Franklin V. Nebeker, Garth L. Gehring, Ashton L. Smith, George A. Hansen, Leonard Haws Johnson, Grant C. Frederickson, Easton Sampson.
Eighth row: Dean Muir, Philip A. Smith, Leath Cluff, Lorenzo Y. Crossley, Raymond R. Finlinson, Carl Mecham, Quentin M. West, Milton Alvin Romney, Elwood F. Stewart, Ray Summers.
Ninth row: Reynold W. Bareman, Finley Reid Hendrix, Varsel L. Chlarson, Lonnie E. Crosby, Wm. Ernest Bradshaw, Lloyd E. Dahl, Nephi George, E. Grant Moody, June Bringhurst.
Tenth row: Lawrence Roe, Melvin Sanders, DeLance Squire, Le Roy E. Peterson, Sterling J. Durrant, A. Glenn Snarr, Gerry Alley, Norman Fletcher, Mac Bluth.
Eleventh row: Richard I. Jorgensen, Norman M. Adams, W. Clem Utley, D. Platte Woodland, Herman Green, Jr., Norman McKee, Sherman Smith.
Names of Elders involved in the current transfers follow:
From the South African Mission
Released: Harold E. Larsen, Richfield, Utah; Quentin E. Crockett, Preston, Idaho; J. Keith Hansen, Bear River, Utah; King S. Udall and Phil C. Dana, Phoenix, Ari- zona; Max W. Simkins, Springville, Utah; Leslie W. Beer, Centerville, Utah; Jay S. Broadbent, Provo, Utah; Robert B. Doug- las, Walter M. Lewis, Donald B. Garrisk, Sidney V. Badger, and Gail C. Meier, all of Salt Lake City.
Transferred to Central States Mission: Carlyle B. Eyre, Cowley, Wyoming; Ter- rell R. Woodmansee, Rexburg, Idaho.
Transferred to Eastern States: Richard F. Thorley and Jay L. Chatterley, Cedar City, Utah; Scott M. Whitaker, Los An- geles; Harold S. Barnes, Jr., Salt Lake; William W. Heal, Provo, Utah; Richard A. Seare, Salt Lake.
To New England States: Harold M. Ber- geson, Cornish, Utah; Oscar N. Kirkham, John N. Eldredge, and Richard G. Sharp, all of Salt Lake. (Continued on page 34)
31
fcdti&riaL
£A£OfUL
A time of year's ending and year's beginning
comes again to remind us of many things. The
settlement it brings seems somehow to be a foretaste
of that inevitable settlement which awaits us all —
but which many would hope to escape.
The spirit of escape seems to have come to dwell among us. Perhaps it has always been present, but the tenseness of our times makes it more apparent. There are many who seem to want to escape reality; to postpone the day of settlement; to prefer present pleasure to future happiness; to escape the con- sequences of their own mistakes; to escape personal obligations; to escape public responsibility.
There are some who seek to escape by borrowing rather than face the restrictions of a sound economy. There are some who would rather mortgage the future than curtail their appetites. There are some who count heavily on mercy and the opportun- ities of the moment, rather than on justice and the certain reckoning of the future. Some have become morally and materially and spiritually in- solvent— bankrupt, both in the things of this world and in those things which pertain to that which lies beyond — and rather than face the facts and pay the price and begin again on humble but sub- stantial foundations, they prefer continuing on bor- rowed time, always with the shadow of inevitable consequences hanging over them, but never look- ing at things quite squarely.
No doubt there would be less of the spirit of escape if we could bring ourselves to the realization that there is no such thing as permanent postpone- ment. Retribution cannot forever be out-distanced. The judgments of men may be slow — but they are sure, and even more so are the judgments of God. No one was ever able to cheat at anything perma- nently. No one has even been able to postpone a time of reckoning forever — even though he de- parted this life before he faced the facts. For it is written: "Verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated. And the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow; for
their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed." ( Doctrine and Covenants 1 :2 and 3.)
Since there is no way of permanent escape in the lives of men and nations, we say to all: Face the issues of life as they come; pay the price, whatever it is; spurn the postponement of obligations; clean house; make peace with your conscience, and build on sound foundations for that future wherein no mistakes have yet been made. For all who do this, the onward march of the years is not a foreboding procession, but rather a sequence of events that carries its lessons and its blessings into the present and the future, and leaves its debts and its mistakes behind.—/?. L. £.
JIua. (DjCU^
"M[ew Year's Day signifies usually a need to make resolutions for better living, for wiser ex- penditure of time and money, for kindlier treatment of family and friends. However, few of us tend to realize that each day is part of a new year. Each day in itself partakes of the nature of a new year when we arise with a full determination to make it a little better than the day before. It is only when we do not make this day that is ours a bit better than the day before that we fail to live as we should.
We need to close our eyes to the mistakes of yes- terday, to the sorrows, to the dead dreams. We need, however, to remember the unaccomplished ideals, for they will buoy us and carry us into the new day with purposefulness. We need not con- sider the troubles that tomorrow may bring. In the living of a full today, doing our best, trying to attain a little nearer to our goal, we shall grow and prepare for that tomorrow with its unsolved problems.
As we consider the new year, therefore, let us resolve that this day, and each day thereafter, we shall try to build a little closer to our dream of what we wish to become. We shall study a little more; we shall be better neighbors; we shall become truer Latter-day Saints. In fact, this day is our day. It is our opportunity to approach nearer to that ideal of which the Christ spoke when He said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." — M. C. J.
32
Evidences and reconciliations
xxxiiL. What i&. Uul Wsjamnq. i& iPuL JUIsl, "(pJwphct, S&jl?l, and, dbw&lcdxfc'?
HThe President of the Church is always sustained by the people as "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints." This is in compliance with the revealed word of God. The first revelation re- ceived by Joseph Smith after the organization of the Church on April 6, 1830, specifically declares that "there shall be a record kept among you; and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God, the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ." (Doc. & JZav. 21 :1.)
This was reiterated by revelation in 1835: "The President of the office of the High Priesthood is to preside over the whole church, . . . yea, to be a seer, a revelator, a translator, and a prophet, having all the gifts of God which he bestows upon the head of the church." (Doc. & Cov. 107:91, 92); and was further restated in 1841 : "I give unto you my servant Joseph to be a presiding elder over all my church, to be a translator, a revelator, a seer, and a prophet." (Doc. and Cov. 124:125.)
In current practice, the word "translator" is omitted, since, through revelation, the President of the Church may at any time be called to the special labor of translation.
The counselors to the President and the Council of the Twelve Apostles and the Presiding Patriarch are also sustained as "prophets, seers, and reve- lators." This conforms to the Priesthood conferred upon them, and to their official calling in the Church. That others than the president may hold these ex- alted titles also conforms to the revealed word of God. For example, speaking of Hyrum Smith: "I appoint unto him that he may be a prophet, and a seer, and a revelator unto my church." (Doc. and Cov. 124:94.)
On March 27, 1836, at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple the authorities of the Church were sustained: "I [Joseph Smith] made a short ad- dress, and called upon the several quorums, and all the congregation of Saints, to acknowledge the Presidency as Prophets and Seers and uphold them by their prayers. ... I then called upon the quo- rums and congregation of Saints to acknowledge the Twelve, who were present, as Prophets, Seers, Revelators, and special witnesses to all the nations of the earth holding the keys of the Kingdom, to unlock it, or cause it to be done, among them, and uphold them by their prayers." (History of the Church 2 :417.)
When others besides the President of the Church
hold the title "prophet, seer, and revelator" it fol- lows that the "power and authority" thus repre- sented are called into action by appointment from the President of the Church, otherwise there might be a conflict of authority. This is well illustrated in the practice of the Church. For example, a man may be ordained a High Priest, an office in which the right of presidency is inherent, but he presides only when called to do so. It is even so with the exercise of authority under these other sacred titles.
The three separate titles in the general titles have much the same meaning in popular usage, yet there are differences sufficiently important to justify their use.
A prophet is a teacher. That is the essential meaning of the word. He teaches the body of truth, the Gospel, revealed by the Lord to man; and under inspiration explains it to the understand- ing of the people. He is an expounder of truth. Moreover, he shows that the way to human hap- piness is through obedience to God's law. He calls to repentance those who wander away from truth. He becomes a warrior for the consummation of the Lord's purposes with respect to the human family. The purpose of his life is to uphold the Lord's plan of salvation. All this he does by close communion with the Lord, until he is "full of power, even the spirit of the Lord." (Micah 3:8; see also Doc. & Cov. 20:26; 34:10; 43:16.)
The teacher must learn before he can teach. Therefore, in ancient and modern times there have been schools of the prophets, in which the mysteries of the Kingdom have been taught to men who would go out to teach the Gospel and to fight the battles of the Lord. These "prophets" need not be called to an office; they go out as teachers of truth, always and everywhere.
In the course of time the word "prophet" has come to mean, perhaps chiefly, a man who receives revelations and directions from the Lord. The principal business of such a prophet has mistakenly been thought to foretell coming events, to utter prophecies, which is only one of the several pro- phetic functions.
In the sense that a prophet is a man who receives revelations from the Lord, the titles "seer and revelator" merely amplify the larger and inclusive meaning of the title "prophet." Clearly, however, there is much wisdom in the specific statement of the functions of the prophet as seer and revelator, as is done in the conferences of the Church.
A seer is one who sees with spiritual eyes. He perceives the meaning of that which seems obscure to others; therefore he is an interpreter and clari- fier of eternal truth. He foresees the future from the past and the present. This he does by the power of the Lord operating through him directly, or indirectly with the aid of divine instruments such as the Urim and Thummim. In short, he is one who sees, who walks in the Lord's light with open eyes.
A revelator makes known, with the Lord's help, something before unknown. It may be new or for- gotten truth, or a new or forgotten application of known truth to man's need. Always, the revelator deals with truth, certain truth ( Doc. & Cov. 1 00 : 1 1 ) and always it comes with (Concluded on page 56)
33
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
The Church Moves On
( Continued from page 3 1 )
To Northern States: Grant B. Shaw, Ogden, Utah; Robert Q. Shupe, Phoenix, Arizona; Leland W. Redd, LaSal, Utah.
To Northwestern States: Norman S. Howells, Salt Lake; Francis G. Tate, Sandy, Utah.
To Southern States: Newel S. Black, Kanosh, Utah; Preston T. Marchant, Peoa, Utah; John C. Knudsen, Salt Lake. From the Tahitian Mission
Released: President and Mrs. Eugene M. Cannon, Salt Lake City; Melvin D. Christensen, Richfield, Utah.
To California Mission: Delmar Braeg- ger, Providence, Utah; Norman Price, Salt Lake City; Howard L. Randall, Ogden, Utah; Ralph J. Richards, Malad, Idaho; Frank D. Sanford, Springville, Utah; Ray- mond W. Young, Ririe, Idaho.
To Texas Mission: Dean W. Haslem, Shelley, Idaho; Stanley B. Vance, Sandy, Utah; Eldon A. Peterson, Lehi, Utah; L. Yale Peterson, Shelley, Idaho.
To Hawaiian Mission: Ray L. Halverson, Salt Lake City. From the Samoan Mission
To Northwestern States: John W. Butler, Eager, Arizona; Van D. Livingston, Foun- tain Green, Utah; Burton H. Price, Salt Lake City. From the Australian Mission
Ralph G. Holton, Ogden, Utah, released.
Bishops, Presiding Elders Appointed
Hillspring Ward, Alberta Stake, Glen Fisher succeeds Wallace Hurd.
St. Charles Ward, Bear Lake Stake, L. Burdette Pugmire succeeds A. Henry Mon- son.
Milford Ward, Beaver Stake, Laurence Peterson succeeds Alvin H. Baker.
Byron Ward, Big Horn Stake, Maurice Jensen succeeds Malcolm F. LeSueur.
Pella Ward, Burley Stake, John E. Bowen succeeds Ira H. Coltrin.
Oasis Ward, Deseret Stake, Lars Hansen succeeds J. Val Styler.
Twelfth Ward, Emigration Stake, Francis
A. Madsen succeeds Howard H. Hale. Hawthorne Ward, Granite Stake, Vern
B. Millard succeeds Frederick E. H. Curtis. Lincoln Ward, Granite Stake, Charles L.
Snelgrove succeeds Willard B. Richards, Jr.
Lincoln Ward, Idaho Falls Stake, Morgan Haroldson succeeds Hans F. Jensen.
Torrance Ward, Inglewood Stake, Wil- ford H. Newland succeeds David J. Ros- siter.
Pleasant View Ward, Malad Stake, Thomas Thorpe succeeds Joseph M. Isaac- son.
Ogden Third Ward, North Weber Stake, Jesse H. Draper, second counselor, tem- porarily appointed to succeed Myron B. Richardson, deceased.
West Warren Branch, North Weber Stake, Ernest W. Cardon succeeds Thomas W. Barrow.
Redwood Ward, Pioneer Stake, Oliver
C. Pederson appointed to succeed Delbert H. Giles, former president of Pioneer Branch.
Richfield Second Ward, Sevier Stake, Wallace H. Sorenson succeeds LeGrand C. Frank.
Clover Ward, Tooele Stake, Merlin M. Johnson succeeds John W. Green.
Belvedere Ward, Wells Stake, Clarence E. Schank succeeds Richard A. Brower.
Benjamin Ward, Nebo Stake, Eugene Hansen succeeds Paul E. Ludlow.
Lyman Ward, Rexburg Stake, Angus
34
Peterson succeeds N. Leslie Andrus.
Rexburg First Ward, Rexburg Stake, Mariner D. Morrell succeeds Hugh A. Wright.
Edgehill Ward, Highland Stake, C. H. Parker, succeeds George L. Nelson.
Emerson Ward, Highland Stake, Lynn R. Fairbanks succeeds David G. Emery.
Taylorsville Ward, Cottonwood Stake, Abram Barker succeeds Joseph S. Bennion.
Roll Call of Missionaries Honorably Released
"pOLLOWiNG are names of missionaries ■*" who in October, 1940, completed their period of voluntary service to the Church in various mission fields. Also included are several names not pre- viously reported since this column be- gan in the Eta.
Argentine: Oren E. Moffett, Ogden, Utah.
California: Blanche Cardon, Logan, Utah; Frank C. Coleman, Spring City, Utah; Pearl Dudley, Vernal, Utah; Charles
D. Leavitt, Leavitt, Canada; Lucy Ann Vaughn, Seattle, Washington.
Brazilian: Grant L. Brooks, St. George, Utah; Howard W. Robinson, American Fork, Utah.
Canadian: Afton Christensen, Raymond, Canada; Ralph T. Howes, Salt Lake City, Utah; George W. Jenkins, Murray, Utah; August C. Lenz, Glenwood, Canada; Del- mar J. Young, Ogden, Utah.
Central States: Lloyd A. Hamilton, Sugar City, Idaho; Helen Hughes, Boise, Idaho; Grace Olsen, Salt Lake; Mae Anna Sor- ensen, Salt Lake.
East Central States: Reeves Brady, Ma- nassa, Colorado; Glenn B. Greenwood, American Fork, Utah.
New England: Vera Howard, Woods Cross, Utah; Glenda Richardson, Mesa, Arizona; Ruth Orlee Tanner, Rigby, Idaho.
New Zealand: Milton A. Baumgartner, Salt Lake.
North Central States: Hilmer S. Peterson, Roosevelt, Utah; Val E. Rigby, Lewiston, Utah.
Northern States: Samuel F. Curtis, Sol- omonville, Arizona; Mrs. Julia S. Hawkins, Long Beach, California; Roe Charles Haw- kins, Long Beach, California; John D. John- son, Preston, Idaho; Madeline Staples, Me- sa, Arizona; Royal V. Wolters, Salt Lake.
Spanish-American: Edith Ball, Rigby, Idaho; John E. Cummings, Salt Lake; Jo- seph W. Dudley, Malad, Idaho; Sue Car- men Jennings, Lame Deer, Montana; Har- old J. Packer, Safford, Arizona; Adrienne
E. Willis, Grantsville, Utah. Northwestern States: Ernest L. Allred,
Lehi, Utah; Ira G. Belnap, Blackfoot, Idaho; Joseph R. Bills, Payson, Utah; Rula Blat- ter, Chinock, Montana; Grant M. Bowler, Logandale, Nevada; Margaret Boyce, Mis-
soula, Montana; LaMont H. Briggs, Fair- view, Utah; Virginia Chatelain, North Ogden, Utah; Clyde C. Child, Salt Lake; Kennedy W. Curtis, Solomonville, Arizona; Joseph G. Fairbanks, Weiser, Idaho; Chris- tie L. Hermansen, Ely, Nevada; Richard S. Hunt, Hunt, Arizona; Juliet Jensen, Rex- burg, Idaho; Thomas M. Jones, Hooper, Utah; Victor F. Larson, Magrath, Canada; Glen T. Nelson, Smithfield, Utah; Nephi H. Nielsen, Monroe, Utah; Ross D. Niel- sen, Riverton, Utah; Lehi B. Palmer, Mesa, Arizona; Elva June Rasmussen, Bear River City, Utah; George D. Rees, Morgan, Utah; Mrs. Fay Brady Slade, Farmington, New Mexico; Victor A. Slade, Farmington, New Mexico; Evelyn C. Sylvester, Elsinore, Utah; Howard F. Taylor, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Melba Thomson, Salt Lake; Arthur W. Van Orden, Lewiston, Utah; Raymond S. Wright, Jr., Ogden, Utah.
Southern States: Wayne R. Brown. Ash- hurst, Arizona; Edith Chadwick, American Fork, Utah; Fred H. Duehlmeier, Salt Lake; Minnie Farr, Mesa, Arizona; Albert S. Gowans, Tooele, Utah; A. Ross Flake, Phoenix, Arizona; Joseph M. Griffiths, Bend, Oregon; Leo G. Hansen, American Falls, Idaho; Harry O. Jones, Lubbock, Texas, Eva Merkley, Vernal, Utah; Calvin S. Merrill, Safford, Arizona; Howard C. Tate, Salt Lake; Glen D. Webb, Tabiona, Utah.
Texas: Myron R. Brown, Rexburg, Ida- ho; Woodward Evans, Mt. Emmons, Utah; William H. Thayne, Brigham City, Utah.
Western States: Grant W. Cooley, New- ton, Utah; Barbara Jean Petty, Nephi, Utah; William E. Toone, Claresholm, Canada.
Hawaiian Elders Conduct County Fair Exhibit
"POLLOWING the example set by the Church in its exhibits in the San Francisco and New York fairs, the Maui District of the Hawaiian Mission held an exhibit in the Maui County Fair in October, 1940. Although the size of the Maui Fair could not be com- pared with its gigantic relatives on the mainland, still much good was accom- plished by the exhibit, which was plan- ned, constructed, and conducted by the Maui missionaries.
Because the booth was located in the Junior Division of the Fair, a youth theme was carried out. Pictures ex- plaining the story of the M. I. A. pro- gram were attractively displayed. Also decorating the walls were scenic pic- tures of Utah, and periodically each day, colored slides were displayed of Utah, and the story of Mormonism pre- sented by the Elders. The booth was always filled with interested people.
■ — Elder D. James Cannon. ■■I {Continued on page 52)
mm
MISSION EXHIBIT AT THE MAUI COUNTY FAIR, HAWAII.
sli
HjtfBoofiHacK
BURIED EMPIRES OF SOUTH AMERICA (William and Dewey Farnsworth, Farnsworth Brothers, P. O. Box 482, El Paso, Texas. Also at Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, $1.00.)
'"P'his is probably the finest available col- J- lection of dependable pictures of South American antiquities. It contains a suc- cession of almost unbelievable pictures. There is a great wall with a chain of forts running over valleys and mountains, cities of large proportions, gems of architecture and sculpture, stone wheels showing the use of the wheel in ancient America, excellent roadways, beautiful golden ornaments, and numerous other things of equal interest. There is also a picture of the recently found tribe of white Indians. A carefully made, explanatory text accompanies the pictures. The book demonstrates beyond cavil that a highly developed civilization existed in ancient America. All Latter-day Saints, believers in the Book of Mormon, will be interested in' this volume, and intrigued by it. It is beautifully printed by Stevens and Wallis, Inc. This collection is really a continuation of the book, Grandeur of An- cient America, by the same authors, which deals with the antiquities of Mexico and Central America.
We congratulate William J. and Dewey Farnsworth upon the production of these helpful volumes, and hope that they may soon find time to add another volume dealing with North American antiquities. — J. A. W.
A VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND (Dr. Thomas C. Romney. The Chris- topher Publishing House, 1940.)
This is a personally conducted tour through some of the most interesting countries of the world: Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. In each country the most notable places and monu- ments are described and interpreted. The author has observing eyes and passes on that which he sees in familiar language and easy style, often with eloquence and al- ways intimately, until the reader feels as if he, also, is one of the travelers.
Since Dr. Romney is a trained historian, he sets forth, in addition, the historical back- ground and meaning of every point of in- terest. This makes this a unique travel book and doubles its value. It is an entertaining and informative book, which will be en- joyed by all who are interested in the Holy Land and adjoining countries.- — /. A. W.
THE JESSE KNIGHT FAMILY- JESSE KNIGHT, HIS FOREBEARS AND FAMILY
(Jesse William Knight. Deseret News Press, 1940.)
NOTABLE men, diversely occupied, but laboring for a common end, have built the Latter-day kingdom of the Lord. Jesse Knight was one of this intelligent, coura- geous, faithful army of followers of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Newel and Lydia Knight, Jesse's parents, of ail-American stock, were with the Church from its beginning, helped establish it, and shared its tribulations. Newel Knight, on his way to the West, laid down his life, a virtual martyr to the Latter-day cause.
Jesse Knight was tutored in the responsi- bilities of a widow's son, and in the hard-
ships of pioneer life. Through spiritual experiences he was given a testimony of the truth of the Gospel which ever remained with him and guided his actions. He turned his attention to mining, informed himself about mining matters, and when he found "what he felt was an excellent piece of mineral ground" he set to work to develop it. His impression proved to be correct. Wealth flowed to him rapidly and in large amounts.
The use that he made of his great means shows that he looked upon himself only as the steward of the wealth showered upon him. Over and over again, sometimes to his own loss, he undertook ventures for the benefit of his toiling brethren and sisters. Not only mining, but farming, ranching, home manufacturing, merchandizing, bank- ing, and many other ventures were fostered by the Knight millions to the permanent benefit of Utah, other states, Canada, and South America. Likewise, he dealt gener- ously with many who were seeking to estab- lish themselves; he responded to the call of his Church for aid; and gave most liberally to the cause of education through the Brig- ham Young University. In all this he was aided wisely, steadily, and faithfully by his devoted wife, Amanda McEwen Knight. He became recognized as a man in whom great- ness dwelt; and the whole state spoke of him lovingly as "Uncle" Jesse Knight. The simplicity, generosity, and unwavering de- votion to the cause of truth of this distin- guished man and his wife were certificates of the noble nature understood and esteemed by all.
This fascinating life story, with its many details of interest, and the story of Jesse's wife, have been well told in this book by Jesse's second son, Jesse Willam Knight. The book contains also biographical sketches of the Knight children. It is a fine, filial tribute to a splendid life and a valuable contribution to Western history. — -/. A. W.
HERITAGE OF THE VALLEY (George William Beattie, Helen Pruitt Beattie. San Pasqual Press, 1939. 459 pages. $5.00.)
THIS is a well-documented history of the San Bernardino Valley, that chronicles one of the colorful movements in the win- ning of the west in an unbiased manner and with a moving human interest. Thirteen chapters, comprising 140 pages, are given over to a discussion of what the authors call "The Mormon Period" which is of much interest to members of the Church and to all students of the subject, and which it is said contains some heretofore un- published materials. Some appraisers of this book have called the chapters dealing with the Mormon period the "high spots" of the book. The authors, well-qualified by training and background and tempera- ment, for the task, have done a highly com- mendable work that will be welcomed by all students of Church and Western history.
— R. L. E.
OUR COMMON HERD
(Sue Sanders. Barton Syndicate,
1940. 261 pages. $1.00.)
This is a story of the Southwest, a woman, and oil "wildcatting" — but it's more than that — it's the story of struggle against what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles, the story of people and what
makes them and what breaks them, the story of Americanism and what it meant before too many of us softened. Our Common Herd is fascinating reading and strong medi- cine for our generation. Sue Sanders has done well with her life, and she has done well with this book, both as a literary effort and as a sermon that is easy to take and hard to forget. We can state that we were entertained and challenged and stimulated by the reading of Our Com- mon Herd with a conviction that few books have called forth from us of late, and we hope many others will share our experience.
— R. L. E.
MRS. MINIVER (Jan Struther. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1940. 288 pages. $2.00)
Mrs. Miniver is one of the most delight- ful persons to step from the pages of a book in recent years. And the reason for her deserved popularity is that she is so much like other women the world over. She goes to the dentist, does Christmas shopping, entertains, just as any normal person does, but she has (probably we should say, the author) such a verve for expressing how she does all these things that to meet her is to love her.
Her three children should also be men- tioned, for they are the kind that make the reader fall in love with their own children all over again— to say nothing of the hus- band, Clem, who has maintained his figure and his looks, in spite of his years.
Mrs. Miniver restores the reader's faith in humanity — and in good novels. — M. C. /.
JACOBY'S CORNERS
(Jake Falstaff. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1940. 242 pages. $2.50.)
Refreshing as a draft of the apple cider which the author introduces into this nostalgic novel of his farming boyhood, this book is a delightful throwback to days when solid virtues were to be admired and sought diligently. In the story, which deals with the visit of Lemuel Hayden to his maternal grandparents at Jacoby's Corn- ners, the author in this posthumous volume has condensed much of his own philosophy and wisdom and geniality to make a tender, whimsical, and altogether loveable novel.
—M. C. /.
WRITING AS A HOBBY (Donald MacCampbell. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1940. 176 pages. $2.00.)
'"Phe author in his introduction makes the •*■ statement, "There are few things more essential to a man's state of happiness than a well-chosen hobby." With this concept Mr. MacCampbell proceeds to tell his readers that writing as a hobby is worth- while. This does not mean that the efforts will ever find a market — and what if they don't, they have satisfied an insistent urge. From this introduction, the author enters into a discussion of several kinds of writing : subjective writing, which includes: memoirs, true experiences, "How to Do" articles, narrative articles, and essays; objective writing, divided into: expository articles, personality stories, newspaper features, {Concluded on page 37)
35
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
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WHAT ARE YOUR WORDS WORTH?
By M. G. Addison
"\T17ords are tricky gadgets designed v" to catch the interest of people. They tempt if they are used to adver- tise; they wake up faculties in man if they are used to theorize. For those who sleep, they have a yet stranger power, akin to pulling down the shades or turning off the lights.
So, be careful of your words!
In the innuendos of selling words lies more power of appeal to people than in most desk-pounding. If you choose your words with the care you use on a magnet in a jack-straw game, you may help to direct the thought of your community.
Coarse, grainy, punch words, that sing or chortle, snicker or shout, will sell. Once the prospect understands the import of an explosive sentence filled with these words, your idea, if it is of any worth at all, is sold. Choose these selling words and you are des- tined for success, the advertising busi- ness, or the diplomatic field.
Then, you know words that catch the gleam of the sun on the mountains, replace the whispers of the wind around the corners of the building, or send shivers through you. You who are users of these words, your pens will write poet or dramatist or story- teller. Beware of these words! Let them mature slowly around your realest ideas, for words of this type deserve depth behind them.
But if your words chug along drolly or turn up all the alleyways for a laugh, then your reputation is certain as a humorist — and that is enough for anyone.
Then, too, you may trip over the five-syllable, "inflated balloon" words that float the ego higher. Choose these, and you may be stopped altogether. Few faults in the English language are dealt with so firmly as these same high- handed words for ideas that hold no substance. Once this language fraud is discovered, no power can restore the public's trust and belief in the writer and his sincerity.
There are also those word-users who roam with abandon through old vol- umes of leaky gazettes, earmark the law books, or study tomes to preach. If you are one of these, your words will be — well, different. Some of them may be good psychological or emotional ballast. But watch carefully that most of them be wise, or the weight of these words will sink your ideas and your reputation.
Choose your words wisely. You will discover their worth.
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 earliest will receive the dollar. None of the ideas can be returned, but each will receive careful consideration.
VJThen sewing on my machine, I take "^ a strip of soft cloth such as flannel and wrap it around the arm of my sew- ing machine next to the needle shaft. This serves as a pincushion for pins and needles used while I am sewing. — A. G. M., Smithfield, Utah.
"\JK7hen ink is spilled on cloth, soak *' cloth in buttermilk, changing often, and the stain will be removed without endangering the color. — E. E.r Shiprock, New Mexico.
T save all my wax paper bread wrap- pers in a pocket near the stove. I use them to wipe off the stove, etc. This saves the dish and dust cloths, for the wrappers can be burned and put out of the way. I also use them to wrap my silverware. It then never tarnishes and is just as bright when I get ready to use it as when it was put away. — E. S.r Eagar, Arizona.
By Barbara Badger Burnett
Baked Spaghetti Dinner
Cook ll/2 pounds spaghetti in boiling salted water until tender and drain. Mix two pounds of ground round steak and one chopped onion. Fry until brown, stirring often. Add one pint bottle of catsup and two packages Chedder Cheese. When cheese is melted, pour the sauce over the hot spaghetti and bake twenty minutes.
Crab Meat in Aspic
1 package salad gelatin (aspic)
1 cup boiling water l/2 cup cold water }/2 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 chopped sweet pickles
1 pound crab meat
1 cup celery, diced
2 drops tabasco sauce
Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water. Add the cold water, and chill until it begins to thicken. Add the rest of the ingredients. Place in individual molds and set in the ice box to harden. Garnish with lettuce and mayonnaise.
Eggs, Dixie Style
Put one can of corn into a mixing bowl; stir into it one-half cup pancake flour; add the beaten yolks of two eggs and one-half cup of evaporated milk. Season with salt
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
and pepper. Beat two egg whites stiff and fold into the mixture. Cook like small pancakes, about three inches in diameter. Arrange browned cakes on a platter. Put a poached egg on top of each one and serve with spiced apple butter.
Cinnamon Rolls
Remove the crusts from thinly sliced bread. Cream one-half cup of butter, one cup brown sugar, and cinnamon together to make a soft paste. Spread on bread. Roll up and fasten with a toothpick. Toast on all sides and remove the toothpick before serving.
Graham Cracker Meringues
2 egg whites
34 teaspoon cream of tartar 4 tablespoons powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 small package cocoanut 1 dozen graham crackers
Beat the egg whites until frothy, add the cream of tartar, and continue beating until stiff enough to hold its shape. Beat in the sugar gradually. Add the vanilla. Put graham crackers on a baking tin; pile a spoonful of meringue on the top; sprinkle with cocoanut, and bake at 325 degrees un- til brown. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan.
Date Sandwiches
Chop two cups of stoned dates; put into a sauce pan with one-half cup sugar and one- half cup of water. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture is thick. Cool and spread between buttered wholewheat bread.
Banana Snow Pudding
1 package lemon gelatin 1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water
Yl cup whipping cream
3 bananas, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice 12 marshmallows, quartered 34 cup powdered sugar
Dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water. Add the cold water and chill until it begins to stiffen. Whip with a rotary beater until thick and white. Fold in the cream which has been whipped and sweetened with the powdered sugar. Add the marshmallows and last the bananas which have been standing in the lemon juice. Mold and chill. Garnish with cherries.
On The Book Rack
( Concluded from page 35 )
book reviews, trade paper articles; creative essays, which includes: one-act plays, greet- ing card verse, juvenile short stories, short stories for adults — both pulp and slicks. In each section the author, himself a literary agent, has given helpful, practical suggestions in addition to a list of markets with their requirements and their rate of payment. This will prove a handy, helpful volume. — M. C. /.
WHERE, OH, WHERE?
(Story and pictures by Tom Torre Bevans,
The Viking Press, New York, 1939. $1.00.)
This story of Patrick and his dog, Dirty, and William's horse, Spots, is the kind of story that very young children will read over and over again — and which will touch even their parents' hearts in the right places. — M. C. J.
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Send the "Era" to your friends and loved ones away from home.
THE ADVERTISERS
and Where You Will Find
Their Messages
Alexandria Hotel 4
Ambassador Hotel 57
Beneficial Life Insurance Co
...Back Cover
Bluhill Cheese Company 37
Borden's St. Charles Evaporated
Milk 61
Brigham Young University 59
Continental Oil Company 5
Deere, John Inside Back Cover
Deseret News Press 62
Globe Grain and Milling Co 37, 61
Hall's Canker Remedy 60
Hovey Press -60
International Harvester Co., Inc 6
KSL ....Inside Front Cover
L. D. S. Business College 63
Lankershim Hotel 55
Mountain Fuel Supply Co 56
Mountain States Implement Co 58
Ogden School of Beauty Culture.... 60
Par Soap 4
Purity Biscuit Company 36
Quish School of Beauty Culture... .55
Red Comet Fire Extinguisher Co 59
Royal Baking Co 55
Safeway Stores, Inc 3
Utah Engraving Co 55
Utah Home Fire Insurance Co 60
Utah-Idaho School Supply Co 1
Utah Oil Refining Co 1
Utah Poultry Prod. Co-op. Assn 55
Utah Power & Light 54
3/
illlelchizedeirPriesthood
CONDUCTED BY THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE — ■ JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH, CHAIRMAN*, JOHN A. WIDTSOE, JOSEPH F. MERRILL, AND SYLVESTER Q. CANNON
Organization, Function of the Stake Melchizedek Priesthood Committee
'T'he stake presidency with the ap- proval of the high council shall appoint a Melchizedek Priesthood Committee with a minimum of five mem- bers, consisting of a member of the stake presidency, a high councilor, a High Priest to represent the High Priests' quorum, a Seventy, and an Elder. Additional members may be appointed if necessary to do well the work of the committee. From the committee the chairman shall choose, with the approval of the stake presi- dency, four assistants — a High Coun- selor, a High Priest, a Seventy, and an Elder. A secretary of the committee may also be appointed.
1. To train quorum officers in their duties so that they might become effective in their leadership.
a. By conducting a monthly leadership meeting with the officers and leaders of the quorums and groups. (See Dec, 1940, Era, p. 744.)
b. By stimulating and assisting them to make their work more effective. (As to the Seventies, this relates exclus- ively to local activities in stakes and wards, and does not conflict with the system of supervision of the First Council of Seventy.)
c. By keeping in touch with the work and activities of all the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums in the stake.
d. By visiting the meeting of every quo- rum and group at least quarterly.
e. By encouraging regular council meet- ings of the quorum presidency.
f. By seeing that instructions of the Council of Twelve relative to quorum activities are carried out.
2. To report promptly to the stake presi- dency any vacancy in a quorum presi- dency.
3. To make a quarterly report and to collect quarterly quorum reports and send them to the Council of Twelve.
Elders' Conventions
'T'he question has been asked whether it is permissible to hold stake con- ventions of Elders.
The presiding brethren have ruled that such conventions may be held quarterly if so desired by the stake presidency. They will necessarily be under the direction of the stake presi- dency and the stake Melchizedek Priesthood committee.
The purpose of these conventions should be to stimulate the Elders' quo- rums into greater activity and to furnish such information as these quorums may need for their best progress.
38
1941 PRIESTHOOD COURSE OF STUDY
npHE Priesthood course of study for 1941 will be a continuation of the book Priest- hood and Church Government. Outlines for the lesson may be found as usual in the Mel- chizedek Priesthood Depart- ment of The Improvement Era one month in advance, the les- sons for January being con- tained in the December, 1940, issue.
ANTI- LIQUOR -TOBACCO COLUMN
Work for 1941
'T'he year 1941 will be the fourth for ■*■ the Church-wide total abstinence campaign. Shall we all resolve to make it the best and most successful year the campaign has had? Will every stake committee resolve that every month of the year shall be filled with a high degree of activity in promoting the in- terests of the campaign?
What can these committees do? Here are a few things:
1. Through the Priesthood members on the committee keep in contact with the presidencies of all the Priesthood quorums — both Melchizedek and Aaronic — in the stake and wards, encouraging them to re- spond to the request of the First Presidency that the campaign be "a project for all the Priesthood quorums, both Melchizedek and Aaronic, charging the quorums with the responsibility of (a) keeping their own members free from the vice of using alcohol and tobacco, and (b) assisting all others to do likewise." {Improvement Era, Feb., 1938, p. 105.)
Hence, the quorum presidencies of all quorums in the Church are to be held re- sponsible for the campaign's reaching all their members. Personal contact, tactfully made, is the approved method of conduct- ing the campaign among these members. Great aids in the work among members are the three booklets sponsored by the Church General Campaign Committee — Alcohol Talks to Youth, Nicotine on the Air, and The Word of Wisdom in Practical Terms. These booklets are still available in any needed quantities.
2. Keep the records, films, and slides received from the General Committee or any of the General Boards in active circu- lation.
3. See that the laws relative to the non- sale of narcotics to, and use by, minors are
enforced. This might well be a unified county-wide movement by all the commit- tees in each of the counties. (In Salt Lake County the committees are actively work- ing on this project.)
4. Keep the campaign alive in every stake by suitable means — projects of vari- ous kinds, distribution of literature, personal contacts, etc.
Let every committee resolve to be active, hold frequent meetings to plan things to do, and then execute the plans.
New Booklet for Distribution
Tn keeping with the plan that each aux- iliary organization in the Church un- dertake a project to further the interests of the campaign, the Relief Society is arranging for distribution throughout the Church a folder containing an article on the "Injurious Effects Resulting from the Moderate Use of Alcohol," by Colonel L. Mervin Maus of the U. S. Army Medical Corps.
Colonel Maus very convincingly treats the subject of the evils and danger to the home life of America, which he claims are inseparably con- nected with the "moderate social drink." This interesting and informative ma- terial should be very helpful to our people in trying to establish the atti- tude that it is "smart not to drink."
Every family in the Church should have access to this splendid article. We congratulate the Relief Society on the proposed distribution through the facil- ities of its organization.
Relief Society Initiative
Tn Bear River Stake the Relief Society ■*■ has set a fine example for other organizations in carrying on the Cam- paign for the Non-use of Alcohol and Tobacco. The General Committee has urged that all the stakes develop means of promoting the campaign in their lo- cality. In this stake the Relief Society has sponsored a project that should be helpful in discouraging the use of alcohol or tobacco by the young people. About six weeks ago the Bear River Stake Relief Society had a number of placards printed, giving the laws of the State of Utah with respect to dis- pensing alcoholic beverages and tobac- co to minors. After quoting the law, this statement is made in bold type: "As the youth of today are the men and women of tomorrow, our imperative re' quest is that the youth of today be protected." Following this are the sig- natures of the bishops of the wards and members of the stake campaign committee. These placards have been placed in every business establishment that sells liquor or tobacco.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
We commend the officers of this stake Relief Society for their initiative and resourcefulness. The campaign will continue to go forward with the active interest and support of such or- ganizations as this.
QUORUM PROJECTS
What Is Your Quorum Doing?
A Quorum's Remarkable Revival
At the November quarterly confer- ** ence of Panguitch Stake the Third Quorum of Elders reported through its president, Ernest L. Ahlstrom, a re- markable revival. A year earlier the quorum was nearly lifeless. Elder Ahlstrom was installed as president. Then planning was begun and soon things began to happen. Following is a summary of the report President Ahlstrom made at the conference:
Objectives were drawn up. To get every member to be active, various things were done. These were accom- plished by the following means: The Church Service Committee contacted every member to ascertain who was willing to take active part in Church activity. These members were all given an opportunity to render service in the Church. Those who were backward and previously inactive were assigned to work projects and social gatherings to work them in gradually as members of some committee or special service. We tried at all times to learn a man's hobby, or anything that especially in- terested him. Those who seemed to have no interests at all gave us some clues by which we could approach them. Those interested in dramatics, for instance, were given positions on the entertainment committee under the direction of the chairman of the Mis- cellaneous Committee. One member who seemed inactive came to life when we learned he was interested in base- ball. A baseball team in the Elders' quorum was talked up, resulting in our having another active member who sup- ports us loyally in all our projects. Such means as these have enabled us to reach out and interest our members.
We also found that some members who were inactive had wives who were more or less active. Therefore, we or- ganized a ladies' auxiliary to the Elders' quorum, having the same committees as the Priesthood quorum. Those women whose husbands were inactive eventu- ally brought their husbands into ac- tivity. This ladies' organization gave invaluable assistance in the barbeque which the Elders put on to raise the money for our seminary. At this per- formance we served between six and seven hundred people. The outstand- ing achievement of this undertaking was that we had activity from every mem- ber of the Elders' quorum, as well as from members of the Adult Aaronic Priesthood.
A project of the Class Instruction Committee was putting over last year's Era campaign. Needless to say, our ward — the Tropic — went over the top. Since Priesthood members are sup- posed to teach their children, they must know what to teach and how to teach, and they were shown how the Era could solve the problem. Thus practically all Elders in the Tropic Ward have access to the Era. If they themselves do not take it, some of their families or rela- tives do. The Era has a great spiritual up-lift in the homes of our members.
The Personal Welfare Committee had its projects. When the green card survey was made, we noticed that a large percentage of our members were receiving aid from the Government in one way or another. Practically every- thing consumed was being bought. No longer were our people self-sufficient. To the quorum presidency this fact was alarming. Therefore we set these ob- jectives :
1. Every Elder and his family to raise a garden. Those who did not have access to a garden plot were to get one from relatives or other members.
2. Every Elder to have a milk cow where possible. Some Elders had two cows or more and the members who wanted cows were thus provided for.
3. Every Elder's family to raise at least fifty chickens, thus providing eggs for the family and an occasional chicken dinner.
4. Every family who could keep a pig was to raise its own pork.
5. Every Elder who had a farm was encouraged to grow wheat and thus have his own flour. This phase of the project failed to materialize because nearly every farmer was signed up with the Government farm program. However, it is possible of accomplishment and we are not going to give up the idea.
6. Building Program. We now have a building program under the direction of the chairman of the four standing com- mittees. The objective of this program is to have every Elder in his own home during 1941. We have one new home practically
QUORUM PRESIDENCY AND WELFARE
COMMITTEE, THIRD QUORUM OF ELDERS,
OF BLACKFOOT STAKE
Left to right: Leeman Jorgensen, President; James Christensen, 1st Counselor; Jack Hatch, 2nd Counselor; Grant Fortran, Horace Herick, and Harold Belnap, welfare committee.
completed. The Elder and his family have moved in and will complete it before winter sets in. One woman has had help to re- roof her home. Another has built a new home and has received considerable aid from this committee. Another Elder has completed a basement of his home with the quorum's help and is now moving into it. We now have two more new homes to construct on this project and three to com- plete, that are now partially done, as well as three to repair. The members desiring homes have furnished the material and the quorum members have assisted with the construction.
We have been negotiating for a saw- mill, but as yet this is not completed. However, we hope to have in our quo- rum either a mill or arrangements whereby our members can work at a mill to get lumber for building pur- poses.
We are looking forward to estab- lishing the Church Welfare Program in our quorum and expect to take care of every quorum member. We are always open for suggestions on how to better the spiritual and temporal wel- fare of our quorum and its members.
Blackfoot Stake Elders
President J. Lloyd Porter of the Blackfoot Stake reports a beet project carried on by the 3rd Quorum of Elders of the Blackfoot Stake. He reports that for some years past this quorum has handled this project successfully. The Elders had five and one half acres of beets with a yield of 107 tons. At the time of harvest, forty-five men, with four trucks, seven teams of horses, and four plows were put to work, and the entire crop was dug, topped, and hauled to the beet dump in ten hours. The following day this same group dug two acres of beets for a quorum mem- ber who was sick. (See photograph, this page.)
Priesthood, Non-Members Join In Bakersfield House-Building
By Ray Baker
Monday, June 10, 1940, saw the be- ginning of a project by the Bakersfield Branch ( California ) Melchizedek Priesthood. The project was building a house and garage, from the ground up, for Sister Ella Myers, a widowed member of the Church.
Previous to the actual inauguration of the project, Harry Carlson, a loyal supporter but non-member of the Church, had hauled a load of lumber from Los Angeles to the site of the building. Forms were made and most of the foundation poured the first day. Work went forward daily with one car- penter and his helper being the only paid laborers, who completed their part of the construction within five weeks. Harry Carlson supervised the building after the carpenter left.
During the progress of construction many trips were made to different localities to secure materials at the most reasonable price. At the Pioneer Hardware Co. in Los Angeles, Mr. Carlson received a 15% discount on plumbing supplies. The owner was very sympathetic with the project,
(Continued on page 40)
39
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, JANUARY, 1941
(Continued from page 39) although he was not a Church member. The truck of brother E. A. Moyes was used to transport the plumbing supplies from Los Angeles to Bakersfield.
A power-saw was offered by Carl An- derson, a non-member, and used during the entire construction of the house and garage. A cabinetmaker, T. Carlton, also a non- member, offered his assistance by doing the cabinet work at cost price. The electrical wiring was done by Vaughn Malquist, a member of the branch presidency.
The greater part of the work was done by Harry Carlson and Chester Barham, an Elder, who worked faithfully until the home was completed. Brother Barham also handled all of the finances and reports, the total cost being: house and garage, $1,675; lot, $375; or a total expenditure of $2,050.
The five-room house is thirty-two feet by twenty-six and one-half feet, modern throughout, with hardwood floors. The kitchen includes tile drain boards and built- in cabinets. The bathroom has a stall shower with a tile back-wall.
The majority of the Priesthood group turned out to speed the construction. Those putting