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DECEMBER, 1943

^OLUME 46* NUMBER 12 RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED *ALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

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i/, up- PePper ( melted butter,

^^^erate oven O?* ** side

i° a m°A SUutes. Bf^Stcd butter. atr tao^ersWab?cabbage^d5

When you serve a roast nowadays, it's a real occasion. That roast should be treated with a lot of respect.

Housewives having newer model Roper gas ranges equipped with "low tempera- ture" oven are "stretching" roasts by cooking at 300 to 350° temperatures. You see, "low temperature" oven cook- ing reduces meat shrinkage as much as %, retains nutritive juices, provides de- sirable drippings for gravy, makes meat go much farther.

Another effective way of using meat

to greatest advantage is to buy those

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I bine them with other foods in a cas-

1 serole dish or similar meat "extender .

M

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A story of struggle and triumph that will warm the hearts and moisten the eyes and strengthen the lives of all who read it.

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DECEMBER, 1943

737

THE CHURCH IN WAR AND PEACE j By ELDEH STEPHEN L RICHARDS j In this book, with characteristic beauty, clarity and force of \ language, one of the apostles of the Church leads the way to ( spiritual security during war times and to wisdom and upright- ( ness for peace. ( A good book to sustain the spirits of men in the military service ( and of their allies on the home front. ( $1.00 AT THE DESERET BOOK COMPANY 44 East South Temple Street Salt Lake City 1, Utah \ "THE BOOK CENTER OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST" j Enclosed find $ for which please send Copies to )	| "THE GOSPEL KINGDOM" By PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR \ A classic of the literature of the Restoration. \ Melchizedek Priesthood textbook for 1944 $2.25 \ AT THE DESERET BOOK COMPANY \ 44 East South Temple Street \ Salt Lake City 1, Utah ) "THE BOOK CENTER OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST" \ Enclosed find $ for which please send Copies to
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\ Address \ Clip out this ad and send it with your order. You Can Be Well Nourished . . . c in spite of food shortages and rationing. j Read Leah D. Widtsoe's HOW TO BE WELL $2.00 \ In this book the famous Latter-day Saint "Word of Wisdom" \ is expressed in the form of vitamin-loaded, health-building, \ appetite-tempting recipes and menus. ) Give mother this book and she will serve you health, strength, ) vim, vigor and vitality. DESERET BOOK COMPANY \ 44 East South Temple Street \ Salt Lake City 1, Utah { "THE BOOK CENTER OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST" ( Enclosed find $ for which please send Copies to
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738

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

By DR. FRANKLIN S. HARRIS, JR.

A RMY doctors have found that novo- **caim, much used by dentists to kill pain, cures sprains very quickly. At one place, since the novocaine treatment was started, only one man has had to go to the hospital; previously the average time was ten days in the hospital.

-♦

P^ragonflies can fly either forward or *~* backward with the two pairs of wings placed one behind the other.

4

\VT hen an enemy threatens the dark-

* * ling beetle, it stands on its head and sends out a stream of poison gas from the end of its abdomen. Gas war- fare is probably best developed among the formic ants. When their nest is attacked, these ants prop themselves up, facing the enemy, curl their abdomens forward between their legs, and fire away with small jets of poisonous spray.

+

/^olor-bundness is usually inherited, ^-* but it may result from injury or disease.

Tn eleven western states the value of •*■ irrigated land is about sixty percent of the over six-billion-dollar value of all farm lands.

HPhe growing season is usually shorter ■*- in the arid valleys of the northern part of the United States than the southern. Yakima, Washington, has 183 frost-free days; Boise, Idaho, 169; Logan, Utah, 155; Albuquerque, New Mexico, 196; Phoenix, Arizona, 295; and Yuma, Arizona, 355.

4 :

Ccandinavia and Finland have sixteen *"■* million inhabitants while the Ter- ritory of Alaska with a larger area has about seventy thousand in a region with the same average latitude. 4 _

HpHE population in Palestine in the •*■ time of David ( about 975 B.C. ) was about three-quarters of a million, and in the time of Isaiah (about 700 B.C.) about a million, compared with about a million and a half at the opening of the Christian era under Roman rule. Professor W. F. Albright's estimates of ancient times may be compared with the population of about a million Arabs and six hundred thousand Jews at the present time. 4

Professor T. T. Read reminds us that A the first iron coins were made in Chi- na almost two thousand years ago; at that time, as now, they were made be- cause of a shortage of copper.

{Concluded on page 742)

DECEMBER, 1943

A Suggestion for Victory

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739

T^lmprouemenrlEra

'The Glory of God is Intelligence'

DECEMBER, 1943

VOLUME 46

NUMBER 12

Heber J. Grant,

John A. Widtsoe,

Editors

Richard L. Evans,

Managing Editor

Marba C. Josephson,

William Mulder,

Associate Editors

George Q. Morris, General Mgr.

Lucy G. Cannon, Associate Mgr.

J. K. Orton, Business Mgr,

7HE 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

^Jke (.editor's f-^aae

With Warmest Good Wishes Heber J. Grant 749

L^/iurch creatures »

Border Incident Ellis T. Rasmussen and John R, Kest 752

Evidences and Reconciliations: LXXIH — Why Are the Words

"God" and "Father" Applied to Several Personages?

John A. Widtsoe 769

To Hear His Voice, David A. Smith .., 745

Mutual Messages: Card Club or

Spingro, Joseph J. Cannon 762

The Church Moves On.— 766

Priesthood : Melchizedek 776

Aaronic : 779

Ward Teaching ..780

No-Liquor-Tobacco Column 777

Music: The Ward Music Guild,

Frank W. Asper.. 781

Lakeview Ward Choir, Alex- ander Schreiner 781

Genealogy: The Weiss Family Tree, Karl Weiss '. 782

Special ^jreatumd

Ancient Prophets and the New Day Levi Edgar Young 750

Pioneer Diary of Eliza R» Snow — Part X... 754

Christ, Christmas, and Santa Claus T, Edgar Lyon 756

The Spoken Word from Temple Square Richard L. Evans 758

The Religious Gap in College... Calvin T. Ryan 760

Exploring the Universe, Frank- lin S. Harris, Jr. ....739

Dona Marina, Interpreter for Cortez, Charles E. Dibble 741

Telefacts 742

Jenny's Letter, Bernice Brown.— 743

Debt of Gratitude, Albert L. Zo- bell, Jr. ..743

"No Cussin' " Says the Army, Lt. Horace J. Gunn 744

The Religious Attitudes of Noted Men, Leon M. Strong. .748

On the Book Rack..... .764

(editorials

Books for Children, Marba C.

Josephson ...765

Homing: Merry Christmas to

You! Katherine Dissinger....770

Handy Hints 772

Cooks' Corner, Josephine B.

^ Nichols 772

Scripture Puzzle Cake, Jesse

M. Beishline 773

God Moves in a Mysterious

Way, O. F. Ursenbach 774

News from the Camps ...775

Index to Advertisers 788

Your Page and Ours 800

Concerning Synthetic Substitutes for Character.. Richard L, Evans 768

Christmas, 1943 Marba C. Josephson 768

stories, l~^oetm} L^ro55word frazzle

oeim,

Baptiste, Son of Bird Woman (Conclusion)

VL

Ann Woodbury Hafen

Glory Is of the Spirit Dorothy Clapp Robinson

A Snowbound Christmas Dinner James P. Sharp

Time Erased, Delia A. Leitner....740 Frontispiece: Christmas Prayer

Winter, Catherine E. Berry 741 and Answer, Thornton Y.

Poetry Page 746 Booth 747

Scriptural Crossword Puzzle 790

757 761 763

AT this season of the year, roads have but one turning— the turning home. The distance may be far, as far as Africa or the Aleutians, and there will be little travel- ing, but wherever they are, men and women will backtrack in their thoughts to the homes they know and the Christmas they remember. This photographic study evoking a wintry but familiar mood is by Harold M. Lambert.

740

Jime (L*ra6ed

By Delia Adams Leitner

HThe little boy that used to be On Christmas morning watched the tree. He hid beneath a man's disguise, But, oh, the sparkle in his eyes.

He watched small son with great

delight And how his heart leaped at the

sight Of Junior opening up his toys, And then — there were two little

boys.

One half past three and one — oh

well, His age in years why need to tell; It did not matter as they played With auto, train, and gay parade.

A circus, games, toy pop-gun, I'm sure I do not know which one Was happier — the half past three Or grown-up lad that used to be.

EXECUTIVE AND EDITORIAL OFFICES:

50 North Main Street, Salt Lake City 1, Utah.

Copyright 1943 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

Salt Lake City: Francis M. Mayo San Francisco: Edward S. Townsend Chicago: Dougan and Bolle New York: Dougan and Bolle

MEMBER OF THE AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS

A MAGAZINE FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

2>,

>ona manna

INTERPRETER FOR CORTEZ

By DR. CHARLES E. DIBBLE

ON the 15th of March, 1519, Cortez, anchored along the coast of Ta- basco, Mexico, received the chieftains and leaders of the Tabasco region. They brought, as presents for the Spaniards, bundles of blankets and twenty Indian maidens. Numbered among the twenty women was the none too well known heroine of the Con- quest, Dona Marina. Dona Marina, al- so called "La Malinche," was called the "Tongue" of Cortez. Dona Marina was the daughter of a Mexican chieftain. While she was very young her father died, and her mother gave her to some Indian merchants who traded her to other Indians of Tabasco. She grew up mastering the Indian languages and

DONA MARINA (LA MALINCHE) INTERPRETING FOR CORTEZ

dialects of southern Mexico. After com- ing to Cortez she quickly mastered the Spanish language and remained by the side of Cortez throughout all his Mexi- can campaigns.

Ever loyal to the Spaniards, Dona Marina was more than an interpreter. Her knowledge of Indian customs and standards enabled her to aid Cortez in outwitting a numerically superior ene- my. Time after time her ability to sense the meaning of Indian ways saved the Spaniards from complete annihilation. At Cholula the conquerors escaped a trap only by the alertness and loyalty of Dona Marina.

Present-day Mexicans look at one of their highest mountains, La Malinche, and remember the Indian girl who inter- preted for Cortez.

WINTER By Catherine E. Berry

Winter, with hoary breath, blows snow- flakes down With gentle touch of white to cloak the

town, And all the trees that stood with bare arms

raised Are hung with silver crystals — -those who

praised The verdant loveliness of spring's bright

flame, Can find no words for this, no glowing

name; Each season claims a beauty of renown, But only Winter wears a regal crown!

DECEMBER, 1943

ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

There is no place, or no one to whom you could send these two companion books who would not welcome them and cherish them, and thank you for long years to come

* THIS DAY. . . AND ALWAYS

By Richard L. Evans and

• UNTO THE HILLS

By Richard L. Evans

$1.50 Each

These brief sermonettes from the nationwide Temple Square broad- casts were published by Harper & Brothers in New York, and have been given wide acceptance by Church members and non-members alike, in all walks of life.

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"' >"< >"' >"< "•» >"' >"< >"' >"' >"<•

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741

ftp U ******

'HOUSANDS of servicemen going home for the holidays will use the facilities of hotels. You can help them enjoy their trip en route home and those few brief hours with their loved ones this Christmas by staying at home dur- ing the holidays. We at the Hotel Utah always welcome your visits, but we know that you want our men in the service to come first — to get the happiness they so well deserve!

TEUFACT

SHRINKAGE OF THE OCEAN

1620

MAYFLOWER

1838

FIRST STEAMSHIP

1938

"QUEEN MARY-

1943

FERRY COMMAND PICTOGRAPH CORPv

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Exploring fhe Universe

(Concluded from page 739)

'"Phe Arctic Mediterranean Sea, as the ocean waters north of Greenland, Iceland, and Orkney Islands are some- times called, is exchanging water with the North Atlantic Ocean continuous- ly, mostly through the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland. It would take about 165 years for a com- plete change of this northern water, however, even with a change of over four and a half million cubic yards of water each second.

has been established by recent study with x-rays of specimens made by J. B. Hannay in 1880.

I^Tan, and most animals with back- ■L"A bones, have both rods and cones in the retina of the eye. Some animals which are active only during the day, have a pure cone retina, while others active only at night have only rods.

•♦

P\iatoms, minute marine animals, can ■L^ not only obtain their silica when dissolved in water, but can also directly from solid minerals such as nacrite.

HPhough the swifts are wonderful fli- ■*■ ers, living almost entirely in the air, their short legs are adapted only for clinging. These birds when they get on the ground cannot get off unless they can fall far enough to get play for their long thin wings.

4 :

"Dussian experience has found that **■ fliers have a particular need of vitamin C since they expend it quickly.

♦

"T\iamonds in small quantity can be *~^ produced in the laboratory. This

T^hough most birds lay eggs deco- ■"■ rated with various colors, those birds laying in dark burrows or holes generally have white eggs.

«♦

HThe average size of comets is from "*• thirty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand miles in diameter, with the size of a comet getting smaller as it travels nearer the sun. The tail of a comet stretches out frequently fifty mil- lion and occasionally one hundred mil- lion miles from the head.

TELEFACT

fi^> U^>^<^^> <£&^t <£&> Ute~>

4 out of every 7 families in the U.S. moved at least once between 1935-1940

PICTOGRAPH CORPORATION i,

742

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

evtviiA 6 c^Lett

er

By BERNICE BROWN

SO

Ovid, Idaho Christmas Eve, 1943

Dear Son: It is so near Christmas here at the ranch that I can almost see the bells standing on tiptoe waiting to ring in the festive day. Evelyn has spent half the evening popping corn and as fast as it grows into a curly white mound, Bobby sticks in his fist and neatly ra- tions it. I don't know what she would do if you were here snitching, too.

The tree looks like bargain day at the Five and Ten. Little Elna super- vised the decoration as always, and the china angels we've had since your first Christmas are kept busy dodging the hodge podge of candy canes and paper chains. Elna was delighted with the results and has just bounced up to bed. I expect to see her sliding down the banister at dawn and racing with flushed cheeks to the fireplace for the purely scientific purpose of determining the cause of her stocking's bulges. . . .

Dad's rubber boots are irrigating the rag rug by the stove. They have more patches on them than our tires. He's just come from the barn. Your heifer wisely chose this holy night to give birth to her first calf, a fine little bull. Dad says she seems quite pleased with her- self and was smugly lapping the wobbly little fellow with her tongue.

The snow is quite deep this year. As I sit here writing, the wet white flakes are pressing damp faces against the windowpane. The window where your service star hangs is bright with holly. I

wish I could send you a few sprigs for your submarine. . . .

Elna begged to play the piano while we sang the carols. Her Christmas spirit invaded the keys and camouflaged the technical errors. Silence filled the places where you used to come ringing in on the tenor. I filled these silences with the echoes of your voice from the first childish warblings to the time when we all smiled (secretly of course) as your voice was trying to leap the hurdles from childhood to manhood when it was a succession of squeaks and bass rumbles. . . .

I remembered the last Christmas you were here. That was when your best girl joined our family sing. Your newly given diamond made a brave sparkle on her finger, tiny snow diamonds still clung to her damp curls, but the bravest, sweetest sparkle of all was in thejshin- ing depths of her eyes. . . .

Last year you didn't receive our pres- ents. You Wfote saying you dldj|'t mind that so mu^i. . . just knowing' we had sent them was enough.

Christmas will be as faded as the robes of our china angels when this let- ter reaches you. But tonight I feel that you will know that I'm writing it. You must know that, though we miss you, we are proud of what you have chosen to do.

So on this evening of our Savior's birth we are waiting at home for you to bring peace on earth.

All my love and a prayer, Your mother.

DEBT OF GRATITUDE

By Albert L. Zobell Jr.

"T'd like to pay another voluntary in- stalment on a perpetual debt. If it were not for the love my forebears had for the gospel, which was greater than regard for family, friends, or any worldly thing, I myself might have been a conquered slave in a long overrun country now.

"That debt, of course, is payable in part in tithing — a full tenth of all my substance. It's been a near-century since the heads of my family accepted the warning testimony of two elders, but

DECEMBER, 1943

the church has yet to send a statement of accounts receivable.

"From the beginning we fared better in this land. Our standards of life have been higher by any method calculated by men than those who saw fit to turn a deaf ear to that message. Lately the dividends have been higher. My home hasn't been bombed, my family and friends, innocent civilians, haven't been casualties of war. . . . Yes, I consider a tithing receipt as a kind of token pay- ment for all the opportunities and bless- ings my affiliation with the church has given me."

ZH/XKEES TXOCO MAR6AX/ME

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UTAH OIL REFINING COMPANY STATIONS AND DEALERS IN ITS PRODUCTS

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If jo L^uMiri

SAYS THE ARMY

By LT. HORACE J. GUNN

Quartermaster Corps, A.U.S.

A recent editorial appearing in a southern newspaper stated that profanity in the army was at its peak. This statement undoubtedly voices prevailing civilian opinion. Ref- erence is frequently made to the sup- posed use of profane and hard language by the army's generals.

It appears that some of our civilians and members of the press are somewhat misinformed. I am an instructor at a school for officer candidates. As part of the course candidates are told to avoid use of profanity or obscenity when ap- pearing before their men. This informa- tion comes from a basic field manual, issued for use by all personnel in the army. It is considered that frequent use of profanity and any use of obscenity, especially by an officer when instructing his men, will result in their losing re- spect for him. In addition, it will lower his own dignity.

Many individuals going into the army seem to consider it necessary to be re- garded as tough in order to be a success- ful soldier and win promotions. That is not the case. In becoming an officer, the use of rough language is not something to be acquired, but avoided. In army life as in civilian life, constant use of profanity and obscenity indicates lim- ited vocabulary and often an utter in- ability to control one's temper.

General George Washington's atti- tude toward profanity is a matter of history:

The general is very sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice here- tofore little known in an American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes the officers will, by example as well as of influence, endeavor to check it — and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope for the blessing of heaven on our arms, if we insult it by our impiety and folly.

Washington's words to his army over one hundred fifty years ago can well apply today.

744

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

TO HEAR II. <\l.

oice

By DAVID A. SMITH

President, Temple Square Mission and Acting President, Canadian Mission

During a tour of the Canadian Mis- sion we found a little elderly lady in a "woodshed at the rear of her home. She was trying to cut into small lengths a pile of wood which had been placed nearby. It was her first meeting with my companions — two elders I had taken with me.

She did not hear us as we approached and was standing with an ax-handle in her hand, the ax-head resting upon the ground. I reached for the ax-handle and as she looked up she exclaimed, "Oh, you are the elders."

The stinging fall breeze was penetrat- ing. After considerable persuading, she consented to go into the house and per- mit us to cut and store her wood.

We removed our coats; one began to saw, another to split the pieces, and the other stacked the wood in the shed. When we had finished, we entered her home. She had heated water for us to wash our hands. Her best tablecloth had been placed upon the little table, which was in a small room used as kitchen and dining room. We made our visit while partaking of the food she had prepared for us. . . .

Later this woman, Sister Morden, left her home to reside with her son and his wife, who lived on a farm about twenty miles from the little town where her home was located.

About the middle of February, last year, I awoke early one morning with a feeling that I should go and see this sister. We had a very heavy fall of snow during the night, making the roads difficult to travel. I tried to use this con- dition as a justification for brushing aside the impression I had received.

After eating breakfast the feeling that I should go was so strong I telephoned the district president and asked him to be ready to go with me.

Upon reaching the road running from the main highway to the farm home, we found it had not been cleared of snow. Taking turns with Elder Willis Taylor in breaking the way, we floundered through the snow above our knees for about one-half mile to the house we wanted. Upon entering the house I glanced at the bed upon which our sister lay. My first thought was that she had passed away. After removing my over- coat and overshoes, I approached the bed and put my hand upon her hand, which was resting uncovered at her side. As I did so I leaned forward and asked if she was awake, for her eyes were closed. Opening her eyes she answered, "It's President Smith. I told Will early this morning that you were coming to see me today. I wanted to see you, and I prayed that the Lord would send you out here so I could talk to you.

DECEMBER, 1943

Early this morning I saw you coming, and I told Will you would come." She was speaking of her son.

I asked why she wanted me to come at that particular time. Her answer was, "I have a favor to ask of you, and I want you to make a promise." I assured her I should be happy to do anything within my power she desired of me. Her request was, "President Smith, the doctor said I cannot live until another morning. My daughter, who is not a member of the church, wants me to be dressed in her black wedding dress; I don't want to be dressed in black. I want a nice white dress like the one Sister Smith made for Sister Collins."

Tt was late that night when we returned 1 to Toronto, but the following morn- ing, with my daughter to assist me, we purchased clothing. Several days later we received a telephone call that Sister Morden had died.

With my wife and daughter, who had been with me on similar occasions, and a companion lady missionary, we called at the home, arriving soon after the mortician had completed embalming the body. The sisters prepared to dress the body. After they had laid out the cloth- ing, the mortician asked, "Why go to all that bother? We cover the body with a shroud, which is all that is necessary." I answered, "This woman believed in a resurrection; she believed that in his own time, our Heavenly Father will call forth this body, cleansed and purified to become again the habitation of her spiritual body, again becoming a living soul. She is going to her grave dressed as she desires to come forth at that time."

He answered, "That is a beautiful way to look at it, but I cannot see it."

The funeral service was held at her home; friends filled the small rooms. After the service, during which the teachings of the church regarding death and the resurrection were explained, those attending passed the bier and looked upon the lifeless form. They had looked upon this woman in life as a strange individual, who had left the church of her fathers to become a Mor- mon. They could not understand that the "same spirit which doth possess our body at the time that we go out of this life, will have power to possess our body in that eternal world."

She is dead, and through life and death has found exaltation and eternal life, for although living alone, she studied the gospel, she paid her tithes and offerings, shared her food with and provided a bed for visiting elders. Her greatest happiness came to her through the gospel of our Lord revealed anew and in the knowledge that death is but a step from mortality into life eternal and to greater happiness than a mortal can suppose. In death she found eternal life and happiness.

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THE PROMISE OF OLD

(A Christmas Refrain)

By Bertha A. Kleinman

'"Phe cedars of Lebanon incensed the night, ■*■ The stars hung their pendants resplendent and bright, And skies of the orient spanned; The hills to the mountains are kneeling in

prayer, A hushed benediction broods over them there — The coming of God is at hand!

A sweet adoration breathes out of the sea, The olive groves whisper the blest mystery,

As angels the message unfold, The lilies that toil not, and neither spin — Are waiting to usher the Holy One in —

Messiah the Promised of Old.

The hills to the mountains are kneeling in

prayer, A hushed benediction broods over them

there, The coming of God is at hand!

WEAPONS

(Ephesians 6:14-17)

By Kathrine H. Williams

"J WANT with all my might to do my part," * The young man vehemently said, "to call One blow my own that fells so great a

wrong , . . Did not the men of other times let fall Their dreams to fight for right! Now evil

shakes The world again, I cannot idly stand! And more! I go with even an elation Of mind! No soldier of the strongest land More gladly seized his saber, shield or

bow . . . Because the hour is later than we think . . . Because the ill is deeper than we know. . . ."

His mother's voice, evocative of tears,

Made answer that dismissed their frailty, "Unloose

The bands of hate, my son, and keep in mind

The weapons that you carry or the use

Of guns were but abuse . . . you win to lose,

Forgetting what the righteous brave have known:

Your helmet is the helmet of salvation!

Your shield is faith! Your sword is Spirit's own!

Your loins are ever girt about with truth!

Your breastplate is righteousness! Oh never cease

To know your feet are shod with the prep- aration

Of the gospel of enduring peace. . . ."

746

YESTERDAY AND TODAY

By Elizabeth Jane Leonard

VT'esterday 1 He was a little lad Afraid of the dark and spooky things; Today he's a fearless, bearded man — In army parlance, he has his wings.

THE MOTHERS

By Gene Romolo

7V GAIN the mothers trim a tall proud tree. *~* They hang a star upon its topmost limb, Symbolic of their Lord's nativity, And placing it, they think of John or Jim The son who charts his way among the stars.

Does not each waiting mother this night

share The Virgin Mother's vigil and her scars? High, high above the earth (they know not

where) Their brave young sons are flying through

the night,

To save man and reconsecrate the earth To Mary's Son, that everywhere, the light That shone so brightly at his hour of birth — The light of life and love may shine again Upon an earth reborn for free-born men.

MODERN CAROL By Mildred Gofi

THE night is hideous with noise of battle in the east. Deck the hall with boughs of hotly for the Christmas feast.

A million homes are desolate; a million

mothers grieve. God rest you merry, gentlemen, for this is

Christmas Eve.

The bombers tear the night apart, their

thunder shakes the sky. Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how still we

see thee lie!

MODERN DAVID By Frances Hall

TLTe often thought how great Goliath stood *■ * And mocked with ugly laughter at the

boy, How none had faith, how shout-provoking

joy Had swept the unbelieving multitude To know the young lad's sudden act had

hewed A longed-for peace. No more need they

employ The sword and shield. No more could raids

annoy Or fear breathe mist across the valley's

good.

And often, too, he came to fierce resolve. "I'll make," he vowed, "my will a valiant

stone To slay the slothful self whose days revolve In pettiness." But still the time went by. The rock decayed. The sling-shot webbed;

and grown To awesome height, Goliath filled the sky.

RADIO MAGIC By Helen Maring

Across a sea and continent, Beyond the war's black worry, I heard a singing nightingale Past midnight's hour in Surrey.

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

Christmas and

By

THORNTON Y. BOOTH

From the fighting front, proba- bly somewhere in New Guinea, comes this Christmas message. The author is formerly of Brig- ham Young University pubtica- tions staff, and now in the Army of the United States {Infantry).

THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE

— Photograph by Adelbert Bartlett

T*\ear Lord:

I can't repeat the usual Christmas prayer When "Peace on earth, good will toward men" is but A tragic mockery. Men seem to care For nothing now except the means to cut Their fellows down. Good will and peace are stored For the duration. And glory Thou On high art given seems in hope Thy sword . Will conquer opposition quickly — now! Is this, then, what Thy angels meant that night In singing "Peace on earth — "? Two thousand years Of carnage, torture, fear, and "might makes right"? "Good will toward men — ■" Does that consist of jeers ( Though sometimes clothed in diplomatic cant ) When conquered peoples ask for charity, Those weak for help, those poor for food? To grant Such boons in truly Christian rarity. Though this may sound impertinent, dear Lord, I ask Thee, wasn't that an unkind touch Of Godly irony, directing toward The earth a peace, good-will pronouncement such As man had never heard before, proclaimed By angel song, yet followed by a score Of war and hate-filled centuries that shamed Most those who claimed to know Thy gospel lore? Is it, then, strange that I am filled with doubt This Christmas, as to what to pray about?

4t

Uy Child,"

The answer seemed quietly to possess My doubting soul, dismissing fear and strife. "The angels' message still rings true to bless Those who will hear. They sang of him whose life Made possible real peace on earth, whose love Best demonstrates 'Good will toward men.' For this, my Son was sent from here above — To live the way of fullest joy, and then, Through power undissipated by one breath Of sin, he blazed the path of glory back Into my presence, overcoming death. He clearly taught the Plan, there is no lack Of opportunity or help for those Who really seek for peace. The thousands who Have found it through their faith in Me, who chose

DECEMBER, 1943

To learn the gospel plan and follow through

With living it, have overcome their woe,

Not gaining just the peace the earth imparts,

But that deep comfort only I bestow,

Of unafraid, untroubled, joyful hearts.

It may be true that there has been more strife

Than peace since angels sang that Christmas song.

If so, it is because men chose such life

As brought on war. Wrong always fosters wrong.

A kind, unselfish heart, a soul that's pure — ■

I, even God, can't give men such a thing.

My prophets can but let them know the sure

Inexorable law of harvesting.

Men have my rules, and for themselves must choose

To gain the blessings by obeying them,

Or, as so many have discovered, lose

Their peace — -their all — by disobeying them.

When men think they are Christians by the act

They go through once a year of taking care

Of fellow men in want, the ones who lacked

Life's goods the whole year through, let them beware.

And nations, hoping to preserve themselves

By turning eyes aside while tyrants chain

Some weaker people, and cruel power shelves

All promises of justice, hope in vain.

The selfish has his joy cut at the source

Because his year-round habits pinch his soul;

While peoples who ignore the tyrant's force

Will find their own loved land his further goal.

And though the war is shattering your world

You still may pray for peace at Christmas time,

If you can keep the flag of faith unfurled,

And let a love-filled heart beat out the chime:

'Good will toward men.' Though you must crush a foe

For his injustice — you will find more peace

In raging strife than you would have with no

Love in your heart, should wars forever cease."

HPhe paradox of peace in war! His word,

Familiar, crossed the centuries: I heard — "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, Neither let it be afraid."

747

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748

•- -THE- -•

f\etialon5 ^Tttitu,de6 OF

NOTED MEN

By LEON M. STRONG

on. Thomas Francis Bayard, Secretary of State in Cleveland's administration, is quoted as say-

H

ing:

Religious liberty is the chief cornerstone of the American system of government. . . . Anything that tends to invade a right so essential and sacred must be carefully guarded against, and I am satisfied that my countrymen, ever mindful of the sufferings and sacrifices necessary to obtain it, will never consent to its impairment for any reason or under any pretext whatsoever.1

Admiral Farragut was a hero of the Civil War. In 1862 he assisted in the daring capture of New Orleans. Just before embarking for the task, he wrote :

I intend to take New Orleans, God being my helper.

Two years after this naval triumph he was assigned to capture Mobile Bay. The night before this successful feat was accomplished, he wrote his wife :

I am going into Mobile Bay in the morn- ing: if God is my helper, and I hope he is; and in him I place my trust. God bless and preserve you, my darling and my dear boy, if anything should happen to me.2

One might hardly expect, at first thought, to find a religious attitude in the intrepid pioneers of early American history. Daniel Boone had helped set- tle Kentucky and had built him a com- fortable home in the wilderness of that state only to be peremptorily dislodged by an unscrupulous land shark who took advantage of Boone's trusting na- ture. Boone had never thought it neces- sary to get a U.S. patent to his land hold- ings. Yet, after being dislodged from his hard-earned property, the old frontiers- man moved to Missouri, unsoured by his saddened experience. Talking to his younger companion when his eyes were fast dimming, he said :

The Lord has dealt kindly with me. I have more than I need and no man can lay a claim against me. ... It has pleased the Lord to choose me as an instrument for the set- tlement of Kentucky, but I think my work was done before I left.

I never had much schooling, Hardy, and you know that churches are not over plenti- ful in the backwoods. I'm afraid my religion is of the homemade kind, and I dare say it wouldn't seem quite the right thing to a parson, but I've used it as a guide through life, son, and it served me well enough. It's just this: To love and fear God; to believe in Jesus Christ. To do all the good to my neighbors and myself that I can, and to do as little harm as I can help. And to trust in God's mercy for the rest.3

^International Law Digest, vol. IV, p. 80 2Gordy, History of the United States. 1925 ed. 3C. H. Forbes-Lindsey, Daniel Boone. J. B. Llp- pincott Co., pp. 315-317

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

^Jke (Ldltord J-^c

aqe

ft

PRESIDENT GRANT PHOTOGRAPHED IN

THE CHARACTERISTIC OCCUPATION OF IN- SCRIBING A BOOK TO A FRIEND. THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN BY BOB DAVIS.

Witk VJ,

armest

ood Wished ana Kjmelmas ot the ^J)eadon

TO MY FRIENDS, MY BRETHREN, AND TO ALL GOOD MEN EVERYWHERE

<d Ljmetivia& or the ^>e

There will be no card this year from me— and so, will you, each and all of you, accept this as my personal greeting. My love and my blessings come with it.

For many years I have sent out cards, books and booklets — thousands upon thousands of them. I don't know how many. One year recently as many as ten thousand cards went out; and one Christmas, not so long ago, I sent out as many as three thousand copies of one book — and many others besides — and through the years there have been many tens of thousands, most of which I have personally inscribed. But no matter how many have gone, there have always been so many more I would like to have remembered — and

this year there are so many so far away, to whom I would like to send greet- ings, and whom I cannot reach — and so I use the Era to reach you all, and would like you to know that it is as though we had clasped hands and spoken greetings to each other.

Always, and more espe- cially at the approach of the holiday season, it is a source of unbounded joy

to me, and fills my heart beyond my power of ex- pression, to contemplate the fact that God our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ have visited the earth and again revealed the gospel to man; this fills me with thanksgiving and gratitude far beyond my power to tell.

Constantly I pray that the Lord will bless each and every one of our sons and our loved ones who are away this Christmas, and that he will help each of them to live in accordance with the principles of the gospel, so that each may have a claim to the blessings of the Lord. I pray that, so far as it accords with the providences of the Lord, each of them may be pre- served from accident, sickness, and death.

Constantly my heart goes out in the deepest sym- pathy for the comforting influence of the Lord to be given to the fathers and mothers of the sons who are in the war at the present time. I pray with all my heart and soul for the end of this war as soon as the Lord can see fit to have it stop. I pray that the spirit of peace and of increased faith may pervade all na- tions, and with all the power and authority I have to bless, I invoke God's blessing upon the church as a whole and upon the honest in heart everywhere.

My wife joins me in the wish that you and your loved ones may have a most enjoyable Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year, and an eternity of joy in all the days to come.

Sincerely,

DECEMBER, 1943

749

Ancient Prophets and the

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Sal- vation, and thy gates Praise.

The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

•Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

(Isaiah 60:1-3; 18-20.)

IT is Christmas 1943. All the years have led up to the present moment, and as we look back, we can see the spiritual strength of early America, when the love of liberty was a great and abiding force in the lives of our fore- fathers. People of America prized freedom of thought and speech, of press and assembly. They were fiercely re- solved to govern themselves, and they knew that this right would have to be fought and sacrificed for. In our on- ward march and growth into material wealth, we have tended to forget these truths because life has been made easy for us. For our sacred truths Ameri- cans left bloody footprints in the snows of Valley Forge. For these truths, Americans perished in their march to open the mighty West. They fought at Antietam and Gettysburg. They gave their lives to the spread of the Christian religion, to science and social service in sheer devotion to the ideal of a bet- ter day. For this better hour, our own men fell in the fury of the Argonne, and as we write these lines, thousands of the youth of America and other coun- tries who love their God, are dying on the battle fronts of the world.

The Prophet Elijah

Eight hundred years before the com- ing of the Messiah, the prophet Elijah came unto the people of Israel and said : "How long halt ye between two opin- ions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him." Through the long process of the centuries, even after the Redeemer of the world came and restored life to mankind and gave them the admonition to love God and to stand for the truths of revealed religion, men have been drifting away until the Chris- tian world has refused to commit itself to revealed religion, and in its "open- mindedness," so much in fashion today,

750

people fear to give themselves to sacred things. In this great conflict going on at the present, it is not only the form and conception of government that are at stake, not only the issue between un- restricted competition and planned co- operation in our economic life, not only our system of education — but civiliza- tion is driven to accept or reject the final bases of morals and spiritual life for

EXCAVATORS

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OF ANCIENT

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BY DIGGING

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OF CENTURIES

at its heart, and subsisted through all its adverse fortunes. The Hebrew re- ligion had a forward look. Though it never forgot past times of divine inter- position and revelation, the golden age of the nation was yet to come, when a "greater manifestation of divine grace and glory was to be given than any other time in the past." When the Israelites were taken into captivity at the begin-

Photo by Underwood & Underwood

which Christ lived and died. The Chris- tian world must rise and hear the words of Elijah of old: "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him." The world must have a larger vision and come to a holier purpose.

Nations Rise Against Nations

HP'hroughout human history, peoples A who have risen to worldly power have made war on smaller nations with the sole purpose of conquering and en- slaving them. In the seventh century before Christ, Assyria, Babylon, and Chaldea marched with their armies to the cities of Israel to conquer and en- slave the people. Jerusalem had become a city of homes. The land was produc- tive and irrigation of the soil made des- erts blossom. When the people were forced to war to defend their homes and religion, there were prophets, who had inward assurance that they were divine- ly authorized to speak for God. One remarkable feature of the Hebrew re- ligion was this undying hope which lay

ning of the sixth century B.C., the inner- most spring of their lives was faith in a supreme Being. They "set their hopes in God."

The Prophet Jeremiah

God's infinitude in the works of cre- ation, his universal providence in his- tory, were preached with great power by the prophets. Jeremiah, the prophet of the Exile, taught the people the words, found in the book of Deuteron- omy: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." The exiles carried with them the Law of one God, and in the teachings of Jeremiah, they learned the worth of the individual man. George Adam Smith writes:

Jeremiah had found religion in Judah a public and a national affair. The individual derived his spiritual values only from being a member of the nation, and through the public exercises of the national faith. Partly by his own religious experiences, Jeremiah was able to accomplish what may be justly described as the vindication of the individu-

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

New Day

Dm f*' resident <=>Levl L^daar Ufowna

OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF THE SEVENTY

al, of his own separate value before God, and of his right of access to his Maker. The prophet was conscious of having belonged to God before he belonged to his mother, his family, or his nation. "Before I formed thee in the body, I knew thee, and before thou comest out of the womb, I consecrated thee." It was in the strength of his solitary experience that he insisted in his famous thirty-first chapter on the individual respon- sibility of every man's immediate communi- cation with God. Though the prophet felt keenly his separate responsibility and right of access to God, he nevertheless "clave to the people with all his heart, and in this captivity he chose to suffer with them."

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, JKnow the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 32: 32-34.)

It was a new era in the history of Israel when the exile occurred, and the year 600 B.C. is suggestive of a period which concerns world changes, as the world was then known, for while the Jews were taken into captivity, many

THE

BRICK FLOOR

OF

NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S

THRONE HALL

Beautifully does he tell how every man should teach his neighbor and every man his brother. This is expressed in the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah :

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, al- though I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

IDECEMBER, 1943

Photo by Underwood 6 Underwood

families left Jerusalem in groups and went to Egypt and other parts of the world. King Zedekiah was a contem- porary of Jeremiah, and during his reign, one Lehi with his family was directed by the Lord to go into the wilderness and finally across the seas to a land which in time became known as Ameri- ca. It is in accordance with this sublime trust in God by Israel that a whole series of prophecies are found in holy writ which speaks of God as the directing cause of this new era, which resulted in the coming of his only Begotten Son, to redeem men from their sins and who

announced the coming of the kingdom of God upon the earth. He should be of the lineage of David, and who as the Messiah, should be the priest of the Most High God and a teacher of the sons of men.

Isaiah, A Prophet of Holiness

Tt was in the school of national adver- A sity and suffering of the people that Isaiah's insight was trained and purified. Then, as it is now, when times were darkest, men longed for light. When tyrants trampled liberty, men longed most for freedom. When oppression bore down deeply, men dreamed most for liberty. When war came, men prayed for peace. Man's ultimate dream is for redemption. . Man's hope is for salvation. Man looks to the coming of the Messiah.

Isaiah was the prophet of holiness. Sitting one day in the temple at Jeru- salem during a period of profound medi- tation he had a vision of God enthroned in heaven. Then it was that he dedi- cated his life to the Lord. His problem was to make his conception of Jehovah's holiness the regulative ideal of conduct. He devoted his life in lifting the nation's religion of ceremonial into a religion of character. Holiness to him was the out- standing characteristic of God, and Isaiah gave to him the title of the Holy One of Israel. Though a multitude of Israel fell away, yet through a faithful remnant, the divine purpose would be accomplished. In Isaiah, sixth chapter, this is all expressed in the glowing light of a transcendent vision.

The Assyrians under Sennacherib in- vaded Palestine and threatened to de- stroy Judah and Jerusalem. Two hun- dred thousand strong, and with a repu- tation of reckless cruelty, this large army inspired terror in the hearts of the people. Isaiah stood before the king and assured him that God would save the city. A plague destroyed much of the army of Sennacherib and the rest went back to their country. It was now that Judah gained control of the valu- able Red Sea trade, which meant com- mercial contact with Arabian, African, and Indian merchants. His work ex- tended over a period of forty years. As resident of Jerusalem, he was a member of the upper class and was a friend of kings. Isaiah ranks as one of the great- est politicians and prophets of all Israel, and in using the word "politician," we mean one who fulfils the definition of Aristotle when he defines "politician" (Concluded on page 780)

751

PEACE PALACE, THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS

Symbol of man's hope

— Netherlands Information Bureau Photo

BORDER

By ELLIS T. RASMUSSEN

and

JOHN ROBERT KEST

Editors:

T am submitting to you two articles dealing with the evacuation of missionaries from Germany in the late summer of 1939, when hostilities were commencing on the border of Poland. The first article is by Elder Ellis T. Rasmussen, a mis- sionary then laboring in the West German Mission, and the second by Elder John Robert Kest of the Netherlands Mission.

By way of introduction permit me to say that one year earlier when it ap- peared that war was inevitable the missionaries from the two German missions were removed, those from the East German Mission going into Denmark and those from the West German Mission going into the Netherlands. When through the efforts of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain peace was tem- porarily patched up, these missionaries returned to their respective fields of labor. It was agreed at that time that if hostilities should come at a later date the same procedure would be followed, this plan being understood by all of the mission presidents who were concerned.

Thursday, August 24, 1939, we were in Hanover holding a meeting with the missionaries when word was received from the first presidency for us to notify all of the missionaries to pack and be prepared on a moment's notice to evacuate Germany. President M. Douglas Wood left our meeting to send this message to all the missionaries of his mission, and we continued without inter- ruption until we were through. Similar notice had been sent also to President Alfred C. Rees of the East German Mission. That night, August 24, 1939, we held a public meeting in Hanover without giving any intimation that any movement of missionaries was contemplated.

Early the next morning word came from the first presidency for the mission- aries in Germany to leave as soon as possible. President M. Douglas Wood and his wife immediately returned to Frankfurt, headquarters of the mission, by air, and Sister Smith and I, accompanied by Elder Arnold Hildebrant, left by train. When I arrived in Frankfurt, there was a message from the presidency instructing me to move immediately, either into Holland or Denmark, and set up headquarters where I could look after the interests of the missionaries and the missions in the impending trouble. There were several remarkable experiences which occurred at this time, but which I need not mention.

That same night, August 25, Sister Smith and I took train for The Hague, headquarters of the Netherlands Mission, feeling that this point would be more centrally located in relation to the missions. When we reached the border of Holland, to our great surprise we were stopped by the Dutch officials, and after some argument we were finally permitted to enter that country because we had tickets for the boat which was to sail in about twelve days from Bordeaux, France. We were told emphatically, however, that we could have but twenty-four hours in Holland.

On arriving at The Hague, we soon discovered that the missionaries who had reached that border had been stopped, that is, most of them. When we learned this, President Franklin J. Murdock of the Netherlands Mission, on my advice, wired President Wood to have all the remaining missionaries in his mission head immediately for Denmark, and this was done.

When I learned that these missionaries could not enter Holland, I saw that I, too, would have to find my way in some fashion into Denmark. To go by train back through Germany was out of the question. To go by boat seemed to be equally impossible under the circumstances. We therefore sought passage by air. When President Murdock telephoned and asked for passage for Sister Smith and me by plane, he was informed that every reservation for days was taken. We asked that the first opening on the plane for Denmark be granted us. It was Sunday, August 27, in the morning when this request was made. In the early afternoon the telephone rang and the word came that two seats had been vacated on the plane leaving that afternoon at five o'clock, or at seventeen o'clock as they reckoned time. We took them and arrived in Denmark some two hours later, thus arriving before most of the missionaries who were leaving Germany arrived. From this point, Copenhagen, the evacuation of the missionaries out of Europe was conducted.

Now for the stories of these two elders.

Joseph Fielding Smith Of the Council of the Twelve

I

INSIDE GERMANY By Ellis T. Rasmussen

glanced into my diary today and found:

752

Donnerstag, den 31 August, 1939; Koben- haven [Copenhagen] : We learn today that we are to leave for America. We have had a wonderful experience in all here, and have been blessed. Now we must leave these good people and goodly lands to what Schicksal [fate] neither we nor they know; we return unto our own homeland, and peace. I am thankful for what I have.

I recall now how we felt about mid- night of August 25, just before the war. Ten minutes late for the last train north, and under the stimulus of a score of newly published Flugblaettev announcing that all railroads forty- eight hours hence would be put at the primary disposal of the rapidly mobiliz- ing army, my companion and I checked our baggage and sat down on the lee- ward side of a little wind-shelter out of Bahnsteig 2 of the main station at Weimar to try to figure out what to do. Trains east, trains west, but none north.

Well, that wasn't so difficult: we simply took a train east, to Halle, where we walked about the streets until 8:30 a.m., bought us a camera, and caught a main-liner out for Hanover and the Hol- land border. That camera was a good idea, we thought; we could take it with us, but couldn't have taken the money which we paid for it. Later on we wished we had the cash.

I recall, too, how the early morning market-goers that day congested the sidewalks about the print shops of Halle. "Drang nach Osten! . . . Auch Dirchau befteit!" Eastward the armies were racing, pushing, blasting their way to "free" the "oppressed" Germans in the Corridor. "Der Hitler, der kann Alles!" — he can do any and everything, some of the market-goers were mutter- ing. Others didn't say much; didn't even shake their heads. Maybe they recalled the other war; we had been well ac- quainted with quite a number of folk who did, vividly, and not pleasantly, and who said wishfully if not confident- ly, "Der Fuehrer will keinen Krieg!" —

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

NCIDENT

^v storu from the missionary euacuation in (L-urope in 1939 when war stood on the threshold

he knew what war was; he would bring them into no war! Thinking of them, we saw but pathos in the tranquil coun- try scenes we traversed, in the mother and her babe scratching about the cab- bages near their frugal little Garten- haus, waving to us. We felt it pathetic that she and her babe should seem sym- bolic to us of the coming loneliness many were probably to suffer. Another young mother in our compartment in the train was taking her babe to grandma's. Yes, he had left last night, she answered the woman next to her; and they said little more — just looked out the window, but none of the swift-rotating landscape caught their attention. We supposed they were just looking because they were expected to impress us, whoever we might be, that they were proud their men had gone.

From Hanover, where we first were able to find seats, or even to crowd into a compartment out of the hallway of the car, we listened to young men talk. But they didn't say much either; they didn't even ask us where we were go- ing, or where we had come from. Every- one usually did that, at least, over there.

TI7e rolled on toward Holland, hardly * * feeling we were leaving it all. We ate a luxurious omelet in the diner; a mark and thirty-five pfennige wasn't many cents at our exchange. There weren't many omelets being served.

At Bentheim, all went well. It was our last stop in Germany, and we now had

gathered some other missionaries as companions.1 We checked over our sur- plus cash ( everything above ten marks ) ; sent it back to someone to hold it for us for a time; perhaps we'd be back to use it later. Some of the brethren sent all they had, thinking it would be useless in Holland anyway.

We looked for the border as we passed, but saw little to mark it. There was a visible line of barbed-wire barri- cade with little concrete obstructions meant to stop tanks — such as I had seen earlier on the former boundary between Austria and Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia.

Our baggage passed inspection — they merely asked most of us what was in it — and was loaded on for Rotterdam. Then came our first occasion to wonder. The man that had taken our passports a mile out from the Dutch station came with them and told us to follow him. We followed him through our Schnell- zugt out the other side, and into a little motor-train beyond, where he gave us back our passports and we started east! Didn't he know who we were? Hadn't someone told him we would be cared for by the church if necessary, and that we didn't intend to stay long in Holland? We tried to learn the cause of our "de- portation" back to Germany; best we could find was that some sort of blanket- rule prohibited us from coming into

iAmong the group now were Elders Rayo Parker, William Thayne, Clayton Larsen, W. Haws, Frank Knutti, and I.

■■'■■".'■ .'.'■.'.'. ■ .■':'■■'■-.■■'■.■"."■.■■"-■. ■-■".■ ■' ' ■ ■ ■■.-■■■■.: ■■ ■'. ■ :■/ '■: ■■-. ■.■ ■'-: ;■■■■ ' ■ ■.■■.■"■. ■."/.■'■ ■ .■ ■ ■

Holland unless we had steamer tickets to take us on out. Well, we would get steamer tickets if necessary! No use; we were no exception.

Back in Bentheim we chose a spokes- man to call The Hague and ask Presi- dent Murdock of the Dutch Mission whether we were the last left in Ger- many and what we should do. He wasn't in, but would call when he came. We waited. Night came on — twenty- four hours had passed- — and we heard nothing from anyone. We pooled our souvenir marks and took rooms in a hotel for the night, as border police didn't like us around the station waiting- room. We left instructions to forward our awaited telephone call.

XT ext morning we pretended it was •^ Fast Day to save our waning money for emergency use. No call. We wan- dered down to town about noon and bought a bag of Broetchen [bread rolls] and a jar of jam. Served up with Hitler- Jugend knives for cutlery, it filled the hungry spot for a while. Still no call. We decided to go down and try the border again. We didn't know, of course, that Elder Kest of the Dutch Mission had been trying all day to do something for us on the other side, for the station attendant on our side hadn't reported that a call had come for us. We couldn't cross the border; we could- n't go back; we couldn't call Frank- furt; we knew of nothing we could do. But then, there had been other mis- sionaries in more difficult spots, as we knew; we thought quite a bit about some of the brethren who had been called to foreign lands and of the promises made to them, according to our Doctrine and Covenants.

Well, it came. Just as we were about to leave, in walked Elder Kest. I must leave you to his story (p. 793) as to how he crossed the border without a German visa in his passport, passed in- spections without surrendering the tick- ets he was bringing to us, and arrived at the crucial moment. . . ,

Then I recall studying a Kursbuch of all the train schedules in Germany in hopes of finding a train on which we could proceed inland and toward Den- mark. Elder Kest merely explained that few of the brethren were in Holland and that no more could come in, as no foreigners were being admitted. We hoped Denmark wouldn't be that way!

All I got from the Kursbuch and the information desk was that the last train through had left for the day. That night, our forty-eight hours would be up. So we decided to try a local train to Salz- bergen, and hope for something there- after. . . .

The gateman at the tracks asked us where we were going. "Nach Osna- btueck," we said. "Not with this ticket!" Not with that? How then? He looked the booklet of tickets over, turned the ( Continued on page 793 )

DANISH LANDSCAPE "War seemed far removed.' "■Photo C. M. Newman

DECEMBER, 1943

753

Pioneer

jam

■

DIARY

1847-

Part X -Nearing Fort Laramie

Thursday, August 5. Last night, Taylor's com. which we pass'd at noon, crowded onto our herding place — the herd mixed, 6c. We started this mor. after them 6 pass'd them 6 sevferal] other com[panie]s — pass'd a lot of Indian huts — sevferal] Indians came out to meet us — all quiet — as we came up in the rear of C, C. Rich's com. the road on the left in which we trav. being vacant, Capt. Tfaylor] trav. in it. Br. Duel from the right came over 6 crowded in 2 wagons; ex- cept this, all was harmony. We en- camp near the fording place. At eve Capt. Peirce returns to the wigwams or rather tents — finds French gentle- men at supper with Indian servants — the meal consisted of light bread, coffee 6 meat serv'd on the ground with the tin dishes, 6c. We have a sprinkle of rain — very dry; Indians visit us. Trav. \2]/2 ms.

Friday, August 6.1 Cross the river which here has a stony bottom. We cross below the old Fort — both are built of unburnt brick. We go 5 miles be- yond 6 encamp before 12. Capt. [Jed. M.] Grant having sent for us to stop till they arrive. Ch[arles] Dfilworth" 6 Br. Ellsworth go to P[arley P." P[ratt] for permission for some to leave the Comfpany] 6 go ahead— he throws the responsibility upon Capt. [Jos. B.] N[oble], who will not take it by giving consent, 6c, 6c, 6c The feed good on a little island — we have plenty of wood 6 water 6 before bed- time we flatter ourselves, (i.e. Sis[ter] Peirce 6 myself) that the go ahead feeling will be subdued 6 all stop 6 recruit the teams, repair wagons, 6c.

LThe apostles in the Great Salt Lake Valley re- newed their covenants by baptism, and the rest of the company soon after followed their example. In- cluding the detachment of the Mormon Battalion and Saints from Mississippi, who had arrived a few days before, there were about 400 souls in the Valley.— Journal History

754

FORDING THE PLATTE

"Like meeting an old friend," writes Eliza R. Snow as the company makes one of several crossinos of the Platte River, whioh, as a tributary of the Missouri has flanked the pioneer route all the way from Winter Quarters, continuing past Ash Hollow, Chimney Rock, Scott's Bluffs, Fort Laramie, and Red Butte as the North Platte. From Devil's Gate the pioneer company will follow an arm of the Platte known as the Sweetwater River.

—From a painting in the Scott's Bluff Museum. Photograph by George Strebel in the Brighton Young University 1936 Art Caravan collection.

Moth [er] Chase 6 I have a treat in the eve. Jacob Cloward baptiz'd, 6c My health much better. A Spaniard supp'd with us, John Taylor enc[amped] on the other side the Island.

Saturday, August 7. All is well — may our union increase — but some things seem calculated to call up the feelings of the human heart 6 show the selfishness of man. Some of us at least feel somewhat indignant in consequence of a letter from Capt. G[rant] to P[ar- ley P.] Pfratt] stating things deroga- tory to the benevolent feelings of the 1 st 50 — whether true or false may here- after be proven. It is nearly night when they arrive — Capt. G[rant] sick — I took dinner with Sis. Holmes 6 supp'd with Sis. Noble.

Sunday, August 8. A little shower at noon which is a rare thing in this coun- try— the sisters of our com. have a meeting. Sis. Taylor 6 Leonard come. The Lord pour'd his spirit upon us in a copious effusion — sis. Riter receiv'd the gift of tongues. A move made to start in the eve, but the cattle mix'd with other herds 6 takes too long to find them. Sis. P[eirce] blest M[argaret] at our meet. 6 in the gift of tongues 6 united our hands, 6c

Monday, August 9. Move on — leave the 2nd 50 doing their blacksmith work with coal that father Chase burnt for us, 6c. We are now among the much cele- brated "black hills" — pass Capt. Ed- ward Hunter 6 find that P[arley P.] Pfratt] has gone on — we stop by the river where we find a patch of grass, currants 6 buffalo berries — the country

here is rugged enough — drivers feed with scrubby pine, hemlock, cotton- wood, 6c, very thinly scattered, with bluffs presenting the appearance of well fortified castles, the inhabitants of which exclude themselves from our view, altho' 2 grizzly bears had been seen. Last night had a fine shower. Travfeled] 5^2 m[ile]s.

Tuesday, August 10. We had a fine show'r in the night — this morfning] while waiting for Capt. G[rant] to come up, that he 6 Prest. [John] Yfoung] — who have trav. with the other 50, might go with us. M[argaret Peirce] baked 2 berry pies, the qualities of which are yet to be tested. We had a treat of wild goose for breakfast, which Sis. Wiler's driver kill'd last night. The road today is very hilly 6 rocky but hard, 6 we are not annoy'd with dust, stop 6 dine on our pies 6 milk- — no feed for cattle— I rode with sis. [Jedediah M.] Grant in the after- noon— she is quite feeble — cross'd some beautiful little streams towards night — one warm spring in the morning— was amus'd to see the high peak which was said to be 50 ms. this side Laramie, sur- rounded with a white cloud, at some distance from the summit. We encamp 30 m[ile]s from the F[or]t.

Wednesday, August 11. We cross the stream on which we encamp 'd last night — I am sick all day — the road rough — considerably between bluffs — enc[amp] on a stream near "Kimball's Springs" of good cold water. [Gen. Chas. G] Rich comes up, trav. 15 ms.

Thursday, August 12. Cross the stream 6 en [camp] — find more cold springs 6 plenty of wood — sis. Mary N [oble] gives birth to a fine girl in her wagon. I din'd with Sis. Wiler on tea 6 light biscuit. The 2nd 50 come up. Charcoal was burned for the camp blacksmiths, and five gallons of tar made by one of the companies.

Friday, August 13. Spent the day with Sis. N[oble], Her babe not well. [John] Taylor and [A. O.] Smoot come up — Sis. Hunter calls, informs us of the hail-storm which last eve[ning] threat- en'd us, but pass'd round — she said the stones were large as small walnuts 6 whitened the ground.

Saturday, August 14. Sis. [A. O.] Smoot called on me in the mor[ning]. They had 10 horses 6 2 colts stolen by the Ind[ians] night before last. I din'd with Sis. Leonard on pot pie — gave no-

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

OF

C^llza IK. •

now

tice to all the 100 & met in the aft[er- noon] for worship — had a glorious time. 3 receiv'd the gift of tongues — the "spirit of the Holy Ghost" was truly pour'd out — last eve the young people met for a dance & br. Baker's boys & others intruded with much insolence — they are tried this eve before the bish- op's court, &c, &c. This 50 burn a coal pit — the 2d 50 are having their work done that they may start tomorrow — we are also manufacturing tar — Capt. [A. O.] Smoot's Com. made 50 gal- lons].

Sunday, August 15. The 2d 50 start — sis. [Loven] Weeks sent for me — I spent sevferal] hours with her — call'd on sis. Holmes — din'd with sis. [Amos H.] Neff— vis[ited] sis. Grant & N[oble] after walking to the tar pit, &c. Capt. P [eirce] loses an ox — yester- day] saw M. Forsgreen & Sister F. Granger pass sitting in the front of the wagon— [P. P.] P[ratt] & J[ohn] Young, start for the Pioneers,* very blustering in the aft[ernoon] but no rain of any consequence.

Monday, August 16. A motion was made to start — when the cattle are

sTo meet President Brigham Young and company returning from Salt Lake Valley on the way back to Winter Quarters.

brought up, 16 are not to be found — do not find them thro' the day. William [Baldwin] is out on foot & alone for his ox which is gone with the rest — we feel very anxious for him on account of the large wolves & Indians. I go to Mothfer] Chase's — hear that Pioneers [Pres. Brigham Young's company] have arrived at the upper camps — that the City [Salt Lake City] is laid out 6c. Sis. H. [ ? ] calls while we are having a rich treat from on high, call on sis. Weeks — find her better — sup at home on a rabbit pot-pie.

Tuesday, August 1 7. The men go in search of the cattle. The sis[ters] meet in the grove for prayer — we have a time not to be forgotten. Bless the Lord, O my soul, yea, I do praise him for the gift of his holy spirit — before I got out of the grove, I heard that the breth- ren] were on track of the cattle — went home with sis. Young, read the letter from the Pioneers by Porter of the Pioneers & Bro. Binley of the sol- diers— the letter brought the most cheering int [erest] , dated Aug. 2d, stat- ing that they were in the beautiful val- ley of the Great Salt Lake, that they had that morning commen c'd surveying the City — that it is "a goodly land' & their souls are satisfied. The soldiers from Pueblo & the breth [ren] from Miss [is- sippi] have arriv'd & they number in all 450 souls & know not one dissatisfied — I din'd with br. [John] Y[oung] & lady & L. Robinson from Rich's Camp. Sis. P[eirce] sick in consequence of poison which is effecting her hands & face, the sis. remember 'd her in their meeting— she heard from her son — that he was well — had not been home- sick— that Prest. Y[oung] was going to keep him on his side, &c, which com- forted her. We have a smart sprinkle of rain near night— Prest. [John] Young, Capt. [Jedediah] Grant & Capt. Noble rig themselves for herding — they go out and bring in the herd which Cap- tain P [eirce] recommended but was oppos'd in. My heart was made to re- joice at seeing our 3 head officers united in one thing — it surely is in accordance with the prayers of the sis. This morn-

THE PIONEER JOURNEY

Dates on the map are those on which the advance company under Brigham Young arrived at these points, but the route is the same described in the diary.

DECEMBER, 1943

ROBERT PE1RCE

Often mentioned in the diary, he was captain of the ten and head of the family1 with which Eliza traveled. From an old tintype.

ing Sis. Gfrant] is better — thinks the pickled pork I obtain'd of I. Ashby did her good.

Wednesday, August 18.* Capt. G[rant] started early to meet the men who are in pursuit of the cattle — com- menc'd raining about noon — Sis. P[eirce] is better — the men do not re- turn.

Thursday, August 19. Last night rained in the forepart — between 1 and 2 our cattle brake [break] from the yard — the men go in pursuit & return with them in the mor[ning]. One of Capt. Pfeirce's] not to be found — after consulting, it is thought best to move forward with what strength we have. Capt. P [eirce] goes in search of his ox & we are waiting after the other Tens leave. Sis. Wiler brings me a bowl of tea while waiting in the horse- less buggy. The Lord bless her for all her kindness to me. My pray'r for the Camp is that God will pour out his Spirit upon us — we seem to have the most difficulty when the most officers are with us. O Lord! fill them with thy Spirit — unite their hearts — incline them to seek unto thee for thy blessings to rest upon this people — may we uphold them by the pray'r of faith. Capt. P [eirce] finds the ox that stray'd last night & we go on — ascend a hill where every team has to double. Capt. P [eirce] 's horses gone after the cattle — he fastens the carriage to a wagon — the women walk. I ride with br. Hend- ricks. Sis. Love is run over with a heavy loaded wagon.4 We encamp be- fore night on a small creek — I bake the pancakes for supper — rains quite a show'r before we get supper. M[ar- (Continued on page 783)

sNearly half of the 143 original Pioneers left Great Salt Lake Valley with ox teams, on their return to Winter Quarters for their families, with Brigham Young in charge of the company. August 26 the second company of returning Pioneers left for Winter Quar- ters, where they arrived October 31. — Journal History

4 A Sister Love was run over by a wagon loaded with sixteen hundred pounds. One wheel ran over her breast. She was administered to and was around again in a day or two. — From Kirtland to Salt Lake City, p. HO

755

CHRIST, CHRISTMAS,

By T. EDGAR LYON

Associate Director, Salt Lake L.D.S.

Institute of Religion, University

of Utah

No custom is more universally cele- brated by Christians than that of Christmas — a festive occasion in commemoration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Strange as it may appear, however, Christians in various parts of the world are not agreed concerning the date of the Savior's nativity. The mem- bers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participate in the Christmas celebrations traditional in those lands in which they live. They do not, however, accept such occasions as the actual date of the birth of Christ. From modern revelation they know that April 6 is his natal day.1 In various early periods of the Christian era it has been observed in January, March, April, and May.2 Even in this country the ma- jor divisions of Christianity are not agreed concerning this day, some cele- brating it in December, others in Janu- ary. The uncertainty of this date is attested by the prefatory note to the Roman Catholic Christmas masses:

The exact day of our Lord's birth on earth has never been revealed to us; but the Roman Church has, from early ages, set apart for its solemn celebration the twenty- fifth day of December.8

In early days of the Roman Church, December 25 was observed as the day of St. Anastasia, a Christian martyr. It was not until late in the fourth century (apparently 353 or 354 A.D.) that the Roman Church first designated Decem- ber 25 as the day to commemorate the birth of the Messiah.

Why was this done? Apparently the explanation is to be found in the fact that in nearly every western land of the northern hemisphere the closing days of December had, from time im- memorial, been the days for the year's greatest festivities. In some northern lands it was the celebration of the winter solstice, when the sun, as it were, was born again. In others, it was the feast of Yule (Jule, Iol, or Iul) in honor of the pagan god, Thor. Romanized lands celebrated with much merriment the Feast of the Saturnalia after De- cember 7. Jews celebrated the "Feast of Lights" ( Feast of Dedication ) from De- cember 17 to December 25. Mithraism, one of the most widespread of the an- cient mystery religions and one of the most serious competitors of Christianity in the early centuries, celebrated the birthday of its god, Mithras, on Decem- ber 25.

doctrine and Covenants 20:1

2Mathews and Smith, A Dictionary o[ Religion and Ethics, p. 96

8F. X. Lasance, The New Missal for Every D*g. p. 169

756

and S^avita L^ic

In view of these already widespread customs of feasting and celebrating at this season of the year, and the firmness with which these customs were rooted in the lives of the people, it is no wonder that the Christians superimposed the celebration of Christ's birthday upon this season. By so doing, they accom- plished three things. First, they capital- ized on the traditional period for festal experiences and made it a season of Christ-centered rejoicing. Second, they weakened the influence that surviving paganism might have on new converts to the Christian church by offering a substitute for their customary pagan celebrations. Third, they retained, but re-interpreted, gift-giving, prayers, sac- rifices, use of lights, colors or other symbolism wherever they had been part of the pagan ceremonies, giving them a significance referring to Jesus.

An acquaintance with the customs connected with the celebration of Christmas in European lands in this century indicates, however, that while the observance of the Savior's birthday has been adopted as December 25, the old pagan forms were never entirely overcome. For instance, the use of straw goats during the Christmas sea- son in Sweden is evidently a survival of an ancient pagan fertility cult; the Yule Log is another un-Christian symbol; the fruit or Christmas cakes of most lands, and the use of mistletoe and holly are

au5

yet other festival symbols which sur- vived into Christianity for no good reason, except that they were deeply rooted in the social customs of the peo- ple.

With the passing of the years, under the teachings of the church leaders, people gradually forgot the ancient pagan celebrations. They entered into the colorful ceremonies of the Christ- mas season and, after a generation or two, December 25 was accepted in the public mind as the real birthday of the Savior. The newer generations soon forgot the pagan significance of many of the customs they observed in con- nection with the activities of the holiday season. In each land distinctive tradi- tions were perpetuated and new ones developed, until in modern times Christ- mas customs in the different Christian lands are more varied than the lan- guages of those nations. The date of Christmas was about the only thing that all of the lands had in common.

Tn America we are guilty of having * made an addition of doubtful value to the Christmas celebration, namely that of Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus. How did this intruder become identified with the Christmas celebration to such an extent that he has almost crowded Jesus out of the Christmas season? St. Nicholas, according to tradition, was Bishop of Myra, Lycia ( Asia Minor ) , in the early fourth century. He was a man of wealth who used his money to do good deeds, but swore those whom he aided to secrecy. He especially pro- tected and befriended students, and pro- vided the dowries for daughters of im- poverished parents, that they might mar- ry to their best advantage.

Following his death, many tales were told by his benefactors concerning his magnanimous deeds, and numerous traditions grew up concerning him. He became a saint through popular acclaim and was adopted throughout Europe as the patron saint of boys, girls, students, young ladies seeking suitable marriages, bankers, pawnbrokers, and sailors. So great was his popularity that at one time he was probably revered more than any other saint, with the exceptions of Peter and Mary.

He became the patron saint of Russia and of many of the Italian and Spanish seaports; numerous church edifices in France, Belgium, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries were dedicated to him; in England alone more than four hundred churches were named in his honor.4 His day, in accordance with the Calendar of Saints commemorated by masses in the Roman Catholic Church, is celebrated December 6.

(Continued on page 791 )

Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 16, p. 416

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

BAPTISTE <? IJ2.JUJ

oman

ANN WOODBURY HAFEN

Cynopsis of Part I: The youth, Baptiste, ^ son of the Frenchman Charbonneau and the Shoshone maid Sacajawea, who won fame as the guide of the Lewis and Clark expedition into the great northwest, has come to St. Louis to seek permission from General Clark, now in charge of the Indian affairs of the west and self-appointed guardian of Baptiste, to go to Europe with Prince Paul, German explorer who has taken a keen per- sonal interest in him. General Clark sees an overseas stay as the means of giving Bap- tiste skill in many languages, an understand- ing of many peoples; he visions him becom- ing the West's foremost guide and inter- preter, promoter of good will between red man and white. The general gives his assent, while his thoughts go back in swift review of that marvelous expedition on which Baptiste, as papoose, had accompanied the explorers to the Every-where-salt-water — the upstream haul in the pirogues, the narrow escape from cloudburst in a ravine, the friendly meeting with Sacajawea' s own peo- ple in the Stony Mountains, and the final wondrous descent of the Columbia. There on an inlet near the mouth of the river, the explorers had camped for the winter. . . .

Part II (Conclusion)

Through the long months Baptiste learned to toddle about on sturdy legs and even to dance at the sound of the fiddle. He helped his father cook elk steaks before the fire. He tugged at the new buckskin shirts and elkskin moccasins which his mother seemed forever to be sewing. He rolled his black eyes when the young men jollied him. And he clapped his hands whenever Clark paused in his endless writing to take the little fellow on his knee or to toss him in the air.

Once Baptiste went by boat down to the big ocean where a whale had been washed ashore. Already the Indians had stripped its bones. When Baptiste and his mother saw Captain Clark stand up- right in its open mouth, they were frightened at the hugeness of the bony cave. Some ecolay, fat of the whale, the travelers carried back to the fort to vary the flavor of lean elk meat on which they were subsisting.

Since food was none too plentiful in the explorers' camp, with early spring the party started homeward toward St. Louis, over two thousand travel miles away. The bearded long-haired men now wore new buckskin clothes made Indian style — long hunting shirts, leg- gings, and moccasins.

When they reached the Stony Moun- tain country it was root-digging time. Consequently, they could not find Saca- jawea's people, who had journeyed to the root grounds.

DECEMBER, 1943

— Illustrated by John Henry Evans, Jr.

ONCE, FOR ELEVEN DAYS, HE WANDERED ALONE, LOST IN THE WILDS, DRINKING WATER FROM A BEAVER SKIN HE HAD FILLED.

Through the dangerous Blackfeet country the explorers made their way on horses until they reached the Mis- souri waters. Then in boats which they had cached on the outward journey, they floated down the river. Swarms of huge mosquitoes hovered over the water. Sacajawea brushed continually to keep her baby from their hungry bites. When endless lines of buffalo swimming the river held up the boat's passage, the buzzing insects were almost unbearable.

At last the expedition was safely back at the Mandan Indian villages on the Missouri River, where the Charbon- neaus first had joined the explorers. Be- fore departing for St. Louis, Captain Clark perched young Baptiste upon his shoulders, and as he capered with the laughing boy he asked:

"Charbonneau, why don't you let me have this little fellow? I would rear him as my own son, educate him. I'd make of him the best interpreter of the West. I'd—"

But at the look of fear that came into the young mother's eyes he stopped. "Perhaps when he is a little older you might let me have him then. Of course, he is too young to leave his mother now."

Scarcely had Captain Clark gone his way, when he dispatched a letter urging Charbonneau to bring his family down to St. Louis to live, where Clark might oversee the boy's education.

Coon, Baptiste with his father and *^ mother were floating down the great river to the strange city of the white men. For the next few years, while his father went off on trading expeditions, Baptiste and Sacajawea remained under the care of the kind redhead captain. Sometimes the boy's tutor was a Cath- olic priest or a nun. Sometimes it was a Baptist minister. But the young half- breed went on learning as the white boys did. With quill, ink, and paper he practiced to become the skilful penman. His lessons were taught to him in French, the language of his father. He came to wear the hat and shoes of the white boy, to share the games of his white playmates. Clark, who had loved the dancing boy, Baptiste, of the over- land journey, grew to love the bright- eyed lad of promise.

Thus, with occasional visits to the

wilds, went the life of Baptiste. All

agreed that he must learn the ways of

the hunter and trapper if he were to be-

(Continued on page 784)

757

By RICHARD L. EVANS

[PQtaD

TJeard from the "Crossroads of the West" with the Salt Lake Taber- nacle Choir and Organ over a nationwide radio network through KSL and the Columbia Broadcasting System every Sunday at 12:00 noon Eastern War Time, 11:00 a.m. Central War Time, 10:00 a.m. Mountain War Time, and 9:00 a.m. Pacific War Time.

IA/ku If lot Uru Kepentcmce !

irpHE characteristic technique of the sleight-of-hand per- former is to divert attention from what he doesn't want us to see and focus attention on what he does want us to see. He may employ a casual and disarming line of talk or a few false motions, or both — but all to one purpose: to take our minds off reality and to make unreality seem real. In some respects the illustration would seem to have pertinence to the pattern of our current living — a pattern so complicated, so crowded with immediate problems, so dominated by startling news, that we sometimes stand in danger of thinking too much about what is happening and not enough about why — too much about effects and not enough about causes — too much about symptoms and not enough about the disease. The doctor who goes about prescribing for symptoms only, may relieve the patient, but the chances for permanent cure are not so good unless he looks beyond symptoms to discover causes. This figure also seems to have pertinence to the pattern of current living, because social and economic upheavals are sypmtoms of something deeper; and war is a symptom also — a symptom of some underlying cause in the lives of men— and, while we devoutly work and pray for an end to war, and while, as a nation, our immediate problem is unreservedly the winning of the war, if the coming of peace should find the basic cause untouched, a reasonable expectancy would be for the malady to recur. The winning of a war does not, for example, assure personal or national righteousness. It doesn't outlaw greed or hate, or unchastity or incontinence, or deception or inordinate ambition. And yet such things, with their innumerable kindred brood, are the festering causes of war, because they drive peace from the hearts of men. Isaiah spoke the formula these many centuries since: ". . . the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." (Isaiah 57:20, 21.) And if there is no peace for the wicked, there can be no peace for anyone until the wicked have repented or been confined to their proper sphere. But repentance must go beyond those who are known as "the wicked." It must be a general repentance — repentance from unreality, from false thinking, from treating symptoms while ignoring causes. We must look beyond what is happening and give more atten- tion to why. If we' don't, and if history may be trusted to repeat itself, peace will continue to be merely a breathing spell between periods of conflict. This will not be a popular conclusion. Such messages never have been popular. But the record will show that nearly everything else has been tried without permanent success. Now why not try re- pentance! — October 3, 1943.

^>ome L^urrant rfote6

on

arturdt

o/n

\l 7e have read somewhere currently a brief statement of a " challenging idea: "The greater the truth, the greater the danger." Certainly the record will show that those who have advocated great truths, before the world generally has accepted them, have often stood in great danger. The history of martyrdom in all fields of thought and learning will bear this out. Prophets who have forecast coming events have often died for their testimony, but the genera- tions have lived to see, often to their sorrow, the fulfilment of prophetic word. Those who in the field of science have wrested from the unknown an understanding of things here- tofore untaught and unbelieved, have often been the objects of scorn, ridicule, and persecution. Some of them have lived to see their own vindication, and some of them have not, but the long list of martyrs to truth is a frightening monument to human stupidity, ignorance, and intolerance. As one poet-philosopher expressed it: "Against stupidity the very Gods themselves contend in vain." (Schiller.) But martyrs are not all confined to the past, and they aren't all confined to the fields of science and religion. Those who, for example, undertake to crusade against current evils are very often martyrs, with cynicism and scorn and ridicule heaped upon them. Sometimes every act of their lives, in- cluding intimate and sacred and personal things, is paraded for public view by those whose business and profession it is to twist words and smear reputations. No matter how irreproachable a man's life may be, if he undertakes to oppose a popular or profitable evil, he may expect to be represented as a public enemy, an obstructionist, a prophet of doom, and a good many other things less printable, by those who have the facilities and motives for doing such things and who haven't the conscience or the scruples not to do them. He who opposes popular but fallacious practices, he who sees and contends against dangerous trends and schemes, is inviting martyrdom in a sense — at least the martyrdom of his reputation — and perhaps social and politi- cal martyrdom. But if a man sees a quickening departure from hard-won ideals and fundamentals, and if he sees the gaining momentum of tendencies which are moving his generation or his people toward a precipice at the bottom of which lies certain wreckage, he has an obligation to speak his mind no matter what the currently popular philosophy is. And if he does speak his mind and becomes added to the list of those who have been persecuted for doing so, it is one more evidence of the high cost of presenting a new truth or defending an old one. True, the greater the truth, the greater is the danger, sometimes, to the individual who advocates it, A contemporary generation is slow to forgive those who think and see ahead of them or who invite atten-

758

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

tion to their follies. But the greater the truth, the greater the safety ultimately for all— and martyrs for truth somehow have a way of living forever, with much greater peace and satisfaction in life than those who have opposed them.

—October 10, 1943.

Lyedterda

t

tomorrow

p\NE of the distinguishing attributes of intelligence in men ^ is the faculty of thinking and planning for the future. It is this that causes us to plant so that we may harvest. It is this that gives us the wisdom to save a part of our harvest so that we may plant and harvest again. It is the assurance of a future that induces us to work beyond the point of satisfying our immediate needs. It is in anticipation of a future that we save. It is the promise of future reward that causes us to invest what we save — and we wouldn't do it except for this assurance. It is in anticipation of future happiness that we counsel youth to forego indulgences and dissipations that may tempt them in the present. Indeed, we have learned to deal in futures in all phases of living, and a life that does not look toward an endless future is a frustrated and meaningless and empty life, and leaves too much to be explained. But the glorious certainty that there will always be a future is an assurance that is often abused — an assurance that sometimes causes people to rely too much on the future to the shameful neglect of the present. There are, for example, parents who are always going to get better acquainted with their children — at some time in the future when the pressure is less great. They had better do it while they can. There are those who are going to reform themselves — who are going to give up some of their objectionable habits — sometime when it is more convenient. They had better do it while they can. There are those who are going to start saving, start being neighborly, start watch- ing their health, start living with more discrimination and wisdom — sometime when they get around to it. They had better do it while they can. There are those, old and young, who are going to improve their minds, or train their hands — who are going to prepare themselves for opportunities ahead — sometime. They had better do it while they can. In an eternal journey there is no part of life that is more important than any other. Today is the future for which we were waiting ten years ago. And some of the things we postponed then, we're still postponing for some other future. The promise of things to come is glorious and beautiful and real — "a new heaven and a new earth," in the language of scripture. And predicated upon obedience to certain God-given fundamentals, there are everlasting com- pensations to be realized — but not by those who don't do anything about it. This is life— this is yesterday's tomorrow — and if we have- n't learned to live now, we'll have to sometime. Yes, fortunately and glo- riously, there will always be a future — but don't let it make us forget the obligations of the present.

—October 17, 1943.

DECEMBER, 1943

2Jke L^onient of tke Ljovemed

TJJiluam. Penn is accredited with the statement — "If men * " be good, government cannot be bad." On first hearing, one may be inclined to challenge the idea, but a more studied consideration of it will reveal its fundamental truth. It is true that there may be exceptions; it is true that history records innumerable incidents of conquest, forced slavery, and subjugation of unwilling peoples, by tyrants and usurpers. But these apparent exceptions do not invalidate the rule. In the first place, no tyrant stands alone. He must have a large following to support him in his infamies. And the fact that he can secure a following large enough to accomplish his purposes, and that there is no effective resist- ance against such an element, is prima facie evidence of internal weakness. The very existence of tyranny is, in itself, an indication that somewhere along the line a sufficient num- ber of people have relaxed their standards and their vigilance. Tyrants don't come into being if the personal lives of the people are strong, and sound, and self-reliant. It is true that in a weakened society there may be many strong people, and William Penn's words emphatically do not mean that all people under a bad government are bad. Indeed, the contrary has always proved to be true, and often the leaven of a straight-thinking minority has affected the whole lump and ultimately brought about a correction of evils. But even so, William Penn's statement is a disturbing thought — because it places the responsibility right back where it belongs, and takes some zest from the prevalent and time-honored pastime of criticizing government while sitting back and doing nothing about it. The founding fathers of our own nation gave us the key when they said: "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." We cannot avoid the responsibility. Governments, in the long run, are largely a reflection of the people who live under them. And if there are evils in government, those who live thereunder had better begin an honest scrutiny of themselves. Generally speaking, and in the long view of things, "If men be good, government cannot be bad." This, from William Penn, is a personal challenge to each of us. — October 24, 1943.

Copyright. 1943

.. V""-.

759

VL RELIGIOUS GAP

What happens to a college stu- dent's religion depends more on what he is when he enters college than upon his experiences after he en- rolls. What his home has done, what his school has done, what his church has done for him during his pre-college years will very largely determine what college will do for him after he gets there. While the atmosphere of col- leges may differ, and while the teach- ing of one college may differ from an- other, there is no greater variation be- tween the denominational college and the non-denominational than there is among the denominational colleges themselves. Again what he is in his home-town environment will mean more than the kind of college he at- tends.

I make those assertions on the strength of years of observation and investigation. I make them because in some communities are those who say that colleges are ruining our young peo- ple's religion.

Often parents forget the natural changes which will inevitably come to the adolescent during the years subse- quent to his high school graduation. Change will take place in the boys and girls even though they remain in the community where they were born.

The breaking away from childhood associates and habits is inevitable when a boy or girl leaves the community to attend college elsewhere. It is like- wise inevitable that such a transition will affect the thoughts, habits, and be- liefs of youth. Personality both in- fluences and is influenced by environ- ment. When, in 1939, Lincoln B. Hale and his associates published their find- ings in From School to College, they knew a change would come about. These investigators speak of the " 'gap' in religious life, which so often seems to appear during the transition to the college environment. . . ," Discovering the many problems involved in such a transitional hiatus in religion, these men try to find out what determined the various reactions shown by the stu- dents, and what influenced their adjust- ments.

Granted not all colleges are doing as much as they should to take care of the transitional period; granted, further, that all instructors do not exercise care enough in their presentation or in their living of Christian ideals, we cannot attribute all the problems of youth's "gap" in religious life either to the col- leges or to the professors. The response and the adaptation which a given student makes to his new environment are predetermined by his home and church training before he arrives on the campus. Religion, we must remem- ber, is only one of the many factors at

760

By CALVIN T. RYAN, ED.M.

State Teachers College, Kearney, Nebraska

work during this transition period. Since it is only one of many, we do not always find it easy to segregate the re- ligious from the other factors of ad- justment or maladjustment. College life, whenever it is normal, provides a total situation. Its main business, ostensibly at least, is to afford the stu- dents a chance to get an education. This process is no longer confined to textbooks, lectures, and laboratories. The total situation in which the stu- dent finds himself becomes a part of his curriculum. This larger curriculum in- cludes religious development, health and recreation, social development, personality growth — in all that the word has come to mean. In many col- leges, a large number of the students work for their existence. They wait tables, sweep halls, clerk, mow lawns, and shovel snow. So the normal college student is very busy — or thinks he is. He may not always spend his time wise- ly, according to adult standards. But on the other hand, the coonskin-coated collegiate of yesterday is not so much in the news as he once was.

^Tow in all this milieu, the student's *■ ^ outward show of religious behavior doesn't attract the attention it probably did back in the home town.

Then there are the "bull sessions" in which the boys (why not include the girls?) do not allow their ignorance of the subject to interfere with their dis- cussing it. The subject may be re- ligion, church-going, or simply the church. The unsophisticated youth hears things he never dreamed of hear- ing. Mary, the church's idol back home, is participating (by her presence at least) in a discussion of atheism, agnosticism, and dozens of other "isms" not preached about in the home town pulpits. Mary is in college now.

Here is a student who came to col- lege fearful of all courses in science. But necessity drove the girl into a required course in science! Providence was with the girl, for her teacher was a woman of complete adolescent under- standing, thoroughly Christian. The girl's fear turned to faith. Science helped her understand nature and God. The course solved, or dissolved, the girl's fear.

On the other hand, it seems true that college experience does not make stu- dents who were indifferent to church and religion before they came to the campus any more religious. Hale and his associates found that some few stu-

ivi y^oueae

dents admitted their attitudes toward religion had been changed during their college life. But the changes were in both directions: some who came luke- warm or indifferent became interested; while others grew more indifferent. However, they found the changes in- variably among those who entered only mildly interested in religion. The deep- ly-interested entrants remained inter- ested. Reads the report:

Taking all the facts . . . into considera- tion, of all the tilings that happen to stu- dents in college, religious thought seems to be least subject to change, at least during freshman year, although shifts are occur- ring in valuations which an observer would probably regard as religious.

"Deliefs play a tremendous part in the *T young person's life. They are im- portant in his personality growth and integration. Whenever a group of be- liefs are held by a community, they be- come an important integrating force in that community. Obviously they in- fluence all who live there — young and old. Likewise, the youth who leaves that community is bound to take with him the result of what the environment has done to him and for him. What he will do when he transfers to another community will depend upon what he is, how strongly entrenched are his be- liefs, his willingness to change, and his ability to adapt himself to his new sur- roundings, and community of beliefs.

Naturally, in the large enrollments in our colleges and universities, we should expect to find those who are on the outer fringe of social living. Religious living would not appeal to them no mat- ter where they chose to live. Just as naturally we should expect that outer fringe to exert an influence on the more susceptible members of the entering classes. In fact, they even become the heroes of the inexperienced. But again that is just as true in any community be- yond the college yard as within the gates.

JDarents who hold college life reli- A giously suspect can do more to pro- tect their offspring from the "evil" they fear before they enter that broad road of destruction than they can after they enter. Such preparation will include religious development beyond a mere list of Don'ts. Such development will even include what the child studies in high school; certainly it will enlist the public school in developing within the child a rather wide knowledge of the universe, and the biological sciences. Quoting the conclusions of Hart again:

( Continued on page 783 )

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

GLORY IS OF THE SPIRIT

£

■ lear and cold — perfect weather for Christmas Eve! The storm hadn't lasted long. As Fran stepped off the porch, the air stung her nostrils like fire. She must make sure everything was secure against the night. A stab of nostalgia that was sharper than the

"You know how / feel? That's a laugh."

"Clay was minded her.

"Oh, what's her hands in a

my brother," Ben re-

the use," she had flung gesture of helplessness.

cold brought a sudden weakness to her I am selling." knees. Silly little chore, making the rounds each night. Yet she and Clay- ton had made a ritual of it. They had loved doing it because the stock, this place had been theirs. Now they were hers alone. After tomorrow they would not belong to her. She was selling this place, the stock and the machinery. She was going so far away she would never see Clayton's family again, nor know if they had their Christmas morning party. Party. How could they want it, and the news just received?

"I know how you feel," her sister-in- law had said earlier in the evening; "but can't give way to grief

Besides, this is my last Christmas here.

we can t give way to grief and self

pity." She and Ben had brought pres- try to stay with this place

ents for the twins' stockings. Fran had

forgotten.

'You're what?"

"I am selling this place. Clayton left it in my name. '

"You must be out of your mind," Ben cried. "Suppose he did put it in your name. That was because he trusted you. This land has been in the Downing family since sagebrush days. It's your children's birthright. Aren't you getting your values crossed?"

"I think not. Running a farm is a man's work."

"It is everybody's work these days. You know how to farm. You owe it to Clayton, to the twins, and to your coun-

I will help you."

"I have paid my debt to my country.

—Illustrated by

John Henry Evans,

By DOROTHY CLAPP ROBINSON

more

work

now

than

you

You have can do."

"I can always do a little more." In the barn, Toby, the dog, left his warm bed by the cows and whined a puzzled welcome. Everything was in order. The door of the root cellar was well-covered. She turned off the lights in the henhouse and started back. Mak- ing the rounds alone. That was all life offered now.

JDy the back steps of the house she stopped to look at the stars. She would miss nights like this when she was in town. She could not re- member when the stars were so many or so bright. One was low, even below the line of hills.

Startled, she realized it was not a star but a light. Old Nels was still up. That light was for her. Well — he would need a lot of kerosene for his lamp if he waited for her. She wasn't going there tonight, nor any night. Not ever again.

Billy was lying on the floor before the fireplace looking at a book he had re- ceived that afternoon history stories, with

It was a book of colored illustra-

tions.

"Let again "

me see. Let me see this one Betty, his twin, snatched at a leaf to keep him from turning it.

"You'll tear it. Darn you." Billy's quick temper flared.

"I'll be careful. Please." Immediately contrite Billy removed the hand he had slapped over the page. The picture was "Washington Cross- ing the Delaware."

"Who is this?" Betty pointed to the figure of Washington.

Fran glanced at it. "That is General Washington."

"What for is he standing up?" "He is the general," Billy explained, out of his deep knowledge. "Like Tom- my Turner at school. He gives orders." Betty ignored his disdain at her ignor- ance. She pointed to the men rowing the boat.

"Why for don't they stand up?"

"They must row the boat."

"What does it mean, row the boat?"

"The men who are sitting push the

boat across the river with their oars."

Realizing they knew nothing at all about

boats Fran explained in detail. She told

(Continued on page 786)

WHITE SILENT NIGHT GAVE SHE WAITED, EX-

BACK NO ANSWER PECTANT.

DECEMBER, 1943

761

CARD CLUB «■ SPINGRO

Dinner was over and the children were at their studies or in bed when Charles came home late from the office. Mary sat with him as he ate alone. Charles was working as legal adviser in one of the new govern- ment offices. Before Mary put on the dessert, she remarked, "We have been invited to join a card club, Charles. There's a nice crowd meets once a week, and they would like us to be members."

Charles laughed. "Members of a card club! Why I don't even know how to play."

"You'd learn in no time. And you'd make a good player, too. I'm rusty, but it doesn't take long to pick it up."

"Who are they, members of the church?"

"Yes, mainly."

"Cards seem like a waste of time to me.

"But it's the people you are with, and the enjoyable evenings you can have together."

"Sooner or later some one wants to put up stakes to make it more excit- ing;"

"But it doesn't amount to anything, even if you lose — no more than going to a movie."

"It's the principle of the thing. It's gambling, isn't it?"

Mary laughed. "Well, just figure that you might have invited someone else to the show with us then. You're out that much, but you've spent a pleasant time and paid for it. You see, the thing is, cards give a nice evening without any trouble getting up a program. Every- body enjoys himself, you have refresh- ments, meet the friends you like to be with, test your wits and relax. It may help you in business, Charles."

"But it's the gambling idea that I don't like."

"Oh, don't be so particular. You lose a little one night and make a little an- other. After all it is just paying some- thing for entertainment if you don't win. Nobody misses it."

"Mary, I'm not thinking of the money. But I've never liked cards. The church has always been against them. They're universally used for gambling. I don't think you or I would ever become a gambler, but one of our kiddies might easily have a weakness that way. It wouldn't be comfortable for us to re- member that something we had done might have been his justification for starting."

Mary looked sober. "I had never thought of the children. It seems so in- nocent to me. All the others have chil- dren."

"They might never be affected by our playing, but you certainly increase the risk. However, there is something else that has kept me away from cards."

"What is that?"

762

"They take the place of more worth- while things."

"Oh, but you've got to have a little recreation sometime."

/^harles looked reminiscent for a V* moment. "Once on the Magdalena in Colombia, I had some friends who spent the six days of the trip up-river playing poker. Some days hundreds of dollars would change hands. They were playing for real stakes, and I noticed that one of them was a consistent win- ner. One day while we were on deck watching the sluggish water go by and the tropical landscape on the banks, I told him that I had never learned to play and wondered whether I had been fool- ish. He replied that he wished he had never started. He had won thousands of dollars, because he studied the men he played with. Once a banker of Pittsburgh, where he lived, said to him, 'Griff, I go away from here and gener- ally win, but I always lose to you. How come?' Mr. Griffith laughed and re- plied, 'You raise your shoulders when you have a good hand.' But, he went on to me, that he regretted ever having started to play, because it had taken so much time from his family and from books. The money he had won could never compensate for that."

Mary remarked quietly, "Apparently you don't want us to join this card club and associate with these nice people."

Charles was silent for a moment. "I would like to have the folks in this neighborhood as friends. We are here as strangers in a way, and we want our children and theirs to know one another better because their parents are friend- ly, but I wonder if we couldn't do it another way."

"We can invite them in occasion- ally," Mary remarked, "but there are long lapses unless there is something regular about it. And besides, it's al- ways a trouble to think out how to en- tertain a crowd for a whole evening."

"It's funny you brought this up to- night, Mary, because I've been thinking of something else. One of the counsel- ors of the ward Mutual, the manual counselor, I believe, met me on the

Mt. Jordan Stake sched- uled a party in Draper for July 30, 1943. But what with gasoline rationing and a tire shortage, some members of Sandy Second Ward feared they could not attend. But with a will to get there, four en- terprising young persons set to work — with the re- sult shown in this picture. Maxine Sanderson, Bert Elg, Jean Sanderson, and Charles Greenwood are the happy quartet.

i

uivta

essaae

f

By JOSEPH J. CANNON

of the Y.M.M.I.A. Superintendency

streetcar and suggested that we ought to have another Special Interest class in Mutual. He thought I might help organize one. I wonder if these same people might not join us in such a group. Maybe we could make it just as enjoy- able as playing cards."

"I wonder. There is too much for- mality in a class. It's like a school. No refreshments. No dressing up. It's just another meeting."

"Not the way he told me," Charles replied. "He said we could make it just what we wanted it to be — elect our own officers and our own leader, make it dis- cussion or lecture, or anything we want. We can choose our own subject to study. It sounded grand to me. We can have dances, or dance instruction. We can study plays or music or church his- tory or whatever we want. They have some fascinating outlines. I don't think they would object if we dressed up. In fact I think they'd like it. And I'm sure we could prepare refreshments just as often as we care to, every time, if we like."

"But after all, it would be just Mutu- al." It was evident that Mary was not feverishly in favor of the suggestion.

"What's wrong with that?" Charles answered. "Bud could go to Scout meeting and Mary to Bee-Hive while we are with our own group. That would be better than having us off playing cards that night. We'd know they were there, and what is equally important, they would know we were there."

' You know, Mary," Charles con- tinued, "I'm crazy to learn more about Latin America. There are a lot of peo- ple in this town that have been there, and I'd like to hear them tell about con- ditions, and I'd like to tell a few things myself. There's so little time to do such studying with all I've got on. It seems to me that this might give us a chance."

"Do you think the others would like to join such a class?" Mary asked du- biously. (Concluded on page 782)

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

^At Snowbound CHRISTMAS

Illustrated

by

Goff Dotvding

DINNER

"NAME YOUR PRICE FOR A SANDWICH, AND I'LL PAY IT."

s

'lowly, and almost silent- ly, the mail train pulled out of Denver late in the afternoon of December 24, 1891. Outside, a two-day-old blizzard raged unabated.

My father, Bishop John C. Sharp, of Vernon, Charles R. McBride, Charley to everyone, of Tooele, and I had been to Chicago with a train load of sheep and had left that city in what we sup- posed to be ample time to reach home before Christmas, but a freight train in Iowa was wrecked just ahead of us and we were delayed for twelve hours. From then it seemed that every time the wheels turned we lost time until, com- ing up from Omaha, Charley remarked he thought the Pioneers of '47 had made better time.

In those days, few trains carried a dining car, but the train would stop for twenty minutes at meal stations. We had learned this — about the time the waiter brought our food the conductor would call, "Board," and it was up to us to miss our dinner or our train. So before leaving Chicago we purchased one of those "chip" baskets, you know, the kind with a handle over the top and two lids that are raised from the ends, and in this we had put bread, butter,

DECEMBER, 1943

some cheese, a stick of bologna, some hard-boiled eggs, a sack of gingersnaps, a shaker of salt and a bag of raw onions, for both Father and Charley did like onion sandwiches.

Just before we left Denver, Father succeeded in purchasing a loaf of bread and a small apple pie which we ate for supper. Outside the blizzard raged and blew the snow in around the windows but inside we were comfortable, for the brakeman kept the two coal stoves, one in each end of the car, red hot.

Along about eight o'clock I made my own private berth by adjusting the chair and went to sleep. Some time in the night I awoke. The train had stopped, but that was nothing unusual, so I went back to sleep. About daybreak I awoke. The train was not moving so I walked to the platform to see why the snow was not drifting in. The snow had drifted against the car and was even with the tops of the windows. Evidently we had been there most of the night.

Thoroughly disgusted with train schedules and everything and every- one in general, I went back inside the coach for this was my first Christmas away from home and I was really home- sick. Father and Charley were reading.

By JAMES P. SHARP

Father looked up and asked me if I wanted any breakfast. I told him "No." Then he said it would do us all good to fast till dinner time, for the railroad al- ways put up a good meal on Christmas day, and he thought we would enjoy it better if we did not eat breakfast.

I walked up and down the aisle of the car like a caged coyote.

There were three other passengers in that coach. In one end sat a man with his valise open and a lot of empty bot- tles, as well as some full ones around him and in the valise. Every few hours he would rouse up and burst forth with about two lines of some cowboy song and then slump back to dreamland ( that is if a drunken man can dream ) . In the other end of the car were a young man and a young lady, possibly 18 or 20 years of age.

About one o'clock Charley finished his book and said, "Bishop, don't you think the turkey is about cooked?"

"Should be," replied Father as he put his book down and placed the lunch basket on his knees. Again I was dis- gusted. How could those men joke about a turkey dinner when we had only next to nothing to eat?

Just then the brakeman came in and filled the stove full of coal. He spoke to the young man and then came on down the aisle with a grin on his face and said, "Gentlemen, I'll take the drumstick."

"Have cranberries with it?" Father asked.

"No, by the looks of things I won't, but say, I've got a good one. This is supposed to be the crack fast mail train and say it sure is fast — fast in a snow bank."

"How long do you think we will be here?" Charley asked.

"Can't say but no need to worry, for the snow always melts up here come July and then we can back down coun- try." To the other stove he went as Father resumed his bread-cutting and Charley his spreading the butter.

I could see the young man looking at us and talking to the lady. He arose and walked down and said to Father, "Name your price for a sandwich and I'll pay it."

Father looked rather surprised, and before he could answer, the young man continued, "My sister and I have been attending school up in Denver. Yester- day morning she was so excited about Christmas shopping she could not eat breakfast and at lunch time she had to {Concluded on page 789)

763

On. thsL SodJl floudc

HOW TO BE WELL

(Leah D. Widtsoe. Deseret Book Co. 1943. $2.00.)

"TPhis up-to-the-minute volume for every * home is a "handbook and cookbook based on the newer knowledge of nutrition." At the time of this writing it has not come from the press, and so we haven't seen it yet — but it is promised for December de- livery for those who are book-minded at Christmas time. We have seen the manu- script, however, and part of the proofs, and are prepared to say that for anyone who has the problem of cooking, arranging menus, serving, entertaining, or feeding a family — ■ which is someone in every home — here is a book that will pay dividends in many ways — and most of all in health. More will be said about How to be Well later — but in the meantime keep it in mind as a summary of the latest laboratory findings on human diet — plus a household nutrition guide of much practical value. — R. L. E.

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND THE FUTURE

(C. E. Raven. Macmillan Company, New York. 1943. 125 pages. $2.00.) '"Phis is frankly an attempt to reconcile ■*- science and religion in the light of mod- ern knowledge. Both science and religion are blamed for the world's present sorrow; and both together can alone effect a cure. In the first four chapters, the history of events that in modern days parted science and religion are related; in the remaining four chapters the author considers how that disaster may be retrieved through intellectu- al, moral, and religious efforts. The first chapter, "Seeing Life Whole," is especially noteworthy. The book, accurate in scholar- ship, is informative and stimulating reading.

— /. A. W.

MAN IN THE AIR

(Herbert S. Zim. Illustrated. Harcourt,

Brace. 6 Co.. N.Y. 1943. 332 pages. $3.00.)

This book is an analysis of man's reaction to the tremendous height and speed which airplanes attain. The planes have been thoroughly tested to stand the strain, and experts are now carefully checking man's body to see how well he can take it — and what effect the air has on his heart, his lungs, and other parts of his body. — M. C. J.

HISTORY OF BIGOTRY IN THE UNITED STATES (Gustavus Myers. Random House, New York. 1943. 504 pages. $3.50.)

Intolerance forms the ugliest chapter in human history. There has been plenty and to spare in the United States. That is well demonstrated in this compendious vol- ume. Dr. Myers begins with the transmis- sion of bigotry from the Old to the New World. In careful chronological order he traces intolerance, usually in the name of God, from the days of the American colonies' to the present day. The blue laws, witch- craft, the strife of creeds, persecutions of Masons, Catholics, and Jews, the Know- Nothings, A.P.A., and Ku Klux Klan, and numerous other intolerant movements are described with adequate references to au- thorities. Mormon persecution is briefly discussed. This is probably the most com- plete and reliable treatment of bigotry now available. The reading of this book would be "good medicine" for all Ameri- cans, for intolerance may enter the hearts even of citizens of "the land of the free and the home of the brave."' — J. A. W.

764

GOD AND EVIL

(C. E. M. Joad. Harper and Brothers,

New York. 1943. 349 pages. $3.00.)

This is in part a personal confession. The author, one of the world's great philos- ophers, professor of psychology and philos- ophy at the University of London, has long been known as an agnostic. Here he tells how he has found his way back to belief in God and life hereafter. As he presents his argument, he summarizes the world's think- ing on religion and man in the universe. That makes the book of double value to the average reader. The language is that of a philosopher, an academician, but clear and easily understood. He fails to recognize the cohesive forces of the universe and splashes about very often in uncertain wa- ters. However, he knows what he has found, and declares it in no uncertain terms: "I am willing, as I once was not, to bank on the religious hypothesis being true. ... If the universe has meaning and purpose, this life is not all, and something probably sur- vives the break-up of our bodies. Indeed, unless there is a more abundant life before mankind, this material world in space and time is a bad joke beyond our understanding, a vulgar laugh braying across the mys- teries."

There is little room left today for the agnostic. — /. A. W.

CAT DRAWINGS

(Jack Sears. 716 Fourth Avenue, Salt Lake City 3, Utah. 1943. 49 pages. $1.00.)

With an introduction by no less a person than Mahonri Young, telling about cats, with a poem by Vilate Raile written expressly for this book, and with innumer-

able sketches and text concerning the draw- ing of cats, this book will be of great inter- est to a multitude of readers. Those who love cats will have an opportunity of seeing the cat in many of its usual and unusual poses.

Artists will be given insight into the work- ing of an artist. The average reader will take keen delight in the various media that the author has used to capture the moods and activities of these graceful animals.

— M . C. /.

THE PRIMACY OF FAITH

(Richard Kroner. Macmillan, New York. 1943. 226 pages. $2.50.)

"Caith is the first principle of the gospel; *■ therefore the most important and most comprehensive concern of life. It has been a subject for discussion throughout the centuries. In this book the relationship of knowledge and faith is discussed. Through a series of thoughtful intelligent considera- tions faith is defined and given primacy over all other human activities. It is stimulating reading, though the sectarian beliefs of the author shape and color his argument.

— I A. W,

TWELVE SPANISH- AMERICAN POETS (Edited by H. R. Hays. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn. 1943. 336 pages. $3.50.)

Tn an era when all folk in the western * hemisphere wish to understand each other better, this kind of book will find a receptive audience because it introduces the literature of the Spanish-Americans which is one sure way of feeling the pulse of a people.

The introduction is a keen analysis of the various stages through which Latin- American letters have passed and are pass- ing, although the editor warns that this dis- cussion is by no means final. The poets included represent Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Argentina, and Colombia — which afford a good cross- section.

By placing the original opposite the translation, the author has been wise — be- cause those who can read in the original will naturally receive much more than those who can read only in translation. Another good feature of the book is that the editor has included biographical material concern- ing each of the poets whose work is in- cluded.—M. C. J.

THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE (Edited by Horace Gregory. Viking Press, New York. 1943. 603 pages. $2.50.)

'"Phis collection of 300 poems will give •*■ spiritual sustenance and uplift, particu- larly during these times of stress. The divisions of the book are seven: Of Lovely Women and Great Men; Of Wars and Heroes; Of Precious Friends and the Sur- vival of the Private Spirit; Of Love and Earthly Passions; Of the Shades and Vi- sions Seen of Life Renewed on Earth; Of the Celebration of Time and Place and the Eternal Moment; Of Saints and Hymns, Reflections and Devotions of Life Beyond Earth.

The poems represent work from 158- poets and from six centuries of English poetry. Although the individual reader may feel that there are other poems which have particular importance for him which he would like to have seen included, none will disagree that the choice made is a good one.

One advantage of this book is that pub- lishers have made the compilation into a size convenient for carrying. — M. C. /.

KILGOURE'S MARE

(Henry G. Lamond. Illustrated. Morrow, New York. 1943. 124 pages. $2.00.)

SET in the great plains of western Queens- land, Australia, this story of the pedi- greed colt, Amathea, will stir lovers of horseflesh whether they are old or young. The story, which itself is stirring and deeply satisfying, gains vividness because of its. unusual setting. Although Amathea is really the heroine of the book, most readers will take keen delight in the fiery Cascade, mother of the colt. — M. C. /.

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

f\evlewea bu /f/araa C-. /joiepkion

AMERICAN WARPLANES (Elizabeth Mallett Conger. Illustrated. Henry Holt & Co., New York. 1943. 161 pages. $2.00.)

THIS book, profusely illustrated with pic- tures of our fighting planes, has been written expressly for children under twelve. The print and the text are both suitable for this age level, although the material may seem a bit heavy for these youngsters to digest.

AIRPLANE ANDY

( Sanford Tousey. Illustrated. Doubleday, Doran and Company, Garden City, New York. 1942. 44 pages. $1.00.)

Andy Armstrong was lucky — wasn't his father made flight superintendent of his division? That meant, among other things, that Andy could occasionally fly with his father. But not even Andy could know that on one of the flights, he would prove himself of invaluable aid to his father and to the government in helping save the plane. Young boys particularly will find this book an unusually interesting one.

RUFUS M.

(Eleanor Estes. Illustrated. Harcourt,

Brace and Co., New York.

1943. 320 pages. $2.00.)

Continuing the appealing story of the Moffat family, this book centers around Rufus, who always signed his name, "Rufus M." Rufus was always creative, and when the family found themselves in financial dif- ficulties, Rufus found the way to help solve the emergency. The wholesome fun and activity related in this book will be of great interest to young people.

THE SEA SNAKE (Stephen W. Meader. Illustrated. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York. 1943. 255 pages. $2.00.) "Darney Cannon, sixteen, knew the keys *-* along the North Carolina Coast where his fisherman father, John, made the family living. Barney became suspicious of a ship that put out into one of the bays without its lights. Investigating, he found that enemies were manning the ship and also a submarine that preyed on allied ship- ping. The excitement that followed will make stirring reading for both boys and girls.

KEYSTONE KIDS

(John R. Tunis. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York. 1943. 209 pages. $2.00.) fTTHiS story of two brothers who played the *- keystone combination in baseball — sec- ond base and shortstop — will help satisfy the desire for activity in a wholesome way. In addition to the game itself, the author teaches in an exciting way that good sports- manship is a part of the whole of life, not just a good baseball game.

COAST GUARD, AHOY! (Philip Harkins. Illustrated. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 1943. 230 pages. $2.00.)

How Pete Shute finally managed to be- come a full-fledged, responsible member of the coast guard forms the basis for this well-written, informative, interesting book. The author has done well in including in the book peacetime activities of the guard in addition to their work in wartime. His story is based on accurate information, and will therefore be doubly valuable.

SOMI BUILDS A CHURCH (Rafaello Busoni. Illustrated. Viking, New York. 1943. 109 pages. $2.00.)

This is a true story about the Lapps of northern Norway. The names have been changed because the author states that the Lapps are shy. These people, one hun- dred and fifty miles from the nearest forest, wanted above all else to have a wooden church where they might learn the word of God. This story tells how, through faith, they were able to accomplish the seemingly impossible. And the most remarkable part of the story is that it is every bit true!

BACK TO SCHOOL WITH BETSY

(Carolyn Haywood. Illustrated. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 1943. 176 pages. $2.00.)

Following other Betsy books, this book adds interest to the former and brings back many of the same characters, including the teacher who is now married. The chil- dren have their adventures and misadven- tures, their fun and their work.

Those who read B Is [or Betsy, Betsy and Billy, Two and Two Ace Four, and Primrose Day, will be eager to read Back to School with Betsy, as will those who haven't read any of the former.

THE BOY JONES

( Patricia Gordon. Illustrated. Viking, New

York. 1943. 158 pages. $2.00.)

This unusual story has somewhat the fla- vor of Dickens and Mark Twain, some- how reminiscent of The Prince and the Pauper, as well as of David Copperfteld. The boy Jones was an enterprising orphan, and with a will to see his queen, Victoria, and her palace, room my room, he set out to ac- complish his desire. His adventures, the people he met, and how he finally attained his wish make good reading.

DECEMBER, 1943

ADAM OF THE ROAD (Elizabeth Janet Gray. Illustrated by Robert Lawson. Viking, New York. 1942. 317 pages. $2.00.)

TT'his story of thirteenth-century England 4- is valuable for young readers because its drama is so intense that children absorb the authentic history unconsciously. Dealing with Adam, the minstrel Roger's son, the reader is taken along the road, thus meeting all kinds of unusual and fascinating people, until at last Adam finds his father and Nick, Adam's red spaniel.

WARTIME JOBS FOR GIRLS (Mary Rebecca Lingenfelter. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 1943. 226 pages. $1.75.) PVividing the book into seven fields, the ■*— ' author treats judiciously the various kinds of work that girls can do and should be considering now that there is a great need for everyone to work. Most of the jobs which the author discusses have peace- time application also, and those who are di- recting girls now will find the book most helpful in pointing out constructive labor which may become a lifetime career.

MOLLY AND THE TOOL SHED

(Sally Scott. Illustrated. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 1943. 41 pages. $1.50.)

TITTolly was a lamb who knew what she liVl wanted, even if she didn't want what other lambs usually wanted, for she had been raised for the first part of her life in the Brown kitchen. As time went on, Molly found herself gradually being pushed into the position of leadership among the young- er lambs that came to the Brown farm. But she still persisted in her one set desire — to sleep in the woodshed. And that meant that gradually the woodshed had to expand to hold all the lambs that followed Molly.

PEACHBLOSSOM

(Eleanor Frances Lattimore. Illustrated. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 1943. 96 pages. $2.00.) T)eachblossom, a Chinese girl of six, is -*- the heroine of this little book, which children will take great pleasure in reading. The story deals overmuch with the 'war situation in China, which seems rather bad for very young children. Although the book ends happily, with Peachblossom being re- stored to her aunt, the tragedy of her evacua- tion might well overpower a sensitive child.

WENDERLEY

(Gertrude E. Mallette. Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York. 1943. 250 pages. $2.00.)

Wenderley, California, was the center of activity for those who wished to do their part to win the war, for at Wenderley a huge defense project had been built. From their farm, where they had left Mrs. Farn- ham and the children, including 17-year-old Janet, Mr. Farnham and his daughter, Les- ley, came, he to work in the defense plant, and she to keep house for him. How Lesley made herself invaluable in the little trailer community, and aided herself in her time of stress will make valuable reading for the teen-year-old girl.

765

M CHUMM MS Oil

Park Stake

T)ark Stake was organized October r 24, from parts of the Liberty and Bonneville stakes by Elder John A. Widtsoe of the council of the twelve and Marion G. Romney, assistant to the twelve.

The new stake includes the First, Tenth, and Thirty-first wards, from the Liberty Stake, and the LeGrand and the new Emigration wards from the Bonne- ville Stake, and a new ward, as yet un- named, created from the eastern part of the Emigration Ward.

T. Percy Goddard, president of the Liberty Stake, was sustained as presi- dent of the Park Stake, with Fred M. Michelson and Hendrick Poelman as counselors.

Virgil H. Smith, former second coun- selor in the Liberty Stake presidency was sustained as president of the Lib- erty Stake, with C. Alfred Laxman and B. F. Pulham, counselors.

The church now has one hundred forty-five organized stakes.

Sunday School Outlines

Cubjects to be studied in the Sunday ^ School classes during the year 1944 have been announced. As in the past, manuals containing the entire year's study course will be issued for every department. Teachers' supplements, an innovation, will be published for all departments, except Nursery, Kinder- garten, Primary and Teacher Training groups, which will continue to draw lesson helps from The Instructor. Courses of study for 1944 follow: Nursery, Kindergarten, and Primary departments: Stories from the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Church History; First Intermediate: History of the Church for Children; Second Interme- diate: Leaders of the Scriptures; Jun- iors: History of the Restored Church; Advance Juniors: The Church of Jesus Christ; Seniors: Our Standard Works; Advanced Seniors: Principles of the Gospel; Gospel Message: Teach- ing the Gospel to Others (No. 2) ; Gen- ealogical Training: Adventures in Re- search*, Gospel Doctrine: The Old Testament, and Teacher Training ( see Teacher Training department in The Instructor) .

Thirty-Year Scout Award

Elder Oscar A. Kirkham of the first council of the seventy has received the thirty-year Boy Scout award from national Scout executives. The award is a gold pin and a certificate attesting to three decades of service.

Buckley Field Services

T)vt. Mark R. Cram reports the or- •*■ ganization of a Sunday School among Latter-day Saint service men in the army air force at Buckley Field,

766

Church-of-the-Air

"President David O. McKay of the first presidency will be the speaker on the nationwide Col- umbia Church-of-the-Air Decem- ber 19, at 11:00 a.m. M. W. T. Music for the program will be furnished by the Salt Lake Tab- ernacle Choir and Organ.

Colorado. Forty-three men and two women attended the first meeting Sep- tember 19. Post chaplains are lending their support.

Washington Organist

■Qoy M. Darley of Wellsville, Utah, A^ has been appointed organist and di- rector of the Bureau of Information at the Washington, D.C., chapel. He suc- ceeds D. Sterling Wheelwright. Elder Darley, who has been prominent in northern Utah music circles, recently returned from a mission in the Eastern States, where he served as music di- rector for eleven months.

Ward Membership Records T-he Presiding Bishop's office again A points to the benefits that come when church membership is properly filed in the ward in which the member resides. The record is there if ever needed in civil matters — otherwise it may require months of search by corres- pondence. A person can hold office in the ward only if he is on record; not be-

CHAPEL

AT

JEROME, IDAHO,

BUILT OF

NATIVE LAVA

ROCK.

ing on record will prevent being ad- vanced in the priesthood or given a temple recommend. Children should be blessed and baptized only if parents are on record in the ward.

Comments On Tabernacle Choir

T-Tigh-ranking radio executives and ■*■ •*• millions of listeners consider the coast-to-coast Tabernacle Choir and Organ broadcasts one of their best be- loved programs, Mrs. Dorothy Lewis of New York City, coordinator of listener activity, National Association of Broad- casters, said as she visited in Salt Lake City October 1 7. She stated that listen- ers are even more appreciative when they discover that the Choir is a group of unpaid singers.

L.D.S. Meeting Places in Britain

Aberdeen: Room 26, 17, St. Nicholas Street. Airdrie: L.D.S. Hall, 136. Graham Street, Airdrie,

Scotland. Aldershot: 19, Edward Street. Barnsleg: Arcade Buildings. Batley: L.D.S. Hall, Well Lane. Belfast: 122, North Street.

Birmingham

Handsworth: L.D.S. Chapel, 23, Booth Street. Kingstanding: Peckham Rd. Schools. Sparkbrook: Conway Rd. Schools.

Blackbutn: 89, Regent Street.

Bradford: L.D.S. Chapel, Woodlands Street.

Brighton: 77, Grand Parade (first door).

Bristol

L.D.S. Hall, Zion Road, off Clarence Road. Hanhams Co-operative Hall, High Street, Kings- wood.

Burnley: L.D.S. Chapel, 1, Liverpool Road, Rose- grove. Bury: L.D.S. Chapel, 15, Broad Street. Clayton: L.D.S. Hall, Gordon Street. Derby: Unity Hall.

Doncaster: L.D.S. Hall, Trafford Street. Dublin: At Mills Caterers, 8, Merrion Row. Eastwood: Library, Church St. Edinburgh: Enquire 48, London Street.

CAREY, IDAHO,

CHAPEL AND

RECREATION HALL

OF MODERN

DESIGN.

Photos by Olive May Cook

Wmm. -mmm*

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

Gainsborough: L.D.S. Hall, 4b, Silver Street. Gateshead: Westfield Hall, Westfleld Terrace. Glasgow: Masonic Hall, 30, Abbotsford PL, C. 5. Gravesend: 142, Parrock Street. Gt. Yarmouth: Home Branch, 56, Wolseley Road. Grimsby: Thrift Hall, Pasture Street. Halifax: 38, Clare Road, off Horton Street. Hartley: First Floor, 14, Percy Street. Hucknall: Byron Buildings. Hull: L.D.S. Chapel, Wellington Lane. Hyde: L.D.S. Hall. 29, Beeley Street. Kidderminster: L.D.S. Chapel, Park Street. Leeds: L.D.S. Hall, 5, King Charles St. Leicester: All Saints' Open, Great Central Street. Letchworth: Vasanta Hall, Gernon Walk. Liverpool: L.D.S. Chapel, 301, Edge Lane.

London

North: L.D.S. Chapel, 59, Clissold Rd., N. 16. South: L.D.S. Chapel, 149, Nightingale Lane, S.

W. 12. Catford: 61, Gareth Grove, Bromley, Kent. Chiswick: 58, Wellsley Road, Gunnersbury. W. 4.

Loughborough: Adult School.

Lowestoft: L.D.S. Hall, 20, Clapham Road.

Luron: L.D.S. Hall, Dallow Road.

Mansfield: 39a. Albert Street.

Manchester: L.D.S. Hall, 88, Clarendon Road.

Merthyr Tydfil: L.D.S. Chapel, Penyard Road.

Middlesborough: L.D.S. Hall, 21, Bottomly Street.

Nelson: L.D.S. Hall, 10, Hibson Road.

Northampton: L.D.S. Chapel, 89, St. Michael's

Road. Nottingham: The Institute, Radstock Road. Norwich: L.D.S. Chapel, 60, Park Lane. Nuneaton: Masonic Hall, Newdegate Street.

Pictures from Severol Fronts

Reading from top to bottom:

TWO CAMPS

Left: Latter-day Saint soldiers are seen here at a Kentucky post about to conduct a sacrament service. Left to right: Rey L. Pratt, Provo, Utah; Keith Facer, Wyoming; A. Sherman Gowans, Tooele, Utah; Howard Robinson, American Fork, Utah.

Right: From the Middle East comes this picture of Latter-day Saint service men who meet together regularly and have formed a Sunday School. Tents in background, their only meeting place, lend realism. Left to right, front row: Morris Gibbons, Wanship, Utah; Morris T. Smith, Wellsville, Utah; Stanley H. Mellor, Salt Lake City; Joseph R. May, Malad, Idaho; Marvin S. Carter, Morgan, Utah; Archie Swenson, Sandy, Utah; DeForest D. Sharp, and Stanley B. Erickson, Thornton, Idaho.

JACKSONVILLE NURSING CLASS Twenty women of the Jacksonville, Florida, L.D.S. branch received honor certificates recently following a twelve weeks' Red Cross course in home nursing. On completing their work, Mrs. Isabel Bowles, in- structor, paid the group a high compliment as her most studious, cooperative, and attentive group, a constant challenge to her. She valued her "Mormon class" for calmness, dependability, courtesy, alert- ness, and physical health, and acknowledged that while she had come to teach them good health, she had herself received enlightenment from the Word of Wisdom and was determined to practice it. The class, she said, had been an inspiration to her.

Pictured, front row, left to right, are Adeline Chase, Mrs. R. J. Rudd, Jr., Nurse Isabel W. Bowles, Nellie Dyal, Vella Strickland; second row: Mrs. Heber Meeks (wife of Southern States mission president), Mrs. A. 0. Jenkins, Elsie Starling, Mrs. N. S. Sellers, Mrs. R. J. Rudd, Sr.; back row: Edna Kirkland, Thelma Bonham. Members of the class not present: Minnie Dills, Lucille Copeland, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Kinard, Hazel Jacobs, Mrs. Yorkum, Mrs. Wilson, Ruth Atkin. — Reported by Mrs. Heber Meeks.

SAN DIEGO FIRESIDE

Hillcrest Ward, San Diego Stake, holds a Fire- side every Sunday evening, well-attended by service men. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday every week at a special L.D.S. servicemen's center, stake Gleaner Girls provide entertainment. Activities in the San Diego area are thriving under the direction of Chaplain John W. Boud, Jr. (pictured, rear center) and Willard Kimball, L.D.S. coordinator. The Fireside group seen here is typical.

— Reported by Maurine Francis

UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA Organized shortly after their arrival July 1, 1943, this branch of L.D.S. naval reserves seems to be thriving with a smile. They have been allowed the use of the school lounge for Sunday morning meetings. Seen in the picture are, from left to right, front row: Jack Ord, Baker, Oregon; Eric 0. Sonnenberg, Chicago, III.; W. Reed Brockbank, Warren Rupper, and Rand H. Clark, of Provo, Utah. Back row: H. Holling Lowe, Preston, Idaho; Malcolm Jeppson, Mantua. Utah; Robert de Preston, Logan, Utah; Henry Smith, Price, Utah; George N. Weston, Lake- town, Utah; Wilbur Jensen, Franklin, Idaho; Clyde C. DeGraff, Heber, Utah; Wendell Roskelley, Smith- field, Utah; Warren Hardy, Gunnison, Utah; Jack B. Watkins, Brigham City, Utah.

— Reported by Jack B. Watkins, presiding elder.

Oldham: L.D.S. Hall, Neville Street.

Plymouth: c/o Tom Harris, 16, Hazelwood Terrace,

Peverill. Pontlanfraith: 81, Brynteg Street. Preston, Lanes.: L.D.S. Hall, 44, Avenham Street. Pudsey: Home Branch, 8, Fern Terrace, Thorpe

Road. Rawmarsh: L.D.S. Hall, Main Street. Rochdale: L.D.S. Chapel, Lower Sheriff Street. Sheffietd: L.D.S. Chapel, Lyons Road. Shildon: L.D.S. Hall, 100, Main Street. South Shields: L.D.S. Hall, 36, Fowler Street. St. Albans: 49, Spencer Street. Stroud: Harley Wood, Nailsworth. Sunderland: L.D.S. Chapel, 18, Tunstall Road. Varteg: Memorial Hall.

West Hartlepool: L.D.S. Chapel, 7, Osborne Road. Weston-super-Mare: 23, Chesham Rd., N. Wigan: 6, Standishgate. Wolverhampton: Washington Bldgs., Queen Street.

Ensign Taylor Hen- ry Carr, Latter-day Saint who has been given command of the naval guard aboard the "Joseph Smith," recently launched Lib- erty ship. A graduate from the University of Idaho, Southern Branch, in pharmacy, Ensign Carr joined the naval reserve a year ago. He and his wife are making their temporary residence in the Palo Alto Ward, San Francisco. — Re- ported by Dallas A. Tueller.

{Continued on page 778)

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DECEMBER, 1943

767

Editorials

L^oncemina — )u for L^kamcter

S^unthetic S^>ni>6tltate5

'T'here has long been a philosophy too widely enter- "*• tained that a personal weakness could be offset by a legal device. For example, there have been those who have supposed that if a man weren't fundamentally honest, you could make him honest merely by passing a law against dishonesty, or that if a man weren't dis- posed to be moral, you could assure his morality by legislating against immorality. And this line of thinking has gone yet further. There was a day, for example, when more business was done on the strength of per- sonal integrity — more on character and less on col- lateral. But in some places collateral has tended to re- place character. But, lest we forget it, integrity of char- acter is still an indispensable element of any transaction, regardless of what other safeguards may be insisted upon. And this isn't true only of personal negotiations; it is true also of national and international relationships, because nations are only groups of people and govern- ments are only men — and agreements are worth no more than the integrity of those who are responsible for them.

He who has the word of a man of honor has some- thing to count on, but he who has a document with a gold seal on it, may have only a scrap of paper, because history, both past and current, has proved that there is no security that can not be "watered," no strong box that cannot be broken, no treaty that cannot be scrapped, no truce that cannot be violated, no fortress that cannot be levelled, no oath that cannot be dis- honored, unless behind all these things there stand men of high principle.

The only relationships in this world that have ever been worth while and enduring, have been relationships in which one man could trust another — not relationships in which one man was forced to seek ways of protecting himself against another, because, in the first place, you can't legislate a man or a nation or a people into being good, and there is no legal device yet found that will surely and permanently protect anyone from anyone else who is persistently determined to be false or dis- honorable.

Maybe one of these days, if we haven't done so already, we shall begin again to bank more on character and less on collateral, more on personal responsibility and less on legislation, more on private resourcefulness and less on public relief, more on common sense and less on regulation, more on simple justice and less on the involvements of litigation, more on principle and less on expediency — because there isn't any law that can be enforced, there isn't any security that is worth the gilded seal affixed to it, there isn't any promise that's worth the breath that speaks it, there isn't any com- mitment that's binding beyond the present, there isn't any free enterprise that can be saved, there isn't any future for anyone, except on the basis of personal and national integrity.

But in looking for such a day, we must remember

1i^J«^J^$U

that there isn't any synthetic formula for the making of integrity. If it is to be had, it begins at the cradle, and for generations back — and permeates every phase of home, community, and national life. And if you can't build on character, you can't build on anything — for long. — R, L. E.

L^kndma5, 1943

Ironically, Christmas comes this year with the beat- **■ ing of plowshares into guns and pruning hooks into bombs. Yet, in spite of this tragic situation, the persistent hope rings in the hearts of true Christians everywhere that some day there will indeed be a fulfilment of the prophecy concerning the ultimate victory of peace. And everywhere, likewise, Christians are asking them- selves seriously, anxiously, what they may do to hasten that time.

Perhaps for this Christmas, restraint would be the better way of celebration — restraint in the accepted hilarity of the festive season, restraint in the riotous spending of money, restraint in the moving from place to place in search of holiday escape.

With the practice of this restraint, some of the true meaning of Christmas may be revived. For many years, Christians throughout the world have felt that Christ- mas has been too commercialized, that the real purpose behind the celebration has been completely lost in the avalanche of gifts, and in the rush of buying and selling. Because of this rush, there has been too little time to recall the wonder of Christ's life and teachings. It con- stitutes not only great literature, but also the way of life that has bettered countless millions who have ac- cepted Christianity, whether they live in India, in Eng- land, in South Africa, or in the United States. This Christmas, would it not be wise to read together in families and neighborhoods the message in all its force and beauty from the book of books? And in that read- ing there would come a consciousness of the truth that the gift of gifts which Christ brought has been complete- ly ignored or forgotten, for the Christ said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Certainly, the abundant life should include true friendliness. And how shall that be cultivated? Not through expensive gifts nor with elaborate parties, but by a warm cordiality and a genuine affection that make people know there is a genuine interest in them. If this year restraint in buying is practiced, there will be enough time and energy saved from the usual rush to revive the old neighborliness that used to exist. In early days, neighbor needed neighbor and met him with an eager hospitality. This interdependence led to the abundant, generous life. Each had the assurance that, in time of emergency or necessity, he and his loved ones would be aided wholeheartedly. This neighborliness is the essence of Christianity and of the abundant life.

Thus, at this Christmas time, while restraint would be emphasized in material things, on the other hand, the very opposite would be stressed in the generous giving of self. — M. C. J.

768

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

Evidences and reconciliations

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rT*'uE supreme, personal intelligence and power in the A universe is God. That is his name in the English tongue. He is the Organizer of the universe. He is the one and only God to whom we pray and whom we worship.

We speak of Jesus Christ also as God. He is fre- quently referred to in sacred writ by that term. On the title page of the Book of Mormon he is called the "Eternal God." The personage known as the Holy Ghost is also called God. Thus, there are God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Ghost; the two latter are under the direction of God the Father.

It is evident, therefore, that since the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are distinct personages, the word "God" is not only a name, but may be used also as a title describing an attainment or office. Such applica- tion of titles is not unusual. In the Book of Mormon it is stated that the Redeemer of man "shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning." (Mosiah 3:8.) These are titles that refer to Christ's relationship to the Father and to his mission under the Father.

In the same manner the title "God" may be applied to anyone who has attained to Godhood, that is, who has risen so high as to partake sufficiently of the essence of divinity.

Joseph Smith the Prophet declared that there is a plurality of gods. An indication of such plurality runs through the scriptures, ancient and modern. In the very beginning of time Adam and Eve were promised that they should "be as gods" (Genesis 3:5); and Jesus reminded the Jews that in their scriptures it was written "ye are gods." (John 10:34.) Paul spoke of "lords many and gods many." (I Cor. 8:5.) Modern revela- tion presents the same truth when it says "according to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other gods before this world was." (D. & C. 121:32.)

This implies that many personages may have attained the power and place of Godhood. This does not make them in any sense coequal with God, or with his Son, or the Holy Ghost. Those who are denominated gods have a rank in the eternal councils, with corresponding power to help foster the purposes of the Father. There may be many generals in an earthly government, but only one commander-in-chief. Even so in the government of heaven.

This doctrine is familiar to Latter-day Saints. The gospel teaches that the hosts of intelligent beings here and in the spirit world may progress forever. The con- dition is obedience to eternal law. These personages are in various stages of progression, some beginning, others far on the way. Some, through the eternities, may already have won sufficient of the attributes of divinity to be spoken of as gods. The destiny of all who are faithful is godhood. Modern revelation makes the promise to all who comply with certain requirements:

"Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them." (D. & C. 132:20.)

The conditions under which Godhood may be at- tained have not been set forth fully. Necessarily so high a place can be obtained only by rigid obedience to God's laws. Those who aspire to such exaltation must be sealed as man and wife for time and eternity. Then they may continue the work of the Father in behalf of the waiting intelligences in the spirit world. Their "glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever." (D. & C. 132:19.)

This doctrine explains why the word "god" is ap- plied in the holy scriptures to various personages. There is no need to stumble over such use of divine titles, if this is understood.

The word "father" is also applied to different person- ages. God is the father of the spirits of all men. They were begotten spiritually by him in the pre-existent state. The relationship between God and man as father and son is real. Jesus Christ himself was the First Be- gotten of the Father. (D. & C. 93:21.) Therefore, we speak of God, the Father, to distinguish clearly among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But, the title "Father" is used also in behalf of Jesus Christ, who was commissioned by his Father to create the earth and all things on it. Mosiah, a Book of Mormon prophet, speaks of Jesus Christ as "the Father of heaven and earth" be- cause he was the creator of "all things" as pertaining to the earth. (Mosiah 3:8; also Helaman 14:12; Ether 4:7; II Nephi 25:12.) Adam likewise, being the first man, has been called the father. (D. & C. 29:34.) This is not an uncommon use of the word. George Washing- ton is called the father of his country. A man who creates a great business is called the father of the in- stitution. The Indians are said to speak of the great father in Washington. The leader of any cause is fre- quently referred to as its father.

Some students, noting this use of the word "father," have become confused. They have thought that Jesus is really God, the Father. Others have attempted to identify Adam with God, the Father, or with Jesus Christ. That these are distinct personalities is made clear in numerous passages in holy writ. For example:

But God . . . called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you. (Moses 6:50-52.)

If God, the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and Adam, irrespective of their titles, are not distinct per- sonages, the above words become meaningless and absurd.

Readers should distinguish carefully between speci- fic and general meanings of words, as may appear in the sacred books or in gospel discourses. If this is not done, much confusion of thought may arise. In fact, many who have failed to do so, have been led astray from the truth.

A good example of the unfounded foolish notions that may arise from careless reading is the famous dis- course of Brigham Young, used by apostates and enemies of the church. (See Journal of Discourses, 1 :50.) In this address, Brigham Young spoke of Adam as our father and our god. {Concluded on page 797)

DECEMBER, 1943

769

CONDUCTED BY MARBA C. JOSEPHSON

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TOYS FROM ODDS AND ENDS

The scrap bag will furnish material for the bedding. Cut a mattress to fit the bottom of the bed ( Figure 3 ) from ticking or heavy print and seam, piping or cording the seams if desired. Stuff with layers of cotton or cotton batting and slipstitch opening shut. Make two pillows from matching material.

The sheets and pillow cases (Figure

TITake this both an economical and ■*•Y■*• happy Christmas for the children. These toys are easily constructed from odds and ends about the house, take only a few hours of a busy mother's time, furnish untold fun and enjoyment for a little girl.

A Spool Bed and Bedding. A little girl will be delighted with this four- poster bed made from spools and the boards from a wooden grocery box and the dainty bedding salvaged from the scrap bag. It can be made to any dimen- sions to fit any size doll.

Saw out the bottom, the side boards, and the foot and head piece, shaped as shown in Figure 1, and nail together with tiny brads to form a box. Empty spools form the legs and posts. (The number of spools required will depend upon the size of the bed.) The spools are stacked on end and glued with glue or wooden cement, which may be pur- chased at any drug or dime store. The latter is preferable because it makes for sturdier construction, as the spools when glued thus cannot be pulled apart.

Glue the box to the legs, setting the corners of the box exactly in the center of the spool holes. A piece is sawed out of the spool that fits around the corner of the box, as shown in Figure 2, and the spool is glued in place; then more spools are glued in position to form the posts. A smaller darning cotton spool or large wooden bead may be used to finish each post. The hole in the last spool is filled with crack filler or putty.

When the glue or cement has had time to set, sandpaper very smooth, and paint the bed with enamel, or wood stain.

2

or Cordin.

^

Stuffing

4) are made from a scrap of muslin. A flower spray of lazy-daisies and French knots takes only a minute to do and makes a dainty decoration.

The quilt (Figure 5) is also made from muslin with colored flowers and border appliqued in place, and is quilted by hand or machine. Another quilt pat- tern may be used if desired.

A Bassinet. One would never guess that the frilly bassinet, just right for the

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newest baby doll, was made from a wooden grocery box, several feet of baling wire, a piece of dimity, batiste, or other sheer figured material, and a bit of ribbon or lace.

Cut a piece of material the height of the box plus two inches by once and a half distance around the inside. Seam the ends together and run two rows of machine stitching along each side. Pull up to fit and tack to box, as shown in Figure 1, after first padding the inside of the box with a layer of cotton batting. Cut a pad to fit the bottom, seam, leav- ing one side open, stuff with cotton, and slipstitch opening shut. Make a pillow and cover in the same way.

By Katherine Dissinger

'ntf solid color

Wiik*

Teens

Yellow~ Jjorder'

To make the hood, cut a piece of ma- terial, as shown in Figure 2. Finish straight end with ribbon or lace. Run two rows of machine stitching along the back edge. Make tucks, also shown in Figure 2, and insert wire through tucks. Pull up the back edge of the hood so that it fits one end of the box and tack into position to the outside of the box. Cut wire the correct length to form a hood, as shown in Figure 3, and bend ends of wire at right angles for one-half inch. Tack sides of hood to outside edge of box, as shown.

The outside ruffle is cut the height of the box plus one inch for turning down and twice the distance around the out- side of the box. Seam ends together,

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THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

finish bottom with more of the ribbon or lace. Turn down top and run two rows of machine stitching about one-half inch from edge. Pull up to fit box and baste in place to cover the tacks. Rib- bon may be basted around the top edge if desired. Finish the bassinet with a double bow and streamers sewed to one corner.

GIFTS WITH PERSONALITY

lovely wrapping complements the gift inside, makes it doubly appre- ciated. But your packages always seem to look like a small child's first attempt! Making a neat, smooth package is mo trick at all when you do it this way:

1. Cut paper large enough to wrap around the box, allowing for overlap- ping one inch at the bottom and extend- ing beyond each end of the box slightly less than the depth of the box. If paper is thin and the box shows through, double before cutting or line with plain paper the same size.

A

2. Wrap around box with overlap- ping edges on the bottom and fasten with sticker.

3. Fold top of wrapping down on end, sides to center, and bottom up over ends. Fasten with a sticker. Turn package and fold other end.

4. Turn box to right side to decorate.

This year it will be impossible to buy many of the pretty papers, ribbons, and decorations of former years, and pack- ages will be wrapped in plain tissue and simply decorated.

1 . A tall box of bath salts is wrapped in red tissue and tied with red ribbon ending in little red and white yarn pompoms.

2. Crossed red ribbons and a red candle in holder are glued to the top of a white tissue package.

(Continued on page 772)

DECEMBER, 1943:

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Use ROYAL ENRICHED BREAD

There's a flavor and freshness about Royal Enriched Bread that teases your appetite before you even taste it. And you also get those important health-giving vita- mins and minerals that supply extra food value everyone needs.

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Wherever They Go . . . "I have been overseas to North Af- rica, and the 'Era' has been a constant companion to me all through my army life." Charles I. Lambert, Florence, Arizona

ft

<bend the (bra to those in the Service The Improvement Era $2.00 50 North Main St. Year Salt Lake City, Utah

771

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TODAY IN grocery stores throughout Western Amer- ica— in big cities and small, in every town and hamlet, and in every crossroads store, you'll find Utah's own Morning Milk! For the fame of Morning Milk's finer flavor has spread through- out the 1 1 Western States.

Have you tried Morning Milk? Compare its flavor with any other evaporated milk and you'll understand why thous- ands are switching to finer-fla- vored Morning Milk!

Utah's Only

Home-Owned

Evaporated

Milk

MOMMG MILK

Everyone Likes a Good Story

Give Paul Bailey's

THE GAY SAINT

A fast-moving novel based on early Mormon history

$2.50

The Bookcraft Co.

P. O. Box 63 Salt Lake City 1, Utah

{Continued from page 771) tissue with dark blue stars and a single

3. Boys like smart-looking, tailored criss-cross ribbon.

packages. Red cellophane tape is ap- 5. Silver bell stickers attached to a

plied to white tissue packages. narrow silver ribbon decorate the top

4. A large box is wrapped in white of another package.

Payment for Handy Hints used will be one dollar upon publication. In the event that two with the same idea are submitted, the one postmarked earlier will receive the dollar. None of the ideas can be returned, but each will receive careful consideration.

An excellent way to economize during these times is to turn your old unused ice box into a child's wardrobe. I painted mine white and added a touch of color with Decals. The ice compartment hold shoes and socks while the space underneath is for hats and caps. The shelves in the side compartment were easily removed and a rod added to hold hangers for suits and dresses. The children love to put away their own clothes and keep it tidy. — Mrs. I. A. J., San Bernardino, California.

When popcorn fails to pop, it is usually because of the low moisture content. A lit- tle experimenting will show how much water is needed. One teaspoon of water to a quart of popcorn is the average. Mix it thoroughly, put it in an airtight container. In 24 to 48 hours it is ready to pop. — G. G„ Berkeley, California.

Rub inside and outside of fowl with lemon juice for distinctive flavor. — L. C. J., Mor- oni, Utah.

Pine cones may be used as favors at the most elaborate banquet, or simplest party, by smoothing the bottom of the cone, so that it will stand up — then place a bright- colored candleholder with candle in top of cone; a small triangle of colored paper pasted to the cone may serve for the guest's name. This is an excellent way to make money for Bee-Hive girls or 4-H clubs. — Mrs. J. D. McG., Cleveland, Idaho.

To make roast poultry look especially at- tractive, glaze it with jelly the last half hour before taking it from the oven. Break up the contents of a half cup of red jelly with a fork and spread over the fowl. It will have to be basted often, but it will have a brown, shiny finish which looks and tastes delicious. — Mrs. /. G. C, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

We save and dry our cushaw and pump- kin seeds to toast in the oven; the kernels are good to serve as you serve roasted peanuts, and are very nutritious. We also save our apricot stones (sweet pits) and use the blanched kernels in apple, plum, apricot, and peach butter, or roasted in the oven. — Miss M. F., Wichita, Kansas.

A common pair of tweezers is a wonder- ful help in pulling pin feathers from a tur- key; also a wax candle is excellent for help- ing to prepare that holiday fowl. It's sure- fire for burning off fine feathers and fuzz. — ■ Mrs. A. J., Blackfoot, Idaho.

To prevent holiday fruit cake from burn- ing on the bottom, before putting the cake

in the oven, get a pie plate or a pan large enough to hold the fruit cake pan. Cover the bottom of it with salt and set the fruit cake in this pan. No matter how long the cake is left in, it will not burn on the bot- tom.— Mrs. R. K., Miami, Florida.

To prevent filling from soaking in pie crust, dust over bottom crust with a mixture of flour and sugar before adding fruit or other filling. — Mrs. A. J., Mesa, Arizona.

By Josephine B. Nichols

Yummy Gifts from Your Kitchen

*V7"ou'll adore helping the jolly old fel- A low sprinkle on stars, tie saucy bow- knots, and splash gay holiday hues over these delectables for eating and giving.

Chicken Timbales

3 3

3

tablespoons butter or other fat

tablespoons flour

cups broth, milk, or thin gravy

eggs

salt and pepper 3 cups cooked diced chicken 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Make a sauce of the fat, flour, and liquid. Add the well-beaten eggs, seasoning, and chicken. Pour into greased timbale molds or custard cups. Place the cups in a pan of water. Bake in a moderate oven (350° F.) about one-half hour, or until set in center. Turn the timbales out and serve hot with thin cream gravy or mushroom sauce; gar- nish with preserved cranberries.

Christmas Salad

1 package quick-setting gelatin

(orange flavor)

1 cup boiling water

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup cold water

\)A cups uncooked cranberries

l/2 orange

Y^ cup chopped celery

% cup diced apple

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water; add sugar and cold water. Put cranberries and unpeeled orange through food chopper; add to gelatin mixture and chill until it begins to thicken. Add celery and apples; pour into mould. Chill until firm. Garnish with mayonnaise. (Serves 16.)

%

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Holiday Cake

cup butter or shortening cup sugar egg whites

teaspoon almond extract cups sifted cake flour teaspoon baking powder teaspoon salt

cup candied cherries (cut) cup citron, finely cut cup seedless raisins cup chopped almonds cup coconut

772

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA

Cream butter; add sugar gradually and cream until light and fluffy. Add egg whites, one at a time, bearing after each addition. Add fruit, nuts, coconut, and flavoring. Add flour, a small amount at a time. Bake in a loaf pan. Line baking pan with brown paper and grease the sheet next to the cake batter. Bake in slow oven (300* F.) one hour and fifteen minutes.

Honey Popcorn Balls

Yi cup strained honey Yt cup corn syrup (light)

1 teaspoon vinegar

Yi tablespoon butter

\Yi quarts popped corn

Cook honey, syrup, and vinegar together, stirring constantly, until it forms a slightly brittle ball when tested in cold water. Stir in the butter. Pour the syrup slowly over the popped corn and mix well. Form into balls, pressing as lightly as possible.

Give the balls a festive appearance by turning some into clowns, pussycats, pretty girls, and many others of your own in- vention.

The clown may boast a red lifesaver nose, grin with a half lifesaver mouth, and make a cone-shaped hat from gay Christ- mas paper to perch jauntily over green gum- drop eyes.

The pussycat's whiskers may be three red full-length sippers, held at center with a life- saver nose. Stick on neatly with popcorn syrup, green gumdrops for the eyes. For her ears, snip a sipper in half, bend each piece in its middle, and stick on with syrup.

The pretty girl's demure face may be made of gumdrops and life-savers, with a perky hat made from a frilly lace paper doilie cocked over one eye.

Turkish Lumps (Gumdrops)

3 cups sugar in Y CUP boiling water

4 tablespoons unflavored gelatin in Yl

cup cold water

1 large orange

1 large lemon

Bring syrup to a boil. Add soaked gela- tin and boil twenty minutes, before taking from heat; add juice from fruit. Divide into two equal parts; to one part add red color- ing and two tablespoons red cinnamon candies; to the other part add green color- ing and two drops of peppermint flavoring. Strain into 8" x 8" cake pans to set; it re- quires several hours. Cut into squares or fancy shapes and roll in granulated sugar.

Stuffed Prunes

Steam prunes over water thirty minutes. Cool and pit. Stuff with chopped candied lemon and orange peel and walnut meats. Roll in powdered sugar.

1

TRIBUTE

Rooks' Corner: I find your corner ^ so very helpful and interesting. I should like to submit the following by way of appreciation.

Scripture Puzzle Cake

cup of Judges 5:25 cups Jeremiah 6:20 cup of I Samuel 30: 12 cup of Genesis 24:17 1% cups of I Kings 4:22 \Yi teaspoons Exodus 32:20 Yi teaspoon Leviticus 2:13 to taste I Kings 10:10 3 Isaiah 10:14

Mix in order given; bake 350 to 375° F.; cup cakes 15 min.; layer, 25 min.; loaf 45 to 60 min.

Very sincerely yours,

Jessie M. Beishline (Answers found on page 77 S)

DECEMBER, 1943

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773

GOD MOVES

By O. F. URSENBACH M

"Touring the construction of the Weber *-*^ and Davis counties' reservoir un- der Perham Brothers and Parker, at the East Canyon "Red Rocks" narrows, because I was somewhat skilled with explosives, I was made powder man, and became known as "Bob" to replace my long, three-syllable name. By reas- on of unexplained premonition when danger lurked, Pat Fehey, the foreman, often referred to me as "Charmed Life Bob."

On a slope fifty feet above a perpen- dicular cliff, a gang of men were rolling boulders from a previous blast, when Pat shouted to them to halt while I passed below carrying some giant pow- der. As I advanced, some unseen yet actual power literally jerked me back, just in time to miss a huge boulder that, had I advanced another step, would have crushed me. Amazed at what had transpired, I leaned against that natural wall and wept in gratitude for divine assistance at this perilous moment.

On the same works, spring had fol- lowed a very severe winter, and at the foot of a very high cliff I was thawing frozen giant powder in an oil warmer. Standing near were Hugh Perham, his wife and some visitors. At once I shouted: "Get out of here quickly." A few moments later, a boulder crashed

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V

from a hundred feet up, demolishing the powder warmer, then bounded right to where the group had been standing. Mr. Perham marvelled at my intuition, but to me it was another manifestation of divine inspiration.

Still on the works, I had spent nearly two days springing a twenty-two foot hole that when loaded contained thirty kegs of blasting powder. For such heavy shots Pat and I frequently took refuge in the powder magazine — a tun- nel drilled twenty feet in a mountain side, closed with a lumber door. I was warned not to enter the magazine this time, only to have Pat, in his vile pro- fanity that characterized every sentence he spoke, retort with: "Bob, we're as safe there as if we were in God's pock- et, for the shot is not pointed that way." We took refuge under a cliff, and Pat gasped as he saw a huge boulder crash into that magazine. It destroyed many kegs of blasting powder, but a ton of giant powder stacked along the side- walls was untouched.

I recall here one more experience on the works. From a heavy blast the evening previous, nine large boulders lying on the north slope of the dam, had been drilled and loaded for blasting while the crew of nearly a hundred men were at lunch. I ignited all nine fuses,

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