--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 2 number: 1 published: 1898-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Notes", *Improvement Era* 2, no. 1 (November 1898): 72–74.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera21unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera21unse start_page: 72 end_page: 74 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1898-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera21unse publication_year: 1898 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1898, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Notes NOTES. A man with an open mind can never become narrow and rigid, for he has within him the principle of growth. He is like a plant, rejoicing in the invigorating influences of fresh air, sunshine, and dew, developing healthfully and shedding its beauty and fragrance on all around. His education is never ended, for he is eagerly learning from every source, and using all possible opportunities of gathering knowledge. The views he has formed and the truths he has embraced are never held with that narrow tenacity which holds them back from all frank and free discussion. He is not afraid of putting them to any test, assured that, if they are true, they will stand the trial, and, if not, he can no longer uphold them. One of the most important items in health-culture is to keep the lungs and heart in good condition. It is possible to breathe suflacient air to so oxygenate the blood that it will consume the waste and poisonous matbers of the system, as fire burns up chaff or tinder. People who feel dull, heavy, stupid, unwilling to exert themselves, indeed often unable to do so, will find that a regular course of breathing exercises will be of more benefit to them than all the medicine in creation. There are many times when the use of medicines merely aggravates the existing ill. It is simply a further accumulation of undesirable material that must be carried about until nature is assisted to cast it out or burn it up. Intelligence is never afraid to face any truth, knowing that each one has a message for those who will heed it. The entire past, whether that of individual or of nations, with its mingled stores of good and evil, may be so read and studied as to draw forth unmixed blessings for the future. It is this purpose, held NOTES. 7a closely in view, that enables us to dwell for a time upon the dark passages of our lives without despair or hopelessness. If, instead of indulging in vain lamentation, which of itself is only paralyzing, we examine its sources, thoughtfully analyzing their nature and their effects, and distinguishing between actions and intentions, we shall be able so to apply the results to our present life and conduct as to produce hope and effort and progress from what at first sight seemed to offer only regret and self-censure. A pretty story is told at Hawarden regarding Mr. Gladstone's interest in young men. Some time ago an aged charwoman at Hawarden Castle had a refractory son, who had long given her great trouble. In her desperation she begged to be permitted to see Mr. Gladstone. She poured her tale of sorrow into the ears of the venerable statesman, who, after sympathizing with her, sent a special messenger in pursuit of the youth, and he was brought to Hawarden Castle and placed in the library. There Mr. Gladstone had a long, quiet talk with him, pointing out the path of rectitude and melting him to tears. The youth rose to go, whereupon Mr. Gladstone, placing his hand on his shoulder, said: ''We must have a word of prayer," The venerable gentleman and the rebellious youth knelt together in prayer, with the result that the mother's heart was rejoiced in the complete reclamation of her son. An English journal thus comments on the injurious effects of anger: Anger serves the unhappy mortal who indulges in it, much the same as intoxicants constantly taken, serve the inebriate. It grows into a sort of disease which has various and terrible results. Sir Richard Quain said, not long ago: ''He is a man very rich indeed in physical power, who can afford to be angry." This is true. Every time a man becomes "white" or "red" with anger, he is in danger of his life. The heart and brain are the organs most affected when fits of passion are indulged in. Not only does anger cause partial paralysis of the small blood vessels, but the heart's action becomes intermittent; that is, every now and then it drops a beat — much the same thing as is experienced by excessive smokers. " There are some people in the United States who have not been infected with the recent war-craze, and have some respect for human life, only too sadly cheapened in times like these. In New York State, a laudable effort is being made to stem the thirst for blood, incited in the young by inflammatory appeals to a sometimes questionable patriotism, which, unheeding of its horrors, deifies war and sighs for the crimson glory of battlefields. The anti-war movement expresses itself by the offer of prizes to school children for the best essays treating war as an evil, and looking to international arbitration as a humane substitute. The theme set with its divisions, is as follows: " Would not the highest development of human thought be shown to be a strong argument for the abolition of war? (a) Natural causes of war; (b)The inhumanity of war; The cost and waste of war; (d) A (c) remedy — a board of arbitration between nations." Motto — " Patriotism is not at its highest when a man says, 'I will die for my country;' it is at its highest when he says, * I will live nobly for my country.' The movement is one which promises to spread throughout the country, resulting in the suppression of extreme "jingoism" in the minds of the young people, and the establishment of more humane sentiments.