---
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: 3
published: 1899-01
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, \"Duty,\" *Improvement Era* 2, no. 3 (January 1899): 166."
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera23unse
  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: improvementera23unse
start_page: 166
end_page: 166
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-01)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera23unse
  publication_year: 1899
  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 1899, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# Duty

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DUTY.
SELECTED.
There's a pathway through life with a stern-sounding name,
And some tread it bravely to honor and fame,
And some tread it bravely wherever it goes.
Unmindful of thorns, in the hope of a rose.
And sometimes this path through the wilderness leads.
Where the foot of the wayfarer winces and bleeds.
And sometimes it climbs to the summits of snow.
While sunshine lies warm in the valleys below.
But this thing is certain—who follows the track
That Duty has marked for him, ne'er looking back,
Who takes to it, sticks to it, sunshine or shade,
Shall never regret him the choice he has made.
For, though it be stony and though it be steep,
It groweth a flower whoso findeth may keep.
And all who along it will faithfully wend.
Shall light on this flower ere they come to the end.
Its name is True Happiness; blest is the lot
Of him who fares on till he comes to the spot
Where, blushing, it greets him; his effort is crowned
With a flower that shall bloom for him all the year round.