--- 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: 12 published: 1899-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "America," *Improvement Era* 2, no. 12 (October 1899): 926.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera212unse 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: improvementera212unse start_page: 926 end_page: 926 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera212unse 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. --- # America AMERICA." Our beloved "America" was written by Rev. Samuel Francis Smith, who graduated from Harvard College with Oliver Wendell Holmes. The air is English; both words and music are said to have been composed by Henry Carey under the title "God Save the King." There is certainly something more than ordinarily inspir- ing in an air which has struck the popular heart of four nations England, France, Germany and America. In 1831 Mr. William Woodbridge brought from Germany a mass of music books and gave them to Lowell Mason. Mr. Mason turned them over to the Rev. S. Francis Smith, saying that he could not read German, but Mr. Smith could, and if he lound any- thing good to give him a translation or imitation of it, or, write a'whole original song, —anything, so that he could use it. One after- noon, in looking over the books, hemet with the tune "God Save the King." The air thrilled him. Immediately he took up his pen and wrote the entire song at one sitting. This was at Andover, Mass., February 13, 1832.