--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - William Makepeace Thackeray collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 4 number: 11 published: 1901-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'William Makepeace Thackeray, "Cheerfulness," *Improvement Era* 4, no. 11 (September 1901): 812–814.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0411unse 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: improvementera0411unse start_page: 812 end_page: 814 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1901-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0411unse publication_year: 1901 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 1901, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Cheerfulness 812 IMPROVEMENT ERA. ity by virtue of his apostleship to take up and complete the work which they had been unable to accomplish in their life time, be- cause of the wickedness of the people. In conclusion, we declare that the 'Priesthood now operating in its various callings and appointments has been received legiti- mately from Joseph Smith and others who were appointed by God to confer the same, they having been ordained thereto by the di- rect revelations of our Father and his Son Jesus Christ. And though we are now at some distance from those who were first ordained to the Holy Priesthood, yet its authority is not at all weakened by the lapse of time, nor by the absence of the first elders and apostles of The Church. In this manner will be con- tinued to the end of time the fullness of the authority of the Holy Priesthood, for its perpetuity is assured: "It will never be taken away nor given t ) another people." In the language of one of our apostles, "It has come to stay." CHEERFULNESS. What, indeed, does not that word cheerfulness imply? It means a contented spirit, it means a pure heart, it means a kind and loving disposition;it means humility and charity; it means a generous appreciation of others, and a modest opinion of self. Stu- pid people, who do not know how to laugh, are always pompous and self-conceited; that is, bigoted; that is, cruel; that is, ungentle, uncharitable, unchristian. William Makepeace Thackeray. ON READING. BY MRS. IDA PRENTICE, EAU-CLAIRE, WISCONSIN. The question, Why ought we to read? is fundamental, natural. We ourselves are its answer, and if we desire to put into words the feelings that spring from our being, we may repeat the cry of David, when, in his rapture for the admiration for man, he exclaimed, "Thou hast made him, God, a little less than the angels." From this dignity of man, from his spirituality, from his soul, stamped with the divine likeness, with its rich endowment of will, memory, and understanding, and its rich supernatural gifts of faith, hope, and charity, must we seek the full answer to our question. A law of our being commands us to seek for spiritual culture and intellectual nourishment, and this law is largely satisfied by reading and meditation. Man's existence on earth depends on food: we eat to live. But the Divine Master knew the higher needs of our life when he said that not by bread alone could we be sustained. To read, therefore, to yield to the just demands of our spiritual and intellectual appetite, is assuredly as pressing a duty as that which commands us to sustain our drooping physical ener- gies,and to ward off, as long as possible, the telling effects of wear and tear upon our bodies. But we must go still further. While standing for the claims of our inferior part, we must, as Christians, admit the higher claims of our minds, our undying and imperishable part. It is a great crime to destroy the life of our body, either by violence, or by refusing it its just support. In either case, we usurp the rights of the Author of life. But as mind is above matter, and as the immortal spirit 814 IMPROVEMENT ERA. transcends the perishing clay, so is there more heinous sin in wounding our being's nobler part; in deliberately extinguishing the light of the Holy Ghost, or in failing to keep alive the divine spark ignited by the Creator. To read, to improve our minds by observation, conversation, meditation and experience; to train intelligently our moral nature; to know ourselves; to put our- selves in an intellectual communion with the beauties of creation,, and with the divine beauties of our Creator; to be alive to some of the treasures with which human genius has enriched the world are surely higher duties than to pass one's years in an effort to consume and to wear. We should read because we are little less than the angels; because we are so gloriously classed by the Father who is in heaven; because we are not for this world only; because we possess souls touched by the finger of God, and kindled by the Holy Ghost. For many, the thought of meditation that accompanies reading is the only thinking and meditat- ing in which they can engage; and, therefore, the habit of reading must be of great assistance to them, in making good use of free time, and in giving real value to spare moments that by some are habitually squandered. When time hangs heavy, and the spirit finds unrest, then it is that a good book is a strong tower. There are angels lurking among the leaves, as if these were so many niches. The book becomes a guard. It takes possession of the mind for which the evil one is always on the watch. It occupies it; garrisons it.