--- 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: 4 number: 11 published: 1901-09 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* 4, no. 11 (September 1901): 866–867.' 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: 866 end_page: 867 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. --- # Notes 866 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Abe among them. If you find your crowd following him, keep away from it. There are times when it's safest to be lonesome. Use a little common-sense, caution and conscience. You can stock a store with those three commodities, when you get enough of them. But you've got to begin getting them young. They ain't catching after you toughen up a bit." LUCY SMITH'S HISTORY OP THE PROPHET. Readers of the Era will be delighted to learn that "Lucy Smith's History of the Prophet Joseph," in revised and authentic form, will be printed as a serial in Volume five, beginning with the November number. This work, covering some 250 pages of the magazine, is a most fascinating narrative of the life of Joseph, and will be read with deep interest by both old and young, containing as it does some items in his career that can be found nowhere else in print. Sbuscriptions for Volume five of the Improvement Era should be sent in at once; $2.00 per year, including the history, and the new Manual. NOTES. I've alius noticed great success Is mixed with troubles, more or less, And it's the man who does the best That gits more kicks than all the rest. James Whitcomb Riley. While a neat attire is not always an index to good character and ability, the fact remains that of two applicants the business man will always employ the well-dressed, attractive looking boy rather than the one who is careless in his appearance. NOTES. 867 The reason is obvious. The boy who is particular in regard to the details of his dress will be careful in his work and thus command the respect and confidence of his employer. Young people think that men who have become very successful must have had unusual opportunities. They do not realize or appreciate the fact that right around them are chances much greater than those which started many of these successful men upon their careers. There is no difficulty in finding openings, if we only keep our eyes open. Suc- cessful men have found theirs in the most common, everyday situations. The chances are that the very thing you are now doing is your oppor- tunity to take the first step. If you perform your task so well that you attract attention; if you are faithful, enthusiastic, and dead in earnest, you will probably find that your present situation, the work which you are now doing, and which you consider drudgery, is the first step in your advancement. The area of Utah in square miles, as printed in the official docu- ments of the twelfth census, is 82,190. The area of each county in Utah, in square miles is as follows: Beaver, 2,580; Box Elder, 5,436; Cache, 1,181; Carbon, 1,596; Davis, 285; Emery, 4,336; Garfield, 5,103; Grand, 3,759; Iron, 3,284; Juab, 3,300; Kane, 4,368; Millard, 6,664; Morgan, 599; Piute, 744; Rich, 1,050; Salt Lake, 768; San Juan, 8,025; Sanpete, 1,561; Sevier, 1,880; Summit, 1,937; Tooele, 6,901; Uinta, 5,190; Utah, 2,123; Wasatch, 4,147; Washington, 2,457; Wayne, 2,362; Weber, 544. The population is 276,749, or a figure more than twenty-four times as large as in 1850, when it was 11,380. The average number of per- sons to the square mile was, in 1890, 2.5, while in 1900, it was 3.4. Never attempt to do anything with half a mind. If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth your entire attention; concentrate your mind upon it, try and devise new and improved methods for doing the work, and never let your thoughts wander while you are at your task. Mind- wandering, air-castle building, and day-dreaming, are very demoralizing to the average mind, and have ruined many a career. "Failed from lack of concentration," or from "doing things indifferently," is an epitaph that may be read upon thousands of tombstones of those who have failed in life. The way to build up a strong, vigorous mind, is to form a habit of holding it steadily and firmly upon the work in hand, and doing it to perfection. A wandering mind is always a demoralized mind. It is very difficult to break up the pernicious habit of "scatteration,'' when once well formed. Success.