---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - J. L. Townsend
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 6
number: 10
published: 1903-08
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'J. L. Townsend, "The Word of Wisdom," *Improvement Era* 6, no. 10 (August 1903): 725.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0610unse
  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: improvementera0610unse
start_page: 725
end_page: 725
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-08)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0610unse
  publication_year: 1903
  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 1903, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Word of Wisdom

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THE WORD OF WISDOM.                                            725

Ho, for the joy of eating the food that will health" recall,
                   Till the breadwe need
                   And the drink decreed
Is elixir of life for all


Ho, for the joy of learning! and plan of a perfect goal,
                   Where the joyous mind
                   Shall forever find
All the gifts of a perfect soul


And this is the Word of Wisdom                      —To   let our God define

                    Just what we shall choose,
                   And how we shall use
Of the fruits of the field and vine                 !




And this is the Word of Wisdom                      —To   let our God decree

                   All the social laws
                   Of his holy'cause,
Till a man is a freeman, free !


Pree from the vice of heritage and habits that dwarf the brain,
                And free from the ban
                  That is cursing man
In the shadows of loss and gain                 !




Free from the cursed customs that measure a man by pelf,
                And free from the throes
                  Of penury's woes,
In the struggle of self for self        !




Ho, for the good time coming      !Wisdom shall have her school;
                  With a life divine
                  Shall our children shine
In the light of her golden rule             !




"Their youth renewed like the eagles," soaring to heights above,
                  While centuries span
                  The life of a man
In the Order of Life and Love       !




Then keep ye the Word of Wisdom, gaining the power that heals
                Renewing thy youth
                  From fountains of truth,
That God to the saint reveals     !