---
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: 7
number: 4
published: 1904-02
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "In Lighter Mood," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 4 (February 1904): 309.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0704unse
  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: improvementera0704unse
start_page: 309
end_page: 309
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-02)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0704unse
  publication_year: 1904
  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 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# In Lighter Mood

<!-- page:309 -->

IN  
        LIGHTER 
        MOOD-
Pleasant 
        Old 
        Gentleman
        —
        "Have 
        you 
        lived 
        here 
        all 
        your 
        life, 
        my
little 
        man?"
Arthur 
        (aged 
        six)
        —
        "Not 
        yet."
        —
        LippincoWs 
        Magazine.
The 
        beginning 
        of 
        an 
        international 
        misunderstanding, 
        or 
        the 
        con-
tinuation of 
        an 
        old 
        one, 
        is 
        contained 
        in 
        this 
        dialogue 
        from 
        the 
        Philadel-
phia Public 
        Ledger:
"You 
        can 
        always 
        tell 
        an 
        Englishman," 
        said 
        the 
        Briton, 
        proudly.
"Of 
        course 
        you 
        can," 
        replied 
        the 
        Yankee, 
        "but 
        it 
        doesn't 
        do 
        any
good."
A 
        farmer 
        living 
        near 
        Providence, 
        Rhode 
        Island, 
        was 
        driving 
        home
from 
        that 
        city, 
        several 
        weeks 
        ago, 
        when 
        a 
        nut 
        came 
        off 
        the 
        axle 
        of 
        his
buggy.
He 
        halted 
        for 
        repairs, 
        and 
        was 
        in 
        no 
        little 
        trouble. 
        Finally 
        an 
        Ital-
ian laborer 
        came 
        along, 
        and 
        the 
        farmer 
        hailed 
        him 
        and 
        asked 
        him 
        if 
        he
had 
        a 
        monkey 
        wrench. 
        The 
        Italian 
        was 
        angry 
        in 
        an 
        instant, 
        and 
        warmly
replied:
        —
"What 
        for 
        you 
        insulta 
        me? 
        I 
        no 
        keepa 
        da 
        monkey 
        ranch. 
        I 
        keepa
da 
        sheep 
        ranch."
A 
        former 
        Assistant 
        Secretary 
        of 
        the 
        Interior, 
        who 
        lives 
        in 
        Wash-
ington, is 
        of 
        the 
        same 
        name 
        as 
        a 
        poet 
        who 
        writes 
        and 
        lives 
        in 
        Pennsyl-
vania.
The 
        ex-official 
        has 
        a 
        letter 
        he 
        received, 
        a 
        time 
        ago, 
        which 
        he 
        considers
the 
        most 
        remarkable 
        epistle 
        he 
        ever 
        read. 
        The 
        writer 
        confounded 
        him
with 
        the 
        poet 
        and 
        wrote:
"Dear 
        friend 
        and 
        statsmen: 
        I 
        rite 
        you 
        the 
        earliest 
        dait 
        to 
        be 
        so
cind 
        as 
        to 
        do 
        ma 
        a 
        grat 
        fafor. 
        I 
        haf 
        trid 
        all 
        cinds 
        of 
        paten 
        medisin 
        for
hart 
        decease 
        an 
        no 
        avail.    
        I 
        read 
        yore 
        littel 
        pome 
        on 
        Hart 
        decese 
        be-
ginin
"The 
        hart 
        which 
        sad 
        tumultus 
        beets,
with 
        throbs 
        of 
        keenest 
        pain
wil 
        oft 
        recover 
        its 
        defeets
Thro' 
        naturs 
        sweat 
        refrane.
"I 
        haf 
        never 
        trid 
        an 
        injun 
        doc 
        but 
        haf 
        took 
        all 
        cinds 
        of 
        erbs. 
        i 
        now
ast 
        you 
        to 
        send 
        me 
        by 
        retrn 
        male 
        2 
        bottels 
        of 
        your 
        medsin 
        naturs 
        sweat
refrane.    
        Sen 
        to 
        Alex 
        K
        , 
        C
        postoffus, 
        Penn.
"P. 
        S. 
        i 
        will 
        sen 
        prise 
        by 
        return 
        male."
        —
        Saturday 
        Evening 
        Post.