--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Alice K. Smith collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 7 number: 7 published: 1904-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Alice K. Smith, "In the Whirlpool," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 7 (May 1904): 517–522.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0707unse 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: improvementera0707unse start_page: 517 end_page: 522 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0707unse 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 the Whirlpool IN THE WHIRLPOOL. BY ALICE K. SMITH. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Much heartache, misery and woe could be avoided if the youth of Zion could be persuaded, or otherwise induced, to keep this one commandment. But we are given our free agency in this school of life. We can obey or disobey; we can study, and learn our lessons, or we can spend our days in idleness. But there is one thing absolutely certain: we shall all have to take our . examination. We cannot escape this, we cannot play truant, nor copy from our classmate, and pass our examination in that way. We will have to answer the call and stand before that great and all wise Judge to give an account of the way we have spent our lives. While here, our parents cannot save us, nor can they learn our lessons of duty for us; we must learn them for ourselves. If we fail to pass in our examination, we alone shall be held responsible for the failure. We must work out our own problems, no others can do it for us. There are certain duties and obligations devolving upon parents toward their children, which if they neglect, and their children do wrong in consequence of such neglect, the parents will be held accountable. As revealed in the law of God: And inasmuch as parents have children in Zion or any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents: For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion or in any of her stakes which are organized And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of hands. And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord. (Doctrine and Covenants, section 68). We understand from the above that if parents neglect to impress upon the minds and hearts of their children a knowl- edge of right and wrong, and truth and error, or fail to teach them clearly and understanding^ the principles of faith, repentance and baptism, and their children grow up in ignorance of their duties, transgressing the laws of God, then the parents are responsible for that sin. This responsibility may perhaps rest with greater weight upon the mother than the father; she has the greater influence over her children during their infancy and childhood, which period of their life is the most critical, because they then are most responsive to and receptive of good impressions which endure through their whole lives. Some of the best women have had wayward and ungovernable children who have wrung their mothers' hearts by their disobedience and wrong doings, and brought them down to an untimely grave. Itseems to me that a son who, by his wickedness, would crush the hopes and break the heart of a loving mother, and thus bring her down to a premature grave, should be classed with the coldest- blooded, most cruel murderers in all the world. How lightly do such sons seem to value the life of a kind and loving mother, and how little th^y appreciate her affections, or esteem the value of the life-long sacrifices she has made for them. Who will love us as a mother does? Who will suffer, work and toil, and deprive herself of every comfort, in order that we may be cared for? No one like mother. And no one can feel or exercise the patient devotion and endurance toward an erring child that mother does. Think of the many days of weary toil, the years of unselfish love she gives us. Then let us ask our- selves if we can do too much for mother. Obedience is a debt as well as a duty that we owe her, and it is in the power of all to pay at least that debt. • There is no greater joy that the human heart is capable of experiencing than that which comes to the true mother when her babies, whom she has looked upon as blessings from God, are grown to manhood and womanhood, and IN THE WHIRLPOOL. 519 are good and true, obedient to the laws of God. Does she remember any sacrifice, any suffering, toil or hardship? No; all is forgotten; she is paid a hundred fold. Her children are faithful and true, and should she be called hence, she can go to sleep in peace, for she knows that they will join her by and by, and they will be associated together forever in the mansions above: Oh, there is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother for her son that transcends all other affections of the heart, it is neither to be chilled by selfishness nor daunted by danger, nor weakened by worth- lessness, nor stifled by ingratitude. She will sacrifice every comfort, to his convenience; she will surrender every pleasure to his enjoyment; she will glory in his fame, and exult in his prosperity. And if misfortune overtakes him, he will be the dearer to her from misfortune. And if disgrace settle upon his name, she will still love and cherish him in spite of his disgrace. And if all the world besides cast him off, she will be all the world to him. We do not doubt for one moment that God knew what he was doing when he implanted in the heart of woman that undying love for her children. From the time the young woman takes upon herself the sacred obligations of wife and mother, until she closes her eyes in the last sleep of death, "though it should be four score years and ten," she can never remove from her heart that yearning for her children, which God implanted there. Their joys, their sorrows, are hers, and the greatest anguish she is cap- able of suffering is that which comes to her with the knowledge that her son, through his disobedience and sinful life, has cut him- self off forever from the association with his loved ones. How terrible must be the agony and despair of the mother when she hears that her son is a murderer, that he has taken the life of a fellow being, that he is a prisoner in a dungeon, and in all probability will be sentenced to death. And she must live to hear that he is executed, hung on the scaffold, or shot to death, and sent back to the great, just Judge with the brand of Cain upon his brow. Surely the light has gone out of her life. The sun-rays of peace may never shine in her soul again. And yet, if it were in her power, even now she would gladly remove from him all sorrow or pain, she would relieve him from all remorse, and make peaceful and calm the last terrible moments of her boy's life. There is no end to her love, and now that all the world has cast him off, he is still all the world to her. It is doubtless far better for the disobedient, reckless son, in- ured to sinful life, to be cut down in his youth, while he has yet a spark of conscience left, and may be brought to remember once more his mother, love and home. If permitted to live and continue in sin, it will eventually sear his conscience, and crush out of his heart love for her who bore him into the world, and end at last his miserable life in an ignominious death. The murderer claims that he abhorred the course he was taking, that his very soul and being would cry out against such a, life, but he Was hurried on and on. It is well that the law of God and justice demands a life for a life, thereby offering the murderer an opportunity to make atonement for the awful crime He has confessed his crime of murder and of which he is guilty. other misdeeds, unburdening his conscience as best he can, fearing that he will be required to give his life for those he has taken. Although he now sees the terrible results of disobedience, what will it avail him? It is too late to retrace his misguided steps, and he can only give out his sad warning to other wayward boys, with whom he pleads to take warning by his own crimes and con- sequent misfortunes. Although but little confidence can be placed in the genuineness of his professed repentance, and it is al- together probable that had he not been caught, and his guilt proved, he would have gone on in his course of crime. Yet, com- ing though it may from enforced repentance and confession, his warning is none the less worthy of acceptance, and should be fol- lowed by every erring boy. what he tells us be true, the If keenest anguish he suffers today is from the thought or knowl- edge of his mother. Had he been a waif cast upon the streets, with no remembrance of home or mother, he would suffer less, and we would pity him more. If he could only shut out the remembrance of his childhood days, blot out the picture that is stamped upon his heart of home and mother, and could be convinced beyond a doubt that death meant death to the soul as well as to the body, he could shout for joy, he could "eat, drink, and be merry, and to- morrow die." But though his body be sunk to the depth of the sea, or cremated, and his ashes scattered to the four winds, still IN THE WHIRLPOOL. 521 lie will stand before that great and allwise Judge, and there give an account of the deeds of sin and crime he has commited here in this school of life. Perhaps it is not in the power of man to con- vince him today that there is no God. There is a spark within us that tells us that God lives. We may talk of our doubts all we please, while in health and prosperity, but let calamities befall us, let sickness and death stare us in the face, and see how quickly we will call to him with all our hearts and souls! We hear of strong men who have laughed at the idea of a God; yet, when sickness came, and death stared them in the face, they have wept and prayed like little children. "There is some- thing in sickness that breaks down the pride of manhood, that softens the heart, and brings it back to the feelings of infancy." I believe that when death comes, a knowledge comes with it, if it has never come before, that it is only the body that is dying, that the soul will go on to meet its Maker. Longfellow has said, and how truly: Life is real, life is earnest, And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. There is no death to the soul. The soul is the spark of deity that will live on throughout the countless ages of eternity. This life, this we are all taking the prepar- school here, where atory course, moment compared to the great beyond. is only a But it is so necessary that we learn our lessons well while we are here. We do not hold a murderer up as a hero, nor do we wish to add to the notoriety of the infamous crime he is capable of com- mitting, nor do we approve of men, much less women, crowding the court rooms, the steps, and the gates, to get a glimpse of the un- fortunate and miserable sinners. And we discourage with all the influence we possess the sentimental, foolish girl, who will write notes of sympathy to such. It would be well for her to use her time and thoughts on a better subject. The murderer is beyond our reach, we can do nothing for him. We need not recommend that the judge be merciful, for in doing his duty, he will pronounce 522 IMPR0VEMEN1 ERA upon him the sentence of death. We can only commend him to the mercy of God, who we know is far more merciful than man. But we take him as an example, for we see in his case the terrible consequences of disobedience. And that young man, no matter who he may be, who is in the habit of roaming the streets at late hours of the night; who spends his time on the corners, loafing and smoking, telling low and obscene stories; who enters the pool rooms, the gambling dens; who goes to the saloon and lifts to his lips drink that will inflame his brain and sear his conscience, is in danger of the murderer's doom. He is in the maelstrom that Satan governs and controls, and unless the prayers and pleadings of his parents and loved ones touch his heart, or some power lift him from the stream, he will go down in the whirlpool! Then his heart and soul may cry out against the life he is leading, but his strength and manhood are gone, he has grown dizzy with the whirl, and is too weak and powerless to shake off the shackles of sin and vice. And when death comes to him, it will bring with it a full realization of all that he has lost; the unfulfilled yearnings and desires of his soul; banishment from the presence of God; sep- aration forever from his loved ones; to be down here when he might have been up there! This is the lake of brimstone, the fire that continually burns and never consumes; and he who sins against light and knowledge, who has been blessed with a loving mother who has taught him the laws and principles of the gospel, his sorrow and remorse will be far greater than one who has not been so blessed. Therefore, we raise our voice with the yearning and pleading of a mother's love to our boys, the youth of Zion, who were born under the new and everlasting covenant. They should all be prepared to go forth to the nations of the earth and proclaim the glad tidings of great joy that we have received, and warn others who have not been so blessed of the snares and pitfalls that Satan has prepared for the children of men. But how sad to know that there are among our own people occasionally boys who have had good mothers, who are descendants of grand and noble fathers; yet, through their disobedience, their minds have become darkened,' and they blaspheme the name of God, they smoke and drink,' and it is known that they enter dens of infamy. Would to