--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - George N. Child collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 7 number: 10 published: 1904-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'George N. Child, "Discussion," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 10 (August 1904): 805–806.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0710unse 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: improvementera0710unse start_page: 805 end_page: 806 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0710unse 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. --- # Discussion OUR WORK. 805 Prof. George A. Coe, a noted psychologist, states that out of the thousands he examined as to their religious persuasions only five per cent of them accepted Christianity before the 9th year of age. From nine to twelve years of age, seven per cent; from twelve to fifteen, fourteen per cent; from sixteen to eighteen, fifty per cent; from nineteen to twenty, sixteen per cent; from twenty-one to twenty-five, seven per cent; from twenty-six to thirty, one per cent. This would indicate that youth, early manhood and womanhood, are the periods of life when we get our religious impressions. This coincides with the Savior's statement: "You cannot put new wine in old bottles." It is our responsibility to put new wine into new bottles; to hold in check youth's wayward tendencies; to hold at bay the blighting evils that surround them. This can only be done with God's help. We need the inspiration of our work; that inspiration which comes through his Spirit. Without it, we are impotent and vascillating. With it, we are strong and invulnerable. We must have a love for the work and a love in the cause of youth. We must love them in spite of their weaknesses though they be red as scarlet. If we would do our work well, we will marshal to our aid every uplifting force from the home, from society, and the whole moral world. We must look through and beyond the dis- cordant lives of the wayward and see the divinity within. When the old sculptor was asked why he was constantly looking at a large piece of shapeless marble, he replied that he was not looking at the stone but the Christ-like form within. So, my friends, we are not gazing upon the sinful life, but the hidden Christ-like form within. President Joseph F: Smith: — It is suggested that if one woman can do as much as five yoke of oxen in keeping a man from performing a duty, will not the same woman be able to do as much in keeping him in the line of his duty, if she has a mind to? or will it take five women to do as much as one yoke of oxen in that direction? The paper was discussed by Supt. Geo. N. Child, of Alpine stake, and by Emma Whitney Pyper, of Ensign stake. Elder George N. Child, said: —My brothers and sisters, there is no part in this paper that is now before us for consideration with which I desire to take issue. I wish to endorse heartily the opening statements of the paper, wherein it is said that the responsibilities of officers em- brace both a trust and a duty, not only of money and of statistics and the organization of the associations, but of the education of the youth, both in the spirit and in the letter. I wish also to endorse the emphasis that has been placed upon the duties that grow out of the mechanical manipulation of the mutual im- provement work. There are a great many duties that devolve upon the both local and stake, that may be classed under the heading of officers, "the mechanical manipulation of the work." These duties are indeed im- portant, and the officers who are successful in the work will see that these mechanical adjustments are attended to in their proper time, and in their proper manner. The fact that there are officers who have been appointed and called to labor in the organizations who do not take the responsibilitiesupon them and perform the duties connected therewith, as related in the example given in the paper regarding the young man who had promised five different times to perform a duty, suggests the necessity of the care that should be exercised by the stake officers in the selection of young men and young women who will take the responsibili- ties upon them and properly attend to their duties. It is necessary that the officers be well acquainted with the plans, with the detail work, so that they may be enabled, as executive officers, to carry out the plan of work of the organizations. It is truly stated, as I understand it, that these organizations stand for the spiritual uplifting of our young people. I desire to emphasize the word spiritual. They should stand for the improvement, spiritually, of the young people of Zion. This suggests to my mind that the work, to a large extent, is a spiritual work, and the greatest responsibility that rests upon the officers, whether local or general, must be of a spiritual nature. The first and foremost duty that grows out of that responsibil- ity, as I understand it, for local officers, would be to see that they fully sense the importance of the work, that they are thoroughly qualified spiritually, and converted to the nature of the work, and then that they form such social conditions in their community that that spirit and that inspiration may pervade the whole organization. It was suggested in the paper that an organization may be complete mechanically, and yet fail to carry out the vital principles for which it was organized. I agree with that, yet those conditions are not often met with. Usually it is the man or the woman, the officer, who is spiritually right that sees to the detail of the organization, and to the execution of the plan of work. It is the Spirit that giveth light, and I believe the most successful officers are those who are spiritually right, and who then become personally ac- quainted with the members of their respective associations, and perform the duties connected therewith; or, if they are stake officers, I believe those will be most successful who are spiritually right, and then, by per- sonal association, they inspire and instruct the various local officers in their stakes. If the officers of these organizations throughout Zion are