--- 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: 8 number: 2 published: 1904-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Cause for Thanks," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 2 (December 1904): 132.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0802unse 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: improvementera0802unse start_page: 132 end_page: 132 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0802unse 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. --- # Cause for Thanks — — — 132 IMPROVEMENT ERA. From myriad angel voices! rolls and thrills Through intervening space, in melody Celestial and supernal. Myriad shapes With dazzling forms and faces —hosts of heaven Come back to earth to praise the hand that's given This priceless proof of Father-love divine To all his children. Chant in joyous time Exultant paeans; sing that glorious score Which echoes down the ages evermore. Join thou, Earth!— the gift is unto thee! Who gave to make thy countless nations free: Glory to God in the highest, for his plan! Peace on earth, and all good will to man! Sarah E. Pearson. Salt Lake City, Utah. CAUSE FOR THANKS. When Diogenes took the lantern to look for an honest man he implied pretty plainly that he did not expect to find one. Diogenes was a grumbler. If he had gone out with a smile and more confidence in his fellows, he would have stumbled over honest men at every corner. It is the same way with blessings. Whoever sits down with a scowl on his face and meanness in his heart will find this world a cloudy place. But let him take for his lantern a smile, a little faith in human kind and in God, and the world will blossom abundantly. A man's blessings are all in his own heart. If he keeps that pure and open and cheerful, the world will appear so. He may not be rich in a material way. But it is not of the great things that life is made up; it is of the little things. To see the blue of the sky, and many green trees; to talk for a wftile with a good friend; to read some spirited piece of verse or some helpful book; to sit down to a dinner, however simple, with a healthy appetite; to be able to do some little favor for a friend which will bring a smile to his face these are little things, but they are the blessings which make life worth while. If you stop to count, you will find that you have a good many more of such than you had imagined. You can easily add to what you have. Selected.