--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Townsend, J. L. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 11 published: 1905-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'J. L. Townsend, "Monochiomes: A Poem," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 11 (September 1905): 847–848.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0811unse 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: improvementera0811unse start_page: 847 end_page: 848 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0811unse publication_year: 1905 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 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Monochiomes: A Poem DO IT NO W.—B UT HO W? 847 system of quiet, well-ordered duties. Such a life gives freedom, peace, and constantly increasing capacity. And when, in contemplation of these things, one is led out to observe nature in all her orderly methods, do not the thoughts then quickly rise to that God who orders the course of the stars, and whose existence is one eternal, perfectly rounded circle of peace, laboi and love! Salt Lake City, Utah. MONOCHROMES. (For the Improvement Era.) I love to sit with half closed eyes And study lights and shades of shrub and tree; And as an artist finds high lights, deep shades, In glorious monochromes of hill and lea, So do I find the light and shade of skies, • Of pastures, fields and woods and mountain glades, And paint with words what, to me, ever seems A world of dreams. And as I love the neutral tint Of clouds, low laid upon the mountain sides; The gray December, with its leaden hues, The deep, dark canyon, where the streamlet hides; So do I love the lights, and hues, that glint From stream, or fall, or gorgeous autumn views, With all the brighter things that earth can give For these I live! The earth is all a wonderland Of changing shades and shadows day and night, As restless as the tides; o'er all the face Of nature's broad expanse, there plays the light 848 IMPROVEMENT ERA. And darkness of a limner's skillful hand That teaches art, till art must pause and trace The monochromes of ever-varying shade So deftly made. hold both art and sculpture dear; Let each interpret what the other gives: The artist best can tell what sculpture is, The sculptor best where art most truly lives. But I to Nature give my eye, my ear, I ask of her, nor need I ask amiss, Her art, her sculpture and her minstrelsy, Belong to me! J. L. Townsend. Payson, Utah. THE RIGHT WAY AND THE WRONG. Oh, the right way and the wrong way With each one goes abreast; But the wrong way often claims that It is the one that's best. The right pursues so modestly The way that leads to peace; While the wrong way leads to endings That sorrow doth increase. And while it seems that, in this world, Both are always needed, We'll realize in future time,