--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Osmond, Alfred collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 9 number: 11 published: 1906-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Alfred Osmond, "The Contrast: A Poem," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 11 (September 1906): 889.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0911unse 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: improvementera0911unse start_page: 889 end_page: 889 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1906-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0911unse publication_year: 1906 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 1906, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Contrast: A Poem THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVID UALITY IN CHILDREN. 889 with them, study them, play with them, read with them, pray with them; and then place them and yourselves in the hands of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps, and "He will give His angels charge concerning" these lives of your life, and in the end your glad ears shall hear, ' 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Salt Lake City, Utah. THE CONTRAST. BY ALFRED OSMOND, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY. (For the Improvement Era ) Love swept with his passion-fingers Love swept with his passion-fingers The harp of a maiden's life; The harp of a maiden's life, But no music of joy now lingers And the music of joy still lingers In the soul of the weeping wife. In the soul of the trusting wife. While fairies of life were weaving Soon the fairies of life were weaving Their crown for the mother's brow, Their crown for the mother's brow, The serpent of sin was breathing Till the sigh of her infant's breathing Distrust in the father's vow. Was as sweet as her lover's vow. And the harp of her soul was playing And the harp of her soul was playing The dirges of faithless love, The airs of an ardent love, As the cherubs of life came straying As the cherubs of life came straying From the realms of the stars above. From the realms of the stars above. Thus the life of a trusting maiden Thus the life of this noble mother, Was ruined and cast away, Enriched with its years of bliss, madness, it sought that Aiden Till, in Advanced to the realms of another Where honor and truth bear sway. That is sweeter by far than this. Provo, Utah.