Editor’s Table: Close of Volume Nine; Thrift

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970 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

they must ask in faith, believing that they would receive. They were to enter into their secret chambers, and pray secretly to the Father who would reward them openly. The mutual love and harmony, the delightful brotherly confidence, that existed among the disciples werethe fruits resulting from the obedience of those instructions. He taught them that when God gave a promise, the expectation of its fulfilment was not only warranted, but it was their duty to expectit, and God was dishonored if the fulfilment

was doubted. They should also supplicate the Lord in the spirit of prayer, and in a becoming manner. None but the careless and the confident would rush rudely into the presence of a great man; and is it proper for us, in our supplications to our heavenly Father, to take that to be religion which the common reason of mankind will not allow to be manners? To pray to God is to have his image ever before us; to enjoy his Holy Spirit which causes the prayer of Jesus to be heeded, "That they all may be one; as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may te one in us." They who humble themselves before their Maker can testify of the tranquility it communicates, the courage it inspires, the joy, gratitude, and holy affections it breathes through the soul. ' 'Blessed are they that trusteth in him."

Liverpool, England.

"WHAT IS WORTH WHILE." 'Tis not beauty, wealth nor power, That maketh a happy heart; 'Tis not the polished oration, Makes tears to the eye-lids start. Power is not for the many. And oft proves a curse to the few Beauty, as rare as the winter rose, But withers as roses do. Truth from the lips of the humble, Goodness that liveth alway, Alone give joy that endureth, Not fame that lasts but a day. Maud Baggarley Waterloo, Utah.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

CLOSE OF VOLUME NINE. This number closes Volume IX, a volume of the Era which will always be distinguished for the splendid memorial number of the Prophet Joseph, and Weed's Life of St. Paul. We hope, dear reader, that you have been well pleased with the Era, and that you will promptly renew your subscription for volume X, which begins November 1. There will be no break in receiving the magazine, if your order is received by October 15. Your attention is called to the prospectus in this number: please read it, and learn of the many good things that are promised for the readers of volume X. Other features will be added as time advances. A glance at the listof writers found herewith, in the index to volume IX, will give an idea of what may be looked for, since these and many others will contribute for the new year. We sincerely thank our contributors for their valuable and gratuitous assistance in the past, and for their promises for the future. Likewise, we return thanks to the host of workers in the ranks and among the officers of the Improvement Associations who have obtained subscriptions and otherwise aided in the business of the magazine, and we solicit their continued assistance. We ask that returned missionaries who have enjoyed the Era during their

mission, free, give a lift to the cause at home, by subscribing, by saying a good word for the Era, and by otherwise aiding to swell the number of readers. The association officers, who should always subscribe first, themselves, should systematically and immediately begin soliciting. By energy, enthusiasm, promptness, and determination, their success is certain. The work can be done in a short time. If they

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972 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

obtain five per cent of their ward, Church population they are entitled,on payment of the subscriptions to the office, to a rebate for their association of 25 cents for each subscriber. Each subscriber receives a copy of the Manual, price 25 cents, free; and then, counting the free copies to the missionaries, and the fact that each subscriber gets one thousand pages of good reading, there ought to be no complaint at the price — $2.00 per year in ad-

vance. As the Era begins the closing year of its first decade, we feel grateful for its past success; and have every reason to look forward to a career of continued usefulness, in which much good may be done for mutual improvement among the young people, for the great work of the Lord, and for the progress of his mighty cause, to which the lives of the Latter-day Saints are dedicated.

THRIFT.

He that is plentiful in expenses of all kinds will hardly be preserved from decay. Bacon.

We have heard warnings from the Church authorities, these many days, against extravagance and debt of all kinds. "Get out of debt and stay out," is the ^atchword. But it is strange that such warnings should be necessary. Evidently, however, they are, for seemingly not a soul of us but is in debt; or, at least, if not in debt, every cent we have earned is spent, and we have still many ways to spend more. It appears that if there is one practical lesson which the aver-

age youth needs above another, it is that of thrift. That means a characteristic which teaches one how to spend money as well as how to save it, and which at the same time saves one from financial dissipation. Thrift is not stinginess; neither is it that in you which induces you to turn out the electric light to save a cent an hour, and then tempts you to sit twice or three times a week in the best seat in some theater. It is neither inconsistent with

generosity nor the synonym of niggardliness. It is simply a way of living which transfers regularly and systematically a part of

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what one earns to one's capital, and which enables a man to sacrifice his desires to his financial condition rather than his financial condition to his desires. Thrift enables a boy who is earning $20 per month during his summer vacation to save a percentage for his clothes and yearly schooling, rather than to keep pace with the attractions of the Salt Palace, Saltair, and Lagoon, or any other like place by any other name. It teaches him self-denial, it liberates him from

worry over tomorrow, because today's self-denial has made him prepared for the morrow; whereas, if other boys of his financial class are not worried about tomorrow, it is because their creditors, or their parents, or someone else, worry for them. Thrift gives you reliance and self-respect, and guides on the way to independence. It teaches you also to warily begin charges, which once begun will continue. Now, how shall one be thrifty? No young man should set his standard of living and scale of expenses by the full maturity of his father's earning capacity. Let him set them by his own. Determine to spend less than you earn. Even if your earning capacity is great, if you wish a comfortable old age, you must learn to live during your years of largest earning capacity as if you were poorer than your income wculd indicate. Lord Bacon says: "If a man will keep but of even hand, his ordinary expenses ought to be but the half of his receipts; and if he thinks to wax rich, but to the third part." There is always danger that associates having larger incomes may set your standard of expenditure. This must be carefully guarded against, and often requires considerable moral courage. You must not establish a scale of living which you hope to earn enough to maintain. To be thrifty you must be exactly the reverse: before your expenses are determined upon, you should set aside your savings; and then your standard of living should and must be made to conform to the remainder. In this way you will be slower to enter financial obligations, or to run up bills. Few men on a salary will save, except under the following rule given by an old financier: "Save before spending, rather than save what you do not spend." Finally, if you wish to save in your early days that you may

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have money to invest later on in life, eliminate those small but often foolish expenditures which scatter your income unappreciably but relentlessly. You can easily tell what these are, if you stop to think. Every man should train himself in saving; and also in giving to good causes. In the latter respect nothing can be better than the training which the youth of the Latter-day Saints get in the payment of their tithing. How judiciously to invest savings is another aspect of the subject which may be spoken of later.