---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Whitney, Orson F.
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 10
number: 12
published: 1907-10
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Orson F. Whitney, "The Fair Fiend: A Poem," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 12 (October 1907): 983–984.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera10012unse
  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: improvementera10012unse
start_page: 983
end_page: 984
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-10)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera10012unse
  publication_year: 1907
  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 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Fair Fiend: A Poem

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THE FAIR FIEND.
{For the Improvement Era.)
Beware a fiend in angel form,
A demon in disguise,
Who spreads his snare for human souls,
The foolish and the wise.
He wears a mask — a winning mien.
And seems a friend, not foe;
Appears descending from above,
While rising from below.

<!-- page:984 -->

. ;
984 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
His favorite weapon is a smile
He ne'er was known to frown;
He never yet used violence
To throw a victim down.
But oh beware this demon fair,
!
This fiend in angel guise,
Whose deadliest dart, a loving look
From soft and siren eyes
More fatal far than golden lure,
Than Bacchanalian bowl,
Than all beside that charms the will
And wantons with the soul.
Resist — repel this f oeman fell.
And drive him to his lair,
But never thou the gauntlet hurl,
Never this demon dare.
Should he in strife the stronger prove,
One way is open — flee.
'Tis no disgrace when overmatched;
Retreat means victory.
Recruit thy worn and shattered strength,
And in some future fray
Thy might shall make thee conqueror-
The demon thou shalt slay.
Well known this universal foe;
World-wide his evil fame;
The human heart his battle-ground;
Temptation is his name.
Orson F. Whitney.
SaltXake City, Utah.