--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Thomas, Kate collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 11 number: 4 published: 1908-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Kate Thomas, "February Twenty-Second: A Poem," *Improvement Era* 11, no. 4 (February 1908): 299.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1104unse 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: improvementera1104unse start_page: 299 end_page: 299 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1908-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1104unse publication_year: 1908 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 1908, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # February Twenty-Second: A Poem THE BOY PROBLEM. 299 contributed either directly or indirectly to this great cause is to have failed miserably and utterly in the work of life." The divorce and separation of parents is an evil, the effects of which are far-reaching as causative factors in the boy problem. It is not the purpose to enter into any labored discussion of this matter, but only to say that if young people, after suitable educational preparation, would enter into the marriage relation with a full understanding of its duties and obligations, especially the duties and obligations which attend upon the launching of new lives into the world, there would be fewer divorces and separations of parents. What necessity would there be for juvenile courts and probation officers to look after incorrigibles, truants, run-away s, and those guilty of idleness and crime, if we had earnest, thoughtful, and well prepared home-makers directing the destinies of ideal homes? The ideal home is the unit of an ideal civilization. Salt Lake City, Utah. FEBRUARY TWENTY-SECOND. {For the Improvement Era. ) This picture I behold, — Thro' the thick smoke of guns, Thro' stem eyes and set lips, Where bullets hive like bees, — A man upon his knees! Over the din of war, Over the quick command, His supplicating voice Swells like a chorus grand. America, God-given! 'Tis thine to say: Shall God be e'er forgot, Since Washington was not Ashamed to pray? Kaie Thomas. New York, N. Y.