---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Frost, Grace Ingles
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 12
number: 10
published: 1909-08
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Grace Ingles Frost, "The Garden of Thought," *Improvement Era* 12, no. 10 (August 1909): 803.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera12010unse
  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: improvementera12010unse
start_page: 803
end_page: 803
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-08)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera12010unse
  publication_year: 1909
  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 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Garden of Thought

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                 THE SERVILE AND THE CHIVALROUS.                                   803

to stand up stiffly and handle the details of our transactions.                       It

is   the choice of our better judgment, we are serving our own pur-
pose.  The stern features of our experience are not necessarily
always bitter, but they are always important. To feel the noblest
and act the best, a man must have implicit faith in his own mortal
mission, its object, its necessity, its endowment to perform all its
labors
        The faith in, or better still the knowledge of, this power in
men to do all       that must be done, is one of the first essentials to
the greater life.        Fortune smiles on the man who has discovered
his     own strength; there        is   magic   in his touch; there is richness

of persuasion in his voice.             His courage and cheer and chivalrous
bearing sheds the life-light on his undertakings.                       There is charm
and magnetism about his face and form                  —     it is   the charm of life,
and all the life-loving elements are anxious to do his bidding. He
is in    tune with the universe.           He is in accord with truth.            He is
 the glad force to which men and nature respond; his life is large
 and full and blessed.
Grayson, Utah.

                        THE GARDEN OF THOUGHT.
                              (For the Improvement Era.)

                    Have you weeds in your garden of thought,
                      Uproot them every one;
                    Then sow in their place some precious seeds
                      And nourish them by the sun
                    Of loving words and of kindly deeds.
                      And they in their time will bring forth seeds,
                    That may, perchance, in other mind,
                      Take root and bless by giving
                    Forth seed again, until all shall find
                      The higher place of living.
                                                                Grace Ingles Frost.
     Salt Lake City, Utah.