Editor’s Table: Masquerade Balls, Stay at Home

Editor's Table.

Masquerade Balls.

The question of whether it is proper to hold masquerade balls has arisen in one of the stakes of Zion. It is reported that, much against the wishes of the stake authorities, some of the wards have, nevertheless, held these balls, and the brethren wish to know what the general authorities think of masquerade balls, and the advisability of holding them. The advice and counsel of the First Presidency, from the beginning to the present time, has always been against masquer- ade balls and masquerade gatherings of any kind. We trust that this counsel is generally understood and adhered to throughout the Church. There are so many safer and more respectful amusements that it doesn't seem reasonable that anyone should wish to endanger the morals of the young people by even suggesting a masquerade. This particular kind of amusement had its origin in the courts of kings, where moral degeneracy was not uncommon. The mask enabled the vicious princes to hide their corruption, while it gave license to evil men and women to commit licentious- ness such as even the most wicked and vile among them .were ashamed to engage in without the protection of the mask. This class of amusement became especially prevalent in public entertainments in Italy about the close of the middle ages. It was introduced into England by Henry VIII, whose tyranny, natural violence and evil practices are universally detested, but which were fit consorts of the mask. Masquerades have continued, with more or less popularity, unto the present, and are now com-

EDITOR'S TABLE. 56£

mon accompaniments to the carnival, where indulgences of the sensual appetites are generally given full sway. The nearest approach, however, to this species of entertainment which English law and taste permit in this day, is fancy costumes, with- out the facial mask. Undoubtedly the reason for this is that from their nature masked amusements, so-called, are peculiarly liable to abuse.

The mask is found in dens of infamy and vice; it has its home there. It is a means used by the harlot and procurer to cover

shame and to practice evil. Its use has no redeeming feature. It

is repulsive in every way. There is nothing clean nor attractive about it. For these and other reasons the mask-ball has no place among the amusements of the Latter-day Saints, where every action must be open and above board, and where virtue, purity and fidelity are prevailing characteristics.

Joseph F. Smith.

Stay at Home. •

Perhaps due to hereditary inclinations in remote ancestry, there is a restlessness in the race, at this season of the year, which stirs the blood. It fills people with an often irresistible desire to move to new places, and with a longing for new environment. But let us read the sentiment in Longfellow's song:

Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest; Home-keeping hearts are happiest, For those that wander they know not where, ^Are full of trouble and full of care; To stay at home is best. You are tired of the old environments, the old home, the old farm, the old surrounding country. But, in most cases, you are doing about as well right where you are, as you could do in a new place. Don't be in a hurry to answer the roaming call. A story is told of a man who, when he felt the lazy spells coming on him,

5B6 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

to which he was subject, and which caused him to hate his work and wish to run away from it, took saw and worked hard his for an hour sawing oak wood. By that time his back and arm were so tired that his other work seemed so light and easy that he returned thankfully to his accustomed task. Take an hour off, when the moving desire comes, and walk out in the field, up on the near hill, on the steep mountain side. Exert yourself until you are very tired, then go home and rest, and sing the old song. Disappointment comes so easily and soon, in changing home, that only for the very best of reasons should it ever be under- taken—ill-health, or financial betterment. And then only after carefully weighing the conditions and probable results. Some people become so accustomed to their crude surround- how beautiful, how profitable, how rich ings that they fail to see these could be made with just a little energy expended in the right direction. And, also, they see no good qualities in their neigh- bors, when a little interest in them, and a little service rendered, would change the whole situation. It would tend to make the would-be roamer feel that no other people, and no other spot on the earth, can ever quite supply what home provides. Young men who earn salaries should make it a point to invest their savings in land in the vicinity of their own homes, if possible. It is the safest and best investment that can be made. It is sure As it is best to stay at to increase in value and bring big returns. home, so it is best to invest at home. You can then know what you are getting, if you have the wisdom to see the undeveloped riches at your doors. Just recently, a community invested thousands of dollars in a far-away stock land-scheme, at the solicitation of an attractive solicitor. Sage-brush land by the thousands of acres, right at their doors, could have been bought for ten and fifteen dollars per acre, but it had no attraction for them. Only a year or two later a canal was projected, and strangers came thousands of miles to buy the discarded sage-land, which is now scarce at sixty and one hundred dollars per acre, and owned by new settlers. The old settlers may or may never receive a reasonable percent on what they invested afar off, but they have lost the four and five

hundred per cent which they might have had on their home invest-