Hints to the Editors

EDITOR'S TABLE. 1037 ing you have been served with something that has taken you off the firm rocks of faith in God, upon which your ancestors stood and built for you. I ask you to think of these things. If President Joseph P. Smith wants my counsel, he gets it. If the board wants my advice, they get it; but I am not going to advise my board through avenues that are antagonistic to the institution that built the school. Remember that, fellow students. I would rather my name be written on a tombstone than to see it in any array that could be justly construed to class me against my people; and when I say against my people, I say against the Priest- hood of God, that I have learned to follow and not to oppose. It is hard to keep still. Oh, it is hard to stand still; but it is harder to keep still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now in spite of all that may be said or done, the authorities of this school and of the Church school system will decide its pol- icy; and those who work under the head know there is no power to judge the policy of the school, except those who preside over it. If there be a student or a teacher who recognizes any other directive source than that provided by the Church, they may appeal to that source; but before anyone does this, in good con- science, in good form, I suggest that before you assume the right to dictate that you retire from our banquet George H. Brimhall. Hints to the Editors. The editors receive many suggestions, criticisms and com- mendations, from the readers of the Era, of general interest to the public. Some of these good things, we are tempted to print from time to time: Have you ever noticed that the churches are open only when the saloons are closed, ai>d that the saloons are open six days and most of each night a week, while the churches are open at the most six hours one day each week? And yet some people wonder why the church is losing in- fluence.— A. We make life strenuous by our extravagances and artificial wants, so that we have very little time to study on lines of spiritual develop- ment. Though the world is growing better in many things, the great

1038 IMPROVEMENT ERA. mass of people is thronging the broad road to destruction. When turn- ing the separator this morning, I noticed the stream of cream was very small compared with the stream of skimmed milk. So it is with humanity. There is room in a very narrow road for the cream, but the skimmed milk needs a very broad road, and then it seems crowded. I was told by a man the other day who was representing a tobacco house that the con- sumption of tobacco in this country had increased 40 per cent in the last year, and the use of intoxicants is also increasing. I am thankful f »r the Word of Wisdom. It is a great blessing to all who obey it. I am very thankful that the Lord called me in my boyhood and gave me the knowledge of the way of eternal life. I am thankful for the good re- ports that come to us of the condition of the work of the Lord at home and abroad. May the great work continue to roll on. — Patriarch Wil- liam Halls, Mancos, Colo. While sitting in the Tabernacle and listening to your excellent paper on amusements for the young, at the M. I. conference, I promised myself to compliment you on your effort in that line. It is refreshing to me — and what appeals to me will appeal to thousands of other sincere parents struggling for the real uplifting of their children — to hear once in a while some practical sense injected into remarks touching that wonder- ful, intricate and seemingly fearfully perplexing subject — amusement for our children. If but a fraction of the time, talent, and energy now spent in exploiting amusement for our young people were utilized in de- vising means of useful employment for this same class of individuals, I do not hesitate to assert that we should have better, nobler, more useful and positively more valuable young people than at present. As it is we rear a lot of assuming, expectant, demanding, dependent, leaners. Where are the lifters among our young people? There are some, but the> are very few. Parents must furnish the sinews of war, be up early and late, scheme, plan and toil untiringly. Who assists them? As a rule not the young, strong, healthy and beautiful specimens of manhood and womanhood, their sons and daughters. The children — grown men and women, brim full and running over with energy — must just now plan for excursions, arrange for parties, obtain books, papers and periodicals enabling them to provide games for every day in the year. And they mustbe"on"to every"stunt"in the field. The field that yields the golden grain? No; Pa can see to that. Ma can feed the calves and the pigs. That's about the way it goes, my dear brother. Any wonder that the average thinking parent feels tired? — Dr. Charles L. Qlsen, Murray. At the Brigham Young University, the students are invited

EDITOR'S TABLE. 1039 to hand in gems of literature with which they come in contact, and which have affected their lives more than any other sentiments. The following was selected by Dr. George H. Brimhall from a number submitted by the students and sent us as worthy of a place in the Era: It is not for you to waste your time in useless speculation as to the unknowable source of your life's stream, or in seeking to trace it in the ocean. It is enough for you that it is, and that, while it runs its brief course, it is yours to make it yield its blessings. For this you must train your hand and eye and brain— You must be in life a fisherman. Referring to the article on the statues of the Prophet and Patriarch Joseph and Hyrum Smith in the August Era, President Heber J. Grant writes to the associate editor: "I was surprised that you should have made the mistake of saying that M. M. Young was the son of Joseph Young. His work has so often been referred to as the work of the grand-son of Brigham Young, and he has also been written of as the son of the late M. M. Young, in a number of articles; and wherever you got the idea that he was Joseph Young's son, I am at a loss to know." The associate editor pleads guilty to the error, and stands corrected. M. M. Young, the artist, is the son of M. M. Young who was the son of Brigham Young. Mr. J. Emil Soderquist of Ogden says that several years ago the following question was put to him. He answered it at that time in the way he thought was right. Since then each time as he has thought of it he would give a slightly different answer, until his present answer would be very different from the one of two years ago. The question follows: "What, in your opinion, con- stitutes a successful life? Give reason therefor." He asks that we give the question space in the Era and requests as many as desire to answer, hoping that the best answers may be printed in our magazine. We will be glad to send the Improvement Era for one year each to the three persons who shall give the best answers, and will be pleased to hear from any one who may have something to say on the subject. The answers should consist of not more than 300 or 400 words. The Junior Manual for 1911- 12 bears upon this subject.