--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Decker, Z. N. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 6 published: 1912-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Decker, Z. N., "The Tobacco Curse," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 6 (April 1912): 545–546.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1506unse 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: improvementera1506unse start_page: 545 end_page: 546 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1506unse publication_year: 1912 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 1912, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Tobacco Curse ; WHAT CONSTITUTES SUCCESS IN LIFE? 645 obtained a hope in Christ, ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them and ye will seek them for the intent to do good," etc. (Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:18, 19). Jacob also says, learning is good, if properly used. In looking about for examples of successful lives, my mind instinctively reverts to the Savior. He was neither rich nor learned as to the things of the world. Can anyone say his life was not successful? He, the carpenter's son, had no place to lay his head. We have no record of his attendance at school or college. Yet, his was the most successful life ever lived on earth. One may say, he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Where is the happiness? Often our greatest joy is the product of suffering and pain, and, in most cases, comes only as the result of effort. Through humility and suffering, the Spirit of God was poured out upon Jesus without measure. The wisdom of the world was confounded. All power in heaven and earth was given unto him. The degree of success in life, then, depends upon the measure of the Spirit one has, and the heed given to its influence. Tatloe, Abixona. BY BERNARD HERMAN SMITH In the bed of a small stream, wending its way from the recesses of the Sierra Nevadas, an old prospector found rich deposits of gold. Then the claim was sold, and the money used to gain idle pleasure and luxury. Would you call the prospector's life successful?Did he reach an end worthy of attainment? Was the ideal one that would appeal to the greatest sons and daughters of the present generation ? Would the soul of one having a perfect conception of the object of life be reconciled by such an acquisition ? To all of these questions, the best answer should be an emphatic, no. Truly, life in such could scarcely be said to flourish. — The great men of the earth only pity not scorn—the avaricious, who are crowned with no other aim than that of gaining worldly riches or self-aggrandizement. The successful lives are those who have reaped in a measure, if not in full, the harvest of life. But the truism, "The harvest comes from the seed sown," must be a guide, and faith, a motto, to all seeking life development. The successful man is he who 546 IMPROVEMENT ERA has outgrown present conditions and is contributing to their reform and advancement. A man or woman, girl or boy, who is succeeding, has crushed, and is crushing without a murmur, the difficulties of life, is seizing opportunity with a vice-like grip, knowing it to be an accomplished gentleman that knocks at the door but once. Successful men have experienced defeat ; but by this we "Not by the number of times recognize their quality: they have fallen, but by the number of times they have risen after having fallen." They are those who have fastened their wagons to stars, and are feeding upon the pure sesame of spiritual food, and are giving it to others that they may eat. That soul, I believe, has filled the measure of its creation who becomes so educated as to be a neighbor not only to those who have fallen among thieves, but to all needing help ; to be a guide to the erring, an exemplary factor in society, and a theoretical and practical hero in trouble. It is not a soul who walks blindly under the mid-day sun, but one enjoying the bright day when all nature is dark with the shades of night. Such a life will cherish morality, as did Christ. He developed the man, having perfect control over all his passions. Raymond, Alta, Canada. Elder Meredith Rogers, writing from Keene, New Hampshire, January 18, says: "The elders are meeting with fine success in the smaller towns and villages of New Hampshire, this winter. Numerous friends have been secured and earnest investigators are giving the gospel a thorough search. They say: 'We have heard the question from the world's side, it and also the testimony of the 'Mormon' elders. We are not going to take your word nor the word of some writer, but will search for ourselves.' If more people would look at it in that light, and dig r down into the truths of the gospel for themselves, they would be better off, and good results would follow. The elders are:: Standing, Meredith Rogers, Garland; Monroe Van left to right Wagnen, Midway; front: William F. McFarlane, Manti, Utah. Some of the towns we have labored in are Marlboro, Clairmont, Hinsdale."