--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Fox, Ruth May collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 8 published: 1912-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Ruth May Fox, "The Inspiration of Cheer: A Poem," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 8 (June 1912): 706.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1508unse 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: improvementera1508unse start_page: 706 end_page: 706 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1508unse 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 Inspiration of Cheer: A Poem 706 IMPROVEMENT ERA one-fourth as large as the church attendance. There were not enough teachers. The singing was poor; not all of them opened their hymn books, and some classes did not sing at all. There were few adults, and twice us many girls as boys. The poorest feature was the responsive reading. On the first verse only one class responded. Many late comers broke into the opening service. There were whispering and laughing during the opening service, and even during the prayer. This is not an overdrawn picture; I can reproduce it in many a city in this country today. "Facts are stubborn things, and yet there is nothing so eloquent as facts. The non-'Mormon' churches will have better Sunday Schools when they get their eyes open to the great work done by the 'Mormon' schools. If the 'Mormons' believe so thoroughly in Sunday School work and early religious instruction that they readily give money, time and ability to it, they deserve to come to the front; and if the dormant constituency in the average non-'Mormon' church does not consider the Sunday school worth while, their churches or schools deserve to go to the wall. Let us hope that during the next decade the non-'Mormon' churches put at least 50 per cent as much thought, time and money into their Sunday schools as the 'Mormons' do." No comment is needed. It should be encouraging to our Sunday School teachers to know that their labor of love is appreciated even by visitors who know something about such work. It should encourage them to still further continue their efforts. Some Utah preachers go abroad and represent the people here as heathens who know nothing of God, or the moral code. Our Sunday School work is a grand refutation of such slanders, and that is but one branch of the untiring, magnificent work by the Church for the uplifting of mankind. The Inspiration of Cheer There's a new thought in my mind today. It bids me climb the mountainous way With a cheerful heart, never minding the smart Of my thorn-pierced feet; But plod steadily on up to the snow-capped peak, Singing my song, that others who seek The summit to gain, Hearing the notes, may forget their pain. Ruth May Fox