--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 11 published: 1912-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "How to Become a Great Man," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 11 (September 1912): 983–984.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera15011unse 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: improvementera15011unse start_page: 983 end_page: 984 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera15011unse 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. --- # How to Become a Great Man VOICE OF THE INTANGIBLE. 983 calf's ears, and he liked to laugh to himself while Josh puffed and swore in his wrestle with some loudly bellowing calf. He felt the wild spirit of all that goes with camp-life; he felt the spirit of the greasy "tarps" and panniers, and the various greasy little sacks of sa*lt, sugar, rice, rolled-oats, etc. He felt the spirit of the frying-pan, and all that is pleasant and unpleasant in baking-powder bread. He saw the marked contrast between their dirty camp, and the clean rock-knolls washed by a thousand storms. (See frontispiece.) He grew to love the smell of the fire, but more especially the scent of fried bacon, that fragrant odor so often dovetailed into the perfume of rich dishes of sweetbread, brains, and other delicious preparations whose names would hardly do credit to this story, though the dishes themselves were dear to the gustatory nerves of the whole outfit. And last, but not least, and in spite of the dirt, and hunger, and thirst, and weariness — in spite of Josh Widder, the hot sun, and every other ingredient of his misery, Ben formed a strong and tender attachment for his father. That father's bearded face became the acme of all Ben's knowledge of love and strength and manliness; he looked upon it from all conditions of hardship, and unconsciously regarded it as the one redeeming feature of an otherwise intolerable existence. (to be continued) How to Become a Great Man [Yoshio Markino, author of "A Japanese Artist in London," relates this story, among others, in a magazine article, on how he began to study English when he was a child. He says that before he started English he was very ambitious to please the spirit of his departed mother, and so used to study and read books all day long until, sitting as the Japanese do, he got corns on his ankles. He studied the difficult ancient classics and histories, and their lessons became a guide and a key to his future life. He relates, in his characteristic style, this story from the Chinese ancient classics, which he used to love. — Editors.] It was at the end of the Jin dynasty. A hero of this period 984 IMPROVEMENT ERA. was Choryo. One day when he was quite a boy, he met with a benevolent old man on a horse-back. Just when he was riding over a bridge, he dropped one of his shoes in the water. Choryo hurried to the river to pick up the shoe. He wiped it with his own clothes and gave it to the old man. The old man accepted it with his feet. Nevertheless, Choryo saluted him very politely, and he was going away. The old man called him back and said to him in a most haughty way: "You can be taught, though you are stupid enough. Come to this very bridge to meet me on the early morning of the third day." Choryo went there on the third morning, and found out the old man was already there. The latter was very angry and said: "What? You make a promise with an elder person, and come later than he? Go back now and try to come earlier than me next time!" After another third day Choryo went there quite early, but, to his surprise, the old man was already there again. He was still more angry, and kicked Choryo. Choryo apoloziged him very sincerely, and begged him to make another appointment after three days. Choryo went there on the evening of the second day, and waited whole night. But this time the old man was quite late; he arrived there long time after the sunrise. The old man smiled and took out a parchment, and said to Choryo: "Here is written all the secrets to become a great man, so you read it ! I shall never see you again, but if you go to that mountain beyond, you shall see a big yellow rock. That is I." And he disappeared. Choryo opened the parchment, and found that, although many words were written, everything could be said in two words — "patience and perseverance." But with these two words Choryo became the Premier for the King of Han!