--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Quinney, Joseph, Jr. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 16 number: 4 published: 1913-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Quinney, Joseph, Jr., "Vocation," *Improvement Era* 16, no. 4 (February 1913): 362–366.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1604unse 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: improvementera1604unse start_page: 362 end_page: 366 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1913-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1604unse publication_year: 1913 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 1913, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Vocation 360 IMPROVEMENT ERA the responsive thumping of the shaggy tail on the ground, at this moment, it is likely he would have gone headlong for the willows. When the Southerner went to bed, after a long, long time, and lay there muttering to himself, the sleepless brown eyes still — watched watched through the quiet midnight, watched till the gray dawn. There was no more sweet voice of the Intangible that night. The darkness smacked of terror, and that black roll of bedding that groaned, and started, and writhed, seemed the soul of everything dreadful to the human mind. With early light Montana arose, the same handsome, stalwart man that sang to the Texas bull, and "navigated the waters" of the — San Juan the same man but for a blush of humiliation which arose whenever the gray eyes met Ben's look. Even before breakfast, that humiliation framed itself into words "What was : I a-talkin' to you about last night ? I reckon I was sort o' nervous and half asleep," and the blush grew deeper. "I get that-a-way sometimes, but ye mustn't take no notice of it." He had not yet said enough to allay his annoyance, and the fact that his great, brave self should be disturbed by a callow boy, seemed to annoy him all the more. "Say, kid," he ventured again, when the herd began to graze, "Did I mention any names last night ?" His yellow mustache loomed up dark against his colorless face when he heard the name, Tom West. "What did I say about 'im?" he finally found breath to ask. "Oh, you just mentioned the name," and Ben succeeded in giving the matter the smallest importance. "Ye see, kid," breathed the Southerner, much relieved, "I sort o' go to sleep an' have nightmare before I reach the bed, if I'm very tired. I was awful tired last night. What a man says in 'is sleep ain't nothin'—ye mustn't take no notice of it." Then, after a pause, he added :"But say, kid, ye won't never mention that name, will ye?" He accepted young Rojer's assurance that the name would not be mentioned, and dropped the lingering traces of night to assume the handsome face he wore in the daytime. As to Ben, he did take notice, a great deal of notice, of that "nightmare," and another edition of it which came out two nights : VOICE OF THE INTANGIBLE 361 later on ; but he ceased to be afraid. He simply listened and drew a firm conclusion, though, for the sake of his promise, he kept the conclusion to himself. Montana told nothing of his personal history to Ben; the most he said about it was in answer to a question about old Deut "Yip, Deut's a trump of a haws," he agreed, "he was my pick of fifty. He don't keer how much ye shoot from on 'is back, but if a fella shoots towards 'im from behind, he shore gets rapid." Whether that meant that Deut was stolen from a band of fifty,and had carried Montana away from a posse of firing officers, was not exactly clear, and no question was asked to make it clear. One day, as they rested on a sandhill, with the herd grazing below them, Jimmy came out of the willows by the river, and climbed to where they sat. He greeted the boy with word and hand-shake, but pretended not to see the man. "Now, wouldn't I like to have a ruffle on my shirt-tail same as that," remarked the Southerner, sarcastically ; for Jimmy, like the better class of Navajos, had his black shirt hanging outside of his trousers, and a neat ruffle running all the way around the hem. The uskee could not tell just what had been said, but the tone of ridicule came plain to his ears, and the dark eyes betrayed his resentment. "Why are you with this man?" he demanded. "He is vile! My mother and my sisters will not pass this way when he is here. Chinde! Chinde! Clisz! Cady!" he hissed with emphasis, meaning, "Devil ! Snake-spirit !" —the most venomous term a Navajo may employ. He probably had patience to say no more, for with that he stalked back down the hill, into the willows, and came no more during the ten days. (to be continued) — Vocation BY JOSEPH QUINNEY, JR. 1 desire to use, as an introduction to this article on Vocation, the Man you Can't Defeat, by Herbert Kaufman: "He isn't afraid of Failure, and so after awhile Failure becomes afraid of him. When all's said and done, Failure is like every other bully, and turns tail at the first hint of whole-hearted, fearless defense. — "What if he does stumble granted that he goes down in defeat — t'me and time again just watch him fumbling, crawling, husbanding his strength bit by bit, gripping fast with his last shred of grit, and his last flash of wit — — never despairing watching and waiting until he sees the chance and then, zip! before you realize it, he is on his feet again and up against the wall ready to take on any comer. "He keeps learning what not to do until he has narrowed down the field of mistakes and errors and by the sheer experience of elimination he knows at last the few sane, safe principle- of success. — "The size of a task never appals him his courage is great enough to lift him shoulder to shoulder with any emprise to which he aspires; his resolution is the most terrific ram that ever battered the walls of circumstance. "Errors of judgment and his over-zeal repeatedly hurl him to earth. But while he lies on his back he doesn't waste time wailing because of his failing; he doesn't rehash the past and moan and groan over what is gone and what can't be helped; he takes count of his assets and figures out how he can return to the game. — "He doesn't mind the broken bones they'll knit; or the bruises they'll heal; or the sprains — time will take care of all of them. So long as his spirit isn't fractured and his determination isn't splintered, he's not shattered, but only battered. "The mere loss of goods is just a loss of time; if he hasn't lost his manhood and his memory, he can duplicate whatever he possessed and re-attain whatever he dropped. "You can 'break' him, but you can't break his backbone. You can bind his activities, but you can't tie down his spirit. You can handicap him, but so long as he doesn't handicap himself, he'll win out against you as surely as day must follow night. "He puts his own judgment in the scales and the prejudices of the whole universe won't outweigh it; while there's breath in his body, and hope in his breast, and nerve in his meat, he's ready and eager to pit his ambitions against all humanity. "Don't waste the time to laugh at him, to shrug at him or strike at him; the joke is bound to be on you in the end. He's padded all over with self-assurance. A sneer can't get through his vitals. Disbelief and incredulity rattle against his sheath of confidence like dry peas upon a stone wall. "Whenever you try to hold him back you simply turn him into a — bow you bend him into greater power, and when you let go you have loaned him the strength to hurl his shaft of determination twice as far. VOCATION 363 "He's a human spring — the greater the pressure you put upon him, the further he'll rebound. "Opposition is his whetstone; it simply puts a deeper edge upon his keenness. "Every unfair dig but sends him leaping ahead. It rouses his lazing, lurking amperes and kilowatts of force — it calls upon his reserve of energy and sets it surging and singing through his being, doubling his horse power, intensifying his voltage, until he breaks every band and bond of opposition. "Don't measure him by his years, courage never rusts with time. "He'll break new ground for himself up to the hour that you break ground for him. "You can't tell how he'll finish, until his finish." The growth of any community depends largely upon its citizenship, consequently, to bring into our lives the very things that are most high and good there must be provided good, wholesome employment for the citizens of that community. Where the environment is of a high order the moral condition is one of inspiration, and people who are surrounded with high and lofty thoughts are in a position to contribute to the uplift of the race. There is nothing in life that is so beautiful, wholesome and soul-inspiring as to give and love. There are thousands of our people who are reaching out for something; they know not just what it is, but when they get it, there is a satisfaction that convinces them that they have received it. The very things we are wanting more of in our Church, in our communities and in our homes, is giving the very best we have, and in this contribution, love and good must be the result. Quotations come and are given to us from various individuals that are full of suggestive ideas, and we are moved in our actions, in our thoughts, and in our deeds by reason of these suggestions, sometimes our very lives are changed, and as a result we find ourselves giving better service, thinking better thoughts, and speaking better words than ever before. It is a development that expands, and grows, and brings into our lives splendid personalities, and when we make development by reason of high thoughts and suggestions coming to us, our capacity to give is so much greater that we find ourselves very frequently in the position of contributing voluntarily to the uplift of those who surround us.The way to retain a thought is to repeat that thought. The way to receive good service is to give good service. The way to confer affection is to be in a condition to receive affection, and the position I wish to take and the thought I wish to leave is this That there is no individual who : can direct unless he himself can be directed he cannot give unless ; he can receive he cannot inspire unless he can receive inspira- ; tion. Many people who have held responsible positions in large institutions have failed completely because they could not inspire 364 IMPROVEMENT ERA those over whom they had control, and upon investigation the reason would invariably be, that these individuals never placed themselves in an attitude to receive inspiration. They had closed their lives to the suggestions that would have filled them with inspiration permitted themselves to become selfish, and grow up ; in a little world all their own. Where there is nothing, you can give nothing, and the individual who closes his life to suggestion never can inspire others a retrogression sets in and development ; ceases he becomes a thing, not a man. The successful man in- ; spires those about him become animated and influenced by his ; presence they develop and grow strong. Why is he successful ? ; It is because he has opened the windows of his soul and permitted the sunshine, the flowers, the mountains, the trees and all of God's universe to enter and make him grow and love, and above all, he has permitted other people to come into his life and unfold to him their appreciation and thankfulness. He has received inspiration, and there are people who wonder why he carries with him such an influence. Characters are great only in so far as they are able to receive, and not what they give. The greatest of all characters, Jesus the Christ, bowed in humble obedience to God his Father, and said, "Not my will but thine be done." Leaders of men are submissive, kind and considerate as a general rule, and because they are able to direct, instruct and lead, is because they have been directed, instructed and led. Many there are who start out and fail before they have gone far. Why is this? There is some reason. There must be a cause, and if an investigation is made the cause is with the individual himself. You will always find with a failure in life a strong grain of selfishness, a lack of inclination to serve and to give, a strong tendency to speak disrespectfully about those who would be glad to assist him. A failure of this nature is always surrounded with doubt, and the feeling grows until it has developed the thought that everybody is wrong but the individual himself. The individual who is all the time counting his lost opportunities is unhappy; those about him partake more or less of the same feeling, and this is one reason that they are not successful in life. Vocation is a wonderful asset in the develpoment of the young, but there are so many that think they can't do a thing, and the result is, they never grow, they never do, and they never become. They only aim to get enough to live on. There is nothing that impedes the progress of our young people so much as the failure to select a vocation for life. Circumstances should not enter into a man's progress or development. He may be surrounded with poverty and bowed down with sorrow and grief, yet he can grow and become something if he only thinks so. With our environment, the splendid literature, schools and splendid agricultural advantages,