--- 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: 16 number: 8 published: 1913-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Sermonets," *Improvement Era* 16, no. 8 (June 1913): 768.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1608unse 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: improvementera1608unse start_page: 768 end_page: 768 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1913-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1608unse 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. --- # Sermonets SERMONETS It is easy for a man to go wrong if he has no particular aim in life. The man who is wrapped up in himself usually has pretty thin covering. Never cast your vote in favor of any institution, project or policy which you can not ask our Heavenly Father to bless. — George H. Brimhall. In every pursuit of life it is the effort, the preparation, the discipline, the earnest labor that makes the valuable man in every department, not the mere fact of his occupying this or that position. Whenever you get a little money ahead and begin to acquire a craving for a little flier in speculation, the best thing to do is to make the investment at once and have it over with — but make it on your own farm. There is no other place in the world where you may take a chance with futures more understandingly or with greater chances for a profitable outcome. — Farm Journal. On a street car in Buffalo the other day a woman offered to a boy who happened to sit beside her a counterfeit nickel that the conductor had refused. She explained to the boy that he might be able to pass it somewhere. He quietly thanked her, and said, "I don't want it; I am a Scout." The answer amply justifies the whole Boy Scout movement. But what is to be said of the woman? — Youth's Companion. A cultured person is one who is able to bring about changes in his surroundings conducive to the satisfying of his highest wants. It is the person who obtains the great uplift from his environment and who in turn furnishes the most favorable environment for the uplift of others who is the most cultured. Culture is active. Its possessor must be a doer. It is a power for good. A man of culture always exerts an influence for betterment, and the more useful he is in bringing about better conditions the more cultured he is. The Mutual Improvement Association is designed to furnish suitable conditions to aid in the development of the cultured man. — D. W. Pan-ait.