Mutual Work: M. I. A. Day Stake Finals
Improvement Era, vol. 17, no. 1, November 1913, pp. 90 to 91
Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
Mutual Work
M. I. A. Day Stake Finals
At the request of a number of stakes to have a final or latest date set upon which stake try-outs may be held, the matter came before the General Board at a recent meeting, and it was decided to recom- mend, and the Board does recommend, that all Church district try-outs, of the activities to be taken up at the June Conference in Salt Lake City, he held no later than the 20th day of May next. The definite date and place in each district should be fixed, by correspondence or a convention or meeting of the stake district superintendents. The stake superintendents and presidents of the starred stakes, as recorded in the convention outlines and in the Era for September, should take the initiative in this matter at once. It will be understood that this date will necessitate that all M. I. A. Day exercises be held prior to May 20, so that the stakes may participate in the district try-outs in time for entering the winners in the different events in the Church finals in June. The names of the winners, as soon as known, should be forwarded at once to the General Secretaries. The superintendents of the starred stakes are requested to furnish this information.
Points for Judgment
A request has come that a definite per cent be given for each of the points for judgment on the different contest events at the M. I. A. Day and June Conference finals. In the opinion of the committee this matter will be handled satisfactorily by the judges of the different events. The points for judgment found in the convention folders, and the Era for September, under the different events, were made on broad and general lines; and it was believed that great help would come during the preparation, if the contestants might have before them con- stantly a reminder of the points upon which they would be judged. It is suggested that the contestants keep a copy of these outlines, and when the different contests are held that a copy of these points of judgment be handed to the judges, and that they be given the privilege of rating the relative value of each. This will also be done in the Church finals next June.
Grading of Contestants
To avoid misunderstanding, the following explanation is made on the grading of contestants, who are to take part in our coming June contests, at Salt Lake City:
The contestants are divided into three classes: Juniors, Seniors, and Advanced Seniors.
The Juniors will contest in boys' choruses — boys against boys, — and girls' choruses — girls against girls.
In mixed double quartets any member of the associations may take part.
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School teachers, lawyers, doctors and college graduates who are officers or members of the associations will compete in a separate class called the Advanced Senior class, and will contest in orations. Mem- bers of this Advanced Senior class will not be permitted to enter the Junior and Senior classes but may take part in the mixed double quartet.
Nucleus for a Library
At the request of several ward associations of the Y. M. M. I. A. to furnish a suggestive list of books for a nucleus for a small library in country districts, where large libraries are not obtainable, the Com- mittee on Reading Course have made the following suggestive list:
In all cases we recommend that the standard Church works — the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, be made the foundation for every such library.
History and Travel — The History of the Church, six volumes ; An- cient America, Baldwin; Pathbreakers from River to Ocean; Ancient and Medieval History, Myers; The Making of a State, Whitney; Captain Bon- neville, Washington Irving.
Biogr'apy — Joseph and the Land of Egypt, R. H. Sayce ; History of Joseph Smith, by his mother, Lucy Smith ; Life of Brigham Young, Edward H. Anderson; Life of Washington, Irving; Life of Lincoln, Hapgood; Life of Jacob Hamblin, Little; Plutarch's Lives.
Ethics and Character Building — The Power of Truth, Jordan ; Courage of the Commonplace, Andrews ; Strength of Being Clean, David Starr Jordan; True to His Home, Butterworth ; Secret of Achievement, Marden; Emerson's Essays: Courage, Wagner; Young Man and the World, Beveridge ; Boy Wanted, Waterman; Heroes of Every-day Life, F. E. Coe; Timothy Titcomb's Letters; The Making of an American, Jacob Riis.
Industries — Dry-Farming, Widtsoe ; Stories of Inventors, Russel ; Making the Farm Pay, Bowsfield. (See also list in Senior Manual, 1913-14.
Fiction — John Halifax, Mulock ; Rasselas, Samuel Johnson: Silas Marner, George Eliot; Tale of Two Cities, Dickens; Hypatia. Kingsley; Richard Carvel, Churchill ; The Crises, Churchill : Lorna Boone Blackmore ; John Marvel Assistant, Thomas Nelson Page; Winning of Barbara Worth. Wright; Metta, Lambourne ; The Southerner, Thomas Dixon; Corporal Cameron, Ralph Connor; Tom Brown's School Days, Thomas Hughes; The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper; John Stevens' Courtship, Gates; The Castle Builders, Nephi Anderson; Added Upon, Nephi Anderson; The Bishop's Shadow, Thurston ; The Widozv O'Callaghan's Boys; Piney Ridge Cottage, Nephi Anderson; Jean val Jean, Wiltse ; Ivanhoe, Scott; Lady of the Lake, Scott.
Miscellaneous— The Sketch Book, Irving; The Pioneer Trail, Lam- bourne; Heart Throbs, volumes I and II; The Inland Sea. Lambourne; The American Government, Haskin ; Wild Animals I Have Knozvn, Thompson ;Book of Knozvledge, 24 volumes; The Young Forester, Gray; Outdoors in the West, Paul; Golden Treasury of Poetry and Prose, Francis F. Browne ; Mr. Durrani, That Mormon, Rich ; The House of the Lord, Talmage.
Doctrinal— Scrap Book of Mormon literature, two volumes. Rich: New Witnesses for God, Roberts; The Reizn of Anti-Christ, Sjodahl; Voice of Warning, Pratt; Articles of Faith, Talmage.