---
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: 17
number: 3
published: 1914-01
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Ruth May Fox, "How the Lord Saved Israel. A Poem," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 3 (January 1914): 192–193.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1703unse
  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: improvementera1703unse
start_page: 192
end_page: 193
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-01)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1703unse
  publication_year: 1914
  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 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# How the Lord Saved Israel. A Poem

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192 IMPROVEMENT ERA
that in this respect also the principle of enallage was familiar to
and used by the Nephitc writers:
"And now, they snid. we know of a surety that the Lord is with thee,
for we know that it is the power of the Lord that has shaken us. And
they fell down before me, and were about to worship me, but I would
not suffer them, saying, I am thy brother, yea, even thy younger
brother." (I Nep. 17:55.)
Another example :
"For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should make mucli
fire, as we journeyed in the wilderness; for he said, I will make thy food
become sweet, that ye cook it not." (I Nep. 17:12.)
In all these illustrations — Biblical and Book of Mormon — the
unwarranted substitution of the singular for the plural, according
to English standards, is very noticeable. No composition in our
language which observes its idioms can ever be characterized by
peculiarities (if this nature.
(to be continued)
"How the Lord Saved Israel'
Within a high and olden wall
There stands a temple holy;
Erected by brave, willing hands
To Him who loves the lowly;
Where prophets stand, and Saints repair
To worship in the House of pray'r.
Where falls the shadow of its spires
'Mid spruce and elm trees balmy,
There lies a fount — a lily pond
Where floats the broad leaf calmy;
While gold-fish sport beneath the wave
And searching eyes, sad, gay, or grave.
Up from the center of the fount,
Where flowers sly are peeping
At their fair shades within the pool.
Their pulses proudly leaping,
There tow'rs a snow-white monument
In inpm'ry of an incident.

<!-- page:193 -->

HOW THE LORD SAVED ISRAEL 193
An incident? A miracle!
Oft told in song and story;
And graven deep on loyal hearts
Who witnessed the wing'd glory;
'Tis written, too, on plain and hill —
The Lord saved modern Israel.
The granite base, the pedestal,
The round shaft nobly i ising,
Surmounted by a perfect sphere
On which two gulls are poising,
In shining gold from tip to bill,
Declare: The Lord saved Israel.
The metal tablets tell the tale:
Into a desert dreary,
There came a few — a gallant few,
All travel-stained and weary;
They pitched their camp within the vale —
The vanguard 'twas of Israel.
They broke the clod, and sowed their seed
For winter-snows to nurture;
They toiled and praised the Father for
His promise of the future;
Anon with joy the mountains ring,
Their broad, green fields adorn the spring.
How soon their joy is turned to grief,
The crickets come, devouring
The tender grain — their hope of life,
The strength of man o'erpow'ring;
But One can save from direst ill,
It is the God of Israel.
Behold! in answer to their pray'rs
His messengers come flying,
With rav 'nous haste they clear the fields
Beneath the black plague lying.
The stone, in rare artistic skill,
Tells how the Lord saved Israel.
Ruth May Fez.