Hymn to the Mothers of Men. A Poem

226 IMPROVEMENT ERA mer. The summer is the crucial period in the working student's career, and should be utilized to the best possible advantage. PRIZES Occasionally cash prizes are offered to students for special scholarship in some particular line, such, for example, as public speaking, debating, essays, i. e., for special work along literary lines. Generally these prizes are purely nominal in character, and rarely exceed $100. And, comparatively speaking, few students secure the prizes. Occasionally, however, exceptional prizes are offered and secured by students. Thus recently the grape growers of California found that they had large quantities of grape sugar, as a by-product, in the impure form for which there was no market. They offered a cash prize of $25,000 to any one who would perfect a practical method of utilization of this sugar by converting it into tartaric acid, which could be used for making baking powder. A student of the University of California, an Armenian, secured this prize. The method, of course, is a secret. Such prizes, however, are extremely rare. Sufficient has been said to show that the opportunity is present, or may be made by the live, wide-awake student, who is dependent on his own resources, to obtain an education. The effort should not be made by the weakling or the youth who loves a life of ease. Only the strong, healthy youth will be able to succeed in such an endeavor. It will be a tax on his physical resources in this strenuous life where the competition is keen. But the healthy boy, made of the right stuff, will succeed in this endeavor just as the poor youth is succceeding in the business world. The financial reward of such an earned college education may never be very great unless it be used as a stepping stone to the business world, but the prospect for a comfortable living and life of service will be unfolded. LOGAN, UTAH Hymn of the Mothers of Men For our recreant sons we pray, O Lord, For our sons who will not pray. Who scorn their mothers' teachings, Lord, And shame thee day by day. For our wastrel sons we cry, O Lord, For our sons who will not cry. For they serve the god of their appetites, Lord. And they love and believe a lie. Be merciful unto them, we pray — We, the mothers of men.

HYMN OF THE MOTHERS OF MEN. 227 For our reckless sons we plead, O Lord, For our sons who will not heed. They choose to walk in the darkness, Lord; For thy cross they see no need. But these are thy sheep on the hillside, Lord, They're lost and cold and numb — And the storm and darkened gloom, dear Lord — Have beaten them silent and dumb. Be merciful unto them, we pray — We, the mothers of men. These are thy sheep, — go forth, O Lord, For the saved are folded well. But our sons on the hillside need thee, Lord, Lest they fall into deepest hell. Reach out thine arm to these erring ones, Strike close, while they still have youth — With the quivering shame of repentance, smite Their souls with the sword of Truth. Be merciful unto them, we pray — We, the mothers of men. Into the silence and gloom we peer, (We are the mothers of men,) But thy love gives hope and thy word gives cheer, — That our sons will come back again, In the silent sweep of Eternity's round, They have felt life's direst loss — Broken and maimed they will all creep back To our arms and to thy cross. Be merciful unto them, we pray — We, the mothers of men. In woe we sit on Mizpah's plains — The mothers of Cain and Saul — And they who gave birth to Ishmael, Absalom, David and Paul. For we wait like the mother of Alma's sons, For the quick'ning sound of thy word — For the time when our sons will meet, and know, The rapt vision of their Lord. Be merciful unto them, we pray — We, the mothers of men. Susa Young Gates.