---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Lilaine Olva
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 17
number: 9
published: 1914-07
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Lilaine Olva, "To an Atheist," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 9 (July 1914): 831.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1709unse
  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: improvementera1709unse
start_page: 831
end_page: 831
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-07)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1709unse
  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.
---

# To an Atheist

<!-- page:831 -->

—

FIJI,   REMOTE AND PICTURESQUE                       831

loose and crated, above as well as below deck,          must have totaled

tens of thousands.

Large bunches were offered at the         wharf by native vendors

for twelve and a half cents each.

With all the above stamped on our minds we turned our backs

upon picturesque, remote Fiji one midnight, thankful that loose

steamship connections in the South Pacific had dropped us such an

opportunity.

RIVERSIDE,   UTAH

To an Atheist

O man, thy haughty pride and skilfulness,

Is but a cloak for thy disgracefulness;

Thy fine contempt of all thou canst not prove

Or subject to thy law, does not remove

Thee further from that state of loftiness

Which thou dost seek, though not by faithfulness

And prayer, but by a cheap indifference,

Thrust in the face of God's omnipotence.

Yet, thou dost set thy croos and look for rain

And sun, to moisten and mature thy grain,

Dost murmur, should thy land be parched and dry,

Dost turn a hard-set face toward the sky,

To cast self-blinded eyes, by far too proud,

In hope of finding, soon, a rainy cloud;

And, seeing none, doth sigh for very fear

Thy bread should be the scarcer for it next year.

Or should thy crops prove richer than before,

Thou'lt gather gleefully into thy store,

Nor give a little thanks to Him above

Who gives to all a measure of his love;

Thou seest thy neighbors enter the Church door

—

To give their thanks, aye e'en the very poor.

And while they pay their tithes or sing a psalm,

Thou'lt clasp thy gold the tighter in thy palm,

And dream of some day reaching heights of fame,

(Which giveth unto man a gilded name)

By conjuring up some creed — Man's evolution,

Thinking to overthrow facts of God's creation.

Oh, shrunken spirit, better for thee a sleep

—

Dreamless, unwaked eternal, deep

Than late to stand, cowering beneath thy shame,

Clutching thy withered wreath of earthly fame.

But thus it cannot be, you must awake!

Death has small power since Christ its chains did break.

He gave unto us all a free salvation,

That we might work, and earn an exaltation;

So, too, in time, that' which you scorned below,

(God's holy law) you'll hear again, and know.

By dint of strictest serving, and much pain,

You yet his promised blessings can obtain.

Lilaine Olva