The Breaking of Law: An Instance

Improvement Era Vol. XVIII DECEMBER, 1914 No. 2.

The Breaking of Law— An Instance BY DR. FREDERICK J. PACK

In the morning of a bright autumn day, some seven or eight years ago, the writer of this simple, but true story, was aroused from his work by a sharp rap at the door of his study. Upon invitation the visitor entered. It was a young man of possibly twenty years, tall, erect and altogether handsome. From a physical point of view, he was far above the average, and at once presented the appearance of an athlete of no mean ability. In fact, he was one of the younger boys from the college, and had already participated in various forms of advanced athletic activity. The writer has for many years made it a practice to invite students into his home where he can "chum" with them, and so the visit of our school friend carried with it nothing of the unusual. The conversation at first had to do with school activities and college life in general, and then, quite naturally, it became more personal and confidential. The young man told, in an uncomplaining and happy manner, of the various difficulties he was encountering in maintaining himself in college. He related with almost religious fervor the details of the sickness and death of his mother a year previous. His father had been left with a large family of young children, the eldest one of which, except the youth, was a girl of scarcely seventeen, upon whose shoulders had fallen the care of the house at the time of the mother's death. The father was not financially prepared to help our young friend with his school work, and so he set out to secure an education for himself. And thus the conversation ran until what was later learned to be the objective point of the visit was reached. The writer had just asked theyoung man how he was getting along financially. "That is my chief reason for being here," came the quick and responsive answer. I have been out of work for more than a

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98 IMPROVEMENT ERA week, and unless I get employment soon I shall be compelled to abandon school and go home." The last words were uttered in a low, resolute voice. The conversation which followed developed the fact that he was in desperate circumstances. While he was not really suffering for want of food, yet he had been compelled for the last week to adjust his appetite to two scanty meals each day. The writer is forced at this point to digress far enough to state thatfew people are aware of the hardships and privations which many of our college boys undergo. At our State University, and elsewhere at the present time, there are scores of young men who are really underfed and otherwise poorly cared for simply because of want. They are rising in the morning before five that we may have our papers delivered in time for reading at the breakfast table they are building the furnace fires in our homes ;

they are shoveling the snow from our walks they are washing the ;

dishes in our eating houses and, in fact, they are doing anything ;

and everything that will enable them to remain in college. The reward of all this is that many of them are destined to become leaders among us. But we must return to our young friend. In answer to an inquiry he explained that for some reason unknown to himself he had been "let out" of the job which he had held for more than a year. No explanation had been made by his employer. He thought that he had given satisfaction, and maintained, apparently with justification, that he had been absolutely honest. But only just now, however, he had passed the place of his former employment, and had seen another college boy performing the tasks which before were his. He here showed considerable resentment, and indicated that someone had been "doing him dirt." "For almost an entire week," he continued, "I have faithfully gone from place to place seeking something to do, and invariably I have been turned away. It seems that the fates are against me. Other fellows secure jobs just ahead of me, and just after I leave, but for some reason nothing comes my way." And then he explained that he had come to see if he could get a letter of recommendation to someone for employment. Upon assurance being given that that cheerfully would be done, the conversation took another turn. "What do you say, and what is your attitude, with respect to remuneration when you apply,

for employment," was asked. "I simply tell them that I am looking for a job, that I must have work, and that I am willing to accept most any wage in order to obtain an opportunity to prove myself." Certainly a most commendable attitude! "And what are you asked in return ?" was continued. "Oh, nothing of importance they simply ask who my people ;

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are, where I live, where I worked last, and a few other such questions." — At this point a startling revelation came to hand, a telltale yellow stain upon the forefingers of the young man. Knowing the attitude of the majority of business men of the town towards cigarette smoking, the writer looked the youth squarely in the eye and enquired, "Are you ever asked if you smoke cigarettes?" "Oh, yes, but only in an incidental manner," was the reply. He then hesitatingly admitted that he was addicted to the use of cigarettes, but promptly argued that smoking could have nothing to do with his failure to secure employment. In this he was merely voicing the feeling of the big majority of young men who are addicted to the habit. They feel that the smoking of a few cigarettes can do them no harm, and that they themselves are fully as capable as those who do not smoke. Herein lies a deceitful treachery. It was with difficulty that the youth was convinced that not only his failure to secure employment, but the loss of his former position, were likely due to his habit of smoking cigarettes. It was quite apparent that the youth had never connected his misfortunes with a habit so "trivial." While he had smoked in the establishment of his former employer, and that, too, during working hours, yet he could not really feel that smoking had anything to do with his dismissal. But he was without work and something had to be done. was agreed that the next day efforts would be made It to find employment for him. Before leaving, however, he was asked to tell how he acquired the habit of smoking. The story was not an unusual one. He had gone out with a crowd of the "fellows ;" cigarettes were passed he refused to smoke he was told that they were harm- ; ;

less; he was urged; he was called a "sissy;" he began to feel that the boys were avoiding him and that he would be ostracised if he did not become " one of them ;" he yielded he yielded again the ;

next time he was out he began to like them the habit grew upon ; ;

him he smoked when alone and finally he purchased them himself ; ;

and used them regularly. Yes, he could give them up if there were any necessity for it, and that, easily, but he could see no reason for it now. The next morning the writer got in touch with several of the business men of the town, and he was repeatedly told that the youth was not needed. He knew that at one of the places men were actually in demand, and here he ventured to ask why the youth should be turned away. "Do you know that he smokes?" came the reply. "We cannot use cigarette smokers in our busi- ness, they are inefficient they waste time, and as a rule they are ;

unreliable." It was decided to investigate the matter further, with the result that it was learned that practically every business man

100 IMPROVEMENT ERA in the town was opposed to the employment of cigarette-smoking boys. Finally, however, work was secured. The youth continued in school until the close of the year, and promised that he would return in September at the beginning of the new semester. But the youth did not come back that year, nor the next. Nearly four years later an invitation was received to be present at his wedding reception. He had won the hand of a beautiful country girl, and was to be married in June, the month of roses. When the time arrived the writer made it convenient to be present. The girl, a mere slip of a child, appeared to be the soul of delicacy and goodness. Her love for the youth, now a mature man, stopped but little short of worship, blind as it may have been. They were both "Mormons," she a devout one, and he a "believer," although in former years he had regarded religion with active appreciation. She had urged him to give up his cigarettes that they might go to the Temple and be married. He promised that he would do so, but argued that if he did it now, people would say that he was doing it as a mere subterfuge. He would wait until after they were married, and then he would stop smoking, and they would go to the Temple and be married right. And so that night they were married "until death does you part." A year later, a baby came to their home, the mother lingered long in ill health, then became stronger, and fairly well. Surely now was the time for them to go to< the House of the Lord, and have father, mother and babe united under the power of the Everlasting Covenant. Unquestionably he would now give up his cigarettes and otherwise prepare to go. Would he? "Yes, after a while, but not now." There were several matters to be adjusted ;

he had paid no tithing, and had scarcely been inside the church building since the Sunday following their marriage. Yet he promised his patient wife that he would do better, and that some day they would be married according to the laws of the Holy Priesthood. Scarcely one year ago now, our friend, the youth, the man, was attacked by that dreaded disease typhoid. For days and days he suffered under the blighting effect of fever. At times he became flighty and irresponsible. The wife was ever at his side. They talked of the past, of their courtship and marriage, but principally of the future, of the time when they with their child could go to the House of the Lord, because now, when serious sickness was before them, the husband himself was willing to think earnestly of the future. One day the faithful wife suggested to our friend that the elders of the Church be called in to bless him. He consented. The administration was followed by slow but marked relief. Day by day he became stronger and life seemed to be beginning anew. The fever had gone, and the period of convalescence was at hand.

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Almost hourly, strength seemed to be returning. He was beginning to eat somewhat freely, and the time came when he sat up in bed and talked to his son. But the improvement was not to continue. The cigarettes had already made deep inroads upon the strength of his heart. He was rising upon his elbow to adjust a pillow when a sharp cry of alarm came from his lips, and he fell back never to rise till the day of the great beyond. Friends and neighbors laden with sympathy poured into the home of the wife left behind. Everything that mortal hand could do was done. The time for the funeral service came. To the wife it all seemed like a frightful nightmare. The good folks in their efforts to comfort her, told her that the Lord had taken her husband away to perform a greater work elsewhere. At the service she was again reassured that the "Lord knows best," that he "works in a mysterious way his wonders to perform," and the choir sang, "Sometime, Somewhere, we'll Understand." The widowed mother is now teaching her son child that the Lord took its father away because he was needed more elsewhere. The name of the mother appears upon the payroll of one of our largest factories, while the child is picking up the slang and habits of the street, along with other unfortunate children.

Many sermons might be preached and many articles written with texts and subjects taken from this simple story. In the first place the story raises the question of the advisability of permitting young men to come into the city without proper chaperonage it ;

makes plain the necessity of systematic college supervision, it notes that employers in many of the larger institutions refuse to employ cigarette-smoking boys, on the ground that they are inefficient and generally unreliable; it instances the fact that cigar-

ette smokers seldom remain in college for graduation ; it empha-

sizes the folly of expecting that reformation will take place after marriage it illustrates the postponing tendency invariably ex- ;

hibited by those upon whom an enslaving habit has taken hold it ;

shows that even dilatory individuals are willing to call upon God in times of distress, but for our present purpose it proves that the laws of God ore invariable and must be fulfilled. There seems to be a growing tendency among mankind' to place not only the responsibility for all sorts of mishaps and misdeeds upon Deity, but actually to credit it to his will. As a result Deity is made to appear as the destroyer of homes, the maker of poverty, and the author of a thousand and one other calamities. William George Jordan has very nicely expressed the truth in observing that, "When a man permits a torchlight procession to pass through a powder magazine, it is not courteous for him to refer to the subsequent explosion as 'one of the mysterious workings of Providence.' " Mankind seem to be prone to hide behind

102 IMPROVEMENT ERA their own sins, and to lay the result of transgression at the door of God's desire. As far back as 1833, the Lord graciously informed his people that "tobacco is not good for man." He further promised that obedience to this and other of his laws would be followed by enlightenment of the intellect and increase of bodily resistance to the point that distress and even death would pass by. While, of course, it is not expected that these promises will be fully realized in a single generation, yet it has conclusively been shown that obedience to the law is invariably followed by marvelous results. The Word of Wisdom has been taught throughout "Mormondom" for more than eighty years. It has been preached from the pulpit and talked at the fireside. Our people all know that the use of tobacco is a violation of the law of God. They know it primarily because God has said so, and then they know it because of the abundance of affirmative physiological evidence, and because of the blessings which follow obedience. Why then should the result of violation of Divine law he placed at the door of the One who is kind enough to warn us of its existence? The facts in the case at hand are that the young man knowingly violated a law of God, a law of nature, and he persisted in its violation. Had his heart not been wrecked by the poisonous action of tobacco, it would have been strong enough to carry him over the critical period of typhoid convalescence, and today he would be a living blessing to his family and friends. But there ar% e no exceptions to the lazvs of God; violation must be follozved by penalty, else there could be no justice. Why then shall we blame God for our wrong-doings? Why not understand that health and long life can come only through obedience to Divine law? Why not open our eyes to the whole truth of what we know; and why, in such cases as that of the young man, continue to sing, "Sometime we'll Understand"? SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

THE HARVESTER OF LIFE AND THE HARVESTER OF DEATH WORKING STDE RY SIDE IN EUROPE'S FIELDS