---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 18
number: 2
published: 1914-12
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "The Man at the Helm", *Improvement Era* 18, no. 2 (December 1914): 159.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1802unse
  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: improvementera1802unse
start_page: 159
end_page: 159
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-12)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1802unse
  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.
---

# The Man at the Helm

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—       —

                The Man at the Helm
        a      a cel cbr atipnof President Joseph F. Smith's
x-
    '

     ??   ?«tt                                               anniversary,
Nov. 13, 1914, at the Brigham Young University, Provo.)
                  ,

                 Our big white Ship is sailing
                   Across Life's mystic sea;
                 "lis headed for the harbor
                   Of "God's Eternity."
                 The name above its rudder
                   Gleams like a beacon light;
                 "The Gospel!" How it beckons
                      To ships lost in the night.
                 Our big white Ship was builded
                   With room on deck for all.
                 'Tis sending forth its life-boats,
                   Each manned with men who call,
                 "Ahoy!" to ships that venture
                   Too near destruction's rock;
                 With men who row as saviors
                      To sinking ships that mock.
                 Our big white Ship plows fearless;
                   Each beam and spar and strand.
                 Was placed in perfect order
                   By the Master Builder's hand.
                 To the man who holds the tiller.
                      As the big ship sails along—
                  To the man who guides the rudder.
                   To him, this day, our song.
                 To the man at the helm, who steadies
                   The big white Ship each day;
                 Who sees the rocks and breakers
                   And steers the ship away;
                 The eye at the helm is constant;
                   The heart at the helm is true;
                  The hand at the helm is faithful,
                   As it guides for me and you.
                 The man at the helm ne'er wavers
                   Though tempests howl and roar.
                  When his sailors doubt and quiver,
                      His courage seems the more.
                 The light that guides our pilot
                      We may not always see.
                 That he the light is given
                   Should be enough for me.
                 O, man at the helm, we bring thee
                   Our faith, and trust, and love.
                 Full well we know thy compass
                   Is guided from above.
                 Our big white Ship is sailing
                   Across Life's mystic sea.
                 We'll reach the harbor safely,
                   O, man at the helm, with thee!
                                       Elsie Chamberlain Carroix