---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Louis W. Larsen
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 18
number: 3
published: 1915-01
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Louis W. Larsen, "A Race," *Improvement Era* 18, no. 3 (January 1915): 220.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1803unse
  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: improvementera1803unse
start_page: 220
end_page: 220
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1915-01)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1803unse
  publication_year: 1915
  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 1915, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# A Race

<!-- page:220 -->

220                     IMPROVEMENT ERA
solid throughout therr trunks, ;m<l consequently are unable to stand
against hard winds. In order to help many of our famous trees
from further ravages of wood-eating bacteria, all the rotten wood
has been carefully removed from the heart of the trees just as de-
cayed parts are cleaned by dentists from hollow teeth. The insid
of the tree is then thoroughly painted with tar, after which the
cavity is filled with cement.  This filling prevents further decay
and greatly prolongs the life of the tree.
     You recall that the teacher asked Thad to keep his answer a
secret, until all had seen the tree upon the school grounds.      He
knows more about trees now, and he is going to keep his "secret"
a long time yet. He has since concluded that a big tree is not alive
all the way through, and that in this respect it is not like his own

body.

                                A Race
           I   race with the wind on a silvery sea,
             Aloft on her billowy crest;
           Wild laughter springs from the heart of me,
               And I shout at my soul's behest.

           Ah, what care I for the breakers there.
             See, the white caps lead! Away!
           I'm off with the wind for a rollicking race
             Through the mist and the hoary spray.

           The waves they lash my bounding steed
            To a maddening, reckless pace,
           And I sing "Yo ho," as I take the lead,
             And away in a headlong chase.

           And over the billows we race and run
               Till the breath of thewind is spent,
           Till she  moans, "You won, you won, you won!"
               And the heart of the wind is rent.
                                                  Louis W. Larsen