--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Alfred Lambourne collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 18 number: 5 published: 1915-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Alfred Lambourne, "The Life Message of John Ruskin," *Improvement Era* 18, no. 5 (March 1915): 394.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1805unse 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: improvementera1805unse start_page: 394 end_page: 394 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1915-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1805unse 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. --- # The Life Message of John Ruskin The Life Message of John Ruskin BY ALFRED LAMBOURNE "He thirsted —as a thirsty land for rain For beauty and for good, as men for gain Now may he drink of the immortal tide, Ever athirst, and ever satisfied." — "The life message of John Ruskin" what was it? I begin this short inquiry with the words of its caption, and put them into quotation marks, because they are not my own, but were spoken at the same time with a request that I write something concerning his life message, and the request has made me thoughtful. What was the life message of John Ruskin? I repeat the question, and