--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Card, O. R. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 20 number: 9 published: 1917-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'O. R. Card, "Wanted: An Ideal," *Improvement Era* 20, no. 9 (July 1917): 779–780.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2009unse 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: improvementera2009unse start_page: 779 end_page: 780 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2009unse publication_year: 1917 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 1917, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Wanted: An Ideal Wanted: an Ideal By O. R. Card Wanted — An Ideal Boy! One who is obedient. Not the sullen obedience that slams a door when asked to close it, but the kind that says, "Sure, I'll go fishin' with you fellers, as soon as I get niy work done." And, "Is there anything else, mother, before I go?" One who is polite to all, "youth" as well as "age." One who is so full of "ginger" and joy that he can jump the back fence with a yell, and throw his heart and soul into a game of baseball; who can pick up a stinging grounder with a smile, knock a home run without getting conceited, and take the um- pire's decision without a growl. One who can play the game fair, be a sport, a scout, in a word, a gentleman. Wanted — An Ideal Girl! The type of "American Princess" who reigns supreme in the kitchen as well as in the ball room. Who can smile that same sweet smile over the dish pan or bread pan that she smiles over her fan or over the punch bowl. One whose biscuits are as palatable as her fudge, whose charm is not lost in a bungalow apron, whose disposition is not soured by housework. One whose loveliness is not cheapened by tawdry adornment, whose good taste bespeaks her good breeding. And, when that time comes, one whose right to the queenship of "A home of her own" is unquestioned. Wanted — An Ideal Man! To be merely the male type of the human species is not enough. Wanted, a man who can cud- dle a babe. One who can tend a baby without looking or feeling like a martyr of ancient Rome, who can romp with children and of whom children are unafraid, who can play with "youth" and yet maintain proper dignity. One who is as gallant to his wife as he is to young ladies, to whom the charm of motherhood is a never-ending source of love and inspiration. A man who realizes that his wife is still his sweetheart, and delights in it, and ever remembers her favorite flowers on her birthday; who i- willing to plan for home comforts, home making, and to whom home is heaven. A man who can talk to a child or a sage with an open heart, who draws no line between business and religion. Wanted — An Ideal Woman! How can I ask, when the women of Israel are so nearly ideal? It would be asking more than we would or could give in return. It is only in the light of Christ's admonition, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," that I dare ask. But after 7ftO IMPROVEMENT ERA all, is not true womanhood a great deal? Has she not inspired the great number of man's attainments? What wouldn't a boy do to gain favor with the girls, from standing on his head to fighting the meanest boy in town. Doesn't he long for a return of the days when knights were bold and fair ladies were rescued from dragons? And is there any- thing that will cause a young man to fight quicker than to see a lady of any age insulted? Is there anything more apt to put murder into a man's heart than to see a woman wronged? As an earthly agent, then, to inspire goodness and valor in man, there is none greater than woman. Wanted, then, a woman who will use her charms, her talents, and her loveliness to inspire men to greatness, to inspire them to ideals befitting their estate. After all, we are what our ideals make us. Wanted — An Ideal Nation! One whose citizens breathe loyalty from every fibre of their beings. Whose citizens are ready and willing to give their lives for their country, if needs be, but who are not only willing to die, but are willing to and will live for their country. Willing to uphold that great ideal, "One Nation, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All!" Wanted — An Ideal World! A world that we have helped to make ideal. A world we have helped to beautify. A world puri- fied from corruption, a world open to truth, and one in which we will be proud to greet our Lord. God speed the time when we shall have our ideal realized. Do not think that because I am citing these ideals that I see no good in my fellow men. On the contrary, it is because I see the happy state of those who have these ideals that I am prompted to raise my voice in favor of a motive that will impel the people of this world to prepare for the coming of the Lord. That motive we have in the gospel of Christ. And in him we have the great ideal. His life, as a boy, is our Ideal Boy. His life, as man. is our Ideal Man. In his last mortal hours, with a world of care on his heart, he sought the welfare of his mother, he is our Ideal Son. As America is the melting pot of the nations, where patriot- ism brushes aside the cobwebs of national distinction in the com- mon cause of humanity, so let "Mormonism" be the melting pot of the world, where the tangled nets of Satan are brushed aside to usher in the World Ideal, the Great Millennium.