--- 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: 21 number: 4 published: 1918-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, “Books,” *Improvement Era* 21, no. 4 (February 1918): 361–363." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2104unse 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: improvementera2104unse start_page: 361 end_page: 363 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2104unse publication_year: 1918 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 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Books Books The Cross: Holly and Easter Lilies is a new edition of a favorite poem by Alfred Lambourne. This edition has been greatly simplified m lan- guage and popularized in versification. The poet artist has been «W£ off and on, for twenty years or more in writing and perfecting it and 1 in "his labor 'of love hasYut the best efforts of his mature abdity .and tekm. The work is dedicated to his departed wife to whom a beautiful tribute is paid in the sixteen stanzas that preface the work: "My thought is thine before the robin's call; Thy name in inward whispers spoken oer; O come, it seems, thou must, as shadows fall,— ^ I wait in vain, though open stands the door. The argument of the main poem in 224 stanzas is divided into five 362 IMPROVEMENT ERA parts: the first opens with the poet's home on Easter Morn; dead Holly, and Easter Lilies in living beauty, are contrasted, and the hymn ends with a stirring apostrophe to the Christ: "For whom the thirty pieces was the price, The silver that the Field of Blood did buy; Yea, Christ that to a thief gave paradise, While on the cross he suffered agony." A scene in part two leads the poet to muse on the uncertainty of life and the seeming sovereignty of death. He sees the ray of hope in the teach- ings of the Master: "Yea, unto doubt itself Thou bringst a hope, Unbound by selfish or by narrow creed, Yea still thy mighty love of boundless scope, With cross we follow where thy footsteps lead." The third is a lament on the decay of art: "In buried art the olive sinks its roots, The Lydian plowman treads it 'neath his feet, 'Tis hidden where the fig tree drops its fruits, By Phaesto's grass-grown palaces of Crete." The fourth part deals with the false gods of many peoples, the myth- ologies of ancient nations. As art passes, so have ancient gods been dis- persed, and following them a truer and broader vision for mankind: "The ancient faith into oblivion sinks, Man seeks a wider and a clearer light." In much the same manner, part five, in which the poet shows aston- ishing knowledge of classic lore, deals with the schools of philsosophy which in their time have attracted the faith of the peoples. Whatever is truth has persisted by sacrifice, but the false has perished in itself: "O pass away the false, the useless creeds, Let error perish, Truth shine like the sun! Gautama Buddha for Nirvana pleads, For Life Eternal, Christ, 'The Lowly One'." Part six sets forth that in spite of changes, man ever seeks for the never- changing Truth, and this is found in the gospel message of love promul- gated by Jesus Christ: "Thy master Love shall triumph, Prince of Peace, And one by one the thoughts of hate decay, — Thy blameless conquest, may it never cease, As age to age the future rolls away." The after part, "Rest," again breathes a touching tribute to the de- parted wife and mother, a poem in itself among the sweetest ever written, and which expresses perfect trust and confidence in eternal life : "A tale the Holly and Lilies tell — Slowly they vanish in the coming night — Through darkness, Love and Hope in my heart dwell; The sun will rise, again there will be light." The Way of Eternal Life is the title of a new book just issued from the presses of the Deseret News. It is written especially for young people by Bishop Edwin F. Parry and is a beautiful and simple exposition of the doc- trines and ordinances of the gospel as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Often many of the young people cannot understand why it is necessary to accept and practice certain sacraments and prin- EDITORS' TABLE 363 ciples of the gospel, nor why these should be obeyed, in order that sal- vation may be attained. In the twenty-three divisions of the little work before us, the author has sought to describe these gospel principles and ordinances, and also has offered some simple, healthful suggestions as to how people may learn to practice them and therefore receive the blessings of so doing. He has also shown distinctly why they are needful, and has done it in such plain language that any young person, even in the early- grades of school, may easily understand. For sale at the Deseret News Book Store and at the Sunday School Union Book Store. Price 75 cents. John St. John is the title of a new story by Nephi Anderson. The leading character is a young man whose understanding of the gospel in- duces him to leave his home in the East and to pass through the early trials and tribulations with the Latter-day Saints in Missouri and Illinois. The opposition of his parents and family as well as the difficulties which he had to pass through in these two states with the Latter-day Saints, form the basis of the story. Historical incidents of the travels of the Saints and their struggles in these early days are interwoven in the story with com- menable accuracy. His love affairs with some young people that he left in the East and his final effort to get them to visit him in Nauvoo, are lucidly told. His loss of advantages, friendships and property are vividly portrayed, also his integrity for the cause which he had espoused and his battles to hold fast to the faith which seemed the cause of all his trouble. He finally conquers and sets out with the Saints to cross the plains to the West. The closing chapter, which is by the way of postscript, tells how he succeeded there, how he regained, in double measure, all that he had seem- ingly lost. The readers' interest from the beginning to end is held, and the story has the advantage of being historically correct as well as carrying with it an enlightening exposition of many of the principles of the gospel, put forth in a form that fascinates the reader throughout. At the book stores, price 85 cents, postpaid.