---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Osmond, Alfred
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 23
number: 5
published: 1920-03
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Osmond, Alfred, "The Better Way," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 5 (March 1920): 407.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2305unse
  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: improvementera2305unse
start_page: 407
end_page: 407
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1920-03)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2305unse
  publication_year: 1920
  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 1920, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Better Way

<!-- page:407 -->

RECLAIMED                                   407

years to become the man you wanted. I have improved some,
I think   —
          will you not exchange rings with me?"
     "No, I must keep the little clasped hands if you don't  —
want me to give it back to you. But I'll put it away again in
 he tissue paper. Dear little ring! What hope and comfort it
has given me."
    "Given hope and comfort          —how?"
  "It's   only a silly little rhyme Mir a Sackett told me:
                             —
           'Break a promise keep the ring,
           Marry later   —dead  sure thing.'
                                             "

Provo, Utah

                          The Better Way

                Be kind to all; the fields of strife
                  Are yielding tares of pain and sorrow;
                But kindness is the seed of life
                  That bears the fruits of love tomorrow.

                Be true to all, let others lay
                  The subtle snares of simulation,
                But loyalty will pave the way
                  That leads the soul    to exaltation.

                Be fair with all, let others cheat,
                  And mock the folly of thy choosing.
                When plays of life are all complete,
                  The winning hands will be the losing.

                Be brave with all, that men may know
                  Thy life yields not to least resistance,
                But seeks the ceaseless ebb and flow
                  Of all the tides of true existence.

                Be frank with all, that men may see
                  The things in life you love and cherish,
                For that which you desire to be
                  Is that of thee which will not perish.

                 Be kind and true and fair and brave
                   And frank in all thy talk and dealings,
                 And these in turn thy life will save
                   From blasted hopes and bitter feelings.

                 The ways of love are pleasant ways,
                   And sweet and peaceful are her pleasures;
                 While all her days are golden days,
                   And all her gifts are priceless treasures.
                                                          Alfred Osmond.
 Brigham Young University, Provo.