--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Duffin, James G. 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: 'Duffin, James G., "The Bread That Was Found," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 5 (March 1920): 426–430.' 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: 426 end_page: 430 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 Bread That Was Found 426 IMPROVEMENT ERA by President George H. Brimhall, of the Brigham Young Uni- versity, his subject being cleanness of life. In that thoughtful address the speaker set forth with magnetic power the principles of personal purity as taught by the Latter-day Saint parents to their children, the clean, wholesome lives these parents lived, the high ideals of the Church, the noble examples of personal cleanness manifested in the lives of the great leaders of the Church, and the power all of this had given young people of the Church to resist in the hour of temptation. An interested listener in that vast congregation, made up principally of young men and women, was a young man from the island part of Australia, a tourist who in his travels had stopped a few days to visit Salt Lake City to learn something of the "Mormon" people, by personal observation. A short time after this, a son of the writer was called on a mission to Australia. During the time he spent in that mission he was appointed to preside over the Tasmanian conference. While laboring as president of this conference the following incident was related to him: One day, as two of our elders were visiting from house to house, conversing with the people upon the principles of the gospel and distributing literature, they came to a home that gave evidence, from outside appearances, that its owners were possessed of more than ordinary means, refinement, and intelligence. A lady with a pleasant face and dignified appearance met them at the door, and on the elders making known to her who they were and where they were from, received a courteous invitation to enter her home. After seating her guests the lady said: "I have been very much prejudiced against your people, for I had been led to believe from reports that I had heard of them that they were a people of low morals and depraved habits, utterly unfit to associate with a Christian people. But a letter recently received from myson who is making a tour of the world and who, in his travels, has been visiting Salt Lake City, has entirely changed my feelings. He writes me that he attended one of your large gatherings for young people and listened to an address by one of the professors of your Church schools, on the subject of spiritual and moral cleanness. In his letter he said: 'Mother, these people have been grossly misrepresented, we have never understood them as they are, a people having the ideals contained in the address to which I listened last evening must be a sincere and God-fearing people. Should any of the 'Mormon' missionaries come to our home, take them in and treat them well." THE BREAD THAT WAS FOUND 427 The elders ever afterward had a warm welcome at that home. "Bread" cast upon "the waters" in the great Church audi- torium, "found" in the heart of a good woman in far-off Tas- mania. When the writer was presiding in the Central States mis- sion,one of our young elders was seized by a mob one even- ing,on stepping out of a house where he was visiting, taken into the woods and tied to a tree, after which he was brutally whipped with hickory withes. When this was reported to the President of the mission, he immediately wrote to the Governor of the State in which the outrage had been committed, acquainting him with the facts in the case, and asking that the guilty parties be brought to justice. A very courteous reply was received to this letter, in which the Governor stated that the matter would be brought to the attention of the proper officials of the judicial district in which the crime had been committed, with a request that the laws governing the case be enforced. A few days later a letter was received by the writer from the Judge of this judicial district, from which the following extracts are made: "Dear Sir: —Your letter of 4th inst. has been referred to me from the Governor's office with the proper requests. I am the trial Judge of this the Judicial District of which county comprises a part. I had not heard of the outrage complained of. But I invite your aid and advice about the methods of getting at the right parties. * * * "My poor, sick wife was at Salt Lake City the other day, seeking her health in the West, and was there treated courteously by some of your people. I have no prejudices, and I 1 think with your aid the law in this instance will be vindicated." As soon as those who were in the mob learned that they were going to be prosecuted they became very much alarmed, some of them left the country, others were arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced for their crimes. No further trouble was experienced by the elders from mobs in that district. Judge in every way proved himself to be a friend of law and order, and a true friend to the humble "Mormon" elder. "Bread" of kindness, administered to the stranger within our gates, "found" in the halls of justice in a sovereign state* of our Union. A part of the work of the president of a mission is to meet with the missionaries and members of the Church in conference assemblies throughout the mission. While attending one of these conferences in the state of Arkansas the writer met a 428 IMPROVEMENT ERA fine, intelligent, elderly lady with whom he had a most interesting conversation. During this conversation the lady said: "President Duinn, I know the gospel taught by. the Latter-day Saints is true, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the true and living God; with all my soul, I desire baptism at the hands of the£fc elders, butmy husband will not give his consent. For this reason I am deprived of the privilege of receiving this sacred ordinance of the gospel, for the elders have told me that it is against the rules of the Church for them to baptize a married woman without the consent of her husband." Continuing she said: "When I was a little girl, my father's family lived in the state of Illinois. Here we were visited many, many times by the 'Mormon' elders. At our fireside they taught the principles of the gospel, and sang your beautiful hymns. While I did not understand their teachings, my heart was filled with a sweet, peaceful spirit as I listened to the singing of those inspiring songs, and their influence has continued with me all of my life. Some months ago two of these young men attending this conference came to our door and when they told me they were 'Mormon' elders, I gladly welcomed them to our home. They stayed with us that night, and as we sat around our fireside they sang a number of hymns, and as they sang these sacred songs the impressions of my childhood were renewed, filling my heart with joy and thanksgiving. They taught us the gospel, and I am ready for baptism but, as I said, I am not permitted to receive this sacred ordinance on account of my husband's objections." "I shot an arrow in the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swift it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. "I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong, That it can follow the flight of song. 'Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found in the heart of a friend." A few weeks ago the writer was returning from a business trip intoone of our neighboring states. Seated in the car was a middle aged gentleman by whose side he took a seat. During the conversation that we had, as we journeyed toward our homes in Utah, the gentleman said: THE BREAD THAT WAS FOUND 429 "My father joined the Church in England, when he was a young man, and a short time after this he emigrated to Utah. Here he married a good girl who became the mother of eight children. My father prospered financially, but for some reason he had a great deal of trouble with the people among whom he lived, and this was notably the case with presiding men in the Church, of whom he would often speak disparagingly before the family. This course brought neglect of duty by my father, and while he retained his membership in the Church, necessarily he was lukewarm to its interests." "What has been the result of the course taken by your father upon the members of his family?" we inquired. To this he sorrowfully replied: "Several of my brothers and sisters wandered off into other states, and but two of us are members of the Church, and we are not very active members. It seems that our family could not get away from the influence of my father's example." "Bread," full of poison, fed to his own offspring, during the impressionable period of childhood and youth, more deadly in its effects than the burning poison of the robe of Dejanira, as it enveloped the form of the mighty Hercules, for its venom struck deep into the spirit. "Found" in the faithlessness of the posterity of an unwise father to the precious things of heaven. How different from the last illustration has been the family life of two of our life-long friends! It was their desire to rear a family that should be devoted to the service of the Lord and their country. As children came to them, they began in their tender years to teach them correct principles and train them in right habits of living. The weaknesses and follies of their neighbors were not allowed to be discussed in the family circle; no member of the family, nor even a visitor, was allowed to speak against the authorities of the Church without being corrected; prayer was observed in which the children were trained to take their part with the parents. In the ward where this family spent the earlier years of their life, tithing was paid, largely in the products of the farm or the increase of the herd. When paying their tithing the father would say to the boys: "When the Lord gave an offering to the world, he chose the best from among all of his sons. He did not take some little, scrubby fellow that loved to drink and swear, and use tobacco, but he gave his beloved first born Son, who kept all of his Father's commandments perfectly. As tithing is an offering to the Lord, we should pay to him the best of our crops and the most perfect specimens of our horses, and cattle, and on whatever we pay tithing." The children were also taught to give of their means to help the poor, to 4S0 IMPROVEMENT ERA be considerate of others, and charitable toward those who should fall into error, to keep sacred every obligation entered into no difference at what sacrifice. A number of the children of this family are grown and have young families of their own and are engaged in various activities of life. The "bread" of life provided for them by their parents is "found" in their devotion to the work of the Lord and their absolute integrity manifested in all of their business affairs. Every year tens and tens of thousands of tracts and books, treating upon the principles of eternal life, are distributed among the people by the missionaries, where these humble men of God are appointed to labor. Many of these works are read, some are destroyed, others are indifferently laid aside without thought of their value. But who can estimate the influence upon the religious thought of the world of the labors of these humble elders, or upon the lives of the people among whom they travel? A family in one of the Southern states received a tract left by one of the elders, which was laid away among other papers and books where it remained a long time unthought of. One day as the family were packing up, preparatory to making a change of residence, the father of the family came across this tract, carefully read it, and became interested in the message it contained. He sent for the elders to visit him, who taught the family the principles of the gospel as revealed anew from heaven. In a short time the whole family became members of the Church and emigrated to the West where they identified themselves with one of the wards of the Church. Some time after this, they removed to another ward where this good man became a member of the bishopric and a generally useful man in the community. "Bread cast upon the waters" in one of the states of the hospitable South, "found" in the faith and obedience and good works of a whole family in whose hearts dwelt a love for truth. "A little more laughter, a few more tears, And we shall have told our increasing years; The book is closed, and the prayers are said, And we are part of the countless dead. Thrice happy, if then some soul can say, I live, because he has passed my way." Salt Lake City, Utah