---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Jensen, Nephi
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: 'Jensen, Nephi, "God’s Hand," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 5 (March 1920): 419.'
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: 419
end_page: 419
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.
---

# God’s Hand

<!-- page:419 -->

God's       Hand
        By President Nephi Jensen, of the Canadian Mission

     In the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on the shores
of the beautiful Lake Ontario, lives a kind hearted Englishman
of gentle, unobtrusive manners.     His name is James Bartlet.
He is a faithful Latter-day Saint and has for some time presided over our branch at Hamilton.
     He is a plumber by trade. During the late fall of 1919,
he was persistently called upon by friends in emergency cases
to do repair work after hours. His good nature impelled him
to constantly yield to these importunities of his neighbors.
Often he worked until midnight. By the end of the first week
in December, his bodily strength was greatly impaired.
     At about midnight, December 12, 1919, he was returning
home in the heavy truck owned by the company by which he
was employed in the day time. They were traveling at a rapid
rate of speed as they approached a corner.    When the truck
turned the corner, Brother Bartlet, who was very tired, and
standing up in the rear of the truck, was thrown with great
violence head foremost to the ground. His head struck the hard
pavement with such force that he sustained a concussion of
the brain, and both of his eyes were completely thrown from
the sockets. When he was picked up his eyes, covered with
dirt and grime, were lying upon his cheek bones. A doctor was
immediately called. After an examination he said,
     "I can do nothing for him. He is too far gone."
     The injured man was then taken to the city hospital where
his wounds were dressed. The following day he had sufficiently
regained consciousness to know where he was. He requested
that he be taken home. The request was complied with. His
pain was still almost unbearable. The slightest noise seemed
like the rumbling of a freight train. Upon reaching home he
inquired of his wife the address of the two elders laboring in
Hamilton. They had recently moved, and she did not know
where to send for them.
     That same dav Elder Levi Ray Robinson, age twenty-three,
and Elder William Dwight Buchanan, age eighteen, who were
laboring in Hamilton read in the newspaper of the accident.
They immediately went to Brother Bartlet's home. Upon entering the house Brother Bartlet said,