--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Benson, Grant Lee collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 23 number: 11 published: 1920-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Benson, Grant Lee, "The Society Islands Mission," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 11 (September 1920): 992–993.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera23011unse 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: improvementera23011unse start_page: 992 end_page: 993 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1920-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera23011unse 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 Society Islands Mission 996 IMPROVEMENT ERA He gasped: "Gosh, boys, he's a woman!" "Sure, if you'd asked me before, I'd told you," said Mary Jane, as she picked the spark plug up from the running-board and eyed it critically. "Beat it," one of them called, "there's a machine coming. Mary Jane Fishburn stood for a few minutes in silence, looking down the way they went, then she slipped the spark plug back into place, climbed up on the seat, and drove slowly along the tan road. "Old man Dotson knew what he was doing when he put that bag with the two thousand dollars in the center of that lettuce crate," she said softly. She shifted the gears, having done the best she could, and again the motor purred an accompaniment to "Trusting as the days go by, Trusting as the moments fly, Trusting Him whate'er befall, Trusting Jesus, that is all." San Diego, Cal. The Strong The world will applaud the men who win And perhaps it's right that it should But there's many a man unknown to the crowd Whose effort was just as good. So I propose to pass one rose, Though small may be the meed, To the men who fight with their utmost might But yet who may not succeed. It's proof of strength and wisdom, mayhap, To achieve a worthy aim, But there's more of sturdy worth in the chap Who, losing, still "plays the game." And believing that, do I doff my hat To him who didn't attain To the thing he sought, or for which he fought, Yet who still fights on amain. You, therefore, laud the man who arrived; I'm for the fellow that tried; Who fought for the right with purpose and might, Right up to the time he died; Who never sat down enjoying renown, Nor shirked, nor courted applause, But went his full length of wisdom and strength Just for the good of the cause. T. C. Hoyt. Snowflake, Arizona. The Cigarette Epidemic By F. S. Harris, Ph. D., Director Agricultural Experiment Station, Utahl Agricultural College All epidemics of disease are bad. Likewise, the epidemic of cigarette smoking, which is sweeping the country, will have the same disastrous effects on the human body as disease. In the old days of warfare, before modern sanitation was developed, armies became afflicted with the diseases and plagues of the invaded countries and carried them back to scourge the home land. During the recent world war, the health of the soldiers was maintained at a high standard, but little, if any, attempt was made to protect them from contracting habits that will prove more detrimental to them than many of the diseases. Hundreds of thousands of boys who went into the army free from the tobacco habit came out as smokers of cigarettes. Many of the boys dropped the habit when they took off the uniforms, but unfortunately many of them have become confirmed users of tobacco. This is, of course, not the worst habit they could form, but it will certainly detract very much from their efficiency in life. Recently I sat in the office of an old man who used tobacco. As we looked out of the window at some boys who were smoking, he said: me sick at heart to see young boys take up the habit of cigar- "It makes ette smoking. I speak from experience. I realize that they are putting around their necks a millstone of constant expense without any real value received. They are very materially reducing their ability to do hard work, and they are starting something that will be obnoxious to many of the people with whom they will associate later. I would do anything in my power to keep boys from taking up with a practice that has been a serious handicap to me during all my life." I am not a person who wants to interfere with the personal rights of others; neither do I like to have my rights infringed on. I am, however, often forced to the consciousness that my right to uncontaminated air is violated by thoughtless smoVers. Recently, while traveling, I was particularly annoyed My seat in the Pullman car was so situated that fumes fr^m the smoking compartment filtered back to me undiluted. After enduring it as long as my patience would permit, I souf/ht refuge in the observation car. Soon this became so charged with tobacco smoke that I decided to brave the dust of the rear plat- v form. I had scarcely become settled when a fellow traveler too