--- 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: 26 number: 6 published: 1923-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Spearmint Long", *Improvement Era* 26, no. 6 (April 1923): 530.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2606unse 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: improvementera2606unse start_page: 530 end_page: 530 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1923-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2606unse publication_year: 1923 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 1923, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Spearmint Long SPEARMINT 'LONG The old town has a charm for me, Its yards and old stone walls, Its twinin' vines and bloomin,' shrubs On which the sun-light falls; I love its lanes and dreamin' trees, Each corner and each nitch, But best of all, I'll ever love The spearmint 'long the ditch. The pungent smell, so clean, so cool — Sweet incense rises now, As breezes from the old home town Play 'round my moistened brow; Through years and years they've come to me With memories so rich That I can smile and smell again The spearmint 'long the ditch. That homey smell brings back the past, So plain that I can see The boys and girls I loved so well That ranged the town with me; I hear their laughter and their shouts As through the weeds and sich We plunged to bathe our burning cheeks In spearmint-scented ditch. The old log school has been replaced; The church is something grand; The streets are paved where once we played; There is a silver band, But I go out where all is still, Beneath the sunset rich, And sip the odors that arise Along that grass-grown ditch. B. Y. U., Provo, Utah. H. R. Merrill