The Strength of Being Clean

"THE STRENGTH OF BEING CLEAN" By Hart Wenger, member of the Silent Class, Advanced Senior, Second Ward, Salt Lake City, Mrs. J. W. Woolf, Teacher I have just read The Strength of Being Clean by David Starr Jordan, President-emeritus of Stanford University. This book is not in any sense philosophical, nor is it the product of deep thoughts of a "high brow," but rather it is the result of every day observation and experience. Judging from my own observation and first-hand knowl- edge, however short my experience may have been, I cannot but heartily agree with this book. Whatever truth Dr. Jordan has writ- ten down is such that one cannot help but see the light, and realize whatever remnants of sin we may have been harboring, to be so un- desirable that we are only too glad to wash our hands clean of them. Here I will give only the truths in this book which I know from my own experience and observations, though I have plenty of prob- lems to work out outside the scope of this book. The consciousness of a clean mind and body imparts a feeling of strength which can be had in no other way. Unclean mind and body is the result of a desire to obtain happiness without an accom- panying willingness to earn them with honest effort. To sin, according to the Scriptures, is to break any of the Divine laws. Judging from every day experience and observation, sin is an attempt or a desire to find a short cut to happiness, and at the same time shunning effort; and its effects are in every case evil and harmful. No one can secure happiness without paying the price in some way. It is natural to be happy and therefore we have a right to be, but anything that is worth while is not plucked along flowery paths nor dropped from among pink clouds. Every rose has its thorn. When we are happy our conscience should be clear and then we know that, "all is well." The kind of happiness that one thinks one gets in sinning is only momentary and is pure delusion because the feeling is "different in the morning." Do you notice any such reaction when you are really happy, that is, after you have done what you knew was right? Temptation is an inducement to get something for nothing. Anything that we do not deserve is not worth while. To overcome temptation at first may require an heroic effort, suffering or a great deal of patience, and the first victory gives' one a consciousness of in- creased strength and self-confidence, so that when temptation comes again, it is overcome with greater ease, though not without some ?ffort. The allurement of temptation will then decrease with each victory until it "forgets your telephone number."

328 IMPROVEMENT ERA It is easier to be almost right than right. Work out a series of mathematical problems just good enough, and the error in the an- swer may be colossal. It is exactly the same in whatever we do. Can you imagine the Woolworth Building being built on a good enough foundation? Even if it were, how long would it have lasted? It is almost as easy to be exactly right as to do any work good enough once you get the right habit, because when you learn to do things right — at least in what you honestly think is right — you come to know the real joy that comes from such effort and then you will not be satisfied to let things go just good enough, but instead have a hankering desire to correct it. The Brooklyn Bridge had to be built exactly right or it could not have been built at all. It takes so much effort to correct an error, would it not be better to take more pains in the beginning and prevent the mistake? If we do all the small things right, we then can easily do the big ones. Take care in what you do today and tomorrow will take care of itself. A sinner is a man who is afraid to say, "No." It takes real courage to say, "No," at first, but it soon becomes a habit. I do not know of any great men nor women nor anyone whom I really respect who is afraid to say, "No." There are many shortcuts to happiness attempted, but I will give just a few here. Indolence or laziness is the action of trying to secure rest when it is not deserved. Prolonged laziness leads to self condemnation and mental languor and never to happiness. It is a miserable mistake to wait for joy and expect it to come. Gambling is the desire to get something for nothing. Thievery is the same thing, only in a different form. To take money or anything from someone else on a game of chance is a polite form of thievery, even if the loser is fool enough to take the risk. However, certain forms of gambling may be permitted by society but it certainly shows the lack of good sense and reason on the part of the gambler, to say nothing of the degrading moral effect. Whatever good luck one gets in gambling spurs him on to take more chances, and instead of being satisfied he craves for more. In time it becomes a mania. The good luck instead of being good becomes bad. Then again bad luck only makes the gambler all the more determined to stick to the game until he wins or goes broke, but even then he is not satisfied. Bad luck becomes good when it makes the man or woman through with the evil for good. A famous gambler once said that gambling did not pay. It is a see-saw of winning and losing and never getting any- where and what is more, a severe bump is eventually forthcoming, Gambling is a subtle form of vice which too often leads to grosser vices. Its wickedness manifests itself in the evil effects it produces. Vulgarity is very demoralizing and degenerating. Its use makes one think vile things when &?F? never is an occasion for it. Nature,

THE STRENGTH OF BEING CLEAN 329 as it really is, is too beautiful and pure to be accused of prompting any such thoughts. A blind man appreciates the beautiful things around him while a vulgar person does not. Profanity is a form of vulgarity. It stifles out all the strength and patience there is in a man and it creates a mental fog. I have tried it, though I did not use blasphemy, and goodness knows it doesn't pay! Sometime ago I was working on my car, and things did not come out as I expected, so I cussed at that thing, and cussed as I worked, but the more I cussed the worse things grew. I became so angry and my mind so fouled that I couldn't think nor know what I was doing. I was so sick of the job that I had to quit for the day. I got along all right the next day, but not without keeping my mouth shut. I have never succeeded in working out a difficult problem of any kind, nor sticking to a nerve-wracking job to a finish, by resorting to profanity. I have yet to see anyone do it. Have you? The use of vulgarity and coarse jokes exposes one's own mental weakness and the absence of the real man in him. I have noticed that people who indulge in vulgarity never amount to much until they change for good. This is because of the corroding effect of its use on one's ambition for something better and it leaves the mind stagnant with foul pictures which sooner or later express themselves in body or action. "To be vulgar is to do poor things in a poor way." "What cometh out of a man defileth him." More than once have I cursed my own tongue for all the pestilence it brought. Sure, "boys will be boys." Get all the clean fun while you can, for anything unclean is not worthwhile no matter how tempting. John Barleycorn is too dead a subject to talk about, but it will serve as example of the false pleasures and soothing effects that drugs, coca-cola and tobacco give. Whiskey is supposed to give warmth when there is actually no warmth. Here is a real story: Five lumber jacks returned to their shack from work. The night was getting bit- terly cold. Four of them drank whiskey — not wood alcohol or moon- shine—to keep themselves warm. The fifth would not touch it. Those four went to bed and slept. The fifth one got up and walked around in the night in order to keep warm. When morning came those four were found frozen stiff. If whiskey gives real warmth, what is the idea of freezing to death? There's coca-cola. It seems to give a bracing effect when it really harms. My brother personally knew a man back east who used to work in the coca-cola bottling works. His hands often got wet with coca-cola. The result was that his hands became thick and hard like untanned hide. The palms of his hands looked much like a pair of gloves shrunken stiff after having been soaked with water. Cigarettes make the smoker think he can't get along without them, when, in fact, he got along pretty well before he learned to

330 IMPROVEMENT ERA smoke. When he cannot get any, he thinks he is unhappy and seems to be helpless. We cure ham by smoking. Are the so-called pleasures of smoking worth the price of smoked lungs and impaired health? I repeat that anything worth having is worth all the time, energy and patience it takes to get it and there is no strength as strong nor happiness as sweet as that which comes from having a clean mind and body. No truth can be realized until it has been lived up to. I am glad I paid the price of whatever I got, and I am going to pay more. New Chapel Dedicated in Pago Pago, Samoa A new chapel, under the direction of Conference President E. L. Butler, Tutuila, has been built to replace the cement church demolished in the earth- quake of a half dozen years ago. In size and shape the new structure is iden- tical with its predecessor, but additional touches, conveniences and innovations have made it far more beautiful, as will be seen from the illustration. Conference was held at Pago Pago, October 19, with a splendid elders' meeting, and extending to Monday, October 22. The building was dedicated Sunday afternoon, the prayer being offered by John Q. Adams, fo mer presi- dent of the mission, now released. The conference meetings were well at- tended and stamped with high spirituality. The Relief Society presented a bazaar for the temple fund and raised quite a sum which was turned over to Sister Adams to leave on the way home at Laie, H. T. President Butler was in charge of all the meetings except the Relief Society session, which was pre- sided over by Sister Adams. President Butler was sustained on Sunday after- noon as president to succeed John Q. Adams, and his wife was sustained as head of the Relief Societies of the mission. — John Q. Adims, Pago Pago, October 29, 1923.