The Valley of Fire

THE VALLEY OF FIRE By Edwin G. Wells Several pictures were recently taken on a hike of the M Men and Gleaner Girls of the Overton ward, Nevada, in the Valley of Fire. Top: "M" Men and Gleaner Girls of the Overton ward, Moapa stake Bottom: Gleaner Girls of the Overton ward. Moapa stake The following hieroglyphics of ancient Indian origin and writings on the face of the red sand-stone cliffs, were taken near the place where the young people ate their luncheon. The picture of the skeleton was taken in the graves of the buried city, Pueblo Grande, which is now being uncovered by Professor M. R. Harrington, near St. Thomas

536 IMPROVEMENT ERA and Overton in the Moapa Valley. Mr. Harrington is director of the Museum of the American Indian, heading the Heye Foundation Expedition into the prehistoric metropolis in the Muddy and Virgen rivers valley, near Overton and St. Thomas, Nevada. These were probably the people who made the hieroglyphics in the Valley of Fire. A recent news item contains the information that the lost city is the city of a primitive people of giant stature who ruled Western America before the beginning of history. The exploration has been going on for months; and recent discoveries have given evidence that the once lost city will prove to be the largest pre- historic ruin in the western hemisphere. Round adobe buildings, some containing twenty rooms, with hard, glazed floors have been found, revealing, under their circular court-yards, the graves of a vanished race, with the average height of the skeletons of over seven feet. In many mounds already unearthed, beautiful jewelry, artistic- ally cut and designed, and decorated pottery of fanciful design, have been found, in addition to quantities of crude hunting implements and other primitive tools. The area embraced in Pueblo Grande is eight miles wide and extends intermittently with 105 outcroppings for thirty-five miles down the Muddy and Virgen rivers valley. Mr Harrington is said to have declared the excavation will continue until the riddle of the lost city has been completely solved. Logandale, Nevada.

VINDICATION! By Frank C. Steele Time is the Great Vindicator. Let us draw back the historic curtain for a moment. Time — A century ago. Place — Palmyra, New York State. Characters — A sectarian minister and one Joseph Smith, a boy in his early teens telling a strange story. The story the boy unfolds to the minister first brings smiles, then jeers, then abuse. Joseph is telling him of a wondrous vision he has had in a grove on his father's farm. The vision came in the midst of a celestial light brighter than the brightest sunlight. The vision, he declared with unusual vigor for a boy, revealed to his eyes God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. "These heavenly Personages spoke to me, Pastor, and I could hear them as plainly as I could hear your voice inviting me to enter your study," the boy in substance explained earnestly. "He who was introduced as the Son of God did most of the speaking, and his voice I shall never forget. It thrilled me, Mr. thrilled me so com- pletely that I will carry the memory to my grave — " "Continue, continue, you deluded, little boy, I am listening al- though I really oughtn't to take the time to hear such utter nonsense," smiled the minister, adjusting his glasses to get a clearer look at the boy. "The Son told me many things, but the point I remember most, I think, was that the numerous creeds are an abomination in the sight of him; that the various quarreling sects draw near him with their lips, but their hearts are removed far from him; that they are teaching man-made doctrines; and that there was only one church of Christ organized, all of which means, pastor, that I cannot join your church or the Methodist, or any other church in existence, for they are all wrong," we surmise the boy asserting. And the minister replying, "Joseph Smith, you are mad. Ut- terly mad. The devil is on your trail. Visions! What folly! Churches all wrong! More folly. Why, my boy, there must be many churches to satisfy the varying tastes and inclinations of men — " "Beg pardon, pastor, but you are wrong. There was one true Church in Jesus' day. He organized it, and prayed that his disciples might be one, united, as John tells us in the seventeenth chapter of his gospel. I read it only yesterday. All these churches are an abomination to him. I was told that in the vision," we imagine Joseph declaring kindly but firmly. "Get out of my study at once. This is madness, I tell you. 1 must see your parents at once. Get out, get out!" we can hear the

53 8 IMPROVEMENT ERA minister exclaiming. He was now in a rage, his eyes snapped fire, and he literally drove the frightened Joseph out of the room. The scene changes. Time — Present. Place Modern city church. Characters — Large congregation and a sectarian minister. The minister is preaching. His subject is church union. His congregation is composed of members of the Presbyterian church in Canada, and they are listening intently because this man surely speaks as one having authority. He is the chairman of the Church Union Committee. His message is a ringing one and he tells of the movement to unite by Act of Parliament, and by the will and desire of the congre- gations, the three great Protestant churches in Canada: Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational. He bases his sermon on the seventeenth chapter of the gospel of St. John. He denounces denominationalism as a thing hideous in the sight of Christ who prayed that "they all might be one even as he and the Father are one." He declares again and again there was one Christian Church in the beginning and that the competition in the religious world is wrong and wholly contrary to the teachings of our Savior. He closes, and the people turn and say: "It is the truth — this new revelation. There was but one Church in the beginning. Why not a re-union?" Time, to repeat, is the Great Vindicator. Union in Canada of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congre- gational bodies will soon be an accomplished fact. The contracting bodies are committed to it, and definite steps are now being taken to put the jointly accepted constitution of the United Church of Canada into force. A few of the reasons for Church Union, put forward by Rev. Dr. S. D. Chown, general superintendent of the Methodist Church in Canada, in a manifesto early this year, are these: First, Methodists believe that the union is "an effort on the part of our church to answer the prayer of Christ that all who believe in him may be one; in order that the world may believe in Christ as the one sent of God." Second, "Church unity is fully in accord with the signs of the times, and the signs of the times are the fingers of Providence point- ing out the duty of the Christian Church." Third, "The United Church of Canada will be an example to all the world," and give a larger missionary outlook to the people, who will become indeed, disciples of a world Savior. Thus speaks Dr. Chown of the great Methodist church, in 1924. Place parallel with it the words of a minister of his own faith a cen-

VINDICATION 539 tury ago. The contrast will prove striking, and significant of the same "signs of the times" referred to by the scholarly head of Canadian Methodism. And the whole Church Union movement in Canada, and in the broader conception in the world at large, is another evidence of the divinity of the message of Joseph, the boy of Palmyra, who, through the strange workings of God's providence, became the Prophet of the last dispensation, the dispensation in which all may unite in the re- vealed truth, and be under divine guidance of God's chosen authority. Lethbridge, Alta., Canada. Success Success, said the eminent business man, Whose face was marked with greed, Who thought only of the things he possessed, But not of his brother's need, Is the power I have to overcome The things that are in my way. That by my persistent effort, I may conquer the world some day. Success, said a tired mother, In answering a question asked. Is not in the wealth we gain, my boy, But how we accept our task. Not deeds that are born of idle thoughts, Will accomplish the top of the hill, But success comes to us. through suffering. To learn the Master's will. Success, said the humble man of God, I count not in dollars and cents; Nor yet in the number of years I have lived, But in how those years were spent. It isn't the wealth I accumulate, Or the years I spend therein. But, that when I die I may take with me, The love of my fellow men. Success is not the applause of men Nor does it come through big display — True worth lies not in who we are. But what we are today. Seek not to please the ways of men, Nor hoard to spoilers find, But the joy that comes in a lifetime Spent in the service of mankind. Nounan, Idaho NELLIE SKINNER.

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