Where the Ends of the Empire Meet

WHERE THE ENDS OF THE EMPIRE MEET By Prof. H. R. Merrill of the Brigham Young University The "Mormon" Church, on a smaller scale, has been almost as much of a melting pot as the United States itself. While the Church has not gathered as many nationalities, perhaps, as the govern- ment, it certainly has melted the ones it has gathered into a more TWO SENIORS WITH THE B. Y. U. COUGARS Left: Qeo. K. Lewis, Arizona; right, Edwin Potter, Idaho homogeneous lump than the government has succeeded in doing. A "Mormon" is a Christian citizen of the government with all the ideals of a Christian as well as the ideals of a citizen. This melting pot of the Church extends over the entire world,

WHERE THE ENDS OF THE EMPIRE MEET 579 but it is more consolidated, or the ingredients are more concentrated in the inter-mountain region — a vast empire extending almost from the eastern slope of the Rockies to the western rim of the Great Basin, and from northern Canada, on the north, to central Mexico, on the south. The ends of this vast region have met at Brigham Young Uni- versity. These sons and daughters of the pioneers who did so much towards building the West, have in their hearts still a romantic love for the old order of things, when cowboy and rancher were the lords of the land. This reverence for the glory of the golden West has manifested itself this year as well as last in the costume adopted by the seniors to distinguish themselves from the other class men. Last year they selected a wide hat and a lumberjack shirt of the loudest black and white pattern obtainable; this year they selected a wider hat and a lumberjack shirt of many colors. The parent Church school has become the melting pot of the melting pots. Not only is the Church territory represented at the institution, but this year a number of the missions are also represented. These young people from all parts of the Church territory are learning to like one another; they marry each other. In this way the solidifica- tion goes on. It was no doubt an outburst of this same romantic love of the old West by these representatives of this vast western empire that inspired Coach E. L. Roberts and the athletes to term themselves the Cougars. The Cougar is a part of the empire. He is a native of the mountain region; he is a romantic figure wherever seen. His tawny color, his sleek build, his self-reliance, his cleverness, all go to make him a genuine figure of the West. It was but natural, after the name was selected, for these youths of the range and the open spaces, of the lumber camps and the cow camps, to wish they had a real cougar at the university. The wish was father to the act. Word was issued to the alumni of the institution who have gone back to the lumber camps, the ranges, and the open spaces, that a mascot was desired. Out of the South, in January, came a letter from a former student, an old time editor of the "Y" News, then The White and Blue, stating that some cougars had been caught and he would be able to secure one or two for the university. A message burned the wires to Kanab, almost before the letter had been read through, ordering a pair of the cougars. The cougars arrived in due time accompanied by an alumnus of the institution and instructions as to how the cougars were to be handled in order that the "school boys" might not get hurt. The "old-timers" evidently had forgotten that, as in the old days, the school is swarming with men from the fringes of the empire as wise, as self-reliant, as agile as the cougars themselves.

580 IMPROVEMENT ERA This article is accompanied with a photograph of two seniors, dressed in their "tribal" costume, fondling the newest arrivals from the outskirts of the inter-mountain region. It chances that the man on the left and the cougars! are from Arizona; the man on the right is from Idaho. All four are westerners; but all four are now happily enjoying life together at one great institution wnere the ends of the empire have met. When the empire builder, Brigham Young, founded here the institution that bears his name, he hoped that just this would happen: that the young people from all of the settlements which he was causing to be established would come together to study common problems, in order that they might go out and build a homogeneous community on the swelling sides of a thousand hills and on the sage-brush floors of as many valleys. That President Young's dream — or shall we call it vision — is being realized is indicated by the fact that from the school that bears his name, this year more than two hundred fifty trained Latter-day Saints will go out into the ends of the empire to carry on the in- spiration and to scatter the information they have received at the Church school center. Provo, Utah Dream, O Youth Oh, Youth, 1 hrough the half open door of years. Behold the wraith-like imagery Of present dreams and hopes and feari. That soon must be reality. And Know The present coins the future's gold; The mint of time runs true; If dross you place within the mould A counterfeit returns to you. Then Choose To place naught but the purest ore, Within life's crucible; , For when there's testing time no more Alloy is inexcusable. But Dream — For dreams are not mere fallacies. But stepping stones, forsooth; Old age must have its memories, So dreams are given youth. Sigurd, Utah ■ IRVIN L. WARNOCK