The Literal Word of God

THE LITERAL WORD OF GOD How the Payment of Tithing Turned to a Blessing By Ellen L. Jakeman The personal "I" is as offensive to me, as a writer, as it undoubt- edly is to publishers and readers, but in this instance I must needs use it. In March following the armistice I went from Provo to Arizona tc engage in the dairy business with a brother-in-law, already located there. I did not anticipate making money in the enterprise, but went for reasons that seemed good and sufficient. I bought one thousand dollars' worth of dairy cows and added them to the stock already on the place, a dry-ranch, six miles north of Douglas, secured quite an expensive equipment, built about two miles of new fence, together with concrete corrals, drinking vats, etc. After the armistice the bottom dropped out of business sooner, perhaps, in Douglas than in other localities; for the one great industry that kept things going was copper. The various other business enter- prises for miles around grew out of it, and were dependent upon it. The mines and smelters shut down, throwing hundreds of people out of work, for with the signing of the armistice all copper contracts were cancelled. We lost our customers, twenty and thirty a day, and every day, and saw them leave by rail, by team, by such nondescript conveyances as not even the early pioneers had to put up with. They went on foot, whole families, seeking a place where they might earn bread, and so far as business was concerned, the place was about dead. To our dismay we found ourselves without a market and without much means, feeding fancy stock that demanded the most careful hand- ling; figuratively, out of a paper sack. There was no range that year, the purpose for which I came failed, and my health gave way, and when I got a chance to sell the cows, I did so gladly. My young stock, equip- ment, pigs, etc., were sold by my brother-in-law, on the best terms he could get for me, and I secured payment on the larger amounts with written agreements for periodical payments to be made at the local bank. Had he been able to stay and make collections all would, no doubt, have been well; but he had a family, and had to go where he could get work at once. The money for the cows, with hopeful optimism, I re-invested in the lost cause, so it was not available. I removed to Douglas, was made president of the Relief Society, which became my vocation, and took up the collection of those debts as an avocation. It will not require a brilliant imagination to perceive how hope- less the situation was! For the most part, the stuff, amounting to hundreds of dollars, had been sold to Mexicans, who had only to cross a chalk mark a

430 IMPROVEMENT ERA mile south to be in a foreign country, and immune from collections. My brother-in-law knew these hombres personally, knew their finan- cial standing, talked their language fluently, and they could not have evaded him, and when located I could talk business to them only through an interpreter. Everybody was feeling the pressure of hard times, but a few of my debtors came to the bank and made good their word/ the first month, and I managed to get the most of the monthly payments on those not so secured, by hiring an auto, taking a justice of the peace with me as an interpreter and paying him 10% of the collections we made. Month after month these collections grew smaller, till I was not getting enough to pay my running expenses, when il wanted it all so I could go home and work in the temple. Picking up a Doctrine and Covenants one evening to prepare a class lesson, the book opened itself at the revelation on tithing, and I began to read. Never had it been so 'clear to me! Never so vital and understandable. Why the Lord had said for his people to try him! To put him to a test, and see if he would not keep his generous word! It sounded so personal, — somewhat like he were offering me individ- ually a partnership, in which he was to give everything and I was to re- tain nine-tenths of the proceeds! I felt like he were really talking to me, instead of I reading the printed word, often read before. I was so impressed that I knelt down and called my heavenly Father's at- tention to my helplessness, to the almost hopelessness of the situation. I told him what I wanted, and why; that I believed his word with all my heart, and to prove it to him, I would pay tithing on all those doubtful debts with precious money already in my possession, and trust him that in some way I should be able to collect those outstanding accounts. That was the 15th of March, 1922. I had been at the ranch fourteen months, and in the city of Douglas about eight months. That night I made a list of all that was coming to me on those accounts, and it looked very small when I thought of what I needed to do with it; but the tenth, when I drew my check for the tithing, seemed immense. The next morning I went to Presiding Elder L , and said: "Brother, I want to pay tithing on all accounts I have been unable so far to collect." "Say, Sister, I don't understand the law of tithing that way. You don't owe it till you've collected it! I suppose what you have been paying is in full on your collections?" "Yes, it is in full on my collections; but is there any law for- bidding me to pay in advance of my collections?" "Well I don't know of any law, but if you think by paying ad- vance tithing you can hold the Lord responsible for those very doubt- ful contracts, you've made a mistake. I don't want to take tithing

THE LITERAL WORD OF GOD 43 1 on them. If you live up to the law that will be doing pretty well," he said dryly. He probably thought I was too enthusiastic and might, later, regret my generous impulse, and it would place him in a very awkward position. "I promise you, brother, that whatever happens, I won't let it hurt my faith, if that's what you're afraid of; but I really wish to pay on those debts today, and it will be between me and the Lord." Rather hesitatingly, and dubiously, Brother L received my check, and receipted me for it, admonishing me again that I must not count on God doing a thing like that for me. I replied to all his good, common-sense lectures by saying: "I can't imagine how he possibly could do it, but I know that if he wishes to he can; and if he doesn't, he has a good and sufficient reason for not doing it, and no blame shall attach to you, either." The next day, "the 1 6th of March, a particularly nasty, dusty and windy day, I went out collecting, took a lawyer with mc as interpreter and, knowing just z little Spanish, think I detected him telling one reluctant Mexican that, for a fee, he would tell him how to evade future payments. On the 1 7th, I went alone and did not collect a dollar. Because these dates were collection days, I had left the details of the annual celebration of the organization of the Relief Society, to mv assistants, and, being unfamiliar with it in detail, began the evening program, as chairman, by making two mistakes. I tried to get first one and then the other of my counselors to take charge, but one had a troublesome baby and the other was far too timid. I had found the easiest way to get forgiveness for short-comings was to confess them; so I gave my alibi to the entire assembly. I told them frankly that I had been out for the past two days trying to make collections, had not collected a dollar, and was not up to my usual form. I asked them all to feel at liberty to suggest or correct me, that nothing might be done or left undone to mar the good time for which we had met together. There was an immediate and whole-souled response, and all went well. When supper time arrived, served picnic style, a brother, a new member of our ward, and a new citizen of the town, brought his plate and sat down and asked me about the collections I had spoken of, and I explained. When I had finished he remarked: "You know I am here to take charge of the establishment, don't you?" '•'No, I had not heard it," I answered. "Well, I have a proposition to make to you. Get your accounts into shape, and I'll collect them for you through the store. I think I know human nature pretty well, especially Mexican human nature. To stand well with the superintendent of the best and cheapest store in Douglas, they will pay your bills when I present them, without a protest." "And what will your fee be?"

43 2 IMPROVEMENT ERA "It won't cost you a cent. I won't use company time, and besides it will give me a line on a lot of people. So far as those bills are concerned, you can go home tomorrow." In handling my papers to brother S the next day, I said: "The times are hard; get it all, if you can, for I will need it, but do not oppress anyone. Give time where it is needed and use your own judgment." It was the 18th of March, if I remember correctly, when I turned my accounts over to him, and I landed in Salt Lake City on the 26th, so swiftly did things move for me. He was three years' making those collections, and they reached me in varying sums, semi-occasionally, al- ways seeming to be just when it was most needed, — and he collected it all. » I promised myself that I would report to Brother L how my tithing paying turned out, and I happen to know he reads your publication; but I very greatly desire to acknowledge to my heavenly Father that I fully realize that He kept faith with me. How It Works Both the narcotic effect of tobacco and the fact that the habit is not creditable often leads to such results as related in the following story: During the recent war at one of the Western Cantonments, a Utah boy, a private, sought promotion in the army. So often had he applied with unfavorable results that one day he went to his company commander, deter- mined to know the reason. The following conversation ensued: Youth: "I want to know why it is that I am constantly overlooked, while others are promoted over my head all the time?" Officer: "Do you really want to know?" Youth: "Yes, sir, I do." Officer: "Well, then, I'll tell you. You're a 'Mormon,' aren't you?" Youth: "Yes, sir, I am, and I'm not ashamed of it!" Officer: "I understand that your Church has a rule against the use of tobacco. Is that right?" Youth: "Yes, sir, it is." Officer: "Do you keep that rule?" Youth: "No, sir, I don't because I- — •" Officer: "Never mind the reason. And your Church has another rule against gambling, hasn't it?" Youth: "But I don't gamble, sir!" Officer: "You do; because I saw you at it not a half-hour ago! And another rule of your Church, I take it, is against lying — a rule which you also break, it seems. Qualities in an officer are courage and obedience to rules. You possess neither. If your parents and your Church haven't been able in twenty-five years to make a man out of you, Uncle Sam can't do it in two years! Goodbv."