--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Lyman, Richard R. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 30 number: 10 published: 1927-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Richard R. Lyman, “A Man Among Men,” *Improvement Era* 30, no. 10 (August 1927): 872–877." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera30010unse 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: improvementera30010unse start_page: 872 end_page: 877 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1927-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera30010unse publication_year: 1927 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 1927, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Man Among Men A MAN AMONG MEN* By Richard R. Lyman, of the Council of the Twelve, and Assistant Superintendent Y. M. M. I. A. The aim of the Church is to train a generation of young men , and women and bring them up as they ought to be brought up, to make them perfect, as nearly as possible, even as our heavenly Father is perfect. While we appreciate the value of the softer, the milder and the gentler virtues, we realize that if we are to have a strong generation of young men and women, they must have those stern and hardy qualities which are essential to men among men. This American, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, in whose honor the world celebrates today, has these sterling qualities. His time has been devoted to things worth while. He has lived strictly in accordance with the ideals of our own Church, the ideals of all churches, the ideals of all philoso- phers. He began his tour without liquor, without tobacco, without tea, without coffee. His life has been such that he has made of himself a man thoroughly efficient, seemingly, in all respects. The struggle in the Church is to bring up a generation of people who will have the power to resist evil, who in these modern days of swift living will be able, when temptation appears, to say, No, and to say that word effectively; to have the ability to say: "Temptation, step aside; Satan, get thee behind me!" We realize that the idea of bringing up a generation of people in idleness is a mistaken one. We are struggling to teach our people the dignity of true labor, the dignity of work, the value of effort. We are struggling, not to avoid, but to overcome difficulties. We are teaching our young folks to expect to meet difficulties and to have the power to force their way through or to overcome these difficulties. We are teaching our young people to understand that work is a blessing and not a misfortune. We are aiming to teach our young folks not to look forward or struggle to secure easier lives, but our effort is to procure stronger men. We are not bringing up a generation that will £eek for easy tasks, or for tasks that are equal to the powers that we possess, but we are struggling to bring up a generation of people with powers equal to whatever task comes. We are teaching these young folks to remember that into the conqueror comes the strength of the conquered. It makes no difference what the struggle is that is put forth, whether we are struggling with a mathematical problem, with a problem in history, or a problem on the farm — whatever difficulty we encounter — the overcoming of the difficulty is the thing that brings strength. ♦Address delivered in the Tabernacle at the Y. M. M. I. A. conference, Salt Lake City, Saturday, June 11, 1927. A MAN AMONG MEN 873 The strength of the thing conquered goes into him who does the conquering. We are aiming to teach our young folks to turn their hard experiences into capital that may be used for future struggles. We are trying to bring up a generation of young folks filled with am- bition, who will be actually looking for an opportunity to assume responsibility and be able to bear off that responsibility nobly and manfully. We are aiming to bring up a generation of young folks who will be filled with that particular quality which the world is struggling to find, and for which the world is willing to pay. We call it dependability. I am going to name five fundamentals that must come into the makeup of anyone who expects to be truly a man of power among the men of the world. First, health. President Bryant S. Hinckley has already, in this meeting, told us so much upon that subject that I will but mention it. The young man of today, the modern youth, is likely to feel that, having been born into a new and different world, having been brought up in the days of the automobile, the flying machine, and the radio, he must live faster, proceed more swiftly than those who came into the world and lived in the world during the days of the ox-team and ox-team methods. I read recently an article by Henry Van Dyke. He told of a young man, one of these modern fellows, who had been left a small fortune, at the time of the death of his father and mother. He had spent a large portion of this money going to a well-known law school, and he came out of that law school a modern young man, with two outstanding qualifications. One of these was high honors, and the other, expensive habits. Friends of his father invited him to join an old law firm. These men with experience and men with gray hair gave the boy a place. "Ah," he said, "I am modern, I have been graduated from this law school with honors; I cannot stand around and proceed by this ox-team method. I am of the modern generation; mine is the auto- mobile, mine is the flying machine, mine is the radio method." So he left the old firm and started in business for himself. In the course of a little time, he found himself in bad company. He found himself doing things that were not proper. He would roll over in the morn- ing, rub his eyes, and begin to come to consciousness, and he would say, "I'll cut it out; I'll cut it out!" But, Henry Van Dyke says, "Modern youth, ordinarily hasn't the ability to resist the sharpness of the knife, when it comes to cutting out bad habits." The young man said, "I'll cut it out; for me there shall be no more drunkenness, no more immorality, no more gambling, no more crookedness." Any one of these will wreck an individual, i and any one of these, if carried to extremes, will wreck any nation or any people — drunkenness, im- morality, gambling, crookedness. We have in the Church the Word of Wisdom. "Oh," some 8 74 IMPROVEMENT ERA people say, "what harm comes from a cup of tea? What harm comes from a cup of coffee? What harm comes from one glass of beer or one cigarette?" In the language of David Starr Jordan, "All this means is a little pinch of sand put in the grease." We believe that these little differences in these modern times, days of swift travel, may mark the difference between success and failure. The importance of an annual physical examination, as1 President Hinckley said this morning, is that we must first be strong physically, if we are to be men among men. The first and most important thing, health, means that we are first good animals, with good stomachs, good appetites, good, clean and healthy bodies. The second fundamental, if, in our organizations, we are to make men who will be men among men, is education. I am not referring necessarily to the training we get in the school room, but to the study that makes people know things. How much better to have the reading habit, and the ability to remember, than to have a college education without that habit. There are those who are great readers and who seem to know everything about everything. It was said of one man in this city, a great scholar and a great philosopher, that in the days of his boyhood he read every book in the county where he was born. If we are to be men among men, we must be more or less familiar with the world. I wish I had the language of President Ivins, and I wish I could say what I have heard him say. Why, he says, "I do not need to go away from home; I have walked along this river, I have sat by the side of this philosopher, I am familiar with what is going on in this city, and what is going on at the top of this moun- tain." All these things come to the man who is a reader, to the man who is a student, to the man who reads and remembers. We talk, these days, much about salesmanship. There are no other people in the world who need salesmanship as we need salesman- ship. No other people have so valuable wares to dispose of. We Latter- day Saints are called upon to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people in all the world — not to the poor alone, but to the rich also: not to the ignorant alone, but to the intellectual. If we are to do this successfully, we must have salesmen of the highest order. I studied salesmanship once, and, in the book of instructions, I read in one place — and I say this to all of you, especially to' those who go abroad to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ — "Remember, every man is approachable along some line. If you 'will find it and follow it up, you will succeed." Long years ago, a little salesman of the name of Paul, squint-eyed, it is said in the description I have read, covered with dust, but a man among men, walked into the city of Athens. He was handicapped, as I say, by his size, handicapped by his clothing, covered with grime and dust and dirt. Howeyer, he walked right into the center of the city. But, a man among men, he knew the method of approach, he was the master of the situation. He had this thing I am talking about, that we A MAN AMONG MEN 875 call education. He knew and he understood. Hear the wisdom when he said, in substance. "M?n of Athens, I want to congratulate you on having so wonderful a line of religions. [Why, anybody would listen to that.] For as I passed through your city I perceived that you not only had altars erected to all the known gods, but that you had even erected one inscribed 'To The Unknown God.' Now, it is a curious coincidence that the very God whom you have been worshiping without knowing him, is the God I represent."* A man among men, who knew the situation! How important for the man who goes into the mission field to know something of the people, to know something of their language! If he is in a community of farmers, he ought to know something about farming, or if he is in a community of manufacturers, he ought to know something about manufacturing. He ought to be familiar with *the method of approach. He has need ot this great, broad education of which I speak. Long years ago, the scribes and pharisees presented a woman who had been guilty of serious wrong-doing to the Master among men, aye, to the King of kings, who understood, who was master of the situation. And they said, "Master, ought she not for this offense to be stoned?" The Man, who was a man among men, knowing the situation, said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." The aim of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in training young men, in this great organization, is to make of these young men, men among men, masters of the situation. If we are to act as salesmen in an efficient way, there are three things we will have to do; first, make friends — and let me say to you that in your own private business, in your own calling through life, as well as in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, whenever you make an enemy, unless there is. a tremendous principle at stake, you make a mistake. Make, first, friends: next, investigators, and third, converts. On this matter of education, let me say, the whole world gets out of the way for the man who seemg to know, for the man who seems to speak with authority, for the man who appears to know where he is going. In these days — and I know it is true in our own state — a high school education is within the reach of practically every boy and every girl. In other words, we are giving to the young people in the state, in the Church, what Garfield said is the birthright of every American citizen. To lead and teach effectively, a trained and educated genera- tion, we must know, we must have the experience, we must be able to speak as one having authority. Third, economic independence. If we are to be men among men, we must not be in dire poverty. He who i9 hungry, ragged, in debt, cannot hold up his head, cannot be a power in the world, cannot wield influence. If he is to have influence, if he is to be *Quotati»n from The Book That Has Helped Most In^ Business. 8 76 IMPROVEMENT ERA a man among men, he must have some financial strength. There are two periods in life that ought to be free from the necessity of earning a living. One of these is childhood. No child ought to be compelled to work to get its daily bread. The other period is old age. Those who are aged ought not to be required to toil for their daily bread. Now, if the aged and children are not required thus to toil, then during the earning period of life, everybody ought to save something. No man, during the earning period of his life, has the right, in my opinion, to spend all that he makes. He must lay by something for a rainy day. "Oh, but we do not make enough." He who puts off saving until earnings are large, and saving easy, will never save any- thing. The fourth fundamental that must be in the makeup of the man who is a man among men is recreation. The importance of recreation has already been emphasized, more or less, by President Hinckley; and, in a way, it is the theme of our whole conference. Men are to be judged largely by what they think, and what they feel, during their leisure moments. No man is a great mathematician unless he has formed a habit of thinking upon things mathematical. No man is a great historian unless, in his leisure moments, he is thinking of history. A man like Orson F. Whitney, as he walks the street, goes out on the hill tops, thinks of poetry, philosophy, religion. That is why he is remarkable along those lines. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in these Mutual Improvement organizations, we are struggling to teach these young folks to be busy every moment. We are teaching them to have time to do everything worth while by not letting time find them doing nothing. And so I say to all of you, if in any moment of your lives, you find yourselves doing nothing, remember this occasion, and that we ought to get out of every hour, dividends along one of two lines, either in increased knowledge or in healthful recreation, and these ought to be coming by the modern, swift, quick, and vigorous method. Fifth, religion. Religion must sparkle in the soul of every man if he is to be a man among men. There must shine in him that influence, that light from heaven which shone into the life of Saul of Tarsus. It changed him from a man of hate to a man of love. He was transformed, by that light which shone from heaven, from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the apostle. If our lives are to be successful, if individually we are to be men among men, this element, religion, must come into us. Religion brings, honor, character, power. King Albert of Belgium was asked to permit the German army to cross his borders, and he answered, "I cannot do so in honor." Those words will be remembered forever, "I cannot do so in honor." "Ah, but what is a treaty? Nothing but a scrap of paper," said the Kaiser, "Nothing but a scrap of paper." Well, one writer says another mes- sage was sent to Albert — I do not know whether he received it or not, but we do know, and the world knows, that little Belgium A MAN AMONG MEN 877 stood to her guns, and maintained her honor; yes, she maintained her honor intact and immortally. So these five qualities must come into the lives of the members of our Mutual Improvement Associations if they are to be powerful, strong, if their members are to be men among men; first, health; next, education; third, economic independence; fourth, recreation; fifth — last and most important of all — religion. May we, I humbly pray, in our struggles, be courteous to our fellow-men in all the world. May we today, tomorrow, and forever be faithful to our friends, and may we be true to the teachings, to the example, and to the gospel of the Master. Winners in the M. I. A. Final Contests In the June conference, 1927, the following groups received first place in the grand finals. Pictures of only those winning first place are given here. (For a list of first and second-place winners see July Era, pp. 838-839.) M MEN QUARTETTE, SOUTH SANPETE STAKE Mrs. George Beal, director; prize, gold medals. Members: LaVar Isaacson, Evan Christensen, Maurice Nielsen, George Jackson.