Champion Swimmer and “Mormon” Missionary

Champion Swimmer and "Mormon" Missionary By Prof. H. R. Merrill WIMMING pools are strange places and bathing suits strange garb in which to engage in a discussion of "Mormonism" and the people of Utah, but to the missionary all places and all garbs are suit- able for such a purpose. Elmer Millet, champion breast-stroke paddler for Brig- ham Young University last year, found himself in Paris, France, filling a mission for the Latter-day Saint Church. Hav- ing a deep love for the bathing pool, Elder Millet received per- mission from his president to swim frequently at one of the gymnasium tanks of the city. His trim build, his expert- ness at entering the water, his perfect strokes attracted the eye of a swimming coach who im- mediately spoke to the young American and asked him about himself. That interview fol- lows in this article. Millet later swam for one of the Paris clubs and succeeded in taking points for his team. Through this contact he made some good friends to whom he ex- plained the Gospel. Elmer Millet is of a family of twelve children, one of whom is dead. The other eleven — five girls and six boys — live in Provo with their parents and are all working toward an education and missions, according to Effie Burr Millet, their mother, forty-six years of age. Last year young Millet worked a full shift at the Knight L. Elmer Millet

June, 1929 CHAMPION SWIMMER 643 Woolen Mills at night, went to school and swam in the afternoons. In this way he built up a surplus of between three and four hundred dollars as a start toward his missionary fund. Knowing that money comes hard at home he is living economically in France and is carry- ing on his labors in a splendid manner, according to reports which have come from his district presidents. "We have two boys who have reached college age," Mrs. Millet said. "They are now working hard to be ready to en- ter the B. Y. U. next fall. I hope I can do as well as my mother. She had thirteen chil- dren, all of whom except two married in the temple. All are still living." The interview, which ap- peared in one of France's three largest papers, follows. It is rather crudely translated, but the sense is clear. Champion Swimmer and "Mormon" Missionary An interview in bathing suits, at the swimming pool, by Henry Musnik, in "U Intransigeant" A pretty athlete. Stature not beyond the average, but shoulders broad and powerful, waist narrow, and muscles re- vealing their force and flexi- bility. He climbed to the spring- board, to the height of the first floor. A spring. An Impeccable flight. He entered into the water with- out making a splash. Just before, his crawl stroke and his breast stroke had been remarkable. This man was surely a champion. The swimming teacher, accustomed to seeing the great aces of swimming, demanded the name of this stranger, and he answered: "I beg your pardon?" It was at this precise moment that I offered myself as a benev- olent interpreter and, as the sport forms a fraternity among its adepts, (there is the true League of Nations!) two minutes later we L. Elmer Millet breast-stroke Champion, Brigham Young University

644 IMPROVEMENT ERA Jam. "># were gossiping like two old friends. Sporting subjects naturally. "I am from Utah," he told me. "Champion of the universities of the said country. But I should not be champion if I did not practice once in a while. The sport is a remarkable way to develop a healthy base for a brain that one wishes to cultivate." "Utah? But that is the country of Salt Lake? The country of the 'Mormons'?" He smiled broadly. "Why, yes." "You must know of the 'Mormons'? Those droll people who have several wives." He smiled again but this time with melancholy. "Are you sure of that? And why do you believe that the 'Mormons' are 'droll people' as you say? What do you think of me?" "You? Very good, very sporty. But why? You do not re- semble a 'Mormon', as I know, you are a gentleman as should be. Have you read Le Lac Sale?" He looked at me with a very serious air. seeming to meditate for a few seconds, and said, "I am a 'Mormon,' I am a missionary charged to propagate the Gospel." We were, both of us, in swimming suits. The vast pool hall, bright and merry served as a setting for this scene. Around us, with peals of laughter, passed and repassed the bathers, running and pur- suing one another. In the water, the swimmers were playing. All breathed of life, of pleasure, and of movement. And this man who, just a few minutes before had proved to me what a remarkable champion he was, tranquilly said: "I am a 'Mormon' missionary." But then, they are like everybody else, the 'Mormons' ! They love that which we love, they respect that which we respect! "We are very much misunderstood in Europe, there are great injustices to correct," said he. Thereupon we sat down at the edge of the water, and he told me: "Polygamists? In 1897 [1890], the practice was prohibited. Whosoever should have more than one wife amongst us today will be excommunicated. And then we were so few, formerly! Not even 3% of our men entered it. This grief — if such it was — should not be invoked against the 'Mormons'." "What is your belief? What are your articles of faith?" "Our belief? Why, that of every human faithful to God. We must be honest, chaste, true, good, virtuous, and do good." "You believe in Christ?"

ium- l929 CHAMPION SWIMMER 645 "Yes, we believe that he will return to take over the direction of the tribes of Israel, in Zion, rebuilt in America." "But then, if you believe in the rebirth of Zion, you approach Judaism?" "Perhaps, why should we not take from each religion that which is of the best to inspire our own?" And with these words, marked with profound and wise phil- osophy, my interlocutor arose. Then I remembered that we were at the swimming pool, and that "Mormonism" did not hinder my friend from being an ace. For just then he took off with a dive and accomplished his fifty meters in twenty-nine seconds, which, for the initiated, signifies something more than ordinary. Henry Musnik is a writer for L'Intransigeant as well as many other papers and magazines in France, and is the swimming instructor for the "Club de Natation de Paris" at the "Piscine de la Gare." — Translation by L. E. M. Fruits of Clean Living By B. Ira Judd "Yesterday was 'Mormon' Day at Tucson" — such was the headline of the Tucson Republican the morning after the first round of the state high school basketball tournament had been fought, February 27. Every team that came through to win the laurels was one that represented a "Mormon" town. The State Championship Cup was won by a "Mormon" team from St. Johns-. Arizona. A surprising feature was that not once did this team have to call "time out" for a breathing spell. They always displayed more reserve than their opponents. To what was this due? Surely not to their longer practice periods, for they held no longer practices than others. It was due to the mode of living these young men had followed and which had been practiced by their forebears. They reaped the benefits of living the Word of Wisdom. The same team used one other principle of "Mormonism" to help them win — this was prayer. Just before the play commenced, it was noticed that these boys got together as players do, just before going into a game, and seemed to offer a silent prayer to the Giver and Protector of all (at least this was thought to be the case by the bystanders and rooters) . "Mormon" athletics are coming into their own.