--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 33 number: 4 published: 1930-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, “An American Prince,” *Improvement Era* 33, no. 4 (February 1930): 268–270." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3304unse 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: improvementera3304unse start_page: 268 end_page: 270 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1930-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3304unse publication_year: 1930 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 1930, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # An American Prince An American Prince A PRINCE, the diction- ary assures us brief- ly, is one of the highest rank — the son of a reign- ing monarch. From time imme- morial the title has carried with it a touch of glamor, a gleam of en- chantment and witchery. The words "Once upon a time there lived a wonderful Prince" have By ELSIE TALMAGE BRANDLEY moner; Carol of Rumania re- linquished his hope of the throne for the reality of a exalted him and enshrined him in girl's love, and while his compa- their hearts. He has represented the triots love him for his daring, they splendor and majesty of the nobil- have repudiated him for his lack of integrity to all that they have held dear. He is a Prince, but too human. ity to whose sway every subject has loyally submitted. The su- premacy of the royal family has typified the glory of the land. The been enough to call the children honor of the empire has gone hand A MERICA, the land which has from every corner of the room, to in hand with the honor of the *V never known the dominion of gather in rapturous anticipation at royal house. Imperishable the a sovereign; never suffered the ig- the feet of the teller of tales, and sovereign; immortal the country, noble persecution of unrighteous listen in absorbed silence to the rest And while the King is in reality rulers; never bent beneath the bur- of the story. A Prince, to child- the head of the dynasty, the Prince, den of false aristrocracy, had re- hood, is a magnificent being, by virtue of his youth and courage, garded royalty with unfavorable clothed in glory and power and has exemplified royalty. All that eyes. America is made up of peo- golden robes, whose chief duty in was regal, all that was glorious and ple from the countries which have life it is to ride about on a splen- glorified, has been regarded as char- not been free. Russia, Germany, did charger and accomplish great acteristic of princeship. The Prince, Italy, Scandinavia, Britain and and good works for the benefit of it was tacitly agreed, could do no many other lands have sent here the humble and downtrodden. wrong; but right or wrong, he those of their people who have been was a Prince; and history is re- T^O youth, a Prince is still a mag- plete with examples of the right- 1 «;£,-„.,<- u„:„~ „<-;n ~i*+u~a :„ ness of some princes and the wrongness of others. 'O youth, a Prince is still a mag- nificent being, still clothed in glory and power, and still in pos- session of the splendid charger; but by now he is less concerned with the poor and persecuted, and more definitely given to sports and games, in which he is unerringly the winner. It is his royal pre- rogative; he is every inch a ruler and a peer. To young manhood and wom- anhood, a Prince is a contempo- rary, more fortunate than other human beings may ever hope to be. His position is one of emi- nence; his every word important. His authority is unquestioned; his power absolute. Illustri- ous is his name and bril- liant are his opportuni- ties. Honor, dignity, re- spect and love are accord- ed him in limitless quan- tity, and every word, every thought, every deed is given a fitting amount of attention. To be a Prince!. What more could life offer? Af- fluence, fame and position; and the wildly enthusiastic plaudits of the world heaped upon him who is without fault in their eyes. "COR centuries nations have ren- *• dered homage to their Prince of the realm; have loved him. Time, the master of change and progress, has been busy of late years with the matter of kingdoms and principalities. Kings and Princes (except in story books) are not what they were. Dynasties have fallen, empires have toppled, majesty has disintegrated — the Hohenzollerns despised and scorned; the Romanoffs fleeing for their lives; and others once impe- rial, no longer existent as poten- ft WO missionaries had arranged an open-air meeting in 'Germany. The senior, a faithful but timid hoy of twenty, had been in the field ten months; his companion five. A local member was to speak but failed them. The choir drew a crowd. Timid and backward in the language, the older missionary, with ashy face, arose. A few halting words — then the people listened astonished. His voice was like an angel's clarion call- — no hesitation, no foreign ac- cent. A real American Prince. drawn together under the stars and stripes by a bond of sympathy, ambition and desire for freedom. The ignorant, despised and poor have mingled in friendship and equality with the energetic, whole- some and literate, and all have raised, as with one voice, a cry of thanksgiving and praise for the glorious blessings and privileges which are theirs. A free people are they — free from the deadening influence of caste, free from the op- pression of rank, free from the in- humanity of militarism. Free, in a land where "kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood." The land of the free! America ! tates, even in the hearts of their countrymen. There are cases in some of the less militant countries in which AND while changes "^ have entered into the lands of Prince and potentate, humanizing, leveling, dispossessing, changes have also been at work in the land where all are equal — raising, ex- alting and dignifying. In this great American country to which people have fled for safety and peace and recognition, a royal royalty is still regal and nobility dynasty is being formed. The still noble, but even in these are very ones who have loathed class signs of unmistakable change, distinction and decried aristocracy While prestige and power still re- are creating for themselves a new main, autocracy has diminished, royalty; and at its head is he who Mary of England married a com- epitomizes all that is illustrious The Improvement Era for February , 1930 269 salvation to whole world. the T and patrician. His qualifications are not birth and breeding in an imperial line, but courage, patriot- ism and sportsmanship. His crown is not of gold and precious stones, but laurels of accomplishment rest- ing on his brow. His robes are not of velvet and regal purple, but the invisible cloak of democracy, fair play and honor of which every true American is justly proud. Fre- quently the actual raiment in evi- dence is the athletic suit, or hunt- ing regalia, for the spirit of good fellowship is exemplified in athlete and sportsman. The out-of-doors is his shrine, and unbounded vi- tality his scepter. T DEALIZATION is one element A in the life of any person, com- munity or nation which insures progress and growth, but the ideals must be selected thoughtfully. Glorification of an inglorious thing is deadly; honoring a dishonorable principle is destructive. When ex- altation gives place to exultation, values become valueless. We are a nation of hero-wor- shippers, but on the stability and merit of the heroes worshipped will the country gain or lose in power. The mastery of money, fealty given to fame, the peerage of posi- tion and sovereignty of success will never raise a people one whit nearer a higher plane of civilization, but will stultify and stereotype toward stagnation. A MERICA is too glorious a country to let the easy way of least resistance lure her away from the straight and narrow path in which she early planted her cour- ageous feet. The wars she fought for freedom and for right surely shall not be interpreted to mean freedom from responsibility and the right to forget the debt she owes to those who threw off the shackles of the old world and bravely made their way across an unknown sea into an unknown land, that they and their children, and we, their children's children, might live our own lives and have freedom of conscience. When the founders of America gave us the right to worship as we desired, they surely intended that forever we should preserve the desire to worship. Are American citizens who are such by virtue of the re- ligious courage which gave their forebears strength to accomplish an almost impossible purpose in the face of almost insurmountable bar- riers, displaying the sportsmanship and fairness they claim to cherish, when they knowingly desecrate the ideals to which these heroic Pil- grims dedicated their lives? The America which is in truth the "land of the free and the home of the brave" is made up of those who are free from the peril of scepticism and atheism; those who are brave enough to accept and acknowledge truth and cry it as a message of HE American Prince who would truly lay claim to descent in the royal line of his patriot ances- tors must be pos- sessed of religion in its widest -nd deepest sense; and here in the west, where the power of faith was strong enough to guide and direct and up- hold the Pioneers in the undertaking which entailed greater hardship and deprivation than we of this generation can even imagine, is ta be found the finest type of manhood in the whole world. If he is living up to the requirements made of him, to all he knows to be right and true; if he magnifies and improves every opportunity to develop and ex- pand the intelligence which is God's glory; if he is obedient to admonition and susceptible to pre- cept of prophet and leaders, he is in every respect — mentally, mor- ally, socially, physically and spiritually — deserving of the high- est rank his country can bestow, and all who know him and observe his rectitude and honor will ac- claim him a peer. The American boast of freedom is as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal unless that freedom en- compasses every phase of life. To be allowed one's liberty in a great city around which an insurmount- able wall is erected, is not to be free. National and political free- dom we claim and enjoy; social and educational advantages we ac- M< ORE than one hundred years ago a young American boy went alone into the woods, to pray; for in his heart he yearned for a knowl- edge of truth. In answer to his prayer he was given the knowledge which has opened the door of sal- vation to countless thousands, who lift their voices in praise and thanks- giving to their Creator for the faith and fearlessness of that boy-prophet, Joseph Smith. 270 The Improvement Era for February, 1930 cept gratefully; religious freedom is a recognized and cherished bless- ing. These we have, and agencies on every hand are making studies and enacting laws by which further to extend the priv- ileges and advantages of cit- izenship in this great land. The deadening fears of other countries and past centuries have been removed; medical science has minimized the ter- rors of virulent diseases; pub- lic safety legislation insures reasonable protection from outlawry and persecution; the judiciary provides fair settle- ment of differences and just punishment for offenses; the Civil War brought the assur- ance that one man shall not be slave to another. In al- most every social and indus- trial relationship has come freedom. "CROM the bondage of tra- *■: dition, fear, system and superstition have we been re- leased, and on that condition we base our claim, losing sight of the truth that the only real freedom which is de- serving of the name is per- sonal. To be free in a great city of philanthropic institu- tions, with no shadow of danger to life and liberty, is a slight and inadequate foundation strong enough to support nothing weightier than high-sounding words and impressive phrases — un- less to it can be added the inde- structible claim of individual lib- erty. If one is free of suspicion and hate, of bigotry and self-sat- isfaction, of dishonesty and greed, and of a disastrous allegiance to perverted appetite and destructive habit, then and only then can one truthfully say "I am free." And to be an American Prince, one must be free. An American Prince is greater than a prince of any autoc- racy or court in the world, for in- stead of owing his station to the inexplicable fact of birth, he owes it to irreproachable qualities of character. Only a man unsullied, scrupulously honorable and up- right; a man who knows what is good and true and cleaves unto it. a man who shuns even the appear- ance of evil can hope to attain that high calling. ^TITHIN the organization known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to be found the fountain of free- dom— the truth that makes men free. An analytical world calls it System, but an understanding membership know it as Revelation. Within the memory of some still living a new light has burst upon the earth, bearing a new message which has influenced directly the lives of jhundreds of thousands; and it is impossible to estimate the indirect influence it has wielded. Since the day of its inception in 1830, progress along every line has been marked, but in no other field has it achieved the same degree of triumph as in the field of re- ligion. The beautiful, soul-satis- fying Gospel of Christ has been restored to earth, and its luminos- ity has radiated the world around. This Church provides the re- ligion of daily life, and the promise of eternal progression. In it the commandments given of God, and the teachings of Christ during his ministry upon the earth are re- garded with solemn and reverent respect. And in addition there have been given new revelations to pierce the darkness of preceding centuries. The Word of Wisdom, for example, gave to those who would hearken health laws which have since been discovered by scientists — that tobacco is a poison, alcoholic liquors are injurious to body, mind and soul; meat should be eaten sparingly, especially dur- ing the hot summer months. Other precepts governing mental, moral and spiritual development are equally forceful, and the truths given in this plan are fundamen- tally health-giving, joy-giv- ing and life-giving. This "Mormon way of life," as it has been called, is the key which unlocks the door to the Kingdom. Those who accept the key and enter the door find within its portals gifts and treasures of surpassing value. Among them is the gift of unselfishness, for into the hearts of those who have been touched comes a great and prayerful desire to cry aloud to the world the glory within the reach of all, and call them to come and partake also. And then they realize that the blessing has increased with the sharing. Joy inex- pressible follows their efforts to bring others in to ally themselves with the sons and daughters of the King. "P ACH year in the various countries of the world are more than two thousand young American Princes, known as "Mormon" Missionaries. They have gone forth to represent the royal Name, and effect alliances with every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Their mission is not one of diplomacy; their plans are not strategic; their motives are neither mercenary nor political. Knowing full well that purity of thought, cleanliness of body and sincerity of spirit and purpose are the insignia of American prince- ship, they have gone forth into for- eign lands, among unfriendly peo- ple, authorized to carry to them the highest message of liberty. In spite of the sacrifices often required of them and their families, they are determined to carry the word of salvation to a hungering world; to show them the path to peace and promise. And these thousands are only representative of many thousands more at home, on the farm, at school, in office or factory or mill, engaged in the service of the King. To serve in truth, they must be sure of the strength which attends (Continued on page 301)