reporter, business manager, foreman of a machine shop, mechanic, or an artist in any branch of industry, and try to hire him. You will find him already hired. If you need idlers, shirkers, half-instructed, comfortseeking editors, lawyers, doctors and mechanics, apply elsewhere. They are plentiful.-Mark Twain.

There is a thought that came to my mind while reading Milton's "Paradise Lost" which impresses me as being good. The proceedings of God towards Satan and Adam show to us that he punishes the disobedient by banishing them from his presence. We may still enjoy the constant presence of our Father, through his Spirit, by obeying his commands. But if we disobey his commands, disregard the requirements that invite the presence of the Holy Spirit, we too are banished from his presence, i. e. the Comforter leaves us.-W. Hasler.

While at work in the field one day, and speaking to my sons on tithing, an old gentleman came up to us.

"Brother John Zimmerman," I said to him, "I have often told my boys that you paid tithing before you were a member of The Church?" "Yes," he answered, "I paid tithing ten years before I was baptized." A person once asked him how it was he paid tithing when he did not belong to The Church. His answer was that he paid tithing and when his children were sick, he sent for the elders, and saved doctors' bills. All of Brother Zimmerman's family are faithful members of The Church. -W. W. Taylor.

"I may here impart the secret of what is called good and bad luck," said Addison. "There are men who, supposing Providence to have an implacable spite against them, bemoan in the poverty of old age the misfortunes of their lives. Luck forever runs against them, and for others. One with a good profession lost his luck in the river, where he idled away his time a-fishing. Another with a good trade perpetually burnt up his luck by his hot temper, which provoked all his employees to leave him. Another with a lucrative business lost his luck by amazing diligence at everything but his own business. Another who steadily followed his trade, as steadily followed the bottle. Another who was honest and constant in his work, erred by his perpetual misjudgment,— he lacked discretion. Hundreds lose their luck by indorsing, by sanguine expectations, by trusting fraudulent men, and by dishonest gains. A man never has good luck who has a bad wife. I never knew an earlyrising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings and strictly

honest, who complained of his bad luck. A good character, good habits, and iron industry are impregnable to the assaults of ill luck that fools are dreaming of. But when I see a tatterdemalion creeping out of a grocery late in the forenoon, with his hands stuck into his pockets, the rim of his hat turned up, and the crown knocked in, I know he has had bad luck,-for the worst of all luck is to be a sluggard, a knave, or a tippler."

The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light; mousing for vermin and never seeing noble game.

The cynic puts all human actions into only two classes, openly bad and secretly bad; he holds that no man does a good thing except for profit; his insinuations and inuendoes fall indiscriminately upon every lovely thing like frost upon the flowers. If Mr. A is pronounced a religious man he will reply, "Yes, on Sundays." Mr. B has just joined the church. "Certainly, the elections are coming on." The minister of the gospel is an example of diligence. ""Tis his trade." Thus his eye strains out every good quality and takes in only the bad. ion is hypocrisy, honesty only a preparation for fraud, want of opportunity. The live long day he will coolly sit with sneering lip, transfixing every character that is presented.

To him relig

virtue only a

It is impossible to indulge in such habitual severity of opinion against our fellow-men without injuring the tenderness and delicacy of our own feelings. A man will be what his most cherished feelings are. If he encourage a noble generosity, every feeling will be enriched by it; if he nurse bitter and envenomed thoughts, his own spirit will absorb the poison, and he will crawl among men like a burnished adder whose life is mischief and whose errand is death.

He who hunts for flowers will find flowers, but he who hunts for weeds may find weeds. Let it be remembered that he who is not himself morally diseased will have no relish for disease in others. Reject then the morbid ambition of the cynic, or cease to call yourself a man.Henry Ward Beecher.

OUR WORK.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.

ORDER OF ORDAINING AN ELDER.

What is the regular order of The Church in the presentation and ordination of a person to the office of Elder?-H. B. Coles, Point Lookout, Utah.

The person is first selected by the bishopric of the ward in which he is a resident, then presented to a regular meeting of such ward and there, by the congregation, sustained as worthy. He receives a recommend to this effect from the ward clerk. Then follows his presentation, by the president of the stake, to a regular stake priesthood meeting, where, being sustained, he obtains from the clerk, a certificate to this effect, which is by him presented to the elders' quorum of his ward. The quorum having accepted him, he is then ordained an Elder by the presidency of that quorum.

FORM OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.

What is the proper form of the Lord's prayer as used in The Church? -W. MacFarlane, St. John, Tooele Co., Utah.

The Church authorities have never adopted any form, but for the sake of uniformity in reciting, the Sunday School authorities have adopted the prayer as found in Matthew, 6: 9-13. The Improvement Associations have decided upon no form, the members using both forms. of the New Testament.

WHO FIXES THE TITHING PRICES?

Should a bishop allow market prices for produce, or is he allowed to

put his own price on the tithing paid to him.-J. S. Gibbons, Coalville, Utah.

The answer is found in paragraph six of "Instructions to Bishops and Stake Tithing Clerks," issued by the First Presidency of The Church and W. B. Preston, under date of December 1, 1899:

"The bishop is the proper person to fix the value of all goods and tithes received in his ward, which should be credited at a fair cash market price at the time it is received. This will insure an equality of credit for tithing."

Should any question arise as to values, then let the owner sell his property, and pay over the cash to the bishop.

NUMBER OF GOSPEL DISPENSATIONS.

How many Gospel dispensations have there been, including this one? A. G. Sedgwick, Fairview, Wyoming.

A dispensation is described as a time when the heavens are opened to man and the Holy Priesthood is bestowed upon him with all its powers for the salvation of all who will obey the gospel. There have been very many dispensations, for whenever God has revealed himself, it may be called a dispensation. The principal dispensations, however, were those of Adam, Enoch, Noah, the Brother of Jared, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Lehi, Jesus Christ, and the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, in which we live. (See Jaques' Catechism.)

CONCERNING ZION.

Explain the following questions in Manual Lesson XIV: 8. Where is the city of Zion to be? 10. Where is the Temple site?

8. By reference to the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 57: 1-3, it appears that the whole land of Missouri is called the land of Zion, and that the city of Zion is to be built somewhere in the land of Zion. The exact spot has not yet been designated.

10. The temple site is westward upon a lot not far from the Court House, in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, which is the center place of the land of Zion. The first log for a house, and as a foundation for Zion in Kaw County, which was laid twelve miles west of Independence, was simply a beginning, and was not intended to be the spot where the City of Zion was to be located. A distinction should be kept in mind concerning the terms: Zion, meaning the whole land of Missouri, and perhaps the whole of western America; the City of Zion, not yet

located, but to be built in the land of Zion; and the Center Place of Zion, which is at Independence.

WALTER M. GIBSON.

He

In an article on "Religion in Samoa," on page 178, in the present volume of the ERA, it is stated that Walter M. Gibson ignored the request of President Brigham Young to return home with other elders who were laboring in foreign lands. This request was made of the elders in 1857, upon the approach of Johnston's Army. The statement concerning Gibson is wrong in the one particular as to the time. left Utah for the Sandwich Islands in 1861. It was as late as the early part of April, 1864, that Elders Ezra T. Benson, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Alma L. Smith and W. W. Cluff visited Gibson on the island of Lanai, and after a conference, excommunicated him. This was done, as stated, because of his mismanagement of the affairs of The Church. The ERA has been promised an interesting sketch of this schemer Gibson, and his effort to establish himself on the islands, by Assistant Church Historian Andrew Jenson, which will appear in due time.

THE POWDER AND THE BULLET.

Has it ever occurred to you that we need more energy in our work? When an officer says that the boys are indifferent, that nothing can be done to arouse interest, or to get them to work or to study; that the Improvement Fund is lagging, and as to getting subscribers for the ERA, that is quite out of the question; what is wrong? These are but small though very essential incidents of the main work, but they indicate the tendency. There is little movement, or spirit, to break the dull monotony-there is an everlasting lack of energy which is the powder of success, and the stuff that wins.

It was that peculiar old philosopher, Josh Billings, who said: "Many men fail to reach the mark because the powder in them is not proportioned to the bullet." An improvement association may be called a