in nt in i<; is n rr
APRIL 1950
Jh& cJLoi ^Atnqetej Uetnple
SPECIAL TEMPLE ISSUE
V*'-"
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PORTLAND
WOOLEN MILLS, INC.
P. O. Box 2620C
PORTLAND 3, OREGON
by Dr. Franklin S. Harris, Jr.
Prompted by earlier studies in various
countries, investigators at the Utah
State Agricultural College Experiment
Station have found that the feeding of
sugar (sucrose) to beef and swine for
short periods before slaughter produces
slight increases in dressing amount, im-
provement in color, increase in sugar
content, and less alkaline nature, and
hence better keeping qualities.
The supply of fresh water and the dis-
posal of waste water are not prob-
lems peculiar to modern cities. The city
of Mohenjo-Daro, on the Indus River
in Pakistan, which flourished 3000-2000
B.C. had a well-organized system of
aqueducts and drains.
Pirofessor S. N. Kramer has recently
translated a tablet written in the
Sumerian language showing that Ur-
Nammu who reigned over Sumer and
Ur about 2050 B.C. had an enlightened
code of laws including indemnities to
be paid for 'severed nose, foot, or bones
instead of "an eye for an eye." This
was the oldest known lawgiver, three
hundred years older than the famous
Semitic lawgiver Hammurabi.
Anew photographic lens has been an-
nounced by Eastman Kodak which
has an f-number of 0.75 and a focal
length of 110 mm. This exceptionally
fast lens will be useful where very little
light is available such as in cine-fluorog-
raphy.
'yHERE is no blue pigment in the pea-
■*■ cock's tail or in the beautiful wing
of the morpho butterfly. The color
comes from the structure of the material
which produces an interference of light
of the same type which gives the colors
in an oil film, a soap-bubble, and moth-
er of pearl.
j\n improved deoderizing lamp has
** been developed by Westinghouse.
This lamp by virtue of special glass
transmits ultraviolet light which in
turn changes some of the oxygen in the
air into ozone, which in turn oxidizes
molecules producing the odors. In a
3l/2 watt size it can be used in the home
to eliminate odors from cooking, damp-
ness, perspiration, and other sources.
APRIL 1953
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ZCMI
SCHOOL and OFFICE
SUP PL Y
57 SO. STATE ST. SALT LAKE CITY
Phone 3-1575 - Ext. 442
NEW MUSIC FOR THE WORLD
"\TS7ednesday
VV 1953, the
evening, February 18,
historic Tabernacle on
Temple Square in Salt Lake City was
filled with glorious sounds, new to the
world of music. The occasion was the
world premiere and first performance of
the Oratorio from the Book of Mormon.
Composed by Leroy J. Robertson, Pro-
fessor and Head of the Department of
Music at the University of Utah (also
a member of the Church music commit-
tee for many years), the new work was
produced and conducted by Maurice
Abravanel, musical director and con-
ductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra,
assisted by the composer and musical
staff of the University of Utah with its
combined choruses. The text of the
oratorio was selected by Professor Rob-
ertson from the books of Helaman and
III Nephi. The work calls for full sym-
phony orchestra, organ, choruses, and
five soloists: Samuel the Lamanite
(bass, sung by Desiri Li-
geti); Jesus (baritone,
Harold H. Bennett) ;
Evangelist (tenor, Kenly
W. Whitelock) ; soprano
(Naomi Sanders Farr);
and contralto (Melba
Egbert). An enthusias-
tic audience gave the
composer a tremendous
ovation after the finale.
The Lord hath made bare his holy arm
In the eyes of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth shall see the
salvation of our God!
Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion!
Thy king cometh unto thee!
Glory unto the Father, unto the Son and
Holy Ghost.
Worlds without end. Amen.
President David O. McKay, in a bril-
liant four-minute encomium following
the ovation characterized the work to
the standing audience as "a great crea-
tion." It may well be that musical
history was made on February 18, 1953.
Oratorio as a musical form received
its modern impulse during the reign of
Gregory XIII (pope 1572-1585). Greg-
ory XIII reformed the old Roman cal-
endar inherited from Julius Caesar,
promulgating the current "Gregorian"
calendar by the bull of February 24,
1582. This same worthy encouraged
Filippo Neri in the use of dialogue and
music in making instruction in scrip-
tural history more effective, Palestrina
contributing some of the music used in
Neri's "lectures."
By 1600 Cavalieri's The Soul and the
Body was produced in Rome, followed
by works from the hands of Carissimi
and Alessandro Scarlatti who in turn
by Dr. G. Homer Durham
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
influenced, over a
Frederick Handel.
century later, George
210
Meanwhile in Germany, Heinrich
Schutz was adding the well-known
"chorale" as a regular feature (appear-
ing in the Robertson work as "The
Lord's Prayer" number, but in modern
mode). On April 15, 1729, Johann
Sebastian Bach produced* the first ren-
dition of the St. Matthew Passion, con-
tributing also in his lifetime, the great
B Minor Mass, the Christmas Oratorio,
and the St. Luke and St. John Passions.
Handel's gigantic work, Israel in
Egypt, was first performed April 4, 1739.
The historic premiere of
the Messiah with its pow-
erful text came on April
13, 1742. This work was
to inspire Franz Joseph
Haydn's Creation, pro-
duced for the public on
April 2, 1798. Ludwig
von Beethoven's Mount
of Olives, handicapped
by less attractive texts,
was first performed April 5, -1803.
From Beethoven to Robertson may
beg comparison for some. But it is not
at all impossible. Between 1803 and
1953, a span of 150 years, appear some
great works. Felix Mendlessohn's St.
Paul with its ever popular "How Lovely
Are the Messengers" was first heard May
22, 1836. His Elijah (with its "Lift
Thine Eyes," "It Is Enough") was per-
formed August 24, 1846. Johannes
Brahms' German Requiem (in recent
years brought to Utah music lovers by
J. Spencer Cornwall and the Tabernacle
Choir on Palm or Easter Sundays) was
introduced April 10, 1868, about the
time the first general conference con-
vened in the newly-completed Salt Lake
Tabernacle.
Sir Arthur Sullivan spent most of his
"worry energies" trying to produce
great oratorios. The Light of the World
came off August 27, 1873, having been
preceded by The Prodigal Son Septem-
ber 3, 1869. However "Onward Chris-
tian Soldiers" and the immortal light
operas, produced with the collaboration
of Sir W. S. Gilbert, appear to have
more survival value.
In the twentieth century, Sir Edward
Elgar has given the world his Dream
of Gerontius and the Apostles ( 1900 and
1903 respectively). In the United States,
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
John K. Paine (St. Peter) and Horatio
Parker (Hors Novissima) have at-
tempted to create great church music of
lasting significance.
An oratorio must convey a significant,
central message through means of its
text. This message must in turn be
musically transmitted through recita-
tive, aria, and chorus work on a grand
scale, according to a grand design. The
Oratorio from the Book of Mormon,
prophesying the coming of Christ, and
reporting his resurrected appearance
and ministry in the New World setting,
augurs well for the immortality of the
Robertson work. It is distinctly a na-
tive American work with an American
setting for the Messiah theme. The
music is thrilling; the choral offerings
are rich in what this amateur can best
describe as "antiphonal counterpoint
supporting a variety of inner voices to
produce a tremendous, overall, melodic
line." Here then is a rich spiritual
contribution, out of America, for the
art and life of these times, and for times
to come.
LOOKING FORWARD
By Ruth May Fox
1 dream of a glorious future,
Of a bright and better day
When every living creature
God's mandates will obey;
When no one will go hungry
Nor plead for daily bread;
No hearts be overburdened
With anguish, fear, and dread.
When every man will find a friend
In every other man,
And each will seek the good of all
According to God's plan;
When enmity shall disappear,
And wars be waged no more,
But peace and love and beauty
Abound from shore to shore;
When no weapons of destruction.
Designed by human hands,
Shall terrify the nations
Or devastate their lands;
When no homeless, starving children
Shall wander here and there,
Mid scenes of desolation
And moans of wild despair.
O Father, send repentance
That we may sense our shame
And realize with penitence
We have ourselves to blame.
Hasten, Lord, the promised day,
When wickedness shall end
And Christ shall reign in glory,
Our Brother and our Friend.
Then will the hills and valleys sing,
All peoples bend the knee
And listen to the words of God
On glories yet to be!
APRIL 1953
BOOKCRAFTS
Here are unequalled values in outstanding books . . .
books that are steppingstones to greater knowledge
and understanding. They're drastically reduced to clear.
Order now for your library.
REG. PRICE
Joseph Smith, Prophet-Statesman
By Dr. G. Homer Durham
This inspiring volume bears added testimony on the
founder of Mormonism and on the nature of Ameri-
can government. It provides a significant insight
into the workings of constitutional federalism
$2.25
Brigham Young, Man of the Hour
By Leah D. Widtsoe
The remarkable accomplishments of this great leader
and churchman clearly portrayed in a volume you'll
always treasure
$2.00
SALE PRICE
98r
790
GOSPEL THEMES
By Dr. John A. Widtsoe
REGULAR TQ^
$1.50, now # wr
The application of practical gospel
themes to present day problems . . .
concise, modern, enriched!
KNOW THE BIBLE
By Benjamin B. Alward
PLASTIC Si 00
EDITION 1
Over 900 Biblical quotations confirm-
ing the teachings of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A
valuable source of information and
inspiration.
Prince of Ur
By Susan Y. Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe
Adventure . . . romance! A story of Abraham in
"Ur of the Chaldees" . . . based on scripture and
modern findings of archeology
$2.00
The Founding of an Empire
By Leland H. Creer
History at its best! A volume that deserves a place
in every library. A great book about a great
empire! Packed with historical lore
$3.00
Gay Saint
By Paul Bailey
Everyone will enjoy reading the authentic tale of
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PLACE ORDER EARLY . . . SUPPLY IS LIMITED
(•!••
1186 SOUTH MAIN
Salt Lake City <4, Utah
211
IMPROVEMENT
r^> r^
^ VOIUME 56
NUMBER 4
^Annl 1953
r
Editors: DAVID O. McKAY - RICHARD L. EVANS
Managing Editor: DOYLE L. GREEN
Associate Managing Editor: MARBA C. JOSEPHSON
Manuscript Editor: ELIZABETH J. MOFFITT - Research Editor: ALBERT L.
ZOBELL, JR. - "Today's Family" Editor: RUBY H. MORGAN
Contributing Editors: ARCHIBALD F. BENNETT - G. HOMER DURHAM
FRANKLIN S. HARRIS, JR. - HUGH NIBLEY - LEE A. PALMER
CLAUDE B. PETERSEN - SIDNEY B. SPERRY
General Manager: ELBERT R. CURTIS - Associate Manager: BERTHA S. REEDER
Business Manager: JOHN D. GILES - Advertising Director: VERL F. SCOTT
Subscription Director: A. GLEN SNARR
The Editor's Page
As Youth Looks Toward Marriage President David O. McKay 221
Church Features
The Stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph— Part IV ...Hugh Nibley 250
Y.W.M.I.A. General Board Ap- The Church Moves On 216
pointee 213 Melchizedek Priesthood 274
Ancient Temples and Their Uses.— Presiding Bishopric's Page .„ 276
214, 215, 296
Special Temple Articles
The Salt Lake Temple Joseph Fielding Smith 223
The Los Angeles Temple Edward O. Anderson 225
The Beginning of the Blessing Archibald F* Bennett 228
Ancient Temples and Their Uses (See also pages 214, 215, 296)
Sidney B. Sperry 230
Three Utah Temples 232
Early Houses of the Lord 233
The Angel Moroni and Cyrus E. Dallin Levi Edgar Young 234
The Romance of Temple Building Marba C, Josephson 236
"All Over This Land of Joseph" Albert L. Zobell, Jr. 238
Sites for Temples ...240
Salt Lake Temple Interiors 241, 242, 243, 244, 246, 248
Special Features
Historic Fort Laramie — Conclusion ..Hazel Noble Boyack 252
The Spoken Word from Temple Square
Richard L. Evans 260, 266, 272
Exploring the Universe, Franklin
S. Harris, Jr 209
Today's Family
Company Manners, Monica
Downes 284
Handy Hints ......285
These Times: New Music for the
World, G. Homer Durham 210
Your Page and Ours 296
Crocheting for Profit, Theresa E.
Black 286
Party Foods, Ruby H. Morgan ....288
Stories, Poetry
Looking Forward, Ruth May Fox.. 211
Frontispiece, The Salt Lake Tem-
ple 219
Poetry Page 220
Spring Night, Vesta Nickerson
Lukei 269
Kyfhcial Ova
an o
212
THE PRIESTHOOD QUORUMS,
MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIA-
TIONS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCA-
TION, MUSIC COMMITTEE, WARD
TEACHERS, AND OTHER AGENCIES
OF
Jhe i^-kupek or
of cJLatter-aay S^)aint&
• o •
Jhe L^oi/ef
This month's full-color cover subject
is a composite picture made from two
photographs, (one) an architect's model
of the Latter-day Saint Temple, now un-
der construction in Los Angeles, and (two)
some cumulus Utah clouds. The photog-
raphy and the color work are by Hal
Rumel Studios.
OTHER PICTURE CREDITS
Ancient Temple pictures by courtesy of
Dr. Baurat C. Schick, 230, 231; E. G.
Howland, 214; M. Wells Jakeman, 215;
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago,
296.
Kenneth S. Bennion, 219, George E.
Bergstrom, 225, 226, 227; Hal Rumel, 228,
229, 235, 237; Josef Muench, 232; J. Fred
Thunell, 232; E. V. Spockman, 238; Wil-
lard Luce, 232, Norman Price, 240, The
Messenger, 240.
EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES
50 North Main Street
Y.M.M.I.A. Offices, 50 North Main St.
Y.W.M.I.A. Offices, 40 North Main St.
Salt Lake City 1, Utah
Copyright 1953 by Mutual Funds, Inc., a Corpora-
tion of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement
Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. All rights reserved. Sub-
scription price, $2.50 a year, in advance; foreign
subscriptions, $3.00 a year, in advance; 25c
single copy.
Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah,
as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing
at special rate of postage provided for in section
1103, Act of October 1917, authorized July 2,
1918.
The Improvement Era is not responsible for un-
solicited manuscripts, but welcomes contributions.
All manuscripts must be accompanied by sufficient
postage for delivery and return.
Change of Address
Fifteen days' notice required for change of ad-
dress. When ordering a change, please include
address slip from a recent issue of the magazine.
Address changes cannot be made unless the old
address as well as the new one is included.
National Advertising Representatives
EDWARD S. TOWNSEND COMPANY
Russ Building
San Francisco, California
EDWARD S. TOWNSEND COMPANY
1324 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles 17, California
SADLER AND SANGSTON ASSOCIATES
342 Madison Ave.
New York 17, N. Y.
DAVIS & SONS
30 N. LaSalle St.
Chicago, Illinois
Member, Audit Bureau of Circulations
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Y.W.M.I.A. GENERAL BOARD
APPOINTEE
Miss Lorraine Bowman, choral di-
rector at East High School in
Salt Lake City, has recently
been appointed a member of the
Y.W.M.I.A. general board. A native
of Provo, Utah, Miss Bowman has
long interested herself in music of all
kinds. Her mother was a pianist and
began Lorraine's instruction on that
instrument. Her brother was a
trumpeter, and Miss Bowman learned
that instrument. She also learned
how to play the clarinet and the
baritone horn, as well as to become
so proficient in the art of the violin
that she was concert mistress in the
Provo High Schol orchestra. She
has since mastered the viola, which
she plays in the Utah Symphony.
Lorraine Bowman
After graduating from Brigham
Young University, Miss Bowman
commenced teaching at Horace Mann
Junior High School in Salt Lake City.
She later was transferred to Bryant
Junior High and began the choral
work for which she has become noted.
She commenced her work at East
High School as director of the band,
orchestra, and glee clubs; but cur-
rently her work is with vocal music,
with the exception of a violin sextet
which she directs.
Miss Bowman's work in the Church
has been largely in the Mutual. She
has served as a Y.W.M.I.A. counselor
in the Wasatch Ward Mutual and
as Y.W.M.I.A. music director of the
Yalecrest Ward since 1947. She has
been assigned to the music committee
of the general board.
APRIL 1953
Install your Ry-Lock Window Screens
NOW. . . before the Bugs Come!
iiiliiWai^Heat
Circulating Fireplace
HEATFORM air chambers (which surround the
firebox and dome) capture and circulate to all
parts of the room, and even into adjoining rooms,
heat lost up the chimney by the ordinary fire-
place. HEATFORM is a perfect guide (hearth to
flue) around which the masonry walls are easily
built. It avoids faulty construction, often result-
ing in smokey fireplaces. HEATFORM fireplaces
cost but little more, because the unit (consisting
of the firebox, throat, dome and damper) re-
places some materials and labor necessary to
build the old-fashioned fireplace.
Ancient Temples and Their Uses
Here are some of the reconstructed temples and their furnishings that Dr.
Sidney B. Sperry, professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature at Brigham
Young University, writes about in his article "Ancient Temples and their Uses"
beginning on page 230.
The above fireplace is
built around Model "A"
unit. Side cool-air inlets
and front warm-air out-
let were used for greater
heating efficiency and
economy of installation.
Side warm-air outlets
may be used, if pre-
ferred.
The "Molten Sea" of Solomon's Temple. Howland-Garber reconstruction.
HEATFORM Model "A"
The above modern
corner fireplace built
around Model "S" af-
fords view of fire from
front and either side. If
you prefer view of fire
from front and both
sides, use Model "M".
HEATFORM Model "S'
Custom-built Screens and Fuel Grates
are available for all models and sizes.
Write /or FREE 8-page folder
and dealer nearest you — OR ENCLOSE
50c for (Tl"x9") 36-page Book of 50
beautiful interiors and fireplace designs
selected from our National Prize Photo
Contest.
SUPERIOR FIREPLACE CO.
Dept. IE 531 Dept. IE 531
1708 E. 15th St. « 601 North Point Rd.
Los Angeles 21, Calif. Baltimore 6, Maryland
The Howland-Garber reconstruction of Solomon's Temple.
214
A side view of the interior of Solomon's Temple. Howland-Garber reconstruction.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Cross section model of the Temple of
the Cross, Palenque, Chiapas.
Temple of Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl)
Chichen Itza, Yucatan.
. ' .....:.■
} ":""■" ' '' , :■■ .-K'".
■ ■■■*' '
:.■■■■■ ; ; ■' ."■ ■■- ;■■ :■; ■ ■ ' ' : '
^ Sp llSf Price Special
Grates ' *&F W Chrome OSTERIZER, Model 10-C $44.95 $35.95
fl*tS,t^CU White Enamel OSTERiZER, Model 10-EW 39.95 31.95
STAINLESS STEEL UTENSIL SPECIALS
Retail Price Conference
Special
• Complete Set of Waterless, Lifetime Heavy Duty Cook-
ware— Set of Lifetime Stainless Steel Tableware Included. $149-$169. 50 $99.95
• 4-Piece Refrigerator Set $ 12.95 $10.95
• 3-Piece Mixing Bowl Set— 3/4, IV2, and 3 Qts., Heavy Duty $ 8.95 $ 6.95
• 13-Quart Mixing Bowl— for mixing large batters, whole-
wheat bread, etc S 10.00 $ 7.95
• Water Pitcher, Straight Sided 2-Quart $ 7.95 $ 5.95
3-Quart $ 8.95 $ 6.95
• Creamer with Hinged Cover-10-Oz $ 8.95 $ 6.95
O Sugar Bowl and Cover— 7V2-Oz $ 5.95 $ 3.95
• Tableware with Sugar Shell and Butter Knife— Serrated
Edges on Knives-Lifetime $ 9.95 $ 7.95
ADDITIONAL CONFERENCE GIFT
given free to every family that visits our display room in the Hotel Utah
during Conference. A special booklet telling the proper use of
whole grains in family meals. Recipes on whole wheat bread, cereals,
rolls, muffins, waffles and main dishes.
MAIL ORDERS FILLED AT ABOVE PRICES DURING APRIL ONLY
No C.O.D.'s — Postage Prepaid — Add Sales Tax
All inquiries promptly answered
HEALTH APPLIANCE COMPANY
230 WEST 1ST NORTH LOGAN, UTAH
215
the Church moves on
A Day To Day Chronology Of Church Events
January 1953
9 FJ Layton Stake, the 203rd in the
Church, was organized from por-
tions of the North Davis (Utah) Stake.
The new stake, with a membership of
4782, includes the Layton First, Sec-
ond, Third and Fourth, and Sahara
Village wards. Elder I. Haven Bar-
low, formerly bishop of Layton Second
Ward, was sustained as stake president,
with Elder John Milton Park, formerly
bishop of Layton Fourth Ward, as first
counselor, and Elder George Benjamin
Wilcox, formerly clerk of North Davis
Stake, as second counselor. Remaining
in the North Davis Stake, with a mem-
bership of 5218, are the Clearfield First
and Second, Anchorage, Syracuse, West
Point, and Sunset wards. Elder George
Smith Haslam, formerly bishop of
Clearfield First Ward, was sustained as
president, with Elder Keith Stoker
Smith, formerly of the North Davis
Stake high council, and Elder Harvey
M. Broadbent, formerly superintendent
of the Y.M.M.I.A., as his counselors.
President George Harold Holt and his
counselors, Elders Amos Roy Cook and
Calvin D. Corbridge, of the old North
Davis Stake were released. Elders
Spencer W. Kimball and Mark E.
Petersen of the Council of the Twelve
were in charge of the organization and
reorganization of the stakes.
Elder El Ray L. Christiansen, As-
sistant to the Council of the Twelve,
dedicated the chapel of the Tracy
Ward, San Joaquin (California) Stake.
The appointment of Lorraine
Bowman to the general board of
the Young Women's Mutual Improve-
ment Association was announced.
The appointments of Mrs. Ada B.
Maxfield, Mrs. Vauna S. Jacobsen, and
Mrs. Leone W. Doxey to the general
board of the Primary Association were
announced.
February 1953
1
Elder Harold B. Lee of the Coun-
cil of the Twelve dedicated the
remodeled Twenty-fifth Ward chapel,
Pioneer (Salt Lake City) Stake.
Elder Clarence Neeley, formerly sec-
ond counselor in the Benson (Utah) '
Stake presidency, sustained as president
of the stake, with Elders Cliff Wiser and
Thilburn Russell Holt as his counselors.
Released were President Merle G. Hyer
and his first counselor, Elder David O.
Hendricks.
Elder Myron L. Western, formerly
216
first counselor, sustained as president of
the West Pocatello (Idaho) Stake, suc-
ceeding the late President Twayne
Austin. Elder Calvin D. McOmber, Jr.,
formerly second counselor sustained as
first counselor, and Elder Vernal H.
Wardle sustained as second counselor.
Idaho Falls Fourteenth Ward, Idaho
Falls (Idaho) Stake, formed from por-
tions of Idaho Falls Ninth Ward, with
Elder Rex A. Ottley sustained as bishop.
Newly sustained bishop of the Ninth
Ward is Elder Milton A. Romrell.
2 Following the storm and flood in
the Netherlands, the First Pres-
idency received this cablegram from
President Donovan H. Van Dam: "All
missionaries laboring in Holland are
safe."
The annual month-long appeal for
birthday pennies for the L. D. S. Pri-
mary Children's hospital was launched.
f) Elder LeGrand Richards of the
Council of the Twelve dedicated
the remodeled chapel of the Grant
Ward, Rigby (Idaho) Stake.
fi The First Presidency received word
that no lives of Church members
were lost in the flood in the Nether-
lands. The Red Cross has been offered
the use of all Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saint buildings there for
their use.
7 The First Presidency announced
the appointment of Elder John
Kenneth Orton as president of the Ta-
hitian Mission, succeeding Elder Othello
P. Pierce, who has been serving as act-
ing president of the mission since the
release of President LeRoy R. Mallory.
President Orton, whose home is in
Phoenix, Arizona, filled a mission in
Tahiti from 1924 to 1927. For nine
years he served as business manager of
The Improvement Era.
j^ /J. This was the one hundredth an-
niversary of the ground-breaking
for the construction of the Salt Lake
Temple.
[ $ Leroy J. Robertson's Oratorio on
the Book of Mormon was given its
premiere performance in the Salt Lake
Tabernacle.
9 1 Many wards held reunions this
week-end. It was announced that
the number of wards in Salt Lake City
had grown in 104 years from nineteen
to 198; the number of stakes in the
area had increased from one to twenty-
six.
2 2 President David O. McKay dedi-
cated the chapel of the San Mateo
Ward, Palo Alto (California) Stake.
Elder Harold B. Lee of the Council
of the Twelve dedicated the chapel of
the Bennion Ward, North Jordan (Salt
Lake County) Stake.
Elder LeGrand Richards of the Coun-
cil of the Twelve dedicated the chapel
of the Monticello Ward, San Juan
(Utah) Stake.
24 The annual all-Church M Men
basketball tournament opened at
Deseret Gym at 11:00 a.m. and at the
field house of the University of Utah
at noon. Colorful exercises were pre-
sented at the field house at 8:00 p.m.
For the first time this year, twenty-
eight M Men teams are participat-
ing in the five-day tournament. Salt
Lake City Gleaner Girls sponsoring the
teams were: Joan Manwaring, Joan Rob-
bins, Kathie Pearson, Dixie Weight,
Marilyn Rae Reath, Betty Nelson, An-
nette Sharp, Jean Messinger, Launa
Lone, Charlotte Sheffield, Alberta Clay-
ton, Joyce Werrett, Judy Nelson, Mary
Dawn Bailey, Lenore Hall, Charlotte
Hawkins, Lillian Carlisle, Valaine
Pack, Jean Ammott, Carol Jacobsen,
Barbara Nelson, Mardean Rippon, Don-
na Gordon, Jerry Clawson, and Barbara
Boyer.
Scores of today's games were as fol-
lows:
Mantua 32; Spanish Fork First 43.
Aurora 38; Salt Lake City Twenty-
sixth 47.
Logan Fifth 51; Blanding 37.
Gooding 32; Edgehill (Salt Lake City)
55.
Reno 57; Mt. Emmons 42.
Mesa Tenth 53; East Midvale 44.
Park 55; Sugar City 39.
Redondo Beach 57; Murray Third 27.
Logan College Hill 56; St. Anthony
39.
Brigham City Fourth 53; Salt Lake
City Seventeenth 51.
Hill Spring 30; Salt Lake City Thirty-
third 50.
Rockville 39; Fairmont 64.
Washington, D. C, bye; Dublan, bye;
May wood, bye; Eugene, bye.
Committee in charge of this tourna-
ment are Marvin J. Ashton, chairman,
and Clark N. Stohl; Jay DeGraff, Floyd
Millett, Gordon Owen, Dr. Richard
Tanner, Will Gillespie, and Parry D.
Sorensen.
{Continued on page 268)
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Genealogical Supplies
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4. THE WAY TO PERFECTION
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
This book discusses the doctrinal principles
which are the foundation for genealogical and
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5. PROGRESS OF MAN
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
The author pictures the ceaseless historical
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6. HANDBOOK FOR GENEALOGY
AND TEMPLE WORK
Here in simple, easy-to-read form is a con-
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7. HANDY BOOK OF GENEALOGY
Revised edition of this handy reference work.
$1.25
8. GUIDE FOR GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
Archibald Bennett
Authoritative information on the most modern
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11. THE HOLY GHOST
Oscar W. McConkie
In this handy, one-volume book are the various
sources of authority on the Holy Ghost. $3.50
TO.
Readings in L.D.S. Church History
William E. Berrett and Alma P. Burton
The first of a series of readings from the
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Dr. Sidney B. Sperry
Well remembered for his book Twelve
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32.
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33.
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34.
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35.
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36.
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37.
Creation
38.
Daniel
• •
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APRIL 1953
217
J:
*}l we neac& t&e moat today
\\,
w*
m> m\
John Barlow
you will know all about it — instantly — in detail,
seconds after word is flashed to Earth's listening posts.
KSL Radio brings you the news as it happens! Fast!
Accurate! Complete!
Radio is. the only means of communication that
has kept pace, that has rocketed along with our scien-
tific progress. Only by radio can you get eye-witness
on-the-scene accounts of outstanding events of the
world at the instant they happen. Whether the action is
on a mountain-top half-way around the world or miles
underground, in the heart of a glittering American city
or in a crater of the moon, only radio can bring you the
news as it happens.
And in the Mountain West, only KSL Radio has the
complete, world-wide news-gathering facilities of CBS
Radio, United Press and Associated Press.
One of KSL Radio's four
newscasters is standing by at
jail times to relay to you the .
(important happenings of the
Iworld. KSL Radio broadcasts 15
-1
regular newscasts per day to
keep you informed.
Rex Campbell
218
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
And verily I say unto you, let this house
be built unto my name, that I may reveal
mine ordinances therein unto my people
DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 124:40
APRIL 1953
219
RABBONI
In Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C.
By Gladys Stewart Bennion
Wilted with anguish she sought Him in
the tomb
That April day, when velvet bloom
Of pale astonished flowers
Whitened griefs for distant bowers
With mystery.
He was not there, within that shadowed
prison;
Her Son, her Lord, her King had risen;
Falteringly she stood upon the edge of hope.
She need no longer grope
For understanding.
Life eternal had pushed past death's narrow
cell,
Her Son had risen, and all was well!
Love, loyalty, and faith's sharp purifying
fire
Had now made manifest man's soul desire
For immortality.
EASTER ONCE MORE
By Iris W. Schow
The cock crows twice; the black begins to
fail;
The shutters closed against the day unfold;
Dawn floods the eastern sky; the pall of cold
Is lifted from the land; warm rays prevail.
The silent lily bud that was a pale,
Sealed sepulcher, has softly loosed its hold;
Its occupant stands clothed in cloth of gold,
While earth recalls again that stone is frail.
And so the anguished hours of that last
night,
The scoffs, the sneering, and the thin-lipped
scorn,
The travesty of justice swayed by spite,
The final, brutal crowning with the thorn,
Fade and are blotted out by living light,
Lost in the radiant blaze of Easter morn.
MEMORANDUM
By Frances Rodman
Call me at half- past April;
That is the witching time,
When emerald syllables tipped with pink
Spell out a new, new rhyme;
When on the topmost apple bough
A thrush's throat makes song
Out of the thought we two must share—
"Now it will not be long!"
Call me at half-past April;
I'll open the door in a trice.
Oh, when I know that the time has come
You'll not have to whistle twice,
For I have an understanding
With April, to meet her where
She stands with the morning in her eyes,
And sunlight on her hair.
BENEDICTION
By Thelma Ireland
With war clouds threatening overhead,
The world in grave alarm,
With doubt and fear within my heart,
I go out to the farm.
I watch the trusting birds build nests;
I smell the fresh turned sod
And blooming fruit trees. Then I know
The permanence of God.
220
SPRING
By Catherine E. Berry
This is the gusty time of the year,
When the wind is released by Spring.
Like a restless tiger, it leaps and roars,
Having itself a mad, wild fling;
It rattles the windows, shakes the door,
And bends the young trees to the ground;
It howls down the chimney, and then it
blows
Around the house — around, around!
March is a lusty, gusty month;
The wind is a tiger on a fling.
It sweeps a pathway, wide and clear,
For the green-jeweled footsteps of Spring.
NEW ENGLAND SPRING
By Eleanor Alletta Chaffee
New England's waking gently from her
sleep,
Not like young April, careless, with a song,
But wearing winter still, and all the deep
Wisdom that darkness stores up winter-
long.
In luminous barn windows gray light draws,
A frosty outline where late snows were laid.
The farmer whistles now with little cause
Save that he sees the shrinking of the shade
Between his lantern and the house. His eyes
Scan for a moment the swinging weather
vane
Already tipped with gold from early skies
Whose indigo seeps earthward like a stain.
New England wakes, and in the lark's first
flight
Shakes off the silence of her long, chill
night.
SPRING IN MY SOUL
By Lydia Bennett Egbert
Tdday when skies were shadowed
And my heart was overcast,
And my soul was weary, yearning
To dispel long winter's blast,
I ventured from my cottage
And sought a neighbor's need,
With smiling lips and willing hands
Performed a friendly deed.
I raised my eyes to brighter skies
And set love for my goal,
Then sunshine flooded through my heart
And spring was in my soul.
MIRACLE
By Sylvia Probst Young
DARK APRIL
By Beverly Boone
Cold winter's grasp has left the hills.
Soft zephyrs play at hide and seek
All through the grass. Your garden is
Resplendent with new daffodils.
It's spring, Diane, or did you know
Dark April's clouds are bursting with
Imprisoned drops of silver rain?
The season came — but it was slow.
Why should it come on leaden wing —
Too late to cheer your cumbrous heart
Or bring new hope to spring-starved eyes.
Where you are, Dear, do they have spring?
EMPTY FLOWER BED
By Theresa E. Black
In April the earth was so thirsty
Its tongue had a hard crusty coat.
I fed it dry seeds of bright flowers,
And rains washed them down its parched
throat.
I fed it more seeds by the package.
I wanted a nice flower bed,
But the soil that I tended is empty-
There are plants in the trash heap instead.
IF SPRING IS IN YOUR HEART
By Zara Sabin
Bravely bright on darkling stems
Lilac buds are swelling —
Polished points of promise
Of beauty soon to be.
They press against my window
As if they would be telling
Secrets of the springtime
To no one else but me.
"It matters not," they whisper,
"How deep the snows now lie;
How dark the storm clouds gather,
How slate gray is the sky.
There will always be a springtime
Even though the teardrops start —
You need not fear the winter
If spring is in your heart."
DAFFODILS
By Gene Romolo
Y
ou must come back, for spring is here
again;
Here in these woods that were so white and
cold,
The gentle clouds of April scatter rain,
And daffodils are raising heads of gold;
The willows lift their leafing arms to greet
Returning birds and winds that sing and
sigh;
The grass is velvet green beneath my feet.
This miracle is spring — and that is why
You will return because the heart of you
Is in these waking woods — you will be here
Some springtime morn when all the world
is new,
To walk again beside me, O my dear.
And when the days start with a robin's song,
The waiting time seems never quite so long.
B
etween uncomely coverings of brown,
They lie asleep until spring's whisper-
ings
Dispel, from earth, the winter's chilling
frown;
And ere one feathered throat an aria sings,
They, fully wakened, like first butterflies
Unfurling fulgent wings, from buds unfold
A fragrant, petaled beauty and arise
In full-blown loveliness of chaliced gold.
No other bloom so perfectly fulfils
The spirit of the spring as daffodils.
SONG
By Elaine V. Emans
More lovely than a house returned
To order after disarray
Is a mind too long an easy prey
To fear and worry which has learned
At last the ability to cease
Allowing either sly tormenter
To lift the latch and boldly enter.
Nothing can match a mind at peace.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
As Youth
Looks
Toward Marriage
by President David O. McKay
|UR home joys," says Pestalozzi, "are the
most delightful earth affords and the joy
of parents in their children is the most
holy joy of humanity. It makes their hearts
pure and good; it lifts them up to their Father
in heaven." Such joys are within the reach
of most men and women if high ideals of mar-
riage and home be properly fostered and
cherished.
It is said that the best and noblest lives
are those which are set toward high ideals.
Truly no higher ideal regarding marriage
can be cherished by young people than to look
upon it as a divine institution. In the minds of
the young such a standard is a protection to
them in courtship, an ever-present influence in-
ducing them to refrain from doing anything
which may prevent their going to the temple to
have their love consummated in an enduring
and eternal union. It will lead them to seek di-
vine guidance in the selecting of their compan-
ions, upon the wise choice of whom their life's
happiness here and hereafter is largely de-
pendent.
The exalted view of marriage as held by
this Church is given expressly in five words
found in the fifteenth verse of the forty-ninth
section of the Doctrine and Covenants, "Mar-
riage is ordained of God." That revelation was
given in 1831 when Joseph Smith was only
twenty-five years of age. Considering the cir-
cumstances under which it was given, we find
in it another example among hundreds of
others corroborative of the fact that he was in-
spired of the Lord.
Although there is evidence that some people
have looked upon the marriage ceremony as
continuing after death, yet, generally, the
ceremony is valid only "until death do us part."
Joseph the Seer, grasping the eternal nature
of love as the most divine attribute of the hu-
man soul, as an everlasting attribute of the spir-
it, revealed the eternity of the marriage cove-
nant, a doctrine so beautiful, so logical, so
far-reaching in its significance that if it were
adopted in its entirety, many of the present evils
of society might be abolished.
And yet, if I mistake not the signs of the
times, the sacredness of the marriage covenant
is dangerously threatened. There are too many
thoughtless, hasty marriages entered into with-
out enough time taken to consider the temporal
or eternal consequences. There are too many
places where the marriage ceremony may be
performed at any hour of the day or night
without any previous arrangement — the license
issued and the ceremony performed while the
couple waits. Such marriages too often end
in disappointment and sorrow; and, oh, how
far they fall below the true ideal! As far as
{Concluded on following page)
2 Editors Page
APRIL 1953
221
THE EDITOR'S PAGE
(Concluded from preceding page)
lies within our power, we must warn young
couples against secret and hasty marriages.
I mention these things not in the spirit of
pessimism nor as a crier of impending calamity,
but with the desire to call attention to the
necessity of our maintaining the high standard
of marriage set forth in the revelations of the
Lord.
The eternity of the marriage covenant is a
glorious revelation, giving assurance to hearts
bound by the golden clasp of love and sealed
by authority of the Holy Priesthood, that their
union is eternal.
Temple marriage is basically appealing; it is
scientifically sound; and any young man who
takes his sweetheart to a temple should go
there with the understanding that their union
is to be just as eternal as the love that has
brought them to the altar. Some may question
it. But let's look at the principle of it.
Will you name for me in your minds the
most divine attribute of the human soul? It
is not sympathy. (And girls, be careful not to
be misled by sympathy. True, sympathy is
next to love, but it is not love.) Love is the
most divine attribute of the human soul, and
if you accept the immortality of the soul, that
is, if you believe that personality persists after
death, then you must believe that love also
lives. Is that not sound? And I ask you this:
Whom shall we love when we recognize those
personalities in the next world?
True, we are admonished to love every-
body. Yes, we should love everybody now;
but you and I know that we love those whom
we know best. I love her whom I have seen
sacrifice her life for the little loved ones — her
by whose side I have sat and together prayed
for an afflicted darling! I shall love my mother
who I know offered her life that I might have
being. When we meet these personalities in
the eternal realm, we shall recognize them and
know them because of these experiences in this
life. And the union of loving hearts will be
perpetuated after life. That is why we are
married — sealed — for time and eternity. It
is not a mere dogma of the Church — it is the
part of wisdom to choose the house of the Lord
in which to plight your love and to consecrate
your vows.
Let me give you a glimpse of the significance
of such a marriage. The bridegroom kneeling
at the altar has in his heart the dearest pos-
session that a husband can cherish — the assur-
ance that she who places her hand in his, in
confidence, in marriage, is as pure as a sun-
beam— as spotless as the snow newly fallen
from the sky. He has the assurance that in
her purity and sweetness she typifies divine
motherhood. Now, young man, is not that
complete faith and confidence worth every-
thing else in the world?
And equally sublime is the assurance the
young girl has that the man she loves, to whom
she gives herself in marriage, comes to her with
that same purity and strength of character
which she brings to him. Such a union will
indeed be a marriage ordained of God for the
glory of his creation.
Young men and young women who would
live the happiest lives would do well to prepare
themselves to be worthy of that form of mar-
riage which God has ordained — the union of
a man and woman worthy to have their mar-
riage consummated in the temple of the Most
High.
This is your heritage, youth, as you contem-
plate an eternal partnership; and I pray that
you may realize it and find the true joy and
happiness of such a cherished ideal.
L.D.S. Temple at Hawaii.
222
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
One hundred years have passed since the laying of the cornerstones of
THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE
hy Joseph Fielding Smith
PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE
Jpril 6, 1953, will commemorate one hundred years
'■■ since the laying of the cornerstones of the Salt Lake
1 Temple. This was a solemn occasion, for the mem-
bers of the Church understood the significance of temples
and the eternal nature of the ordinances to be performed
in them. The Saints had been driven from their homes
after erecting a sacred temple to the name of the Lord in
which the ordinances of exaltation belong, and they
longed for the time to come when another house of the
Lord should stand in which they could go and receive
these sacred blessings.
During the westward journey the building of a temple
was frequently discussed. On the evening of July 28,
1847, President Brigham Young, with some of the
Apostles and Thomas Bullock, the clerk, walked from
the camp in Salt Lake Valley to the site chosen for the
temple. There President Young raised his hands and
said: "Here is the forty acres* for a temple, and the city
can be laid out perfectly square north and south, east
and west." Ground was broken in February 1853, for
the foundation, and on the morning of April 6, 1853,
several thousand members of the Church assembled
where President Young made some preliminary remarks
after which the General Authorities and other officials
took their places around the foundation, and the cere-
monies proceeded as follows:
The First Presidency with the Patriarch, John Smith,
laid the first, or southeast cornerstone, in accordance
*Later the size of the site was reduced to ten acres.
Workers chiseling the stone for the Salt Lake Temple in Little
Cottonwood Canyon.
with the pattern given by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and
President Young gave the oration saying:
We dedicate the southeast cornerstone of the temple to the
Most High God. May it remain in place till it has done its work,
and until he who has inspired our hearts to fulfil the prophecies
of his holy prophets, that the house of the Lord should be reared
in the "tops of the mountains" shall be satisfied, and say it is
enough.
President Heber C. Kimball offered the prayer of ded-
ication at this stone, and the assembly then gathered at
the southwest cornerstone, which was laid by the Pre-
siding Bishopric, followed by the oration by Bishop
Edward Hunter and a prayer of dedication by Bishop
Alfred Cordon. Then the northwest cornerstone was
laid by the presidency of the high priests, and President
John Young of that quorum delivered the oration. Elder
George B. Wallace offered the prayer of dedication. The
last, or northeast cornerstone, was laid by the Council
of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Parley P. Pratt delivered
the oration, and the prayer of dedication was offered by
Elder Orson Hyde.
At the afternoon services President Brigham Young
made the following remarks:
I scarcely ever say much about revelations, or visions, but suf-
fice it to say, five years ago last July [1847], I was here and saw
in the spirit the temple not ten feet from where we have laid the
chief cornerstone. I have not inquired what kind of a temple
we should build. Why? Because it was represented before me,
I never looked upon that ground, but the vision of it was there. I
see it as plainly as if it was in reality before me. Wait until it
(Continued on following page)
Crowd assembled at the laying of the capstone of the Salt
Lake Temple.
APRIL 1953
223
lllllilflHB
The Salt Lake Temple
Robert D. Young,
President of the Salt
Lake Temple.
Salt Lake Temple site, in 1865.
Salt Lake Temple under construction.
Photograph of Temple Square taken about 1890.
224
(Continued from preceding page)
is done. I will say, however, that it will have six towers, to begin
with, instead of one. Now do not any of you apostatize because
it will have six towers, and Joseph only built one. It is easier for
us to build sixteen, than it was for him to build one. The time
will come when there will be one in the center of temples we shall
build, and on the top groves and fish ponds.
As a boy I used to go up to the temple block and watch
the men carving the hard granite stones and raise and
place each in its chosen spot, and to me this was indeed
a slow process. In my boyhood anxiety I wondered if
I would live to see the temple finished. I also frequently
visited the blacksmith shop farther up the street on North
Temple where the tools were sharpened. In the sum-
mers much of my time was spent in Little Cottonwood
Canyon, and there I watched the men digging and blast-
ing the great granite blocks and preparing them for
delivery to the temple. I can remember the days of the
ox teams and how they tugged with their heavy loads,
and how at intervals down the canyon road rough-cut
blocks had skidded from the wagons and were lost. As
I grew, my patience became more reasonable, and I saw
the grand edifice rise stone upon stone until all were laid
perfectly in their places, and the building was ready for
dedication.
It was my privilege to be present in April 1892, at
the ceremonies of the laying of the capstone.
In the general assembly in the Tabernacle, President
Lorenzo Snow of the Council of the Twelve explained to
the congregation the order of the ceremony to be held
at the laying of the stone and taught the assembled Saints
how to proceed with the Hosannah Shout. After remarks
by President Wilford Woodruff the congregation pro-
ceeded to the southwest corner of the temple where a
platform for the General Authorities had been built.
After appropriate exercises, President Woodruff pushed
an electric button, and the capstone was laid. Then
followed the Hosannah Shout. Elder Francis M.
Lyman of the Council of the Twelve moved that efforts
be made to finish the temple so that it could be dedicated
on April 6, 1893. This motion was received with en-
thusiasm by the vast assembly of about forty thousand.
On April 6, 1893 the temple was ready for dedication.
President Wilford Woodruff offered the dedicatory prayer
which was followed by the Hosannah Shout led by Pres-
ident Lorenzo Snow. These services were repeated
almost daily until April 24. Thirty-one meetings were
held, and a total of seventy-five thousand people had the
privilege of attending. As a young man holding the
Aaronic Priesthood, it was my privilege to be present
at the opening session. With others holding the Aaronic
Priesthood I had a place in the gallery on the north side
of the assembly room. I was greatly impressed with
the wonderful spirit of these exercises and have looked
back to that day many times with deep feelings of
satisfaction.
Tuesday, May 23, 1893, the temple was opened for
ordinance work under the direction of the First Presi-
dency, Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph
F. Smith, and the great wish of President Brigham Young
had been fulfilled. This, of course, was not the first
temple in Utah to be erected, but it was the one above
(Continued on page 294)
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
"A history in stone of the people who built it" may he said of
THE LOS ANGELES TEMPLE
by Edward O. Anderson
CHURCH ARCHITECT
dream of many years is being
realized — a Latter-day Saint
Temple is taking form in Los
Angeles. Work is running well
ahead of schedule. Forms are being
built, reinforcing steel is being placed,
and concrete is being poured. Early
in February, crews started pouring
the concrete for the ground floor.
It was a great day last summer
when power equipment started the
excavation. Since the temple is being
built on very hard ground, shovels
operated by compressed air are re-
quired to trim up the trenches.
The former board of temple archi-
tects, of which the writer was a mem-
ber, started making sketches back in
1937. We were very sincere in our
work. One of the first things we did
when we visited the site was to gather
in a group to offer a prayer to the
Lord for help in this great work.
Arthur Price, architect from the Pre-
siding Bishop's office, was with us as
adviser, and Hyrum C. Pope who has
since passed away; John Fetzer,
Georgius Y. Cannon, Ramm Hansen,
Lorenzo S. Young, and the writer
comprised the board. This was only
a short time after President Heber
J. Grant had announced on March 6,
1937, that a temple site on Santa
Monica Boulevard, near Westwood,
consisting of over twenty-four acres
had been purchased by the Church
from Harold Lloyd, of motion pic-
ture fame.
(Continued on following page)
President David O. McKay at the
ground-breaking ceremonies, as he re-
moved the first shovelful of dirt for the
Los Angeles Temple, September 1951.
APRIL 1953
Laying steel and building forms for the baptismal font. Note the depth of excavating.
225
The los Angeles Temple
Pouring cement with huge crane, and girders placed.
Placing forms before pouring the cement.
Construction progress goes forward. Note the walls at left
where forms have been removed.
226
(Continued from preceding page)
Sketches were made and plans were prepared for a
temple to accommodate a company of two hundred
persons. Before the plans were fully completed, how-
ever, World War II stopped the work. After the
war, zoning problems caused further delays. In Janu-
ary of 1949 the First Presidency asked the writer to
prepare drawings for a larger temple, one to accom-
modate a company of three hundred persons, equal to
the Salt Lake Temple in size, and to add an assembly
room on the top floor. This is the first of the temples
to be provided with the upper assembly room since the
Salt Lake Temple was built.
In the meanwhile, legal details were cleared and
government approval of the undertaking was obtained.
In addition to the temple, the project consists of a mis-
sion home now under construction, a bureau of in-
formation, a heating plant to be started soon, and the
recently completed Westwood Ward chapel.
A complete set of plans, with all details and specifica-
tions, had to be submitted to the Los Angeles building
department before the building permit was issued. In
the meeting with the Los Angeles building officials,
it was necessary to explain the function of the temple.
When these men realized the importance of the temple
and reviewed the record of Latter-day Saints living in
California, they said they would be glad to have a
Latter-day Saint temple in Los Angeles, and helped
in every way to obtain the necessary permits.
The actual building of the temple is carried on in a
very efficient, systematic manner. Details of construc-
tion are taken up first with the architect by the head
foreman, Elder Severne D. Loder; the project engineer,
Elder Virge M. Butler; and the construction supervisor,
Elder Soren N. Jacobsen. Drawings are made for the
concrete forms in the shop drafting room on the site;
shop drawings of sub- contractors and of all manu-
factured items are checked by the architect; they are
then re-checked with the foreman and the project
engineer. When finally approved, they are sent to the
sub-contractors and to the manufacturers for fabrica-
tion.
Only the best materials are being used in the con-
struction of the temple. The concrete is being mixed
right on the site to insure the quality of the mix —
highest quality sand and gravel having been obtained
and blended with the right amount of water. An ad-
mixture has been included to damp-proof the concrete
and make the mix more workable. In addition, as
the concrete enters the forms, it is vibrated by a power
machine to distribute the concrete to all parts of the
forms and around the steel.
The exterior foundation walls of reinforced concrete
will be faced with a base of granite veneer two and
one-half inches thick, attached to the foundation with
anchors set in the concrete. The exterior walls, also
of reinformed concrete, will be faced with a two and
one-fourth inch thick slab of reinforced high-strength
concrete of quartz chips and white Portland cement.
Most of these slabs are eight feet wide and seven feet
high. The temple will be crowned with a statue of the
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Note depth of the structural steel columns. Forms have been
removed from walls.
Pouring the first floor.
Angel Moroni of hammered copper coated with gold
leaf.
Almost everyone who comes here agrees that this is
a choice site for a temple in Los Angeles. The first
floor of the temple will be about fifty feet above Santa
Monica Boulevard. The reflecting pool court enclosed
within the protecting arms of the annex and the
promenade extending in front of this will be above all
surrounding immediate neighborhoods. On account
of this elevation and by careful planting, the grounds
around the temple and extending as far north as the
Westwood Ward can be isolated. With the elevation,
the setting, and with the mountains and ocean in view
in the background, we feel that a type of spiritual
isolation can be attained on these temple grounds much
as though they were surrounded by a wall.
Although it would be difficult to detect architectural
influence of the South Pacific in the design for the
temple, I am sure that if one looked closely enough, the
honest faith of the Polynesians could be found in the
solid walls as, during the planning stages, the writer's
heart was divided between two great loves: the love
of the temple work and the love of the work in the
South Pacific.
We believe the proper way to identify a building is
not to explain its style of architecture but to point out
its individuality and describe its character. We do
not speak of the style of the Tabernacle on Temple
Square in Salt Lake City. We admire its character.
We know, those of us who are acquainted with build-
ing principles, that it is a living testimony to the truth-
fulness of the restored gospel. No engineer, no archi-
tect is brave enough to build without the direction of
the Lord, who led the early leaders of our Church to
build as the Tabernacle was built. Would it not be
well to say that this Los Angeles Temple is 1953 archi-
tecture? It is influenced by the materials used and by
the method of construction. It is built of concrete, a
material which is flexible. It can be molded in any
shape, and the surfaces can be pierced as often as neces-
sary without excessive cost. As the building grows, it
will take on or assume its character.
It has been said that a building, religious or public,
is a history in stone of the people who built it. We
have been instructed by the General Authorities of
the Church to design and build a good building. The
Los Angeles city building inspectors tell us it will be
one of the best, if not the best, buildings in the city.
We hope the temple will express the integrity, faith,
and spirit of the L.D.S. people of today.
Building the second story.
Working model of one of the approaches fronting on Santa
Monica Boulevard.
APRIL 1953
Architect's model of the adjoining buildings: Bureau of Infor-
mation, Mission Home, heating plant, and utility building.
227
The Beginning of the Blessing
by Archibald F. Bennett
SECRETARY, GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
|ur Lord and Savior came per-
sonally to earth to introduce
temple work. His eyes were as
a flame of fire, and his countenance
shone above the brightness of the
sun, in the Kirtland Temple, as his
voice declared:
. . . lift up your heads and rejoice.
Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice,
and let the hearts of all my people rejoice,
who have, with their might, built this house
to my name. . . .
Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of
thousands shall greatly rejoice in conse-
quence of the blessings which shall be
poured out, and the endowment with which
my servants have been endowed in this
house.
And the fame of this house shall spread
to foreign lands; and this is the beginning
of the blessing which shall be poured out
upon the heads of my people.1
Following this divine introduction,
Elijah the prophet appeared and re-
stored the sealing powers of the
priesthood, with the authority to turn
the hearts of the fathers to the chil-
dren, and the children to the fathers.
As a direct consequence of these
visitations on April 3, 1836, the cor-
nerstone of the Salt Lake Temple was
1D. & C. 110:5-6, 9-10.
laid seventeen years later, on April 6,
1853.
On that historic day the minds of
the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley
must have been reminiscent. With
Wilford Woodruff they must have re-
called that, on their first view of the
valley,
thoughts of pleasant meditation ran in
rapid succession through our minds at the
anticipation that not many years hence the
House of God would be established in the
mountains and exalted above the hills.2
The first sermon on July 25, 1847,
by Elder George A. Smith, was "a
very interesting discourse" on the
building of a temple in the tops of
the mountains. They remembered
the words of Isaiah.3 The very first
building planned for the new city to
be was the temple.
Now the work had actually com-
menced. The occasion was more
momentous than any uninspired man
could realize. It was a day of ful-
filment as well as the beginning of
a new era. President Brigham Young
addressed the gathered throng.
2Cowley: Life of Wilford Woodruff, p. 313.
3Isaiah, 2:2-3.
. . . what are we here for, this day? To
celebrate the birthday of our religion! To
lay the foundation of a temple to the Most
High God, so that when his Son, our Elder
Brother, shall again appear, he may have a
place where he can lay his head .... and
the temple, of which we have now laid
the southeast corner stone, will arise in
beauty and grandeur, in a manner and time
which you have not hitherto known or con-
templated. . . . May it remain in peace till
it has done its work, and until he who has
inspired our hearts to fulfil the prophecies
of his holy Prophets, that the house of the
Lord should be reared in the "tops of the
mountains" shall be satisfied, and say, "It
is enough."*
Clearly here was to be a temple
with a mission of supreme importance.
"The placing of the cornerstones
was celebrated as an accomplished
triumph, though but a beginning."5
It was a still mightier triumph when,
forty years later, the Salt Lake Tem-
ple was dedicated. The rejoicing of the
Saints was voiced in the dedicatory
prayer by President Wilford Wood-
ruff, April 6, 1893. The prayer re-
vealed the twofold nature of the mis-
sion of the temple — of all temples —
for the blessing of the living and the
blessing of the dead. Truly the liv-
iDiscourses of Brigham Young, pp. 632, 640, 641.
"Talmage: The House of the Lord, p. 139.
Approximately sixteen million cards are now in these files
of the index bureau. Here employees are checking so that tem-
ple ordinances will not be duplicated.
228
Brigham Young University students reading microfilm on the
Kodagraph machines. The Genealogical Office has about eighty
of these machines.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Another busy department is the archives,
bers have sent in their family group sheets.
Here Church mem-
Students of B.Y.U. checking their own genealogical lines in
the library.
ing had great cause to rejoice. So
also had the uncounted dead. At
another session of the dedication serv-
ices President Woodruff announced:
There is a mighty work before this people.
The eyes of the dead are upon us. This ded-
ication is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.
The spirits on the other side rejoice far
more than we do, because they know more
than we do of what lies before the great
work of God in this last dispensation. . . .
The Son of God stands in the midst of that
body of celestial spirits, and teaches them
their duties concerning the day in which
we live and the dedication of this temple,
and instructs them what they must do to
prepare and qualify themselves to go with
him to the earth when he comes. . . *
On this centennial of the com-
mencement of the Salt Lake Temple
it is opportune to glance back and
view some of the accomplishments,
since that day, in ancestral research
and in temple service, in fulfilment
of our great latter-day mission.
Truly the hearts of tens of thou-
sands and hundreds of thousands of
the living have rejoiced because of
the blessings and spiritual power
poured out upon those who have gone
to the Salt Lake Temple and other
temples of the west within the last
hundred years. The number is ever
increasing of those whose lives are
hallowed by participation in sacred
temple service. These have learned a
more devoted appreciation of their
fathers and mothers of former genera-
tions. They have found greater hap-
piness in their families, in their com-
munities and in all the duties of life.
The spirits of millions of the dead
have rejoiced in the spirit world be-
cause of what has been done in their
behalf. The temples have brought
within their grasp the greatest of
nA Book of Remembrance, pp. 81-82.
APRIL 1953
all blessings — that of eternal life in
the celestial kingdom. In fervent
gratitude their hearts have turned to
their children on earth, who have
remembered them in their hour of
need.
New and choice generations of
young folk are being born as children
of the covenant, heirs to all the bless-
ings of the new and everlasting cove-
nant, heirs to the priesthood and its
powers, the highly favored offspring
of faithful men and women who have
helped found and maintain the
Church in these latter- days — because
the parents were married and sealed
in the temples of the Lord according
to his pattern.
Countless are the earnest re-
searchers of the world, raised up by
the Lord to seek out and make avail-
able their genealogies — and ours.
Each year the number of published
genealogies increases. Compilers are
seeking to observe a higher standard
of accuracy and scholarship in their
productions. About fifty thousand
bound volumes of such genealogical
records are now in our library.
More marvelous yet, our microfilm
collection of unpublished records of
the past, from seventeen states of the
Union and thirteen foreign countries,
is already of impressive magnitude.
The Genealogical Society has filmed
about 120,000,000 pages of these rec-
ords, the equivalent of about 390,000
volumes. In this copying we have
used approximately five thousand
miles of film.
On every hand are increasing evi-
dences of a widespread interest in an-
(Continued on page 292)
Seminary students from Logan signing the register before beginning a day at the
genealogical library.
229
ANCIENT TEMPLES
AND THEIR USES
by Sidney B. Sperry, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE AND DIRECTOR OF
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
Sow early in the history of man-
kind were temples built to the
Lord? Was the temple of
Solomon, for example, the earliest
known structure in which holy en-
dowments were given to men? The
answers to these and similar ques-
tions are not always easy, but we do
have data that may lead us to some
reasonable conclusions.
We know that Adam stands at the
head of the human race and that he
stands next to the Savior himself as
far as the keys of the priesthood are
concerned.1 Knowledge of this fact
makes it reasonable to suppose that
Father Adam was acquainted with all
the ordinances necessary for the sal-
vation of mankind. His knowledge
would necessarily comprehend those
ordinances now performed in our
present temples. It should be noted
that the Prophet Joseph Smith, in
speaking of Adam, said that "he was
the first and father of all, not only
by progeny, but the first to hold the
spiritual blessings, to whom was made
known the plan of ordinances for
the salvation of his posterity unto the
end. . . . "2 The sealing ordinances
of the Holy Priesthood, including
those pertaining to marriage, must
have been known to Adam and the
great patriarchs that succeeded him.
It would be foolish to doubt that
some, if not all, of the holy endow-
ments were known to and conferred
upon these men. Note the import
of these words of the Prophet Joseph
Smith:
It may seem to some to be a very bold
doctrine that we talk of — a power which
records or binds on earth and binds in
heaven. Nevertheless, in all ages of the
world, whenever the Lord has given a dis-
pensation of the priesthood to any man by
actual revelation, or any set of men, this
power has always been given. Hence, what-
soever those men did in authority, in the
name of the Lord, and did it truly and
faithfully, and kept a proper and faithful
record of the same, it became a law on
earth and in heaven, and could not be an-
nulled, according to the decrees of the
great Jehovah.3
The reader should also examine the
explanations given for figures 3, 7,
and 8 in the second facsimile pub-
3D. & C. 128:9.
lished in the Book of Abraham, if
there remains any doubt in his mind
that the ancient patriarchs had re-
vealed to them many important facts
pertaining to the holy endowments
for the living. Doctrine and Cove-
nants 132:29, 38, 39 must also con-
firm the conviction that the ancients
knew and received many blessings,
the like of which are now to be had
only in our temples. Why should
the requirements for salvation be any
different for the ancient patriarchs
than for ourselves?
If endowments for the living were
known and enjoyed by the ancient
patriarchs, it seems a reasonable as-
sumption that they were administered
in some sacred structure or temple
built for that specific purpose, even
as among us. Much of this same
line of reasoning must have been go-
ing through President Brigham
Young's mind at the dedication of
Dr. Schick's reconstruction of the Tabernacle of Moses.
aSee Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings
Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 158, 167-169.
-Ibid., p. 167.
230
of the
Dr. Schick's reconstruction of the interior of the Tabernacle of Moses.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Solomon's Temple (Dr. Schick's reconstruction)
Zerubbabel's Temple (Dr. Schick's reconstruction)
certain portions of the St. George
Temple, when he said, "I will not
say that Enoch had not temples in
which he officiated. His people be-
came so perfect that the Lord took
them to another place that removed
them from the presence of the
wicked."4 Although it seems logical
to believe that the ancients prior to
Moses' time had temples or sacred
structures of some kind in which en-
dowments were given, there are no
specific references in scripture to
them.
Many ancient peoples had temples,
though we can be sure that the rites
performed in most, if not all, of them
were rank perversions or outright imi-
tations of the true order unless per-
formed under the direction or sanc-
tion of the patriarchs holding the
priesthood after the Order of the Son
of God. As an example of peoples
with temples, we may call attention
to the ancient Egyptians. The
*See Matthias F. Cowley, Life of Wilford Woodruff,
p. 494.
Egyptians were noted for the great
number of their gods and goddesses,
all having their respective priesthoods.
Especially noted for the elaborate
nature of their priesthoods were the
cults of Osiris, Horus, Re, Ptah, Neit,
Anubis, Hathor, Min, Soker, Amun,
and others. In the annals of the
Palermo Stone,5 temples are men-
tioned as already founded during the
Second Egyptian Dynasty (c. 2800
B.C.). The ordinary Egyptian word
for temple was h.t ntr, "house of god,"
but the appellation pr-ntr, with the
same meaning, was also common.
Every Egyptian god had his "house,"
wherein he dwelt and where he was
worshiped; indeed, some deities, such
as Osiris (or Horus) had many — one
in almost every town or city.
During the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2200
B.C.) were built the first great Egyp-
tian temples of Re near Memphis.
These huge edifices, six in number
and built of stone, were open to the
5This is a small piece of black diorite containing
annals from the beginning of the First Dynasty.
sky. They were rectangular in
shape, as were most Egyptian temples.
Dr. Mercer describes their arrange-
ment in these words:
In a central court stood a mastaba, sur-
mounted by a huge and massive obelisk of
white stone, in front of which was an altar,
or table of offerings. . . . Lofty walls,
adorned with scenes, shut off the sacred
building from the street. In front, inside
the walls, was a large outer court. Then a
gateway, between two large pylons, admitted
to the inner court, which was open to the
sky. Then another doorway, opposite the
great gateway, led into the hypostyle hall.
This hall, fitted with many vast pillars, was
the processional hall. Then came the holy
of holies, a dark, narrow chamber where
the deity dwelt. None but the priests were
admitted to it. In the holy of holies was
a small shrine or naos with double doors,
inside which was a richly decorated boat,
containing a statue of the deity. Sometimes
there were three or more holy of holies, or
temple-chapels.8
Egyptian temples were generally of
two types: those which were used for
«The Religion of Egypt, pp. 342, 343.
(Continued on page 254)
The Dome of the Rock
APRIL 1953
Justinian's Basilica and Church (Dr. Schick's reconstruction)
231
three UTAH TEMPLES
n August 1863 a large number of youths lined the road
on the outskirts of the frontier city of Logan in anticipa-
tion of greeting the President of the Church, the Twelve
Apostles, and other prominent elders of the Church who
were coming to hold a conference. It was indeed an im-
pressive sight for these brethren.
During the conference sessions the next day, Elder Wil-
ford Woodruff arose to speak and chose to address these
same young people. Prompted by the Spirit, he promised
that they would be privileged to work in the temple which
would be constructed on the east bench of the city some-
time after they had become parents in Israel and several
of their present leaders had entered the spirit world.
The site for this temple was designated by President Brig-
ham Young and was dedicated by Elder Orson Pratt on
May 17, 1877. The Logan Temple cornerstones were laid
under the direction of President John Taylor of the Council
of the Twelve, September 17, 1877, three weeks after Presi-
dent Brigham Young's passing.
When Elder Woodruff visited Logan in the summer of
1880, he spoke of the partially completed temple on the
hill, recalling that before he had made that promise to those
young people seventeen years before, "we never thought of
building a temple here." (Journal of Discourses XXL299.)
The Logan Temple was dedicated by President John Taylor
May 17, 1884, the Saints having finished their labor of love
in a seven-year construction period. Much of the labor had
been donated; much of the material had come from the
natural resources in the area.
The Logan Temple stands today on a beautifully landscaped
ten- acre block. The temple proper is 171 feet long, 95 feet
wide, and 86 feet high at the square, with an octagonal
tower at each corner, 100 feet high, and a large square tower
at each end. The tower at the west end is 165 feet high,
and the one at the east is 170 feet. The rock used for the
walls was brought from mountain quarries nearby, and is a
very dark gray silicious limestone. The lumber for the
building was obtained from Logan Canyon, and prepared
at the temple sawmill especially installed for that purpose.
It is a five story edifice.
\\Thile visiting the Saints at Manti in August 1850, Presi-
dent Brigham Young pointed out a site where a temple
would someday be built. It was he who dedicated the spot
(Continued on page 271)
232
A. George Raymond Lewis R. Anderson Harold S- Snow
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Early Houses
of the Lord
n the infancy of the latter-day Church, the Saints
were commanded to "establish a house, even a house
of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house
of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house
of God." (D. & C. 88:119.) In obedience to this, the
Kirtland Temple was constructed, at a time when severe
mob violence was directed at the Church and its mem-
bership. The building was dedicated March 27, 1836,
by the Prophet Joseph Smith using a prayer that had been
given him by revelation. This prayer, section 109 of
the Doctrine and Covenants, has been the model for
the dedicatory prayers of the other temples. The build-
ing will always be cherished in the hearts of Latter-day
Saints as where Jesus Christ appeared to the Prophet
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery "standing upon the
breastwork of the pulpit, . . . and under his feet was a
paved work of pure gold, in color like amber." (D. & C.
110:2.) He had accepted the house. After that vision
closed, Moses appeared and committed the "keys of the
gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and
the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north."
The third vision was that of Elias who "committed the
dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in
us and our seed all generations after us should be
blessed." Finally Elijah appeared in fulfilment of the
prophecy of Malachi.
After the Church was driven from Ohio, the building
was denied; benches were removed for firewood; cattle,
sheep, and swine were placed in the basement to pro-
tect them from inclement weather; other portions of the
once-holy place were used at the convenience of the vil-
lagers.
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints obtained the title to this temple by court decision
and have restored the building. It is used by them as a
meeting place.
For a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they,
my saints, may be baptized for those who are dead — For this
ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me,
only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build
a house unto me. But I command you, all ye my saints, to build
a house unto me; . . . (D. & C. 124:29-31.)
'X'hus came the revelation of the Lord on January 19,
1841. Obedient to that command, the cornerstones
for the temple were laid at Nauvoo, April 6, 1841. Before
it was completed, the Prophet had sealed his testimony
with his blood at Carthage, Illinois. Nevertheless, on
Wednesday, May 4, 1842, the Prophet had taken a select
few into the upper part of his store in Nauvoo,
. . . instructing them in the principles and order of the priest-
hood, attending to washings, anointings, endowments and the com-
munication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood, and so on
to the highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood, setting forth
' the order pertaining to the Ancient of Days,
and all those plans and principles by which
any one is enabled to secure the fulness of
those blessings which have been prepared
for the Church of the First Born, and come
up and abide in the presence of the Eloheim
in the eternal worlds. In this council was
instituted the ancient order of things for the
first time in these last days. (D. H. C.:V. 2.)
Nauvoo Temple
from an actual
photograph.
This edifice was raised in the
words of President Brigham Young:
"By the aid of sword in one hand,
and trowel and hammer in the other,
with firearms at hand, and a strong
band of police, and the blessings of heaven." (journal of
Discourses, 11:32.)
In December 1845 endowment work began, and by the
end of that month more than one thousand members had
received its blessings, 107 of them receiving the sacred
ordinance on Christmas Day. Ordinance work continued
for several months, many of the Saints receiving the
spiritual strength that was to aid them all during their
lives. The building was dedicated on April 30, 1846
and again on the following day.
In September 1846 this sacred building was in posses-
sion of the mobs, and for two years this once hallowed
structure stood as an abandoned building. Then in
November 1848, it fell prey to the wanton act of an
(Continued on page 270)
APRIL 1953
233
by President Levi Edgar Young
OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF THE SEVENTY
THE ANGEL MORONI
AND CMS DALLIN
!he Angel Moroni on the central
| spire of the Salt Lake Temple
(has won admirers from all over
the world. It conveys a beautiful
story with precision and deep sin-
cerity. It has been called a superb
statue to the divine message of Re-
ligion, for it recalls the words of John
the Revelator:
And I saw another angel fly in the midst
of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people,
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and
give glory to him; for the hour of his judg-
ment is come; and worship him that made
heaven and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters. (Revelation 14:6-7.)
It is certainly a statue full of sug-
gestion— a work of rare beauty. It
is the story of the coming from heaven
of the Angel Moroni to Joseph Smith
that gave Cyrus Dallin the inspira-
tion for making the angel. It was
his nature to wonder about the divine
life of man, and he was impressed
with the great characters of history
who at times speak the words of
God and enact God's holy purposes.
When Dallin read about the visit of
the angel to Joseph Smith, directing
him in the discovery of the gold
plates, he saw something of the
eternal and divine in the story. He
often quoted Michelangelo: "Beauty
cannot be separated from eternity."
As one looks at the angel, one is im-
pressed with the thought that Dallin
caught the spirit of the words of John
the Revelator.
One beautiful summer morning a
few years ago I was seated with Mr.
Dallin on the stone curbing which
surrounds the Sea Gull Monument on
Temple Square. We had listened to
234
the organ recital, played that day by
the late John J. McCIellan. It was
Sunday, and the theme of the speaker
during the hour of service was : "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy strength, and with all
thy mind; and thy neighbour as thy-
self." (See Matt. 22:37, 39.) He was
greatly impressed with the services
that morning. Our conversation
drifted to his bronze statue of the
American Indian which is called "The
Appeal to the Great Spirit." The
Indian is seated on his pony, with
arms outstretched and his face lifted
appealingly to heaven. The statue
stands in front of the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts. There is something
universal in its grand appeal. As we
were conversing, I asked him if he had
ever done anything that equaled his
"Appeal to the Great Spirit." His
reply was one of the most thrilling
things I ever experienced. "Yes," said
he, "I considered that- my 'Angel
Moroni' brought me nearer to God
than anything I ever did. It seemed
to me that I came to know what it
means to commune with angels from
heaven." We both sat quietly for
some minutes without saying a word,
when he added: "We can only create
in life what we are and what we
think."
Cyrus E. Dallin was born in
Springville, Utah, November 22,
1861. His father, Thomas Dallin,
was a miner in Tintic, Utah. Later
the family moved from Springville
to the town of Silver City. Cyrus at-
tended a school held in a small church
building, and as a mere child he be-
gan modeling the individual miners
on their way to work. Mr. C. H.
Blanchard with Levi E. Riter, who
The Angel Moroni on the central spire
of the Salt Lake Temple.
kept a store in Silver City, urged that
the boy be sent away to study. The
well-known mining man, Mr. Joab
Lawrence, contributed the means to
pay the boy's expenses. In Boston,
young Dallin became the student of
the well-known sculptor, T. H. Bart-
lett, where he remained for nearly
two years. His first piece to bring
him attention was a drawing of a
panther from which several copies in
terra cotta were made. One of these
was exhibited in the fine arts depart-
ment of the Salt Lake Fair in 1880
and was awarded first prize. In
Boston, after four years of study, the
young artist modeled a bust of
Voltaire, the French philosopher.
Opening a studio, his first statue was
that of the comedian William War-
ren, which brought high praise from
the celebrated actor Joseph Jefferson.
Dallin's work from now on received
the attention of many people. At
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
this time he modeled his Paul Revere,
but owing to some misunderstanding,
it was not finished and accepted by
the city of Boston until nearly fifty
years later. It was finally placed on
the public square just opposite the
old North Church, and the mayor of
Boston paid high tribute to the sculp-
tor and the work he had done to
perpetuate the ideals of America.
Mr. Dallin had the training and
force of imagination which gave him
power to grasp and interpret the many
great characters of American history.
His "Abraham Lincoln" portrays the
humble and powerful character of
the great American. His many crea-
tions of the American Indian show
study and care and an admiration
for the native American. All of his
art has been largely of a memorial
character.
Dallin was well-trained as a
sculptor, and the years he spent in
Paris studying at the most celebrated
schools of art brought him well-
deserved fame. Among his friends,
and they were many, were Rodin,
the greatest French sculptor of that
day, St. Gaudens, and Daniel French.
It may well be written of him: He
felt strongly that an American artist
should occupy himself with Ameri-
can subjects, and to that end should
work in his own country. Coming
home to Salt Lake City, he created
the Brigham Young Monument which
was unveiled the fiftieth anniversary
of the founding of Utah, July 24,
1847. It was a grand celebration and
pioneers of the period up to 1869
came from all over Utah to partici-
pate in the celebration.
The statue of Massasoit, which
overlooks the harbor at Plymouth,
Massachusetts, has attracted all Amer-
icans. It expresses a significant
historical fact, for it was a part of
Massasoit's country where the Pil-
grim Fathers made settlement in 1620.
When the great Indian chief heard
of the settlement, he sent occasionally
some of his men to observe their activ-
ities. We have the accounts of Massa-
soit's meeting the Pilgrim Fathers
when a treaty was entered into, which
stipulated that neither Massasoit nor
any of his people would "do hurt to
the English." The Indians planted
corn in fields nearby, and gave it to
the settlers. The creation of Dallin's
Massasoit came after many months
of careful study of his life, from old
writings of the Pilgrim Fathers and
the English fishermen along the coast.
A statue in Philadelphia that
touches the heart of everyone who
sees it is that of Anne Hutchinson
with her little daughter. A deep sup-
plication to God in the expression of
Three of Dallin's famous works: Lincoln,
Brigham Young Monument, and Massa-
soit, original of which stands in Plymouth.
her face shows that His truth shall
prevail in the hearts of men. Her
life is one of the saddest of the early-
day American women. Anne Hutchin-
son belonged to one of the best fami-
lies of the English gentry, but she
left her home and came to America
in 1635. Her maiden name was
Anne Marbury. Her husband was
William Hutchinson, a true and
loyal husband, and Anne was a de-
voted wife and the mother of fourteen
children. She, with Roger Williams,
was banished from the Massachusetts
colony, and helped to settle Rhode
Island. Historians tell us that Rhode
Island was the only colony where
complete religious freedom existed.
After the death of her husband, Anne
sought shelter among the tolerant
Dutch in New Amsterdam. She es-
tablished her home on a tract of land
claimed by the Mohegans; the In-
dians avenged themselves for this in-
trusion by massacring the intruders,
except one little girl whom they car-
ried off. She was rescued years later
by the whites and became the an-
cestor of Thomas Hutchinson, the
Tory governor of Massachusetts at
the beginning of the American
Revolution.
It was only a few years ago that
Dallin died in Arlington, just out-
side of Boston.
(Concluded on page 268)
ROMANCE
OF
TEMPLE BUILDING
by Marba C. Josephson
ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR, THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
atter-day Saint temples have
been constructed by a people
who, while struggling for the
we" necessities of life, have refused
to be bound by earthly motives. Their
ideals were for an eternity- of happi-
ness, regardless of the sacrifices they
might have to make to gain them.
Temple covenants meant that eternal
happiness; therefore, temples they
must have.
Brigham Young recognized this
when he spoke to the people of the
St. George Stake November 5, 1871:
"We want to build a temple here,
and we can do this. You may take
the people of St. George or you may
take the little settlements of Wash-
ington, Harrisburg, and Leeds, and I
will say that the people of St. George
or the people of those little settle-
ments are better able to build the
contemplated temple in St. George
than the whole Church could build
the temple in Kirtland or than the
whole Church could build the temple
in Nauvoo. I was there; I knew the
circumstances of the Church at the
building of the temple at Kirtland
and at Nauvoo, and I know the cir-
cumstances of the people in St.
George and those settlements named.
"When in Kirtland, at the com-
mencement of building the Kirtland
Temple, the Church used to meet
in a schoolhouse 16 by 24 feet, which
was capacious enough to hold all the
Saints and spectators and visitors;
they then undertook to build a tem-
ple. Joseph Smith and Brigham
Young worked on that building day
after day; also many others did so.
They did not have much fine flour
bread to eat. Did not always have
molasses to eat with their johnny
cake. Sometimes they had shoes,
sometimes not; sometimes they would
have tolerable pants and sometimes
very ragged ones.
"It was about the same experience
in building the Nauvoo Temple."
Not all the stories of privation and
hardship can be told about the build-
ing of the temples in these latter
days, but always there was privation
and real hardship. Temporary
pleasures and luxuries they could not
have — but poor as they were, they
could build for a, future happiness
that would be everlasting.
One of the men who worked on
the St. George Temple, for instance,
Nauvoo from an early print. Mississippi River in foreground.
~]
moved to Southern Utah and settled
the town of Virgin late in December
1862. He made a dugout for his
home and lived in it while he built
the first houses in Virgin. He also
built a loom to weave cloth and made
caskets. By 1871 he had built him-
self and his family a home and had
made a large rocking chair and three
common chairs with canvas seats for
that home. The timber for those
chairs he brought from Zion's Can-
yon. All the tools he had to make
the chairs were his pocketknife and
his drawing knife. In 1876 he spent
most of his time doing carpenter work
on the St. George Temple donation.1
Without even the comforts of a
home, these men and women made
their donations to the temples
wherever they were built. As one
writer stated about the building of
the Salt Lake Temple, so it was true
for all temples:
"As a people, old and young, rich
and poor, high and low, they with-
held not of their substance that was
required to attain the desired end."2
June 18, 1835, the Prophet Joseph
Smith recorded in his History of the
Church: "Nine-hundred and fifty
dollars were subscribed for the tem-
ple, by the Saints in Kirtland. Great
anxiety was manifested to roll on the
work."3
They worked in good weather and
bad, so anxious were they to com-
plete the "House of the Lord." Even
the Prophet marveled at the faith of
the Saints, for he wrote of one' of
them, "He is still continuing the work,
notwithstanding the inclemency of
the weather."4
The growing worth of temples to
the Saints can be ascertained by the
materials that were used in them.
The Kirtland Temple was built of
plaster and hard finish — "commenced
on the 2nd of November, 1835, and
finished this day [January 8, 1836]. "5
As they learned the importance of
temple work, they built for the perpe-
tuity of the edifices. The Saints
wished the buildings to take on the
permanence of the covenants they
represented. As a tribute to their
foresight the Kirtland Temple still
stands; the stones quarried for the
Nauvoo Temple are extant; and the
other temples are in almost daily use
236
Weart Throbs of the West, Vol. 12, pp. 397-8.
2The Contributor, Vol. 14, p. 282.
sHistory of the Church, Joseph Smith, Vol. 2, p. 234.
*Idem, p. 363.
Hdem, p. 363.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
— a testimony to the faith of those
who built them at great sacrifice to
themselves.
Each of the temples has called for
special qualities from those who
labored to build them. Before the
black volcanic rock could be obtained
to drive down with heavy pile drivers
to make the bottom hard enough to
sustain the superstructure of the St.
George Temple, a road had to be
built along the ridge at the cost of
between three and four thousand dol-
lars. Then since the rock was in
large boulders, it had to be quarried
with drills, slips, and wedges. Thus
the project was an expensive one —
but one that the Church members
would not willingly forego, since the
blessings would far outweigh the
hardships.
The contributions were "in kind":
that is, they were what the people
had. Eggs laid on Sunday in Manti
and the other Sanpete Stake towns
were called "temple eggs" and were
donated for that purpose. In Manti
the women aided by carding wool,
making homespun cloth, homemade
quilts, shirts, trousers, socks, hats,
and gloves. They churned butter
and made cheese which they donated
for the building fund. Their hus-
bands gave labor as well as making
cash contributions. The president of
the stake gave $10,000 as well as
contributing a $1000 picture which
still hangs in the Manti Temple. The
pay was also in kind, the workmen
receiving these things to sustain life
while they donated their services to
the erection of the temples. Those
who had anything at all gave to in-
sure the erection of the temples.
The Manti Temple posed its
Night view of the Salt Lake Temple, with the Capitol dome in the distance.
problem also, for as is recorded in
their stake history:
"On the 19th [November 1877]
four elders visited Manti and ex-
amined the site for the temple and
the work done and in progress there-
on. While there they witnessed the
explosion of a blast of 375 pounds of
powder, which was placed in the form
of a T, 20 feet in the mountain, to
prepare the site for the temple, the
face of the rock and earth before the
blast being 22 feet perpendicular.
When the explosion took place, it
lifted the body of the earth about
twelve feet and flung it in fragments
upon the plateau, leaving about 3000
yards ready to be loaded into
"6
Interior view of the Kirtland Temple.
APRIL 1953
wagons
In addition the question of getting
water for the Manti Temple pre-
sented a problem: "... it would be
necessary to get the piping to carry
the water onto the temple ground,
which would cost from $2500 to
$3000. It would take an earnest effort
to gather this means. * * * A constant
stream of men and means should be
flowing toward the temple."
It was difficult in Manti also since
the place was subject to cloudbursts,
and the floods were devastating in
their intensity, often leaving mud,
rock, and debris in their wake.
The building of the Logan Temple
had necessitated much work also. As
the stake reports [Oct. 28, 1877] :
8Unpublished, Church Historian's Office.
"The erection of the temple, the
completion of the tabernacle, and the
erection of the woolen factory engages
our attention at present and will
doubtless do so until their final com-
pletion. The work upon the Logan
Temple has progressed thus far as
well as the most sanguine could ex-
pect under the circumstances. The
north extension is about ready for the
roof, and the side walls of the temple
are above the ground, the immense
thickness of the walls at the founda-
tion requiring a great amount of rock
and mortar. A sawmill will soon be
running for the purpose of sawing
lumber for the temple, and prepara-
tions are being made to quarry and
haul rock during the winter, and
from the appearance of arrangements
the work in all its departments, so far
as practicable, will be vigorously
pushed during the winter months. It
is very gratifying to a person in-
terested in the great work of the last
days to see the alacrity with which the
people take hold of the labor in ques-
tion, and to witness the union that is
manifested in that direction.* * *
"On or about the first of March
1886, rumors reached those in this
city that the sawmill known as the
Temple Mill was burned. It was not
thought safe, however, to send any-
one to investigate on account of snow-
slides, until recently, when two men
were sent up the canyon to ascertain
(Continued from page 264)
237
(C. ..All Over This Land of Joseph:. ."
By Albert L. Zobell, Jr.
RESEARCH EDITOR, THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
... a thousand years will be devoted to this
work of redemption; and temples will appear all
over this land of Joseph — North and South
America — and also* in Europe and elsewhere. . . .
(J. D. 19:229-230, September 16, 1877.)
I uilt on an eminence commanding a view of the
!H Pacific Ocean is the Hawaiian Temple of the
Church. This temple is primarily for the Poly-
nesian members — some of whom save for a lifetime for
the privilege of coming to the island of Oahu, and enter-
ing the house of the Lord, there to take upon themselves
the ordinances and the blessings which are theirs in the
temple.
President Goerge Q. Cannon who as a young man in
1850 was one of those privileged to open up Hawaii
for the gospel message, returned in 1900, for the golden
jubilee of that event. At that time he told congrega-
tions at both Laie and Honolulu that the time would
soon come when they, in the islands, would have a
temple in which to perform the ordinances necessary
for the salvation of the living and of the dead.
President Joseph F. Smith, himself an early mission-
ary to Hawaii, accompanied by Elder Reed Smoot of the
Council of the Twelve and Presiding Bishop Charles
Williard L. Smith, President
of the Canadian Temple.
238
Ralph E. Woolley, President
of the Hawaiian Temple.
W. Nibley, visited that mission in 1915, and while there,
June 1, 1915, President Smith selected a temple site,
some thirty- two miles north of Honolulu, on the Laie
plantation, which the Church had purchased in 1865.
The Polynesian Saints did much of the construction
work. The building is of concrete made from the crushed
lava rock of the area. It is built in the shape of a
Grecian cross, and measures 102 feet from east to west
and 78 feet from north to south. It rises to a height of
50 feet.
President Heber J. Grant dedicated the building on
Thanksgiving day, November 27, 1919. He is the only
elder who has been privileged to dedicate three Latter-
day Saint temples, and by coincidence, these three,
Hawaiian, Alberta, and Arizona, are the only three which
have been erected without towers.
The accompanying grounds are beautifully landscaped
with tropical vegetation and with appropriate figures
cast in metal and stone.
Laie, the temple-crowned city in Hawaii, before the
coming of the white man, was a place of refuge where
the natives could retire in time of danger. Since the
building of the temple, Laie has become a place of
spiritual refuge.
One of the first sites to be designated by the Latter-
day Saint pioneers of western Canada that summer
of 1887 was an eight- acre tabernacle square which was
given to the Church by President Charles Ora Card,
the colony's leader. The prairie-land community on Lees
Creek, just south of the surveyed boundary of the Blood
Indian reservation, soon came to be known as Cardston.
On July 27, 1913, President Joseph F. Smith dedicated
this square as a temple site, the first to be built outside
of the United States. Ground was broken that November
9, and on September 19, 1915, Elder David O. McKay of
the Council of the Twelve directed the cornerstone cere-
monies. President Heber J. Grant dedicated the com-
pleted temple August 26, 1923.
As one approaches the town of Cardston from any
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
direction, the large, white straight lines of the temple,
which is built upon a rise of ground, are the first things
that attract the eye. The building is constructed of a
light gray granite from the quarries at Nelson, British
Columbia. It is built in a Maltese cross design, and is
118 feet square.
The double approach from the west leads up broad
granite steps toward large ornamental steel gates. An
outside fish pond, about 12 x 30 feet, between these two
approaches, is fed by a stream of water falling from a
solid granite wall. On this wall is an artistic frieze of
cast concrete depicting the Savior offering the woman of
Samaria living water as he greets her at the well. (See
John 4.)
Knowing the purpose of this and the other temples of
the Church, one contemplates again the words written
by the late Elder Orson F. Whitney of the Council of the
Twelve:
Hearts must be pure to come within these walls
Where spreads a feast unknown to festive halls
Freely partake, for freely God has given
And taste the holy joys that tell of heaven.
Here learn of him who triumphed o'er the grave,
And unto men the keys the kingdom gave;
Joined here by powers that past and present bind
The living and the dead perfection find.
Tn Arizona's Valley of the Sun, at Mesa, stands the
Arizona Temple, in an area first noted by Church
members as they marched west with the Mormon Battalion
in 1846, as part of the armed forces of the Mexican War.
It wasn't until the late seventies, however, that the care-
fully worked-out Church colonization program planted
a colony in this fertile but arid, area.
The temple site was dedicated on November 28, 1921,
by President Heber J. Grant. Ground was broken April
25, 1922, and the structure was finished in 1927. It is
estimated that over two hundred thousand tourists and
friends of the Church were conducted through this
temple between the time of its completion and its dedi-
cation, a practice long followed by the Church with a
new temple. President Grant dedicated the Arizona
Temple, October 23, 1927.
The building is reinforced concrete. The north to
* President Payne died March 8, 1953.
south walls are each 128 feet long and the east to west
walls, 184 feet. The foundation of the main building is
12 feet 6 inches thick and the walls, 3 feet 11 inches in
thickness. In excess of one hundred thirty tons of steel
were used to reinforce the concrete. The outside wall is
faced with a glazed, cream-colored, "pulsichrome terra
cotta" tile. At the four corners of the temple, in the
frieze portion of the cornice, are sculptured panels de-
picting the gathering of Israel from all nations in this
dispensation.
The height of the building is 55 feet. ' The structure
is surrounded by a terrace built up four feet high, which
together with the one -story temple annex, gives the
building a terraced appearance similar to the temple of
Herod. The building is located in the center of a twenty-
acre tract, which is beautifully landscaped with the
striking vegetation that that climate affords, including
rare citrus trees and cacti.
Long called the Lamanite Temple because of its close
proximity to the homes of several Indian tribes, since
1946 it has become the scene of the annual temple ex-
cursion of the Spanish speaking members of the Church.
Tt was in March 1937 that the First Presidency stated
that the Church was contemplating the erection of a
temple in Idaho. Soon the announcement followed that
the site had been selected adjacent to the Idaho Falls
L.D.S. Hospital, near the banks of the Snake River. Here
(Concluded on page 265)
William L. Killpack, President
of the Idaho Falls Temple.
Harry L. Payne,* President
of the Arizona Temple.
APRIL 1953
239
Sites for Temples
^Several temple sites have been
selected by the Church where
the structures are yet to be
built.
And thus saith the Lord your God, if you
will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold,
the place which is now called Independence
is the center place; and a spot for the tem-
ple is lying westward, upon a lot which
is not far from the court-house. (D. & C.
57:3.)
Obedient to this revelation, the fol-
lowing month, August 1831, the
Prophet Joseph Smith
proceeded to dedicate the spot for the Tem-
ple, a little west of Independence, and there
were also present Sidney Rigdon, Edward
Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Oliver Cowdery,
Martin Harris and Joseph Coe.
The 87th Psalm was read. . . .
The scene was solemn and impressive.
(D. H. C. 1:199.)
:s»i«
Sites for Temples: Above, Far West,
Missouri; left, Oakland, California; right,
first temple site selected in Europe at
Berne, Switzerland.
But persecution was already an old
story for the restored Church. The
first temple was built at Kirtland,
Ohio, and not Independence. But
this temple in Jackson County, Mis-
souri, will someday be reared, to be-
come the center place of Zion.
A temple site at Far West, Caldwell
County, Missouri, was designated by
revelation (see D. & C. 115) in April
1838. On July 4, 1838, the corner-
stones were laid with solemn and im-
pressive ceremony. Four days later
the Prophet received the revelation
for the Twelve to
take leave of my saints in the city of Far
West, on the twenty-sixth day of April
next, on the building-spot of my house,
saith the Lord. (D. & C. 118:5.)
Enemies of the Church declared
that here was one revelation of Joseph
Smith that would fail. The Twelve
were scattered, and Far West was in
the hands of bitter apostates, who
threatened to kill any of the Twelve
who came. But at one o'clock in the
morning of the designated day, seven
of the Twelve Apostles held a con-
ference on that temple site, and the
master workman re-commenced lay-
ing the foundation of the Lord's
House. Special business was trans-
acted by the conference, including the
ordination of Elders Wilford Wood-
ruff and George A. Smith as apostles.
At the general conference, April 4,
1943, President Heber J. Grant an-
nounced that the Church had
acquired a temple site in Oakland,
California. This temple will serve
the Saints in the fast-growing stake
and mission area of northern Cali-
fornia. The site has been described
Temple site at Independence, Missouri.
as "at the foot of the Oakland hills
overlooking the bay area. . . . The
Golden Gate is directly west of the
temple site." Easy access to this tem-
ple will be had from San Francisco,
Oakland, and the other cities of the
bay area.
One of the purposes of President
David O. McKay's European visit
during the summer of 1952 was the
selection of a temple site to serve the
Church members of the Old World.
This was done at Berne, Switzerland.
In the words of President McKay the
location is "in an area just now be-
ing subdivided and built up within
the city limits of Berne. The three
and one-half acres is on high ground,
just at the end of a streetcar line in
the southeast section of the city, just
a short distance from a main high-
way."
IPllflll
240
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
SAIT LAKE TEMPLE INTERIORS
Top: Celestial Room
Bottom: Terrestrial Room
— Photos by D. F. Davis.
— Copyright 1937 by Heber J. Grant, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reproduction in full or in part expressly prohibited.
APRIL 1953
241
Salt lake Temple Interiors, continued
Two Views of the Main Assembly Room
— Copyright 1937 by Heber ]. Grant, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of fesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reproduction in full or in part expressly prohibited.
242
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Top: Sealing Room for the Dead.
Bottom: The Baptistry.
—Copyright 1937 by Heber J. Grant, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reproduction in full or in part expressly prohibited.
APRIL 1953
243
Salt lake Temple Interiors, continued
Top: Council Room of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve,
Center: The Garden Room.
Bottom: The Archives, Temple Annex.
244
— Copyright 1937 by Heber ]. Grant, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reproduction in full or in part expressly prohibited.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
U&cJkSIMj;
feed leaf-Packed hay the forkless way
The camera moved up close to give you this Holstein's-eye
view of nutritious roll-baled hay.
See how the leaves are roll-pressed and stems are flattened.
Packed with protein and carotene, they approach the feeding
value of a concentrate feed. Three tons of early-cut, roll-
baled alfalfa can equal a ton of protein meal — plus a ton of
ground ear corn or grain.
Sure you can make choice hay like this . • , t with a
home-owned ROTO-BALER. Be ready to move . . . fast
... before hay is over-exposed to sun, dew, or rain.
Rolled bales are weather-resistant. You can feed
them whole, on the open range or in a feed rack. They're
self-feeding. Hay is dispensed layer by layer without
waste.
Be weather-wise. Store plenty of rolled bales and
you'll never be caught short on feed. Feed hay the
forkless way — roll-baled — with the leaves rolled-in!
:::: ,.,-,:■.■■■.: . .
three tons of self'feeding
Rolled Bales can equal
two tons of ground feed
ROTO-BALE
ALUS CHALMERS
■ TRACTOR DIVISION
MILWAUKEE 1. U. S. A
ROTO-BALER is an Allis-Chalmers irademarK.
The ROTO-BALER handles a wide, double windrow,
cuts driving distance in half.
APRIL 1953
245
Salt lake Temple Interiors,
Continued
Top: The World Room (Looking West)
Center: The World Room (Looking East)
Bottom: Lower Lecture Room
246
-Copyright 1937 by Heber ]. Grant, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reproduction in full or in part expressly prohibited.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
YOUR
BEGINS THE MOMENT
YOU STEP ABOARD!
More than just "a way to get there," a trip
on a Union Pacific train adds to the pleasure
of your excursion.
Leave all cares behind . . . take your choice
of modern accommodations . . . rest as you
ride in air-conditioned comfort.
Through your window, watch a continually
changing panorama unfold. When you feel
like stretching your legs, stroll around — or
enjoy the congenial atmosphere and hos*
pitality in the lounge car.
Visit the diner, where famous Union Pacific
"meals that appeal" are courteously and at-
tentively served. You will enjoy our fea-
tured item for April — Baked Ham, with
spiced wine-and-fruit sauce. Delicious!
Yes, on your next trip — for fine food, fine
trains, fine service — for extra fun, the
moment you step aboard — go Union Pacific,
For details and reservations see your near-
est Union Pacific Railroad ticket agent.
For Dependable Passenger and Freight Transportation Be Specific - - - SAY
APRIL 1953
UNION PACIFIC
247
Salt Lake Temple Interiors,
(Continued
*X.
mm
Top: Council Room of the Twelve Apostles.
Bottom: Assembly Room in the Temple Annex.
-Copyright 1937 by Heber ]. Grant, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reproduction in full or in part expressly prohibited.
248
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
SPECIAL CONFERENCES,
CLINICS, WORKSHOPS
School Building Program
A carefully prepared section on the con-
struction of school buildings for school
administrators, school board members,
architects and other interested persons,
which will feature Dr. Paul W, Seagers,
School Building consultant of Indiana
University. Dr. Seagers is nationally rec-
ognized as a school building consultant.
Radio-Television Workshop
A special workshop in the use of radio
and television in secondary and elementary
courses. It is open to all interested per-
sons, but is geared to those teaching this
age group. I. Keith Tyler Home of
Ohio State University and Edna L. Sterling
from Seattle, Washington will appear as
guest speakers during the sessions.
Speech-Hearing Clinic
A special workshop of interest to all
teachers, particularly those in counseling,
speech and hearing. Dr. Jon Eisenson, dir-
ector of Speech at Green's College, New
York; Mrs, Gee, State Office; Dr. Boyd
Sheets and Burnett Anderson of the Un-
iversity of Utah will participate in the
workshop.
Conservation Courses
Two classes in conservation of natural
resources will be taught under the subjects
soils and botany, offering a total of 6
hours of college credit which can be
applied toward a degree. With great accent
now being placed on conservation, these
courses will eminently prepare teachers
for effective classes.
om£& # 4eeK€6 vteui.
f *>
GMm, &
point-of-view
It is our point of view that school teachers need and deserve more than grad-
uate class room activity as a vacation from their home rooms across the state.
At Brigham Young University we endeavor to provide not only a strong
academic program, but complete relaxation from the cares of the work-a-
day world in order that teachers may get the most from a summer of
graduate study.
Our thrilling natural setting in the Wasatch Range provides a perfect study
scene. Activities such as assemblies, dances and parties, plus the recrea-
tional facilities of the West's most modern fieldhouse along with the world-
famous events listed below, help demonstrate our Point of View toward a
teacher's graduate education.
LEADERSHIP
WEEK
MUSIC
FESTIVAL
TIMPANOGOS
HIKE
Leadership Week at the University has become a tradition throughout
the west. During this annual event men and women of all ages, vo-
cations, and educational backgrounds are invited to enjoy the facil-
ities and services of the campus. Leaders of church, state and edu-
cation are daily lecturers in religious and other fields.
The fifteenth annual Music Festival will bring to the campus many
great musicians and artists who will serve dually in concert and in
the classroom. The world famous Paganim Quartet will again appear
as a special feature of the festival. The frequent concerts by the
Quartet and others will provide a delightful musical summer
Here is an opportunity for mountaineers or plainsmen to participate
in one of the country's most popular and thrilling hikes This famous
hike to the top of 12,000 ft. Mt. Timpanogos is scheduled July 17
and 18. The conquering of the peak and the slide down America's
southernmost glacier are experiences always to be remembered.
FIRST TERM: June 15- July 17
SECOND TERM: July 20 - Aug. 21
FREE CATALOG: Write Dean of Summer School
Brigham Young University
P R O V O
UTAH
APRIL 1953
249
The Stick of JUDAH
and the
Stick of JOSEPH
Part IV
by Hugh Nibley, Ph.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, HISTORY AND RELIGION,
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
The sticks around which the scrolls
of the law were rolled were always
regarded as holy and treated as
scepters.106 It will be recalled that
nearly all commentators point out
that the sticks of Ezekiel are in some
way or other scepters. The scrolls of
the Law were used by the kings of
Judah as other kings used scepters,
being "kept near his throne and car-
ried into battle."107 "The scroll it-
self," we are told, "is girded with a
strip of silk and robed in a Mantle
of the Law," while the wooden rod
had a crown on its upper end, like
the mace or scepter of a king. "Some
scrolls," says the Jewish Encyclopedia,
"have two crowns, one for each upper
end."107 These honors show the
Jewish scrolls of the Law are the same
given to the royal herald's-staff or
scepter in other parts of the world.
"At the feast of the Oschophoria," at
Athens, for example, "the herald's
staff was crowned with garlands, but
not the herald himself."108 As in the
ancient North, "the staff was a wil-
low bough always cut from a living
tree, and was never allowed to wither
or dry up" — which exactly recalls the
blossoming rod of Aaron, which
withered when Israel fell from
grace.108 Among our Norse ancestors
this rod was taken from place to
place, and at each place to which it
went, a roll-call was taken and a
notch cut on the rod, which was the
king's own staff. "The king was
represented by the bailiff of the Hun-
dred carrying a ward-staff. It was
the staff (not the bailiff) which repre-
sented majesty and received the
honours."108
The peculiar honors bestowed upon
the sticks of the Jewish Law -scrolls
show by their nature that the sticks
themselves were regarded originally
as the bearers of the law. But once
parchment had been rolled around
these sticks (and the antiquity of this
custom may be surmised from the
fact that all official scrolls of the Law
should be on the skin of wild
beasts),109 could they still be brought
together like tallies to make one stick?
The accompanying illustration shows
an actual application of this idea:
to an edict of the Empress Wu, her
successor, the Emperor Tai Tsung
(763-779 A.D.) wished to add a sup-
plement of his own, incorporating it
in the original law. The two rolls,
each with one stick in it, are here
seen placed side by side and bound
The two rolls, each with one stick in it,
are here seen placed side by side and bound
together as one by a silken cloth, just as
the roll of the Jewish Law with its two
sticks is "girded with a strip of silk."
(After J. Lechler, Vom Hakenkreuz
[Leipzig, 1934], p. 74.)
together as one by a silken cloth, just
as the roll of the Jewish Law with its
two sticks is "girded with a strip of
silk" when it is rolled up to be put
into the tabernacle.110 There are
two rolls having different designs
on them and of different colors, show-
ing that originally the scrolls do not
have two sticks to them, but only
one apiece.110 This suggests the
origin of the scroll in the single mes-
sage-stick with the message-scroll
wrapped around it, as well as the
probability that in Ezekiel's day the
scrolls were still of the primitive one-
shaft variety. That the scroll-sticks
of the Greeks and Romans were de-
rived from message-arrows is indi-
cated by a number of things. Instead
of having convenient handles at the
bottom and smooth knobs at the
top, the roll-sticks had points at both
ends which made them resemble the
well-known double-headed thunder-
bolt, the scepter of Zeus and the best-
known of all rods of office.111 That the
resemblance is not accidental appears
not only in the impractical arrange-
ment of the thing and the identifica-
tion of scroll -rods with scepters, but
likewise in the name given to the
points, koronis, Latin, cornua, usually
explained as referring to the shape
of the sharpened ends. But these do
not resemble horns, and the name
probably has the same origin as that
of the little arrow-marks often used
in the marking of scrolls by their
makers, called ceraunia, "little thun-
derbolts."111
We have seen that the heroes of
Israel identified themselves as emis-
saries of the Most High by bearing
his rod before the eyes of those to
whom they were sent, Jew or Gen-
tile. In this connection the rod is
also interchangeable with the scroll,
for in the Middle Ages every Jew was
required by Jewish law to carry a
scroll of the Law with him at all
(Continued on page 267)
%■:*&?> :
**,
250
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
It is difficult to write a definition of the American way.
But it is easy to find good examples. Here is one:
Every day 7,423 more
mouths to feed
"Who will help me harvest my grain?" asked the farmer.
"Not I," said the hired man. "They need me at the
defense plant and in the service."
"Then I'll do it myself," said the American farmer.
And he did.
Last year the American farmer produced about 40%
more livestock, vegetables, cotton, grain, milk than he did
pre-war. And he did it with only 1% more land and 17%
fewer man-hours. When you witness a productivity in-
crease like that, you can guess electricity has been at work.
When the hired man left, the farmer called for more
electricity and farm machinery. And he got them — at an
incredible rate. In the past ten years his use of electricity
has increased nearly 500%. Today American farms use
twice as much mechanical and electrical horsepower as
all manufacturing combined.
In jobs like pitching hay, pumping water, grinding
feed, one electric horsepower is equal to the work of
22 strong men. That means that with electricity and auto-
matic feed handling, a one-man farm can handle 20 or
30 cows. It means that where, eighty-two years ago, it took
four farm families to feed a city family, today one farm
family can feed and clothe itself and 15 other families
besides.
People who nick at the American system imply that we
in this country can use successful methods because we
are rich. We prefer to think that the successful methods
came first. Research, engineering and manufacturing skill
produced modern farm machinery, pesticides, chemical
fertilizers, electrical equipment. Such ideas and products
were tested competitively in many places. The best were
chosen; the rest discarded.
General Electric has been busy passing ideas and prod-
ucts along to the farmer to test for more than 25 years —
how to motorize his pumping, dry his hay electrically,
warm chicks with electricity, how to get his wife's elbows
out of the washtub. Someone figured out that more than
400 different farm jobs can now be done electrically, which
means better living for the farmer as well as better business.
This story has a happy ending for all of us. Tonight
there will be 7,423 more mouths at the American dinner
table than last night. In spite of Malthus, there need be no
empty plates.
oa cwi/mz y#at
GENERAL
ELECTRIC
APRIL 1953
251
HISTORIC FORT LARAMIE
THE HUB OF EARLY WESTERN HISTORY
by Hazel Noble Boyack
Conclusion
Wrouti
ROUTE OF THE MORMON
PIONEERS AND PRESENT US 20,26 ° jg 20 4
Scale of Miles
tHI
O L 0\R A D O
SYNOPSIS
Fort Laramie — one of the great landmarks of the Old West! How it gave
succor and hope, first to the trappers and then to the early settlers who passed
its way en route to make homes in California, in Oregon, and in the valleys of
the mountained west! That was told last month. This is the concluding chapter
of that part of western history.
The year 1850 witnessed an even
greater mgiration of people. Fifty-
five thousand travelers signed their
names to the fort's register. The
Latter-day Saint influx to Utah was
estimated at five thousand. Towns
and cities sprang up mushroom-like
along the California and Oregon
coasts and in the mountain valleys
of Utah. With this rapid growth in
the commonwealth came a variety of
business opportunities, chief of which
was overland freighting. The color-
ful trio of Russell, Majors, and Wad-
dell organized their gigantic freight-
ing firm during this period and made
transportation history. The broad-
wheeled, heavily-laden wagons, con-
stantly churned the dust along the
old trail past the fort.
Simultaneously, another interesting
figure by the name of Ben Holladay
entered the picture. Gifted with a
genius for organization and showman-
ship, he became the West's greatest
transportation king. A partnership
was formed with Theodore Warner,
a leading merchant of Weston, Mis-
252
souri, and together they started a
freighting venture to the settlements
in Utah. In 1849 they made up a
caravan of fifty wagons loaded with
seventy thousand dollars worth of
merchandise. Mr. Holladay carried
a letter of recommendation to Presi-
dent Brigham Young. In a confer-
ence assembled in Salt Lake City in
1849, President Young announced the
expected arrival of Mr. Holladay with
his load of goods. It was a much ap-
preciated gesture of friendship, and
the entire stock of merchandise was
soon sold at a fine profit. A similar
venture was undertaken in 1850 ex-
cept that the wagon trains carried
one hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars worth of goods into the valley,
and again Mr. Holladay successfully
disposed of the entire stock. At the
height of his fame in transportation,
Mr. Holladay hired fifteen thousand
men, had twenty thousand wagons
and one hundred and fifty thousand
animals for transporting one hundred
million pounds of freight between the
broad Missouri and the Rocky Moun-
tains. Fort Laramie was an im-
portant halfway station for the
freighting industry. Here blacksmith-
ing facilities were available, and jaded
oxen were turned out to feast on the
lush grasses. Clerks were stationed
here to receive monies and check on
merchandise booked for many points
west. A veteran of this busy era re-
marked: "It is doubtful if there is
another section on the face of the
globe over which passed so much
traffic by ox, horse, and mule teams
as passed by Fort Laramie during
those early years when the West was
being settled."
A difficult problem was posing
itself for the western-bound emigrant
— the justifiable indignation of the
Indian at the invasion of his domain
— and Congress was compelled to act
in the matter. A sum of one hundred
thousand dollars was set aside for a
great peace parley with the Indians
in September 1851, and Fort Laramie
was the site chosen for the event.
Ten thousand gaily-bedecked Indians
arrived for the event. The horses of
so vast a number could not long be
sustained in the vicinity of the fort,
so the scene was moved to Horse
Creek, some thirty- six miles to the
southeast. Here a treaty of peace was
drawn up and signed by the twenty -
one chiefs present. The Indians were
to be compensated for the tightly
cropped grass along the route of the
Oregon Trail and for the many
buffalo slaughtered for food and
sport. The government promised to
pay an annuity of fifty thousand dol-
lars for fifty years. Presents were
distributed, the council disbanded,
and the tribes went their way. Pros-
pects for peace did indeed look bright,
but peace was not to endure for
long.
During the years from 1850 to
1855 an estimated 155,000 persons
trekked past Fort Laramie. During the
spring, summer, and early autumn,
there was an almost unbroken chain
of migration. To undertake this
western journey with slow-moving
oxen required a stout and courageous
heart. The accumulated fears of ill-
ness, choking dust, heat, mirages,
treacherous rivers, and always the ap-
prehension of Indian difficulties did
not deter them. The trail tested the
mettle of everyone. All the good and
bad qualities of human nature are
forced to the surface under the stimuli
{Continued on page 279)
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
The Bufcher,the Baker,the CandlestickMaker
They Help Produce Copper tor You
The butcher doesn't operate a churn drill at
Kennecott's Bingham Mine. The baker isn't a
crusher operator at the Magna or Arthur mill.
The candlestick maker isn't in charge of an elec-
trolytic furnace at the refinery. Yet these, repre-
sentative of hundreds of Utah businesses, help
the 5500 members of the Utah Copper family
produce the copper that means so much to every-
one in our State.
Here is the picture — for each member of the
Utah Copper family, four additional Utahns are
employed in our State, supplying Utah Copper
and the individual members of the family with
needed services and supplies. In other words, one
job at Utah Copper makes four other jobs.
It adds up to this — there are 5500 members
of the Utah Copper family, plus 22,000 employed
in other Utah industries furnishing them supplies
and services. This makes a total of 27,500 Utahns
— 13.7% of our State's 200,000 families — who
can trace their earnings directly to the successful
mining, milling and refining operations of this
pioneer Utah enterprise.
So you see — the benefits brought to us by the
continued success of Kennecott's operations result
from the direct efforts of many people — 5500
members of the Utah Copper family and 22,000
other Utahns representing nearly every activity
and industry in our State.
This inter-independence of people and jobs
is a major factor in Utah's progress and the well-
being of us all.
Utah Copper Division
KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION
?
GOOD NEIGHBOR HELPING TO BUILD
BETTER
UTAH
APRIL 1953
253
We Can Arrange Immediate
Financing for New Home
Construction or Remodeling
If it's a new home you want ... or an old home
made over for better living . . . see Tri-State
for ideas, modern materials and prompt financ-
ing. We will be happy to enter into your plans
. . . suggesting ways and means to accomplish
the most for your building dollars. Materials
are the finest and the widest in variety . . . and
as a final step, we will be happy to arrange
for financing on low, monthly terms.
mm
PLAN
HOME BUILDERS
SERVICE
Includes scores of plans,
blueprints and specifica-
tions for modern homes
obtainable at very moder-
ate costs. Ideas, too, on all
types of modernizing, dec-
orating and yard improve-
ments.
See the Tri-State store in your community
Ancient Temples and Their Uses
(Continued from page 231)
worship of a god and those confined to
the worship of a dead king. The latter
are usually called mortuary temples.7
Ritual in Egyptian temples is de-
scribed by Miss Margaret Murray as
follows :
The daily ritual in a temple varied little
from one temple to another, except in the
few details which differentiated the lives of
gods or goddesses. It was practically the
same as that of their fellow-deity, the
Pharaoh. The god was roused in the morn-
ing by the singing of a hymn of praise;
then followed his morning toilet, the per-
fuming with incense or other scents, the
decking with robes and crowns; after which
came the first meal of the day, in other
words the morning sacrifice. That finished,
the god was brought out with chants and
hymns into the main part of the temple
to transact business by receiving petitions,
giving judgment in difficult cases, receiving
and acknowledging offerings; in the after-
noon he retired to his private apartments,
where he either rested or was entertained
with music and dancing girls; in the eve-
ning he appeared again and had his evening
meal (the evening sacrifice), then retired
for the night, the robes and crown were
removed, incense was burnt before him, the
evening hmyn was sung, the shrine doors
were shut upon him, and he was left to
pass the night in peace.
On certain special festivals the god was
carried out in procession. On these occa-
sions it was not unusual to carry the image
of the god to some place where there was
a dispute over land which the deity had
been asked to settle. The god could thus
have the opportunity of viewing the dis-
puted property and would be enabled to
give a more reasoned decision.8
Abraham tells us that the earliest
Egyptian Pharaoh was a good man
who attempted to imitate the true
order of priesthood. Here is Abra-
ham's account:
Now the first government of Egypt was
established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of
Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was
after the manner of the government of Ham,
which was patriarchal.
Pharaoh, being a righteous man, estab-
lished his kingdom and judged his people
wisely and justly all his days, seeking
earnestly to imitate that order established
by the fathers in the first generations, in
the days of the first patriarchal reign, even
in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah,
his father, who blessed him with the bless-
ings of the earth, and with the blessings
of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to
the Priesthood.
Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by
which he could not have the right of Priest-
hood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would
(Continued on page 256)
254
7A good popular description of Egyptian temples
will be found in Margaret Murray's The Splendour
That Was Egypt; also, her Egyptian Temples.
'Ibid., pp. 183, 184.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Xr
mumt
OF ENDURING BEAUTY
fBBO&x&M&M ' " "",<"™"1""1"1
A new LDS Temple will soon rise above the Los Angeles
landscape ... a symbol of the growing importance of the
Church on the West Coast ... a great new mecca for Church
workers from the entire area.
Church architect, Edward O. Anderson, in counsel with many
Specialists, selected for this inspiring building a material of
sparkling beauty and ageless durability— ARCHITECTURAL CAST
STONE with Mo-Sai finish. This product is manufactured by
Otto Buehner & Company and will coyer the entire facing,
including the steeple and the ornamental grill work. The 7'xfcV
Buehner stone units will be made of quartz aggregate set in a
warm-toned matrix to produce this material of enduring beauty.
■'vjf»f*,r' '
•" n j •'i^wiiPi'^fan
t- .* '"x
en in Concrete for over half a centum
4 0 WILMINGTON AVE. SALT LAKE CITY, U J A-
..'A: «;fc_. _..■-.........."■..- _._ .'■'■■>.'...._ . ...
APRIL 1953
255
plan your kitchen
this NEW, sure way!
Now you can have fun planning
your kitchen with our marvelous
new Curtis Kitchen Planning Kit!
You can fit miniature Curtis cabi-
nets right into a little room that's
scaled to the size of your kitchen —
choosing exactly the combinations
that fit your needs and your budget.
Stop in and use our Curtis
Kitchen Planning Kit— let it help
make your new kitchen more
charming and more convenient!
There's no obligation!
UURTlS
WOODWORK
MORRISON-MERRILL & CO.
BUILDING MATERIAL DISTRIBUTORS
205 NORTH 3rd WEST • SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Boise, Twin Falls, Pocatello, Idaho, Reno, Nevada
ANCIENT TEMPLES AND THEIR USES
NOTICE
WE SPECIALIZE IN OLD AND
OUT OF PRINT L.D.S. PUBLI-
CATIONS. IF YOU ARE DE-
SIROUS OF OBTAINING OR
SELLING, PLEASE SUBMIT
YOUR LISTS TO . . .
ZION'S BOOKSTORE
65 East 2nd South
SALT LAKE CITY 1, UTAH
Phone 4-3465
(Continued from, page 254)
fain claim it from Noah, through Ham,
therefore my father was led away by their
idolatry; . . .9
It is possible that in the temples
built by the early Pharaohs, attempts
were also made to imitate the holy
endowments, but of this we have lit-
tle or no certain knowledge as yet.
It would be interesting to study the
temples of other ancient peoples, if
the scope of this article permitted:
the Babylonian temple, with its
zikurat (ziggurat) construction of
stage towers; the Greek temple, with
its chaste beauty; and the Middle
American temple, with its close
parallels to the Babylonian type. Our
interest here is mainly in temples or
sacred structures in which we are sure
the true priesthood played a part.
This narrows us pretty much to those
of the ancient Hebrews.
Let us now look at the Hebrew
Tabernacle, which was constructed
in the desert and used by the Israel-
ites in that desolate land as well as
in Palestine before the building of
Solomon's Temple. The description
of the tabernacle will be found in
Exodus, Chapters 25-28 and 36-39.
When the Lord gave command that
the tabernacle should be erected, he
said, "And let them make me a
sanctuary; that I may dwell among
them."10 This statement gives the
tabernacle a more than ordinary in-
terest to us.
The attention of the reader is
called to the cuts of Dr. Baurat C.
Schick's reconstructions of the taber-
nacle and its immediate precincts.
These reconstructions will save us the
pain of long descriptions. The open
space in which the tabernacle is
shown was one hundred cubits long
and fifty cubits wide. These dimen-
sions, according to our usual units
of measurement, would be approxi-
mately one hundred fifty feet by
seventy- five feet, assuming the cubit
to be about eighteen inches. The
white linen curtain shown about the
outer court was held in position by
sixty posts with silver caps and brass
sockets. The entrance to the court
faced East, and its hangings were em-
broidered in blue, purple, and scarlet.
In the outer court will be seen (see
illustration) the altar of burnt offer-
ing, which was made of acacia or
shittim wood overlaid with brass. It
was hollow so as to facilitate its re-
moval during the journeys of the
Israelites; whenever they pitched it, it
was filled with earth, and sacrifices
were burned thereon.
The tabernacle proper (see illus-
tration) was thirty cubits long, ten
wide and ten high, which would be
equivalent to forty-five feet by fifteen
feet by fifteen feet. Its small size
may surprise many. It was divided
into two main parts, the front division
being called the Holy Place and the
back part the Holy of Holies. The
tabernacle was divided by a white
linen veil embroidered with leaves
and flowers and figures of cherubim
in blue, purple, and scarlet thread.
South of the Holy Place was stationed
a seven-branched lamp stand of gold,
and on the north side stood the table
of the shewbread made of shittim
wood overlaid with gold, containing
twelve trays, each one of which con-
tained a loaf of bread so that all the
Twelve Tribes of Israel were repre-
sented. The loaves of bread were
known as the loaves of presentation;
none but the priests and their families
were to partake of them. The ark of
the covenant, containing the two
tables of stone on which the ten
commandments were written and
Aaron's rod that budded, was placed
within the Holy of Holies. The lid
of the ark was known as the mercy
seat; over it were two cherubim with
outstretched wings. The Lord told
Moses these words:
... I will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat, from between the two cher-
ubim which are upon the ark of the testi-
mony, of all things which I will give thee
in commandment unto the children of
Israel.11
We learn from these words that
one great function of the tabernacle
was to provide a suitable place where
the great leaders of Israel could speak
to their God. Did the tabernacle
proper have other important func-
tions? That it did is implied by these
words of the Lord to the Prophet
Joseph Smith:
And again, verily I say unto you, how
shall your washings be acceptable unto me,
except ye perform them in a house which
you have built to my name?
For, this cause I commanded Moses that
he should build a tabernacle, that they
[the Hebrews] should bear it with them in
the wilderness, and to build a house in the
land of promise, that those ordinances might
"Abraham 1:25-27.
10Exodus 25:8.
vibid., 25:22.
256
(Continued on page 258)
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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ANCIENT TEMPLES AND THEIR USES
(Continued from page 256)
be revealed which had been hid from before
the world was.12
From this revelation it is obvious
that certain ordinances or endowments
for the living were given in the taber-
nacle and subsequently in the Hebrew
temples. Just how much of the holy
endowment was given the Hebrew
people under the Law of Moses we
are not in a position to say. In this
connection we should examine an-
other scripture; in another revelation
given to Joseph Smith, the Lord gave
this explanation:
David also received many wives and con-
cubines, and also Solomon and Moses my
servants, as also many others of my servants,
from the beginning of creation until this
time; and in nothing did they sin save in
those things which they received not of me.
David's wives and concubines were given
unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan,
my servant, and others of the prophets who
had the keys of this power. . . .13
These words lead one to believe,
with good reason, that keys of the
V*D. & C. 124:37-38.
™Ihid., 132:38-39.
sealing powers resided in Nathan and
other prophets by which Moses,
David, Solomon, and others had their
wives and concubines given to them
for time and all eternity. And may
we not suppose that, even as now,
the sacred rites necessary for such
marriages were conducted whenever
possible in the tabernacle or in
Solomon's Temple? Notice these
words from the mouth of Joseph
Smith:
. . . What was the object of gathering the
Jews, or the people of God in any age of
the world? . . .
The main object was to build unto the
Lord a house whereby he could reveal unto
his people the ordinances of his house and
the glories of his kingdom, and teach the
people the way of salvation; for there are
certain ordinances and principles that, when
they are taught and practised, must be done
in a place or house built for that purpose.
It was the design of the councils of heaven
before the world was, that the principles
and laws of the priesthood should be pred-
icated upon the gathering of the people
in every age of the world. Jesus did every-
thing to gather the people, and they would
not be gathered, and he therefore poured
out curses upon them. Ordinances instituted
in the heavens before the foundation of
the world, in the priesthood, for the salva-
tion of men, are not to be altered or
changed. All must be saved on the same
principles.14
That the faithful in Israel from the
days of Moses to the time of Solomon
received important endowments in
the tabernacle, there can be little
doubt. The tabernacle was used for
holy ordinances until the people were
in a position to construct a beauti-
ful temple to the Lord.
Now let us turn our attention to
Solomon's Temple. We need say
little concerning the ordinances car-
ried on in this and succeeding temples
in Israel. They were apparently the
same as those performed in the taber-
nacle. The temple of Solomon was
evidently constructed on the same
general model as the tabernacle, but
in every part its dimensions were
about twice as great. In modern
units its dimensions would be about
ninety feet long, thirty feet broad,
and forty-five feet high. It will thus
"Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, pp. 307-308.
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258
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
be seen that the temple of Solomon
was surprisingly small. Its appoint-
ments were exceedingly lavish, how-
ever, and for that reason it has been
called a "jewel."
Until recently, Dr. Schick's recon-
struction of the temple of Solomon
has held the field. (See illustration.)
This famous model is now in the
Harvard Semitic Museum. However,
a few years ago a more scientific
model was constructed when two
men, Mr. E. G. Howland of Troy,
Ohio, and Dr. Paul Leslie Garber,
professor of Bible at Agnes Scott Col-
lege, Decatur, Georgia, collaborated
in this worthy undertaking. Their
work continued over a period of four
and one-half years. They were aided
by a grant from the Carnegie Founda-
tion, and many educational institu-
tions and Bible scholars gave advice
and encouraged them in their efforts.
Their model incorporates the latest
views of scholars on the Biblical text
and makes use of pertinent archae-
ological data acquired during the last
twenty-five years. Whereas the Schick
model included both the temple and
its immediate environs, the Howland-
Garber reconstruction is restricted al-
most to the temple alone. Through
the courtesy of Mr. Howland, a pro-
fessional model maker, I am able to
present to Era readers a number of
photographs of the model which he
built.15 These illustrations can tell
the reader more at a glance than I
can impart in many paragraphs of
description. (See page 214.)
The only feature of these photos
upon which I desire to comment at
any length is the "molten sea" or
fount supported by twelve oxen. The
fount is shown in the courtyard of
the temple a little distance from the
southeast corner of it. Many Latter-
day Saints, I am sure, have always
been under the impression that this
fount was under the temple and
stood as a symbolical representation
of the fact that baptismal work for
the dead would someday take place.
That such was not the case is shown
in II Chronicles and Josephus. Notice
these words:
. . . the sea was for the priests to wash
in . . . and he [Solomon] set the sea at the
(Continued on following page)
^Readers who may be interested in a full description
of the Howland-Garber reconstruction are referred to
a brochure entitled Solomon's Temple — A Reconstruc-
tion, which may be obtained from Mr. E. G. How-
iland, 609 Michigan Ave., Troy, Ohio for a nominal
price of one dollar. See also an article by Dr. Paul
Leslie Garber entitled "A Reconstruction of Solomon's
Temple," which appeared in Archaeology, Vol 5,
Number 3 (September 1952).
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ANCIENT TEMPLES AND THEIR USES
(Continued from preceding page)
right side of the house eastward, over against
the south.16
Josephus says:
Now, he [Solomon] appointed the sea to
be for washing the hands and the feet of
the priests when they entered into the tem-
ple and were to ascend the altar; . . ,17
It is quite clear that Josephus re-
garded the fount as being outside the
temple proper.
lflII Chron. 4:6, 10; cf. I Kings 7:39.
17 Antiquities, vii. 3, 6.
In the reign of Ahaz (736-721
B.C.), the king took down the "sea"
from off the brazen oxen and put it
upon a stone pavement.18 When
Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem
in 590 B.C. (Book of Mormon chro-
nology), he broke the fount to
pieces.19
It is of additional interest to us that
scholars affirm the fact that
"seas"
18II Kings 16:17.
"Ibid., 25:13; Jeremiah 27:19-22.
9i
^Jke l^uMviit or pleasant j^astimeS
o
Richard L. Evans
ften we complain about being busy, and certainly at times
we are — too busy — sometimes at essential things and
sometimes at non-essential things. And because we are so
busy, we may sometimes wish for inactivity, even for idle-
ness; we may wish for the leisure to pursue what have come
to be called pleasant pastimes. But before we sever our-
selves from pressing assignments, before we turn away from
work, before we disengage ourselves from real responsibility,
we should take a realistic look at what are sometimes called
pleasant pastimes. There are times for all of us when leisure
is essential for rest and refreshment. And there may be
times when even the avid pursuit of pleasure may seem at-
tractive on the surface. But actually people sometimes pursue
amusement and synthetic pleasure to the point where it is
more work than work is. And sometimes it seems that a
considerable part of the people are working at relieving
the boredom of another considerable part of the people who
are bored because they aren't working. Why this great
effort anyway to pass time? As the poet said, so each of us
could say: "O time too swift! O swiftness never ceasing!"1 —
a swiftness ever swifter, at whatever age we are. And some
of the so-called pastimes and synthetic pursuits only press
us faster along a road which already we scarcely seem to
sample before we leave the years breathlessly behind. Al-
ready an appreciable part of this year has passed. From now
till next week will seem in its shortness almost as if it were
tomorrow morning. And it seems ironical that men should
so persistently pursue the so-called pastimes when time, which
is the essence of all our opportunities, is already running a
race which it always wins, without any synthetic assistance.
And as to pressure, as to being busy : It is so much better than
the opposite of being busy that we may well be grateful for
the urgency that presses us into constructive pursuits.
1George Peele, Polyhymnia, 1590.
Jhe Spoken Word FROM TEMPLE SQUARE
PRESENTED OVER KSL AND THE COLUMBIA BROADCASTING
SYSTEM, JANUARY 25, 1953
Copyright, 1953
1
I
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
were built in Babylonian temples.20
Solomon's Temple stood for several
hundred years but was finally de-
stroyed by the Babylonians under
Nebuchadnezzar.
When the Jews returned from the
Babylonian captivity, they built an-
other temple, which has been called
the second temple or Zerubbabel's
Temple. We know that the Persian
King Cyrus authorized the building
of a structure sixty cubits (90 feet)
in breadth and height,21 but the
dimensions of the several parts of the
temple are not known. In general,
however, the plan of Solomon's Tem-
ple was followed, but on a far less
lavish scale. When the foundation
was laid, the people sang and shouted,
but many of the old priests and men
who had seen Solomon's Temple wept
with loud voices when they contem-
plated the fact that the new structure
would not be as grand as the first
house.22 The second temple was
completed in the sixth year of Darius,
which was about 515 B.C. The Holy
of Holies in this sanctuary was empty,
because the ark of the covenant had
disappeared when Jerusalem was de-
stroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Not
many years after the completion of
this temple (see photo of Schick's
reconstruction), the Jews had be-
come worldly and unworthy of ad-
ministering the holy rites of the tem-
ple. The book of Malachi (1:2-2:17;
3:5-18) is a great protest against the
corruption and unworthiness of the
people. We are not in a position to
say how long the Lord was willing
to accept the ordinances performed
in the second temple following its
dedication, but it cannot have been
many years.
Herod's Temple superseded Zerub-
babel's Temple. We are indebted
to Josephus23 for full descriptions of
the structure, with which he was com-
pletely familiar. The Mishnah (part
of the Hebrew Talmud) also con-
tains descriptions of the building.
The materials for the new temple
were assembled before the second
temple was dismantled. Work on the
temple of Herod was commenced in
the eighteenth year of the king's
reign (20-19 B.C.), and the main
structure was built by priests in
about a year and a half. The cloisters
were completed in eight years, but
(Continued on following page)
2°See J. A. Montgomery in International Critical
Commentary, "Kings," p. 173.
mEzra 6:3; Josephus, Antiquities, xi. 4, 6; cf. xv.
11, 1.
22Ezra 3:10-13.
zi Antiquities, xv. 11; War v. 5.
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Ancient Temples and Their Uses
{Continued from preceding page)
the entire area of courts and build-
ings was not finished until about 64
A.D., in the procuratorship of
Albinus.24 The temple proper was
built of great blocks of white stone.
Its length and breadth were the same
as Solomon's Temple, but its height
was greater, being forty cubits (sixty
feet). It was even more lavish in its
appointments. Herod's Temple was
divided into the Holy of Holies and
the Holy Place on much the same
lines as those in the previous temples.
The Holy of Holies was empty and
was separated from the Holy Place
by means of a veil.25
One wonders to what extent those
who ministered in the temple of
Herod had proper power and author-
ity. There must have been some
good priests, even if the majority. of
them were deserving of the Savior's
denunciations. Zacharias, the father
of John the Baptist, is a good illus-
tration of such a righteous priest.26
During the great siege of Jerusalem,
in A.D. 70, the temple of Herod was
destroyed as the Savior long before
had predicted it would be.27
On the site of Herod's Temple,
A.D. 136 or thereabouts, the Emperor
Hadrian dedicated a temple (see il-
lustration). The ruins of this struc-
ture were seen by the Bordeau Pil-
grim in A.D. 333.
Emperor Julian undertook to re-
build the temple, but his plans were
frustrated. In A.D. 534 Emperor
Justinian built the Basilica (see
Schick's reconstruction) in honor of
Mary over the place where the porch
of Solomon had stood. In A.D. 637
the conquering Mohammedans turned
the Basilica into a mosque.
Sultan Abd-al-Malik built (A.D.
691) on the site of Solomon's Temple
the Dome of the Rock (it should not
be called "Mosque of Omar") essen-
tially as we see it today in Jerusalem.
(See illustration.)
The Nephites, another branch of
Hebrew people, built temples upon
this (the American) continent, but
the Book of Mormon says little about
them. (See illustrations on page 215.)
When Nephi and those who be-
(Concluded on page 264)
262
^Josephus, Antiquities, xv. 15, 5 and 6; xx. 9, 7;
cf John 2:20.
25Josephus, War v. 5, 5.
^Luke 1:5-23.
27Matthew 24:1-2; see also Joseph Smith's revision
of Matthew 24 in "Writings of Joseph Smith," Pearl
of Great Price, verses 2-4.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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ANCIENT TEMPLES AND THEIR USES
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(Concluded from page 262)
lieved as he did separated themselves
from their unrighteous brethren, they
fled to a land where they erected a
temple after the model of Solomon's.
Here is Nephi's account of the con-
struction :
And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and
I did construct it after the manner of the
temple of Solomon save it were not built
of so many precious things; for they were
not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it
could not be built like unto Solomon's tem-
ple. But the manner of the construction
was like unto the temple of Solomon; and
the workmanship thereof was exceeding
fine.28
Nephi, of course, took the specifica-
tions of Solomon's Temple from the
brass plates, where they were doubt-
less given with an exactness not found
in our present scriptures.
Nephi's brother Jacob must have
taught in this identical temple,29 but
King Benjamin's last oration to his
people could not possibly have been
delivered in the same building, be-
cause the temple in which he stood
was in the land of Zarahemla, whither
his father, the elder Mosiah,' had fled
away from the main body of the
Nephites.30
The people of Zeniff seem also to
have built a temple because King
Limhi sent a proclamation to his peo-
ple to gather there.31
Amulek also mentions the writing
of God upon the wall of a temple,
but we have no means of knowing
what temple is referred to.32
It was near the temple in the land
282 Nephi 5:16.
2»Jacob 1:17; 2:2, 11.
*>See Omni 12-15; Mosiah 1:18; 2:8.
siMosiah 7:17; see also 11:10, 12; 19:5.
^Alma 10:2.
of Bountiful33 that the resurrected,
glorified Savior appeared to the
Nephites for three successive days and
taught them the things spoken of
in chapters 11-28 in 3 Nephi.
We know that up to the time of
the coming of Christ, the Nephites,
like the Jews, were obliged to observe
the law of Moses.34 Therefore, what
we have observed regarding the ordi-
nances and endowments given in the
ancient tabernacle probably applied to
the temples erected by the Nephites
prior to the coming of Christ. During
the Savior's visitation to this people
on this continent, he quoted and ex-
plained to them chapters three and
four of the book of Malachi.35 Inas-
much as many of Malachi's -words
have to do with the coming of Elijah
and the sealing powers of the priest-
hood, our Lord must have explained
in full the necessity of having tem-
ples and the nature of the ordinances
to be performed in them both for the
living and the dead. After Christ's
coming, ordinance work for the dead
could be performed, because he had
conquered death through his resur-
rection. Prior to the resurrection,
onlv ordinance work for the living
was possible.
Unfortunately, little is known
about ordinance work for either the
living or the dead as carried on by
the Saints on this continent or in
Palestine and surrounding lands fol-
lowing our Lord's resurrection. Bap-
tism for the dead is mentioned in I
Corinthians 15:29, but little or noth-
ing is told us about authorized tem-
ples or other sacred structures in
which this and other holy ordinances
might have been carried on.
333 Nephi 11:1-2.
^See Jacob 4:5.
^See 3 Nephi 24:1; 26:1.
THE ROMANCE OE TEMPLE BUILDING
(Continued from page 237)
the facts. It was found that the en-
tire mill was burned with the excep-
tion of the pen stock and flume. The
loss is estimated at $3,000. Tracks
of two men were found in the snow
leading from the mouth of the right
hand forks of Logan Canyon to the
mill and back to the forks again. It
is -evident that carelessness in leaving
the fire through camping was not the
264
cause of the burning, for the parties
could have stopped in one of the cook
houses near the mill. Indications are
that the work was that of an in-
cendiary."
The sorrow that was felt was the
same as that for a tried and true
friend, for the sawmill had served the
citizens in their need in building the
temple.
Even today the cost of the erection
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
of the Logan Temple would be stu-
pendous— one half a million dollars —
but at the time when it was erected
it was nothing short of miraculous
that the people in their dire need and
poverty could have given of the very
necessities to build this monument to
the Lord.
The building of temples has been
its own reward to the people who
have erected them. Through the
ordinances administered therein, they
have bound their dead to themselves,
the living, and have tied together the
families as units for eternal love and
association. No sacrifice is too great
in this eternal covenant which will
bring lasting happirftSr to mankind.
". . . all Over
of Jo
ground was broken i^J&e/ structure
on December 19, 1939^a!#W Octo-
ber 19, 1940, PresicfepyDavid O.
McKay, then Secondj^^inselor to
President Heber J. Grant, laid the
cornerstone amid appropriate cere-
monies. President George Albert
Smith offered the dedicatory prayer
September 23, 1945.
The temple, striking in appearance,
has a white exterior and is built with
reinforced concrete. During con-
struction the concrete was bonded
with a facing — slabs, two inches
thick, made of selected aggregates
which had been tooled and finished.
The structure is adorned with marble
from Utah, France, Italy, and
Sweden. The building is two stories
high (not including the tower) and
is 95 x 131 feet. The tower rises
about 150 feet.
Sixteen hundred evergreens have
been used in landscaping the temple
grounds. Numerous other trees and
flowers help to beautify the property.
Three picturesque lagoons, joined by
man-made waterfalls, are also part
of these grounds.
As one enters this, the most re-
cently dedicated temple of the
Church, from its annex, one is greeted
by the soul-searching admonition of
the Old Testament prophet, Habak-
kuk: "... the Lord is in his holy
temple: let all the earth keep silence
before him." (Hab. 2:20.)
APRIL 1953
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265
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THE STICK OF JUDAH AND THE STICK OF JOSEPH
(Continued from page 250)
times as his identification and pass-
port.112 The connection between staff
and book is here not far to seek —
the staff is a mark and token, sym-
bolizing that by which the Jew is
known to the world; the scroll is a
step closer to home — it is almost the
thing itself. The scripture, says
Clement of Alexandria in an eloquent
discourse on the subject, is the rod
by which God teaches his people.113
The double function of the rod, says
Gregory of Nyssen, is that of con-
solation and direction, which are the
offices of the scripture for all be-
lievers.114 If the rod is the sym-
bolic means by which Judah is identi-
fied and set apart from the rest of
the world (and the use of such a
V<>.>^^x3s£N3s>5"Ov>5>^^
c=Lo$t ^rnt
erva\
Richard L. Evans
'"There are many circumstances and situations in which we
may feel that we are marking time- — or worse — wasting
time. There are times when we are waiting for people and
appointments when we feel cheated as we think of what we
might have done with the time we waste in waiting. There
are times of routine travel, of commuting between places
when the interval may seem more or less lost. There
are times when we are pressed into pursuits not of our own
choosing, on detours from our intended destination — as for
example time spent in making a living at uninteresting routine
work, or while preparing for other pursuits, or time spent by
young men in military service when they are eager to settle
down to other purposes. In these unavoidable interruptions,
on these side trips on side roads, there is often much more
that can be salvaged than is sometimes supposed. Wherever
a man is, he has his mind with him. Wherever he is, he
can think and plan and pursue, in blueprint at least, con-
structive purposes. Almost wherever he is, he can arrange
to read — not trash or trivia but from the best books. It
isn't always so, but it can often be so. Almost wherever a
man is, he can write. It takes only simple tools to write —
and some significant writings have come even from within
prison walls. Some interesting and profitable activities have
been pursued from the bedsides of shut-ins, by those who
couldn't go out from where they were but who have reached
out with what they had, with some wonderfully useful
results. A man may be immobilized without immobilizing
his mind. Some of the most successful people have learned
what to do with odd moments, with the in-between times
that so many of us waste — sometimes just sitting, sometimes
just waiting, sometimes with impatient pacing. Almost
wherever a person is he can find some constructive purpose
to pursue, without wasting time in shoddy or trivial or
tawdry pursuits. In a sense we can't "save" time as we can
save water that would otherwise run away. But often when
we are diverted from our intended course, we can make time
serve as water that runs into a reservoir — a reservoir of
preparation, of stored knowledge, of acquired skills — to be
used for a better purpose at a better time and place rather
than let it run downstream at the wrong season.
~Jke
J^)poketi vVord
266
jpoken Word from temple square
PRESENTED OVER KSL AND THE COLUMBIA BROADCASTING
SYSTEM, FEBRUARY 1, 1953
Copyright, 1953
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
symbol was regarded by the early
Christians as a thing of great sig-
nificance and secrecy), what is the
means by which Judah is actually
thus distinguished, i.e., what is the
real equivalent of the rod? It is the
Bible, of course. In figurative lan-
guage the Jews will recognize the
Messiah by examining the rod;
"search ye the scriptures," said the
Lord, "for they it be that testify of
me."
The identity of staff and scripture
was noted by the earliest and best
informed of the Christian historians.
For the great Eusebius the sticks of
Ezekiel represent the Old Testament
and the New Testament.115 A cen-
tury and a half earlier Irenaeus speaks
of the (hidden) meanings of the
sticks as "hidden from us, for," he
says, "since by the wood we rejected
him, by the wood his greatness shall
be made visible to everyone, and as
one of our predecessors has said, by
the holy reaching out of the hands
the two people are led to one God.
For there are two hands and two
nations scattered to the ends of the
earth. . . . "116 There is every indica-
tion that the Saints of the early
Church regarded the teaching of the
sticks and the gathering as of great
secrecy and great significance, the
meaning of the whole thing being
later lost.117 The later Fathers took
the usual allegorical liberties in deal-
ing with Ezekiel 37.
(To be continued)
REFERENCES
loeJewish Encyclopedia, s. v. scroll.
107Ibid.
108F. S. Burnell, "Staves and Sceptres,"
Folklore LIX (Dec. 1948), p. 165.
100Jew. Encycl.
110J. Lechler, Vom Hakenkreuz (Leipzig:
Kabitzsch, 1934), p. 74, fig. 6.
"*F. Cabrol & H. Leclerq, Dictionnaire
d'Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie.
112]ewish End., loc. cit.
"''Clement Alex., Paedog. I, in Patrol.
Graec. VIII, 324.
Xliln Patrol. Graec. XLIV, 1031 and XLV,
1250.
UoEusebius, Demonstr. Evang., in Patrol.
Graec. XXII, 745.
118Irenaeus, in Patrol Graec. VII, 1171.
"Though modern critics fail to detect
anything of great importance or mystery in
the rods of identification, for the earliest
writers of the Church they were regarded
as objects of great symbolic significance,
conveying a message of real, if hidden, im-
portance: Migne, Patrol. Graec. VI, 681,
n. 43.
APRIL 1953
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(Concluded from page 235)
The great and enduring creations
of art that Dallin has left us bring
to mind the noted words of Paul
Cret: "In a memorial the end to be
achieved, primarily, is the perpetua-
tion of the memory of a great man
or a great event to future genera-
tions."
The Church Moves On
25
(Continued from page 216)
Scores in the all-Church M Men
basketball tournament:
Championship
Logan Fifth 83; Salt Lake City
Twenty-sixth 41.
May wood 42; Spanish Fork First 40.
Mesa Tenth 76; Eugene 28.
Edgehill 62; Reno 43.
Brigham City Fourth 69; Provo Park
44.
Fairmont 57; Washington, D. C. 32.
Salt Lake City Thirty-third, 45;
Dublan 41.
Logan College Hill 54; Redondo Beach
41.
Consolation
Blanding 54; Aurora 44.
Gooding 63; Mt. Emmons 47.
Sugar City 53; Salt Lake City
Seventeenth 43.
St. Anthony 64; Murray Third 56.
Hill Spring, bye; Mantua, bye; Rock-
ville, bye; East Midvale, bye.
26
268
Scores in the all-Church M Men
games:
Championship
Logan Fifth 51; May wood 33.
Salt Lake City Thirty-third 45; Logan
College Hill 41.
Edgehill 59; Mesa Tenth 25.
Brigham City Fourth 51; Fairmont
41.
Second Round Losers
Reno 65; Eugene 53.
Park 70; Washington, D. C, 50.
Salt Lake City Twenty-sixth 57;
Spanish Fork First 46.
Dublan 38; Redondo Beach 35.
Consolation
Sugar City 48; Rockville 38.
Blanding 50; Mantua 42.
St. Anthony 55; Hill Spring 34.
East Midvale 64; Gooding 58.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
o 7 The First Presidency issued a
" ' statement endorsing the current
Red Gross drive.
Scores in the all-Church M Men
basketball tournament:
Championship
Brigham City Fourth 54; Salt Lake
City Thirty-third 33.
Edgehill 54; Logan Fifth 38.
Third Round Losers
Mesa Tenth 64; Maywood 26.
Logan College Hill 60; Fairmont 29.
Second Round Losers
40.
Reno 47; Salt Lake City Twenty-sixth
Dublan 46; Park 38
Consolation
Blanding 45; East Midvale 39.
St. Anthony 56; Sugar City 49.
28
Scores in the all-Church M Men
basketball tournament:
Brigham City Fourth 48; Edgehill
45. (Overtime.) First and second.
Logan Fifth 43; Salt Lake City Thirty-
third 39. Third and seventh.
Mesa Tenth 47; College Hill 39.
Fourth and eighth.
Dublan 50; Reno 38. Fifth and ninth.
Blanding 62; St. Anthony 46. Sixth
and tenth.
Edgehill Ward won the sportsman-
ship trophy.
SPRING NIGHT
By Vesta Nickerson Lukei
Here lie the dead beneath the hilltop
sweep
As silent as the pointed cypress that bear
No sign of change. I only am aware
Of stirring spring that touches not their
sleep.
Beyond all feeling, sorrows cannot invite
Their tears, nor joys awake their ecstasy.
For them no blossoms whiten the orange
tree
Nor wakeful mockingbird disturbs the night.
Here lie the sleepers far beneath the ground.
No prick of thorn can sharpen senses so,
Nor single note arouse the world of sound
As these mute symbols that the seasons go.
These moments must be deeply lived for
fear
I too forget, forget when sleeping here.
APRIL 1953
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269
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Early Houses of the Lord
(Continued from page 233)
incendiary. Flames swept through
the entire structure, leaving only
blackened walls. The Icarians, a
group that had settled in Nauvoo fol-
lowing the exodus of the Saints, at-
tempted to rebuild the temple for a
school building. But while this work
was in progress, in May 1850, a tor-
nado completely leveled the walls
of the building. Over the years the
stones were carried away either for
building material in Nauvoo or by
souvenir hunters. Last year the
members of the Chicago Stake held
a work day on which they assembled
many of these original temple stones
for some future use.
Ceveral places were temporarily but
reverently used by the Saints for
holy purposes after their trek to the
valley. Elder Addison Pratt, called
to return to his labors in the Society
Islands (now Tahitian) Mission, re-
ceived his endowments on Ensign
Peak. Endowments for the living
were given from 1851 to 1855 in the
Council House on the southwest cor-
ner of South Temple and Main
streets. In April 1854 the northwest
portion of the Temple Square was
selected as the site for the Endow-
ment rooms. This building was be-
ing plastered in February 1855, and
was completed that April. President
Heber C. Kimball of the First Presi-
dency offered the dedicatory prayer
for this building May 5, 1855, and it
was he who used his time for years
in conducting the services here.
Sometime after an addition was
built in 1856 the building became
known as the Endowment House.
Here many of the convert- emigrants
270
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
of the Church came to receive their
blessings and lay the foundation for
their establishing homes in Zion —
homes which produced families who
are still adding strength to the
Church by their testimonies and by
their works.
Baptisms for the dead were ad-
ministered here until 1876, endow-
ments until 1884, and sealings of
couples were performed here until
1889. Although it was never in-
tended to be a permanent temple, for
thirty-four years this house of the
Lord had served its purpose well. In
1889 President Wilford Woodruff had
the building razed; the Saints then
had temples functioning at St. George,
Logan, and Manti, Utah, and it
would not be long before the Salt
Lake Temple would be dedicated.
Three Utah Temples
(Continued from page 232)
for the construction of a temple over
a quarter century later, on April 25,
1877. During the intervening years
the hill had been used for a quarry to
obtain stone for home construction
and also for fortifications against un-
friendly Indians. Five days after the
dedication of the ground one hundred
men met at the quarry and knelt in
prayer before commencing their labors
for this House of the Lord.
Two years of blasting and scraping
were required to prepare the footings
and foundation for the building.
Then, on April 14, 1879, the corner-
stones were laid, and work was be-
gun on the walls, which were built
of the cream- colored oolitic limestone
which was taken from the hill.
The eleven year construction period
would have broken the spirits of a
less -valiant group, or a corps inspired
with a less loftly ideal. Their strength
was taxed still with the grim task of
pioneering a harsh, strange, unfriend-
ly land. Theirs was the constant
struggle against drought, grasshop-
pers, poverty, and the Indians, who
readily accepted the challenge of
driving the settlers' cattle off for their
own purposes.
But at last this house was com-
pleted, and Elder Lorenzo Snow of
the Council of the Twelve offered
the dedicatory prayer, May 21,
1888.
The temple, simple in its elegance,
representing the best that those
Saints could give of their worldly
goods and of their labors, is 171 feet
(Continued on following page)
APRIL 1953
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THREE UTAH TEMPLES
(Continued from preceding page)
long and 95 feet wide. The east
and west towers are 179 and 169 feet
high, respectively.
Like all temples of the Latter-day
Saints, the structure faces east, al-
though its front view is blocked by
the magnificent and unyielding
mountains. It is the rear of the build-
ing that one sees from the highway,
many feet below the base of the
temple.
From the temple grounds one com-
mands a striking view of the quiet,
broad valley. The grounds are land-
scaped by sloping lawns, brilliant
flowers, and a wide variety of trees
and shrubs, but even the soil that
^^^^^^^^^^^-^^^^^^^^^
l/l/fiu <=JLt
eaue
Richard L. Evans
O
N
a certain journey not long ago some travelers en-
countered one of those untamed onslaughts of the ele-
ments which man, despite all his previous preparations, is
never quite prepared for. It became a question of survival
or of fear lest they should not survive. And afterward, one
who was there soberly said: "There were some people who
talked to the Lord that night, who had not talked to him for
a long time." It is true that times of emergency, of danger,
of fear, of stress, of urgent need often bring us to an earnest
awareness of our dependence upon Providence. And when,
in extreme circumtsances, we are pressed to petition him to
whom we haven't talked for a long time, the question may
well be asked: "Why leave it so late?" We never know, not
any of us, when we are going to need help or when we shall
wish we had done some things we didn't do. We never know
how our business ventures are going. We often assume that
profits or success are certain when some unforeseen circum-
stance enters in, and we find that they weren't so certain.
Sometimes in newly acquired affluence short-sighted people
assume that they won't need their old friends — or that they
won't need anyone. But fortunes change; reverses come;
and we often find that we desperately need those from whom
we have severed ourselves. There is no one so big, no one
so secure, no one who can so far foresee the future, but what
he needs to keep his house and his life in order, his record
straight, and his friendships in repair. A man who needs
friends had better have them before he needs them. There
is no one so wise or so self-sufficient but what he needs the
services of others. And when the storm has broken, when
the accident has happened, when the need is upon us, it may
be a little too late. It is always too late to take out insurance
to cover a previous casualty. Of course we can repent. But
even that we should not leave too late. We are dependent
upon others always; we are dependent upon Providence al-
ways; and we ought to be on good terms with our family
and friends, with ourselves, with life, and with our Father
in heaven all the time. Humility and gratitude and con-
sideration for all others and a prayerful approach to every
problem is the safest insurance against all eventualities.
And a good question to ask ourselves in all the ways of life
is, "Why leave it so late?"
Jke Spoken Word from TEMPLE SQUARE
PRESENTED OVER KSL AND THE COLUMBIA BROADCASTING
SYSTEM, FEBRUARY 15, 1953
Copyright, 1953
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
now nourishes this vegetation had to
he carried to the temple site.
At St. George, in Utah's "Dixie,"
stands the St. George Temple,
oldest in the Church in terms of con-
tinuous service. President George A.
Smith of the First Presidency dedi-
cated the site November 9, 1871, and
ground was broken the same day, at
a time when there were only fifteen
hundred people living in the area.
A brass cannon, relic of the Mexican
War, was soon rigged up and used as
a pile driver for the foundation, in
which volcanic rock was utilized. The
cornerstone was laid April 1, 1874.
The walls of the building are red
sandstone, long painted white.
On January 1, 1877, the temple
was partially dedicated. Elder Wil-
ford Woodruff, who became the first
president of this temple, dedicated the
font room and lower floor. (The
font had been the personal gift of
President Brigham Young.) Elder
Erastus Snow dedicated the second
floor, and Elder Brigham Young, Jr.,
dedicated the sealing room. Ordi-
nance work was commenced January
11, 1877. The forty-seventh annual
general conference of the Church was
held in the temple, April 6, 7, and 8,
1877. It was at this time that the
entire structure was dedicated by
President Daniel H. Wells of the First
Presidency. President Brigham Young
and all of his successors in the Presi-
dency through President Heber J.
Grant were present at this service.
It was here, in the St. George Tem-
ple, that the spirits of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence and
of the Presidents of the United States
appeared to Elder Wilford Woodruff
requesting that temple work be done
for them. It was here that the ordi-
nances for these men were completed.
The building is 141 feet 8 inches
long, 93 feet 4 inches wide, 84 feet
high to the square, and 175 feet high
to the top of the vane on the tower.
It has a magnificent appearance. The
red bluffs on the north, the volcanic
ridges on the east and west, the Rio
Virgin, running through the valley on
the south, and the city of St. George
lying generally north and north-
west, form a picture with striking and
vivid contrasts. In the words of one
plane pilot: "From the air the temple
looks like a gem in a green setting."
Long will it continue to be a beacon
for airplanes, a landmark for tourists,
and a holy place to members of the
Church.
APRIL 1953
See How These
Bennett's Colorizer
Paint Colors Go With
Anything In Your Home!
FREE COLOR GUIDE
Stop in and get your free copy of the "Colorizer Paint
Sampler!" This decorating guide gives you a selection
of 42 actual paint samples, expertly chosen from
1,322 colors in Colorizer Paints, to go with the colors
and designs of your carpet, draperies, wallpaper,
bedspread, wall tile, furniture, bath fixtures and
kitchen units. Colorful room pictures show which paint
colors to use in each case. Get your copy while the
supply lasts!
At any of these stores:
BENNETT'S, Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, Boise;
BENNETT'S Logan Hardware Co., Logan; BEN-
NETT'S East Side Paint Co., Idaho Falls; BENNETT'S
Idaho Glass & Paint Co., Pocatello; BENNETT'S
Twin Falls Glass & Paint Co. — and any Bennett's
dealer in the intermountain States
and Southern California.
ADVEKTItIP 11
POST
*@JOCO&XDtL—
k
It's "Good Taste" and
It Tastes
So Good.
HOCO LATES
*Easter
April 5th
GLADE CANDY CO.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
273
This is a continuation of the teacher's
supplements for the Melchizedek Priest-
hood lesson course for 1953. Helps for
lessons 1 to 13 appear in The Improve-
ment Era, February and March.
THE DIVINE CHURCH (Second Part)
Lesson XIV
CAESARO-PAPISM
Quarrel between East and West (Continued)
Text: James L. Barker, The Divine Church,
Second Part, Lesson XIV
Teaching objective:
To show that the churches in the East
and West were hopelessly divided on the
matter of authority.
Suggestions on teaching procedure:
Step 1 Place an outline of subject matter on
the blackboard. The following is sugges-
tive:
Quarrel between East and West
A. The effect of political divisions and
changes upon the church
1. As Emperor Constans gained greater
power, the followers of Athanasius
gained influence.
a. The exiled bishops were recalled.
b. The bishop of Rome (Julius) be-
came aggressive.
c. The Arians of the East were forced
to present compromise creeds.
B. Attempts by the Emperor Constans to
bring about church unity
a. Council at Sardica.
(1) Purpose.
(2) Division into Eastern and West-
ern Councils.
b. The Eastern bishops:
(1) Condemned Athanasius and his
followers.
(2) Excommunicated Bishop Julius
of Rome and others.
(3) Drew up a new confession of
faith.
c. The Western bishops:
(1) Reaffirmed the Nicene Creed.
(2) Declared Athanasius innocent.
(3) Excommunicated Eastern lead-
ers.
(4) Passed disciplinary canons.
(Provided for an appeal to Rome
by a bishop deposed by his col-
leagues in a province. If the
appeal is received by bishop of
Rome, Rome is to form a court
to try the appeal.)
d. Reasons for claim of bishop of Rome
to appellate power:
(1) Only church in West of apos-
tolic foundation.
(2) Has backing of emperor.
274
Step 2
If the quorum members have read their
manuals, various members may be called on
to relate the events as outlined. If there
has been no class preparation, the group
leader will have to give a brief account of
the historical events involved.
Step 3
Induce a class discussion by using such
questions as the following:
1. Why did the Eastern bishops adopt
creeds which compromised their real
beliefs?
2. Without God's permission would the
Apostle Peter have changed his teach-
ings in order to avoid persecution?
3. What happens when members of a
church compromise their religious be-
liefs in order to get along with those
who live around them? Is the L.D.S.
Church in any danger because of that
same factor today? What safeguards
does the L.D.S. Church have against
such change? *
4. When freedom of conscience is inter-
fered with, how does it affect sincerity
of belief?
5. Why is religious division inevitable
where the Holy Ghost is not had?
Summary
Summarize so as to leave this thought with
the class:
Without Apostles or other central author-
ity and without the guidance of the Holy
Ghost there was nothing to keep the
churches in unity except the state. Where
the state was divided as was often the case
in the Roman Empire, the church was di-
vided also. Thus the political division into
eastern and western empires caused a divi-
sion of the church into East and West. As
went the political fortunes and religious be-
liefs of the emperors, so went the church.
The power of the emperor was used freely
to appoint and depose bishops and in gen-
eral to dominate the churches. During this
period no bishop was considered as head of
the church, but Western bishops agreed to
appeal to the bishop of Rome as arbitrator
in certain disputes.
Assignments:
1. Arouse general interest in the next les-
son by leaving with the quorum mem-
bers such a problem as the following:
a. With the doctrines of churches
changing with the views of the suc-
cessive emperors, what would hap-
pen if one emperor should rule all
of the empire? (Read lesson XV to
find the answer.)
2. Make special assignments, such as the
following:
a. Appoint one quorum member to re-
late how Liberius, bishop of Rome,
changes his religious views to gain
favor with the emperor.
THE DIVINE CHURCH (Second Part)
Lesson XV
CAESARO-PAPISM (Continued)
The Triumph of the Arian "Heresy"
Text: James L. Barker, The Divine Church,
Second Part, Lesson XV
Suggestions on teaching procedures:
Step 1 Place an outline of subject matter
on the blackboard. The following is sug-
gestive:
Teaching Objective:
To show how changes of political for-
tune affected the doctrines of the church.
The Triumph of the Arian "Heresy"
A. Changes in the political situation
1. A rebellion occurred in the West. Mag-
nentius as crowned emperor. Constans
fled and committed suicide.
2. Constantius made war on Magnentius
and was victorious.
3. Empire united again under Constantius,
a follower of the Arian heresy.
B. Changes in the religious situation
1. Constantius called a council of three
hundred bishops.
a. Athanasius was condemned. „
b. The emperor issued an edict that
the bishops must accept the deposi-
tion of Athanasius.
c. Athanasius was banished.
d. An Arian statement of doctrine was
drawn up.
2. The bishops hasten to embrace the
Arian doctrine.
a. Liberius, bishop of Rome, was exiled
but readily changed his doctrine to
agree with the emperor.
(1) Letter of Liberius to the em-
peror.
(2) Letter of Liberius to the Eastern
Arian bishops.
b. The Councils of Seleucia and
Rimini.
(1) Council of Seleucia held in the
East.
(a) Disagreement prevailed.
(b) The emperor forced the
bishops to sign the "Third
Formula of Sirmium," an
Arian Creed.
(2) Council of Rimini.
(a) Disagreement of the bishops.
(b) The emperor forced the
bishops to sign the Arian
Creed.
c. All bishops declare themselves
against Athanasius and the Nicene
Creed.
3. Attempts of Roman Catholic historians
to excuse Liberius.
a. Allege that force was used.
b. Allege that pope did not really give
up his opposition to Arianism.
Step 2
Following the outline, discuss with the
class how the Christian world became
Arian following the lead of the emperor.
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Priesthood
Step 3
Discussion:
The class discussion may now be con-
tinued and given direction by using such
questions and problems as the following:
1. If the Church had been guided by
Christ, would its bishops have shifted
doctrines because of the change of
emperors?
2. Should changes in doctrine be brought
about by debate in council or by di-
vine revelation?
3. Why is the use of force in getting
church members to accept a certain
point of view an evidence that the
church is no longer the church of
Christ?
4. In the time of Felix and Liberius can
the Roman Church be said to have
been "without error"?
The Summary:
Make a one-minute summary of the class
discussion or have a quorum member do
so. The following points should be men-
tioned:
1. We have found that in the fourth
Christian century the religious views
of the emperor had a greater effect
upon the doctrines of the church than
did the views of the bishops.
2. Bishops who disagreed with the view
of the emperor were banished or forced
to change their doctrines.
3. Liberius, the bishop of Rome, was ban-
ished and was restored to his bishopric
only when he completely reversed his
doctrine concerning the relationship of
the Father and the Son.
4. Thus the whole Christian world, the
majority of which had been opposed
to Arianism, and had accepted the
Nicene Creed, now turned to Arianism
and abandoned the Nicene Creed.
5. In the face of such historical facts it
is evident that the church is like sheep
wandering without a shepherd. There
are no prophets of God to lead the
way. The indecision, the use of force,
and the determination of doctrine by
governmental decree, show a complete
absence of the leadership of Jesus
Christ.
The Assignment:
1. Arouse general class interest in the next
lesson by leaving with the members a
challenging problem, such as the fol-
lowing:
a. When a church is dominated by a
civil government, what happens to
it when the government undergoes
a change? In lessons 16 and 17 of
your text you will find the answer
of history.
2. Have one quorum member come pre-
pared to tell the difference between
Arianism and Athanasianism.
APRIL 1953
Lessons XVI and XVII
CAESARO-PAPISM (Continued)
Final Triumph of "Orthodox"
Athanasianism
Text: James L. Barker, The Divine Church,
Second Part, Lessons XVI and XVII
Teaching objective:
To show how the Nicene Creed was
finally forced upon the church by political
power, and orthodoxy determined by im-
perial decree.
Suggestions on teaching procedure:
Step 1
Outline on a blackboard the material to
be discussed in these two lessons. The
following outline is suggestive:
Final Triumph of "Orthodox" Athanasianism
I. The Emperor Valens supports Arianism.
A. Valens becomes Emperor of the East
A.D. 364.
1. Supported the Arians.
a. Was influenced by the Arian
Eudoxius, bishop of Constantinople.
* b. Persecuted semi-Arians and Athana-
sians.
c. Supported only Arian candidates for
the various bishoprics.
B. The semi-Arians and Athanasians ap-
peal to the West.
1, These groups forced together by the
persecution of Valens.
2. Sent a delegation to Rome. (Not find-
ing the emperor they appealed to the
bishop of Rome.)
C. A Period of Confusion.
1. Bishops still divided.
2. Letter of Saint Basil, bishop of
Caesaria, to Damasus, bishop of Rome.
D. Valentinian, emperor of the West, sup-
ported the Athanasians — but was as-
sassinated in 375.
E. Valens killed in battle, 378, by the vic-
torious Goths.
II. Athanasianism becomes orthodox under
the emperors Gratian and Theodosius.
A. The Athanasian Gratian succeeded
Valentinian II as emperor of the West.
1. Sent his general, Theodosius, to retrieve
the Eastern Empire from the Goths.
2. Supported the Athanasians.
B. Theodosius
1. Theodosius, having conquered the
Goths, is crowned emperor of the East-
ern Empire.
2. An ardent supporter of Athanasianism.
C. Arian bishops replaced by Athanasian
bishops.
1. Ambrose made bishop of Milan.
a. Greatly influenced the Emperor
Gratian.
2. Anemius made bishop of Sermium.
3. Arian bishops deposed.
4. Gregory made bishop of Constan-
tinople.
D. Gratius: edict of heresy against Arians.
E. The Edict of Thessalonica (380) .
1. Emperial declaration of the Nicene
Creed.
F. Councils called.
1. Western council called by Emperor
Gratian at instigation of Ambrose.
a. Condemned the Arians.
2. Eastern Council called by the Emperor
Theodosius.
a. Condemned the Arians.
b. Arians refused seats at the council.
c. Decree of Emperor Theodosius as to
"orthodoxy."
G. Theodosius forbade all heretics (Arians)
to hold meetings (A.D. 381) and ordered
churches to be turned over to the
Orthodox Christians (Athanasians).
H. The church was to remain Athanasian.
Step 2
Relate briefly the history of events as
they affected the church from the death of
the Emperor Constantius, 361, to the death
of the Emperor Theodosius, 395. Read a
few excerpts from the historians quoted.
Step 3
The Discussion:
The significance of the events related can
be brought out by discussion induced by such
questions as the following:
1. What evidences do we have that the
church, during the period 361 to 395,
was without divine guidance?
2. What political edict during that period
has affected the Catholic Church to
our time?
3. What does catholic mean?
4. Who determined what constituted a
catholic or orthodox Christian? What
was an orthodox Christian forced to
accept?
5. How was a triumph of Athanasianism
(the Nicene Creed) a triumph of
Greek philosophy?
6. Compare the methods of persuasion
used by Jesus Christ with those used
by both Arians and Athanasians.
7. Are bishops in the L.D.S. Church re-
moved from office if they teach false
doctrines? How is it determined
whether or not the teachings are false?
Are they given a chance to defend
their position? Is any force or threat
of force used?
The Summarization:
This is an appropriate time to make a
complete summarization of the develop-
ment of political influence over the church
and to set out some of the far-reaching ef-
fects. The summarization should include
the following:
1. Before the time of Constantine the
Roman government was usually opposed to
Christianity. There was no interference
(Continued on page 278)
275
The Presiding
Revisions in Aaronic Priesthood Programs Emphasized
"T'he following revisions in both
Aaronic Priesthood programs have
been sent to all Aaronic Priesthood
leaders by letter but are reprinted here
for permanent record and reference.
Senior Members of Aaronic Priesthood
Stake Committee for Senior Members of
the Aaronic Priesthood
1. The designation "stake committee
for adult members of the Aaronic
Priesthood" is changed to "stake com-
mittee for senior members of the
Aaronic Priesthood."
2. The chairman of the stake commit-
tee for senior members of the Aaronic
Priesthood is no longer to be a mem-
ber of the stake presidency. The chair-
man is to be designated by the stake
presidency from among the high coun-
cil or chosen at large.
Ward Committee for Senior Members
of the Aaronic Priesthood
1. The designation "ward committee
for adult members of the Aaronic
Priesthood" is changed to "ward com-
mittee for senior members of the
Aaronic Priesthood."
2. The coordinator is hereafter desig-
nated secretary. It is felt that the con-
tinued use of the title coordinator may
encourage a greater delegation of the
responsibilities of the presidency of the
Aaronic Priesthood than is possible un-
der this assignment from the Lord to
the bishopric.
3. An "instructor" is to be appointed
for each quorum or group of senior
priests, senior teachers, or senior deacons
to present the weekly priesthood lesson.
The instructor may also serve as a
group adviser.
4. A group adviser is to be assigned
to labor with each group of five senior
members of the Aaronic Priesthood or
unordained male members over 21 to
win them to renewed activity in the
Church.
Senior Members of the Aaronic Priest-
hood to be Organized into Quorums
or Groups
1. Where there are seven or more
senior deacons, or thirteen or more
senior teachers, a quorum organization
with a president, two counselors, and
276
a secretary is to be effected in each in-
stance. When there are fewer than
seven senior deacons or thirteen senior
teachers, a group organization should
be set up with a group leader, two as-
sistants, and a secretary. The bishop
presides over the senior priests, and he
should appoint a senior priest as secre-
tary.
All quorum or group officers for
senior deacons and for senior teachers
are to be chosen from among the best
qualified men available in these groups.
2. Separate quorum or group meet-
ings are to be held for senior deaeons,
senior teachers, and senior priests dur-
ing the weekly ward priesthood meeting
wherever housing facilities will permit.
3. Unordained male members over
21 are to be enrolled in a special sec-
tion in the deacons' roll book: They
should be invited to attend the deacons
quorum or group meetings and socials
as visitors of record.
Ward Aaronic Priesthood Leadership
Meeting
A "ward Aaronic Priesthood leader-
ship meeting," to be held each month
under the direction of the bishopric,
replaces the discontinued "ward boy
leadership committee meeting."
Those expected to attend, in addition
to the bishopric, include all ward
leaders of Aaronic Priesthood under 21
and all ward leaders of senior members
of the Aaronic Priesthood. The meet-
ing is to be held in three parts, as
follows:
Part One will include the opening
exercises, with roll calls, announce-
ments, and messages from the bishopric
which are of common interest to all
assembled.
Part Two provides for a separation
into three departments with a member
of the bishopric in charge of each de-
partment. Leaders of priests in both
programs will attend the bishop's de-
partment; leaders of teachers will at-
tend the first counselor's department;
leaders of deacons will attend the sec-
ond counselor's department.
In each of the three departments, the
member of the bishopric in charge
will, (1) call for a report on all as-
signments made to leaders the previous
month; (2) review activity records of
all quorum or group members and un-
ordained male members, as recorded in
the respective roll books; (3) make and
record assignments to leaders to visit
those needing attention for any reason
during the ensuing month.
Part Three provides for a short coun-
cil meeting of each of the two ward
committees. While the bishop is at-
tending one meeting, his counselors will
attend the other meeting, alternating
each month.
Problems of specific interest to the
respective committees will be taken up
in each council meeting: These problems
may include such items as, (1) ade-
quate social and fraternal activities;
(2) quorum service projects designed to
promote the unselfish giving of oneself
in the interest of others; (3) Church
welfare projects; (4) training of quo-
rum presidencies and group leaders;
(5) review of latest monthly report
with a view toward overcoming weak-
nesses; (6) recommendations for ad-
vancements in the priesthood.
Ward Aaronic Priesthood Meeting
The full time of the second priest-
hood meeting in each month is to be
a joint assembly attended only by
bearers of the Aaronic Priesthood and
unordained male members 12 to 21,
senior members of the Aaronic Priest-
hood, and unordained male members
over 21, and their leaders.
The object of this joint Aaronic
Priesthood assembly each month is to
bring the bishopric into a more personal
and direct relationship with those over
whom they preside as the presidency of
the Aaronic Priesthood. The bishopric
will conduct the meeting and occupy
the entire time of the joint assembly in
giving counsel and instruction to all
bearers of the Aaronic Priesthood and
their leaders. Occasionally, as an ex-
ception and not as a rule, a special
speaker may be invited to discuss a
subject requiring special training and
abilities.
Aaronic Priesthood Under 21
Stake Committee for Aaronic Priesthood
Under 21
1. The designation "stake Aaronic
Priesthood committee" is changed to
"stake committee for Aaronic Priesthood
under 21."
2. The chairman of the stake com-
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
Bishoprics Page
JORDAN KNIGHT
•— ^^— •
mittee for Aaronic Priesthood under 21
is no longer to be a member of the
stake presidency. The chairman is to
be designated by the stake presidency
from among the high council or chosen
at large.
Ward Committee for Aaronic Priesthood
Under 21
1. The designation "ward Aaronic
Priesthood committee" is changed to
"ward committee for Aaronic Priest-
hood under 21."
2. The coordinator is hereafter desig-
nated secretary. It was felt that the
continued use of the title coordinator
may encourage a greater delegation of
the responsibilities of the presidency of
the Aaronic Priesthood than is possible
under this assignment from the Lord to
the bishopric.
Ward Boy Leadership Committee
The organization and monthly meet-
ing of the ward boy leadership comit-
tee is discontinued.
Ward Aaronic Priesthood Leadership
Meeting
A "ward Aaronic Priesthood leader-
ship meeting," to be held each month
under the direction of the bishopric,
replaces the discontinued "ward boy
leadership committee meeting."
APRIL 1953
Tribute Paid to Faithful Member of Aaronic Priesthood
(Jordan Knight, a faithful teacher in
Cedar First Ward, Cedar Stake, was
accidentally killed last October. His
former scoutmaster and deacons' quo-
rum adviser, Clemont B. Adams, wrote
the following tribute, which is pub-
lished here for the inspiration of bearers
of the Aaronic Priesthood throughout
the Church. Jordan is the son of Clif-
ford and Alice W. Knight.)
HpHE ending of one year and the be-
ginning of another bring many joys
to most of us, and as I sat working on
the deacons' quorum roll book, I was
at peace with the world. As I compiled
the list of deacons who had earned an
individual award, my mind drifted back
over the preceding years, and out of
the mists of time I again faced Jordan
Knight.
Not that he had ever been completely
out of my mind, for a teacher doesn't
forget his boys that easily. It had been
only one short year since Jordan's name
had headed the list of those who were
getting awards. I remember the pride
with which I had tabulated his credits
and found him to have one hundred
percent attendance at Sunday School,
sacrament meeting, M.I.A., and priest-
hood meeting.
Other scenes soon crowded my mem-
ory, and I remembered hiking with him
in the mountains as Scout and Scout-
master. His interest in nature's storybook
was a real thing, and he confided to me
his desire to make his living from the
earth. He turned to a study of agricul-
ture and soon experienced successes with
his projects.
The most important thing in Jordan's
life was his membership in the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He
planned on a foreign mission and
wanted to hold a responsible position
in the Church. He had a strong aver-
sion to liquor, tobacco, and anything
not clean and pure. I'm sure he was
more interested in people's respect than
in recognition, and his word was a
guarantee that assignments would be
filled. I remember the determination to
complete assignments which he always
showed. One time his older brother
had been assigned a talk in ward con-
ference but became ill on the day he
was to speak. A few minutes before
the meeting began, Jordan appeared
and announced to President Elwood J.
Corry that he was there to fill his
brother's assignment.
I remember the willingness with
which he accepted responsibility. A
song in Church, a prayer, or a talk —
it was always the same, a job well done!
The example he set and his leadership
as president of the deacon's quorum will
always be an inspiration to me. I'll
not forget, either, the talks we had as
we weeded the corn of our ward welfare
assignment or the games of steal-the-
flag in the early darkness after our
work had been finished. A joyful life,
with service to God and his fellow man,
seemed to be his creed.
Progress and advancement come to
all worthy of them, and I saw Jordan
promoted into the teachers' quorum. I
missed his close association, but he
didn't seem to change. He continued
to give his best, even up to his sudden
death. Only time can heal the sor-
row of his passing; but when I think
of him, I also think of the words
of Jesus when his disciples asked him
who was greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. Jesus drew a child into their
midst and said, "Whosoever therefore
shall humble himself as this little child,
the same is greatest in the kingdom of
heaven." (Matt. 18:4.) I am sure that
the humble spirit of Jordan Knight will
bask in the presence of God. I am
also sure that my life has been enriched
because of the contacts I had with him,
and I thank God for the privilege of
being a deacons' adviser.
n^ i
Those expected to attend, in addition
to the bishopric, include all ward
leaders of Aaronic Priesthood. The
meeting is to be held in three parts, as
follows:
Part One will include the opening
exercises, with roll calls, announce-
ments, and messages from the bishopric
which are of common interest to all
assembled.
Part Two provides for a separation
into three departments with a member
of the bishopric in charge of each de-
partment. Leaders of priests in both
programs will attend the bishop's de-
partment; leaders of teachers will at-
tend the first counselor's department;
leaders of deacons will attend the second
counselor's department.
In each of the three departments, the
member of the bishopric in charge will,
(1) call for a report on all assignments
(Continued on page 290)
277
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LOS ANGELES
278
Mekhizedek Priesthood
(Continued from page 275)
by the state in church government and
doctrine, but occasional attempts to stamp
out Christianity by persecution occurred.
2. With the conversion of Constantine to
Christianity the situation changed. Con-
stantine saw an opportunity to use the
church for political purposes. The condition
within the church made this possible. Fol-
lowing the deaths of the apostles, the church
had been without any central authority.
The hundreds of bishops exercised authority
in their separate sees or bishoprics. With a
lack of a central authority to receive divine
direction and a scarcity of scripture for a
written guide, doctrinal disputes were com-
mon. In this situation the Greek philos-
ophers, who had become Christian, shaped
the doctrine of the church to harmonize
with philosophy. But some of these changes
resulted in bitter debate and conflict.
3. With an emperor who was a Christian
(though unbaptized), it was perhaps
natural for the bishops to turn to him to
help settle their disputes. The first of these
disputes was known as the Donatist Schism,
a dispute in the African churches over the
acceptance into the church again of those
who had left the church because of persecu-
tion. Constantine interfered by calling
councils, financing them, and enforcing their
decisions. This was the beginning of the
power of the state over the church.
4. One of the most significant develop-
ments was the decision of the Council of
Aries that baptism was good even if per-
formed without authority, a decision that
has affected the Catholic Church to our
time.
5. In the years that followed the Neo-
Platonio school developed in parts of the
church, which was, in the main, a compro-
mise between Christian tradition and Greek
philosophy. But even here there was divi-
sion and this gave rise to the Arian contro-
versy.
6. Arius taught that God the Father,
created the Son, who was inferior to him.
Christ did not exist from all eternity but
was merely the "first-born of created men."
Hence the Son had a beginning, but not
the Father. (See page 35 for the Arian
position.) Arius' writings are now lost.
7. Athanasius and his followers took the
position that God, the Father, and God, the
Son, were co-equal, co-eternal, co-divine, and
of one substance.
8. The Arian controversy waged so vio-
lently that Constantine again intervened,
called the Nicene Council, financed it, large-
ly determined its decisions, forced the par-
ticipants to sign the Nicene Creed and
exiled the bishops who would not sign.
The Nicene Creed, which defined God,
the Father, and God, the Son, as of one
substance (omoousios) became the subject
for bitter controversy throughout the re-
mainder of the fourth century. (Read the
Nicene Creed, p. 55.)
9. From the time of the Nicene Council
the power of the state over the church
developed rapidly. Few moves were made
by the various bishops without first appeal-
ing to an emperor for sanction. Various
bishops became the favorite advisers of the
various emperors. The political scene
changed very frequently, as it was a time
of great turbulence in the Roman Empire.
Sometimes the empire was divided into East
and West; sometimes into three divisions;
and at other times united under one em-
peror. The beliefs of the ruling emperor
determined the doctrine of the church and
the fate of the respective bishops.
10. Even before the death of Constantine
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
an anti-Nicene reaction had set in which
gained impetus as a moderate Arian bishop,
Eusebius, became the confidant of Con-
stantine. There began now the deposing
and appointment of bishops by the emperor,
a practice that was to continue under various
emperors to the end of the century.
Athanasius now in turn was exiled, together
with other bishops and Arian bishops
brought back from exile. There developed
a quarrel between the East and the West.
The majority of Eastern bishops favor
Arianism. The majority of Western bish-
■ops favored the Nicene Creed (Athanasian-
ism). Likewise Eastern rulers favored
Arianism and Western rulers favored
Athanasianism.
For a period of time Arianism triumphed
under Arian emperors and Athanasian sup-
porters were persecuted and exiled. Arianism
became the "orthodox faith."
Finally, however, under the Emperors
Gratian and Theodosius (both Athana-
sians), Athanasianism triumphed again and
has remained since the viewpoint of the
Catholic Church. This triumph of
Athanasianism was effected by force and by
imperial edict.
Assignment:
Read in Lesson 18 how the general coun-
cils shaped, by debate, the doctrines of the
church.
Historic Fort Laramie
(Continued from page 252)
of privation and danger. But these
pioneers were possessed of strong and
hardy bodies, of ardent courage and
great force. Too little has been writ-
ten of the pioneer woman, of her
valiancy and the part she played in
the winning of the West. Dr. Charles
W. Eliot, president of Harvard Uni-
versity, paid an eloquent tribute to
the pioneer woman from the speaker's
platform in the great Salt Lake Taber-
nacle in 1892. Said he:
Did it ever occur to you what is the
most heroic part of founding a colony of
people which moves into the wilderness to
establish a civilized community? You think
perhaps it is the soldier, the armed men,
or the laboring man. Not so. It is the
women who are the most heroic part of
any colony. Their labors are less because
their strength is less. Their anxieties are
greater; the risks they run are heavier . . .
let us bear in our hearts reverence for
Christian folk going out in the wilderness
to plant a new community.
With the establishment of military
posts in the West, the soldier became
a familiar figure on the frontier.
Fort Laramie was garrisoned the year
round. During the next two decades
of its existence it was an important
base for numerous expeditions sent
out against the many Indian tribes
on the warpath.
(Continued on following page)
APRIL 1953
You'll never catch
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slumber party,
high school hop or
any other really
important teen-age
activity, she's cer-
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the Deseret News
and Telegram "Hi
Tales" column. She
is in tune with the
teens! Elaine Can-
non is the Emily
Post, fad-finder and head spokes-
man for teen-agers throughout the
Mountain West.
Bm§ie®iet Miew§
pekgram
279
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ZONE STATE
UTAH STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLECT
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The excellent educational and recreational facilities, the friendly campus, the
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For a catalog or further information, address:
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280
Historic Fort laramie
(Continued from preceding page)
In 1857 occurred a major event in
the annals of western history which
took precedent over all others at this
period. It was the armed expedition
sent by the government against the
people in Utah. Before the military
forces left Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
orders had been issued placing Fort
Laramie under the command of the
leader of the expedition, Colonel Al-
bert Sidney Johnston. The fort
served as an important depot for army
supplies, and the quartermaster was
heavily taxed because a large part of
the food and equipment had to be
put in storage and shipped to the
troops at a later date. Winter came
early to the West in 1857. Colonel
Johnston and his troops met with
unprecedented transportation diffi-
culties and were forced to winter near
the site of old Fort Bridger which
had been deserted and burned by the
Latter-day Saints who owned it.
Negotiations to straighten out the
difficulties were begun by a trusted
and devoted friend of the Mormon
people, Colonel Thomas L. Kane. In
June of 1858 the troops entered the
valley unresisted and established
Camp Floyd some forty miles be-
yond Salt Lake City. There the
army made its headquarters until the
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.
During the "sixties" the responsi-
bility of Fort Laramie was greatly
augmented by the exigencies of the
Civil War. In addition to the con-
tinuing emigrant trains there was
launched that daring enterprise, the
Pony Express which gave to us the
"air mail" of the 1860's. Following
close upon the heels of the Pony
Express came the first transconti-
nental telegraph pushed West by
Edward Creighton, all following the
great central route past Fort Laramie.
To the duty of protecting these were
added the Overland Stage Coach and
the dailv mail service. At the same
time the Fort Laramie garrison was
reduced considerably to aid in the
defense of the Union.
Increasing signs of Indian unrest
were apparent, and there were
sporadic outbreaks of violence at iso-
lated stage stations in 1862. By now
the Indians understood the bleak fu-
ture destined for them by the ever-
increasing numbers of white men
who came West. In July 1865, three
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
thousand warriors of the combined
tribes laid siege to the Platte Bridge
station on the upper North Platte.
Twenty-six white men lost their lives,
including the young gallant Caspar
Collins, son of a former Fort Laramie
commander, from whom the present
city of Casper, Wyoming, derived its
name.
Retaliation for Indian outrages took
the form of the famous Powder River
Expedition sent out from Fort
Laramie during the summer of 1865.
The troops barely escaped starvation
and annihilation, and the expedition
ended in failure. Cries for a new
peace council were heard, and in
June 1866, peace commissioners and
about two thousand Sioux met at
Fort Laramie to work out some solu-
tion. Hopes for peace were shattered
by the appearance of Colonel Henry
B. Carrington and a large force in-
tent on establishing posts along the
route of the Bozeman Trail into Mon-
tana. These would penetrate the last
fine hunting ground of the Sioux.
The belligerent Red Cloud, sometimes
called "The Red Napoleon of the
Plains," with a large contingent of
followers, withdrew in enmity. The
tragic Fetterman Massacre was the
result of the invasion of this area.
In the spring of 1868, peace commis-
sioners again arrived at the Fort with
instructions to abandon the Bozeman
Trail. This was bitter medicine for
the army men who felt that their
sacrifices had been in vain.
The "Second Treaty of Fort Lara-
mie" conceded the Dakota lands to
the Sioux and stipulated that they
abandon the North Platte (Oregon
Trail) country entirely. This in turn
was "bad medicine" for the Indians
because Fort Laramie had been their
trading center since the establish-
ment of the original fort in 1834.
The final conclusive struggle be-
tween the red men and the whites
came as a result of the discovery of
gold in the Black Hills in 1874. Ex-
cited miners illegally entered the
Sioux country and were arrested by
authorities, but this did not deter
them. The indirect result of this in-
vasion of Indian lands was the mas-
sacre of General George Custer and
his entire command on the Little
Big Horn in June 1876.
In the meantime the Union Pacific
Railroad had pushed West from
Omaha, Nebraska. The rails reached
Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1867, and
(Concluded on following page)
APRIL 1953
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281
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282
Historic Fort Laramie
(Continued from preceding page)
the line was joined with the Central
Pacific at Promotory, Utah, May 10,
1869. Despite the fact that hundreds
of thousands of emigrants had fol-
lowed the Oregon Trail route past
Fort Laramie and over the South Pass
area, surveying parties for the rail-
road had chosen a more direct course
to the south, leaving the fort about
one hundred miles north of the line.
The beginning of the end of this
picturesque outpost was now ap-
parent. The use of the railroad for
transportation made the fort obsolete
as a base of supplies. The power of
the plains Indians had been broken,
hence the soldier was no longer
needed as a deterrent against hostili-
ties. Cabins of homesteaders, with
their large herds of cattle, were
dotting the prairies. These hardy
pioneers would get the needed aid
from the territorial government then
functioning. Old Fort Laramie,
faithful guardian on the frontier,
would be abandoned!
Orders for the fort's abandonment
came in 1889, but it was not until
April 1890 that the United States
flag was hauled down and the last
trooper marched away. Movable
property was salvaged, and buildings
and fixtures put on the auction block
and sold for the paltry sum of
$1395.00 The entire reservation of
34,560 acres, including the wood and
timber areas, was thrown open to
homesteaders.
As the echoes of the last departing
wagon train died into silence that
April morning in 1890, an era of
vast importance to the West closed.
For forty-one years old Fort Laramie
had calmed the troubled waters of
frontier life and in doing so had held
a unique place in the hearts and
imaginations of a vast human tide
as it swept through the storied gates
of the fort, bargained for items at
the Sutler's store, or rested in the
coolness and shade of the post's
buildings. Here had been a halfway
house of the nation; here the trails
crossed, ended, began. It meant the
first hard stretch of the western jour-
ney completed, the end of the prairie
stretches. From here on bold out-
lines of peaks and mountain ranges
rimmed the skyline. Facilities at the
post had given succor and aid to
many thousands of those brave pio-
neers of yesterday, men and women
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
who dreamed dreams of happy, peace-
ful homes in the great West, as they
followed the trail by old Fort
Laramie, that reached beyond the
hills and disappeared into the sunset.
During the years immediately fol-
lowing the abandonment of Fort
Laramie by the army, little or no
thought was given by the public to
the historical importance attached to
the area. The more than sixty build-
ings had been stripped of all their
valuable material and were rapidly
falling into decay. But in the early
1920's public minded citizens went
into action. In 1925 the legislature
of the State of Wyoming memorialized
the Congress of the United States to
set aside the land comprising old
Fort Laramie. The Historical Land-
mark Commission of Wyoming co-
operated, and finally, in 1937, just
forty-eight years after the govern-
ment had auctioned the entire fort,
the state of Wyoming purchased from
private owners 214 acres of the
original reserve and deeded it to the
United States.
Today Fort Laramie National
Monument is rapidly being stabilized
and restored. The fort, once aban-
doned to the destruction of man and
the elements, is to live anew as the
West's best representative of the
spirit and tradition of those early
yearsl
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The American Fur Trade of the Far
West, by H. M. Chittenden, vols. 1,
2, 3 1902
The West In American History, by Don
Elbert Clark 1941
Utah and the Nation, by Leland H.
Creer 1929
Westward America, by Howard R.
Driggs 1942
Ben Holladay, The Stagecoach King, by
J. V. Frederick 1940
The Early Far West, by W. J. Ghent. .. 1940
Fort Laramie and the Pageant of the
West, Hafen and Young 1938
Fort Laramie, Guardian of the Oregon
Trail, (a commemorative essay) by
Merrill J. Mattes. 1945
The Bozeman Trail, by Hebard and
Brininstool, (2 vols.) 1922
History of Wyoming, by C. G.
Cotuant. 1890
APRIL 1953
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283
RUBYH. MORGAN
Editor
Company Manners
by Monica Dowries
Rhoda Fleming was tired — tired
and discouraged. As she looked
about the familiar kitchen, she
felt that she would like to run
straight out the door and never come
back.
There was nothing wrong with the
kitchen, really. It was pleasant, well-
planned, and comfortable. It was
just that she had too much of it. She
was in the kitchen every day, early
and late. The family even ate in
the kitchen.
Rhoda had not planned it that
way. She and Henry had built this
house with a large dining room, in-
tending to serve meals as she had
always been used to. But keeping
house for a husband and three grow-
ing sons, and doing her woman's
chores on a farm took all her time
and energy. Besides, heating the
dining room in winter in time for
breakfast was a problem, and there
wasn't time for taking those extra
steps from the kitchen to serve. First
as a makeshift when the boys were
tiny, kitchen eating had gradually
come to be accepted as a regular part
of their life.
She knew the effect on the boys
was not good. She had always be-
lieved that there were no such things
as "company manners." She had
tried to train her boys to use their
best manners every day. But they
were slipping into easy going, care-
less habits — "kitchen manners" she
called them. Perhaps if she had had
a daughter to help —
Rhoda dropped into the kitchen
rocker and picked up a woman's
magazine. Henry had asked for a
boiled dinner today, and she had only
to watch the stove while it finished
cooking. She leafed through the
pages. Here was an advertisement
for silverware, a beautifully appointed
table with a delicate flower center-
piece. The order, the harmony of
line and color, gave her a sense of
repose. Such a table was refreshment
for the spirit. People who could live
like that were fortunate.
Near the front of the magazine
were photographs of a popular
British movie star in her own home.
And here was an interview. Of
course she tried to look her best for
her own family, the star said. It
meant getting up ten minutes earlier
each morning, but it was worth it.
And she always used her best china
and silver. Not to do so would an-
nounce that she valued guests more
than her own family.
That hurt. Of course Rhoda didn't
care more for guests than for her
own family. But didn't she make it
appear as though she did? The oil-
cloth cover, kitchen china (some of
it chipped and none of it matching),
the worn plated silver which Great-
aunt Matilda had used for forty years
before she inherited it. No wonder
the family had "kitchen manners."
She glanced at the clock. There
would be just time enough. Her
weariness forgotten, she carried out
the best china plates, and put them
in the warming oven. She covered
the oilcloth with white linen and
set out her wedding silver. If they
284
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
couldn't eat in the dining room, at
least there would be an oasis of
beauty and order in the kitchen.
She slipped outside for flowers.
California poppies and bachelors'
buttons grew in profusion. She would
arrange them in the blue bowl Cousin
Eunice had given her last Christmas.
Then she freshened herself and put
on a clean dress. She felt more
serene and rested today.
Her eldest appeared at the kitchen
door. His comment, "Whee, com-
pany!" as he caught sight of the
table, sent a pang through Rhoda.
Had she neglected her own so badly?
The other two boys were now at the
sink, scrubbing extra hard, brushing
hair, and tidying up. They were
really putting their hearts into it
today.
Her husband stepped into the room.
He looked shocked, as he asked, "Is
this a birthday or something?" Poor
Henry! He was always forgetting
anniversaries and feeling guilty.
Rhoda faced them all, standing
straight and dignified, but with a
twinkle of mischief in her eye.
"Yes, this is a special day," she
announced. "It's the beginning of a
new plan. The Flemings are enter-
taining the Flemings. And we're
going to do it every day!"
■ m ■
HANDY HINTS
Payment for Handy Hints used will be
one dollar upon publication. In the event
that two with the same idea are submitted,
the one postmarked earlier will receive the
dollar. None of the ideas can be returned,
but each will receive careful consideration.
Your gravy will never be lumpy if
you make the thickening this way:
Simply place flour in small screw-top
jar and add plenty of cold water. Put
lid on and shake vigorously to get a
very thin, smooth paste. Stir into boil-
ing gravy liquid. — Mrs. G. H., Hinckley
Utah.
Add a little lemon juice to water in
which salad greens are to be freshened.
This helps make them crisp. — M. M.,
Grandville, Michigan.
Children coming home from school
are hungry and like to raid the icebox.
Half of one shelf in our refrigerator is
called the "snack shelf" and contains
leftover dabs of meat, fruits, carrot
sticks, jello, etc., stored in empty peanut
butter jars; the children know they are
free to use any of the things on this
shelf.— Mrs. D. R. B., Salt Lake City,
Utah.
An apron similar to a clothespin apron
is handy for collecting small vegetables
or fruit in the garden. — Mrs. M. M.,
Burhank, Calif.
APRIL 1953
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of
the dead have been redeemed; millions are
yet waiting for their prison doors to open.8
President Anthon H. Lund once
said in conference:
We look forward to the time when the
land of Zion will be covered with temples,
so that the great work may go on, both for
the living and the dead.9
(Concluded on following page)
7Discourses of Brigham Young, pp. 604, 616.
sFrom stenographic reports of the dedication pro-
ceedings; Saviors on Mount Zion, p. 210.
sUtah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, 9:74.
APRIL 1953
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293
gritos RECIPE OF THE MONTH
FRITOS STUFFED CABBAGE
SERVES 4-6
1 medium Head of Cabbage 1 Egg
Vi lb. (1 cup) Ground Beef Va. tsp. Monosodium Glutamate
!'i medium Onion (chopped) 2 tbsp. Evaporated Milk
Vi tsp. Salt 3/4 cup Crushed FRITOS
Vb tsp. Pepper (Measured after crushing)
DIRECTIONS:
Fold back several of trie outer leaves of the cabbage,
removing the center to allow for filling.
Mix the remaining ingredients, place in cabbage
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water and simmer until tender. Slice in wedges
and serve.
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Salt Lake City, Utah
The Beginning of the Blessing
(Continued from preceding page)
Of the building of temples and the
work therein, President Woodruff ex-
plained:
This is a preparation necessary for the
second advent of the Savior; and when we
shall have built the temples now contem-
plated, we will then begin to see the neces-
sity of building others, for in proportion
to the diligence of our labors in this di-
rection, will we comprehend the extent of
the work to be done, and the present is only
a beginning. When the Savior comes, a
thousand years will be devoted to this work
of redemption; and temples will appear all
over this land of Joseph — North and South
America — and also in Europe and elsewhere;
and all . . . must be officiated for in the
temples of God, before the Savior can pre-
sent the kingdom to the Father, saying, "It
is finished."10
journal of Discourses, 19:229-230.
294
The Salt Lake Temple
(Continued from page 224)
all others for which the members of
the Church had longed. Nor was it
the last to be built, and President
Brigham Young predicted that the
time would come when temples
would be erected all over the land of
Zion and in foreign lands.
Why do we build temples? It is
because the Lord commands it. For
what purpose are they built? In or-
der that sacred ordinances and cove-
nants necessary to the exaltation in
the celestial kingdom may be be-
stowed upon all those who are
worthy of the exaltation. In relation
to these blessings the Lord has said:
That by keeping the commandments they
might be washed and cleansed from all
their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by
the laying on of the hands of him who is
ordained and sealed unto this power;
And who overcome by faith, and are
sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which
the Father sheds forth upon all those who
are just and true.
They are they who are the church of the
Firstborn.
They are they into whose hands the
Father has given all things —
They are they who are priests and kings,
who have received of his fulness, and of
his glory. (D. & C. 76:52-56.)
We can discern from this that ac-
cording to the letter of the command-
ment, none are entitled to enter the
temple and receive these ordinances
except those who have prepared them-
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
selves for exaltation by the keeping
of all of the commandments and have
prepared themselves by faith and
faithfulness to be so endowed. This
strictness is not always followed and
many are privileged to receive some
of these ordinances on the promise of
faithfulness thereafter.
So important did the Lord consider
the need of a temple in Israel, he
commanded Moses to build one while
the children of Israel were in the wil-
derness. This was built of the most
costly materials that the Israelites
could produce. It was a portable
building that could be taken down
and set up as the camp of Israel
moved in their journeying from place
to place. It is frequently spoken of
as the tabernacle. It was to this
building that Samuel was taken by
his mother in his childhood. In the
days of Solomon, Israel was com-
manded to build a permanent temple
which served them until through
their rebellion and corruption it was
destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar at the
time of the captivity. On the return
of the Jews from this bondage, by
decree of Cyrus the Persian, the tem-
ple was rebuilt. Later it was neg-
lected, and then it was*repaired and
partially reconstructed in the days of
Herod. This was the temple as our
Savior found it.
Since the resurrection of our Savior,
baptism for the dead has been per-
formed. This ordinance belongs to
the temple as do all the ordinances
pertaining to the salvation of the
worthy dead. At the time of the
building of the Nauvoo Temple, the
Lord said:
For therein are the keys of the holy
priesthood ordained, that you may receive
honor and glory. . . .
For it is ordained that in Zion, and in
her stakes, and in Jerusalem, those places
which I have appointed for refuge, shall be
the places for your baptisms for your dead.
And again, verily I say unto you, how
shall your washings be acceptable unto me,
except ye perform them in a house which
you have built to my name?
For, for this cause I commanded Moses
that he should build a tabernacle, that they
should bear it with them in the wilderness,
and to build a house in the land of prom-
ise, that those ordinances might be revealed
which had been hid from before the world
was. (D. & C. 124:34, 36-38.)
Today it is the privilege of the
Latter-day Saints to go to this sacred
house, and there receive all of these
blessings in fulfilment of the promise
of the Lord through Jeremiah.
APRIL 1953
New classes:
• Typing
• Shorthand
* Hy-Speed Longhand
* Gregg Shorthand, Simplified
* Accounting
• and others
You Can Still Register For
Spring Quarter
Springtime at L.D.S. is beautiful ... a
spacious lawned campus nestled among many
budding trees and located just across the street
from the inspiring Temple.
It's the perfect environment for learning. And
L.D.S. has many new and interesting classes for
you in secretarial, stenographic, accounting,
business management, and office fields.
New and modern equipment makes learning
easier, and conscientious instructors give you the
personal attention necessary.
Write or phone
you're always cordially welcome at your Church school
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
Ifflli BIJSIISS COLLEGE Branch
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295
Dina Kay Bingham
Thirty-sixth Ward of the East Ogden (Utah) Stake has reason to be proud of their young people
and especially Dina Kay Bingham. She has completed her fifth year of perfect attendance at Sunday
School, fourth year perfect attendance at sacrament meeting; and with the recent exception of six
meetings which she missed because her employment conflicted with Mutual hours, her fourth year at
M. I. A. She has been given three one hundred percent award pins and is a Silver Gleaner. She is
the daughter of Asael and Evelyn Bingham.
Sandyville, West Virginia
Dear Editors:
IT gives me great pleasure to see "Evidences and Reconcilia-
tions" by Dr. Widtsoe continuing for a time in The Improve-
ment Era.
These articles have truly been helpful and inspiring. I have
often wondered, in late years, if some other gifted writer would
take up this same line of work for The Improvement Era after
Brother Widtsoe's pen had been laid aside.
Dr. Widtsoe himself puts the matter appropriately in Volume 1
of Evidences and Reconciliations in the preface, as follows:
"Inquiries from honest searchers after truth should always be
welcomed. Intelligent learners, in any field of knowledge, ask for
explanations as problems appear in their studies. Indeed, the
questions asked often mark the degree of proficiency attained.
Those to whom no problems occur are asleep at the wheel of
truth."
It is my earnest hope that this stirring challenge of this valiant
soul shall be accepted by The Improvement Era through the years
that lie ahead. May the torch which he carried so faithfully
and so long be held aloft by other hands to light the path of
truth.
Very sincerely yours,
hi J. M. Riggs
Hatch, Utah
Dear Brethren:
I first subscribed through F. M. Lyman in 1897 September to
The Improvement Era. The next year my Brother, Alvin, got
the Era from the P. O. and kept it a month, then it belonged to
me. My father F. L. Porter subscribed for it. I have had it
ever since.
Am very grateful to God for the Era.
Yours sincerely,
I si L. Leroy Porter
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dear Editors:
The issue of The Improvement Era came with my small offer-
ing of my work, and an editor also sent me a clipping from
the same issue, from Washington — showing how your fine maga-
zine gets around! This latter city seeming to have been cut off
from the rest of the country for the past some years, to many of
its citizens!
Thank you very much for sending me the copy. I think this
is always a gracious act toward the contributor by editors! And
one appreciated even by those who seldom if ever, receive a
rejection slip, I have found.
Most sincerely,
I si Ormonde Butler
Beach, North Dakota
Dear Friends,
Your fine magazine is still as much enjoyed as ever. Every
issue makes one again encouraged to be in the association of
so noble a people who publish it. I have yet to find anything
to be prejudiced against. What a far cry from some of the
humiliation heaped on by professed Christians. One would think
the tragedies would expose the mockery, but history never seems
to be predisposed that way.
Many, many thanks again for your good magazine. I also
appreciate the Saturday edition of The Deseret News-Salt Lake
Telegram.
Sincerely,
I si Edwin Buldhaupt
Reconstruction of a Babylonian temple.
Model of the small Egyptian Temple of Medinet Habu under
the Ethiopian kings.
— Photos courtesy of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
(These temples are described in detail in Dr. Sperry's article, page 230.)
296
THE IMPROVEMENT ERA
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Retirement can he like Springtime: not
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