COLLEGE

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

Peace, peace, throughout the wide world, peace.
Cease, cease, ye raving war gods, cease!
What mean these cries of blood and war,
These strikes, this turmoil near and far?
Look to the west and you shall see
The Dragon War King bend his knee,
While in the east, so clear and bright,
The Shepherd's star sends forth its light.

Oh, Dragon War King, thou must fall,
Thy bloody voice must cease its call,
Thy doom has come, thy day is o'er,
Thy head shall bend to rise no more.
The time is ripe, and on this earth
The Day of Peace has had its birth.
Now race to race its own shall give,
And all in brotherhood shall live.

Turn to the east and, rising there,
Behold the Shepherd's star so fair.
How sweet, how tranquil, how serene,
It casts afar its shining sheen.
Lo, angel voices sing again:
"Peace to the earth, good will to men;"
And Christ at last doth reign as King.
Hark! how the lingering echoes ring.

"Peace to the earth, to man good will.”
With joy each loving heart shall thrill,
And charity and mercy beam,

For right and justice reign supreme.
All flesh doth know 'tis crime to kill
E'en firecest beast, for God doth wi!!
That sin upon this earth shall cease,
That all shall know the joy of Peace.

Oh, nations, look ye to the day,
When armies gathered for the fray
Shall turn in peace each to his way,
For harmony and love hold sway.
Long have we heard the battle cry,

And watched our loved ones fall and die,
Long have our souls with grief been wrung,
While bravest hearts those war-songs sung.

Oh, God of Peace, who reigns on high,
To us, thy children, now draw nigh;
Thy promise unto us is given

Of peace on earth as well as heaven.

Oh, hear our prayers, nor turn away,
Let peace and right now come to stay,
Let wickedness and evil cease,
Send, Father, to thy children peace.

PLAIN CITY, UTAH

LAURA MOENCH JENKINS

The principal compositor on the first edition of the Book of Mormon. He was born in Richmond, New York, in 1803, and died in Palmyra, N. Y., January 26, 1895, aged 92 years, 10 months. The photo was taken in his 91st year. See "Editors' Table," in this number of the ERA.

IMPROVEMENT ERA

VOL. XVII

MAY, 1914

No. 7

Loud Laughter a Sin

PROF. N. L. NELSON, OF THE WEBER ACADEMY.

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"Therefore, cease from all your light speeches; from all laughter; from all your lustful desires; from all your pride and light mindedness, and from all your wicked doings. Cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you. do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances; not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance."-Doc. and Cov., 88:121, 69; 59:15.

It is now forty years since I first read these passages and wondered that the Lord should condemn so innocent and, to me, so admirable a thing as hearty laughter. I am afraid that as a boy the meaning of "glad heart and cheerful countenance," which the Lord offers as a substitute, did not strike my attention, and certainly no one ever pointed it out to me. I fear also that, by the law of contrast, my mind jumped to the opposite extreme; interpreting as pleasing to heaven the groaning heart and the long, drooping countenance-like that of old Brother Moody and old. Sister Gloom who, although they were among the first to accept "Mormonism," failed to slough and leave behind them in the old country the sour and solemn shams of sectarianism.

As a consequence, the years from twelve to eighteen, which mark the hoodlum epoch in my career, were years of rebellion and defiance. I had not read Milton's "L' Allegro," but had it come within my ken, I should certainly have approved this stanza:

"Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee

Jest and youthful Jolity,

Imps and cranks and wanton wiles,

Nods and becks and wreathed smiles,

Sport that wrinkled care derides,

Laughter holding both his sides."

As it was, the hero of that silly epoch, the incarnation of my