We'll renew the ties of friendship
Formed upon this earth with thee.

DONNA M. MECHAM.
MATTIE HARDING.

TEENIE JOHNSON.

TO THE OFFICERS OF THE Y. L. M.I. A. My Dear Sisters:

You have been called to labor

as leaders among the young ladies. I would like to impress upon your minds the fact that a noble mission has been given you, which is to bless the young and lead them to the Lord.

What an honor it is to be called to such a responsible position, to be leaders and teachers in Israel! I am afraid we do not always consider how great the honor thus conferred, especially at those times, when to our finite minds it seems that our labors have been in vain. We have all experienced such times, and have overlooked or failed to calculate how great the blessings our Father has in store for us if we continue true and faithful; for whether those whom we have labored so hard to benefit and bless avail themselves of the benefits to be derived therefrom or not will make no difference whatever in the blessings we will obtain through the performance of that labor. If the good seed that we plant is not properly nourished, and brings forth no more than five or ten fold, our reward will be just as great as though it bring forth a hundred fold.

It will be they whose duty it is to nourish and cultivate the seed who will fail of the blessings they

to

But

a

might have enjoyed, although it would be more gratifying behold a glorious harvest. let us remember that no good word was ever spoken nor any good act ever performed in vain; for the speaker or actor will reap benefits that will be everlasting in their nature. It cannot fail to be SO. "In blessing we are blessed" is an unimpeachable truth. I am often reminded of the words of President Taylor to a brother who was discouraged while on mission, feeling and expressing himself that his labors were almost vain, because so few were willing to listen or accept the message he had to bear. President Taylor told him that it was none of his business concerning the fruits of his labors, that was with the Lord and the people. If he labored faithfully he would receive his reward whether the people listened or not. Could we ever keep this point in view we would. not allow ourselves to become discouraged, though our flocks might seem indifferent at times. We do not have the discouraging condition to meet with here in Zion that is to be met with by our brethren abroad. Ours is the blessed privilege to teach those who were born heirs to the priesthood, who have the germ of faith implanted in their souls, which only awaits the sunshine of the Holy Spirit to quicken into active. life and growth. Our chiefest

can

labor is to try and inspire them to seek after that Spirit, and to understand its mission. If we can accomplish this end our labors. that follow will be comparatively easy, because that Spirit will make them willing to do all things required of a Saint of God. No stubbornness nor rebellion exist in hearts thus inspired. But our Elders have a very different class to labor among, people who are filled with traditions of all kinds, which in many cases are difficult if not impossible to overcome, and few, indeed, there be who have honesty and stability enough to receive these "glad tidings of great joy" and follow where the Shepherd would lead them.

we can re

We are told that all are not Israel that are of Israel, hence we find some unbelieving Gentile spirits among us who will not listen, but they are greatly in the minority, thank the Lord. But we are all so constituted that we have to hear again and again the same things ere member and make them our own; so we must expect to repeat our teachings in order to make them effective. Do not, my sisters, be discouraged at this. "Clothe bonds yourselves with the charity as with a mantle," and "possess your souls with patience," that you may not grow weary in well doing but continue faithful unto the end and you will yet behold the fruits of your labors until your hearts are filled with joy beyond what you now can

of

conceive of. I know that you were among those choice spirits that were with our Father in the eternal worlds, and because of your integrity and faithfulness in your former state He chose you to come and fill the very positions you now occupy, having confidence that you would still be true to the trust imposed in you. May the Spirit of God still burn in your hearts and enable you to carry out the designs of our Father when He inspired the Prophet Brigham to organize the young ladies. May you be instrumental in leading them. to Christ by instilling faith in their hearts. The Spirit of Revelation, which it is your right to enjoy, will teach you how to accomplish this most desirable object. Your sister,

man,

Mary A. Freeze.

BE and continue poor, young while others around you grow rich by fraud and disloyalty; be without place or power, while others beg their way upward; bear the pain of disappointed hopes, while others gain the accomplishment of theirs by flattery; forego the graceous pressure of the hand, for which others cringe and crawl. Wrap yourself up in your own virtue, and seek a friend and your daily bread. If you have in such a course, grown grey with unblenched honor, bless God and die.

IDLENESS travels very slowly, and Poverty soon overtakes her.

A STUDY.

IN the New-World's Old World place,
That region of orient grace-
Framed with a great gulf's views,
And the river's broad bayous—
The city named for the flower

Of the French king's fame and power,
Known as the New Orleans,
And rich with the myriad scenes
Of the southland's storied charm,
(The gift of the sea-stream warm);
I lingered with heart content,
Gorging my artist's bent

With the pictures quaint and rare,
Caught in the glimpses fair
Of the gulf, with its still lagoons,
And the yellow, indolent moons
In the warm skies-gleaming wide,
On the dark sea's sweeping tide.
And the picturesque, strange retreats
Held in the old French streets-
Whose tinges of quaint romance
Broods like an age-old trance
In the busy city's woof;-
The glimpse of a gabled roof,
With the light of a dormer eye
Perched up under the sky;
And in it a creole face,
With a solemn or roguish grace
To hold the fancy-and cast
A spell o'er one as he passed.
These, or some gray, old wall-
Crumbled, and ready to fall,
Wreathed with a myrtle vine,
Or a rose-bush' scarlet line-
Read to the artist's look

Like an exquisite thought in a book.

And it chanced in those idle days,

As I walked through the quaint old ways,
Through the lovely and rare retreats
Held in the old French streets-
That I saw, when the day was wan,
(For my artist retina drawn)

A picture as sweet as the hand Of a painter ever planned. Under a gray house wall,

No. 4.

In reach of the passer's call-
A child, with her eyes filled deep
With the light that the southland's keep,-
Mellow, and soft, and aglow
With the soul's rich flood below,
Ready to surge and ride

Like the ocean's sweeping tide,-
Holding a lap of flowers

(Like a poet's dream of the hours)
Piping in treble high

Her wares to the passers-by,
Yet holding within her glance
A sparrow's sad romance
Played in a crevice near-
Of the old wall dark and drear,
Where a mother-birds soft breast,
Drooped o'er an empty nest.

Could I but pause, and take
Largess of this rich stake?
First, for the sake of art-
And next, that my beating heart-
Thrilled with a memory, drawn
From my far youth's silver dawn—
When love was the vibrant key
Of music for her and me.

Her, whose memory lent

Hope, and strength, and content
Through the struggle of weary years
When I plodded with hopes and fears
In my loved art's chosen way.

Then, there had come a day
When the long time was passed,
Eager I came, at last
Back to the old home shore-
Finding my sweet dream o'er.
Given to another's claim

My one star's cherished name.
Won to unworthy arms

By a stranger's will and charms-
Leaving but art alone

Ere the sorrow of love was proved,
And better than all the rest,
With a memory in her breast
For the lover of old-and when-
Married? oh, yes,-but then
A widow; I need not tell

The sequence.
Here on this tiny isle
Where we see the blue sea smile
All day—and at night the moon
Swim deep in the dark lagoon.
That picture you see on the wall-
Is the one that has brought me all
Of good that a life may claim-
Love, fortune, content' and fame.

We now all dwell

Josephine Spencer.

A BIRTHDAY DIAMOND. HARVEY and Helen Gray stood outside the plate glass window quietly appreciating the details. of the elegantly-dressed interior. A soft, snowy carpeting hid the floor of the bay; piles of rich plush were heaped in the corners, their lustrous folds gleaming with gems caught carelessly in the loops and creases; strands of gold and silver beads festooned between arches of dainty pearl and gold opera-glasses; pins, and bracelets and pendants; necklaces-golden or set with gems; silver stamp and match and bon-bon boxes of exquisite workmanship strewn artistically amid set designs, with bronze and ebony figures in flashing golden tunics and turbans, holding stately sentinelship over the treasures of the window cave, made in all a picture that might have tempted the gaze and praise of the most fastidious of critics.

The jewelry establishment had been recently opened, and the metropolitan fittings and methods.

of display had been a startling and pleasing innovation in the local line of business.

Helen often paused before the window, her half-unwilling glances caught and held, as she hurried past, by the alluring glitter and tastefulness of display, though it was with a certain sense of weakness that she yielded to the impulse.

So hard had been the battle waged for the conquering of tastes and habits associated with the old life of luxury and indulgence, and against the memory of which during these later years of poverty she had resolutely set her face, that it seemed like treachery to herself, and above all to Harvey, who had suffered enough of sensitive regret and self-condemnation for her forced endurance of the life of hardship and self-denial which she had incurred through her chosen alliance with his lotto yield to even the slightest seeming of desire for those things. from which her life was debarred.

Their story was not an unusual one. Spurred by the opposition of parents into a hasty and clandestine marriage, they had had the usual chill awakening to the stern hardships and necessities incurred by the step.

Contrary to many similar cases, however, whatever of regret followed was in this case the result solely of the young husband's morbid exaggeration of his own culpability, in having drawn into the current of his fate the loved being whose life had