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There are some women who lose their own peculiar powers for advancing by assuming manly attributes; so we often hear the remark, "She'll make a lawyer yet; note how masculine her speech is becoming, as well as her appearance in dress." What must we infer? That she is losing her sweet womanliness, all that is Godlike about her, and falling out of one sphere into another, one which she cannot fill; one that our Heavenly Father never qualified her for in any way. We know the number is small who make this sad mistake. But years ago there were many wise ones who shook their heads and feared to see woman take her place in the world, side by side with her husband or brother. Yet our Prophet Joseph Smith had no such misgivings, when he turned the keys of heaven for woman, early in the nineteenth century. He knew there were enough true ones in the world to eventually balance those who might, in their newly aroused ambition, overstep the mark. And in this as in every other instance, the history of our mothers' lives proves the divinity of the Prophet's mission.

Where in the annals of history can be found a parallel of woman enjoying her rights and privileges as she does in Zion? And she is a woman still!

How beautifully this principle is illustrated in our mutual work; the conjoint sessions locally, and in the general conjoint conferences.

Who would not be a girl, to be spoken of as I heard one spoken of the other day. It was in an office where men alone had worked, and because of extra work, a young lady was employed. Little difference was noticed at first, in the misty, stuffy atmosphere that pervades a printer's sanctum. But soon more care was taken in the general character of the boys, careless habits of dress, and speech, dropped off like dead leaves. And the every day tone of the whole office, they said, was better and brighter for the presence of one true girl who never forgot for a minute that she was a woman.

Our Heavenly Father has so honored the women of today, that He says to them: "I have withheld my choicest spirits to come forth in this day, the last dispensation: into your care I intrust these precious souls; be their mothers."

When our girls have arrived at the age of womanhood and receive the gifts and powers of their birthright, they are privileged to be the wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters of the best men on earth.

So with Schiller, we say: "Honor woman, for to her it is given, To garden the earth with the

of heaven."

roses

CHARITY.

Clara Willis.

Charity denotes love; it is spoken of as the greatest of the three Christian graces. If we are charitable, we will love one another. To love our neighbors as ourselves is better than burnt offerings and sacrifices. If we have knowledge, understanding, and faith, and have not charity, it is as nothing. Charity suffereth long and is kind, charity envieth not, and vaunteth not itself and is not puffed up. The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. Jesus tells us, if a man takes away our coat to let him have our cloak also. With all lowliness, and meekness, and with longsuffering, we should forbear one with another. Jesus says that faith worketh by love, and by love we should serve one another. He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap bountifully, every man according as he proposeth in his hearth. So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Jesus said, to love one another as He hath loved us. He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it. In 1 Cor. 13: 1, we find: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. All things should be done with charity. Charity is the bond of perfectness. Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace; with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. I know thy works, thy charity and service and faith, and thy patience and thy works, and the last to be more than the first." Charity is that virtue in man which inclines him to do good. We can do good in many ways by doing little acts of kindness, by helping those beneath us to rise so that they be our equals. If we go to some place and there see a rite or ceremony that seems odd to us, and we should ridicule it and make light of it, that is the absence of charity. Perhaps we act respectfully while we are at the place, but as soon as we go away and meet some of our friends, we make fun of the ceremony or rite, that we may ap pear witty; this may be wit, but it is unkind and uncharitable action nevertheless. It is better not to be witty than to ridicule or hurt our fellow beings, for that is not charity. Charity is kindness. Kindness does not simply consist in giving means, but consists in giving love and tenderness with the spirit of generosity.

thought, they become of the utmost Conceive

YOUNG WOMAN'S JOURNAL worth to the human soul.

THE ORGAN OF THE YOUNG LADIES' NATIONAL
MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS.

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if you can the condition of mankind were we all born dumb. Most of the arts, sciences and industries are the direct result of written or spoken thought. The emotions and affections, all the delicate psychic experiences are cultivated, developed and First Counselor enlarged by the power of expressed. thought. The accumulation of the ages comes to us in the thoughts which have been written, spoken carved, painted, or builded. What folly to toss aside such a mighty power as a cheap thing!

Second Counselor Secretary and Treasurer Corresponding Secretary Recording Secretary

MRS. ALICK K. SMITH
MRS ELIZABETH C. McCUNE
MRS RUTH M. Fox
MRS. JULIA M. BRIXEN
MRS. HELEN W. WOODRUFF
MRS. AUGUSTA W. GRANT
MRS. MARY A. FREEZE
MRS. SUSA YOUNG GATES

Officers of Young Woman's Journal.

Board of Directors:

MIS8 SARAH EDDINGTON

MISS MAR TAYLOR

MISS AGNES CAMPBELL

MRS. ADELLA W. EARDLEY

EDITOR,

Literary Committee: MRS. MAY BOOTH TALMAGE MRS. AUGUSTA W. GRANT MRS. EMMA GODDARD

SUSA YOUNG GATES

Should any subscriber fail to receive any number of th JOURNAL, pleas: notify us at once.

SALT LAKE CITY,

It is

OCTOBER, 1900.

THE GIFT OF SPEECH.

Upon man was bestowed the power to ex

Universal. press thought, emotion and desire in spoken words. All creatures, howsoever low in the scale of human existence, possess some kind of speech. The lower the creature, the poorer and feebler the language. The high civilization of today gives to every enlightened nation a full, strong language, enriched each day with the new terms and words brought to us from the realms of science, art, and history. The power of speech is the crowning glory of man. For every thought that is original or assimilated from other sources deepens the brain channels and enlarges the capacity. It is customary, with a certain class, to depreciate speech and the power of verbal expression. "Talk is cheap," is the popular aphorism. Yes, it is, when it is the expression of a cheap mind. But when words are used as the symbols of a great

Written Speech.

Every one concedes the great power and influence of written words. They live, forever it may be, and they speak to thousands, and still unnumbered thousands now unborn. Colleges, schools and universities by the hundreds exist to study the written words of the sages. Millions of printed papers scatter daily the written words of good and bad men. The world is full of libraries. No one indeed need prate of the value of written words. But spoken words! The Speech of the Multitude.

Words are living, sentient things. They quiver and glow, they throb and thrill with more than human power. Who talks of the force of written words? Listen to the speech of him. who drags your shivering soul out before your very eyes and probes into the deepest wound, cutting and poisoning the tenderest core, while you sit beneath the blazing eyes and helplessly watch the fiery words leap and tumble over your dismayed head. Or hearken to the gentle words which penetrate to your heart of hearts, binding up the bleeding wound. softening the harshness of your sullen anger, and pouring upon your tear-wet eyes the oil of peace and gladness. Ah, the spoken words may only reach the few, but they carry within them the thrilling quali

ty of life and presence. Every idle word! So pronounces the Master! Every idle word! Then words may be busy, loaded with thought, big with meaning. Not all the idle words are sinful. Some are playful pretty things, flashing in and out of speech like bubbles on the surface of a mountain stream. But idle words are like idle thoughts, idle moments; their very lack of studious intention renders them likely prey to the enemy of our souls. Let words be light or playful, only let them be sent not forth from the lips without thoughtful meaning, lest they be overtaken in their flight. "Twas through spoken words that the Master did His life-work. Are they then of little moment?

Cultivate

No women on earth the Art of have more need to study Speech. speech than do the women of our people. Through speech we teach and train our sons; we send them forth to call the world to repentance through speech. We move our loved ones to anger, or restrain their froward actions with our words. We meet, like free-born, heavenly women, and convey to each other, in speech, our thoughts upon religion, home, and life. To some, 'tis said, is given the gift of speech To all, 'tis given! Within the frail, weak body, God placed the organ of speech. Some learn but one tune; that they play, with scant variations. from birth to death. Few notes are theirs, and all their days are spent in ringing the changes on the few. That a multitude of stops and pedale lie within the soul, waiting only for the owner's hand to draw the reeds into position, is true, and yet unknown or unthought of by the multitude. Can genius play an organ if he study not the laws and rules that make his music what it is? And even if he study, he must practice. practice, practice. Hours each day he devotes to practice and study, New notes, new combinations, new

stops, he tries and tries again. Each day he gains a little, but it is only a little. And if he be a practiced player, he must still practice if he would keep his hands and fingers supple, the servants of his thought. Then consider this speech of ours an organ, with powers of crashing inharmonies, wailing minors, or glorious melodies. To us is given time and capacity so to cultivate the speech that tears or laughter shall follow on our words. What grace what power, what weight of divinity is ours through this speech! Do thou mind it well. Draw out thy soul to God in prayer for words, and for the understanding that makes them what they are-divine messengers of grace and truth!

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Note. The simplicity of the lessons given adapts them for use in 'all the Associations. It is the Book of Mormon, externally, which is to be considered this year, the manner in which it came into existence, its divine preservation, the committal to a Latter-day Prophet, and the final printing and disposition of the book. The historical or inner part of the book will be taken up at another

time.

Some Associations will desire to take two evenings on the lesson given: let them present their second lesson by giving brief lectures on the topics named in the supplemental outline if they can procure the books of reference.

If Prescott's Conquest of Mexico and Conquest of Peru can be read, at least such pages as are indicated, in connection with these lessons, the utmost good will result. If those histories could be read to the members during the winter, great interest would be awakened and many testimonies strengthened.

A few years after reaching America, the Lord commanded Nephi to make plates of ore upon which to record the history of his people. Nephi was the fourth son of Lehi, and

was a mighty man, full of humility, wisdom and strength. The first set of plates were large and,no doubt, somewhat massive. On these, Nephi began the secular history of his people; they contained the genealogy, wars, and general history of the descendants of Lehi. Nephi named them "the plates of Nephi," and as such they are known all through the Book of Mormon. But they are the large plates, in contradistinction to a smaller set which was made later by Nephi. Some time after the first set was made, the Lord instructed him to fashion a smaller set of plates, and upon these to engrave the prophecies, and, as it were, the spiritual history of his people. The smaller plates were given by Nephi to the Prophet Jacob, with the charge to keep them sacred and to engrave upon them the spiritual parts of the history, and thus to hand them down. Upon the large plates, begun by Nephi, were engraven quite an extended secular history of the Nephites from the time of Lehi to Mormon, who was the father of Moroni, the last Nephite. These larger plates were kept by the Nephite kings down to Mormon. The smaller plates held quite an extensive history of the time of Nephi,

:

"f." Ch. 2, verse 18.

7. Relate the conditions and cir

cumstances under which Nephi began the spiritual history contained on the smaller plates. II Nephi, ch. 5, verses 29-33. I Nephi, ch. 6, verses 1-6.

and some was added by Jacob, then Mormon, ch. 1. verses 1-4, foot note
a few items by Enos, Jarom, Omni.
Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom, and
Amaleki. These smaller plates of
Nephi were discovered by Mormon
when the records, in the process of
time, fell into his hands, and he was
pleased with them and incorporated
them in his book, not abridging them
at all. Thus we must keep in mind
that there are, so far in our study,
three sets of plates:

The Brass Plates, taken from Laban and containing the Jewish scriptures.

8. Who continued the spiritual history? Jacob, ch. 1, verses 1-4. Ch. 3, verses 13, 14. Ch. 4, verses 1-3. Jarom, ch.

Enos, ch. 1, verses 13-18.

1, verses 1, 2, 14, 15. Omni, ch. 1, verses 1, 3, 9, 11, 25.

9. Under what circumstances did the small plates of Nephi fall into

the hands of Mormon? Words of Mor

mon, ch. 1, verse 3.

10. What were the feelings of Mormon when he discovered the small Words of Mormon, ch. 1,

plates?

verse 4.

11. What did he decide to do with The Large Plates of Nephi, conthe small plates? Words of Mormon, taining the secular history of the ch. 1, verses 5-7. Read all of the Words Nephites.

The Small Plates of Nephi, containing the prophetical part of the Nephite history from Lehi to Amaleki.

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2.

I

Under what circumstances did Nephi make the first set of plates? Nephi, ch. 1, verse 16. Ch. 6. verse 1. Ch. 9, verses 2-5. Ch. 19, verses 1-4. 3. What was written or engraved upon the first or large set of plates? (See lesson statement.)

4. What is the meaning of the word secular? See dictionary.

5. What can you tell of the naming of the two sets of plates? I Nephi, ch. 9, verses 2, 3.

6. How far down did the history written on the larger plates extend? IV Nephi, ch. 1, verses 48, 49. Book of

of Mormon.

Review the lesson.

SUPPLEMENTAL OUTLINE.

Character of Nephi (Life of Nephi). The Brass Plates (Lesson references). The Large Plates (Lesson references). The Small Plates (Lesson references). The Nephite Historians (Story of the Book of Mormon).

Egyptian Hieroglyphics (Encyclope

dia).

Writings of the ancient Peoples (Encyclopedia).

The Peruvian Quipus (Prescott's Peru, Vol. I, ch. IV).

Mexican Hieroglyphics (Prescott's Mexico, Vol. I, ch. IV).

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

FOR LESSON.-Book of Mormon Book of Mormon Dictionary, by Geo, Reynolds; Story of the Book of Mormon, by Geo. Reynolds.

FOR SUPPLEMENTAL OUTLINE Life of Nephi, by Geo. Q. Cannon, price 25c. Book of Mormon Dictionary. Price $1.25. Story of the Book of Mormon. Price $1.50. Encyclopedia. Prescott's Peru. Prescott's Mexico.

ETHICS FOR YOUNG GIRLS.

LESSON IX.

REVERENCE FOR SACRED THINGS.

This subject comprises so much that it will be impossible to elaborate on all its phases. Young folk are irreverent mostly from thoughtlessness, not from desire.

Many young people go to meetings, even religious gatherings, and

talk and whisper to the extreme annoyance of those who are desirous of listening. It is acknowledged as a principle of modern ethics that we may do anything we wish as long as we obey conscience and do not infringe upon the rights of others

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