hereof. The company consists of professors and students of the Brigham Young Academy, of Provo, Utah, and is organized for the purpose of studying the ruins of ancient America, with special reference to the obtaining of proof substantiating the divine claims of the Book of Mormon.

The expedition consists of three teachers, and about twenty students who are young men from different parts of the state, ranging between the ages of seventeen and thirty years. They have been selected because of their special fitness for the work, both mentally and physically, and are mostly sons of prominent men throughout the state. Their moral and spiritual endowments have especially been taken into consideration, for it is the desire of Benjamin Cluff, President of the Brigham Young Academy, who has charge of the enterprise, and who is the author of this remarkable venture, that "this expedition shall undertake its work in the fear of the Lord, and prosecute it in such a manner as to call down his blessings upon it." Each will be provided with two horses, a saddle and a pack saddle, rifle and ammunition, camp outfit, shovel, pick or ax, tent and other necessary articles for a long journey overland by pack train and wagon. As assistants to Professor Cluff will be Professor Walter M. Wolfe, and John B. Fairbanks. The former is a graduate of Williams College, Massachusetts, who has had charge of the natural science work of the Academy for a number of years, and who will have charge of the botanical, zoological, and geological divisions of the party, the main purpose of which is to furnish the museum of the academy with specimens. The latter is one of Utah's well-known artists, a student of the art school of Paris, who will have charge of the department of art work and photography.

On Monday, April 16th, a ball and banquet were given in honor of the party, at Provo, and on the day following, the expedition started on their journey, it being intended to travel through the line of settlements south, touching at Spanish Fork, Santaquin, Nephi, Ephraim, Mayfield, Gunnison, Kanosh, Beaver, Parowan Panguitch, and Kanab, thence across the desert for Lee's Ferry, through Arizona, on south to their destination. The party is organized on a military basis. Excavating tools, scientific instruments, provisions, tents and other necessaries are carried. The

expedition, it is expected, will be absent for eighteen months or two years.

And so equipped, they will explore the ruins of the Central American country, delve into the mysteries of the Aztecs, and give attention to the customs and habits and products of the modern civilization. They will collect specimens in botany, geology, zoology, mineralogy, and give attention to relics and ancient architectural remains, stone statues, pyramids, and ruins of temples. Particular attention will be given to the Indians. We wish the expedition success in their difficult and perilous adventure, and, with the great majority of the Latter-day Saints, especially desire that they may be successful in locating rivers, cities, and places that will throw light on the divine claims of the Book of Mormon.

NOTES.

Sarcasm is the weapon of the weak.

Self-reliance and independence should be instilled from infancy. Respect for all honest employment and for all who are honestly employed cannot be dwelt upon with too great force by parents and teachers. This teaching alone will work an unfathomable reform, and snobbery will entirely become unfashionable, while a general and wholesome respect for all that is respectable will grow in favor and popularity. To be capable of doing something well, or of doing many things well, is always commendable, and it is not an infrequent happening that such capability stands for bread and butter in the long run, and where it had been least expected.-Ella Houghton.

Some genius with an eye to figures, has come to the conclusion that the average duration of human life is about thirty-three years. Onefourth of the inhabitants die before they reach their seventh year, onehalf before their seventeenth year. Of every thousand persons, only one reaches the age of one hundred years; of every hundred only six reach the age of sixty-five, and not more than one in five hundred, lives to see the eightieth year. There are about 1,500,000,000 inhabitants

on the globe. Of these, 50,000,000 die every year, 137,736 per day, 5,595 per hour, about ninety per minute, or three in every two seconds.

A very sensible decision has lately been made by Chief Willis L. Moore, of the United States Weather Bureau. He has issued an order prohibiting persons connected with the service from smoking cigarettes during office hours, and further has requested that all who smoke at any time shall be mentioned in the confidential reports made quarterly to him by chiefs of the offices and divisions throughout the entire service. The reason for this action is that the best, most thorough and competent men in the service gradually become careless and lax, and an investigation proved that in a number of cases, it was found to be directly attributed to the use of cigarettes. And so cigarette smoking must cease in the entire service of the weather bureau. Young men should think over the matter, and be very loth to begin the smoking habit. It is a serious evil to health, it deadens ambition, and makes the person a slave to stimulants, besides disqualifying him for clear thought and energetic action. But do not stop where the weather bureau has drawn the line at cigarette smoking-let tobacco alone in all its forms if you would have a clear mind and an elastic step.

After once choosing your occupation, never look backward; stick to it with all the tenacity you can muster. Let nothing tempt you or swerve you a hair's breadth from your aim, and you will win. Do not let the thorns which appear in every vocation, or temporary despondency or disappointment, shake your purpose. You will never succeed while smarting under the drudgery of your occupation, if you are constantly haunted with the idea that you could succeed better in something else Great tenacity of purpose is the only thing that will carry you over the hard places, which appear in every career, to ultimate triumph. This determination, or fixity of purpose, has a great moral bearing upon our success, for it leads others to feel confidence in us, and this is everything. It gives credit and moral support in a thousand ways. People always believe in a man with a fixed purpose, and will help him twice as quickly as one who is loosely or indifferently attached to his vocation, and liable at any time to make a change, or to fail. Everybody knows that determined men are not likely to fail. They carry in their very pluck, grit and determina.ion, the conviction and assurance of success. -J. Lincoln Brooks, in Success.

IN LIGHTER MOOD.

Seeing behind the scenes may spoil a performance.

*

It is sometimes easier to get a hold on certain enterprises than it is to let go.

It was in Salt Lake City. The street car was quite full of people going to one of the suburbs. At a stop, a man boarded who was very much the worse for liquor. He staggered over into a seat which happened to be next to a lady who looked like a temperance preacher, or the author of some reform movement.

Then the lady began lecturing the conductor for admitting the man in such a condition. The car man held his peace, and blushed at her righteous cause. Seeing no farther impression on him, she turned to the passengers who were lectured by the wholesale on the beastliness of the intruder next her, and the degradation of a company who would let such a person ride. There were glances from one to another, but no answer save silence which seemed to give consent.

In desperation the lady turned to the man himself, and began, “You dirty brute; you ought to be ashamed of yourself! Are you not ashamed of your actions? You are no man!" with much more of like matter, closing with: "Do you know what I would do if you were my husband?"

The drunk sat with his chin on his breast, nodding with each shake of the car, but seemed to wake with that question, and, after some effort, which greatly amused the crowd, blurted out, "No-o-m'am-hicwhat would ye d-do?"

"I'd give you poison," sharp and curt.

Then there was silence, in which the "brute" joined for a moment, after which he broke the spell with,

"Do you-hic-know w-what I'd do if I was your h hus-hic-band?”

"No, what would you do, you brute?"

There was some more nodding on the part of the drunk, and general expectation among the passengers, then the drunken fellow splurted out, "I'd take it."

Tableau, and a general roar from the audience.

OUR WORK.

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS TO MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT WORKERS.

Among the meetings of the April general annual conference of The Church, there was one of special interest to the workers in the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, which was held on Sunday afternoon, immediately after the close of the conference. The General Board had decided to call together all those who were at the conference, for a few moments, to impress upon them some of the items of work that should receive attention during the summer months. It has been the case heretofore that only little attention has been paid to the affairs of mutual improvement during the time that the associations are not in active operation. The gathering of workers at this time was to impress upon them some of the points that should engage their attention during the so-called vacation. There were several hundred present, a fine representation of active laborers in the cause,—and a full quorum present of the General Board. President Joseph F. Smith presided. There were several speakers, each of whom touched upon special topics assigned him to speak upon. The points are of living interest to all officers, and we repeat them with the injunction that every officer make a special study thereof, and put them into immediate practice.

Apostle F. M. Lyman was the first speaker. He stated that the presidents of stakes and bishops, at the Priesthood meeting on Saturday evening, had been instructed by President Snow to allow the Improvement Associations one Sunday evening in each month for conjoint meetings. These meetings were to be appointed by the Stake Superintendents after consultation with the presidents of stakes; and the ward presidents, after consulting with the bishops, were to carry out the instructions, and arrange for the holding of these meetings in connection with the authorities of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations.