at the 4th verse, the order of creation is reversed, and man is made the first of animated beings:

"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; there was not a man to till the ground.'

*

and

"Now, as I understand the first chapter, it relates the order of the spiritual creation of all things, and the second chapter that of the temporal, or earthly creation. If we take this view of this Bible narrative, then it is in accord with what the Lord has revealed in our days, as follows:

"And now, behold, I say unto you that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I the Lord God made the heaven and the earth, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I the Lord God, created all things of which I have spoken, spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth; neither in the water, neither in the air; but I, the Lord God, spake, and there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth; the first man also; nevertheless all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.'-Pearl of Great Price, pp. 7-8." The Kinderhook Plates.

Certain bell-shaped plates are said to have been discovered in a mound, in the vicinity of Kinderhook, Pike county, Illinois, by Robert Wiley, in 1843, and taken to Joseph Smith. Now, I wish to ask: 1. Were these plates translated by Joseph Smith? 2. If so, what were their contents? 3. Where are they? 4. Are they considered of any value in confirming the Book of Mormon? 5. Is there anything about them in any of the Church works?

1 and 2. Near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Illinois-between fifty and sixty miles south and east of Nauvoo-on April 23, 1843, a

Mr. Robert Wiley, while excavating a large mound, took from said mound six brass plates of bell shape, fastened by a ring passing through the small end, and fastened with two clasps, and covered with ancient characters. Human bones together with charcoal and ashes were found in the mound, in connection with the plates which evidently had been buried with the person whose bones were discovered. The plates were submitted to the Prophet, and speaking of them in his journal, under date of May 1, 1843, he says: "I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth."

3. The plates were later placed in a museum in St. Louis, known as McDowell's, which was afterwards destroyed by fire, and the plates were lost.

4. The event would go very far towards confirming the idea that in very ancient times, there was intercourse between the eastern and western hemispheres; and the statement of the prophet would mean that the remains were Egyptian. The fair implication, also, from the prophet's words is that this descendant of the Pharaohs possessed a kingdom in the new world; and this circumstance may account for the evidence of a dash of Egyptian civilization in our American antiquities.

5. The whole account of the finding of the plates, together with the testimony of eight witnesses, besides Mr. Wiley, who were acquainted with the finding of the relics, as also the statement from the prophet's history, is found in the Millennial Star, vol. 21: pp. 40-44.

The Kingdom of God.

Is the Kingdom of God, referred to in "Articles of Faith," pp. 376-7, set up at the present time?

The writer is referred to an article in No. 4, Vol. 7, IMPROVEMENT ERA, entitled, "The Church and Kingdom of God," by the First Presidency.

As to Copyrights.

1. How long does a book copyright last? 2 Is it assignable?

3. May any person print the book at the expiration of the copyright?

1. A copyright may be secured for 28 years. It may then be renewed for a period of 14 years. 2. The owner of the copyright may assign it, and in case of his death, his heirs are entitled to his rights. 3. At the close of 42 years, or 28 years, in case renewal is not made, any person may publish the work.

NOTES.

To live long it is necessary to live slowly.-Cicero.

The gods have given us a long life, but we have made it short.Seneca.

Old age seizes upon an ill-spent youth like fire upon a rotten house. -South.

A coward can't stand defeat. It is only a brave man or woman who can turn a defeat into a triumph.

Do but gain a boy's trust; convince him by your behavior that you have his happiness at heart; let him discover that you are the wiser of the two; let him experience the benefit of following your advice and the evils that arise from disregarding it, and fear not that you will readily enough guide him.-Spencer.

People are beginning to see the first requisite in life is to be a good animal. The best brain is found of little service if there be not enough vital energy to work it, and hence to obtain the one by sacrificing the source of the other is now considered a folly—a folly which the eventual failure of juvenile prodigies constantly illustrates. Thus we are discovering the wisdom of the saying that one secret in education is "to know how wisely to lose time."-Spencer.

Nothing else is worth so much to you as your unqualified endorsement of yourself. The approval of the "still, small voice" within you, which says to every noble act, "That is right," and to every ignoble one, "That is wrong," is worth more to you than all the kingdoms of the earth. It matters little what others may think about you, or what the world may say; it makes no difference whether the press or the public praises or blames; it is by your own honest judgment of yourself that you must stand or fall.-Success.

OUR WORK.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMS.

This subject is one of considerable importance, and one that is somewhat new to the present generation of mutual improvement workers, with the exception of the trial of it made this year and during the season of 1902-3. It is first necessary to have brought before us the object of the organization of the Mutual Improvement Association. Roughly speaking, there were three purposes to be accomplished by this organization. One of these is the development of religious faith, knowledge and action. The second is the securing of general culture outside of theological work. The third is the development of proper social intercourse and recreation.

The first of these purposes has of late years been given very great prominence, indeed almost to the exclusion, one may say, of the other two. We have been giving our attention almost exclusively to the development of religious faith, knowledge and action. Now, this field is not the only field, by any means, that is covered by our association work. It is expected that as much as possible shall be done along the line of general culture, and that we shall study other than theological subjects. It is the purpose to enter upon this other part of our field by means of these preliminary programs.

At the time of the organization of this association, debating and literary societies were springing up all over the Church. The young people were running wild almost in the direction of these things. They were getting almost beyond restraint in some of these particulars, and it was partly for the purpose of checking this tendency toward going outside of the Church for these things that the Mutual Improvement organizations were instituted. Although the writer was but a small boy at the time these things were brought into existence, he can remember very distinctly the attempt that was then made to make this general

culture a very prominent feature; and we all remember, no doubt, that debating, under certain circumstances, was a part of the work. Essay writing was another part, and there were association papers, contributions to which were furnished by the young men. There were other literary selections, as well as musical selections-all in addition to the work that was done along theological lines. We remember, also, that when the first manual was published, something like thirteen years ago, that features other than theological work were introduced in it. It included scientific, historical and literary work, for the purpose of giving to the young men this broad culture. But of late years, we have confined ourselves—and I think wisely, because of the peculiar circumstances that confronted us-almost entirely to the theological part; and with what success, the revivifying of these associations bears testimony. We know that it has been a most successful movement that has been instituted and carried through during the last few years.

But now we desire to depart from this exclusive work, and make our work a little more general, and begin again to occupy the field we practically abandoned a few years ago, viz., the field of general culture and social enjoyment. The general culture feature, and the religious feature, should be attended to in our weekly meetings. It is upon the subject of these programs, which are beginning to occupy this other field, that I desire to say a word. It is advisable and very necessary that some work be done along the line of general culture.

These preliminary programs should consist, as I understand the intention of the Manual committee, of as much work as we can secure within the brief time allotted along these general lines. Literary work, for example; literary reading and working are both neglected very largely by the mass of our young people. There are not many of our young people that can read properly; that can take the great authors and fully appreciate their works; that can delve into the productions of the brightest minds in the world's literature, and understand and appreciate those productions to the fullest extent. The reason for this is that part of the education of the mass of the young people has not been developed as highly as we hope to see it developed in the future. We have devoted our time too exclusively to our theological work. We have been placed, it appears, under the necessity of doing this. We have looked upon ourselves as having a special mission, and we have a special mission, to reform the religious world and to give the truth to the world in place of the error that they have. And while we have been doing this, I believe we have neglected, to a certain extent, our reading. We are not so familiar with the leading authors of English and American litera