Our Readers Write

Editor:

During the poverty of my childhood in southeastern Idaho, I learned to read critically and to think deeply. I learned to save and file useful books and magazines; but one cannot keep all past issues of any magazine, however excellent. Years ago I dropped my membership to the National Geographic Society because I couldn’t bear to throw their magazines away whenever I moved.

Back in 1925, when the Improvement Era was a more solidly bound publication and easier to file on a bookshelf, I read the Era carefully and filed each copy. At that time I had more time to read. Nowadays, I do well to zip through the headlines of the newspaper. I do take time, however, to thoughtfully read several excellent four-page newsletters … and a comprehensive weekly newspaper.

For most of the past forty-five years, I have taken the Improvement Era. But in recent years I seldom read the Era because I haven’t the time, the energy, or the eyes to work my way through one hundred or more pages of any magazine. I have often wished that you could reduce the size of the Era to a few pages of vital reading without advertisements.

I feel sure that you could increase the interest in the reading of the new adult magazine Ensign if you would staple into its centerfold a succinct four-page summary of the contents of the magazine that could be removed and read by those who haven’t the time and energy to read the entire magazine. If this four-page insert were well done, it might invite the busy reader to read the extended version of the articles within the magazine.

My renewal is enclosed. My wife will read the magazine.

David M. Young
Los Angeles, California

Editor:

The members of the Camarillo Ward have enthusiastically followed the counsel of the Brethren. Each family in the ward has subscribed to the Ensign and also to the New Era and the Friend where applicable. Enclosed is the subscription order, which includes the complete roster of my ward and a check to cover the subscriptions. …

We may not be the first ward in the Church to have 100 percent participation, but we may be the first to send in the orders and money to cover the subscriptions for all three magazines.

I am convinced that the birth of these new publications at this time was divinely inspired, for there never has been a greater need for wholesome literature with a spiritual uplift. I am sure that these new magazines will serve as effective tools for influencing our people to do good and for reactivating some of those families who have fallen away. …

It is appropriate that this order has been completed and mailed on Thanksgiving Day. We of the Camarillo Ward are thankful for the Church and its publications.

May the Lord bless you in this great publishing endeavor.

Bishop Joseph M. Milne
Camarillo Ward
Camarillo, California