.TULY 1. 1915 



555 



L 



A. I. Root 



OUE HOME 



Editor 



Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 

 of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. — 

 Matt. 25:40. 



Give, and it shall be given unto you; good mea- 

 sure, pressed down, and shaken together, and run- 

 ning over, shall men give into your bosom. For 

 with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall 

 1)0 measured to you again. — Lukk 6:3S. 



I suppose tlie most of you, my good 

 fiiends, have heard the story about a man 

 who was moving with his family, household 

 stuff, etc. While making the trip he was 

 obliged to stop at a country hotel over 

 night. This hotel was kept by a good Chris- 

 tian man. 1 wonder how many such there 

 are nowadays who entertain travelers. Well, 

 after things were taken care of for the 

 night, the stranger sat down on the porch 

 with the good landlord; and among other 

 things he explained that he was going away 

 off because of a mean neighborhood where 

 he had been living, and he had such a mean 

 lot of people around him that he had brok- 

 en away and was going to get away from 

 the whole gang, etc. The wise landlord re- 

 plied something like this: 



"My good friend, I am sorry to be obliged 

 to tell you that you will find the same sort 

 of people where you are going now." 



I cannot remember exactly the rest of the 

 story, but it ran something as follows : 



Some time later, another family with a 

 covered wagon, the owner's wife and chil- 

 dren and all his household stuff, etc., also 

 stopped with this same landlord over night; 

 and, as before, in the evening they sat on 

 the same porch and talked over matters. 

 This second man said nothing would have 

 induced him to move had it not been for the 

 death of a dear relative, and he was really 

 obliged to go and look after a considerable 

 property. He said he hated to leave the 

 people and the neighborhood where he had 

 spent all his life, because there were so 

 many exceedingly good and kind neighbors, 

 etc. Now, what do you think this good 

 landlord said? Why, he said as before, or 

 a little, as jou will notice, something as 

 follows : 



"Mj' good friend, it gives me much pleas- 

 ure to assure you that in your new home 

 you will find very much the same kind of 

 people as those you have left." 



I suppose this old story has been consid- 

 ered as a sort of joke; but this time the 

 joke really contains a blessed truth. It is 

 something inside of us and not on the out- 

 side that makes a neighborhood good or bad. 

 You who have followed me in these Home 

 papers for the past forty years doubtless 



remember many instances of where bad 

 neighbors, or people whom some might con- 

 sider bad, had turned out to be the best and 

 kindest people in the world. It all depends, 

 or at least largely so, on the way we treat 

 people during this voyage we are all mak- 

 ing from birth to death. 



I am now going to tell you something 

 tliat Mrs. Root would rule out if she could 

 get hold of it before it comes out in print. 

 Years ago I told you about our cabin in the 

 woods, and the many attractive features in 

 that wild place in the dense woods of North 

 Michigan. After we had been there quite 

 a spell, got our garden started, with flowers 

 around the cabin, busy making the wilder- 

 ness blossom like the rose, one day Mrs. 

 Root said she was getting liungTy for woman 

 companionship. There were men and boys 

 at work helping me grow my carload of 

 potatoes ; but she did not see any women- 

 folks to gossip with, except at church and 

 Sunday-school on Sunday. Then she began 

 taking good long walks off by herself, call- 

 ing on the dift'erent neighbors ; and she used 

 to tell me about the good and kind people 

 she met here and there. They were a busy 

 lot of people, especially during the spring- 

 time and summer; but they were very kind 

 and good people. Down in our Florida 

 home it is much the same way. She went 

 so far off getting acquainted with the 

 " women-folks " that one day she got lost 

 and had to inquire the way home. For 

 several years past we have had one very 

 near neighbor — so near, in fact, that Mrs. 

 Root and her good friend Mrs. Harrison 

 could call to each other from their respec- 

 tive porches; and how these women did visit 

 and enjoy each other's society ! It made me 

 think of David and Jonathan. But after 

 the dear friend of several winters past had 

 lived to a pretty good old age, God called 

 ner way. Some new neighbors were coming 

 to occupy the vacant home, and Mrs. Root 

 was wondering what sort of people they 

 would be. I made up my mind (before I 

 knew who was coming), although I did not 

 dare to say it to Mrs. Root, that she would 

 discover, as she almost always did, that the 

 new comers were " just the nicest people in 

 the world," and my prediction came true. 

 Let me give you an illustration: 



Our windmill is an automatic oiler; and 

 away up in the air, above every part of the 

 machinery, is a reservoir that holds about a 

 gallon of oil. This needs replenishing about 

 once a year; and I have been in the habit 

 of climbing up over forty feet and clinging 



