AUGUST 1. 1915 



643 



than a dozen years old, found work in a 

 potlery. Some of the men in the sliop were 

 not only profane, but they were well known 

 as unbelievers in (ho Christian religion, and 

 they poisoned this young brother's mind 

 until he stopped going to Sunday-school, 

 making him think it was only a place for 

 little children, etc. 



Let me put in a word of warning to par- 

 ents right hero. No matter what price may 

 I)e offered, do not let your boys (or girls) 

 go to work under the influence of ungodly 

 men. I am sure my mother demun-ed and 

 protested; but father thought he could not 

 keep so many unless they helped to earn a 

 living, r'inally my brother and I, when we 

 stojiped going to Sunday-school, wandered 

 oil into the woods Sundays and got among 

 bad associates. Father had often expressed 

 a wish to leave the village home and go 

 hack to the faira in Medina County; and I 

 think he gave as one reason that he thought 

 his growing bov'S would be better off on 

 I ho farm back in tlie woods. We according- 

 ly moved back when I was a dozen years 

 old. But my good father failed to calcu- 

 late that there are bad boys in the country 

 as well as in the town and cities. I have 

 already mentioned how he finally laid down 

 the law and told my brother and me one 

 Sunday morning, "Choose ye this day whom 

 ye will serve.'' 1 have told you about how 

 toy brother finally turned the scale and rec- 

 ommended that we both go to church, at 

 least for once. I have told you, also, that 

 on that eventful Sunday I got about the 

 first glimpse of Mrs. Root. She was one 

 of the singers in the choir. By the way, 

 friends, as you may have already discovered, 

 I have been all my life greatly given to 

 hobbies; and I soniotimes ride these hobbies 

 fast and far. The traits of childhood, the 

 desire to investigate and find out all that is 

 to be known about the wonders of God's 

 creation, have followed me through life, 

 and some of my happiest moments have 

 been, perhaps, when I was investigating 

 and exploring, to the farther limits, some 

 of God's creation. T believe I have always 

 had a peculiar liking for the other sex. My 

 good mother said that when a child I al- 

 ways preferred to play with the girls. The 

 l>oys were, as a rule, too rough for me. 

 Through my youngest sister, who was a 

 very close friend of Mrs. Root in her child- 

 hood, I soon became acquainted with Mis. 

 Root. The rea.son I had not known her 

 or of her was because T had been away at- 

 tending school as mentioned above. Fifty 

 or sixty yeai"s ago it was the fashion for 

 boys of sixteen or seventeen vears to go 

 ■' courting" the girls. The two usually had 



a room by themselves, and often stayed 

 tliore far into the night unless some good 

 father or mother interi)osed. In due time 

 1 got in the habit of going home with her 

 who is now Mrs. Root, after church; and 

 when it was lime for mc to go home I did 

 not seem to know it. One Sunday evening 

 Mrs. Root said to me, " You are going to 

 school, and I am going to school. Our 

 good parents are trying hard to give us the 

 benefits of an education. It is time for you 

 to go home so that both of us can get the 

 rest we need, to give proper attention to 

 our studies." 



1 did not like the idea of being dismissed, 

 and finally declared that if I went home 

 then, T never would come back again. 

 Kindly but firmly she told me that in such 

 a case it would be better for her, at least, 

 if I did not come back. I said, "AH right." 

 1 went out and closed the door in a not 

 very pleasant frame of mind. I started 

 down the bill toward the river, with long 

 strides. But my sti'ides kept getting short- 

 er and shorter as 1 reflected. When I ap- 

 proached the river bridge I came to a 

 standstill. I reflected for a minute. At 

 that time I had not found that precious 

 text at the head of our talk; but 1 did 

 reason, perhaps, that mj' dismissal indicated, 

 at least along the line of the text, " her 

 price is far above rubies." T started 

 slowly to go back. I walked faster, and 

 finally hurried up to the front door that I 

 had just left. Jler room was upstairs, and 

 her window was o\er the front door. I 

 picked up a little pebble from the walk and 

 tossed it against the window-pane. The 

 sash went up as I expected it would, and 

 I said, " Sue, forgive me. You are right 

 and I wrong;" and in her usual way she 

 simply said, 'Thank you ; good night," and 

 then the Avindow went down. How many 

 girls ai'e there who are reading these pages 

 \vlio have the good sense (especially at 

 fifteen ) to do as Mrs. Root did? 



After this it was pleasantly understood 

 that T was always to go home at a particular 

 hour. But I not only made my calls on 

 Sunday evenings but also on Thursday 

 evening's, and .sometimes between times. 1 

 attended to my studies and was making 

 fair i)rogress; but Mrs. Root did not learn 

 as readily as I did. My frequent visits in- 

 terrupted her studies. She had the good 

 sense, even if ^ had not, to know that we 

 both were too voiinfj to kee]) up any such 

 fasliion of being together so often; and 

 finally she soberly and kindly, but perhaps 

 son-owfnlly, told me that she felt sure it 

 would be better for both of us to stop our 

 frequent visits together for some time — 



