.IiNi:. 1019 



\. K A N I N 3 IN R E E C V L T V R K 



verily believe that, if the house were on 

 file, and Mrs. Root were to come across a 

 little woman tuiiging at a bundle with a 

 baby in her arms, she would take the baby 

 and the bundle tirst and see to llic house on 

 fire afterward. Now, this bundle was not 

 so very small, because I lugged it to the top 

 of tliree pairs of stairs and was then in 

 such a hurry to " catch up " that I did not 

 h.alf listen to the thanks of the little woman 

 who held tlie baby. 



The moral to this incident I have just 

 been telling is that Mrs. Root has made it 

 her lifework to look after and guide and 

 care for not only her own babies, but, so 

 far as comes within her sphere, the babies 

 of others. 



A very good friend of mine who has 

 charge of an imi^ortant branch office of 

 the A. I. Root Co. visited us not long ago. 

 I have been scolding him for years and 

 years because he does not get married. On 

 his last visit I said, " Look here, my friend, 

 if I had done as you do, these two men, 

 Ernest and Huber, would never have had 

 an existence, and I very much doubt 

 whether there would have been any A. I. 

 Root Co." 



Dear reader, do you see the point? Our 

 lamented friend Roosevelt told the world 

 there would be race suicide if men and 

 women did not " get married/' and, more 

 important still, raise children and "replen- 

 ish the earth and subdue it," after they did 

 get maiTied. 



As the years go, it rejoices my heart more 

 and more to see the dear children, sons-in- 

 law and daughters-in-law, as well as sons 

 and daughters, lift the burdens that keep 

 coming up before me with my failing- 

 strength. When I first got on to the idea 

 of an automobile jiropelled by wind power, 

 some of the sons and sons-in-law said with 

 cheerful alacrity, " Go ahead, father. Get 

 yourself a nice little car and put up the 

 windmill and we will see that there are 

 funds to cari'y out the experiment." If 

 they did not say it in words, they said it 

 in acts. Huber and his little daughter 

 Catharine (named after the sister of the 

 Wright brothers) recently made a trip to 

 Florida to see the experiment of harnessing 

 the wind. If he does not tell you about his 

 trip himself, I will try to do it later on. 



Well, when Mrs. Root and I planned to 

 take the trip home, about May 1, I con- 

 fess that I felt worried somewhat is re- 

 gard to the responsibility resting on a 

 man close to 80 years of age for a trip 

 tliat takes two days and two nights, or a 

 little more, of constant travel. Now, altho 

 I had not said a word, it seems the dear 

 children had the matter in mind ; and just 



to relieve us of responsibility, and to make 

 us feel safe and avoid our being worried, 

 one of our gi'andsons volunteered to go 

 down and pilot us home. By the way, I 

 have been told that he, too was just wild 

 to see the windmill and electric apparatus. 

 They knew the exact date father and moth- 

 er expected to arrive in Cleveland, and so 

 Howard Calvert, n)y grandson, started so 

 as to reach us ilie day before we took the 

 cars. An accident hap])ened, however, be- 

 tween Tampa and Bradentown. Two steam- 

 ers that were in the habit of making daily 

 trips were both disabled at about the same 

 time, and the best Howard could do, was 

 to manage so he could reach Bradentown at 

 midnight, the day before we were to start. 

 He had read what I have said about my 

 good friend Kaiser at the Bradentown 

 electric-power house; and before starting 

 to walk to our home, a mile out of town, he 

 walked over to the j^ower house, and, sure 

 enough, Mr. Kaiser was right at his post, 

 and the two " electricians " had a big visit 

 in a very little time, even if it was after 

 midnight. Let me now digress a little. 



As we were picking up our stuff that 

 morning, Mrs. Root and I were up unusual- 

 ly early, and had been very busy packing 

 our valises, putting things away, etc., when 

 all at once an apparition was seen at the 

 open dooi-way. It was a young man ap- 

 parently just out of bed, his luxuriant 

 head of hair all tangled up, and a broad 

 gi-in on his face. My first thought was that 

 I had lost my senses, but I finally decided 

 the young man was not, after all a "phan- 

 tasmagoria." Mrs. Root said she had the 

 same feeling, saying that for a while she 

 was frightened. Finally I managed to say, 

 "Howard Calvert! How on earth did you 

 come here at this time of the night?" 



" Why, I slept all night in that wind 

 electric automobile. I got in so late that I 

 knew it would break your rest when you 

 need it so much before your long trip, and 

 so I stayed out there. I saw the electric 

 light which I had been so anxious to see run 

 by wind poAver, and now I am here to go 

 back with you and look after your wants 

 and needs." 



Then we thanked God again, not only for 

 the dear children he in his infinite love had 

 sent us, but also for the ten equally dear 

 grandchildren. And that is not all. This 

 occasion seems to be the right and proper 

 one to introduce to you Howard Calvert, 

 28 years of age, and the father of two 

 beautiful little girls — great-grandchildren 

 of A. I. Root and his wife. Howard not 

 only lifted the burdens — three great heavy 

 valises — but he made the arrangements for 

 checking the trunks, getting the tickets, 



