MARCH 15, 1913 



jient abode in a body that is filled with 

 liing's that are abhorrent to every honest 

 ind enlightened conscience? I am afraid 

 hat manj^ physicians, or at least a large 

 lart of them, are not plain-speaking and 

 lonest enough to tell people who come to 

 hem just where the trouble is. Sometimes 

 am sorry to say that these same physi- 

 cians, especially if they are not God-fear- 

 ing men, are making such a poor record 

 ihemselves along the line that 1 have been 

 speaking of that thej^ have not honesty and 

 consistency enough to tell the patient who 

 comes to them where the real trouble lies. 

 We are just now being informed through 

 all classes of periodicals that the saloons of 

 our land are the hotbeds of every sort of 

 iniquit,y along in the line I have been dis- 

 cussing. Their business extends from the 

 " white-slave traffic " to the work of spread- 

 ing indecent pictures and literature in such 

 a way that they may fall into the hands of 

 our children. 



In closing let me submit a letter from a 

 good brother who has had much to do in 

 inducing me to take up this line of talk at 

 this present time. 



Dear Brother Root: — In the first place I wish to 

 give you (The A. I. Root Co.) a little bit of en- 

 couragement. I never knew any company engaged 

 in a secular business that took as much stock in 

 spiritual things as your company does. Sometimes 

 I have wondered if the different members of the 

 company were a unit in the good work. Again, I 

 have caught myself asking the question, " How long 

 will they keep it up?" But be that as it may, I 

 hope that in this thing you may " abound more and 

 more," for indeed it is a praiseworthy thing. I sim- 

 ply can not find words to express my appreciation 

 of the spiritual part of your journal, and Our Homes 

 beats any thing I ever saw outside of a religious 

 paper, and if any one were not in sympathy with 

 the religious part of your work the other is so good 

 that he will take your publication any way- — or at 

 least it seems to me it would be that way in many 

 cases. I think from one end to the other Glp:an- 

 INGS has the cleanest set of writers I ever read. T 

 am not saying this to puff you up, for indeed once 

 in a while I see expressions that / think should not 

 be there. 



There is one thing, however, where you have not 

 sounded the warning as much as its importance 

 demands. When I think of my boyhood days and 

 remember how^ many of my playmates and others 

 that I knew are in their graves, and still others who 

 have been in the insane-hospital, and that there are 

 but few strong ones among all the living, and re- 

 member, also, their vices, my heart is nlled with an 

 inexpressible something. I well remember young 

 men that were so weakened by the solitary vice (or 

 by visiting places of ill fame) that they had no re- 

 serve vitality. I remember that when some of these 

 would occasionally get drunk, good people would 

 point to them and say, " See what drink will do." 

 But the real cause was never, or at most very rarely, 

 spoken of. 



As I have followed some of my playmates to the 

 grave, and have listened to the insane chattering of 

 others, and knew the real cause, my innermost 

 soul has cried out for some one to warn the coming 

 generations. This is all true, notwithstanding the 



neighborhood in which I was brought up was e.\- 

 ceptionally moral. I can not tell all the particulars 

 of how it came about, but let me say this : A bad 

 boy visiting or sojourning in a neighborhood can 

 and will do an incalculable amount of damage; and 

 one family of youngsters spending the night with the 

 young people of another home while the parents 

 are away (or without the proper oversight if they 

 are at home) is a most opportune time for the de 

 stroyer to get in his work. 



And now, Bro. Root, if the enemy got in such 

 deadly work in this way, in that day, in a com- 

 munity above par in morals, restraint, and careful- 

 ness, what must be the awful harvest in the near 

 future where the young " just grow up " as they 

 do in so many places to-day ? 



I often shake hands with some mere boy with 

 signs of debauchery plainly written on his face; and 

 how my soul longs to pour out itself in a helpful 

 way to him! But if you have ever tried it you know 

 how hard it is to say the right thing in the right 

 \^'ay. 



I am writing these things hurriedly, and you may 

 have to read between the lines to get all I should 

 like to have you get, aud, again, you may not have 

 seen the dreadful realities of these things as I have, 

 and think I am overdrawing them; but "I know 

 whereof I speak." I have been in a position where 

 I saw cause and effect — saw the cause 30 years ago 

 — some more, some less, and have watched the effect 

 as some went to the grave, some to insane-hospitals, 

 and some to a more or less wrecked manhood. I 

 have observed, too, that so many children start in 

 life handicapped, suffering for the sins of their par- 

 ents, without vitality enough to carry them very far 

 out into the sea of life. 



But may be I had better change the subject; for 

 if I get started I may not stop soon. But just one 

 word more: A little over a year ago while talking 

 to a mother in the south part of the State in regard 

 to the "white-slave trade" and kindred things, she 

 said, " I aim to raise my girls right," and she meant 

 It too ; but I thought to myself, " Whom will they 

 mate with? " Isn't it awful to raise girls up right 

 and then have them mate with some depraved or 

 "disease-ridden" man? It seems to me just now 

 as if you may have something to say on these things 

 in your Home talks. 



A COTMPASS WITHOUT MAGlsrETISM. 



The following, from a nephew of A. I. 

 Root, explains itself: 



Dear Uncle : — As I am rather near you at present 

 I will drop you a line. I am in good health, and 

 also very busy, as this is a brand-new ship and needs 

 lots of work. I am a gyro-compass man now, on 

 board this ship. It is a very interesting Instrument. 

 I wish you could see it. It is a compass which has 

 no magnetic effect at all. It is run by electricity — 

 a motor which runs 8600 revolutions a minute, and 

 runs in a vacuum. If I can get a folder on it I will 

 send it to you. It was invented by a man by the 

 name of Sperry, 216 William St., New York. 



Homer H. Root. 



U. S. S. Arkansas, Key West, Fla., Dec. 21. 



We clip the following from the Cleveland 

 Plain Dealer: 



APPROVES QVEO COMPA.SS; NAVAL EXPERTS CALL IT 

 BETTER THAN MAGNETIC. 



Washington, Jan. 24. — Battleship tests with the 

 new gyroscopic, or " battle," compass, reports to the 

 navy department to-day announced, have demonstrat- 

 ed that it not only is a vast improvement over the 

 magnetic compass but that it will pay for its cost 

 and installation within two years in the amount of 

 coal saved. This saving would be accomplished be-. 



