AUGUST 15, 1913 



585 



Our Homes 



A. I. Root 



I have been young, and now am old ; yet I have 

 not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging 

 bread. — Psalm 37:25. 



His leaf also shall not wither ; and whatsoever he 

 doeth shall prosper. — Psalm 1:3. 



I want to talk to the younger ones, and 

 perhaps some of the older ones also, in re- 

 gard to the matter of " good luck." On 

 another page I speak about lucky stones. 

 So many people still continue to believe in 

 that sort of good luck that over a hundred 

 testimonials are given. Of course, I do not 

 know whether the testimonials are genuine 

 or not ; but I do know that cjuite a number 

 of good people cari-j' senseless thing's in 

 their pockets or on their watch-fob, to bring 

 good luck. Our older readers, at least, have 

 heard about its being a lucky thing to find 

 a horseshoe. Well, if you have a horse lack- 

 ing a shoe, and the shoe you find just fits, 

 it may be what is called good luck; and I 

 do not know but it is true that the man who 

 is picking up and saving horseshoes, or any 

 thing else lying around loose, may be more 

 " lucky," as the world expresses it, than 

 the man who lets valuable property and 

 material lie about loose here and there. It 

 has alwaj'S been my fashion, especially 

 around our own premises, to pick up and 

 put away horseshoes, jaieces of iron piping, 

 bits of wire, both iron and insulated copper 

 wire such as the electricians scatter about; 

 and I have a faculty- of remembering where 

 I put these thing-s. Pieces of iron wire I 

 hang on the fence near the gate; and then 

 when a bit of wire is needed in an emergen- 

 cy I can almost always lay my hand on it 

 quickly. Such a habit, without question, 

 brings good luck. 



Years ago, when lotteries were permitted 

 to flourish in our land, there was much said 

 about lucky numbers; and we were told 

 that some people were always lucky in in- 

 vesting in lotteries. My feeling has always 

 been, however, that the person who secures 

 prizes by investing in a lotteiy is really the 

 unlucky one. Money that comes in that 

 way, or without hard earnest labor, often 

 proves a curse rather than a blessing. Cap- 

 tain Rand, in advertising his lucky pebbles, 

 says that one who has one of those pebbles 

 in his pocket will always prosper, no mat- 

 ter what he invests in or goes into. He 

 does not exactly quote scripture to prove it, 

 but what he states is something like one of 

 the texts T have chosen — ''Whatsoever he 

 doeth shall prosper." And, my good friends, 

 botli young and old, I am glad to be able 

 to tell you this bright summer morning //ozf 

 to be lucky and prosperous in all you un- 

 dertake. That beautiful first Psalm, which 



I have often quoted, and which, it seems to 

 me, must have been written when David was 

 comparatively young, sounds boyish in ils 

 bright hopefulness. Now, then, what are 

 we to do and how are we to live so that all 

 our undertaking's will be prosperous? May 

 be you had better get your Bible and look 

 over that first Psalm with me. First, j^ou 

 are to keep out of bad company. You are 

 not to walk with them, nor stand still in a 

 bad crowd ; and you certainlj^ will not be 

 lucky if you sit down and visit with those 

 who pick at the faults of Christians, and 

 make fun of God's holj' word. 



Years ago our boy Ernest had a play- 

 mate who lived near by. One day his moth- 

 er heard Ernest using bad words. She ask- 

 ed where he had learned them. When he 

 told her she told him he would have to stop 

 Ijlaying with Edson if Edson persisted in 

 such talk. Edson came around pretty soon 

 and asked why Ernest would not come out 

 and play any more. Ernest told him of the 

 trouble; and after a while Edson was in- 

 duced to give up his bad talk, because he 

 found out that Ernest would go straight 

 home when he used swear words. Later on, 

 an acquaintance of mine was apparently 

 thoroughly converted; he gave up drinking, 

 and promised to lead a new life. But after 

 a time, however, he was seen among his old 

 comrades. When we remonstrated, he re- 

 plied that it was pretty tough to know that 

 he could not see his old friends, and sit 

 down and talk with them. He said some of 

 them might be made better men. Accord- 

 ingly he would go into a saloon and sit 

 down and talk with his old boon compan- 

 ions. I hardly need tell you how it turned 

 out. It transpired, as we have it in that 

 first Psalm, that it is exceedingly dangerous 

 to " sit in the seat of the scornful." 



The next verse tells us what a man ought 

 to do to be lucky. It says, " His delight is 

 in the law of the Lord." The law of the 

 Lord is this precious book that I am now 

 holding in my hand. And we are further 

 told of this prosperous man that " in liis 

 law doth he meditate day and night." 

 There you have it, friends. If you wish to 

 be prosperous, if you are striving for good 

 luck in your undertakings, just make this 

 book your lucky stone. Use it as the iron 

 clad pledge of the Endeavor Society reads, 

 " 1 promise to read my Bible every day." 

 Not only are you to read it every day, but 

 you are to make it your constant study 

 "" both day and night." If you do this you 

 will eventually grow like a tree " planted 

 bv the rivers' of water." I thouglit of it 



