AUGUST 15, 1913 



iSTortherli IMichigan. In ordei* to get over 

 to that little church down among the hills 

 I was obliged to climb the hills on my own 

 premises. Ten years ago it made me very 

 lired, and I sometimes had to sit down and 

 rest on the top of the big hill. But on this 

 particular Saturday I not only walked up 

 the hill, but I pulled off my ca^i (my coat 

 was left behind) and ran uphill, and I did 

 not mind it a bit. I was so rejoiced that I 

 had gained strength and muscle, in spite of 

 the fact that I am just approaching 74, 

 that I shouted praises to God. Nobody 

 was near, for I was off in the wilderness; 

 and I kept climbing up and down hills from 

 one neighbor to another all that Saturday 

 afternoon, and I did not get tired a bit. 

 What is it the good book says that comes 

 in right here f 



They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 

 strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; 

 they shall run, and not be weary ; and they shall 

 walk, and not faint. 



Do 3'ou ask me who it is, or what people 

 shall have unusual strength? Let me quote 

 further : " They that wait upon the Lord 

 shall renew their strength." And it occurs 

 to me that, if the text did not hit me ex- 

 actl}-, it came pretty near it, for I was in- 

 viting people right and left to come over to 

 the Sunday-school and the preaching ser- 

 vice next day. It was a bright and beauti- 

 ful Sunday when we gathered around that 

 Bingham church. The first thing that greet- 

 ed me was a row of sheds for horses and 

 buggies — about the neatest and most com- 

 fortable sheds for protecting horses (and 

 perhaps automobiles) from the wintry blasts 

 of Northern Michigan that I ever saw. 

 When I was congratulating the men folks 

 on what they had done to enable people to 

 get out to church on stormy Sundays my 

 good friend Mrs. Wilson, who has been all 

 these years superintendent of the Sunday- 

 school, informed me that the men did not 

 build the sheds. I turned to her in aston- 

 ishment and said, " Why, Mrs. Wilson, if 

 the men folks of this community did not 

 build those comfortable sheds, who did build 

 them?" 



" Why," she replied laughingly, " they 

 were built by the ladies' aid society. Of 

 course the men came in and helped after we 

 had started the thing going, as they almost 

 always do." 



Her bright animated smile intimated that 

 she had no grievance against the men folks. 

 As the back of the shed was built against 

 the sandy bank it was all cement and cob- 

 blestone. After this cement wall was put 

 up, the sand and gTavel were banked all 

 around so it would be a very comfortable 

 place on a stormy Sunday, especially wh.en 



the sun shone in at the open south side. A 

 flower-bed that I made and planted con- 

 tained some poppies; but the other plants 

 were mostly gone, from the fact that the 

 good woman who kept it for so many years 

 had been called to her heavenly home. I 

 talked to the Sunday-school about what I 

 have given in Our Homes in this issue. 



Speaking about cement walls reminds me 

 that my good friend Hilbert has a lot of 

 hot-beds or cold-frames made entirely of 

 cement, of course with glass sashes on top. 

 In these beds he starts cabbage, canta- 

 loupes, tomatoes, and other stuff to get an 

 earl}- market for Traverse City before any- 

 body else. He was just selling Early Jer- 

 sey Wakefield cabbages at 8 cts. per lb., 

 because he had the first on the market, and 

 because his cababge was so much superior 

 to that shipped in from Florida. He set 

 out in the field 1400 hills of choice canta- 

 loupe melons, and they were just setting 

 fair-sized melons. His tomato-plants were 

 loaded with green fruit, some of it big 

 enough to be ripe ; and an up-to-date motor 

 truck carries liis produce about nine miles 

 to the city. Mr. Wilson, the husband of the 

 good woman who is superintendent of the 

 Sunday-school (and who kept it up winter 

 and summer), has a fine farm of 200 acres. 

 He is a crank on growing apples, and ex- 

 pert in grafting. His cornfields are about 

 the cleanest and handsomest I ever saw; 

 and when I looked over the prettiest kitch- 

 en garden intersjjersed with flowers here and 

 there I asked my young companion, Jimmie 

 Draper, eleven years old, " Why, Jimmie, 

 wlio took such excellent care of this beau- 

 tiful garden?" 



He replied, " Why, Mr. Root, I think it 

 was my mother and grandmother. My pa 

 does the cultivating, but the women-folks 

 do the rest." 



I have told you about some of the crops 

 in that beautiful county of Leelanau, Mich- 

 igan. But there is one crop I did not men- 

 tion — at least I did not say much about it. 

 Young Mr. Wilson, whose farm adjoins 

 mine, has three beautiful little girls and a 

 boy. Mr. Draper, a son-in-law of Mrs. 

 Wilson, superintendent, has also three beau- 

 tiful little girls and a boy. The boy took 

 me through the garden. 



When I gave them my talk after Sunday- 

 school I asked them if the Endeavor So- 

 ciety was still kept up. There were many 

 affirmative nods from my smiling audience. 

 "When do they hold meeting? " I asked. 

 Somebody replied, " Right after Sunday- 

 school." 



Then I concluded I would have to make 

 my talk short. Well, who do you suppose 

 led the Endeavor meeting? Whj', a bright 



