DECEMBER 15, 1913 



911 



Notes of Travel 



Know ye not that your body is the temple of the 

 Holy Ghost? — I. CoE. 6:19. 



I have all my life loved to travel, because 

 it gives me such an opportunity to study 

 humanity, or, if you choose, to study my 

 fellowmen; and I especially enjoy seeing 

 the progress that is being made toward 

 uplifting humanity. I want to see especially 

 what progress is being made, not only here 

 in America, but throughout the whole wide 

 world, in looking after the health and mor- 

 als of humanity. Our great railways are 

 spending not only thousands but millions 

 toward giving more and better comforts to 

 the countless throngs, high and low, rich 

 and poor, that seem to be alumys traveling 

 somewhere. It has rejoiced my heart every 

 time I leave home to see the improvements 

 going on. Our readers may recall the vigoi'- 

 ous protests I have made from tim.e to time 

 (for forty years or more) against filthy 

 toilet rooms and closets. It just begins to 

 dawn on me that God, in his merciful love, 

 gave me that " thorn in the flesh " (see 

 Homes for Nov. 15) that I might keep bet- 

 ter posted, and be better able to make pub- 

 lic protest against shameful vandalism. 



When I see a gi'eat new union depot in 

 any of our big cities I am at once curious 

 to know whether they have considered the 

 matter we are now discussing, and how 

 much money they have invested in it. For 

 years I was disappointed; but now (thank 

 God) there seems to be a glorious awaken- 

 ing. To illustrate : At Jacksonville, Fla., in 

 the large union depot, there are plenty of 

 clean tidy closets, and notices conspicuously 

 placed, reading something like this : " To- 

 bacco in any form must not be used in these 

 apartments;" and, again, "$25.00 fine for 

 mutilating or disfiguring- any of the furni- 

 ture; this is a penalty enacted by law." 



To enforce the above I think a porter is 

 stationed; and this porter furnishes sovp 

 and paper towels for a nickel. Somewhere 

 I have seen paper towels for a i^enny drop- 

 ped in a slot. Good for Jacksonville! 



But now listen : In the city of Tampa, in 

 a brand-new fine union depot, the toilet 

 seats, walls, and floor were spattered Avith 

 tobacco quids and juice; varnished wood- 

 work split and broken ; dust and filth stick- 

 ing to corners, etc., although just one year 

 ago the room was in beautiful trim. How- 

 ever, there was one beautiful closed closet 

 to be opened only by a " nickel in a slot," 

 and this was protected by notices similar 

 to those in Jacksonville. 



It occurs to me that something might be 

 said right here in regard to the demoraliz- 



ing tendency of the tobacco habit ; but some 

 visitor at the " Home of the Honeybees " 

 might " come back at me " and say, " Why, 

 Mr. Root, the closets in your own factory 

 at Medina, Ohio, are, at least some of them, 

 stained with this same tobacco juice." With 

 sadness and sorrow I can only reply that I 

 hope our men employees may read this, 

 even if they do not read all I write. 



How about the closets on our fine Pull- 

 man cars that are fitted out with such shin- 

 ing furniture and elaborate expense? Some 

 of them are nicely cared for, but many are 

 not. I think, however, improvement is 

 plainly visible every trip we take. 



BROOKSVILLE, FLA., SUB-EXPERIMENT STATION 



We did not take in the above on our trip 

 here as planned, because we passed the 

 branch railroad at St. Catherine in the 

 night ; but I started to make the visit on 

 Friday, the 14th, taking the daily steamer 

 to Tampa, where I was obliged to pass the 

 night. I saw by a Tampa daily two things 

 that interested me. First was a moving- 

 picture show of figures that talked as well 

 as moved. As a rule I seldom attend these 

 shows, and never go to theaters, but I felt 

 it right and proper to see what has been 

 called Edison's latest and greatest achieve- 

 ment. The first act on the progi'am was a 

 splendid lecture by a talented orator and a 

 most vivacious speaker. It w-as not an illu- 

 sion. The m.an himself stood before you, 

 and you could see every motion of his face 

 and mouth, and his words Avere so clear I 

 caught every syllable easily. In his talk he 

 said if this* invention had been known we 

 might now have the pleasure of seeing 

 Washington face to face, and hearing the 

 father of our nation exhort his soldiers. 

 To illustrate his talk he picked a dish from 

 the table and mashed it on the floor. We 

 saw the pieces fly, and heard the crash, saw 

 an attendant gather up the fragments, and 

 one had to pinch himself, almost, to realize 

 that no diinier-plate had been dashed on the 

 floor at all. A girl started out with a tin 

 pail for water. We heard the pail rattle 

 against the bushes, saw the water, and 

 heard it splash as she filled her pail from 

 the " old oaken bucket." Then a gi'oup of 

 singers danced and sang, and every voice of 

 the dozen singers was distinctly audible, 

 •lust as my conscience began sounding faint- 

 ly, that " alarm bell " I have told you about, 

 a waiter brought in a tray of beer-glasses 

 with foam rolling off the brimming mugs; 

 and when the singers stopped, they clinked 

 their glasses before drinking. I got up 

 (even though I was then on a front seat), 



