JUNE 1, 1912 



S51 



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A. I. Root 



Charity suffereth long and is kind; . . doth not 

 behave itself unseemly: . . seeketh not its own: 

 . . thinketh no evil: . . beareth all things; . . 

 endureth all things.— I. Cor. 13 :4, 5, 7. 



You will notice, friends, that our text is 

 right along the line of that extract I made 

 from the Sunday School Times, page 287, 

 May 1, in regard to avoiding criticism. 

 Love was the central thought of that extract, 

 and divine love is the central thought of our 

 text. Now the question has come up, and 

 has been discussed, as to how far this great 

 charity or love could be applied to the events 

 of every-day life. There is one thing that 

 should be considered, both in the clipping 

 from the Sunday School Times and in the 

 text I have chosen. Where we personally 

 are concerned, and nobody else, the chapter 

 is all right; but where the wrong-doer is in- 

 juring somebody else, or community at 

 large, it is our duty to step forward and 

 make trouble — yes, if need be make tear 

 and encourage war. The man who is mak- 

 ing counterfeit money should be stopped at 

 once, no matter what trouble it makes to do 

 so, even to the extent of the loss of life; and 

 I hope you will not quarrel with me if I say 

 the liquor-traffic should be regarded in the 

 same light. But for the present I wish to 

 apply the beautiful text to a trip of 48 hours 

 from Bradentown, Fla., to my home here 

 in Medina. Mrs. Root could not stand the 

 hot weather in Florida until May 1 as I had 

 ]ilanned. She was so anxious to get back 

 home among the children and grandchil- 

 dren that she urged me to start as early as 

 April 16. 



As we had previously had trouble in se- 

 curing lower berths for travel, I went to our 

 agent two weeks ahead, and asked him to 

 make application for a berth in the sleeper. 

 He said three or four days ahead of the time 

 would be ample to make sure; but as he had 

 once before disappointed us I urged him to 

 make application about a week ahead of the 

 time. The great bulk of travel back to the 

 North is during April, as you maybe aware; 

 and a great many times there is difficulty 

 in securing a berth. I gave him my ticket 

 and told him I would like some document 

 to show that the berth was secured. As we 

 got on the train I went to him for my reser- 

 vation, when he gave me a copy of a tele- 

 gram, which, although I did not under- 

 stand, I supposed to be all right. When we 

 arrived at .Jacksonville, however, the agent 

 said my telegram referred to another road, 

 and asked if the agent at Bradentown had 

 my ticket when he made application. I as- 

 sured him he had my ticket in his hand, 

 and looked it over carefully. There was 

 barely a chance to secure an upper berth on 

 the train that was almost ready to start. 

 Let me explain here that, although much 

 has been said about going to Florida to es- 

 cax)e the grip, they do have it in Florida as 

 well as here in the North — sometimes in a 



very aggravated form; and this was the case 

 during the past winter. It seemed to be a 

 sort of epidemic that went all through 

 neighborhoods and perhaps towns. Mrs. 

 Root was just recovering from a severe at- 

 tack; and she said she did not see how she 

 could climb away up into the "loft," for 

 we had tried it before under the same or 

 similar circumstances. 



Our sleeper was crowded, and nearly if 

 not quite every upper berth was occupied 

 as well as every lower one. As it came time 

 to retire, Mrs. Root said again she did not 

 see how she could get away up there " under 

 the eaves." The porter said there was not 

 any help for it. All the lower berths were 

 secured a long way ahead. Although it is 

 comparatively common, I hesitated about 

 going to an entire stranger and trying to 

 get somebody to consent to make an ex- 

 change. I can not remember exactly, but 

 I think my little prayer, "Lord, help," 

 must have welled up as it almost invariably 

 does when I am in trouble. 



Let us pause a minute right here. Was 

 it my duty to inform the Seaboard Air Line 

 that their agent at Bradentown had tiviee 

 gotten us into that predicament? In ac- 

 cordance with the spirit of our beautiful 

 text, should I have remonstrated, or just let ' 

 the matter drop? Charitably considered, it 

 is almost impossible to travel without hav- 

 ing more or less of these perplexities. While 

 I was meditating a beautiful bright woman 

 (and, by the way, what is there in this 

 world of ours so bright and inspiring as a 

 handsome woman in the full bloom of life 

 and health, showing forth the spirit of the 

 good Samaritan?) came to us and said, "My 

 good friends, the berth below your own was 

 to be occupied by our two little girls. Now, 

 they are young and spry, and can easily 

 get up into the upper berth, and they will 

 not mind making an exchange, especially 

 as you are elderly people." 



Two handsome children seconded their 

 mother's offer, and said they would just like 

 the fun of climbing " upstairs;" and pretty 

 soon their father, one of God's noblemen, 

 like his wife, lifted them up into their sleep- 

 ing compartment with much fun and frolic. 

 We not only thanked our new kind friends, 

 but I, at least, thanked God mentally for 

 such quick and swift deliverance. Now let 

 me explain. 



.Tust as soon as the train started, the por- 

 ter commenced at one end of the car to make 

 up the berths. As we are elderly people I 

 asked him if he could not skip along to ours, 

 inasmuch as many of the passengers were 

 in no hurry to go to bed. He said he could 

 not. They had got to be taken in their 

 turn. By the way, this porter, although 

 he was a great stout muscular fellow, looked 

 to me as if he was tired out when we started. 

 Perhaps half a dollar would have enabled 



