JUNE 15, 1912 



387 



same expressive twinkle, "Mr. Root, tell 

 any tiling you like, providing you tell the 

 truth, and only the truth." How many 

 proprietors of our American establishments 

 nowadays Avould instruct a reporter of a 

 magazine (who is writing it up) to avoid 

 exaggeration or overstatement in his rela- 

 tion of what 'he saw? I mentioned this in- 

 cident in my talk to our Bradentown Sun- 

 day-school, in Florida, and urged the 

 youngsters who were listening to my ac- 

 count of the flying-machine, in the lan- 

 guage of our last text, to "buy the truth 

 and sell it not." 



One day we were all out in the field with 

 the machine while there was a cool north- 

 west wind. Wilbur was in his shirtsleeves 

 while I, if I remember correctly, had on 

 my fur cap and overcoat. I urged him to 

 put on his coat lest he "catch cold." He 

 looked up to me with one of those smiles I 

 have mentioned, and said, "Mr. Root, I 

 shall not catch cold out here in this breeze. 

 That is not the way people catch cold o.s a 

 rule. They 'catch cold,' as you express it, 

 by keeping themselves shut up in hot and 

 poorly ventilated rooms; and perhaps they 

 may take cold by going out from such 

 places warmed by artificial heat ; but people 

 who live outdoors, as God intended they 

 should live, do -not take cold, even if they 

 get to feeling a little chilly." 



I believe tliis was his rule of life. A great 

 strong man, full of life, blood, and energy, 

 has been cut off by typhoid fever; and at 

 least a i^art of the responsibility rests on 

 you and me. "God will not always chide." 



It was my pleasure several times to share 

 their noonday lunches put up by that good 

 sister Katherine. May God bless and sus- 

 tain her in this great affliction. Well, their 

 food was always plain, wholesome, and in 

 keeping with their ideas about the impor- 

 tance of open air, etc. Why should he have 

 been permitted to die when the world needs 

 such men so much'? "The Lord gave, and 

 the Lord hath taken away." 



I suppose the whole world knows that, 

 while I write on this 31st day of May, 1912, 

 Wilbur Wright is no more. He died on the 

 early morning of Decoration day; but be- 

 fore the day was fairly closed, messages of 

 condolence and regret came from those 

 same foreign nations where they censured 

 him but a few months ago, because he so 

 firmly, as they put it, refused to fly on Sun- 

 day. May God be praised that such a man 

 as Wilbur Wright has lived for 46 years to 

 bless the world. His sad, sudden, and un- 

 timely death came from typhoid fever; and 

 almost at the very time when the sad news 

 reached us T had in my hand a little bulle- 

 tin sent out by the Department of Agricul- 



ture a few months ago, entitled, "How to 

 Prevent Typhoid Fe\"er."* As nearly as I 

 can make out at this early date, he caught 

 the fever while absent from Ins own beau- 

 tiful sanitary home in Dayton. 



In a recent issue I sjDoke of the way the 

 Titanic disaster had taught us a lesson that 

 the world could not be taught, perhaps, 

 without such a loss of life. It has long 

 been recognized, I believe, that typhoid fe- 

 ver is the result of ignoring well-known and 

 sanitary laws. Is it possible that the loss 

 of this good man, of so much value to the 

 world at just this moment, is a part of 

 God's plan to teach us not only to banish 

 the flies that carry contagion, but to banish 

 the filth that is feeding the flies even around 

 farmers' homes, enabling them to increat^e 

 and multiply? This bulletin I have been 

 speaking of, says typhoid fever is more to 

 be dreaded than smallpox; and may God 

 help us to learn from this lesson what he 

 is striving to teach us. When these govern- 

 ment bulletins are furnished free, and when 

 our farm papers, daily papers, and mag- 

 azines are exhorting us, and we still sit 

 down with folded hands, shall we not con- 

 sider out text, "He will not always chide"? 



*Another recent bulletin is on my desk entitled, 

 "House Flies," and it has considerable to say in 

 regard to the "typhoid fly," and the way in which 

 the common house fly carries the typhoid germs. 

 In fact, Prof. L. O. Howard says: 



The insect we now call the "house fly" should in 

 the future be termed the "typhoid fly," in order to 

 call direct attention to the danger of allowing it to 

 continue to breed unchecked. 



"THE TITANIC DISASTER." HAD GOD ANY THING TC 



DO WITH ITY 



A. I. Root: — I have just reread your last Homes, 

 and want to thank you for your brave strong words, 

 Surely some of your conclusions regarding the Titan- 

 ic disaster are worthy of world-wide notice. Some 

 Bible-reading people have said, "God had nothing 

 to do with that calamity." Strange to me is the 

 fact that a great ship going swiftly west should meet 

 an iceberg going south at just the right moment, at 

 the exact danger-point, with a smooth sea, near the 

 midnight hour, where the water is two miles deep. 

 Could men or angels or even demons be more skill- 

 ful? The mystery seems to be unraveled when we 

 read the various bits of testimony you have gather 

 ed. It was a terrible lesson to the world- — yea, a 

 costly lesson ; but we may conclude that God doe» 

 not consider wealth as of much importance when 

 he undertakes to teach the nations of earth a les- 

 son. 



I want to bid you Godspeed in your efforts as a 

 ■wTiter. I think I can understand your interest in 

 the important things of life. I have felt a tendency 

 that way for some time ; and a few lines of verse, 

 written years ago for the Day Star, have come to 

 mind with seemingly greater force and deeper mean- 

 ing as the years slip by faster and faster; and many 

 things seem now of less value than formerly. 



OUR GEEATB.ST NEED. 



We want the power to choose the proper word — 



Power to make our whispers heard: 



Indeed, we covet, we desire 



A pen of flame like torch of fire 



To carry light and blaze and heat 



To every soul we chance to meet — 



Power to shield our youth from sin; 



Power a million souls to win 



To Christ, the Savior, Prince of Peace, 



Whose reign begins when wars shall cease. 



