<;lkanin(;s ln hkk cui/ruKE. 



427 



tlifv arc pili'd in licaps ahuiK tlic imth. Almost 

 aiiy'olil lioards will do. if ilicy liavc sliaiKlit 

 "•d^fs. 'I'licsfi'aii he usi'd with t lie I'lot li, <n' entire- 

 ly w illiunt the clotii. Tlu'ir cloth eoviMs, instead 

 of being lolled up on a iioU'. are simply spread 

 over ihe bed. and rings sewed in the selvag)' at 

 intervals are liooUed over nails driven part way 

 in on tlie outside nl' the bed: and these rings, 

 hooked over the appi'opriate nails, give the neat 

 white sh(>et eovers with their scalloped edges a 

 very pretty appearance. N'otwitiistanding the 

 rain laftcr I had looked over the premises pret- 

 ly well) Dur good friend l\ got t)Ut the horse 

 and l)uggy an<i took me .o ttu' residence of Mr. 

 Kmery Ransom. Ambov. Ohio, a mile and a 

 half away. ,Mr. K. is also an exUMisive plaut- 

 grower and gardener; but he raises vegetiible- 

 plants for sale, w hile our friends at the canning- 

 factory raise tomato-plants for their own use 

 only. 'Mr. Kanso?n has a very pretty littli' 

 greenhouse, and also (juite an array of plant- 

 beds. He is the friend inentitmod (see page 7S4. 

 Oct.. 18U1) who raised iStWl.OC) worth of cucum- 

 bers n three hot-beds, each .lO f^-et long. He 

 showed me certainly thc^ most beautiful cucum- 

 l)ers. lettuce, and a Variety of other egetables 

 grown under glass, that I ever met in my life; 

 and he also is now full of life and animation in 

 regard to heating his beds by steam. As he 

 owns a steam-mill only a few hundred feet 

 from his home, this will become an ea-y matter; 

 and I found about a (piarter of an acre on the 

 side of the hill, with a southern slope, already 

 divided off into beds, ai.d the piiies laid for 

 warming them up. Ir, seemed to me as if he 

 were just beginning to catch a glimpse of the 

 hidden treasures that God has stored away for 

 his children— that is, the children who care to 

 lake the trouble to reach out and appropriate 

 lliem. 



It rained all the time I was there; but this 

 glimpse of verdure and thrift and beauty that I 

 got in perhaps one hour will long last to mem- 

 ory's view, even if the Kodak did not catch on 

 very well because of the rain. Before I started 

 for home our good friends urged that I must 

 certainly call at the Record manufacturing es- 

 tablishment, as Mr. Record is the man of whom 

 we get all our honey and syrup cans. Now, I 

 can not take space to tell you of all the wonder- 

 ful machines I saw there for making cans of a 

 larger capacity than those produced by friend 

 (iiinmins: l)ut 1 want to tell you how surpi'ised 

 I was to see them making .<4merk'a?i tin plate 

 light here in one corner of our .State of Ohio. 

 Imagine a great vat of molten tin. glistening 

 and rippling^ as it were, like so much (luick- 

 silver. Underneath this molten tin. ponderous 

 machinery is doing its work, apparently obliv- 

 ious of the intense heat of the molten metal 

 that must fill every crack and crevice in the 

 machinery. At one end of the vat stands a 

 man who feeds the iron plates. These iron 

 plates are also made in our own United States, 

 mind yon. Well, out of this pool of molten 

 tin comes a pair of jaws, making one think of 

 the crocodiles of the Mississippi River. These 

 crocodile jaws seize the sh(H>t of iron, as if it 

 were just what they had been fed on all tlieii' 

 lives, and down went the jaws and all. Just 

 then I noticed, some distance awu.y. at another 

 part of the tank, sheets of shining, glistening 

 tin. perfectly covered. poi)ping themselves up. 

 I'eady for some kind fi-iend tostretcii forth a 

 helping hand and lift them out of their— pur- 

 gatory, shall I call it? I don't quite like the 

 word.after all: for the tin is so beautiful as it 

 comes out that it sugge.sts the thought of our 

 text, or the subject of my talk, rather — Ood's 

 gifts. Hy the way. as the glittering sheets kept 

 coming up as fast as the man reached out for 

 them, it made me think of Sir Launcelot of old. 



when, in tinu' of direst need, the sword-hilt 

 came up out of the water ready for his hand to 

 grasp it. Tliniugh the intervention of man 

 with intelligence, these sln'cts of tin are rising 

 out of th(> depths and heat, ready for man to 

 grasp them— a gift of (Jod in very truth, even if 

 political machinery inay iiave liad something 

 to do with their birth on American shori'S. 1 

 asked a good many (piestions about the (|uality, 

 cost of making, etc.. to all of which Mr. Record 

 replietl that we had finally afrived at a point 

 where he could give satisfactory answers. \V(^ 

 can not only make as good tin as there is on the 

 face of the earth. t)ut we are making it at a 

 price that pays. If you ask whom it pays, I 

 answer, it |)ays tlie man who makes it, liim 

 wiio luiys it, iiim who uses it for tea-kettles, 

 cans for his tomatoes, etc. I was pleased to 

 note that this great achievement, like other 

 great things nowadays, has not been brought 

 about w itliout the aid of women-folks. In fact, 

 three smait women stood ready to receive tiie 

 sheets of tin as soon as they were cold enough 

 to handle, and, with heaps of wheat shorts or 

 middlings on their three respective tables, they 

 gave the tin such a scouring and rubbing that 

 it was free from all acid or flux, or any thing 

 else that might tend to rust or dim its bril- 

 liancy. The whole establishment of the Record 

 Manufacturing Co. seemed to b(> (dive with 

 God's gifts. Of course, however, they were 

 like the boy's potatoes. He said, in reply to a 

 question, that they did not " turn out " at (ill- 

 he had to dig them out. While waiting a min- 

 ute or two in the office I noticed a great pile of 

 books that had a striking resemblance to the 

 Gospel Hymns we use at our noon service; and 

 then it turned out that they too have a noon 

 service every Saturday afternoon, before the 

 men and women (two or thre:- hundred of them) 

 get their pay. They have something like our 

 noonday service, and I presume very likely they 

 sing hymns about (lOd's gifts to the children of 

 men. and take their Saturday night's pay as a 

 veritable gift from God. Oh I do you see, my 

 good friend, what a grand thing it is to have 

 employer and employe who are (lajudinted with 

 each other— yes. acquainted through Christ 

 Jesus who died for all? Suppose an employer, 

 when he shows a visitor through his factory, 

 could say, " Gentlemen, here is the place where 

 myself and my neUjhhors enjoy working to- 

 gether"— capital and labor, linked together, 

 through a tie that God has instituted, and 

 linked, too,' in a neighborly and friendly way. 



On my way home I discovered that I had to 

 wait in Cleveland two or three hours. A little 

 in(iuiry brought out the fact that part of the 

 waiting time might be managed so as to come 

 at North Ridgevill<% O.; and as I step|)ed from 

 the cars at the above named point the old gen- 

 tleman who carried the mail informed me that 

 he knew O. J. Terrill quite well; but he lived 

 about a mile from the station. In due time I 

 set foot in the dooryard of another home b(!- 

 longing to one who loves (rod's gifts in the 

 sliape of vegetables and garden-stutT. Why. it 

 is worth traveling a good many miles, not only 

 to see that pretty home, but to see the shining 

 welcome in the face of my good friend; but 

 when I told him that I should have to take the 

 next train for Medina, and he discovered that I 

 liad only about twenty minutes to visit with 

 liim. the sunshine vanished from his face at 

 once. •' Look here. Mr. Root, what did yon 

 come here for. to stay just twenty minutes and 

 no more?" 



•' Now\ don't scold, friend T. I did not come 

 here at all. I just had to wait for a train, and I 

 thought I would rather wait here than in the 

 great cit^' of Cleveland."' 



Well, what should we do with that twenty 



