JANUARY 1, 1916 



37 



A. I- Hoot OUR HOMES 



Editor 



Give us this day our daily bread. — Matt. 6:11. 



Behold they which are gorgeously appareled and 

 live delicately are iu kings' courts. — Luke 7:25. 



In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall 

 direct thy paths.— Peov. 3:6. 



I believe it is generally understood that 

 this first prayer implies that God may give 

 us the chance or oiDportunity of earning 

 our daily food by honest work, or the means 

 wherewith to pay for the bread, earned by 

 honest work; and as I pen these lines I am 

 thinking of the thousands who are prevent- 

 ed from earning their " daily bread " by 

 the cruel war. I i.m thinking of the thou- 

 sands of helpless and innocent women and 

 children who have had their homes, gardens, 

 and fields despoiled, and of the suffering 

 and hardship such as the world never knew 

 before, through no possible fault of the 

 sufferers. Again and again a prayer wells 

 up in my heart, " How long, Lord, must 

 this injustice continued and what are the 

 lessons we are to learn by it? and wnerein 

 are thy oeople remiss that our prayers for 

 l^eace are not answered?" 



Just now, however, I have also something 

 else in mind. The matter of daily bread, 

 while we are at home, is a comparatively 

 simple one compared with the problem 

 while traveling. Mrs. Root and I travel but 

 little since we are nearing eighty, except 

 our spring and fall trips to and from our 

 southern home. We usually go on a car 

 made up by elderly people near our Ohio 

 home, and the most of these good people 

 cari-y their " daily bread " in lunch-baskets. 

 "We have done tliis considerably; but Mrs. 

 Root is usually troubled more or less with 

 car sickness, and at such times she says she 

 cannot bear the sight nor even thought of 

 food carried in a hot car, wrapped up and 

 tied up. For this reason, mostly, we have 

 of late years been going into the dining- 

 car. As a rule we now have excellent ser- 

 vice on all our roads, and at reasonable 

 prices when we consider the expense of 

 " spotless linen " and neat and artistic table 

 service. Mrs. Root and I usually each make 

 our selection and then " swap " to some 

 extent for variety. On our last trip at 

 dinner (or "lunch") Mrs. Root was fairly 

 well served; but when my order came of 

 " broiled trout," taken from " special dishes 

 of today," I said to the waiter : 



" Where is the bread and potatoes ? " 



" You didn't order any, sir." 



" But, my good sir, are not bread and 

 potatoes included in a 60-cent fish order?" 



As he shook his head I said, " So there is 

 a new regulation in regard to ' the high cost 



of living,' is there? Here — give me the 

 order." Then I penciled, " Bread, 10 cts. ; 

 potatoes, 15 cts. ; but wliile he was gone for 

 them I went over the bill of fare, and found 

 in plain print, " Bread and potatoes includ- 

 ed with all meat and fish orders." 



As he returned I pointed it out to him. 



Now, before any one has time to say, 

 " This is a regular darkey trick," I want to 

 tell you that this fellow was so nearly white 

 he colored painfully while he took his pen- 

 cil and marked " free " after the last two 

 items, or at least I supposed he did; but 

 when I came to pay the bill I found the 

 " free " was only opposite the bread, 10 cts. 

 Just one thing more: 



Instead of a fair-sized trout for the 60 

 els. there was only a small part of a fish, 

 and that by no means first class — nothing 

 like a ten-cent fish delivered in Braden- 

 tcwn. 



I have given the full details of the above 

 in order that we may discuss "daily bread" 

 in traveling a little. First a lot of you will 

 say I should have reported him to the head 

 of the dining-car, and. may be I should. 

 But who likes to be making " kicks " among 

 a lot of nice people? I once witnessed a 

 " racket " in a restaurant between a waiter 

 and a customer. A third party who sat 

 near asked how much was at stake in the 

 disijute. When told it was only 25 cents 

 he extended a coin and said, " Here ! take 

 this and let us have peace." He afterward 

 said he would lose 25 cts. any time rather 

 than get into a " jangle." Perhaps I should 

 add that neither one would accept the quar- 

 ter, but kept right on disputing. I believe 

 it is pretty universally agi'eed that where 

 3^ou are only personally concerned it is right 

 and proper to " resist not evil," as the dear 

 Savior commanded; but when humanity is 

 likely to suffer it is a different matter. If 

 this waiter is following this as far as he is 

 permitted, day after day, I did wrong in 

 letting it pass. 



Another matter comes in here. How could 

 this waiter gain by the transaction ? There 

 must be gain for the waiter somewhere or 

 they would not practice it. I have been 

 told that at least on some dining-cars they 

 purchase the supplies and have all they can 

 get out of it. In California I saw a porter 

 or waiter purchase a bag of grapefruit at a 

 station for perhaps five or ten cents each, 

 and afterward serve them at " half a grape- 

 fruit, 20 cts." If a customer ordered this, 

 and nothing else, considering the table, 

 napkin, table ware, etc., the price is all 



