AUGUST 1, 1916 



A. I. Root 



OUR HOMES 



Editor 



For God so loved the world that he gave his only 

 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 

 not perish, but have everlasting life. — John 3:16. 



And Jolin answered and said, Master, we saw 

 one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade 

 him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus 

 said unto him. Forbid him not; for he that is not 

 against us is for us. — Luke 9:49, 50. 



The first text is an old familiar one. 

 In fact, it has headed my Home papers 

 several times in the past forty years. Just 

 now I wish to call attention to that word 

 world — for God so loved the world. Does 

 that word " world " mean this beautiful 

 planet on wliieh we live — hills and moun- 

 tains, fertile valleys, etc.? Not so. It 

 means mankind, humanity, the human race. 

 Somebodj^ said recently there would not 

 have been any world nor any planet had it 

 not been for the purpose of furnishing a 

 place for humanity to live. God loves 

 humanity, and he wants humanity to have 

 everlasting life. How little do we compre- 

 hend the full import of the words everlast- 

 ing life! The dear Savior said, as you may 

 recall, " Whosoever liveth and believeth in 

 me shall never die." I wonder if we think 

 of this verse enough, and realize what it 

 means. If God our creator loved the world, 

 and still loves it, we ought also to love the 

 world, to love humanity, and to love our 

 fellow-men; and when we in our feeble way 

 undertake to help in the great work of 

 raising humanity, we get a thrill and a joy 

 that we can get in no other way. 



Just a day or two ago my youngest 

 daughter came up with a fine-looking man 

 by her side, and asked me if I knew him. 

 He was well dressed, looked smart and 

 bright, and something in his face recalled 

 years ago. But I could not catch on until 

 he explained a little. When he said that he 

 was Ransom Murray I began to understand. 

 In these Home papers about thirteen years 

 ago I told about finding a boy in our 

 Medina jail who was almost twenty years 

 old, and could neither read nor write. His 

 offense was for climbing on a freight-car 

 and stealing a ride. He was soon let out, 

 and went to work for the A. I. Root Co. 

 When I told about it in Our Homes my 

 daughter Carrie, who was a teacher then, 

 volunteered to teach him to read and write, 

 and a little later he united with our church, 

 and now he is a bright, skillful, intelligent, 

 and useful man. What a thrill it gave me 

 as I realized the outcome of a little help 

 and a little good advice at a critical time 

 in a boy's history ! Let us now digress a 

 little. 



Yesterday, July 14, was a red-letter day 

 to me. I was coming home from the "cabin 

 in the woods" in northern Michigan, and I 

 was in a hurry to get home ; but when I got 

 into Detroit and learned that the boats did 

 not run to Cleveland on Fridays I was 

 considerably disappointed. Then I remem- 

 bered similar cases when my plans had been 

 interrupted and I had asked the dear Savior 

 to guide my erring footsteps and show me 

 his plans and what he had for me to do. I 

 soon found some good friends whom I had 

 learned to know and love down in our 

 Florida home. They were located in the 

 suburbs, and were very glad to take me with 

 their little Ford automobile, among other 

 things, to see where the Fords are made, or 

 the " tin Lizzies," as somebody has nick- 

 named them. While we were discussing the 

 Ford enterprise my good friend Mr. Flower 

 told me something as follows. He said he 

 was not sure he had the details all straight. 

 I presume all the world knows that one of 

 Mr. Ford's special hobbies is to make good 

 men out of bad men. Right here let me 

 give you a little clipping from one of the 

 little books sent out by the Ford company. 

 It will be a good introductory to my story : 



THE FORD IDEA IN EDUCATION. 



The impression has somehow gotten abroad that 

 Henry Ford is in the automobile business. It isn't 

 true. Mr. Ford shoots about fifteen hundred cars 

 out of the back door of his factory every day just 

 to get rid of them. They are but the by-products 

 of his real business, which is the making of men. 

 William Carey, cobbler and missionary, asked as to 

 the nature of his business, said: " My business is 

 extending the kingdom of God, but I mend shoes in 

 order to provide money to carry on my work." Mr. 

 Ford's business is the making of men, and he man- 

 ufactures automobiles on the side to defray the 

 expenses of the main business. 



What an idea that is, friends ! — the mak- 

 ing of automobiles is only a " side issue " 

 to Ford's lifework.* I think I have told 

 you several times that when I first got 

 up to speak in a union meeting I said 

 .something like this to our Medina friends: 



" My friends, you all know I have always 

 been a very busy man, and I propose to be 

 a very busy man still ; but, G-od helping me, 

 henceforth I mean to be busy for Christ 

 Jesus first and for A. I. Root afterward." 



You see my declaration then was that my 

 little factory, then just starting for supply- 

 ing beekeepers and taking their money, etc., 

 was to be a side issue to the main business 



* I clip this from a Ford pamphlet : 

 Henry Ford once remarked that making auto- 

 mobiles was merely a side line with him, that mak- 

 ing men was his real job. 



