798 



GLEANINGS IN BKE CULTURE 



OCTOBEE, 1917 



V^ afternoon, 

 August 19, 

 it was my privi- 

 lege to listen to 

 a lecture by Dr. 

 Charles E. Bar- 

 ker, at our Me- 

 dina Chautau- 

 q u a. 1 1 w a s 

 announced as a 

 lecture; but just 

 now I should 

 call it one of the 

 grandest a n d 

 most helpful 

 sermons I ever heard in my life. The 

 subject was, " The finest of the fine arts." 

 The speaker announced at the beginning 

 that he was going to talk on happiness. 

 First, he said happiness depends on obedi- 

 ence to law; and he suggested that the 

 greater part of his audience had already 

 found out that, whenever they told a lie, 

 they felt unhappy — unhappy because they 

 had transgressed a gi'eat laiv. Even a small 

 child, sooner or later, becomes aware of this 

 law. He then went on something as fol- 

 lows: 



Most people get the idea that happiness 

 consists of having plenty of money, riding 

 around in automobiles, having nothing to do 

 and plenty of people to wait on them. This 

 is a great mistake. Happiness does not 

 come that way. Every little while some 

 millionaire commits suicide because his 

 great possessions and wealth that he could 

 not use and did not need only made him un- 

 happy. I can say amen to the above. The 

 good doctor told us frankly some of his 

 own experience along that line. One of my 

 daughters said it reminded her of your old 

 friend A. I. Root, the way the doctor con- 

 fessed some of his sins and shortcomings 

 before that great audience. In some way 

 it came about that he was personal physi- 

 cian to ex-President Taft at the time the 

 latter occupied the presidential chair. Dr. 

 Barker Avas enabled to give him advice that 

 reduced his weight from 342 to 257 pounds. 

 The president, out of gratitude, made him a 

 present of quite a sum of money; and, more 

 than that, several great millionaires who 

 were clustered around our capital city 

 seemed to decide it would be a great thing 

 to have for their family physician the man 

 chosen by the i^resident. 



Now, a family physician enjoys i)rivi- 

 leges in the family and in the home that are 

 seldom accorded anybody else ; and the good 

 doctor assured us that the glimpses that he 

 got behind the scenes satisfied him that 

 great wealth, fine clothing, plenty of ser- 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



Take no thouglit for tlie morrow. — Matt. 6:34. 



Oh how I love thy law I it is my meditation al! 

 the day. — Psalm 119:97. 



Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 

 of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. — 

 Matt. 25:40. 



vants, and. noth- 

 ing to do, do not 

 confer happi- 

 ness. 



At this stage 

 of h|is talk he 

 said he was go- 

 ing to give us 

 five rules for 

 b e i n g happy. 

 Now, I greatly 

 regTet that it is 

 out of my power 

 to give to my 

 readers a 

 glimpse of the 

 emphasized and en- 

 his five rules or 



way in which ' he 

 forced and "drove home" 

 recipes or secrets, if you choose, for being 

 happy. If Billy Sunday has a greater 

 faculty for driving home his truths and 

 making every man, woman, and child in the 

 audience "sit up and take notice," he is a 

 greater man than I ever gave him credit 

 for being. 



Dr. Barker is original. He certainly 

 never copies anybody. It is a wonderful and 

 intense love for humanity — high, low, rich, 

 or poor — that gives him such astonishing- 

 power and self-possession in his vehement 

 talk and action. Now, this lecture lasted 

 something like an hour; and it is liard for 

 me in my old age to take in and hold so 

 many exceedingly valuable points. But 

 here comes in what was to me an unex- 

 pected help in my old age. One of my 

 grandchildren, Wynne Boyden, the one 

 whom I have mentioned as an "electrical 

 expert," was present. By the way, he and 

 I have of late been having some long talks 

 on electricity, gardening, etc. By my years 

 of experience I often help him in his work; 

 but I think it oftener happens that he, at the 

 age of 17, helps we by his ability to compre- 

 hend and keep in mind, things in a way 

 that I, away past 70, cannot do; and when 

 I happened to say Sunday evening, "Oh 

 dear me ! I am afraid I cannot remember all 

 of those ^ve points," he replied at once, "I 

 can give them to you, grandfather." Then 

 he got his pencil and a piece of paper and 

 Avrote down the following: 



RULES FOE HAPPINESS. 



1. Look on the bright side of things — don't 

 worry — worry unfits the mind for the difficulties to 

 be met. 



2. Don't envy other people their positions in 

 life ; they are no better off than you. Neither money 

 nor poverty can make happiness. 



3. Put your whole soul into your work ; it is 

 the way to be happy. You may not be satisfied with 

 your job; but while you do it, do it well. 



4. Cultivate a kind and cheerful disposition, not 

 merely in society and among strangers, but at home. 



