')84 



(M. K A X I .\ (i S I X l; K 10 (' I- L T U K K 



Skptejiber, 1921 



electririil current I'lTccI i\ c'y iil;i.\-p<l, electi'ic j'uiiii- 

 tains sliovviim' inarvelmis colnrs ;uid formations in 

 the water. 



On Suiulav. July lit, after breakfast we visited 

 tlie Kolf courts and club adjoinins Mr. Selser's 

 home. <-oiiii)ri.sing 128 acres, left in trust to the 

 l-'riends Society 200 years ago by a descendant of 

 Williiini I'enn'for the benefit and education of the 

 l''i-ien(ls' children. Mr. Root was amazed at the 

 \,isliicsN of the °-i"<inuds. with the short-cut lawn, 

 i;rerns. and tees of the club. 



At one o'clock we visited .lulm Wunamaker's 

 Sunday school, havins secxired an up-to-date elec- 

 tric automobile (costing about !}!5,000), driven by 

 a licensed chauffeur. Mr. Root en.ioyed every part 

 of this trii) from Jenkintovvn to 22 Bainl)ridge. 

 where the church is located, a distance of about 14 

 miles. Mr. Root was ushered to the platform and 

 took a seat by the side of Mr. Coyle, the acting 

 superintendent, and John Wanamaker, the real 

 liead superintendent. Mr. Wanamaker was de- 

 lighted to meet Mr. Root, and before Mr. Wana- 

 maker reviewed the lesson from the desk he called 

 on Mr. Root, after introducing him as the head of 

 the bee industry of the United States, and the 

 founder and lover of Sunday schools. Mr. Root 

 spoke fin' about live minutes very' effectively and 

 forcefully on his experience in the founding of a 

 Sunday school in a community dominated by the 

 brewers' interest where everybody predicted no 

 Sunday school would succeed. (Mr. Coyle turned 

 to me and said, "What a wonderfully clear voice 

 for a man of his age, and how well he is making 

 everybody hear all he says.) After explaining how 

 he had gathered the Sunday school together, thru 

 visiting the mothers as well as the children, and 

 had established a large school, which finally drove 

 out the brewers' interest, he closed with the beau- 

 tiful words of the hymn, "From sinking sand He 

 lifted me." Mr. Wanamaker was very visibly 

 affected. He extended his hand when Mr. Root 

 sat down, with most cordial and hearty praise and 

 thanksgiving for his speech. .\ Mrs. Miller was 

 called on to .sing, with the nmst wonderful voice 

 we ever heard, with a plea in I lie song "to ojien the 

 doors of mir hearts to the sunlight ;ind npen llie 

 doors of our hearts to the smile." 



Mr. Wanamaker then followed for l.j minutes 

 with an exposition of the lesson on "The death and 

 stoning of Stephen." He mentioned a striking co- 

 iiicidence that, that very morning, he had spoken on 

 the snb.ioct of bees and their hives without any 

 knowledge that Mr. Root was going to be present 

 in the afternoon, and expressed the thought that 

 somehow there was an underlying influence in 

 bringing this about, and so appreciated Mr. Root's 

 address. He said that today he had been superin- 

 tendent of the school .iust 63 years, 4 months and 

 20 days, and he hoped God would spare him to 

 live 63 years more, hi.s age now being 83, -and he 

 was glad to be able to hear Mr. Root at his age tell 

 how he loved the Sunday school. He spoke of the 

 death of Stephen, and said Stephen didn't see the 

 stones coniing at him, or anything surrounding 

 liim; but he looked up and saw .Tesus. Mr. Wana- 

 maker asked, "What is death in the world, if n'c 

 are looking up to Jesus?" 



Mr. Wanamaker pointed to tlie side platform, 

 showing a lieautiful oil jtainting that was his 

 liirthday present, the sub.iect being the old Farm 

 House at Selgra in England, showing George Wash- 

 ington's old ancestral home. He said the Bible was 

 a wonderful guidebook to another world, and it was 

 well for us to study this guidebook. He closed with 

 an illustration of the dying soldier, who was asked 

 if he was a church member, and he said "Yes" ; 

 and the second question to the dying man Avas, 

 "Under what persuasion f and the dying man's 

 rei)ly was from the Ajxistle Paul: "I am persuaded 

 fliat neither life nor death nor principalities, nor 

 tilings i)resent nor tilings to come * * * shall 

 sejKirate us from the love of God which is in Christ 

 •lesus our hord." .\ wonderfully big male chorus 

 sang very effectivel\ "Stealing away to .lesus," in 

 which Mr. Koot gave a hearty and audible amen, 

 and Mr. Wanamaker almost clapi)ed his hands in 

 ap])reciation of Mr. Root's expression. 



The three galleries and class-room were arranged 

 in a circular form, holding 3.000 people. Mr. Root 

 was amazed and said it was the most wonderful 

 biiildiii- and school he w,-is e\er in. Mr. "Wana- 



maker presented Mr. Koot with two fans. Attached 

 to each side of the fans was ;in order of exercises 

 for the summer months at Bethany Sunday school, 

 with a number of beautiful hymns the.v sing. 



We returned home in the eleitric automobile 

 thru the western part of the city. Fairmount Park 

 and Wissahickno Drive. W. .\. Selser. 



Jenkintown, Pa., .hily 11, 1921. 



In regard to tlic craubcrrii's iiiciitioiuMl 

 nbovc, it st'oni.s that Miss Wliite and lu>r 

 ])(M)ji!e had been experts in the cranberry 

 business before she started Iter experiments 

 with blueberries. The reference to Camp 

 Dix gave me a glimpse of the awful luicc 

 the great World War cost the United States, 

 to s'ay nothing of other nations. I think 

 the cam}) is something like two miles long 

 and a mile and a half wide, pretty well cov- 

 ered with cheap plain buildings. Most of 

 them are now, however, in bad repair. Win- 

 dows were broken out, and everything was 

 going to ruin. Oh, what a contrast between 

 high-pressure fKii-dciiiiif/ and high-pressure 

 miinlrr, if I may use the term! 



Now, I can not begin to tell all I saw on 

 that great Seabrook farm. As an indica- 

 tion, however, of the careful way in which 

 Mr. Seabrook manages, let me mention one 

 little item. 



In purchasing fruit trees, no matter where 

 you get them, there is more or less liability 

 that when they come to bearing they will 

 not be true to name; and so the manager, 

 Mr. Oley, explained tliat he went to bearing 

 trees and procured from them such buds as 

 lie wanted. He took these to Storrs & Har- 

 rison, the celebrated nurserymen, and asked 

 them to insert them in their best trees of 

 the right age, and when they were fully 

 started they were to ship him the trees. In 

 this way they have thousands of fruit trees 

 that bear or will bear just such fruit as ex- 

 pi'rieuce has indicated is best for their lo- 

 cation; and everything else on that great 

 farm is done in just that way, Railways 

 are everywhere to pick up the crop, and 

 beautiful graded and improved roads facili- 

 tate the gathering of such a crop. They 

 are practically independent of rain on the 

 200 acres tliat are under overhead irrigation. 

 They have their own ponds and lakes to sup- 

 l)ly water. They manufacture their own ice 

 for the refrigerator cars or for "pre-cool- 

 ing. " They have a large trade in canned 

 lima beans. These beans are shelled before 

 canning; and I was greatly surprised when 

 they told me that six great machines were 

 built on purpose to shell !)reeii lima beans be- 

 fore putting them into cans. Of course they 

 ha.A'e their own canners. 



This whole institution shows how great 

 enterprises are managed iniu-h as manufac- 

 turing is. Steam and electric power and 

 tlie b(>st up-to-date machinery in the whole 

 wide world contribute to do things by power 

 where before it was done by hand; and it is 

 possible because of the magnitude of the 

 tremendous crops that are produced, and by 

 the up-to-date methods, and by doing it on 

 a large scale, instead of a lifflc of "this, 

 tli;it, and the (.ther." 



