CONTINUED
(Opposite.) Little Laura shyly hugs Brother Day as he bids her goodbye after visit.
■IE
vY
Children are the best customers at mission chapel. Asked what they want to pray for they will call out, “Mommy and Daddy.”
The Days ( above) never take up a collection from the workers; depend on small check from mission board and part-time work.
for little Laura day — a prodigious task for even a man with two arms. Mrs. Vogel quit school at the third grade; he at the eighth. I asked him about medical attention for little Laura. He shrugged his shoulders. And then he stated a simple fact. And it was honest and from his heart and didn’t represent a lack o f parental love. "I never had a shot o f no medicine and I don’t see no reason for the youngen to go traipsin’ off to get those shots. Why it’d take $50 o f gas to drive all the way into Bakersfield as many times as they want us to.” And according to the doctors the lack o f proper treatment could sooner or later mean death for five-year-old Laura Vogel.
A grim battle Laura Vogel is five. And she has dreaded rheumatic fever that has affected her heart. I talked to Laura and she put her delicate arms around my neck and softly kissed my cheek. When I first saw her she was wrapped in a dusty quilt and lying on the hard ground in front o f her migrant parents’ cabin. I guess she was playing a game with the old quilt. Brother Day told me she had rather severe rheumatic fever and was supposed to be in bed. She was getting no medical attention. I met her parents. They are fine people from Okla homa. They have six youngsters all under 13. The father has only one arm and still picks 280 pounds o f cotton a
Children love to take part in chapel services; can always be counted on to have several “specials” ready for every meeting.
Car belongs to camp foreman; house at right was one that three children were locked in when it caught on fire (see story, p. 38).
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THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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