cup of tea is a cup of coffee - well, a cup of coffee it has to be.” So the church diet was adhered to. Father had himself strayed away from church as a young man. He was then married and had a family but was not following the Lord. One day his former Sunday School teacher had met him on the street. She influenced him to come back to church. He had come, and there would be no more turning back. “As for me and my house,” he affirmed, “we will serve the Lord.” One Sunday evening as the sermon droned on, Harry became restless. He crossed from Mother’s knee to Daddy’s chair. He stood in the aisle. He perambulated to various locations. Mother tried inconspicuously to restrain his movements, but he slipped skillfully from her grasp to pursue his interesting pilgrimage. The lady preacher stopped the sermon, pointed this time to Harry’s mother, and said, “Do you realize, sister, that your boy is disturbing people’s attention so they can’t listen to the Gospel?” After that, a firm pressure restrained the restless child, and when the family reached home a firm hand was applied to the seat of the difficulty. Besides the regular diet of church attendance, there was the yearly “vacation” trip to the C&MA Bible Conference at Old Orchard Grove. Although musically educating each child kept the parents poor, the advantages of soap and water were never spared. One night at the conference grounds Harry was dressed impeccably in a white suit for the evening service. The other children entered the tabernacle with their mother, but he “lingered awhile” on the outside.
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