I met him last Thanksgiving Day 1942 when we were partners for the day putting on oak trim aboard the Aircraft Carrier. Of a powerful build with hairy arms, this very intelligent man with ruddy cheeks and most boyish and pleasant personality, drew my attention and held my admiration. He has taught school for 20 years and lived an interesting life. He is a gifted conversationalist and likes to visit. I liked him so well that I later took him to my home for an overnight stay to meet Pearl and the children. They won't forget him soon as he made some delicious candy for them. Why did I mention his hairy arms? Well, once when he was a lad working in his father's shop his shirtsleeve caught on a revolving shaft and would have torn off his arm if the sleeve had not ripped off at the shoulder. At home that night he said, "Mother, I want you to cut off all my shirt sleeves at the elbow." Since then he has never worn a long-sleeved shirt, winter or summer.

It takes a piece of quarter-inch steel sheet 12 feet long and breaks it as easy as a piece of tin. You can imagine what it would do to a man's hand. All at once I heard an agonizing cry of a man in great pain. One of the operators had gotten his fingers or hand between the jaws of the big press and all of his fingers were crushed off.

It was rather sickening to see the leather glove fingers with the amputated fingers inside laying on the floor. I resolved then and there to be more careful--with machines. They are such innocent things, but woe be unto him who transgresses the laws of safety, for he will soon find sooner than he expects that they are the most brutal things that will show no mercy.

The leadman informed my partner and me that the chief engineer had a job for us down in the engine room. Two armed guards stopped us at the entrance, requesting our names and badge numbers--also what our business was. Upon a satisfactory explanation, they permitted us to enter. Our task was a simple one, hanging a full-sized record [bulletin] board in a location satisfactory to the chief. I was astounded and amazed at the sight, as I stood and marveled at what man had done in a mechanical way [as I looked about the vessel's interior]. The huge, powerful boilers with their seam turbines gave off such a whine that it was difficult to talk or hear.

The enormous amount of electrical apparatus and machinery, the innumerable pipes and valves, gauges, the intricate mechanism and the huge drive shaft which was 194 feet long, weighing 96 tons. All this and more defies description with mere words.

My eye took note of the fuel tank gauges--75,000 gallons, 46,000, 39,000, 60,000, etc. The chief engineer explained that no one could understand all of this, but that here in this ship was the experience, development and improvement down through the years [representing the world's accumulated knowledge of ship-building, electric power, steam power, and turbines, drive shafts, boilers and other mighty machinery].

So we bought an acre of gold. That's about what it is down in the Puyallup Valley--$1000 an acre, even before the war. There is a cabin and another small building on the place, with lights and water. There is much unsound buying going on here now.

For instance, a man asked me $6,000 for a house and 7 acres of rocky land which in normal times would be worth more than $2,500. We realize that this is pure folly.

We would rather have a cabin and own it, than to have a mansion and a load of debt. I am more than ever convinced that too many Christians have lost their sweetness and joy in the Lord by permitting themselves to become entangled with the affairs of this world, and consequently become burdened down with worldly cares.

The almost fanatical desire to obtain houses and lands and luxurious furniture, also cars, has caught many who ought to know better, including myself. Pearl and I will no longer be deceived by the glitter and the glamour of this modern trend which brings nothing in the way of true happiness and contentment.

No! The installment plan did not originate from the Bible; therefore, to live beyond one's means is not Christian.

It will be possible to raise and produce a good share of our living on this acre besides our cow, chickens, and hog. The cow alone is worth $15 a month to my family. The abandoned Jap concentration camp is only a few blocks from us and some day soon all that lumber will be sold very cheap.

Then perhaps I'll build a cozy little house just the way Pearl wants it too. Yes, there will be a tiled bathroom maybe, and I'll build it entirely myself with my own hands. But in the meantime, we'll be happy and contented with such as we have.