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Passion, Purpose & Power

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    31. R. A. Underwood

    Primitive beginningsPPP 152.1

    At this time the office of both the conference and the tract society was located in my home at Mesopotamia, Ohio. We had dedicated the best room in the house to this purpose, and the fuel, the rent, and all the work of the office were freely given by my wife and myself to the Ohio Conference. Not only were the books kept by my wife, but a large correspondence was carried on with the churches and scattered believers. The conference was thus enabled to take on one or two ministers for field work. I also was giving my time largely to the conference. Thus it was necessary for us to employ help to do our housework and operate the farm. I mention these experiences that we may get a glimpse of the past, and not forget the struggles and sacrifices of those earlier days. . . .PPP 152.2

    The first remuneration I received from the conference was $4 a week. My wife and I studied economy in every way possible. As an example, while I was president of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Conferences, which covered a period of fourteen years, it was my custom in visiting churches to arrange to make a circuit, visiting from eight to twelve churches on one trip, to save time and rail-way fare. I would often be away from home for two, three, or four months.PPP 152.3

    My correspondence was done in the old-fashioned way, with pen, the tablet usually resting on my knee while I wrote. Stenographers and typewriters were unknown in those early days. . . .PPP 153.1

    My first experience in riding in a railroad sleeper was early in the eighties. The General Conference had recommended that Elder E. W. Farnsworth and I visit California, and spend several months in general labor in that State. The Union Pacific Railroad had just installed a tourists’ sleeper service from Chicago to San Francisco, the bed being simply narrow wood slats, without mattress or bedding. Before boarding the train in Chicago, we secured straw ticks and bedding for our berths. With extra cotton sheets we screened ourselves from the gaze of others in the car. However antiquated this method may now seem, it was a great improvement over sitting up for five or six nights. The railroad charge for the sleeper was $3 for the trip. I was about fifty years old before I ever rode in an upholstered sleeper, although as a member of the General Conference Committee I often rode two or more days on the train to reach a camp-meeting or other important gathering.—R. A. Underwood, “Reminiscences and Early Experiences,” Review and Herald, September 18, 1924, pp. 55, 56.PPP 153.2

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