| My friend Luther Miller is a perceptive observer of | | | | a composition about her home:"My home is more |
| contemporary society, so when he says there are | | | | than four walls and a green roof and a cement |
| four houses in America NOT for sale I am sure he | | | | foundation. My home is love and warmth and |
| has something more on his mind than real estate.Sure | | | | comfort and joy. Oh, it really isn't much different |
| enough! Luther looks around him, likes what he sees | | | | from yours. The water faucet is broken, the roof is |
| hut notices a growing apathy toward human | | | | leaking, the paint is cracking, the sidewalk is uneven, |
| liberty.As he sees it, there are four houses that | | | | and we have trouble with the furnace."But what |
| stand between us and mindless regimentation. He | | | | makes it so different are the people who live in it. A |
| hopes we never sell any of them.THE COURT | | | | house is made of plaster, brick and wood - but a |
| HOUSE - This is the symbol of justice, law and order. | | | | home is made of human hearts, tears, laughter and |
| The safeguard of the rights of the individual when he | | | | understanding."Luther stoutly maintains that the finest |
| is becoming a number instead of a name. "We are an | | | | cooking is "home cooking," the finest living "home |
| insurance number, a social security number, a license | | | | living," and the finest people "home folks." Without a |
| number, a street number, a credit card number, a | | | | home, life comes apart.GOD'S HOUSE - Our founding |
| phone number, a street number and a burial lot | | | | fathers knew the value of this house and so put the |
| number," snorts Luther.The court house stands as | | | | freedom to worship first in the Bill of Rights. |
| the symbol of honesty and integrity in government | | | | Unfortunately, says my friend, many have |
| WHEN OCCUPIED BY WELL CHOSEN PEOPLE. The | | | | interpreted this guarantee to mean freedom FROM |
| right to vote thus becomes the key to a strong | | | | worship.Have you ever wondered, he asks, who |
| court house. Luther deplores the fact that only a | | | | closes churches and temples in America? The |
| minority of registered voters exercises its | | | | communists? The atheists? The hippies? No! |
| franchise.During a recent election in upstate New | | | | Indifferent church goers starve out the churches. Far |
| York, figures revealed that 32 percent of the | | | | too many members are absentee share holders in |
| lawyers did not vote, nor did 22 percent of the | | | | the Lord's Corporation.There are 27 million children |
| doctors, 32 percent of the dentists, 23 percent of | | | | under the age of 18 without any religious affiliation. |
| the teachers, 40 percent of the business men and 27 | | | | This is an untapped resource for moral good that |
| percent of the housewives.My friend likes to point | | | | must be reached.Like the rest of us, Luther is |
| out that he and his wife made sure they cast | | | | searching for the proper long-range goal of the |
| absentee votes for Wooster mayor before they | | | | church. The answer lies in reaching the instinct for |
| went to Europe - and their man was elected, by two | | | | good in the hearts of children, he thinks. He likes to |
| votes.THE SCHOOL HOUSE - The school house | | | | cite the last request of Hans Christian Anderson, the |
| stands for the quest for knowledge and truth, | | | | creator of Fairy Tales. The Danish writer had wanted |
| declares Luther. The teacher is a stalwart proponent | | | | to be remembered for his serious textbooks but |
| of the search for the avenues of understanding, of | | | | finally became reconciled to the probability he would |
| mental development, of cultural growth and of the | | | | be known best for his children's stories.During |
| right of everyone to learn. We must not stand idly | | | | Anderson's last illness he wrote down directions for |
| by and permit anything to prevent our children from | | | | his funeral: "Most of those who will follow me at my |
| having the best available resources and schools for | | | | funeral will be little children. Have the beat of the |
| their use.Teachers have our children an average of | | | | music keep time to little steps.""This," says Luther. "I |
| six hours a day, five days a week, nine months a | | | | believe to be the noble direction of the church. The |
| year. They supervise our children during the | | | | church of the future must keep time to little steps, |
| formative years. Despite this, Americans spend 60 | | | | for they are the only steps that march into the |
| times as much for alcohol as for education.All of us | | | | future."What does all this mean? That all of us have a |
| are aware that children are the hope of the future. | | | | great challenge to safeguard and perpetuate all that |
| Yet, we seem to overlook the fact that the future | | | | we have established as good and worthwhile. The |
| will bring an even more complex and problem-prone | | | | letters which mean so much - U.S. - spell us.And "us" |
| society. Education that was good enough for today's | | | | have many houses. Things will work out well so long |
| adults is inadequate for today's children.YOUR HOUSE | | | | as we don't sell our four, principal houses.September |
| - Modern living tends to break up the home and | | | | 17, 1969 |
| family as we have traditionally known it. Today we | | | | .Click here to see this article on Lindsey Williams's |
| speak of Dad as "the most welcome guest in the | | | | website.Lindsey Williams is a Sun columnist who can |
| house." A teenage boy replied to the question, "What | | | | be contacted at: or Website: with over a thousand of |
| is a home?" with this more-truth-than-fun definition: | | | | Lin's Editorial & At Large articles written over 40 |
| "A home is where part of the family waits until the | | | | years.Also featured in its entirety is Lin's |
| others are through with the car."Young people | | | | groundbreaking book "Boldly Onward," that critically |
| cherish a home and develop most fully in a well-knit | | | | analyzes and develops theories about the original |
| family relationship. A high school girl had this to say in | | | | Spanish explorers of America. |