that, was open upstairs in the middle bedroom, waiting to be filled. It was found that after all Uncle Fred’s clothes had been placed in the trunk, it was still so empty that Uncle Fred in desperation, took an old Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary—large size—and planted it in the middle of the trunk, packing his clothes around it, it order to give the trunk some weight, and save himself and the family from possible embarrassment when later the trunk was put on the train at Cedarville. From what we know of Uncle Fred’s subsequent career, his first trip away from home might well be thought of as foreshadowing his future career; instead of his living out of a trunk or of having a home of his own as he might well have done, it seems to have been his lot to live out of a travelling bag; and travel up and down the earth, not for his own pleasure and profit primarily, but for the benefit of others, and in these travels as we learn from another part of his record, he literally covered the entire globe, primarily out of his interest for the work of the Kingdom of God. Mother said the only money Fred ever received from the farm, was $60 which Father borrowed for him to get to Monmouth. From then on, he was literally on his own, and helping instead of being helped. Of all of James MacMillan’s sons, Harlan was the steadiest and the most dependable of the boys who grew up on the farm, and probably would have remained on the farm had it not been for Mother’s insistence that he, too, should have his chance. The day Harlan left the farm to take a position at Carson & Fox, wholesale grocers, in Springfield, Ohio, the family fortunes were at their lowest. Under the circumstances, it seemed sheer folly that Harlan should have to leave the farm. Father was getting old; hired help was hard to get, even though it could be paid; and at the moment it looked as if even Fred was not going to be able to pull the load. It was at this point that even Father’s faith was shaken; his most dependable son on the farm was to leave him, and there was no one at the moment to take his place. This opinion was shared by both the neighbors and kinfolks, and some of the latter did not hesitate to say so. This is where Mother played her part in a magnificent way. Nothing daunted, she said Harlan had to go, even though the farm had to be sacrificed. The other children had had their chance, and Harlan should have his. 27
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