Young people address on his USA Experiences (Quality: poor, Incomplete)

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[5:09] Dear friends. I never thought it would ever fall to my lot to address an English audience and tell them about my experiences in America. But such are the circumstances here this evening.

[5:27] Let me say to begin with, I must ask our older friends to bear with me if I advance some very simple facts this evening.

[5:39] The meeting, as you are aware, is primarily for the benefit of younger people. And looking through one or two items of interest which I have jotted down to help my memory, I may be open to criticism at the close of the meeting that I had been too simple.

[6:04] But I must ask you to bear with me. I thought that, as well as speaking of my own particular leading over to America, I thought it would be as well if I gave you just a little talk on the American people, their customs, and life generally over in that vast continent as compared to the American people.

[6:33] I thought it would be as well as the American people. I thought it would be as well as the American people. I thought it would be as well as the American people. So then my talk this evening will be a talk on items of general interest.

[6:44] And then finally, a word or two in regard to God's good providence in directing me to that country.

[6:59] I do not want to introduce too much history. I am sure our young people have learned it all in school. Neither do I wish to introduce too much geography.

[7:10] But just as a background, you are aware that North America is comprised of independent states, known as the United States of America, each state with its own governor and with its own laws.

[7:26] And we speak of our queen at Buckingham Palace. And over in North America, they speak of their president at the White House.

[7:37] My wife and I live in a city called Grand Rapids in the state of Michigan.

[7:48] Michigan, by the way, is about the size of the British Isles. And Grand Rapids, where we live, is about 800 miles inland from New York.

[8:04] So you will see that when we travel by sea, we have another 800 miles to journey when we arrive in New York.

[8:15] 800 miles takes us on an average about two days. Because, as I will mention later, although there are some wonderful roads in America, there is a speed limit of 70 miles an hour.

[8:31] They don't mind you going a few miles over that, but not too many. Grand Rapids is about 150 miles south on the Canadian border.

[8:42] And about 250 miles from Niagara Falls, which place we had the pleasure of visiting last summer. For the benefit of our younger people, I mustn't ask them too many questions, but I do not know whether they are aware of the names of the five lakes.

[9:05] The five great North American lakes. Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Ontario, Lake Ely, and Lake Europe.

[9:20] And we live about 30, Grand Rapids is about 30 miles east of Lake Michigan. And when we speak of lakes over there, well, they are lakes and not ponds.

[9:36] Lake Michigan is several hundred miles from north to south. And about a hundred miles wider. In the state of Michigan, there are in fact 11,000 lakes.

[9:49] An important point which has a bearing upon the temperatures in the summer to which I shall later refer.

[10:00] Needless to say, you are all aware that North America is a vast continent. We think over here on our own little island, some four or five, six hundred miles from north to south.

[10:15] And about a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles wide. But over there we have a vast continent of the United States of America stretching over 3,000 miles across.

[10:32] Our younger people will be interested to know that there are still some Red Indian settlements. Known now more as Red Indian reservations.

[10:43] I have never been to one, but I would like to go and see some of those Red Indians still living in their original conditions.

[10:54] Of course, they are fast laying out. But I might mention that around the surrounding districts where the settlements are, you can see in the features of the people, well, what I might call the Indian features, the Indian faiths.

[11:16] Very easily recognized in many instances. Our young people will also be interested to know that you can still find some wild animals in North America.

[11:29] And also in Michigan, wolves and bears. I have not seen any so far. But they are there, and they are hunted annually.

[11:45] And the American people on the whole are very friendly people. You will find that whether you shop in the stores, or whether traveling about the country, or whether traveling in public transport, such as the railways and the few buses that there are, there's a friendly atmosphere.

[12:12] Generally speaking, they are most helpful. And I'm sorry to say, I do not find the same spirit over in England. There is, as you are probably aware, a very, very high standard of living.

[12:35] Every family have their car. Not one, but two or three. Every home have their fridges. A home without a frid hardly exists in America.

[12:50] Probably because of the high temperatures during the summer months. But no matter where you go, in the homes, or taking their travel, their cars, and in so many different directions, the standard of living is very, very high.

[13:17] The amount of food eaten there is tremendous. We sometimes say among ourselves that the American people do not eat to live, they live to eat.

[13:31] And in fact there is an extreme, doubtless in that direction. We find the food bill over in Grand Rapids very much higher than our food bill was in England.

[13:47] I have no reliable statistics to bring before you. But broadly speaking, I would say that the cost of living is about two and a half times that in England.

[14:06] But of course, correspondingly, there are very high wages. There are high costs and there are high wages.

[14:20] You may be interested to know the gentleman here, if you want a haircut, you'll have to pay from 13 shillings to 17 and sixpence.

[14:31] I can manage to get one for 13 shillings. But that's comparatively cheap. And so it goes on. I'll not take up the time to mention the many instances.

[14:48] But I'll give you one or two in reverse. Central in America costs far less than it does in England. It costs about two to the penny a gallon.

[15:01] But the gallon is only four fifths of the English gallon. Nevertheless, that is one point where we find things a bit cheaper.

[15:15] Fruit too is quite cheap comparatively. Although vegetables and meat, etc. are very, very high. It is certainly difficult if you run up a high doctor's bill.

[15:33] You have only, as we say, to look at a doctor and it'll cost you some five or six dollars, about 30 shillings. It's always very risky to call up a doctor on the telephone.

[15:47] Because there will be a charge go down against your account in the account book. Hospital charge is also very, very high.

[15:58] Of course, correspondingly, the service is very, very wonderful. When you walk into the doctor's surgery or waiting room, it's a very lavishly furnished room, cold in the summer, heated in the winter, every convenience.

[16:19] The doctor has his nurse. He has his laboratory technician. He has his various secretaries, etc.

[16:30] He will have some five or six rooms all fitted out as a surgery. Well, all those things have to be paid for. But just in passing, I might mention that if you are ill, you've got to go to the doctor.

[16:46] They don't like coming to you. If you're dying, they'll come to you. But otherwise, you'll have to get a friend to take you in his car. No matter what your temperature, you have to go and visit the doctor.

[17:01] They do not like visiting their patients. But that's only by the way. Another point I would like to mention here, generally, the food of the American people.

[17:20] They have breakfast. They have a very light lunch midday. And about six o'clock in the evening, they'll have what they call supper, which is equivalent to our hot midday meal.

[17:36] And then, perhaps late in the evening, they will have a cup of coffee with some biscuits or a cake or something like that.

[17:50] No heavy, late meal, as we know it, over in this country.

[18:01] The Americans do not like cold meals. My wife and I, we live the English fashion. I'm very fond of cold meat and potatoes.

[18:13] The average American people wouldn't give you a thank you for it. Everything must be hot. If they have a sandwich, they prefer it warm.

[18:24] If they have bread, they prefer it warm. We like cold hands. They will warm it up. And that is a general tendency.

[18:35] And not only in their own homes, but if you could go out for a picnic, then they'll warm it all up and put it in insulated carriers or boxes or something in order that it will be warm when they come to eat it.

[18:52] Again, let me say, my wife and I live like English people. And I'm certain we always will. Forgive me if I'm bringing forward more points.

[19:05] I think we are of interest. At least you won't read them in history or geography books. Sometimes we invite our friends to dinner.

[19:16] But they will not use a knife and fork as we do. If we give them a cut, we'll carry our roast off of the joint.

[19:27] They'll put it in between their bread and eat it. You can always tell an American over here in a restaurant, to use this is fork, not a knife and fork as we do.

[19:42] They're very fond of their barbecue. If you should go out into the public parks, and there are many of them, you'll frequently see a blue haze hanging around over the home of the town.

[19:57] It's where they're barbecuing their hamburgers or sausages, weeners as they call them. The cold meals we know them, they do not like them.

[20:09] The majority of families will have their barbecue on their back lawns. And then a good many will carry a portable barbecue equipment in their car.

[20:23] They must have their meals up or go without. Our young people are probably aware of the military system in America.

[20:39] The children in school over there, they don't have hard funds of LSD. It's all intense. The American dollar is, at the moment, worth about seven a penny English money.

[20:59] For the benefit of our younger people, over in America we have pennies. They're very small, about like the old English money. And forty of those pennies are equivalent to one shilling English money.

[21:16] Then, as we go up the scale, we have what they call the nickel. The nickel, that's a five cent piece, a cent or a penny.

[21:29] They call a penny, sometimes a cent and sometimes a penny. A nickel is five cents. A dime is ten cents. The next coin is a quarter, that's twenty-five cents.

[21:42] That's a quarter of a dollar. The next coin is fifty cents, that's half a dollar. And then you have what they call the dollar bill, not the dollar note. And the dollar bills, they go up in one.

[21:56] There are a few twos, but generally one, five, twenty, fifty and a hundred. So, young people, you can see how that the sums in the American school, as far as money is concerned, are very, very simple.

[22:15] As far as weight is concerned, we were very surprised to find that the hundred weight, as known in England, is not known over there.

[22:27] They speak of a hundred pounds. A hundred and twelve pounds is just nothing, it's foreign to them. Before we went over, four years ago, in exchanging in our letters between the deacons of the court where I'm pastor and myself, we exchanged photographs and we told each other about each other.

[22:59] And as we go to the exercise, I had experience in regard to going over, I lost about a stone and a half in weight.

[23:11] And I wrote and told the deacon over there, that fact, I said, I've lost a stone and a half, and nobody knew what I meant. And so they had to go to the American dictionary, and they could not find it.

[23:29] The only definition an American dictionary will give of the word stone is, the stones we pick up on the ground. But someone found an English western, and then they thought a stone in the north, a man thought in town.

[23:44] So that was one very amusing interview, when a future pastor wrote and told them something they didn't understand at all.

[23:57] As far as the language is concerned, of course, it's the English language. I sometimes try to our American friends.

[24:12] They try themselves justly enough on their independence, but I tell them that they have to be dependent upon the poor old English or their language. For they try to improve upon our form of spelling.

[24:28] In some directions, I admit, there is an improvement, but in other directions, no. When our friend the chairman mentioned the fact that he used the word fortnight, I also used the word fortnight in a letter, and I have the faintest idea what a fortnight means.

[24:55] That word does not exist in the American dictionary. We don't say fortnight, we've got to say too weak. They just do not know that word.

[25:08] Another interesting point I might mention, in regards to words, and of course, as far as pronunciation is concerned, I'll not go into the details.

[25:19] Quite a number of words they address quite different from what we do. It doesn't matter where I go, they always know I mean it.

[25:32] I believe I shall forever and then shall. But I think we, on one occasion, we wrote and told one of my daughters that a certain family were very holy people.

[25:51] And my daughter, in her reply, not in a letter, but on a little free-inch face, which we frequently pass backwards and forwards to each other, she said, I'm pleased to hear that that family is a very holy family.

[26:15] Well, we played that case back to a number of our American friends, including their family. And when we came to the place where my daughter said, we are pleased to hear that they're a holy family, they were lords of laughter.

[26:37] Homely in America means ugly. But you know, I'm wondering, this is a point which I have not followed out, but I followed it up in the dictionary, and you know that the old English meaning of the word homely is ugly, or to corn.

[27:05] And I had a real shock one Sunday. I gave out my own pen, and I gave out, we use jazz this in the book, and I gave out this number 710.

[27:21] When you get home, look at it, in verse 5. I'll read it through. This is very, I know he was clenched, but he was a scholar.

[27:34] The hymn is on the deceitfulness of the heart, the wickedness of the heart. And he said, Sweet love and sweet shame, now hallow his breath, yet black is his name, though by his Lord blessed.

[27:55] I am, he said, holy, beformed in each time, all blessed, and yet comely, through Jesus' earth. There, in the original meaning of that word, there it simply tells us, that he's a homely or ugly, he's found by ugly creature, he's found by sin.

[28:18] Well, that's just a little point, in passing. Over here, the children are very fond of sweet.

[28:30] In America, they're tender. Over here, we like our cookies, our dishes. In America, they are called cookies. Now, there's a very high degree of mechanization in all aspects of life, in engineering, and in buildings.

[28:54] I have been particularly interested in the world, seeing the humorous roles that have been built. In America, you see huge machines at work, and very, very few men.

[29:10] But they get the work done. Generally speaking, I would say that handmade goods or handicrafts in America are of a poor quality.

[29:22] They are of a poor quality. They are not so much taught, the skill with their hands, but rather the skill in using them as easily to make it for them.

[29:35] I've also been very struck by the tremendous abundance of its thoughts and defense, hammered, and invigorated lords and kings, made in defense.

[29:49] and invigorated lords and kings, made in defense. There is also a high standard of standardization in homes. over here, no matter what you want, you have to make sure that it fits. But in the homes over there, I know this will give him to our chairman and the quantities of air.

[30:05] there is a very high standard of standardization. There is a very high standard of standardization. If you want to lock in any door in your house, you will get one just to fit the north of it. all the cash passers, everything. The electric fittings are all the same.

[30:16] It may be a different way, but it may be a different way, but it may be a different way, but it may be a different way. I am sure that it fits. I am sure that it fits. But in the homes over there, I know this will give him to our chairman and the quantities of air. There is a very high standard of standardization.

[30:29] If you want to lock in any door in your house, you will get one just to fit the just to fit the north of it. All the cash passers, everything. The electric fittings are all the same.

[30:41] It may be a different mind, but the standardization there is really remarkable. And it doesn't matter what goes wrong, it doesn't matter what you want, you go down to the hardware store and you get it and fix it.

[31:05] Although the people, as I say, are very industrious, the American people will always find out an easy way to do a job. You know, the American people are very part of doing jobs in their cars.

[31:22] But they will be locked up when they won't get in their car, they seem to want to stop there. If they go to the bank, they do not get out of their car. They have all driving banks. There is no need to get out of their car.

[31:34] And they are not particularly wanting to. There is no need to get out of their car. There is no need to get out of their car. There is no need to get out of their car. Or to leave driving banks or some new fashion in this country.

[31:45] If you are out and you want to telephone, you don't get out of your car. You drive to the petrol station. And there is generally the telephone and you just put your hand out of the car window and lose it.

[32:00] If you feel this boat and have a meal at a restaurant, you leave that get out of your car. You drive to the appropriate telephone at the side of the restaurant.

[32:12] You take things to see them and get the order and they bring it out to you in a car. If worldly people want their cinema show, they go to a driving cinema.

[32:24] If religious people want to drink, they go to a living cinema. If religious people want to drink, they go to a drive-in church service. Huge screens, about 30 foot squares.

[32:37] Go for the church service and also for the cinema shows. So you will see that the American man couldn't get out of their car.

[32:52] But of course there is hardly any public, public, well not hardly any, that's rather an exaggeration, but it's very, very literal, public transport. As you journey over North America, you will see tens of thousands of acres of land, all running wild.

[33:20] And this is a point where one feels to be, feels it, feels it, feels it, feels it, both to be highly critical of the North American administration.

[33:35] I have spoken of the high standards of living. And over here, particularly during the war, we all knew what it was to try to keep things down.

[33:47] Now over there, they have to do all they can to keep things up. And the American government will pay the farmers the equivalent of five thousand acres to let it run wild.

[34:02] Friends, I believe that's all wrong when the biggest half of the world is starving. But that is a thing. And the purpose is to keep up the high prices.

[34:15] I am told that, among the very, very big farmers on the prairie who've given to Canada, over in the Midwest and West America, the farms there, they can price some tens of thousands of acres.

[34:35] It seems dreadful when you think that a government claims the equivalent of five thousand acres to let the land run to ruin.

[34:52] But such are the conditions evading over there. And so the majority of small farmers, they put their land into what they call the store bank.

[35:07] They draw their fourteen dollars an acre, that's what it is. It's given the five pounds. And then if they feel it's found, they go and work for somebody else, a little light drop to keep them going.

[35:23] Also all over America, you will see ten thousand of albis down to these all dead or dying. I liken the condition there to that of mixing the cultures along the ramble in England some years ago.

[35:42] It is a disease which has spread everywhere in the United States of America. And the general opinion is that within a few years you will be unable to find an albis and they are not being in the whole of that continent.

[36:00] It's really a terrible sight to see all these trees, so many of them already dead, and many of them dying. the houses at least in Grand Rapids, and generally in modern cities, are a kind of, well made, well insulated, although I notice that many modern houses are having an empty stream of bricks.

[36:25] and to those of you interested in building, the brick in North America is not 9 by 4 and a half by 3, it's 6 by about 3 and a half by 2. in our homes, and in our homes, there are no other houses and there are no other houses that are having an empty stream of bricks.

[36:39] and to those of you interested in building, the brick in North America is not 9 by 4 and a half by 3, it's 6 by about 3 and a half by 2.

[36:50] in our homes, we do not shut ourselves into the dining room or into the drawing room as you look here.

[37:05] everything is open. in the winter we have storm windows which we just slip in with a clip when summer comes or when spring comes we take them out and we put in streams.

[37:24] we never open a window and we would open like we do here because of deeply the mosquitoes. all homes are centrally heated generally with hot air automatic we just set the service cap to whatever we want when we were first down over our home we thought it would be around about 62 or 64 or in the south like we were but we don't to other people's houses and 75 is quite common in the middle of winter 70 side in our own church or chapel we call them church over there so we have to follow suit.

[38:14] so you will see that during the winter months we do this in comparative luxuries we have a front lawn and a back lawn to our house what they call them yards we think of a yard we have to be in some little concrete area at the back of a cherry palace but no matter how beautiful your lawn and no matter how beautifully your back garden is laid out that's your backyard in North America the temperatures in summer in Guanyatis are very high we heard from our friends only this last week on the cellar that the temperatures have hovered between 95 and 105 so it wouldn't be too bad if it were not so humbling that because of the many thousands of lakes which exist in Michigan is very very zooming and I must say my wife and I find it very very funny very difficult to know what they're doing in the summer so the shops are cool many people have a cooling some kitchen assistance in their car some of the wealth of those churches have it in their churches but even if you could endures in that luxury you still have to go out into the air and it's very very hot it's too hot for work in a garden or too hot for working a home the best thing to do to have work to do is to get up and do it early in the morning and then lay about for the rest of the day of course we wear appropriate clothing we wear truly tropical clothes over there the suit I have on at the moment is what I call a mid-season suit my mid-summer suit is very much thinner than this one although this one I have on is something like the alpaca wear over here now in the winter of course it's very very cold we get it down probably to 10 degrees below zero but it's very dry and even though you have to be careful of your extremities the ribs and nose etc.

[41:11] when you go out you do not feel it as much as you do in England because it's so dense but the standard what I might call the standard measurement of temperature over here is generally a freezing point you will talk about so many degrees of frost you will never hear that expression in America you will never hear any reference to 32 degrees Fahrenheit it is always zero we go further in then temperatures go down not lower scale but we live in comfort you may have to you may have to you have to go outside during the winter months snow shoveling nearly every morning two years ago you had nine feet two inches of snow now that's a good part but it is not the wet snow which you are so used to in England it's very very dry nevertheless it has to be clear and it's nothing a threat for one to have to go outside in the morning and shovel your way out when the temperature is 0 degrees and then you come in doors and it's 75 and that's quite a big change and it was a lot of getting used to in the winter of course we also wear outdoor workers they wear appropriate clothes insulated shoes insulated underwear insulated gloves and sometimes uh...

[43:06] electrically warm clothes you would be a new young sure to see some people come into our church in the winter and take off their ear nuts and hang them on the chest or put them in their pockets ear nuts are frequently warm warm I might mention here too that full advantage is taken by the state authorities to provide good, healthy house-time or sport if you like for the children in every part there is a fund all through the wings of course that fund is covered with ice there may be a fall of snow the snow clouds overnight will take off all the snow then they'll bring out the houses and put a new layer of ice on the top already for the children to go skating the next day

[44:13] I like to see it because I just see a very healthy and good recreation for young people and they keep them away from work places then there are the official suburban sea run they do certainly look after the children there all through the winter and also with their numerous swimming pools during the summer还是 homes can we make a return yeah er soCare However, evidently, the American people must make up for it somewhere or other when they get older, perhaps, because they are well aware in advancement of engineering and other sciences.

[45:22] There are quite a number of what are called Christian schools, like the Church of England schools here. The reform churches have their own schools, their own Catholics have theirs. Some other Methodists and Baptist they may have theirs. It is more prevalent over there than in England.

[45:48] There is an interesting point about school buses, and that is if you are travelling by time, on a school bus stop, rather to pick up or to put down any children, there are some possibly 15 to 20 lights all around that bus, and those lights are blinking.

[46:12] And all traffic has to stop. No matter which way you are going, if a school bus is stopping or alighting or picking up, then all other traffic has to stop.

[46:28] Otherwise, you are in for a heavy time. I think it is a good idea. And the driver of the bus, he makes sure that everything is clear before he shuts off the danger light and continues.

[46:44] So just a word or two, with regard to roads, transport and layers.

[46:57] Roads generally over there run from north to south and east to west. If you take an average map, it is all divided in the square.

[47:09] There will be found roads radiating from the cities, as in England, but they are all modern freeways, or interstate freeways.

[47:24] But otherwise, the roads are all set out from north to south and east to west. Grand Rapids provides us with a typical layout of a North American city.

[47:40] Imagine a square. All the roads running from north to south are called streets. All the roads running from east to west are called avenues.

[47:56] So imagine this square, which would be the perimeter of the city. Then cut the square into four, through the horizontal and the vertical lines.

[48:07] Both centre lines are four division lines. And then one section would be north-west, north-east, south-east and south-west.

[48:19] And all the roads and avenues in the whole of those squares are cut up into far smaller squares, what in North America they call a block.

[48:32] Ten blocks to a mile. So if you go round, you just turn round, you go round the block and come back. You can't lose your way.

[48:45] And I was very interested when there I wanted to perhaps ask some of my friends a way to go. They wouldn't tell you to go down the street and turn to the left.

[48:58] They would say, now go down to the street, then turn west. Go a little further, then take, then turn north. It's all point to the compass.

[49:10] It's quite remarkable. Even children, and all people too, they know the point to the compass. Right and left, as we know it, is not used as a term of direction for travelling.

[49:29] Many of the cars are equipped with a compass, and I find it very, very useful. Because if anyone's having to turn to the north, well, you know where it is first.

[49:40] Otherwise, if there's no sun shining, and you do not know the city, you may be in some difficulty, want to do.

[49:53] Taking this square of a city, the top line would be the north belt line, the bottom line would be the south belt line, and one would be west, and the other would be east.

[50:10] The three ways, as we call them, the great front roads in America, well, they're very wonderful. Makes travelling very, very easy.

[50:23] Since I've been over here, I have been on several of the end front roads over here, and they're much about the same, except that they are generally on a vaster scale in North America.

[50:44] When we speak about freeways, I mean the road of limited access. In America, you have to pay on quite a number of them.

[50:55] Automatic payments. You come to the red light, and there's a hop ahead, and you have to throw in 30 cents. It doesn't matter what coins you use. Providing you make it up to 30 cents, then the light will go green.

[51:10] If you only put in 29, it will not. But I put in a quarter and five cents. I deliberately practice just to see how things work.

[51:23] But providing I put in the equivalent of 30 cents, then I'm all right. Of course, there are, I think I mentioned very, very few buses.

[51:38] It's all cars in America, or taxis in New York, and the big cities like Chicago and Detroit. Children are taught to drive at high school when they are 15 years old.

[51:58] A year's driving teaching is in the official curriculum. And I must say that when they are 16 years old, and they take their driving license, there are some very remarkable drivers.

[52:17] I was really very amused to see a mere girl of 16 years old sitting behind a huge pack arm or cataract and driving off about 70 miles an hour.

[52:31] I will not say that there is not a danger there. There is. You take a young lad, 16, 17 or 18 years old, with an eight-cylinder engine in front of him.

[52:43] He's tempted to do just what I was when I had the same experience. I've got a tremendous speed. But generally speaking, the standard of driving, both young and old, and I do see many old people, I don't know how old they are, but they still drive.

[53:06] Having driven, I suppose, the majority of their lives. Driving licenses over there are the same as ours. But it's a good idea, they take them out on your birthday, so that you don't forget when they're all due.

[53:27] The car tax is much cheaper than in England. I have, compared with English standards, quite a heavy car. It's only a compact, but it's quite a large car, by English standards, and that cost me between nine and ten dollars.

[53:48] That's about three pound six for my year's license. Well, I don't buy a license. We purchase our number plates, and we keep them.

[54:00] If we change the car, we keep the number plates and put it on the new car. And periodically, there are changes.

[54:12] If you're traveling anywhere in America, you have no worries about food or petrol or sleeping. Friends, I found the difference over here.

[54:25] For traveling about in America, take for instance a restaurant. You can go, you can find restaurants everywhere. You don't see signs, rest on or Kathy.

[54:37] You'll see a large sign, eat. They're always talking about eat. With an arrow directing you to the place. And the food provided there, very wonderful.

[54:51] You go in and sit down, and the first thing is done, summer and winter, a glass of ice water. Always put before you, whether you want it or not.

[55:04] We have had two or three quite interesting experiences in restaurants. Over in England, I know you often find on the menu, you can name some, in some, in the French language, which you can't fully understand.

[55:25] But over there, the average dish is so different from what we're used to in England. When we went to Niagara last year, we had a boiled egg for breakfast.

[55:40] We had a drink of running about on the plate. We never see an egg cup anywhere. And we noticed, among our own friends, that when they have an egg, they generally just smash it and let it run all over the plate.

[55:57] And dip it up with a spoon and bread. And we have just in one or two places, among our own friends, seen a poor long egg cup.

[56:10] But generally speaking, they do not use them. On another instance, it's rather humorous, but I think I'll mention it.

[56:21] When we were having a breakfast, we did manage to get fried bacon and fried air, fried bacon of a sword.

[56:32] And the waitress asked us, how do you like your eggs done? Do you like them turned over or do you like them sunny side up? Turned over, of course, is turned over in a pattern by both sides.

[56:46] And sunny side up, as they call it, is just how we Englishers usually have our eggs cooked. Quite an interesting point. And there are quite a number of interesting and somewhat humorous anecdotes I could mention in that direction.

[57:05] Well, I see our time going rather quickly. I haven't yet come to the important point. No matter where you go, you'll always find the petrol stations open day and night.

[57:20] Although the American cars, they do not run on petrol, you know they run on gas. That's the equivalent word for petrol. As far as sleeping accommodation is concerned, the whole of the country is covered with motels.

[57:39] And the motels are very lavishly equipped, luxuriously equipped. They have their own telephone, their TVs, and everything you want.

[57:52] But it will probably cost you three or four pounds a night for a bed, apart from any food. But in traveling in America, it is quite a point to consider.

[58:06] It doesn't matter where you go, as far as petrol, food, and sleeping is concerned, you have no worries at all.

[58:19] Traffic signs over there are somewhat different, as I'll pass that by. Traffic lights are frequently suspended in the middle of the road. And I find it a considerable benefit.

[58:31] And when I come back to England, I have to be very careful, lest I should miss those which are on the side of the road. At night we always drive with headlamps.

[58:43] It is against the law that drives with side lights. Side lights exist only for parking. And yet, ironically enough, you park on the side of the road and you don't need side lights.

[58:56] So I suppose it is just if you should want them, if you should happen to be in a place where they will be required. Level crossings over there have no gates to warn you.

[59:14] There are no gates. Only flashing red lights. Needless to say, there are many, many terrible accidents.

[59:27] You see the red lights flashing on the next moment. The train is sweeping across the road. Winter conditions travelling, of course, are a little difficult.

[59:44] But the snow clouds, they work all through the night. And it doesn't matter where you have to go. Unless it's a very, very heavy blizzard, you can always get there.

[59:57] Thousands, yet nothing millions of tons of salt is sprinkled on the road to melt the ice and kill the car.

[60:10] The car bodies over there, they just get eaten to pieces with the acid in the salt. They also sprinkle a salt. I do not know whether it is exactly the same.

[60:23] Over many of the roads, which are not what they call, they don't have a hard top, or they're not tarmac as we call it. It's very, very interesting to see how that spreading of that particular salt over a dusty road is the equivalent of a storm of rain.

[60:41] There are very, very few cyclists over there. You may see just one or two young people, but you never see the flops of cyclists like to do when Westinghouse is coming out, or lunch, or at the close of the day.

[61:01] Only just a few, and just one or two motorbikes. And there are no rules for cyclists, they can travel where they like. Motorists just have to be wear'd, and normally don't do any damage.

[61:17] Nevertheless, you have to be registered if you have a bicycle, in the same way as if you have a motorbike or a car.

[61:29] All cyclists have to be registered. The police force is somewhat different over there, compared with ours. There is state police, there is the sheriff patrol, and there are the city police.

[61:46] Over here, the police walk about with their truncheons very discreetly hidden. In the majority of the cities in North America, they walk about with their revolvers at the ready.

[62:02] All police, other than merely traffic police, they carry revolvers. And it's necessary. The freedom as we know it over here, does not exist in North America.

[62:18] The race problem is very fair. Even though Grand Rapids is such a very religious city, going through one particular section of it, you will be well advised to lock your doors and close your windows.

[62:34] Now, the general religious profession, I'm rather late coming to it.

[62:46] There's a lot of religion in North America, and there's a lot where I live in Grand Rapids. New churches are springing up every day.

[62:58] The Methodists, for instance, they have a target, one church per week throughout the year. And I am told that they keep to that target. Now, that's a lot.

[63:13] Churches are multiplying everywhere, and they're full up. Nearly everybody goes to church. There's some observance over there, truly remarkable in comparison with England.

[63:27] Everybody goes to church. The roads get locked up with cars. They're all going to church. Although on that point, I must say, that the last two years, I've seen a great difference.

[63:43] We now, occasionally, we see the lawnmower come out to mow the grass, and so on. And others will go off for their Sunday sport.

[63:54] When we arrived there, generally speaking, the shops or the store were closed. But now we see the signs open on Sundays or closed on Sundays.

[64:09] Everybodyначала to mop up from moore down the snow. We see the경ig declared and thingsна. is due not only to the general spirit of infidelity, but the Roman Catholic Church.

[64:24] Go to Mass and do what you like for the rest of the day. We've been over there four years, friends.

[64:35] I have not heard one swear word in four years. Now that's remarkable. So when we landed in London Airport, I've been there just ten minutes and I heard swearing.

[64:48] I haven't heard it in America. It's quite outstanding. We were very interested just before we left, we had some painters in to do out a couple of our rooms.

[65:03] And they sing hymns. Or talk or discuss points of theology. Sometimes ask me as a minister to come and settle a certain point.

[65:17] You can argue the five points of Calvinism with your barber. You can go to the shop and take, if you like, the most unlikely character.

[65:29] That person goes to church and he or she knows your Bible. We've been really amazed at the general profession. But alas, I must say that it is but a profession when it comes to the possession of grace, marks of divine light in the soul.

[65:52] Alas, we see so little. If you go in a restaurant in Grand Rapids, I know it is a particularly religious city.

[66:05] The majority of the people are of Dutch descent and very religious, as you are probably aware, the Dutch people generally are.

[66:16] but you go in a restaurant and it is nothing to see people bow their head in prayer and as we say, say grace before they partake of the food.

[66:31] You may see a family or two families come in and sit down the large table and one of the men will be disputed to stand at the table and speak a word in prayer publicly before they partake of the food.

[66:50] You need never be ashamed in Grand Rapids of standing before others in prayer. I find things vastly different in hospitals no matter where I go.

[67:04] Nurses or doctors or anyone will always make provision for the either reading or praying as a miniature desire.

[67:16] Some of you may be aware that when I baptize an invalid once completely helpless suffering from multiple sclerosis and she had a number of very bad bed chores the Lord comes to constrain her to be baptized in accordance with our mode and method of baptism.

[67:43] I shall never forget seeing the nurse the head nurse of the hospital where she is. She said well now we we would like to provide you with a trained nurse if you haven't one to dress the wounds.

[68:00] We would like to cooperate with you in every possible way. And I thought well how different from how things are in England. I've had the unique experience of walking into a hospital and hearing my own voice.

[68:18] As I walk into the ward the particular patient whom I visit has a paper order and she's listening to my sermon which I preached on the previous Sunday in a public hospital.

[68:35] Well after all people have their radio why shouldn't God people have their pleasures? They do in North America but I'm afraid things are somewhat different in England.

[68:51] When we go out into the parks for a picnic and on the public holidays over there generally speaking our own church or a number of them our members perhaps anything from twenty to thirty of us will go out into the park and we'll have our meals or a picnic if you like and then we speak on the things of God one and another will give their testimony and then we sing a number of hymns.

[69:27] Singing hymns in a public park nobody takes much notice or we may get one or two people come and join us and ask who we are but the general open religious outlook and the religious profession is vastly different over there from what it is in England in one restaurant which we have patronised in Grand Rapids just to show how they mechanise even religion you will find at the side of the menu suggested form of prayer and there's a prayer typed out for Protestants a prayer typed out for Roman Catholics and another one for Jews so we just showed you see how the general profession over there as much as we like to see people honouring God honouring his word and honouring his day the general profession alas is just like one big machine and in so many directions it is as dead as a machine of course there are exceptions to which I shall come in a moment of course the USA is also the home of many evil cults the Jehovah

[70:53] Witnesses emanate from the USA so do the Mormons so do the Christian scientists so do the Seventh-day Adventists and also there are two other bodies of people you may have read about it in history book the Amish people and the Mennonites the Amish people they are descendants as they say of the old Puritans and they live their own strict life they are mostly farmers they will not send their children to the state schools they are always coming in conflict with the law they will not have electricity on their farms they will not move from the old fashioned way of living and there have been cases where the government have found rich deposits of minerals on their land and they will take the land the Amish people will not accept the payment they clear off out of the way they want nothing to do with any thing in the world of course they can't agree with them but nevertheless they have quite a number of large settlements together with those people known as the

[72:16] Mennonites and they originate from Holland and they had many settlements in North America just a word in regard to the procedure with funerals in the United States quite different from England the court can immediately be taken from the home or generally from the home and taken to a funeral home embalming is compulsory by law my wife and I had a shock when we went to visit the first friend who died not in my own congregation but in one of the reformed churches we walked into the funeral home and there was a coffin with the man who had died dressed in his best clothes looking absolutely lifelike even with his spectacles on everything just well you can't call it death but that is a general procedure and

[73:32] I had one funeral only and the funeral service in the funeral hall is much like a somewhat condensed preaching service and as I'm standing on the little platform with a lectern in front of me the corpse is open to you at my side and if you would wish to pay your respect to a certain individual who had died then you would find in the paper that the funeral home would be open for two hours in the afternoon and perhaps two or three at night the relatives would be there to receive you you shake hands with a relative you say my sympathy you view the body and you go back home you've done your duty then the mourners after the funeral service the corpse is taken or in a coffin which is crowned and it is put in the hearse very elaborate affair great big motor cars or motor driven hearses and the undertaker and the minister drives in the front there's a flashing blue light on the top similar to what the priest cars have here and all the mourners if not driven in the official cars they will return to their own cars which have been conveniently parked in the vast parking spaces always available in America and there you will just have a little ticket hanging on your steering wheel please switch on your headlights on the roof of the car will be a little flag with a rubber suction disc taking it onto the top of your car you switch on your headlights you follow the leader and the whole procession goes straight to the cemetery straight over the red traffic lights everybody stops and gets placed to the cortege

[75:42] I think it's admirable from that angle and it's nothing to see a mile long cortege all cars with their headlights switched on going to the cemetery then arriving at the cemetery chiefly perhaps because of the excessive snow in the winter but I think it might well be followed in England because of the excessive rain there is always some sort of a covering on the sides where the prevailing wind is and the coverings over the top and it shields you from the bitterly cold wind and also from the rain the body is not lulled into the grave while the minister is there that's done afterwards and again by law there is already in the ground a concrete base concrete giants when the coffin has been lowered then there's a concrete top the earth is filled in and turfed over and we get no nothing no unevenness in the surface of the cemeteries one small hedgestone only is allowed and the cemeteries are kept beautifully now to go to the other side just a word or two about weddings

[77:05] I've only had one I married a couple in their home eight o'clock at night I don't know quite how it originates but not all will have a church service among my own people in the congregation among the young people I had perhaps one who calls himself or herself a strict Baptist and he or she will not go into one of the other churches on principle and they're very sticky and you know on principle over in Grand Rapids and correspondingly the other partner won't come to my church so they get married at home it's a kind of a compromise we don't need any registrar they go through the official registration of course beforehand but the wedding ceremony is frequently at their home now just one or two small points in Grand

[78:11] Rapids the majority of people are of Dutch descent and the city abound in Dutch reformed churches which I may divide into three just plain reformed churches they went modern as we say and the Christian reformed churches they came out from them and they at one time were quite firm opponents of the truth but now both the Christian reformed and the ordinary reformed generally have really fallen back into the world then thirdly there are what we call the Netherlands reformed churches and in those churches you will find quite a number of black people mine has a lot of professions in my own church we are only a very small group as far as I am aware we are the only strict Baptist called in the whole of the

[79:13] United States I believe among some of the Southern Baptists there is some form of rule or order in connection or for admittance to the Lord's table but to be what we call a strict and particular Baptist church as we understand it in England as far as I am aware my own church is the only one in the whole of the United States of America on the one of the sides being known as a strict Baptist church the reformed people they are always very interested very free to know what strict means and of course as our young people are aware strict in particular as we turn ourselves we are believers in strict communion and particular redemption but it's very very difficult for me or anyone else to try to put over these things to the generality of the reformed churches quite a number of sermons by our ministers are read in the

[80:38] Netherlands reformed churches they are very fond of J.C. Philpott and in fact I have put several of the churches not only in Grand Rapids but in Patterson New Jersey I have put them in touch with several sources in England where they can obtain sermons because there are only just one or two ministers who minister in those churches and I feel rather sorry for those ministers because they had to learn English they all came from Holland but there are two or three of them who speak very good English the transition among the Dutch reformed churches from the Dutch language to the English language was very very interesting my eldest deacon tells me that about fifty years ago when they first began to read the Bible in English there was a terrible storm they thought everything had gone wrong and the old Dutch people they just could not understand a Bible in English but of course now we have among those churches there are the younger people who are

[82:06] English and the majority of the churches the majority of the sermons now preached are preached in the English language in those churches it's nothing to get anything from a thousand to fifteen hundred people they're packed out my own church is a very small group I have about 135 to 140 people quite a good congregation in comparison with English standards but nevertheless very very small in comparison with the standards in Grand Rapids we use Gansby's hymnal the same form of service as we hold over here our morning service begins at half past nine I don't know why it's so early but that's the time it always has been maybe to avoid the midday temperature the evening service is seven o'clock on Sundays and eight o'clock during the week we have our two services on Sundays

[83:25] Sunday school and Bible class follows our morning preaching service I take the Bible class personally so I'm in church Sunday morning from half past nine to twelve o'clock and during the week we have our preaching service on Tuesday evening and our prayer meeting on Thursday evening all the preaching services are tape recorded friends I've got to be frank I've seen God's blessing on it none of my members who are sick are deprived from hearing the children we take them either to their homes or to the hospitals and I have been very very touched when I have seen how that a sermon of mine being played over a tape recorder to some sick person who is utterly unable to attend the house of

[84:36] God God has used it for the good of that person's soul I haven't time to go into the details concerning myself but just a brief wording conclusion as you're all aware the Lord himself gave me a remarkable word of direction to go over to that city I did not ask any question when I went the Lord said virtually go and whenever the Lord speaks a word of exhortation he'll always give you a break to walk an obedient way the Lord said go and I went I did not know much about the people I did not know what I was going to I gave up my home

[85:38] I did not know what home I was going to be provided with until the last moment I did not ask any questions friends you never need ask questions when God gives you a word of direction whatsoever he set unto you doing it I shall never forget our journey over the majority of you have read the account which I have printed covering the various details we shall never forget walking into our home they purchased a home for us they could not raise money at the bank because their group was so small in comparison with the hundreds of members in the churches around them they could only vote to seven or eight to begin with because my people are going to rise open as a family to see the unscriptural mess of income sprinkling which is the basis of the reformed church their eyes were open and God brought them out and that was the beginning of the church where I am now and seeing that the membership was so small the banks were unwilling to advance any money for them to buy in my home so they mortgage their own home to purchase me mine friends that's charity perhaps I might mention also that many people both in my own church and around among the home churches they give their tithes to the house of

[87:33] God they give their tents they are willing givers I am a witness to it and as we walk into our homes so I must say we have a luxurious home they asked me whether we would go and say with some friends what we furnished it or whether they would furnish it before we arrived I told them to furnish it befitting two poor children and they did so everything is complete as we walked we just walked into it complete from top to bottom even the kitchen utensils even the fridge chopped up with food all we had to do was to walk in and live but it was a remarkable experience it was a venture of my wife and I away from all we had so near and dear to us over here we ventured into the unknown but God had given me that cause and dear friends

[88:40] I cannot say much if ever the time could come when like poor and Barnabas we may be spared to give an account of all that the Lord has brought by us I may be able to speak more for you then than I can now when we see the unfolding of God's purposes you know we are rather apt to misinterpret those purposes but I see God's blessing upon my ministry friends in true humility God has given me children they have been brought out of nature darkness into the knowledge of the truth I do not like making comparisons but I must say this I have seen over there such a remarkable unfolding of God's purposes and I have seen through attending the ministry a point which I mourn so much over when I was in

[89:45] England do not misunderstand me any minister found in his right place will find God's blessing he can ask God's blessing the Lord never sends a man to what he sends him for a purpose and if God sends a man to a people then you bless that man's ministry to that people my search has just about doubled since I've been there as a gradual building up my first two years were two years of sewing the third year I had quite a bit of weeding and the fourth year I've seen some wonderful fruit oh there's nothing which can be more supporting other than God's blessing in our own soul to my wife and I over there and that is speaking you know our old heartstrings they get torn pretty much at times but there is a support when you see God blessing your own ministry when you can see why he has sent us there we left a loving family when we came over two years ago and also seven weeks ago it is their own wish that we should come they realize the sacrifice we have made and so they make provision for us to come but when we come then they count the days until we return what a job it is when you have a big pool both sides of the

[91:24] Atlantic all our ties by nature over here but many very strong spiritual ties over there it's wonderful to go four thousand miles and find those whom we love in the truth we can only say blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love the fellowship of children minds is like to that above many prayers over here are made to me over there and as hardly a prayer meeting goes by in my church over there but what ministers and churches individuals my own family whose care they follow very closely prayer is made for them all when I want the future holds I do not know but just in conclusion as we pass I will just say this I will commend you to God to God and for the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are saints perhaps I need not make excuses but I am a little sorry that I crowded out the first part of my talk this evening when I might have passed things over and work somewhat more fully on the more solid spiritual matters but remember to be

[92:55] I would know I would be I would could Because my Pod I would know that And you would Perché in God when they to them