■■^^^^ 
 
 FREEDOM 
 
 FROM 
 
 FOND 
 FRIENDS 
 
FREEDOM 
 
 FROM 
 
 FOND FRIENDS 
 
 WRITTEN BY THE FOUNTAIN PEN OF 
 FREEDOM HILL HENRY 
 
 PRINTED AND DRESSED AND PSYCHOLOGISED 
 BY THE FREEDOM HILL FOLKS 
 
 |i 
 
 PRICE TWENTY FIVE CENTS 
 
 WHICH IS TOO MUCH IF YOU DONT READ IT 
 
 AND NOT ENOUGH IF YOU DO 
 
 IIP FREEDOM HILL PRESERY 
 
 WHICH PRINTS BRAIN TICKLERS 
 RFD A BURBANK CALIFORNIA 
 
Copyrighted 1919 by Leroy Henry 
 
To You, Comrade QA^A^J'^-^J^-^^^ fh^U^- 
 
 From the man who knows no better 
 
 7 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 To all suffering humans who are afflicted 
 with fond friends, this booklet is sympa- 
 thetically dedicated by the author, who is 
 vainly trying to free himself and his vie- 
 
FREEDOM 
 
 FROM 
 
 FOND FRIENDS 
 
 I have read a story to the effect that 
 Jesus once in his travels was received into 
 the home of two sisters. One of these sis- 
 ters seems to have made some degree of 
 spiritual progress and had graduated from 
 the slavery of pots and pans and brooms 
 Jind washtubs; but Martha was still in the 
 lower grade and, not understanding Mary, 
 ciomplained to Jesus that she was neg- 
 lected her part of the housework, and 
 even reproachfully asked Jesus to bid her 
 go to work. Martha knew, or thought she 
 knew, what Mary ought to do, and she 
 seemed to think it was her business to see 
 that she did it. And since her own advice 
 or command would not be heeded by the 
 lazy Mary, she thought she would go still 
 further in behalf of her poor sister *s wel- 
 fare and bring in the command of Jesus 
 to reinforce her own. So she said to Jesus: 
 
 ** Don't you care that my sister leave aU 
 the work for me to do? I have had to 
 scald and pick the chicken, dig and wash 
 sweet potatoes, go to the garden and gather 
 
tomatoes and slice them; and I had to dig 
 the Burbank potatoes to bake; and this 
 morning Mary didn't waken Lazarus in 
 time to get in wood before he had to go to 
 Zaccheus' to work, and I have just now 
 come in from the field with a load; and I 
 have yet to make French dressing for the 
 salad; and, dear me! I have to get parsley 
 for the soup, besides some spinach for 
 greens; and the fire doesn't bum well to- 
 day, and there is no telling when the spuds 
 will get done. I do believe, Jesus, if it 
 were not for me, you and Mary would 
 starve to death. Heaven knows I am doing 
 all I can to make you comfortable, while 
 Mary, since grinding the com and gather- 
 ing some figs, has done nothing but sit there 
 at your feet and listen to talk that nobody 
 can understand. I don't know what will 
 ever become of that girl. You bid her 
 therefore, that she help me." 
 
 But the Lord answered and said unto her, 
 ** Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and 
 troubled about many things." 
 
 Mary has gone to Heaven. But Martha 
 is still living. I see her nearly every day. 
 And I sometimes see her when I look into 
 the looking-glass. The reprimand, **0 ye 
 of little faith, ' ' strikes many of us. 
 
 If you will pardon me, a sinner, for 
 quoting so much scripture at you, I will 
 feel relieved and will proceed with my 
 story. 
 
If we could get over tliis grinding, con- 
 Burning anxiety about our friends, that is 
 sapping our lives away — that makes this 
 world at times a wilderness of woe, wc 
 would then — well, the cliange would he so 
 great that I will not attempt to describe it. 
 
 The most of us think we get along pretty 
 well with ourselves. We keep ourselves 
 about straight. But we have much trou- 
 ble and effort and worry about keeping 
 others straight. We send money and re- 
 ligion to the poor naked heathen. We are 
 so interested in the ailairs of our neigh- 
 bors. We are much concerned that our 
 relatives should be a credit to us and shine 
 and show off. And our dear friends must, 
 if we can possibly bring it about, advance 
 in every way according to our ideas of ad- 
 vancement. We are so conceited that we 
 presume to know, not only what we need, 
 but also what others need. George D. 
 Herron said, **No man is wise enough to 
 govern any other man.*' But we presume 
 to know and we give advice and urge its 
 acceptance; and the more we love our 
 friends the more we annoy them with our 
 advice. And the more we advise them 
 and urge them to take our advice, the 
 poorer chance they have of doing what they 
 ought to do. 
 
 For people who have learned that it al- 
 ways pays to do right, I think the greatest 
 help or condition for their growth is free- 
 dom. 
 
If we voluntarily clioose a course of 
 conduct and follow it, we will gain culture 
 whether the immediate result be pleasant 
 or unpleasant. But if we blindly follow ad- 
 vice, we gain but little if any culture, how- 
 ever pleasant the immediate result may be. 
 
 Because we meet with suffering, does not 
 mean we have made a mistake. We have to 
 have experience in order to learn. We 
 can not always avoid bumping our shins 
 and stumping our toes in the race of life. 
 And a fond friend who v/ould prevent it 
 would keep us in the cradle till we died. 
 
 If we could rest assured that our friends, 
 all of them, including the meanest ones, 
 were in the stream of evolution, moving on- 
 ward toward the goal and sure to get there, 
 we would have less trouble and worry con- 
 cerning them. I have seen mothers suffer 
 for fear their children would starve be- 
 cause they would not eat the amount and 
 kind of food prepared for them and just 
 when it was prepared. Every animal has 
 enough sense to eat when in need. Hasn't 
 a child as much sense as other animals? Is 
 not Nature the mother of all and caring 
 for all? May we not by our well in- 
 tentioned advice hinder instead of help? 
 Perhaps each one should think and act 
 for himself, and it may not be our duty to 
 think for and direct another. If we want 
 to show people how wise we are, we should 
 be silent. Whenever we open our advising 
 mouth, we show our ignorant tongue. 
 
Let me here make a distinction between 
 advice and suggestion. It may be well to 
 suggest to another a course of action. If 
 the suggestion appeals to him he will ac- 
 cept it. If it does not appeal to him he 
 should not accept it. After he hears our 
 suggestion we should let him decide for 
 himself without trying to persuade him. 
 We leave him free to use his own judgment, 
 which is quite different from his following 
 our suggestion without knowing or feeling 
 a reason for it. 
 
 Or we may give a friend information on 
 a subject concerning which he has to make 
 a decision. By getting more information 
 he will be able to make a better decision. 
 
 It will be good for our peace and happi- 
 ness if we learn to attend to our own busi- 
 ness and let others attend to theirs. If 
 we would relieve ourselves of the burden 
 of keeping our friends in the straight and 
 narrow way, according to our ideas, we 
 could walk this earth with lighter tread. 
 
 We are not fit to give advice to an- 
 other unless we could put ourselves in his 
 place. Since we can not possess the na- 
 ture of another, his knowledge and his ig- 
 norance, we can not put ourselves in his 
 place, and so we had better let him make 
 his own decisions. 
 
 Once upon a time a farmer lost his mule 
 and could not find it. His neighbor told 
 him the way to find a lost mule was to go 
 where the mule was last seen. Imagine him- 
 
self a miQe, and go where he felt like go- 
 ing, and he would go right to the mule. 
 The plan was theoretically correct if not 
 practical. A man might put himself in the 
 physical place a mule was last seen. But 
 it would be very difficult for you or me to 
 put ourselves in the place of a mule men- 
 tally, morally, spiritually. It might not be 
 so difficult for some people. 
 
 Since we do not know what seeds anotner 
 has sown, we do not know what harvest he 
 should reap, what experiences he needs. 
 Let your friend marry that drunkard if 
 she wants to. She needs all the experi- 
 ences she will come up against. Is your 
 friend sowing his wild oats? Let him sow. 
 As he sows, so shall he reap, and his har- 
 vest will teach him valuable lessons — wiU 
 teach him to sow tame oats instead of wild 
 ones. 
 
 I once had a dear lady friend who would 
 have married me if I had advised her to. 
 I kept quiet and she married another man. 
 Just think what the other man would have 
 missed if I had put in my advice — ^to say 
 nothing of the trouble I have missed! 
 
 In solving our arithmetic problems, we 
 gain mental culture, whether we get the 
 right answers or not. It is not our duty 
 to get the right answer. It is our duty to 
 try to get the right answer; and we are 
 as much benefited in getting the wrong 
 answer as the right one. The wise teacher 
 encourages the pupils to try to solve the 
 
problems themselves. If a school boy had 
 all his problems solved for him, he would 
 never learn arithmetic. 
 
 And so it is in life. If we are simply 
 puppets, automatons, acting at the will of 
 another, we can not grow. Our friend who 
 advises us may grow because he thinks and 
 originates and tries to carry out his plans 
 on us. But we remain like a house built 
 upon the sand. And when trials and temp- 
 tations and difficulties come we are not 
 able to stand. 
 
 Vivekananda says the world is a gymna^ 
 sdum. Our life activities, the ordinary 
 ones as well as the extraordinary ones, 
 are the exercises we take in tliis gynma^ 
 slum to develop moral muscle and mental 
 sinews. If we would gain strength in this 
 great gymnasium we must use its appa- 
 ratus. We must engage in the activities of 
 life. If we move only at the advice of our 
 friends, they will get the development and 
 we will get left. Making decisions as to 
 what to do and how to do it is an import- 
 ant exercise in this gymnasium. If we let 
 our fond friends do that for us, our char- 
 acter muscles will wither away. 
 
 Let us roll up our sleeves and pitch in. 
 We axe sure to gain. We can't lose. We 
 may not do as well as Bill Jones or Amanda 
 Smith. But if we let them do for us, it 
 will not do us any good. Be yourself what- 
 ever that self is. It is better to be a poor 
 somebody than a good nobody. 
 
If your friend comes to you and asks for 
 advice, give it to him. When he grows 
 wiser he will know better than to ask for 
 advice. The scripture says, **He that 
 asketh, receiveth." But most people re- 
 ceive advice before they ask for it, which 
 is contrary to the scripture plan. 
 
 Let me quote some more scripture to 
 you. I learned this so long ago that I have 
 forgotten the book and chapter. But I 
 think it was in the shorter catechism. Or 
 maybe in Noah Webster's spelling book: 
 
 * 'And it came to pass that a certain good 
 man went out to walk, taking with him his 
 son and his donkey. And as they walked 
 along they met a fond friend, who said 
 unto the good man, *Why do you not let 
 the little boy ride on the donkey's back?' 
 And the man, being good and desiring to 
 please his fond friend, answered, *So be 
 it.' And he placed the lad on the don- 
 key's back. 
 
 **Soon they met another friend who said 
 unto the good man, *My dear friend, why 
 do you walk and let the boy ride? You are 
 old and feeble and the lad could walk with 
 pleasure. I advise you to exchange places 
 with him. And the man, being good and 
 fearing to displease his fond friend, an- 
 swered, *As thou sayest.' 
 
 "Again they met another fond friend, 
 who was greatly surprised at the good 
 man's conduct, and said, *My dear friend, 
 why do you, a big man, ride that little 
 
donkey? Instead of compelling the donkey 
 to carry you, you ought to carry him.' 
 And the good man, wishing to please every- 
 body but himself, answered and said, 
 * Thank you, good friend; it shall be as you 
 say.* And so the man took the donkey 
 on his shoulder and moved on. But the 
 donkey was heavy and awkward to carry. 
 As they crossed the river on the foot-log, 
 the donkey kicked and squirmed, the lad 
 attempted to help, but the good man lost 
 his balance and all three fell into the river 
 and were wetted." 
 
 The medicine that cured your aunt Susan 
 of rheumatism might not cure your niece, 
 so don't insist on her taking it. 
 
 Your nose just fits your face, but it 
 wouldn't fit mine. 
 
 Your religion is just the thing for you, 
 but it is not best for everybody; so don't 
 try to convert everybody to it. Most other 
 people have religions that just suit them. 
 
 The book that did you so much good 
 might not do me any good. We may be in 
 different stages of our development. 
 
 The brickmason wants brick and mortar. 
 The carpenter doesn't. 
 
 Four classes of people are especially mis- 
 treated by having their liberties and rights 
 denied them: (1) patients in hospitals, 
 (2) inmates of insane asylums, (3) in- 
 mates of jails, and (4) our dear loved ones. 
 
 Many a man is jailed in his own loving 
 household. Many a woman is imprisoned in 
 
the heaxts of her friends. Many a baby is 
 bound in swaddling clothes. Many a child 
 tries to break out of his prison wall of 
 dont's. Webster made a big mistake when 
 he coined the word ** don't." It ought to 
 be taken out of the dictionary. It is a 
 great hindrance to a child's normal devel> 
 cpment. 
 
 We are so afraid our friends and rela- 
 tives will go wrong and bring discredit on 
 us. They might injure the family reputa- 
 tion. 
 
 Reputations are like children's expen- 
 sive clothing — too costly for growing peo- 
 ple to have, deputations, tailor-made and 
 guaranteed to fit, prevent any expansion 
 until the annual shedding time comes. Bich 
 people can afford diamonds and dog par- 
 ties and reputations; but poor folks should 
 be content with moonstones, children's par- 
 ties and characters. Characters are very 
 good substitutes for reputations. 
 
 I used to have a good reputation back in 
 Indiana. But when I came west I left it 
 behind. It was too much trouble to move 
 it around and pay freight on it. And if I 
 should be so unfortunate as to acquire an- 
 other gilt-edge reputation, I would lock it 
 up in a bank vault for safe-keeping while 
 I went out and had a good time doing just 
 as I pleased. 
 
 Let us set our friends free and give them 
 a chance to grow. Behold the lilies of the 
 field! They have no human friends to ad- 
 
vise them how to grow, nor to open their 
 petals for them nor to fold their petals at 
 night. Yet the bride in all her beauty is 
 not arrayed lika one of these. And again, 
 behold the birds of the air! They go 
 where and when they please, seeking no ad- 
 vice from wise heads. They have no fond 
 friends to advise them when and where to 
 build their nests, nor what brand of baby 
 food to feed their young; and yet, the 
 Heavenly Father careth for them. If He 
 so clothe the grass of the field and care for 
 the birds of the air, will He not much 
 more care for your friends? 
 
 I do not mean that we should not associ- 
 ate with people, nor take an interest in 
 them. But let us associate as comrades, as 
 chums, as equals, and not as rulers and 
 ruled, not as bosses and obedients, not as 
 advisers and advisees. When we liberate 
 our much-advised friends and associate 
 with them as equals, then the association 
 will be helpful to both parties. 
 
 I have a friend who thinks a great deal 
 of me, and when we are together, which, 
 luckily, is not often, talks constantly to 
 me, trying to do me good. I told Mm once 
 I didn't want him to do me good; that I 
 preferred to remain mean. One day after 
 he had talked to me for five hours, giving 
 me the value of his experiences, introducing 
 to me books and papers that he thought 
 I needed to read and compelling me to walk 
 with him a mile and a half on his way to 
 
an appointment, said, **I haven't time to 
 say anything more to you. If you have 
 anything to say to me, say it quick. ' ' And 
 I told him he had better hurry along so he 
 wouldn't miss his appointment. But se- 
 cretly I wished he would miss it as a pun- 
 ishment for his having punished me five 
 hours with his benevolent tongue. I can 
 appreciate Thoreau's statement, that if 
 he knew a man was coming to him for the 
 express purpose of doing him good, he 
 would flee from him as from the smallpox. 
 
 Let me tell you a secret that you ought 
 to know. Your fond friends are trying to 
 enslave you. Occasionally one tries to com- 
 pell you by physical force. Others try to 
 argue you into their way. When you meet 
 a stranger he is kind enough to let you do 
 as you please. But if he becomes your 
 friend, then he wants to boss you. He tries 
 to missionize you into doing as he thinks 
 you ought to do. Strangers are much 
 kinder to you. They are willing for you 
 to go to hell or anywhere else you please. 
 And if you are allowed to go where you 
 please, you will get where you ought to go. 
 
 It is safe, as Jesus said, to forgive your 
 enemies, but look out for your friends. 
 They will rob you of your liberty and initi- 
 ative and make parrots or monkeys of you. 
 It is better for us to remain donkeys with 
 definite characters of our own than to be- 
 come monkeys or parrots. 
 
I knew a couple of friends wlio got along 
 very nicely before they were married, be- 
 cause each one let the other do as he 
 pleased. But after, one tried to make the 
 other obedient, and the other didn't want 
 to be obedient. It is not good to enslave 
 nor to be enslaved. 
 
 If we want to help our friends, let us 
 help them in the way they want to be 
 helped. They know what they want and 
 they need what they want, even if it is 
 only to teach them that they don't need it. 
 
 The right step for any one to take is 
 the next step from where he is. We don't 
 know just where any one is, but ourselves, 
 and therefore we are not capable advisers. 
 Let your friend make his own decisions and 
 plans. And if you like you may help him 
 carry them out. But do not try to decide 
 whether his plans are right or wrong. 
 They are right for him. We can not judge 
 right and wrong for another. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln gave freedom to four 
 million negroes from their slave owners. 
 Who will give us freedom from our fond 
 friends? Who will sign the emancipation 
 proclamation that will free twenty mil- 
 lion white slaves from their advising, dom- 
 ineering friends? 
 
 Lincolns are scarce. So I suppose each 
 
 of us will have to free himself; and then 
 
 I when we become wise enough we will give 
 
 freedom to our own slaves. How shall we 
 
 r — 
 
Inate iis, let us remember that they mean 
 well, poor ignorant souls! They remind me 
 if a two-ye2.r-old child trying to help its 
 mamma carry a heavy market basket. They 
 do not realize that they hinder more than 
 they help. It seems a pity to deprive them 
 of the pleasure they get out of it. If we 
 take their advice, they enjoy the delusion 
 that they have done us much good. And 
 even if we don't take it, we should not 
 forget how pleasant it is for them to tell us 
 later, *'I told you so.'* 
 
 I am not surprised that so many people 
 should hold up their hands and surrender 
 to their fond friends and say, in actions, 
 **I surrender. I haven't the backbone to 
 withstand you. I become nothing before 
 you. I will follow your advice as long as 
 you are around, and after you are gone I 
 will probably surrender to the next friend 
 who levels his advice gun at me." 
 
 I would like to insert here an advertise- 
 ment of some osteopath who could stiffen 
 weak backbones. 
 
 It is so easy to take advise. It is the, 
 lazy man's relief. It relieves him of the 
 necessity of thinking; and it is so hard to 
 think. Nature, in order to compel us to 
 think, punishes us severely for not think- 
 ing effectively. Every wild carnivorous 
 animal has to wear its thinking cap night 
 and day in order to capture its food and not 
 be captured. Thus nature trains her chil- 
 dren to be smart. In civilized life, it is 
 
so easy to get a job where we will bei told 
 what and how to do and thus earn an easy 
 living, quit effective thinking and cease 
 to grow. 
 
 We sometimes follow our friend's advice 
 because we don't want to hurt his feel- 
 ings. But we, and not our friends, have to 
 suffer the consequences of our actions. It 
 is a law of nature that we have to suffer 
 the consequences of advice that we take. 
 
 Do what you think is right and not what 
 somebody else things is right. You degrade 
 yourself and enslave yourself in obeying 
 somebody else. Maintain your freedom. 
 And don't enslave any one else. You in- 
 jure yourself in holding any one in slavery, 
 to mind you. Who are you that you should 
 demand obedience of a human soul and 
 thus retard his growth? 
 
 There is but one master, the higher self 
 of each. Your ma.ster is within you. And 
 your friend's master is within him. Don'^ 
 put yourself in him to rule him; and don't 
 let him put himself in you to rule you. 
 
 May the Lord give us enough courage to 
 live our own lives and not give a dum 
 what other folks think. A school boy was 
 asked to define a philosopher, and he said, 
 **A philosopher is a man that doesn't give 
 a dum." When we become wiser and ac- 
 quire more courage we will live our own 
 lives, take our own advice and not give a 
 durn what our frier'^s p.iid Mrs. Grundy 
 says about it. 
 
I have gone up one side and down tlie 
 other of this question; I have walked all 
 around it and looked at it from different 
 viewpoints, and it seems to me that our 
 worst enemies are not the ones who swear 
 at us and tell us of our faults, but our 
 worst enemies are our advising friends. 
 Let us build an impenetrable wall about us 
 that our friends' well-meant advice can not 
 penetrate. Let us grease ourselves with 
 advice-proof oil. Let us be ourselves and 
 live our own lives, however imperfect ous 
 lives may be. All our mistakes will turn 
 out for our good. Our misfortunes will be 
 fortunate for us, and every event, good or 
 bad, painful or pleasant, will help us for- 
 ward in our progress toward the goal. 
 
 I suspect that most of our efforts to help 
 our friends get along ,and our efforts to 
 help the Lord run this old world, are about 
 as effective as the help given by a certain 
 good man in the story of *'The Water 
 Wheel.*' This story I read in a Sunday 
 school paper. You may ask, **Can any 
 good come out of a Sunday school paper?" 
 This story is an exception. It contained 
 four per cent of the radium extract of 
 mind-your-own-business, salted to taste, but 
 heavily diluted. I boiled it down to one- 
 third the original bulk, canned it up, and 
 now after fifteen years I open the can and 
 give you a taste. It is good medicine for 
 those of us who haven't enough faith in 
 the Lord's aT^ility to run this world, and 
 
who want to lielp along by giving advice 
 and doing other things unnecessary and 
 possibly injurious. 
 
 THE WATER WHEEL 
 
 Once upon a time there lived a man in an 
 inland prairie town. He was good, sympa- 
 thetic, loved everybody very much and him- 
 self a little. He had lived there from birth 
 and had never seen a river, not even a 
 brook. He said to himself one day, * *I will 
 travel to give me polish and education.** 
 So he took leave of his people and set forth. 
 
 And one day it came about that he saw 
 before him a line of green willow trees 
 whose branches hung low and dipped into 
 a river. The traveler was much pleased, 
 and as he approached the stream he saw 
 a low, plain building from which came 
 much noise and clatter. It was a mill, still 
 running, but whose owner had recently 
 been kiUed. Inside were large wheels and 
 little wheels, cog wheels and fly wheels, 
 shafts, belts and pulleys. There were bins 
 and barrels and boxes, but they were aU 
 empty. And the grinding burs went round 
 and round, night and day, but ground noth- 
 ing. 
 
 The traveler had never before seen a 
 mill, and he said, **I wonder why the 
 wheels go round! I wonder what they are 
 doing!*' And being a shrewd man, he in- 
 vestigated and then said, **It takes all 
 these wheels to turn that big stick in the 
 
middle, and I see it goes out through the 
 waU/' 
 
 He looked out at one of the windows and 
 saw the river. He said, **This is water, 
 bless me! My, what a lot of it! And it is 
 all moving, too. This must he a river. I 
 wonder what makes it move. ' * He saw the 
 large wheel that hung in the water from 
 the main shaft, and said, * 'Now I see what 
 makes the water move. The wheels inside 
 turn the big shaft and it turns the wheel in 
 the water and that makes the water in the 
 river go. Yes, I understand it all now. I 
 never knew before that it took so many 
 wheels to run a river.* > 
 
 Having now satisfied himself with this 
 new discovery of his travels, he turned to 
 go, when a sudden idea came into his head 
 as by inspiration. **What if this wonder- 
 ful machinery should stop and the river 
 cease flowing! What a terrible thing that 
 would be, for I have heard that rivers are 
 very useful to mankind.** Just then the 
 machinery did slacken because a floating 
 branch touched the water-wheel. But he 
 saw not the branch. He exclaimed, *' There! 
 I do believe it is stopping now. How for- 
 tunate that I came! It was surely an act 
 of Providence that I was sent here at this 
 time to keep the machinery going that the 
 river might not stop.'* And immediately 
 he seized the large belt and pulled vigor- 
 ously. He continued to pull and the wheels 
 continued to turn and the river continued 
 
to flow. 
 
 It was hard work and he became very 
 tired. But just before he was completely 
 exhausted some of his friends entered the 
 door. They, too, had decided to travel and 
 had followed the footsteps of our hero. 
 When the situation was explained to them 
 and they understood how important it was 
 to keep the wheels going that the river 
 might not stop, they took hold in good will 
 and by turns they pulled the belt, kept the 
 wheels going and prevented the river from 
 stopping. 
 
 The work was kept up and in the course 
 of years it came time for our hero to die. 
 As the end approached there stood about 
 him all the friends who had helped him in 
 his great enterprise of running the river 
 and keeping up its flow. They praised his 
 noble work and recited how well he had or- 
 ganized the workmen and how effectively 
 his wisdom and goodness had kept the river 
 flowing. His face was very grave, but his 
 heart was full of joy because he had done 
 his duty. 
 
 And as he lay there dying he heard the 
 wheels clattering and the river murmuring, 
 and he gazed about upon his people and 
 said, **Dear friends, the time has come for 
 me to go. .1 die in peace for my work is 
 accomplished. The river runs and will 
 continue to run as long as you are faith- 
 ful to your duty. Farewell! My friends, 
 farewell I* * 
 
Am I doing my part in pulling the Tjolt, 
 and giving advice and keeping the world 
 going as I think it ought to go? 
 
 Are you? 
 
 Or have I learned to let the Lord run the 
 rivers himself while I hold my mouth shut 
 about my neighbor's faults, and keep my 
 hands off his doings, and let him have the 
 experiences he needs to teach him what he 
 ought to know? 
 
 If I would keep my own face clean, and 
 my own hair combed, and my own mind 
 straight, and let my heathen neighbors 
 alone, I suspect the Lord would have an 
 easier time running the rest of the world. 
 
 What do you think? 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
 As I can find time I shall print a series 
 of booklets dealing with Life and Free- 
 dom and Happiness as I have experienced 
 them. I am still living. Beally. 
 
 These are already printed: 
 
 "Freedom Hill, the Place of Evergreen 
 Happiness.'* Tells how to be happy tho' 
 miserable. 
 
 ** Freedom From Fond Friends." How 
 to vaccinate against them. 
 
The others to be printed, one every 
 month or so: 
 
 ** Henry's Glass Eye Story.'* Gives my 
 experience with doctors, healing friends 
 and enjoying sickness.'* 
 
 **My Conceit Machine.*' Cures enlarge- 
 ment of self-esteem. 
 
 ** Falling in Love Again and Again.** 
 Contains the germ of love sickness and 
 how not to cure it. 
 
 **The Divinity of the Devil.** Guaran- 
 teed to cure devilishness. 
 
 ** Usefulness of Useless Husbands.*' 
 Cures grass widows* sorrows. 
 
 ** Christian Science Soothing Syrup." 
 Beats Mrs. Winslow's soothing syrup. 
 
 **How to Take People Without Getting 
 Hurt." Better than Sloan's liniment. 
 
 Price twenty-five cents a dose. And if 
 you don't find them good medicine for 
 what ails you, send them back and I will 
 return your cents, accompanied with a 
 prayer that your eyes might be opened to 
 see the beauty of ugliness, the goodness of 
 meanness, the divinity of the devil. 
 
 FREEDOM HILL HENRY, 
 Burbanlc, Calif. 
 
 (^<^ 
 
THE CHIEF CRANK 
 OF FREEDOM HILL 
 
 By Guy Bogart 
 
 Utopia flourishes on Freedom Hill. Hap- 
 piness has been found amid the eucalyptus 
 groves and budding fruit trees planted and 
 cared fcr by the hand of Dr. Leroy Henry. 
 Spiritual heights and spiritual flights are 
 tiie rule on Freedom Hill, situated in the 
 iocihills by easy stage trip from Los An- 
 geles. He has gone fr.r in the pathway of 
 lealizaticn and his little ranch is one of 
 txie important focusing points of Southern 
 California spiritual life. 
 
 Dr Henry is an M. D., with a thorough 
 understanding of massage, osteopathy, chi- 
 ropractic, psycho-therapy and other lines of 
 mauling, coaxing and wheedling the human 
 form divine into claiming a little more of 
 its divinity. 
 
 Each summer Dr. Henry holds a clinic 
 at his ranch, exracts gloom and fear from 
 you free of charge, injects a mixture of 
 sunshine and optimism during the day, and 
 sends you to bed to gaze up into the twink- 
 ling eyes of the night after the sun dips 
 behind the mountain ranges. Not, how- 
 ever, until after all have spent a few hours 
 arcund a blazing campfire. 
 
 When letters pour into the abiding place 
 the ** Chief Crank" too fast, he just 
 Tints a little edition of ''THE CRANK, 
 an eccentric Freedom Hill magazine for 
 unusual people. ' ' 
 
 During the mellowing years of usefulness 
 
 
Dr. Henry has learned to live Ms pMlos- 
 opliy; to extract Ms idealism from tlie 
 clouds and make it over into a suit of over- 
 alls to wear down here on earth. And, "best 
 of all, being Hoosier, he possesses the gift 
 of the fairy pen that can translate thought 
 into literature as well as into action. 
 
 Speaking of writing — as the months have 
 grown into years, there has also grown a 
 pile of manuscripts that Dr. Henry reads 
 occasionally in Ms conventions and to se- 
 lect groups who happen to be fortunate 
 enough to gather at his feet occasionally. 
 Some of these essays and sketches he is 
 now issuing in a series of two-bit doses of 
 enlightenment. 
 
 The first, "Freedom Hill, the Place of 
 Evergreen Happiness,*' gives directions 
 ** how to be happy though miserable." I 
 know that this is one of the finest and 
 most wholesome bits of pMlosophy you will 
 find anywhere. I know Ms life and his 
 philosophy in general and anything bearing 
 the Freedom Hill Henry imprint has my 
 endorsement *' sight unseen.'* 
 
 Others are: "Freedom From Fond 
 Friends," tells how to vaccinate against 
 them. 
 
 "Henry's Glass Eye Story," gives Ms 
 experience with doctors, healing friends, 
 and enjoying sickness. 
 
 "The Divimty of the Devil," guaran- 
 teed to cure devilishness. Will be ready 
 June 1. 
 
 Among the booklets to follow as he can 
 find time to print them are: 
 
 "Usefulness of Useless Husbands," 
 wMch he claims will cure grass widows' 
 
sorrows. 
 
 "My Conceit Machine." Cures enlarge- 
 ment of self-esteem. 
 
 ''Falling in Love Again and Again,** 
 contains the germ of love sickness, and 
 how not to cure it. 
 
 ''Christian Science Soothing Syrup.** 
 
 "A Crazy Crank," claims to be an 
 honest confession. 
 
 1 have heard Comrade Henry read several 
 of these essays. They contain a blend of 
 common sense, mysticism, stingless but ef- 
 fective humor and a good-natured con- 
 structive program of reconstruction. 
 
 Done into twenty-five cent doses and 
 dispensed from the home laboratories, 
 Route A, Burbank, Cal. 
 
 WHAT THE READERS SAY 
 
 These little books are the sort of mis- 
 sionaries I like to send out, since they have 
 caused me to laugh until I've had to hunt 
 a * kerchief to get the tears off my glasses. 
 And the joy is I shall have the laugh all 
 over again when Mr. Shiek gets back and 
 I can read them all to him. 
 
 HARRIET L. SHIEK. 
 
 Freedom Hill **. 
 
 It is a humorous homiletical hummer. I 
 shall keep my copy circulating. 
 
 D. EDSON SMITH. 
 
 Needless to state I*ve enjoyed reading, 
 *' Freedom Hill.** It*s O. K., a regular 
 literary plum pudding and there ain't no 
 mental indigestion in it, by ginger! 
 
 IDA DIANA EKBERG. 
 
To every one who has come in the 
 house I have read from it and we have 
 had a hearty laugh. It is certainly refresh- 
 ing. Not since Bruce Calvert's cheerful 
 little magazine, "The Open Road," have 
 I read anything so free and refreshing. 
 MAHY BREMERTON DE WITT. 
 
 of ** Glass Eye Story '\ 
 
 Have just received and read your * 'Glass 
 
 Eye Story." It contains many good things 
 
 and by its own odd vision helps us to see 
 
 the things in this world that also are oda. 
 
 GEORGE WHARTON JAMES. 
 
 Wife and I enjoyed it immensely. The 
 allusion to the many kind and solicitous 
 friends, who are so chuck full of informa- 
 tion as to the best remedies, etc., struck 
 our mutual "funny bone" because it is 
 so true to nature, and we laughed until 
 the tears rolled down our cheeks. 
 
 HIRAivI A. GRAVES. 
 
 Your "Glass Eye Story" I can measure 
 out praise to in unstinted terms. It is a 
 masterpiece. Never have I read anywhere 
 sweeter satire or wittier wisdom. It de- 
 serves to be a classic, and, if the race 
 once gets hold of it, I do not think will 
 ever be forgotten. This booklet is your- 
 self from cover to cover, words, ideas, 
 mannerisms, everything — utterly original 
 and only you could have done it. It is 
 born right out of your own experience, 
 your own heart, your own brain. 
 
 J. WM. LLOYD. 
 
416115 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY