Campaign for Christ (2)

Campaign for Christ (2)

At the end of the campaign some of the workers remained for a day or so of recreation.  Many of them had never been to Niagara Falls.  Niagara Falls was less than two hours away, so when visitors came, we would often drive up to the Peace Bride, cross into Canada and drive along the shore of the Niagara River until we reached the Horseshoe Falls.  We never ceased to be amazed at the spectacle of the Falls.  It looked different to us every time we saw it.  Our trips usually included a visit to the Niagara Gorge and to the horticulture school which is near the gorge. After we had done the tourist things, many of our group wanted to shop, but after a while, Ann went to the car with Elliott, and decided to wait until the rest of us came back.  Both of them were both pretty tired by this time.  They sat on a bench in the park, and Ann watched as Elliott as played.  Hundreds of people were walking by.  Suddenly Elliott stepped out and went into a sort of crouch that he had seen Truman Spring do during his sermons, and in his best sermonic style, he said, “I tell you, you’ve got to repent.”  Ann made herself invisible of course.

On previous trips we had stopped by a store that sold English bone china.  If you took less than a hundred dollars worth of stuff back into the states on any one visit you didn’t have to pay duty on it.  Because Canada is a part of the British Commonwealth, the china sold for a fraction of what it would have cost in the states.  Ann had seen a pattern that she liked, and we had picked up a piece or two.  

Before we set out for Niagara Falls, Ann found an envelope on our dresser.  It was a love gift from the people who stayed at our house during the campaign.  She had talked about the china, and they wanted her to be able to purchase some of the pieces on our trip to the Falls. She managed to pick up eight full place settings while we were in Canada, and the whole thing cost less than a hundred dollars.  It would probably cost ten times that much if you bought it in the states at today’s prices.  We were able to pick up things like tea pitchers and other serving pieces later on.  By the time we left New York, we had a full set of china, which we still have today.