In May 31, 1899, two traveling salesmen came up with the notion of putting a Bible in every hotel room. When John Nicholson and S.E. Hill crossed paths in Beaver Dam that night, they reflected on the fate of salesmen spending long days on the road and lonely nights in strange beds. Faced in every city with barrooms and worse temptations, they vowed to "surround the arch enemy of our souls and give him a black eye."

So with a hearty zeal and a regrettable fondness for clich s, they decided to "get right at it. Start the ball rolling and follow it up." They held their first meeting on July 1 in Janesville and soon had a Bible in every hotel room, with specific passages recommended to their era's equivalent of jet-lagged businessmen.

Three decades later, a survey of hotels discovered that many of these volumes were being used simply to prop up windows on hot summer nights, or to steady a wobbly bed frame. But many others showed well-thumbed pages and worn bindings, and in one Milwaukee hotel a battered copy bore the poignant inscription, "God bless my mother, who is so far away. R.S."

The Gideons are still alive and well, handing out more than 60 million Bibles each year. Given the much- publicized ethical lapses of CEOs, one might even wish their founders' vision had been more successful. And given how America has changed, they might consider giving away the occasional Koran, Torah, or Dhammapada, too.

- Wisconsin Historical Society
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org

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