1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



165 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root. 



Of such is the kingdom of heaven.— MATT. 19 : 14. 



Some years ago when potatoes (instead of 

 "chickens") was my hobby I got a letter 

 from a man in Northern Michigan who was 

 not only a potato-grower but a great genius 

 for growing almost every thing; and just then 

 he was preparing to start melons in straw- 

 berry-boxes under glass, to be planted in the 

 open ground later. I found out he was, by 

 accident as it seemed, within about a mile of 

 some land up there that I had owned for 

 some years. Further correspondence re- 

 sulted in a visit to the home of James Hilbert, 

 of Bingham, LeIanau Co., Mich. I can't tell 

 you now of the many things we had to look 

 at and talk over; but along toward dinner- 

 time Mrs. Hilbert said to one of the little 

 girls, " Alice, could you dig some potatoes for 

 dinner?" and as I took a look at the shy, 

 slender little daughter of hardly a dozen 

 years, I ventured: 



" Alice, can't / go along and help?" 



Her reply was hardly audible; but she gave 

 me such a shy, sweet, childish smile I knew 

 she was pleased, even if she did not say so. 

 Then and there commenced one of the pleas- 

 antest friendships of my life. The potatoes 

 were out near the barn where friend H. had 

 been doing some "high-pressure" garden- 

 ing, and I almost went wild with enthusiasm 

 when Alice skillfully threw out twenty or 

 more nice potatoes from a single hill. When 

 her mother thought such a child could dig 

 potatoes for dinner I was surprised, and it 

 would have been a task on our average Ohio 

 soil; but in that heavily manured, soft sandy 

 soil, with a light shiny potato-hook, it was no 

 task at all, even for a little girl. Alice was 

 not only skillful, but she could tell me (who 

 had published 3i potato- book) a lot about po- 

 tato-growing in that region. 



After Alice and I had become so well ac- 

 quainted that she could talk to me freely, I 

 found she had been reading my Home papers 

 long before she ever saw me. There was a 

 simple, honest frankness and innocence in 

 her make-up that I think I had never seen be- 

 fore or since. Once on our way to Sunday- 

 school she said, "Mr. Root, I loved you before 

 I ever saw you." About that time, or later, 

 she said also, "Mr. Root, I want to be a 

 Christian, and I want you to be my teacher, 

 and to show me how. ' ' Was not that a sacred 

 and solemn responsibility placed on my weak 

 shoulders? I told her I would gladly help all 

 I could, and she used to tell me of her trou- 

 bles in school, and ask me if she did right in 

 her way of settling them, etc. Her father 

 gave me an illustration of her loving and for- 

 giving disposition. He said that, from a 

 child up, when he felt obliged to punish her 

 for some little thing she would come to him 

 before the tears were dried on her little 

 cheeks and say, "Papa, I love you." She 

 evidently wished to have him understand 

 that her faith and confidence in him were so 



great she felt sure he would never correct 

 her unless she deserved it, and that it was 

 for her greatest good. Can we of mature 

 age bhow this confidence and trust in our 

 heavenly Father when we are chastised? 



If I am correctly informed, Alice was bap- 

 tized and taken into that Bingham church 

 amid the hills, alone by herself; and before 

 the revival I told you about some years ago. 

 1 think she told me also on one communion 

 day that she, the mere child, was the only 

 one in the whole audience who would par- 

 take. I presume the older Christians, from 

 some mistaken notion, considered themselves 

 "too unworthy." 



Dear friends, my heart is full of sadness 

 and sorrow to-day, for our yesterday's mail 

 informed us that my gentle friend Alice is 

 dead, and buried in that Bmgham cemetery 

 on the snow-capped hill near that little 

 church. She wrote us last summer that the 

 doctors told her she had an incurable dis- 

 ease, and that her stay in the world was not 

 to be long. She said ttie Savior I taught her 

 to trust in and love was ready to receive her, 

 and she was ready to go, but that she dislik- 

 ed to leave her two motherless little girls. I 

 wrote back to her to cheer up; that I would 

 be up there soon, and may be we could per- 

 suade her to stay with her hu<=band and the 

 two little girls in spite of the prediction of 

 the doctors. I wrote her something like 

 this: 



Dear Friend Alice:— YoM have paid me a great com- 

 pliment by saying I have taught you how to die. Now, 

 God grant it may yet be my privilege to teach you how 

 to live. 



I had in mind Terry's teachings, etc. Well, 

 I fully expected to go up to that "old cabin 

 in the woods" last fall, but I didn't get 

 around to it. I fear that Simplicity incubator 

 had something to do with it. May God for- 

 give me for letting any thing stand in the 

 way of my duty toward my old friend Alice. 



Kind, gentle, loving Alice is gone, and we 

 can not call her back; but her brief bright 

 life should teach us some lessons and point 

 out some warnings. 



Mr. Hilbert is a great worker, or was one. 

 His children, like himself, have all been 

 great workers. I have told you in years 

 past how many potatoes they dug and picked 

 up in a day. With his wonderful crops of 

 strawberries, cherries, peaches, etc, his 

 whole family had to work. I feel sure Alice 

 worked too hard when she was young and 

 growing rapidly. I often protested; but she 

 was ambitious, and had the Hilbert enthusi- 

 asm. I am sure my good friends Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hilbert will ex« use me if I speak of 

 another thing. It used to be quite the fash- 

 ion then to have many parties that kept the 

 young people out late. Before Alice came 

 into the church she was out nights altogeth- 

 er too much for one of her age. Her father 

 "scolded," but the young ones were head- 

 strong. 



Once when I was there he was up bright 

 and early, and was going to hustle up all the 

 youngsters. I plead for more time for them 

 to get their sleep, reminding him they were 



