1910 



GLEANIXG8 IN BEE CULTURE 



J29 



Our Homes 



Bv A. I. Root 



To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with 

 lue in my throne, even as I also overcame and am 

 set down with my Father in his throne.— Rev. 3 :21. 



I think I have before used this text about 

 overcoming; in fact, in the fore part of Rev- 

 elation there are many beautiful texts about 

 this matter of overcoming our fleshly appe- 

 tites and promptings. God has implanted 

 in us a craving for food, and in his loving 

 kindness he has made most wonderful pro- 

 vision for ministering to our hunger. Again 

 and again I am astonished and surprised at 

 the great profusion of beautiful foods that 

 are just within our reach if we will only put 

 forth our hand and make use of them. In 

 our next issue I have something to say 

 right along in this line about that beautifiil 

 new berry of which God has permitted me 

 to get a glimpse and taste; but just now we 

 will consider something else. 



God has implanted within us at least two 

 powerful cravings for something that will 

 bless us and do us good if we remember that 

 text about overcoming, but something that 

 will do us terrible harm, and send us down 

 to the bottomless pit if we do not exercise 

 reason and common sense. One extreme 

 would make raving maniacs of the whole 

 human family; "overcoming" makes each 

 one of us, every child of humanity, a tem- 

 ple of the Holy Cihost, a place where that 

 Spirit might dwell and bless us and all hu- 

 manity. I shall now have to ask permission 

 to touch on something right here that is 

 not often considered very much in print. 



Man as well as animals has at least two 

 powerful cravings, or we might say in- 

 stincts, that God has implanted in us for the 

 preservation, not only of these bodies of 

 ours, but for the perpetuation of the whole 

 human race. I am sure you will excuse me 

 if I go back to chickens once more, for they 

 are my intimate companions, and I see in 

 them God's loving hand from the moment 

 they get out of the shell until they get to 

 full maturity. When a chicken is two or 

 three days old it begins to show its craving 

 for food, and it very soon expresses its 

 thanks to the one who feeds it; and I am 

 sure it shows a sort of affection and grati- 

 tude. You can teach this newly hatched 

 chick, or fifty or a hundred of them al.' to- 

 gether, no end of cute little tricks because 

 of their craving for food. In fact, almost 

 the only way to teach and educate domestic 

 animals is through their love for food. A 

 lump of sugar now and then, or a nice ap- 

 ple, will make a horse remember you, and 

 be glad to serve you in any way in his pow- 

 er. Do not forget to win in this way the 

 confidence and love and good will of every 

 domestic animal you meet day by day. It 

 will pay you in dollars and cents. 



Well, your only avenue or gateway to dis- 



arm the little chick of his fear, and enable 

 you to teach him so you can call him or 

 pick him up, is through this love for food. 

 After the chick has had enough grain, say 

 chick food, for instance, he will show a won- 

 derful appetite for lettuce or other green 

 stuff after he has smacked his lips over it a 

 little and learned what it is. Then try a 

 little flock, say a week old, with the crum- 

 bled yolk of an egg boiled hard, until they 

 have "learned what it is. They will have to 

 examine it a little, and swallow some pieces 

 before they understand what it is. But in 

 just a few hours you can get them so crazy 

 for egg that they will be chasing each other 

 frantically all over the yard. Some chop- 

 ped-up meat or ground bone will answer a 

 good deal the same purpose to satisfy the 

 craving or nature's call for something that 

 will make muscle, bone, and feathers. 



Well, now, these chicks show nothing but 

 an appetite for food until they are five or 

 six months old. Then the male portion of 

 the flock will have to be separated from the 

 pullets. They have arrived at the age when 

 nature manifests a most powerful iminilse 

 and instinct besides the craving for food. 

 AVhen I got back from Florida, business 

 was crowding to such an extent that my 

 flock of poultry here in Medina had been 

 neglected. They had food enough, but I 

 found eighteen full-grown cockerels with 

 about sixty of the other sex. Of course I 

 made haste to put them in the cockerel 

 yard, and clipped their wings so they could 

 not get out, until I could dispose of them 

 in various ways. Their inclosure permitted 

 them to get a glimpse every day of the yard 

 containing the laying stock, and it was in- 

 teresting to me to study this wonderful in- 

 stinct I have been speaking about. The 

 eighteen cockerels would not fight or quar- 

 rel at all so long as none of the other sex 

 were present. 



We will now, if you choose, bid good-by 

 to the fowls, at least for the present. Hu- 

 manity has appetites in many respects much 

 like those of the chickens. These appetites 

 are gifts from God, and, under proper re- 

 straint in the line of "overcoming," they 

 bless humanity and the whole human race; 

 but if permitted to have full sway, without 

 being controlled by reason and common 

 sense, man becomes a raving maniac. Wit- 

 ness delirium tremens on the one hand, 

 and on the other the insane and idiotic asy- 

 lums, and this nameless crime that prompts 

 men to risk being lynched, or, perhaps, be- 

 ing burned at the stake. When we see how 

 many have been cut to pieces, strung up on 

 a tree, or burned to death by a crazy mob, 

 we wonder how anybody but a crazy man 

 should be tempted "to give way to such in- 

 sane foUv; and the crowd that "puts them to 

 death without judge or jury is almost as 

 crazy and as much to blame as the poor 

 victim, the colored man, who gives way to 

 his insane passion. 



Dear friends, what I have given in the 

 above is only a preface to what seems to be 

 going to prove a great and wonderful reve- 



