1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



331 



the wilderness where all the world can fol- 

 low if it chooses. He and his wife both say 

 that, after the first day, they experienced 

 but very little inconvenience from hunger; 

 in fact, she walked four miles every morn- 

 ing with her husband for six days in suc- 

 cession. 



Now, here something funny comes in. 

 People lost at sea or out on the desert starve 

 to death in a week or less. Perhaps it is be- 

 cause thay can not get good pure water. 

 Sinclair drinks freely of pure water, all 

 through his fast, but nothing else. At one 

 time while in California, after having taken 

 a fast of three days, and walking about fif- 

 teen miles the last day without any trouble 

 whatever, he came home and read about 

 the Messina earthquake. The papers said 

 when food was brought to those suffering 

 people they tore each other like wild beasts 

 because tliey were crazed with hunger, for 

 they had been seventif-two hours without 

 food. Sinclair also had been without food 

 for the same length of time, and just felt 

 (/ood and happy, even after he had walked 

 fifteen miles. How can this be explained? 

 It is very simple. Sinclair's fast was a de- 

 liberate and voluntary one; but the Italian 

 people were ignorant, and probably fright- 

 ened. They did not know any thing about 

 self-control, and had never heard the beau- 

 tiful text about overcoming. When God 

 created man in his own image he intended 

 man should be Godlike, and have the abili- 

 ty to rule and to overcome. 



Some of you may be inclined to say right 

 here, "Well, old friend A. I. Root, why don't 

 you fast for a cou])le of weeks and tell us 

 about it? Write up a Home paper, for in- 

 stance, after you have been two weeks with- 

 out food, and after you have walked several 

 miles, say toward the last day." AVell, dear 

 friends, I have been considering it; but 

 while I am feeling so well, what is the use 

 of my fasting? If I have any more attacks 

 of grip fever or chronic dysentery, I will 

 most assuredly try to follow Sinclair. By 

 the way, he says in that magazine that you 

 had better try it where you can consult 

 daily with some one who has had experience 

 in the fast cure. He says the greatest dan- 

 ger is that one gets frightened because 

 friends and relatives declare he is killing 

 himself, etc. Ernest and Huber both pro- 

 test against my making such an experi- 

 ment, because of my age; but I feel sure 

 that, if I should undertake such a task with 

 the sole end in view of benefiting humani- 

 ty, God's Holy Spirit would give me 

 strength, both of mind and body; and God 

 knows that the lesson that is needed just 

 now is one of "overcoming" the prompt- 

 ings of appetite, especially remembering we 

 have it in the words of holy writ, that these 

 bodies of ours are intended to be "temples 

 of the Holy Ghost," and that God did not 

 send us into this world solely to have a 

 "good time" in eating and drinking, and 

 ministering to our lower and baser passions. 



May the great Father lead us and guide 

 us; and may he bless Sinclair, Terry, and 



Fletcher in their efforts to show us how to 

 attain physical perfection, and how to de- 

 velop into that glorious tnanhoocl that the 

 Creator had in mind when he placed us here 

 in this beautiful world of ours. 



Ernest declares I must not close this arti- 

 cle without quoting a tribute that Sinclair 

 pays to our old friend Dr. Salisbury. Our 

 older readers may remember that our jour- 

 nal has had more or less to say about the 

 Salisbury treatment for the past twenty-five 

 years. Here is what Sinclair has to say in 

 regard to it in the article in the Cosmopol- 

 itan : 



For several months after this experience I lived 

 upon a diet of raw foods exclusively — mainly nuts 

 and fruits. I had been led to regard this as the nat- 

 ural diet for human beings; and I found that so 

 long as I was leading an active life, the results were 

 most satisfactory. But when I came to settle down 

 to a long period of hard and continuous writing 1 

 found that I had not sufficient bodily energy to di- 

 gest these raw foods. I resorted to fasting and milk 

 alternately— and that is well enough for a time, but 

 it proves a nervous strain in the end. Recently a 

 friend called my attention to the late Dr. Salisbury's 

 book. "The Relation of Alimentation to Disease." 

 Dr. Salisbury recommends a diet of broiled beef and 

 hot water as the solution of most of the problems of 

 the human body; and it may be believed that I, 

 who had been a rigid and enthusiastic vegetarian 

 for several years, found this a startling idea. How- 

 ever, I set out to try the Salisbury system. I am sor- 

 ry to say that it seems to be a good one; sorry, be- 

 cause the vegetarian way of life is so obviously the 

 cleaner and more humane and more convenient. 

 But it seems to me that I am able to do more work 

 and harder work with my mind while eating beef- 

 steaks than under any other regime; and while this 

 continues to be the case, there will be one less veg- 

 etarian in the world. 



Poultry Department 



By A. I. Root 



KEEPING CHICKENS IN FLORIDA, AND SOME 

 OTHER THINGS. 



I give the following letter entire because 

 it is a sample of the many kind words that 

 come for my department almost continual- 

 ly. If kind words give inspiration as well 

 as zeal, I certainly ought to have plenty of 

 both. 



Dear Mr. Root.— I take the liberty of writing to 

 you and calling you "dear friend," as it seems to 

 me as if I liad known you nearly all my life through 

 reading your articles in Gleanings, of which I 

 have been a subscriber, ofT and on, for over thirty 

 years. I think your writings have done more for 

 me in the line of trying to live a Christian life than 

 any other one thing — that is, through reading Our 

 Homes. Long live (iLEANiNGS and the editor of the 

 Homes department. 



I wish to ask you a few questions. What is the 

 average price of eggs and of difTerent kinds of grain 

 for feeding, as well as the price of land suitable for 

 raising chickens in yoiu- part of Florida? also the 

 jjrice of lumber for building poultry-houses? I am 

 44 years of age, without a family, and one of the 

 biggest chicken cranks in the country. I have 

 some means, and should like to go to Florida and 

 engage in the chicken business. Your poultry de- 

 partment I read with great interest, and have de- 

 rived many good points therefrom. I am no stran- 

 ger to the poultry business, as I have kept as many 

 as 400 at a time. 



I have just read T. B. Terry's book on how to keej) 

 well, and intend to practice some of his precepts. 



Binghamton, N. Y., April 26. H. S. Thompson. 



When I reached my Florida home last 

 November the grocers were paying 40 cents 



