1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



501 



or vexed will say things and stick to them 

 that they would not say when unruffled or 

 unprovoked. We can not call such things 

 falsehoods, for the one who utters them is at 

 the time honest about it. Oh how many 

 times I have made statements or assertions 

 in the heat of the moment that I wanted to 

 take back after I had cooled off, as it were, 

 and could take a reasonable view of all the 

 circumstances! The good book has well 

 said, "He that ruleth his own spirit is 

 mightier than he that taketh a city." 



Dear friends, I have just been telling you 

 something of my acquaintance with the late 

 Rev. A. T. Reed, whose name has been men- 

 tioned more or less in these Home paiiers 

 ever since they were started. The above in- 

 cident was called to mind by his recent 

 death. God has called him to the joys of 

 his eternal home where he surely has laid 

 up many treasures where moth and rust do 

 not corrupt, and where thieves do not break 

 through nor steal. After the boy preacher 

 left me his parting words rang in my ears. 

 He said I should answer Ood, the great 

 Father of all. Then I began to debate on 

 the question. Can a man talk with God? 

 Was it possible for me, even if I wished so 

 to do, to tell my heavenly Father the exact 

 truth as to whether I wanted that merry 

 blue-eyed boy, as he grew up, to stand ex- 

 actly in my foot-tracks? If it icere possible 

 for me to answer God, what ivould that an- 

 swer be? I debated on the matter until it 

 was time to put up the blinds and close up 

 my store. Somehow I wanted to be alone; 

 and when the blinds were up and the lights 

 were out I somehow unconsciously knelt 

 down in that silent room, and there I an- 

 swered the question the boy preacher had 

 propounded. In that moment I scanned 

 my past life for the preceding 25 years. I 

 remembered my happy childhood while I 

 knelt at my mother's knee; and then I fac- 

 ed the question, "Shall that boy, with his 

 childish faith, follow my footsteps?" 



In agony of spirit I said, "No; God help- 

 ing me, no." And then I iDreathed a prayer 

 something as follows, so far as I can recol- 

 lect: "O God, if there is really a God who 

 hears and answers prayer, help me so to live 

 from this day on that I shall not be afraid 

 to have my boy follow exactly in my foot- 

 steps. Give me back, I pray thee, my 

 mother's faith and the innocent happiness 

 of childhood such as I had when I knelt at 

 her knee in years past." 



Dear friends, there was that night a sud- 

 den break and abrupt turning-point in my 

 life. A. I. Root before that period had been 

 somebody else; and A. I. Root since that 

 time has really been somebody else than 

 the man he was before that time. Although 

 the boy minister did not stay very long in 

 Medina, he and I had been in close touch 

 more or less from that time until his recent 

 death. 



Since the incident mentioned above oc- 

 curred, something like forty years have pass- 

 ed. The curly-headed boy who delivered 

 the boyish sermon has not only grown up 



to manhood, but a curly-headed boy like 

 himself came into his -home; and this boy 

 has grown to manhood. In fact, he is so 

 tall that he almost looks down on myself 

 when he calls me "grandpa." This boy and 

 I ha^•e just returned from a trip up in North- 

 ern Michigan, to the old original "cabin in 

 the woods." By the way, dear friends, one 

 might naturally suppose that a man who is 

 seventy years old, and has retired from the 

 arduous duties of a busy life, would have 

 little temptation to do wrong or even to 

 think wrong. But do not be misled. Satan 

 will keep on testing and trying you, prob- 

 ably, to the end of your days. While off on 

 that pleasant trip a temptation presented 

 itself; and, as usual, Satan suggested that 

 there was nothing particularly wrong about 

 it. I remember that he added that "a good 

 many Christian people do not seem to think 

 it is any thing out of the way." While I 

 was hesitating, something called up to 

 memory the incident of years ago; and then 

 the good spirit (could it be a voice from the 

 past, suggested by the memory of my dear 

 departed friend Rev. A. T. Reed ? ) said, 

 "Would you like to see that child of yours 

 or that grandson of yours hesitating about 

 this very thing you are considering just 

 now?" Swift as the wind came my deci- 

 sion. If this young boy, not yet out of his 

 teens, considers his grandpa just about right, 

 and is ready to copy him, may God help the 

 grandpa (and all other grandpas, for that 

 matter) , to keep very closely in the straight 

 and narrow path that leads from earth to 

 heaven. If I remember correctly, Satan did 

 venture to suggest, as he backed off out of 

 sight, that the grandson "need never know 

 any thing about it at all.'" And then he 

 added that many things are quite right and 

 proper for men of seventy that would, of 

 course, be entirely out of. place for a boy in 

 his teens. 



In a future Home paper I propose to dis- 

 cuss the two concluding suggestions that 

 Satan offered and continues to offer. 



Notes of Travel 



By A. I. Root 



The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which 

 a woman took and hid in three measures of meal 

 until the whole was leavened. — Matt. 13:33. 



On the first day of July my oldest grand- 

 son and I made a short trip to the Grand 

 Traverse region of Northern Michigan. On 

 the morning of the second day we stepped 

 off the cars at Traverse City. It was hot 

 and sultry and dusty, for there had been no 

 rain in that region for almost a month. 

 This condition of affairs prepared us to take 

 in the beauty of a pretty fountain of water, 

 clear as crystal, close to the Grand Rapids 

 & Indiana station, and a part of the depot 

 grounds. This stream of water, although it 

 comes from an artesian well, is beautifully 

 cool and pure as it pours into the stone 



