276 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



awkward way, I may not have given some 

 good brother or sister pain by my carelessness. 

 If so, I wish to assure such that I did not mean 

 it, or did not intend it. 



Just a little more about that lesson God 

 wanted to teach me. Several times I met peo- 

 ple with whom we had had little differences. 

 Sometimes it was some one whom our people 

 had refused to send goods to because they did 

 not know all about them. In one case a veter- 

 an bee-friend, and one of the shining lights in 

 bee culture, moved from Iowa away off down to 

 Florida, and did not tell us he had done so — 

 that is, when he made an order for something, 

 just in the way hi' was in the habit of doing 

 away back in Iowa, he forgot to tell us he was 

 the same man, down in Florida. Had the 

 clerks come to me with the order, I should 

 have known our old friend at once, even if he 

 was down in Florida; but in this case he not 

 only overlooked our blunder, but he hailed Con- 

 stance and myself as we were on the way to a 

 hotel, and gave, as an excuse for so doing, that 

 their weekly paper had already announced in 

 plain print that we were staying at /its 7i07nc. 

 When I looked astonished at such a procedure he 

 good-naturedly replied," Why, Mr. Root, didn't 

 you know that obituaries are often written be- 

 fore people are really dead ? " 



When the letters of invitation came, asking 

 us to go to certain points, I did not always 

 know any thing about the people; but the fact 

 that they wanted me to make them a visit was 

 sufficient; and I never inquired, and scarcely 

 ever thought about, what particular church 

 these people belonged to, or whether they be- 

 longed to any church at all. The result was, 

 I visited people of various denominations, and 

 was taken right into the homes of people who 

 represented almost all kinds of belief. Some- 

 times I laughingly suggested, when the family 

 Bible was handed to me, that perhaps I was 

 not used to conducting worship in their way. 

 The reply was, invariably, " Brother Root, we 

 will worship God this time in your way." 



The matter of giving thanks at the table, I 

 found, is also conducted in quite a variety of 

 ways. Sometimes I did not readily " catch on," 

 but I really believe that one of my pleasantest 

 experiences was in having some good brother or 

 sister, in a most kind and friendly way, explain 

 to me their ways, or the forms in use by their 

 particular denomination. Are you surprised 

 that I began slowly to have a broader charity 

 than I had ever had before ? One very pleas- 

 ant visit was with a brother who did not pro- 

 fess any religion. He told me at the outset 

 that we had better not discuss theology, because 

 we would only get mad. 



" Oh! no, dear brother, we shall not get mad 

 — J most assuredly shall not." 



"Oh! yes, you will get mad if I tell you the 

 plain truth. If you do not, you will be the first 

 Christian I ever met who did not. They get 

 mad, every last one of them, when people of my 

 class come right out and take the liberty of be- 

 lieving what we choose, and telling the truth 

 in plain English." 



Then he told me of some of the things he had 

 said to ministers, and the reply that the minis- 

 ter gave. Now, I am really afraid that, before 

 I made this visit, I should have said the minis- 

 ter did obout riry/it. But I think row; he made 

 a mistake. You see, I was an invited guest; 

 and, besides, I had given a sacred promise— at 

 least it was sacred to me — not to get mad. My 

 friend with whom I was riding said some se- 

 vere and cutting things about our faith; and, 

 oh I am*.so glad that I replied gently and mild- 

 ly. This friend recohimended hooks and writ- 

 ers who speak disrespectfully of the Bible and 

 of the Christian religion. Of course, I could 

 not agree with him here. 



Well, the next day as we were riding away 

 off through the great pine forests we called at 

 a humble home where there was quite a flock 

 of children, and not very much tor them to 

 read. My companion said he had brought 

 along a bundle of papers for the family, and in 

 some way I got it in my head that he would 

 naturally bring them something that might 

 teach disrespect to Christianity; and if so, I 

 felt like making a protest. How do you sup- 

 pose it turned out? Why, dear friends, that 

 bundle of papers I had been looking at suspi- 

 ciously turned out to be some old worn copies of 

 — what do you think? G'iea?u/igs in Bee Cul- 

 ture! I asked God to forgive me for my un- 

 charitable thoughts; and when I reminded my 

 good brother that the Home Papers in those 

 back numbers would teach the children Chris- 

 tianity, he looked up with a laugh, and said he 

 believed he would rather risk the children with 

 such teaching than any thing else he knew of, 

 even if a good deal of it was fallacy and super- 

 stition. O dear friends, I am sure there is some- 

 thing wrong in having such wide differences 

 between God's people and those who do not see 

 things as we do. 



At another home I found they belonged to a 

 sect who worship God on the last day of the 

 week, instead of the first. But my heart had 

 been considerably mellowed by this time. I 

 assured the brother who came for me Saturday 

 night, that, had I known of his religious con- 

 victions, I should have greatly enjoyed wor- 

 shiping with him on his Sabbath instead of 

 mine. Then I should have been obliged to 

 have two Sundays, some of you may suggest. 

 Not necessarily. He lived away back in the 

 woods; and while I was his guest I could have 

 done as he did, without any violence to my 

 honest convictions. 



The great Father, it would seem, had still 

 another experience in store for me. I was 

 obliged to hire a livery, to be taken five or six 

 miles to the home of one who had given me an 

 invitation. The liveryman said I would find 

 *'my man" at a camp-meeting of Spiritualists, 

 for he was one of the leaders. I found him just 

 a little before the meeting opened. In fact, 

 there were other bee-keepers present also with 

 their families. Would I care to attend one of 

 their meetings? Yes, I told them I should be 

 glad to. Dear brother or sister, if you should 

 feel like criticising my course, let me say that 

 the earnest follower of Christ Jesus can go 

 anywhere unharmed if he holds fast to the 

 strong arm of Him who once said to the winds 

 and the waves, " Peace, be still." The speak- 

 er's stand was spanned by a beautiful arch on 

 which was the text, " Peace on earth, good will 

 toward men." The hymns that were sung 

 v/ere such as we generally use in our places of 

 worship. The music was most beautiful. A 

 bright young daughter of my friend played the 

 violin, and another bee-keeper's daughter play- 

 ed the guitar. In a little time it was announced 

 that the address would be made by a speaker 

 who would speak on any subject that any one 

 of the audience might suggest. I was called 

 upon to furnish the subject. After asking the 

 Holy Spirit to guide me, I wrote on a piece of 

 paper, "Thou ha^t loved righteousness and 

 hated iniquity." Two other subjects were giv- 

 en the speaker, and I believe that, in his ad- 

 dress, he included all three; but in order to 

 reach the train I expected to take, I was 

 obliged to leave the tent before the discussion 

 was ended. 



I liave found it a pleasure to do business with 

 your tirm, :is poods are always carefully packed 

 and promptly sent. VVm. N. Stout. 



Portland, lud , Feb. 25. 



