436 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



perhaps now wrecked, spiritually and financial- 

 ly, and every other way." 

 TjHe replied that I had got it about right/o 



Now, friends, there are pleasure-resorts all 

 about us. They are near your home as well as 

 near mine. A good many of us have our Sun- 

 day-school picnics at such places. There is a 

 beautiful lakeabout five miles south of Medina; 

 and our Sunday-school, for many years, has 

 held its annual picnic at this place; but I 

 believe the general decision of late is that the 

 children hear more bad talk during the day of 

 the Sunday-school picnic than perhaps during 

 all the rest of the year, as a consequence of 

 being thrown more or less in contact with the 

 roughs, gamblers, and swindlers who congre- 

 gate around that lake; and one good brother 

 said he feared the children learned more in- 

 iquity on that one day in the year than all the 

 teachers and olScersof the Sunday-school could 

 weed out during all the rest of the days of the 

 year. 



When the electric cars first made Silver Lake 

 a point, something over a year ago, I am told 

 that the managers of the electric line alone 

 offered a thousand dollars to friend Lodge if he 

 would lay aside his '"puritanical notions" and 

 open up his place on Sunday. I do not know 

 what he said, but I am told it amounted to 

 this: "Get thee behind me, Satan." "What 

 shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world 

 and lose his own soul?" and friend Lodge 

 stands to day — that is, if I am correctly inform- 

 ed — as firm as a rock, unlike the man at the 

 Glen I have spoken of; and he verifies the 

 promise of scripture, " Whatsoever he doeth 

 shall prosper." 



I wish I could tell you all about Silver Lake 

 grounds. The bottom of the little piece of 

 water is clear sand; in fact, it makes me think 

 of the Florida lakes; and the water is pure and 

 soft. Friend Lodge has an ice-house of his 

 own, and stores up the most beautiful ice every 

 winter. Then he has in summer time a big 

 windmill to pump soft spring water into the 

 reservoir that sends it all over the ground. At 

 various points are buried coils of pipe; and on 

 these coils a great lump of ice is placed every 

 morning; so wherever you open a hydrant to 

 draw water to drink, if it is not ice-cold it is 

 as cold as you ought to drink, and the supply is 

 unlimited. Of course, it is the most beautiful 

 bathing-ground that can be imagined, and the 

 prices for bathing-suits are very reasonable. 

 A little steamer constantly makes its trip 

 around the lake, and Sunday-school children 

 can spend the whole long day on these grounds, 

 and not hear an oath nor any objectionable 

 talk. The institution is managed by friend 

 Lodge and his children. He keeps some bees 

 and takes Gleanings, and makes a garden; 

 and on that beautiful sandy soil he raises the 

 most luscious melons and other fruits and veg- 

 etables for his guests that are numbered every 

 year by the thousands. Some people think it is 

 strange for a man's prosperity to hinge on such 

 a very simple matter as remembering the sab- 

 bath day to keep it holv. 



Well, my accustomed space is pretty nearly 

 all used up; but I wish to say to you that the 

 Roots and Rootlets had just the pleasantest 

 sort of time at our picnic and reunion on the 

 8th of last August, and at least some of them 

 are thinking about when we shall hold the next 

 one. As we wanted to be all by ourselves 

 friend Lodge very kindly and graciously gave 

 us his front dooryard, furnishing us chairs, 

 tables, gasoline-stoves to heat the water, and 

 every thing else, and all this without a cent of 

 charge except the five cents apiece for going 

 inside of the grounds. Everybody pays this 



nickel; then the whole family of Lodges turn 

 in and make it just as pleasant for the crowd 

 of " lodgers " as can well be imagined. 



As memory goes back to that beautiful sum- 

 mer day when we held our picnic, I think of 

 many things. The dear brother who asked 

 God's blessing before we sat down to our repast* 

 (Deacon Sackett, of Tallmadge) has been called 

 to his home above; but the stories and remi- 

 niscences in regard to grandfather Root, who 

 brought his family of girls, with an ox team, 

 from away down in Connecticut, when he set- 

 tled and made his home in Tallmadge, Summit 

 Co., O., was well worth listening to, I assure 

 you. Aunt Julia told us how the family of 

 girls made the wild woods ring with songs and 

 merriment on that long trip through the woods 

 that took them nearly a month. Every Satur- 

 day night they camped, and rested until Mon- 

 day morning, remembering the sabbath day to 

 keep it holy as well as they could under the cir- 

 cumstances; and when they reached the State 

 of Ohio (that new land away off in the far west, 

 you know), the families who kept the sabbath 

 made better progress, came through in better 

 health and spirits— domestic animals and all — 

 yes, a great deal better— than those who were 

 so eager to get through that they pushed ahead 

 on Sunday just the same as any other day. 



Now, dear readers, some of you may think it 

 strange that such a little thing as the way a 

 man regards the sabbath may make a differ- 

 ence, not only in his financial affairs, but spir- 

 itual, physical, and every other way. Look 

 about you and see if it is not true that the 

 really good men and women of this world of 

 ours are in favor of keeping God's day holy. 



AN " AMERICAN " TRAMP. 



Last Sunday morning, while we were at 

 breakfast, somebody rapped at the back door. 

 Of course, it was a tramp. They have stopped 

 troubling us week days becase they know they 

 .will have to work before they can get any 

 thing to eat. But for some time lately they 

 have been coming around on Sunday morning, 

 and they always promise to work it out next 

 day, which they never do. This fellow was 

 dressed well from his head to his boots. He 

 made a very humble request for something to 

 eat. I told him to come around Monday morn- 

 ing and I would give him work. 



'"But," said he, "how am I to subsist to- 

 day ? " 



" Look here, my friend; your suit of clothes, 

 from boots to hat, is good enough for you to go 

 to church. Now go right across to that hotel 

 yonder, and leave that good coat of yours as 



* I remember with painful distinctness Ihat my 

 part of said " repast" was pure hot water and chop- 

 ped beefsteak. M:iy the Lord be praised, liowever, 

 that, at the present time, I can eat what I please, 

 like other folks. Let me explain, however, that 

 what I "please" is quite different from what pleas- 

 ed me a year ag'o. Noio my choice for daily food is 

 mostly lean meat and zwieback. I do not quite un- 

 derstand it, but now I do not want coffee at all. It 

 used to be one of my greatest privations to have 

 my coffee cut off. A teaspoon ful of malted milk in 

 a cup of hot water is more lef resliin? and delicious 

 to me than all the coffee in the world. Once more, 

 strange to tell, I do not care very much for finiits. 

 It is now strawberry time, and I have not eaten a 

 pint altogether this year. Wliat few I do eat I pre- 

 fer cooked.. Now, it is an exceedingly pleasant 

 thing to me to feel that my natural craving is for 

 the things that digest easily, and not for something 

 that will do me harm. I eat a little fruit almost 

 everyday for breakfast and dinner, but none for 

 supper, and I am not only well but tliankf ul. Let 

 me say once more, may God be praised for health, 

 and a healthy appetite for wholesome food. 



