1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



73 



friends, if you are led to feel that the Son of 

 God was the only huaiau being who ever 

 lived, who really and truly, with every 

 breatli he drew, loved rinhteoitsnexs and hated 

 iniquity. You have given me credit for be- 

 ing one who loves rigliteousness and hates 

 iniquity in an eminent degree ; but you do 

 not know, dear friends, how much I have 

 found in my heart, day by day, leaning to- 

 ward the side of iniquity. Some of my best 

 friends will doubtless say, " Why, dear Bro. 

 Root, you are mistaken. We are sure it can 

 not be true that you love iniquity in any 

 shape or form " 1 wish it were true. Oh 

 how I have prayed that I might have no 

 lingering thought or longing for that which 

 is evil ! How I have prayed for strength 

 and grace to love my neighbor as myself, and 

 that, by no careless thought or action, I 

 might indicate to the great keen scrutiniz- 

 ing w^orld, that I covet any thing that is 

 not my own, or that God has not seen fit to 

 give me I 



We never before have had so much busi- 

 ness in the month of January as we are 

 having now. We have enlarged our facili- 

 ties and put in new machinery. The good 

 friends in the tin-room have been squeezed 

 into one corner, as it were. A whole gang 

 of seven new machines for sawing sections 

 has been put in operation, and the saws are 

 buzzing now. Our two large boilers are do- 

 ing their part nobly in furnishing steam. 

 New hands have been called in by the doz- 

 en, and more boys have been made happy 

 (at least I hope so) by being permitted to 

 work in supplying the machines wdth 

 blocks, and carrying away the sections. All 

 these friends have to be asked the old 

 stereotyped questions when they come to 

 work — '' Do you swear, drink, or use tobac- 

 co V '' VVe get along with the two first ques- 

 tions very well. There are not many who 

 get drunk around Medina nowadays, and 

 there are not many, I believe, w^ho are so 

 much in the habit of swearing that it is very 

 much of a task to break off. With the to- 

 bacco-pledge, though, comes trouble ; and I 

 have been forced to the conclusion that it is 

 not wise to employ anybody who proposes 

 to break off for the sake of getting a job. It 

 rarely works well. It is not a wise thing to 

 do. If one breaks off, and proposes to stay 

 " broke off," whether he gets a job or not, 

 all well and good. Such a man or boy is 

 safe to trust. But the other case is differ- 

 ent. He who stops because he may there- 

 by get work, pretty soon begins to question 

 my ''right to dictate," etc. With more 

 hands in the work-rooms comes the need of 

 more clerks in the ofiice, and therefore 

 more girls and women are permitted to oc- 

 cupy the places they have long waited for. 

 Now, it is rather dangerous ground for any 

 person, when he begins to sum up the 

 weaknesses of humanity, especially of his 

 friends and neighbors, and those whom he 

 meets day by day. Lest I get into this dan- 

 gerous rut, permit me to say that, there are 

 a good rriany in our establishment whose 

 daily talk and acts indicate unmistakably 

 that they love righteousness and hate in- 

 iquity. Oh how I do love to meet with such 

 boys and girls ! It is a pleasure for me to 



be in their companionship, to guide and di- 

 rect them about their work. It is a pleas- 

 ure for me to look into their faces, and to 

 hear them speak ; for one who does love 

 righteousness and hates iniquity shows it in 

 almost every movement. When I feel tried 

 and troubled because of the foolishness of 

 others, I fervently thank God for these 

 bright jewels, as I might almost term them. 

 In fact, one of the prophets of old has thus 

 named them. Old Malachi says, " They 

 shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in 

 that day when I make up my jewels." I 

 have often said in my heart, as well as 

 when I kneel down in the factory before 

 daylight in the morning, " O Lord, I thank 

 thee thou hast been pleased to send here 

 such a good boy as John Smith. I thank 

 thee thou hast increased my faith, and giv- 

 en me new hope, by giving me now^ and then 

 a man or woman, or a boy or a girl, who 

 loves righteousness and hates iniquity. 

 Help me, O Lord, to appreciate these jewels ; 

 and may the thought of them help me to be 

 patient, and to bear with the others." And 

 now, my friend, let me tell you that these 

 unselfish, self-sacrificing ones are sure to 

 rise anywhere. In our establishment there 

 is a sort of cabinet, or band of ofticers, per- 

 haps you might call it, that has sprung up 

 of itself as it were. This cabinet comprises 

 the heads of the different departments, those 

 who have charge of rooms, and those who by 

 long years of faithful work have shown them- 

 selves capable of judging impartially. Some- 

 times, as we meet, one of these foremen re- 

 marks to me : "Mr. Root, have you noticed 

 how nicely James Brown is doing V If he 

 but continues to do as well as he is doing, 

 and does not get led off from the track by 

 some of the mischievous ones, you can af- 

 ford to pay him more money than he is get- 

 ting now." 



In discussing some of the older ones, the 

 remark will be made, "• That man is compe- 

 tent to take charge of the room, if the fore- 

 man should be sick, or any thing of that 

 sort ; " and as vacancies are occurring al- 

 most every day, there is a constant demand 

 for some one who can be entrusted with au- 

 thority. Then comes the test, and very 

 likely the trial to the young friend in ques- 

 tion. How will he behave when vested 

 with (luthority and -power 1 Will he let preju- 

 dice bias him him, or will it be his only 

 thought to encourage righteousness and dis- 

 courage iniquity i^ These jewels are bound 

 to rise, whether they are in our establish- 

 ment or somewhere else. They work gradu- 

 ally up. up. Some people complain that the 

 ch'inces have been against them. My friend, 

 " the chances " are never very long against 

 one who loves righteousness and hates in- 

 iquity. We have God's holy word for it in a 

 dozen different ways. " All things shall 

 work together for good to those that love 

 God." Now, I hope that some of you are 

 saying in your hearts, " Bro. Root is right. 

 1 know he is right ; and I wish to begin this 

 very day to love righteousness and to hate 

 iniquity. How shall I do itV" Perhaps I 

 can tell you best by indicating some of the 

 things that you should not do. A great 

 many times, boys and girls come to work 



