152 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 



ing came. He did not give it as his opinion, 

 but put it in a way that appealed to one's 

 good reason, and honest convictions. Thro' 

 all these years, I had been giving money 

 largely, perhaps even more than the church 

 members, and one great motive in giving 

 was because I hoped it would induce people 

 not to talk. I gave money to my wife liber- 

 ally, and gave to all charitable purposes. 

 Sometimes it was quite convenient to allude 

 to how hard I worked, and then gave freely 

 of my money to an unthankful world. My 

 wife's brother bought a farm in a new coun- 

 try, and was, as is often the case, somewhat 

 cramped. I sent him money at different 

 times, and told him I was glad to help him, 

 which was true. Well, the books used fre- 

 quently to get tangled and the best oppor- 

 tunity to fix them was evenings. Sometimes 

 I was out late. One night, my wife ven- 

 tured a gentle remonstrance. Without scru- 

 ple, I replied that if her brother would send 

 me the money he owed me, I should not be 

 under the necessity of working late nights 

 to meet my payments. This was as false as 

 it was mean and contemptible ; she knew he 

 could not well pay it then, and so I used my 

 money as a means of silencing her. This 

 young minister's sermon held tins and other 

 acts of mine before me, in a way I could not 

 evade, and I rather liked him for it. 



Not veiw long afterward, I had an oppor- 

 tunity of telling him what a good man I 

 was, and how much I helped the people and 

 community in general, as I had been in the 

 habit of telling other ministers, lie listened, 

 but he did not approve as I wished to have 

 him. He was very stubborn in what I then 

 called his narrow views. I finally declared 

 that I was discharging every duty in life, 

 that I knew of. He looked troubled, and 

 said but little. In his next sermon, he stat- 

 ed that he had been told by men in our town, 

 that they were not conscious of having left 

 any duty in life undischarged. He summed 

 the matter up, and ended by declaring that 

 those men knew they were liars in the sight 

 of God. I was very angry, and declared I 

 would never again go into the church where 

 such a man was employed to preach. I met 

 him afterward, and told him what I thought 

 of such a rash speech. I tried to make him 

 take it back, and to admit that he did not 

 know whether a man was discharging all his 

 duties or not. He would not do it. I de- 

 manded it. He was silent, and seemed in 

 deep thought. I know pretty well now, that 

 he was praying for guidance and wisdom. 

 He spoke very quietly. 



"Mr. Root, you have a son?'' 



"Yes." 



"Now do not answer me, but answer to 

 your own conscience ; please do not say a 

 word, but simply think over the matter as 

 you have leisure. Look into the depths of 

 your heart, down where God sees but I do 

 not, and then answer this question : Do you 

 wish that boy to grow up just such a man as 

 you are?" 



He left me. My boy — my only boy — God 

 forbid that he should ever grow up to be the 

 whited sepulchre that I then was. I could 

 not get angry, for there was no occasion, and 

 no one to argue with. My partner once 



asked me, how I woidd advise a sister of 

 mine, placed just as she was. I answered 

 evasively, but a vision rose up before me of 

 one of my four sisters being talked to by a 

 married man as I had just then been talk- 

 ing, and the idea was so horrible as to be 

 positively sickening. I was doing exactly 

 what I would have been almost tempted to 

 shoot any other man for doing, and then told 

 this young minister I had left no duty un- 

 done. I have an older brother who looks 

 very much like myself, so much so that we 

 are often mistaken for each other. I once 

 caught a glimpse of my own face in one of 

 the mirrors of the showcase. I was startled 

 by the true reflection of the glass, and closed 

 the door hastily, for in that face, although I 

 got but a glimpse of it, I saw a horrible, de- 

 moniac leer, that I would not see on my 

 brother's face, for scarcely any earthly con- 

 sideration. Satan gave me a look, out of my 

 own eyes, that haunted me afterward. If 

 you are willing that your sister or brother, 

 your boy or girl, should do just as you do, 

 my friend, I think you are on a pretty safe 

 track. 



About this time, I was building a green- 

 house, partly under ground, to test winter- 

 ing bees under glass. I spent a great deal 

 of time there alone, and had opportunity for 

 meditation. This was during the month of 

 Jan., 187-5. Several times during that win- 

 ter, a new temptation had presented itself, 

 in quite another direction. It was quite 

 risky, and I had put it away again and again. 

 I should have to brave the people, and worst 

 of all, it would bring down my mother's 

 gray hairs with sorrow. I could tell every- 

 body else, to mind their own business, espe- 

 cially, if they blamed or censured, but she 

 who was so sure I was good, true, and hon- 

 est, would have no word of reproach, only of 

 grief and sorrow, when she found I had de- 

 ceived her. I battled against it in my fee- 

 ble strength, but it was coming nearer and 

 nearer. The editor of oar county paper 

 wrote some articles on modern skepticism. 

 I took up with them at once. After reading 

 one of them, I took him by the hand one 

 day, and told him I was proud to feel that 

 we had a man in our own county, who had 

 the courage and energy to brave public opin- 

 ion enough to say that the Bible was a relic 

 of past heathenism, and should be pitched 

 out of the windows of every well regulated 

 church and Sunday school. It may be well 

 to state that I had not been inside of a Sab- 

 bath school for nearly 20 years, but for all 

 that, I considered myself just the one to de- 

 cide on such matters. Quite a talk followed, 

 and the result of it was to me harm, great 

 harm, although, finally, good resulted from 

 it, in a way I will explain presently. I have 

 no idea that my friend, the editor, thought 

 of the harm he might be doing, for I did, 

 and do now, consider him a friend of good 

 morals. I feel that we all should consider 

 well, what the effect of taking such positions 

 may be on those about us. Shortly after- 

 ward while alone in the greenhouse, "the new 

 temptation presented itself again. I dis- 

 tinctly remember thinking of the talk about 

 the absurdities of the Bible, and of strug- 

 gling to think of better things. 



