1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



235 



The contents of this leaf and the one following arc 

 not directly connected witli the subject of bee-culture. 

 On this account, I make no charge for them, and, if you 

 choose, you can cut them out without reading. 



\ur 



Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, 

 not as in my presence only, but now much more in 

 my absence, work out your own salvation with fear 

 and trembling'. -Phil. '2; 12. 



MAD I decided to write, under a fictitious 

 name, as I have written and as I am 



— ' going to write to-day, or had I describ- 

 ed some imaginary character who had passed 

 through these struggles with right and 

 wrong, many of my friends would have far 

 less objection to these home papers. While 

 I have no disposition to criticise those who 

 use fiction as a means of illustrating truth, 

 I do not feel right in doing so myself. I 

 much prefer to give plain facts. When you 

 feel like protesting against my speaking of 

 myself as I do, please bear in mind that I 

 am throwing all personal feeling out of the 

 question, and talking of myself precisely as 

 I would give a history of a machine, and 

 that I go into details, precisely as I would in 

 directing you how to make a similar ma- 

 chine, showing up the errors in its construc- 

 tion, with an entire absence of any feeling 

 other than a desire to do good, and to help 

 mankind. I wish my personal friends to 

 bear this in mind ; it matters far more what 

 I am now than what I was once. 



I wish to go back to that Monday morning 

 when I first started out to follow my Savior. 

 A friend suggested while criticising these 

 Papers, that I had pictured myself a prince 

 among sinners, and doubtless intended pict- 

 uring myself a prince among saints after my 

 conversion. In telling the plain truth as 

 nearly as I could with God's help, in the first 

 part of my biography, perhaps he was pretty 

 nearly right, but had I been able to say. that 

 I was a new man so far as to be without sin. 

 after my conversion, I should most assuredly 

 never have written a word. 



That Monday morning, I was, witli per- 

 haps the one exception I have spoken of, the 

 same A. I. Root that I had been all my life 

 before, only with a changed purpose. I 

 found within an hour, almost, that pride, 

 anger, ambition, and a host of other evil im- 

 pulses remained very much as they did be- 

 fore, ready to push forward at the slightest 

 encouragement, and I began to be appalled 

 at the fearful task I had undertaken. I gaz- 

 ed at the world before me, and was tempted 

 to turn back ; but, remembering the prom- 

 ise, I could only say again and again, "Help, 

 O my Savior, help me." Every time came 

 the answer, 'T am near: fear not, but go on." 



One of the first impulses was not to say a 

 word about it to my partner, but to let her 

 see what a "changed man" I was. and at the 

 bare thought came a feeling of pride; but 

 conscience said at once, let there be no hid- 

 ing, but let everything be plain and outspok- 

 en. Then, when telling, tier, what I was 

 going to do, came a disposition to boast of 

 how I would sacrifice property and life, if 

 need be, for the new cause, and although 



conscience said "Stop! stop!" if I recollect 

 aright, I said some things winch plainly in- 

 dicated that no great amount of wisdom had 

 yet come with the new life. Then, in my 

 usual haste, I was going to take back part of 

 it, but conscience said so strongly "Keep 

 still; let the matter rest where it is," that I 

 began to learn the very important lesson of 

 the wisdom of leaving things in even a bad 

 shape many times, rather than to waste 

 words in trying to set them right. During 

 those first few days, I heard over and over 

 again, "Keep still; let your actions more 

 than your words show you are trying to be a 

 Christian. There will be plenty of talking 

 for you to do by and by, and you will be told 

 when, and what to say ; but until then, keep 

 still, and wait patiently until your orders to 

 work come." 



With my restless disposition, I was a lit- 

 tle impatient at this, but I very soon found 

 my hands full, and in a way, too, that was 

 not a little unexpected, as well as humiliat- 

 ing. I was going to be a Christian, and 

 have every thought and motive pure in the 

 sight of God. I, who had been for years liv- 

 ing a life of falsehood, in some respects, ex- 

 pected in three or four days to be able to be 

 truthful to such a degree that God, who 

 reads one's thoughts, could see no difference 

 between them and the words that were ut- 

 tered to my fellow men. In trying to go 

 through with business one day, and do this 

 to the letter, I was utterly appalled to see 

 what a great mountain of work needed to be 

 done in that direction. Before nTght I be- 

 gan to stop and hesitate at every word I ut- 

 tered. I do not think I uttered any direct 

 falsehoods, even if I did come very near to 

 it a great many times ; but after a sentence 

 had been spoken, I saw how far the impres- 

 sion I had purposely conveyed differed from 

 the real thought that was in my mind. 

 Worst of all, I began to fear that it was im- 

 possible to do business successfully, and be 

 absolutely truthful. My customer would 

 hold up a piece of jewelry and say, 



"Mr. Root, you charge a dollar for that 

 article, and I do not believe it cost you over 

 75c." 



Perhaps the real truth of the case was, 

 that it did not cost 70c, but it seemed to me 

 then utterly impossible to explain to him 

 why goods of that description could not be 

 sold at the close figures of the necessaries of 

 life, which were sure sale and no losses from 

 styles changing, etc. What reply should I 

 make? lie was watching me closely, and 

 every word I could think of in the way of a 

 reply was sure to convey to him the idea, 

 that I had paid more than 75c. for the pin. 

 Excuses for doing so came, lots of them; 

 such as, that a great many of such goods 

 got out of style, and did not sell at all, and 

 that about a bushel of these goods lay in a 

 drawer near me, that I would be glad to sell 

 out for a tenth part of cost, and the pin, in 

 that way, cost a great deal more than 75c. 

 A better impulse kept saying, which is 

 worth the more, to have that new Presence 

 say, "Well done, thou good and faithful 

 servant," or to succeed in making a sale, by 

 doing as every body else does? I could tell 

 the man he had no right to ask such a ques- 



