154 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



OUR 



hoMes; 



BY A.». ROOT. 



Watch and pray, that ye enter not into tempta- 

 tion. ^Matt. 20.-11' 



In our last I alluded one or more times to 

 the fact that this spirit of being contrary and 

 disobliging is more apt to show itself after we 

 become quite well acquainted. Years ago I 

 used to hear a sort of adage that " familiarity 

 breeds contempt." Dear friends, this should 

 not be. It is a sad reflection on humanity — 

 yes, on every one of us, when we assent to 

 any such proposition as this. If the adage 

 means tUat we should avoid getting so well 

 acquainted that we waste time in trifling, per- 

 haps it might answer ; but God forbid that we 

 should show less of a gentle Christian spirit 

 and common courtesy because we are quite 

 well acquainted. Yet it is true, I know, that 

 with young married people, after the honey- 

 moon is over, as they become acquainted and 

 adjust themselves to the intimate relations of 

 the home and family circle, it is very apt to 

 be the case that they begin gradually to show 

 out little disagreeable traits that were kept 

 out of sight during the days of courting and 

 the honeymoon. Somebody has suggested 

 that one of the comforts of a home is that 

 you can scold when you do not like things. 

 Now, I do not like that either. While you 

 are reading these words I expect to be away 

 off from my home, and much of the time a 

 guest in other homes. When we go away 

 from home on a visit, everybody knows we 

 must be gentle, kind, and courteous. Did you 

 ever have a visitor that was cross and crabbed ? 

 Why, he would be turned out of doors, al- 

 most. When somebody invites you to come 

 and make his home yours for a little time, 

 you put on your very best behavior. If there 

 is disorder in the new home you would not 

 think of noticing it. If the children's faces 

 are dirty you say to the good wife you well 

 know how impossible it is to keep children 

 clean all the time— that is, if she speaks about 

 their faces firs f. You would not speak about 

 it first for the world. If she begins to apolo- 

 gize because the bread was overdone, and 

 browned in baking, you make haste to tell 

 her that is just the way you like it baked, and 

 beg for the brownest portions. Now, /can 

 do this truthfully. I do not know just how it 

 is with you. I do not mean you should be un- 

 truthful ; but I do mean that you should, or, 

 rather, that you do use such courtesy and good 

 nature, even when things are wrong, that the 

 whole wide world expects of you. I need not 

 go any further. You all know how it is ; and 

 I have many times thought it did me good to 

 get away from home and practice for several 

 weeks in being pleasant, smiling, good-natur- 

 ed all the while. I remember after one trip I 

 took to California, I told them in prayer-meet- 

 ing (when I got home), that, during that trip, 

 my naturally impatient temper seemed to have 

 disappeared entirely. It was altogether out 



of sight. Why, I had really forgotten how to 

 scold. I learned it again, however, when I 

 got into the harness of business cares once 

 more. 



Now, why can not men and women be as 

 pleasant and good natured, as even-tempered, 

 always the same, in their own home, amid the 

 every-day cares, as when they are abroad and 

 invited guests. In the Pilgrim's Progress we 

 are introdaced to a character of whom it was 

 said he was " a sjint abroad but a devil at 

 home." Oh dear me ! this hits w/^ again. I 

 take some comfort, however, in thinking it 

 does not hit me as badly as it did a few years 

 ago. Mrs. Root herself told me recently (in 

 confidence), that I certainly was growing in 

 grace ; that the fashion that had followed me 

 all my life, of being harsh and severe when 

 things went wrong, was certainly getting into 

 the background, and that I was growing more 

 gentle and lovable. She did not use these 

 words, but it was something to that effect. 

 Now may God give me grace to keep on watch- 

 ing and praying as in the language of our 

 text. 



A few days ago, when I was over home a 

 signature was wanted in a hurry. It was nec- 

 essary to use ink — a pencil would not do. In 

 this day and age of typewriters, pen and ink 

 are not so much used as formerly, and Mrs. 

 Root flew around to find a pen and a bottle of 

 ink. The latter was soon found ; but even 

 when it was tipped up on one corner there was 

 scarcely ink enough to moisten the pen ; and 

 when the point of the pen was moistened it 

 would not write. I presume it was too old 

 and rusty. I do not know whether I com- 

 menced or not ; but it came right to my 

 tongue's end to say, "Well, I wonder if it 

 takes all this time and fuss to get just a pen 

 and ink." But it was so long before the pen 

 and ink were forthcoming that I began to get 

 impatient again, and came pretty near saying, 

 " Well, now, this is a pretty state of affairs, if 

 it takes ka/y an hour to find a pen, and ink 

 enough just to write one's name." I am sure 

 I did not make the latter remark, and I rather 

 think I did not say any thing. Perhaps I 

 groaned a little inwardly to think I could not 

 have the privilege of speaking out my mind. 

 Shall I tell you why I could not, here in this 

 " free country " of ours, express my thoughts ? 

 Well, just now Mrs. Root and I are the only 

 inmates of our very pretty comfortable home. 

 If this convenient home does not afford a pen 

 and ink it is the fault of us two ; and as I was 

 the grumbler it could not be my fault, so it 

 must be her fault — the fault of " the woman 

 you love." There it was again. More than 

 that, this ugly speech would dishonor Christ 

 Jesus our Lord and Savior — he who spake to 

 his followers the words of our text. May be 

 you say again, " O Mr. Root ! you are mak- 

 ing a big fuss about trifling matters. These 

 things happen everywhere, and no good wife 

 or husband lays them up or feels particularly 

 hurt. Wait a minute. Not many years ago 

 a man rushed into the house and asked his 

 wife for a pen and ink to sign some contract. 

 They had the same kind of "racket" I have 

 been telling you about. The husband became 



