870 



GLEAIslNGS IN BEIE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



In all thv wavs acknowledge him, and he shall di- 

 rect thv paths.— Prov. 3:6. 



But the path of the just is as the shining light, that 

 shineth more and more unto the perfect day.— Prov. 

 4: 18. 



I am going- to talk about paths, and may 

 not, at least until toward the close, have 

 very much to say about the spiritual sense 

 of the two texts above. For a year past I 

 have been very much interested in "foot- 

 paths " and "wheel-paths," and, of course, 

 ' the whole matter of "good roads," the sub- 

 ject that is at present taking the attention 

 of our whole nation, comes in more or less. 

 One of the pleasant problems to solve, in 

 connection with our present location here in 

 the woods, is the matter of getting access 

 to and with the outer world. The nearest 

 highway is a good quarter mile through 

 woods, fields, and over hills. This is to- 

 ward the east. There is another on the 

 north, half a mile away, and on the west, 

 perhaps three-fourths of a mile. All of 

 these points are reached by foot-paths. 

 Some of these paths are over old lumber- 

 roads, as I have already explained. An- 

 other part is of my own making and plan- 

 ning. James Heddon once remarked in one 

 of our bee conventions, that humanity, for 

 some unaccountable reason, always follow 

 crooked paths. Who ever saw a foot-path 

 across a field on a straight line, or any- 

 where near straight? In deciding where to 

 have a path located over to our nearest 

 neighbor (and to the nearest highway), I 

 first stretched a strong slender cord where 

 I wanted people to walk. It would, of 

 course, have been desirable to have the path 

 along the line between two owmers; but this 

 would have made it much longer, besides 

 going over bad hills. With my neighbor's 

 consent I went right through one of the best 

 fields diagonally. First, I worked for the 

 shortest cut; secondly, for an even grade. 

 As we are, perhaps, 40 higher, a gradual 

 down grade was desirable; but to get this 

 there had to be more or less winding around 

 rising ground. Please notice, we can not 

 choose a straight line, nor can we go to un- 

 reasonable extremes in winding about in 

 order to have no ups and downs. Our steam 

 (and especially electric) railways have 

 made a real science of this matter. I am 

 sure it would save a great amount of time 

 and useless fatigue if wc around our homes 

 would make more of a science of the matter. 

 Children in going to school waste hours 

 every day, and strength that might well be 

 put to a better use, because of the lack of a 

 short easy path to and from school. AVhy, 

 my " scientific " foot and wheel paths right 

 through the woods are already appropriated 

 by the schoolchildren; and if you could see 

 them these October afternoons as they re- 

 turn from school through our woods on 

 "Clematis Avenue," singing as they come 



along in their neat school clothing, you 

 wotxld surely be converted to the importance 

 of my new hobby — better foot-paths every- 

 where that many people want to go. 



An excuse for the imscientific and absurd 

 paths has been given, that somebody first 

 walked through a field with no thought 

 that it would ever become a " beaten path," 

 and then everybody "just followed" his 

 crooked footsteps. M3' friend, is it not just 

 possible that you, to-day, are goingto "break 

 a path " for somebodyy Read our two texts 

 and then tell me if it is not important that 

 you take some pains to have the great 

 " Judge of all tlie earth " direct and assist 

 you in this work of path-making? 



Bvit I have not yet done with the paths 

 around "Our Homes." Will you not go 

 this minute to see if the path to the well, to 

 the spring, to the barn, to the pigpen, to 

 the out-buildings, to the clothes-line, and 

 everj'where else that j^ou and the children 

 go (especially the women folks and girls), 

 is just the best it can be? I almost forgot 

 the woodpile; but I hope you have by this 

 time got some arrangement so the firewood 

 is piled by the men either under the stove, 

 as I described on page 833, or somewhere 

 indoors in the dry, so no woman ever has to 

 go outdoors for wood. 



Now for the paths. If you can, by 11 

 day's work, save just one foot of going up 

 and down, it will be a day's work well in- 

 vested. If some obstacle stands in the waj' 

 of a shorter cut by jtist one yard, use quite 

 a good deal of time and some money to re- 

 move it. Read this Home Paper to your 

 wife (that is, if slie hasn't read it first) and 

 ask her if I am not exactly right. We are 

 two miles from the store and postoffice) and 

 my short cuts are appreciated here, I tell 

 you. Of course, I am doing work on land 

 that is not m}' own; and .some of the paths I 

 have spent money on are liable to be plowed 

 up in the spring; but I have had the fun of 

 making them, and have demonstrated their 

 valtie, so I expect to get help in my work in 

 due time. 



Ever3^ sort of obstruction should be got 

 out of the patch. In riding a wheel, a 

 round stone the size of a marble often gives 

 tlie rider a disagreeable wrench, and it has 

 seemed to me that every such round stone or 

 piece of root takes a malicious pleasure in 

 rolling into the middle of the path, and 

 bothering you every time you happen to 

 pass, especially when you are going up a 

 grade, carrying a load. At such a time 

 you make a crookeder course, especially 

 when you slow up when almost at the very 

 summit; and then to have a pebble or root 

 throw 3'ou ofi" just when you have exerted 

 j'our utmost strength to keep on — why, it 

 almost makes bad words come into your 

 thotights, even if you have tried ever so hard 

 to keep them out. Now, whenever I go that 

 way again on foot I make it my business to 

 pick up all such objects and hurl them far 

 avviiy. If 3'ou just kick theni to one side 

 you are sure to be bothered by that very 

 same crooked stick again. I have some- 



