84 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



do you any good ; and I have heard it urged 

 that, unless you pay five, ten, or twenty 

 dollars you may not take the pains to carrj' 

 out the treatment. This may be true; but 

 it is a rather sad reflection on humanity. 

 The principal thing I object to is the prac- 

 tice of having form letters printed in such 

 manner as to appear as having been type- 

 written. The Sunday School Times says 

 deception is always wrong; and the Bible 

 says so too, but perhaps not in just so many 

 words. Now, these form letters, skillfully 

 planned to make you believe the great doc- 

 tor has actually written to you, having no- 

 body else in mind, are, in my opinion, 

 mailed with the purpose to deceive. Sev- 

 eral times lately I have carried such letters 

 to our Mr. Boyden, who is an expert along 

 this line, and asked him if the letter in 

 my hand was printed or written ; and 

 sometimes it bothers even him to tell. The 

 " A. I. Root, Medina, 0.," is unquestionably 

 put on with a typewriter; but the shade of 

 ink agrees so perfectly with the body of the 

 letter that it is hard to determine. While I 

 severely censure this form of deception I 

 am well aware that some of our religious 

 denominations are making use of this 

 scheme. 



Some of my friends think I am too severe, 

 and suggest that people will take more pains 

 to read a letter than they would a printed 

 leaflet. Even if this is true, I am sure that 

 in the long run it pays to he strictly honest. 

 It is well enough io use every honest means 

 to attract attention and to get people to read 

 what you want them to know; but is it not 

 very much better to avoid deception of any 

 kind — to avoid even the appearance of evil, 

 as we have it in the good book? 



Last, but not least, is it honest to take 

 $20.00 for something you have to sell if 

 you can, then wait a while and start up some 

 excuse for offering the same thing for $5.00 

 or even less? My oldest granddaughter, 

 who is just now at school in Oberlin, tells 

 me, in talking over the matter, that one of 

 the text-books in their school warns the 

 public against quack doctors who advertise 

 " treatment " for 3^20.00, then $10.00, then 

 $5.00, and so. Is it honest to take $20.00 

 from unsuspicious and confiding people, 

 and then let others have the same thing for 

 $10.00 or even $5.00? 



In conclusion, let me ask once more, are 

 these persons and firms who are attempting 

 to obtain your money by mailing these form 

 letters to you in the manner above set forth 

 any better than pickpockets in general? I 

 think not. Call your family physician 

 (your neighbor and one whom you know). 

 when you are ailing, and get his advice. 



I always tell our doctor I would much 

 rather pay him for advice than for medi- 

 cine. Far better give your money to hon- 

 est men whom you have known for years 

 than to hand it over to pickpockets. 



I forgot to mention that the instruction is 

 to finish up with a sponge bath after each 

 course of gymnastics. Now you can all 

 have the benefit of it, without paying twen- 

 ty, ten, nor even five dollars. ■ Oftentimes 

 I feel too tired to go through my exercises 

 before retiring; but after I have thrashed 

 about and got well warmed up, and per- 

 haps a little tired, and then wind up bj^ 

 rubbing myself with my wet hands all over 

 my body, and getting scrubbed off with 

 a towel, I feel tiptop. In the irorning our 

 bathroom is generally a little cold, and 

 oftentimes I feel reluctant ab.)ut taking a 

 sponge bath. Well, after the exercises it is 

 just fun to wash all over, as I lif-ve recently 

 described, then have a good rubbing with a 

 towel. Then I do not mind the cold a bit. 



" OXYPATHY " FINALLY GETTING ITS JUST 

 DUES. 



See below, clipped from the Rural of 

 Nov. 28 : 



" OXYPATHY " FINALLLY GETTING ITS JUST DUES. 



The oxypathor has at last been adjudged a fraud 

 by a court of law. The Federal court at Rutland, 

 Vermont, found the manager of the Oxypathor Com- 

 pany, of Buffalo, N. Y., guilty of using the mails 

 to defraud, and he received a sentence of 18 months 

 in the Federal prison at Atlanta, Ga. This scheme 

 seemed to have been operated by several companies 

 which controlled certain territory. Besides the one 

 in Buffalo there was one in New York city, which 

 was driven out of business some time back by the 

 Vigilance Committee of the AdveiPtising Men's 

 League. There was also one in Chicago, and an- 

 other operated at one time from some point in 

 Pennsylvania. 



The oxypathor is a small box filled with sawdust 

 and some other inert matter. It is provided with a 

 cord at each end; and the patient was to attach one 

 string to his head and the other to his feet. The 

 claims were that this would cause an extra amount 

 of oxygen to be forced into the blood, and that a 

 cure would follow. Doctors and chemists who exam- 

 ined the box and analyzed its contents invariably as- 

 serted that the matter was inert, and could have no 

 physical effect whatever on the patient. The cost of 

 the instrument was $35.00. They were sometimes 

 sold under guarantee : but we were never able to get 

 the cash returned. We exposed it several times in 

 the past, but the advertisements appeared quite reg- 

 ularly in papers of high and low degree. 



COMING TO FLORIDA TO SPEND THE WINTER, 

 ETC. 



As I have been having quite a number of 

 letters of late, similar to the one below, I 

 submit this one with the answer I have 

 penned on a postal card. 



A. I. Root: — Having learned through Gleaning.s 

 of your making your home in Florida during the 



