AUGUST 1, 1915 



641 



A. I. Root 



OUM HOME 



Editor 



Her price is far a"i>ove rubies. — Prov. 31:10. 



Train up a child in flic way he should go, and 

 w'lcn lie is old he will not depart from it. — Peov. 

 •J2:6. 



l^y invitation I travc a talk to the Woos- 

 tcr snnuner sl-IiooI of teachers (mostly 

 schoolnia'anis) at AVooster, O., the suggest- 

 ed topic being- "Some Lessons of Eighty 

 Years."* As 1 am not quite 76 years old I 

 oannot very well go back as far as eighty 

 years of personal experience. I have a dim 

 recollection, however, of something that oc- 

 curred 72 years ago. I remember a broad 

 open fireplace with a brisk warm fire, for it 

 was winter time. I was supported on warm 

 pillows in a rocking-chair. At the right and 

 left and back of me thick warm blankets 

 were hung up. .How did I come to be in this 

 predicament and with such suiToundings ? 

 Well, some da\s before, I had caught cold, 

 and T think I had an attack of croup. Our 

 family doctor was called ; and as he went 

 away he said : 



" Do not let that child even so much as 

 look out of doore, for he is threatened with 

 lung fever." 



"\Vell, not long after the doctor's visit, 

 preparations were being made to brimstone 

 a hive of bees to get the honej'. Let me 

 remark- here that my good motlier had said 

 that at e\en that time of my life I was a 

 great hand to ask questions. T wanted to 

 know the whys and wherefores of all the 

 wonderful things going on in this teeming 

 world. I had tasted honey, and asked 

 uhrre the bees got it and how they got it. 

 Then when they talked of killing the faith- 

 ful and industrious little insects I had a lot 

 mo!P questions. I asked if there was not 

 some other way, and where they would get 

 more bees to gather honey the following 

 summer, etc. 



Xotwitiistanding the doctor's orders, eve.i 

 if T knew of it, in my enthusiasm to 

 know more about the bees 1 forgot or ig- 

 nored it; and when the wooden latch to 

 that ru.sitic door of the little log house was 

 " unketched" I pulled the door open, and. 

 childlike, pushed out to see what they were 

 doinir with their shovel of coals and brim- 

 stone.! T stubbed ray toe, or slipped on 



*Vith some changres I propose to give this talk, 

 and I hope my trood friends will pardon me if I 

 fell of/niM some things that T havu already given on 

 these pa?i'S in the pa.^t. To make ray story coiitiuu- 

 ovH T rannnt very well avoid these- repetitions. 



tPlpiisp ren.enilicr that friction niatchi-s were not 

 invented at that early day. The only way to start 

 a fire was the old f&shioned flint and steel, or e;o to 

 tilt neishhors for a .shovelful of coals; and it was 

 Kettine a shovelful of coals out of the old fireplace 

 to hrinistone the hees, probably, that aroused mv 

 curiosity. 



tlie snow, and the first thing the crowd 

 aiound tiie hives knew of my presence was 

 to find me fallen down, with my hands 

 sprawled out in the snow. By this time my 

 mother or one of my older sisters was ask- 

 ing, "Where is the baby?" 1 was carried 

 in and placed in front of the fire as mention- 

 ed above. I grew rapidly worse, and final- 

 ly a council of doctors was called. But 

 tliey said it was too late — the child -was pa.st 

 help; his falling down in the snow was more 

 than he could stand in his frail condition. 

 Tliey gathered up their medicines, and told 

 my good mother there was no use of 

 their coming any more; the baby would not 

 likely live till morning. But molher did not 

 give up. Did you ever know a mother to 

 gi\e up? She watched over me, and in the 

 stillness of the night prayed that the little 

 snark of life might be kept going. After 

 days and perhaps weeks of untiring cai-e 

 and devotion her prayers were answered. 

 Some one inquired which one of the three 

 doctors had succeeded in pulling me through. 

 The doctor replied, " No doctor and no 

 medicines saved his life. It was the moth- 

 er's love and the mother's prayers." " Her 

 price is far above rubies." I lived; but 

 I was a feeble child, not only for months 

 but years. Wlien I went to school they 

 laughed at me and called me " Pipestem." 

 But although T was pipestems physically I 

 could keep up with any of the rest, men- 

 tally. As soon as I was old enough T was 

 taken to Sunday-school; and I one sab- 

 bath astonished the class by repeating forty 

 veises of scripture; and when the older 

 children lauglipd at my unending curiosity 

 and odd questions, mother used to say, 

 " Amos, when he gi'ows up, will be just as 

 smart and capable as any of you. You 

 watch and see." 



As a consequence she gave me, perhaps, 

 more loving care than any of the other six 

 wlio were strong and healthy. Some good 

 doctor told her to keep me in the open air 

 as much as possible; and this is why 1 have 

 always been so fond of gardening and .seeing 

 things grow. She taught me to care for 

 the chickens, and told me all she could 

 about bees. 



I think I was between nine and ten years 

 old when I found a chapter on electricity in 

 our old doctor book. At that time we had 

 .So few )>apers and periodicals in the home 

 that I had at that age read over pretty 

 much pverythiiig in print to be found in 

 our humble home, including the dictionary 

 and the "doctor book." I was so excited 



