1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



67 



OUR 



homes; 



BY A, I. ROOT. 



If it be possible, as much as lieth in j'ou, hve peace- 

 ably with all men. — Romans 1:2 : IS. 



When I started that uevv home in the 

 woods I have talked so mnch about, I told 

 you I resolved to have pleasant relations 

 with all of my new neighbors if it was a 

 possible thing. Then there was another 

 big reason why I should set a good exam- 

 ple before this people, in avoiding any thing 

 that had the appearance of jangle or ill 

 feeling. When I gave them a talk in the 

 little church one Sunday evening I used for 

 my text, "Love ye your enemies; do good 

 to them that hate you.'' I spoke about re- 

 turning good for evil, and conquering even 

 bad people by love. I had a pretty good 

 houseful to talk to. Now, after that talk it 

 would look very bad indeed for me to have 

 difficulty or disagreement with any one in 

 that vicinity. These good friends would be 

 sure to tell me to practice what I preached 

 on that Sundaj^ evening. They would be 

 sure to say, "Mr. Root, you have told how 

 you triumphed over enemies and all other 

 difficulties away down in Ohio, and we 

 shall expect, of course, you will demon- 

 strate the correctness of your teaching \>y 

 the daily life you live here among us." 



You see I had not only gone tlirough the 

 bars, but I had put t/ion up beliind me, as 

 it were. Once when I was talking to a 

 class of ro\igh boys, and striving to show 

 them the beauty of returning good for evil, 

 and turning the other cheek when somebody 

 strikes you, one youngster said at the close, 

 "Mr. Root, do you mean to say that, if any- 

 body hits you, you are not going to hit 

 back?" I told him I should try hard not 

 to hit back. He drew in a long breath, and 

 his face expressed that he thought it was a 

 prett}' big undertaking, and added, in an 

 undertone, "Well, Diay be you would; but 

 I should like mightily to see somebody try 

 it on you." ' % 



I have often thought of this remark. I do 

 not know that I have had any downright 

 blows to test my temper from that daj' to 

 this; but I have had some pretty severe 

 trials, or at least so they seemed to me. 



Now, I wish to tell you a little stor3S and 

 may God give me grace to tell it without 

 bias, and without letting selfishness creep 

 in to make me screen myself and lay the 

 blame on my neighbor more than it should 

 be laid on him. As I undertake this task 

 I know my wejikness. Thousands of times 

 I have tried to tell of some difficulty I had 

 with somebody, andtotell it ingenuously — to 

 tell it without screening myself, and with- 

 out laying more blame on the other part}' 

 than he deserved. I tell you, friends, this 

 has been a hard thing to do. You have some 

 complicated transaction with a neighbor. 

 It is as natural as to breathe to tell people 



who inquire about it, \\n\v oaod and fair and 

 kind you have been in the whole matter, and 

 how selfish and imjust and unfair your op- 

 ponent has been. Without meaning to, you 

 tell everybody what anexceedinglygoodman 

 you are, and what a very bad man the 

 "other fellow" is. Selfishness keeps fol- 

 lowing me up, coming close beside me — yes. 

 even whispering over my shoulder, suggest- 

 ing certain words and expressions that will 

 just about fill the bill. Just as soon as I 

 begin to tell the story I find he (self) is 

 right at hand, and before I know it he is 

 getting in his work. I chase him oft", and 

 think he is clear out of the neighborhood ; 

 but just as soon as I become once more ab- 

 sorbed in my topic he is there when I least 

 suspected him. It makes me think of a dog 

 that belonged to a bee-keeper whom I was 

 visiting. He was not going to let me come 

 in the gate; but after the family had called 

 him away he kept slipping back noiseless- 

 ly, and sniffing at me, smelling of my feet 

 and clothing in a sort of snarling suspi- 

 cious way. The family remonstrated with 

 him, but he seemed to think he knew what 

 sort of a chap I was better than they did. 

 (I have wondered sometimes if he was not 

 right and they wrong. ) He evidently did 

 not like the smell of me; although I have 

 always tried to keep sweet and clean, es- 

 pecially when I was visiting bee-keepers. 

 They ordered him away several times. P^i- 

 nally my good friend the bee-keeper told 

 me to give him a good kick and then he 

 would go off and stay away. Well, he had 

 annoyed me so much I could have kicked 

 him with exceedingly good grace; in fact, 

 I fairly ached to give him "one" inider the 

 chops. I just craved to hear him go lioivl- 

 ing- ofi with pain; but you know it would 

 not look well for A. I. Root, after all his 

 talk and teachings, to be seen kicking vi- 

 ciously at a dog, even if the dog's owner 

 tiad advised so doing. So I put up with it 

 and actually forgot all about the dog sever- 

 al times, when all at once I became con- 

 scious of something touching my clothing — 

 first one spot and then another; £ind then 

 the folks would say, "Wh}', what does ail 

 that dog? We never knew him to hang 

 around one like that before, and to be so sus- 

 picious. Usually, after he has satisfied 

 himself that somebody he had not seen be- 

 fore is all right, he goes and lies down, and 

 behaves himself." 



I declare, I do not know but I am almost 

 "giving myself away" in telling this little 

 incident; but it can not be helped. To-day. 

 at least, I want to stand honestly before 

 you all. May be I have some good traits. 

 If so, I thank God for them; but there are 

 lots of grievous imperfections, and may be 

 3'our sympathy will help me to do better if 

 I own up. I am now going to try to tell 

 you my story; but the temptation all through 

 will be so great to make it appear that I 

 am a very fair and liberal sort of man I 

 am afraid it will be biased in my favor in 

 spite of any thing I can do. Satan, in the 

 shape of self, will be hanging around me 



