1902 



GLEANINCiS IN BEE CULTURE. 



343 



When Mrs. Root and I left last fall there 

 remained a little pail of honey. It had 

 •candied during- the winter; and this can- 

 died honey, with my bread and butter, 

 while I drank the scalded milk from my tin 

 pail, seemed so delicious and streng-th-g-iv- 

 ing that I thanked God again, even though 

 I asked his blessing on the meal before I 

 started. 



Another thing- I found in that little cup- 

 board, that g-ave me great satisfaction, was 

 a can that came from the Sanitas P^ood Co., 

 of Battle Creek. It was labeled "Soup 

 Stock," and was intended to make soup, or 

 brown gravy, without the use of any meat. 

 I used it on my bread and butter, as I did 

 the candied honey, and I found it not only 

 exceedingly luscious but very nutritious 

 and strength-giving. 



Just a word about candied honey as a 

 health food. I was greatly delighted to find 

 I could eat this candied honey three times 

 a day, without any of the unpleasant re- 

 sults that honey has produced almost all 

 the past winter down in Ohio. Toward the 

 bottom of the pail, however, I discovered 

 the honey was not candied ; so I took a 

 spoon and began to eat that liquid honey in 

 the same way. I tried this ag-ain and 

 again. The liquid hone}' interfered with 

 digestion, and produced distress, while the 

 pure white candied honey I could eat with 

 impunity. Now, here is a point for those 

 who love honey and find it disagrees with 

 them. The pure white candied honey is 

 certainly different from the residue at the 

 bottom of the pail or jar. If you melt some 

 •of it you will find it is much whiter, and 

 freer from the rank odor that remains in the 

 honey at the bottom. Is it not Nature's 

 method of refining this luscious sweet? 



I came home strong and well — in fact, re- 

 joicing in my health and strength. It took 

 me just about an hour to prepare my meals 

 and have every thing put away — that is, 

 an hour for each meal; and the expense, as 

 nearly as I could figure it, was just about 

 a dollar a week for provisions. Now, of 

 course, many people can afford to pay a 

 dollar a day for board, or perhaps a dollar 

 a meal; and I have no quarrel with those 

 who prefer that way of living. But as for 

 me, give me the simple, inexpensive way, 

 especially as it gives me health and 

 strength that I have never found where I live 

 in what the world calls '"style." 



I forgot to say that in some respects I 

 g-reatly enjoj'ed living alone. I enjoyed g-o- 

 ing out in the evening and looking up at the 

 stars, realizing there was no human being 

 within a quarter of a mile of me. I rejoiced 

 in the privileg-e of singing old familiar 

 hymns out loud, feeling sure there was no- 

 body to laugh at me and look astonished 

 unless it was the chipmunks and squirrels.* 



*One of the hymns I greatly enjoyed was ■what we 

 used to call "free salvation," especially the stanza 

 which runs: 



Know, then, soul, thy full salvation; 

 Rise o'er pain and grief and care ; 

 Joy to find in every station 

 Something still to do or bear. 



I rejoiced, too, at the privilege of kneeling 

 down and thanking- God right out loud 

 whenever I felt it. Some of the friends who 

 read this will no doubt pronounce me 

 cranky, and say, "Bro. Root, why couldn't 

 you thank God in your heart, or, if you 

 choose, while standing up, just as well as 

 to kneel down?" 



Look here, my friend. Perhaps you have 

 never done it j-ourself, but you have heard 

 of boys or young men who kneeled at the 

 foot of their "best girl" while they kissed 

 her hand. And this was all right too. I 

 like to see a man who thinks enough of the 

 woman he is g"oing to marry, or has al- 

 ready married, to show his love and de- 

 votion, once in a while, by kneeling at her 

 feet; and if she is a good woman (like one 

 or two I know of) it will not make her 

 proud and lofty. Well, now, if it is all 

 right to kneel before a human being — one of 

 God's creatures — and a g^ood fashion too, 

 what is there wrong or inconsistent or lui- 

 reasonable in kneeling before the great God 

 above, who gave you life and being, who 

 has answered your praNers in giving 3'ou 

 health and strength, or helped you to sur- 

 mount any and all obstacles that stood in 

 the way of your happiness? During those 

 two weeks I spent there alone in the woods, 

 I thanked God more times for giving me a 

 human life to live than I ever did before in 

 the same length of time. Some time ago I 

 made the remark that if Solomon had helped 

 his wife in her household cares he would 

 never have said, "All is vanity." Now I 

 want to change it a little. If Solomon with 

 all his wisdom had gone off in the woods to 

 live alone for two weeks, doing his own 

 cooking-, and waiting on himself, I think he 

 might not only have thanked God without 

 even a g-limpse of the "vanity" business 

 coming into his head, but that he might 

 have swung his hat and shouted praises, 

 especially if his "outing" had been taken 

 in the woods of Northern Michigan. 



HIGH-PRESSURE PEACH-GROWING. 



When I first contemplated building that 

 cabin in the woods I said to friend Hilbert, 

 "These tall hills, so steep in manj' places 

 that a horse can not climb up them, are 

 probably of no use, and never will be, for 

 any thing." 



Yes, I did have some crosses to bear, up there in the 

 woods; artd I learned while there alone to find real joy 

 in bearing crosses, especially where the crosses were 

 for Chr st's sake. Just th 11k of it. friends. It is our 

 privilege as followers of Christ Jesus to rejoice when 

 we have persecution and trouble; and of course we 

 should rejoice, also, when we have "happy surprises" 

 (anybody can do that); and, finally, we can be happy 

 all the time ; and yet there are people in this world 

 ■who are committing suicide, rejecting this most won- 

 derful and precious gift God has given us— a human 

 life to live. 



