1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



391 



for all these dangers is in accepting Christ 

 Jesus as the redeemer of mankind, and 

 putting your hand in his, and letting him 

 lead — in uniting with Christian people, and 

 in making the Bible your daily study — in 

 asking him daily, in the language of David, 

 to "create in me a clean heart, and renew 

 a right spirit within me." 



Since the above was written we learn by 

 the papers that Prof. Miller has been sen- 

 tenced to the penitentiary for life, and that 

 sentence was passed within 72 hours from 

 the time the murder was committed. May 

 God be praised for the fact that the law 

 does sometimes nowadays meet out a swift 

 punishment as well as a sure one! Now, 

 then, may all the world understand that 

 there is no need of lynching, especially 

 when it is possible by laiv to try a man and 

 sentence him within three days from the 

 time the crime was committed. 



PURCHASING REAL ESTATE WITHOUT SEE' 

 ING IT, IN ANSWER TO "SPREAD EA- 

 GLE" ADVERTISEMENTS ; ANOTHER 

 " FLORA " HOME. 



Dear Brother Root : — How I would enjoy grasping 

 your hand and having a good talk ! 1 have taken 

 Glkan ngs nearly all of the time since you began its 

 publication. Your Home talks have been of great in- 

 terest and help to Mrs. S. and myself in times past ; 

 and now when we are in trouMe we come to you for 

 such help as you may give us, and to caution others 

 who may be on the point of making the same disas- 

 trous move we have done. 



First, we wish you to notice the principal reasons 

 why we came to make our mistake ; namely, having 

 confidence in publishers and advertisements inserted 

 in our great and trusted religious papers, the Chris- 

 tian Herald, Christian Endeavor ?r'o> /of. and others. I 

 firmly believe it the duty of every editor and publisher 

 of a religious paper to be positively certain that every 

 thing contained in their papers, from beginning to 

 end, be clean and reliable, and to refuse all unclean, 

 doubtful, and fraudulent advertising, regardless of the 

 money loss to them, and I believe that they will have 

 to answer in the future for all the loss, injury, and 

 suffering caused by accepting fraudulent advertise- 

 ments. 



We are now in the widely advertised Maywood Colo- 

 nies, Corning, Tehama Co., Cal., under the manage- 

 ment of Foster & Woodson. I inclose, under another 

 wrapper, a copy of a booklet such as have been ^ind 

 are now being sent all over the world by the tens of 

 thousands ; also a copy of a regular paper published 

 by Foster & Woodson, and sent in like numbers, tell- 

 ing of the fine chances here to live and make money 

 by fruits and vegetables, etc. Please read them care- 

 fully, and then you can realize the situation, and the 

 fraud and injury being done to people in all parts of 

 our land. It is a fraud to conceal a fraud ; and before 

 God I can not keep quiet and let matters move along 

 as they are doing, and not let our good people know 

 something about this place. I shall tell only the 

 strict truth, and might add a great deal more with a 

 clear conscience. Doubtless I shall have to suffer se- 

 verely for doing my duty thus far. Foster & Woodson 

 are selling land right along to outside people every- 

 where, and people are coming in continuallj-, who 

 have bought land in the past, most of them having 

 had it planted out to trees for .some time. Upon arriv- 

 al they find things in bad shape — trees extremely 

 small and poor, many dead, land in bad shape, and 

 much of it very poor, and the outlook discouraging 

 for any profit in the future. Disappointment and 

 trouble are the rule. When they try to .sell out at al- 

 most any price, they find no one to buj', as there is a 

 general dissatisfaction and desire on the part of al- 

 most every one here to get away if possible ; but they 

 can not sell their property. 



On our way out here we became acquainted with a 

 fine gentleman and wife from New York, who owned 

 an orchard here, planted two years before for them. 

 They stayed some two or three months, lost nearly 



$2000, and returned home. There is good reason to be- 

 lieve that there are very many similar cases happen- 

 ing right along. Vegetables will not grow here to any 

 extent without water, and trees do not do much better. 

 There is vo way to get water except by power pump*- 

 ing, as wind power is nothing but a plaything. To 

 put in power pumps costs too much, for each one has 

 to look out for himself, and most of the people here 

 have already spent about all they have on land, trees, 

 and buildings. Those who had most have lost most. 

 I would say to all. don:t spend your money on proper- 

 ty until you have seen the place yourself, and then not 

 in a hurry, as there are many things that are wrong, 

 and to be found out only by waiting. Above all, do 

 not believe what is told by a lot here who wish to sell 

 out. 



Two years ago, after reading a great deal about this 

 place in books and papers similar to those sent you, 

 and seeing advertisements and notices in the papers 

 named, and others, we bought five acres of land here 

 at $oO per acre. La.st September we .sold our nice little 

 fai m and stock in Mas,sachusetts, stored our furniture 

 to be shipped later, and came to this colony — myself, 

 wife, and a large family of boys and girls. We found 

 the place very drear. There were three saloons, an 

 open bar in the Liersch Hotel, and one also in Hotel 

 Maywood, owned by Foster & Woodson. 



There was practically no fruit to be seen, as there 

 was none grown last year to speak of, on account of a 

 freeze in April. We began to look for work at once, 

 but could fi d none far or near until into November^ 

 and, when obtained, it was of the very hardest and 

 most disagreeable kind. Up to date all' the work pos- 

 sible to obtain has amounted to just $()6 85, and yet we 

 have all been anxious to work. All the money we had 

 left upon arrival was spent by Nov. 1 ; since then we 

 have .simply existed in a destitute and nearly starving 

 condition, as we were bound not togo in debt, even if 

 it had been possible. The above amount has been all 

 we have had to live on for five months — eight of us. 

 What we have suffered, God alone knows. Our land 

 is unsalable at any price We have lost our all, and 

 are left in a strange land among strangers, destitute, 

 discouraged, nearly starving and homesick beyond de- 

 scription When east we had plenty of everj' thing : 

 here, nothing ; and no ray of hopie tor the future. All 

 our hopes for our children are blighted unless we can 

 get away. 



If it were possible for me to return to Massachusetts 

 early this spring I could, by working at ray profession, 

 eani enough to keep us through the summer and pay 

 the passage of my family back east in the fall. But 

 how can I obtain the means to return ? I can not bor- 

 row it, for I have no security to give any one, except 

 my word, a good character, clean industrious habits, a 

 good profession, and good references. We trust God 

 will open a way out in some form. 



Yours in brotherly love. 



Corning, Cal ,Mar. 2-1. . 



I have given the above entire because it 

 tellsthe story better than any thing else can. 

 The accompanying booklets and periodicals 

 picture the locality as a veritable garden 

 of Eden; the finest illustration of Califor- 

 nia groves and fruit had been gathered the 

 State could furnish, and these were suppos- 

 ed to represent the locality in question. 

 While the above letter is doubtless a truth- 

 ful statement, I am inclined to think it gives 

 rather the dark side. In almost all sucli 

 places I have found men who are experts, 

 and who have probably an abundance of 

 means, who have made very pretty places 

 in spite of the discouraging surroundings; 

 but I found whole towns of people, both in 

 Florida and in California, who were very 

 greatly disappointed in just about the way 

 our brother has pictured it out to us. Now. 

 dear friends, take warning before you are 

 ''''beguiled'''' by these enticing pictures seen 

 in the advertisements of real-estate dealers. 

 I am pained almost every day to see whole 

 pages occupied in Christian home papers 

 by such advertisements; and I really fear 

 it is a fact that religious papers open their 

 columns to such swindles when the average 



