990 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



simplicity. When we attempted to tell her 

 of his tricks and hypocrisy she still insisted 

 that there was a mistake somewhere, and 

 that he was a good man. We all considered 

 it the best joke of the season. Well, as I 

 look back and think it over I recognize that 

 it was so all through her life; and it was 

 her privilege, if I may so call it, to talk 

 with some of the wickedest men (and wo- 

 men too) that can be found in any commu- 

 nity. When she talked with them she be- 

 lieved they were good, and meant to do 

 right, and I honestlj' believe they did mean 

 to do better and be honest and true, at least 

 while they talked with mother Root. Nay, 

 more than that: I believe the glimpse they 

 got of her true honest Christian life was 

 such that they were ever after better men 

 and women for having had just one little 

 talk with one who so emphatically all 

 through her long life "thought no evil." 

 I hardly need say that she never rejoiced 

 in iniquity. She was sorry for everybody 

 in misfortune. An old neighbor who lived 

 with her before I can remember said to me 

 the day of her funeral that in those early 

 days in the woods, when they had sickness 

 and other calamities, and were just about 

 discouraged, her bright hopefulness was 

 worth more to them than the doctor and his 

 medicine. Her help was not words onl3^ 

 While she explained to them that things 

 might be worse, and how thej' could go to 

 work to make them better, she tock off her 

 things and went to work with hands, feet, 

 and brain — yes, and with a loving heart. 



When I was between thirty and forty 

 3'ears of age I ran across a part of a text 

 that somebody had painted on the fence — 

 "Love j-e your enemies," etc. It seemed 

 to me a pretty hard task — too great for 

 average humanity. I talked with mother 

 about it, and I told her that I honestly be- 

 lieved that that text came from heaven — that 

 it was above earth and earthly things. 

 I was an unbeliever at that time; but I 

 knew and recog7iized that it was not a hard 

 task for her to love her enemies and "do 

 good" to those who hated her. Why, come 

 to think about it, there was not anybody 

 who "hated" her. In her whole life of 

 ninety years I can not now call to mind a 

 single person who hated my mother. There 

 are quite a number who hate A. I. Root; 

 and from what I know of the chap I can not 

 say I blame them very much. Perhaps if 

 mother had tried to run a big factory and 

 publish a bee journal it might have been 

 different; but God did not call her to do that 

 work. He called her to bring up the seven 

 children so that they would be better fitted 

 for work of this kind; and she did her part 

 well. No matter what the result has been, 

 she certainly did her part in the work. I 

 think I can say truthfully that whatever 

 there has been good and helpful about these 

 Home Papers that have been going on now 

 for 27 years is due largely to the teachings 

 and instructions I got from my mother. She 

 demonstrated and proved right before m}^ 

 very ej^es the truthfulness of Scripture 



texts. If I had not caught on to some of her 

 grand precepts I should have been dull and 

 stupid; and may God be praised that, 

 through the dear Savior's help, I have been 

 instrumental in pointing tlie world to the 

 unexplored regions that are to be found in 

 weaving these grand truths into our every- 

 day lives. I told you she did not rejoice in 

 iniquity; but, oh how she did rejoice in the 

 truth! When her mind began to fail, and 

 she lost interest in the affairs of life, if one 

 were to commence to tell her that somebody 

 she knew had just united with the church, 

 her whole sympathies would be aroused. 

 She would wake up, as it were, and inquire 

 for further particulars, and thank God that 

 one more had been ushered into his king- 

 dom. 



My mother was hopeful. She was al- 

 ways looking for sunshine, and she always 

 found it. It was fortunate in man}"^ re- 

 spects that she was so, for father was given 

 to depressed spells. He would have the 

 "blues," and her mission seemed to be to 

 brighten him up. Now, do not understand 

 me that mother was all right and father all 

 curorig. It is a good thing to have the blues 

 sometimes. It is a good thing for the seven 

 children that we had ?i father as well as a 

 inotiier. Mother alone would have been in- 

 clined to let some of the young Roots get 

 pretty wild. We were a stift-necked lot. 

 It the rest of the seven object to this I will 

 change it and say that / was a stitt'-necked 

 youngster, and often needed punishment; 

 and mother would have been so sure that I 

 did not mean to be bad that she would not 

 have punished me. Father believed in hav- 

 ing every thing straight and square. He 

 could not tolerate crookedness in deal any 

 m' 're than mother could tolerate sham ; and 

 when he found a man who was crooked he 

 was alwa3's ready to put him in jail or 

 publish him in the papers, and let every- 

 body know about it. With mother to hold 

 him back they two made a pretty good 

 team, not only in the family but in the 

 neigliborhood. 



Once on a time a stone mason owed father 

 some money, and he would not pay it. fea- 

 ther got hold of the mason's tools, and told 

 him he could not have them till he paid 

 him up. Mother said it was too bad for 

 the poor man to lose a day's work because 

 he could not get his tools; and she told fa- 

 ther before he went away to his work that 

 she would give the mason his tools if he 

 came after them. Father hid them, and 

 told her, as he went away, she might do so 

 if she could find them. She found them bur- 

 ied in some barrels of wheat, and the mason 

 went oft' to his work rejoicing. Sometimes 

 it was a question as to which of the two 

 was right — justice or mercy, as we might 

 say. But both together they made a very 

 useful couple in the affairs of life, even in 

 those early days. In later years father had 

 trouble about a line fence. Since his death 

 it has transpired that he was was right and 

 his neighbors wrong. He dwelt on his 

 wrong-s so much about the line fence that 



