March, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



181 



" No, my friend. 1 do not know who 

 your lawyer is; but 1 will submit the whole 

 matter to him, and abide by his decision." 



A good deal to my surprise his lawyer 

 decided against me. But there was noth- 

 ing to do but to keep my promise. I pro- 

 tested something like this: 



" First, our friend neglected to carry his 

 credit slip to the office as he was expected 

 to do and get his money. Second, we were 

 in no way to blame for the fact that he 

 had forgotten his spectacles. Third, he de- 

 manded a price away beyond the market 

 value and what we had been paying other 

 jieople right along for months past." 



After our friend had started home the 

 attorney followed me and said something 

 as follows: 



" Mr. Root, I know you are a little sur- 

 prised at my decision but I have known 

 this old gentleman for years. He has tried 

 in his way to lead a Christian life. In 

 fact, he used to preach occasionally years 

 ago. He has been badly used, and he is a 

 little rude and inclined to rush to the con- 

 elusion that everybody wants to cheat him. 

 This small amount of money means a great 

 deal more to him than it does to you. But 

 he is headstrong, and probably would not 

 be satisfied with anything else." 



All this happened so quickly that I got 

 back to prayer meeting and picked up my 

 Bible, and when opportunity was offered 

 I made something of an apology for rush- 

 ing out as I did at the beginning of the 

 meeting, and I told them the whole story; 

 and altho I had come back with a few 

 dollars less I had a good conscience, void 

 of offense toward either God or man, and 

 with a better understanding of the pre- 

 cious words of our text than I had ever 

 had before. 



My good friends, I hope this little story 

 will help you to get over some of the 

 rough places in life. This old gentleman 

 was a good friend of mine after that until 

 his death. I do not think he ever apolo- 

 gized for his unkind words; but perhaps 

 that was not his way of doing. During 

 this long busy life of mine I can not recall 

 now that I ever had a lawsuit — that is, 

 where I alone was concerned in the matter. 

 At one time, as some of you remember, the 

 beekeepers of our land, and perhaps other 

 lands, were threatened with a monopoly 

 of the one-piece honey-boxes. For the 

 good of the beekeepers I went into an ex- 

 pensive lawsuit, and it was finally carried 

 u]) to the United States Supreme Court. 

 But this was a matter where the public 

 good was at stake. 



A friend of mine suggested yesterday 



that the beautiful text about loving our 

 enemies and doing good to those who hate 

 us refers unquestionably to personal ene- 

 mies and not to the enemies of God; and 

 he suggested that in fighting against Ger- 

 many we might consider Germany as the 

 enemy of God and the enemy of righteous- 

 ness, if there ever has been such an enemy 

 since the world began. The text I have 

 been quoting unquestionably refers to mis- 

 understandings .and lawsuits between 

 neighbors. Of course, it may have a larg- 

 er application to nations. But even the 

 Savior himself, when speaking of uphold- 

 ing the laws of God and the laws of man, 

 said, " I came not to send peace on earth ; 

 I came not to send peace, but a sword," 



Just one word more in regard to the 

 concluding text. When I came back to 

 prayer meeting I had a little less money 

 in my pocket ; but I had in my heart " the 

 peace of God that passeth all understand- 

 ing." There are two morals that I should 

 like to impress with the above story — the 

 habit of attending regularly your weekly 

 prayer meeting. At the time of this story 

 our prayer meeting was at 2 o'clock on 

 Saturday afternoon. Let me tell you of 

 one incident of years ago. A stranger 

 came, I think from somewhere down east. 

 He got off the stage at the American house 

 in the center of our town, and asked the 

 landlord how he could manage to get hold 

 of A. I. Root as soon as possible. The 

 landlord answered : 



" My friend, if you will sit down in that 

 chair, right there, A. I. Root will go past 

 you inside of five minutes, or perhaps a 

 little more." 



The stranger laughingly replied : 



" Why, how is it possible you can be so 

 sure that A. I. Root will be here as you 

 say?" 



The hotel-keeper, who was not a Chris- 

 tian — in fact, he was a good way from it, 

 I fear, replied : 



" It is now just about time for the bell 

 to ring for the prayer meeting over in 

 that old brick church; and Mr. Root is al- 

 ways on hand unless something very unex- 

 pected happens. You will see him in just 

 a few minutes coming at a very rapid pace, 

 for he is a very busy man, with his Bible 

 in his hand." 



Now, this landlord respected me be- 

 cause of my well-known habit of attending 

 prayer meeting; and had it not been for 

 this prayer-meeting habit of mine I might 

 have had a troublesome lawsuit. 



The second moral is the advantage of be- 

 ing in daily touch and contact with God's 

 holy word. If you, my good friends, each 



