328 



JVl Friends: , 

 I am get- ^ 

 ting to be an ' 

 " old man," and f 

 very likely I >^ 

 shall tell you of 

 things of long . 

 ago that I have 

 told, maybe, 

 over and over 

 again ; but I 

 think some of it 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall 

 ■ct. thy paths." 



May, 1919 



crowd filled the 

 church. I asked 

 the five pastors 

 to speak 10 

 minutes each. 

 Of course they 

 were glorious 

 sermons or 

 " sermonettes." 

 May I venture 

 to say that I 

 have liked short 



may be new, or new to some of my hearers. 

 When I fii'st became a member of the 

 Medina Congregational Church, or perhaps 

 a little before, I went out on the street, m 

 front of my store, and invited neighbors 

 and all to " come to church." 



My next neighbor, a grocer, replied, 

 " You mean, of course, come to your 

 church?" 



"No," replied I, "Come to any of our 

 Medina churches. We are having excel- 

 lent union meetings." 



A bystander remarked, " Oh, Mr. Root, 

 that is ' too thin.' We all loiow every man 

 is working for his own church." 



At this^point the first speaker gave me a 

 challenge. Said he : " Mr. Root, there are 

 five churches in town. You get all five 

 ministers to stand side by side in one pul- 

 pit, and I will come to church." A chorus 

 from the crowd responded with " I " and 

 " I " and " I." Then they laughed and 

 "jeered" because they thought they had 

 me " in a comer." 



I wasn't to be balked, however, and I re- 

 I)lied, "Good! I will do it, and I will start 

 right off: this minute to arrange for it." 



Four of the five clergymen welcomed the 

 invitation, but the fifth objected. He cold- 

 ly replied that had I known anything of 

 the rules of their denomination I would not 

 have come on such an eiTand. I went out 

 feeling that I had been somewhat " snub- 

 bed." Now, friends, comes one of my first 

 experiences of quick ansAvers to prayer. 

 This parsonage was about half a mile out 

 of town. On my way back I prayed out 

 loud that my new-found Savior and Re- 

 deemei- would take the matter in hand and 

 do what I had failed to do. I confess that 

 I was a little stirred up at my rebuke, but 

 while I was talking I heard rapid, heavy 

 footfalls on the wooden sidewalk behind 

 me. A good brother came up and clapped 

 his hand on my shoulder and said, " Mr. 

 Root, our pastor his reconsidered his re- 

 fusal and bids me catch you before you get 

 back and say lie will come, and will take 

 such part in the meeting as you may wish." 

 It was noised around town and a great 



sermons ever 

 since? And do I need to tell you that quite 

 a revival followed? There may be some in 

 this audience who came " out of darkness 

 into light " at those veiy union meetings 

 tliat followed. 



At one church there was trouble about 

 getting tlie janitor to have the church 

 warmed and in order. I went to see him. 

 He said the church refused to pay him ex- 

 tra for so many more meetings. They hired 

 him by the year. Said I, " Mr. T., how 

 much do you think you should have to make 

 it fair and christianlike?" 



The meetings went on and some of that 

 church asked why the janitor had all at 

 once become so pleasant and willing. He 

 replied that I had paid him the extra. A 

 good brother called for a collection to pay 

 back what Mr. Root had paid their janitor. 

 With the " revival on " they soon got 

 enough and more too. 



Among the converts was a young man 

 just starting in the grocery business. He 

 came to me, asking what I thought about 

 his selling tobacco. He said he did not 

 care so uuich about selling to grown men, 

 but it hurt his conscience to sell to young 

 boys. I suppose you know what A. I. Root 

 would say. Well, he came to me later 

 in great trouble. One good customer who 

 had called for quite a lot of goods, when he 

 found our young friend was not going to 

 keep tobacco any more, went off, leaving 

 his goods on the counter, to trade where 

 they were not so fanatical. I asked the 

 grocer to go with me and talk with our 

 pastor. After a season of prayer the good 

 minister put his hand on the young man's 

 shoulder and said, " W., don't be worried, 

 for as long as you are listening to the 

 Aoice of conscience, as jou have told us, 

 God loill take care of you."* 



During the 40 or more years that have 

 passed, gi'oceries, many of them, have been 

 started in Medina, many of them fine ones, 

 but none of them have stood the test of 40 



*In the hymn book, Alexander's Gospel Songs, 

 is a beautiful hymn that we often sins in our 

 Presbyterian Sunday School entitled. " God Will 

 Take Care of You." When we sing it I often think 

 of the young grocer of years ago. 



