GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



And God said, Let us make man in our image, 

 after our likeness. — Gen. 1:26. 



And the Lord God said. It is not good that a man 

 should be alone: I will make him a help meet for 

 him. — Gen. 2:18. 



And God blessed them, and God said unto them, 

 be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, 

 and subdue it. — Gen. 1:28. 



FOR almost if 

 not quite 50 

 years we have 

 been having vis- 

 itors here at the 

 Home of the 

 Honeybees; and 

 they come from 

 not only all 

 over our nation; 

 but oftentimes 

 from away 

 across the seas. 

 For many years 

 after the busi- 

 ness was started 

 it was part of 

 my work to re- 

 ceive said visi- 

 tors and pilot them over the premises out 

 in the apiary, as well as thru the different 

 parts of the manufacturing departments. 

 Some friend (I can not remember who it 

 was) once said something like this: 



" Mr. Root, sooner or latei', when he 

 meets a stranger, asks him three questions, 

 or something equivalent to three questions. 

 First, 'Are" you, my friend, a professing 

 Christian? Do you stand up before the 

 world as a follower of the Lord Jesus 

 Christ f After having received some sort 

 of reply to this first question, the next is 

 pretty sure to be, 'Are you a married manf 

 After that comes the question, 'Have you 

 some children f " 



In thinking it over of late I do not know 

 but, even tho 50 years have gone by, I still 

 feel like asking the above, in about the or- 

 der I have gi\"en them, of any visitor who 

 cares to see or know more about A. I. Root. 

 I am sorry to say, however, dear friends, 

 that I did not follow the above program, 

 in the order I have given it myself. I got 

 married first, and then waited till there 

 were two or three children given the dear 

 wife and myself; and then thru God's 

 providence I began to think " better late 

 than never" ; and to make amends I started 

 these Home papers which many of you 

 have been reading for close on to 50 years. 

 Like most young married people, Mrs. 

 Root and I did not make any plans for 

 children " just yet" ; that is, altho of course 

 we intended to have children after a few 

 years we were in no hurry to assume the 

 responsibilities of parentage; but as it 

 often happens, when man proposes, God 

 disposes; and with early prospects of first 

 one little prattler and then another we were 

 almost inclined to rebel. 



There is one more text over in Genesis 

 that I wish to quote. It is in the 16th verse 

 of the 3d chapter: " And God said, I will 



June, 1919 



greatly multiply 

 thy sorrow and 

 thy conception. 

 In sorrow thou 

 slialt bring 

 forth children." 

 But after the 

 little prattler 

 had made his or 

 l:ei' advent, and 

 c h e e r e d and 

 l)rightened the 

 household by his 

 01- her comical 

 ways, our sor- 

 row turned to 

 gladness ; and, 

 dear friends, 

 the gladness has 

 not only lasted but increased year by year; 

 ;ind that is what I want to talk about after 

 this long preface. 



I have told you in the past, or tried to 

 tell you, with what great pleasure Mi's. 

 Root toolv each little prattler by the hand, 

 and molded and fashioned the new life. 

 Something transpired less than ten days 

 ago that will give you a better glimpse of 

 the dear woman than anything else I can 

 think of. 



On our trip from Bradeiitown, Fla., to 

 our Ohio home, we were obliged to change 

 cars three times; and almost every time we 

 had to make a change there was very little 

 time to do it. In the great city of Cincin- 

 nati thei'e were such crowds that she for a 

 little time got lost. Of course you will ask 

 what in the world I was doing that I did 

 not take her arm. Well, I tried to, but she 

 shook me off and declared she was able to 

 take care of herself. Well, Avhen we got 

 into the big city of Cleveland she was lost 

 again. She was right close by me when we 

 were getting off the car. When I got off 

 the step to the car, great crowds were there, 

 but no Mrs. Root. When I began to be 

 worried she made her appearance at the top 

 of the steps ; but to my great astonishment 

 and consternation she was trying to get 

 thru the door with a great bundle of some- 

 thing which looked like bedding. I said to 

 myself, " Why, the poor woman has gone 

 crazy, and imagines that all of that stuff 

 belongs to us." But when I caught sight 

 of her face she did not look at all crazy. 

 In fact, she was smiling, and looked i3ar- 

 ticularly happy and joyous. I took the 

 bundle at the bottom of the steps and 

 started to ask, " Why, what in the world. 

 Sue, are you doing with this?" Then right 

 behind her I caught a glimpse of a very 

 little woman lugging a pretty good-sized 

 baby, and then I too began to laugh. I 



