DkCember, 1919 



G L K A N I N G S IN BEE C U L T U R E 



805 



W! 



'HEN Vol. 

 No. 1 



w a s )) 11 t 

 out 47 years 

 ago, eveiy little 

 while there 

 would be a call 

 for a certain 

 number, and I 

 Avould be told it 

 was "out." Aft- 

 er that I said 

 we would print 

 enough so we 

 could supply 

 the demand and 

 also have a few 

 to give away. 



During these 47 years, evei-y little while 

 we have been bothered and worried because 

 a certain edition was exhausted. Just a 

 few days ago 1 wanted to present an article 

 of imi^ortance to somebody who would 

 probably fail to be convinced unless he saw 

 the article in jjlain black and white. After 

 ransacking the office I had to give it up ; 

 but I finally took one of our bound volumes 

 and cut out two leaves, and asked to have 

 them back again. We pasted them back 

 where they belong, as well as Ave could. 

 Now, in order to be sure we had enough, 

 for a good many months we printed 

 so many Ave had quite a feAv to spare, 

 and these have been put aAvay on labeled 

 sheh'es for the whole 47 years. Of course 

 they occupy considerable room, and many 

 of them are lying there getting dusty, un- 

 called for, or mostly so, year after year. 

 Once more Ave are croAvded for space in the 

 printing and binding departments. To get 

 rid of the old journals, on page 702 of our 

 last issue Ave advertised a full year, post- 

 paid, for 50 cents. To illustrate the possi- 

 Ible value of these old journals I want to 

 give you two stories. 



Years ago, Avhile visiting a beekeeper in 

 northern Wisconsin our host told me there 

 Avas one man in his town Avho would be 

 " overjoyed to meet A. I. Root." Noav, do 

 not thiniv that I am boasting. Wait a little. 

 This man was hired to make some hives. 

 He carried his dinner; and after he had 

 finished it he happened to notice a copy of 

 Gleanings on his Avorkbeneh. He became 

 interested, read it all thru, and asked his 

 employer if he could loan him some back 

 numbers. He not only became interested 

 in bees, but something I Avrote in the Home 

 papers reminded him that neither he nor 

 his family were attending church or Sun- 

 day-school as they should do. He became 

 a professing Christian, invited me to his 

 home, gave me the family Bible, and asked 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



Lot your light so shinei before men. — Matt, 5:16. 



Cast thy bread upon the waters ; for thou shalt 

 find it after many days. — Ecc. 11:1. 



He wliich converteth the sinner from the error of 

 his way shall save a soul from death, and shall 

 hidi' a multitude of sins. — James 5:20. 



me to make a se- 

 lection and lead 

 them in prayer. 

 Some of you 

 Avlio have had a 

 like experience 

 can tell some- 

 thing of the joy 

 and peace that 

 thrilled m y 

 h e a !■ t on m y 

 way home. 



Once more: 

 AAvay off in 

 northern Cali- 

 fornia I had 

 some unpleasant 

 experience in 

 fixing up a business matter. In changing 

 cars 1 got into a crowd where there was no 

 place to sit down. A passenger said to 

 me, " See here, stranger, you are older than 

 I am. Take my seat." Pretty soon some 

 one got up and then we were seated side by 

 side. I had not gotten over being cross 

 about things, and I did not Avant to talk 

 Avith anybody ; but something — I guess it 

 Avas the " still small voice " — suggested that 

 I Avas not " letting my light shine," and so 

 T commenced to talk Avith my seatmate. He 

 told me Avhere he lived, and then, naturally, 

 asked me Avhere 7 came from. When told 

 I lived in Ohio he asked if I had ever been 

 near a place called Medina. Then I began 

 to catch on to Avhat might be coming. My 

 friend Avent on to exjilain something as 

 follows : 



" Stranger, I had a long spell of sickness 

 a while ago. When I Avas getting better 

 I wanted something to read. A kind neigh- 

 bor suggested he had some old bee journals 

 up in his garret that he thought might in- 

 terest me, and he brought them over. They 

 were |)ublished by a man named A. I. Root, 

 of Medina, Ohio, and I Avould give more to 

 see that man than anybody else in the 

 Avhole Avide Avorld. T wonder if you knoAv 

 him or have ever heard of him." 



You can imagine how 1 mentally thank- 

 ed God that I had resisted the temptation 

 to keep still and not talk Avith anybody. 

 His story Avas like the one before mention- 

 ed. Himself, his Avife, and his family of 

 children had become not only interested in 

 bee culture but folloAvers of the Lord Jesus 

 Christ thru the influence of those old dusty 

 bee journals stowed aAvay in a garret* So 

 far as T can recall, T had not at that time 



*By the way, the above has happened not onlv 

 onoe but several times. Again and again have kind 

 friends written me aljout sending old bee journals 

 that had, perhaps, lain for years in some garret, 

 and being resurrected and bearing good fruit in the 

 way I have suggested. 



