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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



" happy surprises " when I saw not only Ohio 

 but a great lot of the Southern States actual- 

 ly taking the lead. I have given you an ac- 

 count of the fight in the Senate some time 

 ago when I happened to be present. A very 

 bright young attorney from Cincinnati was 

 speaking. He was well educated, handsome, 

 talented, and a magnificent orator; but he 

 was evidently in the employ of the million- 

 aire brewers. He declared he was a tem- 

 perance man, and in favor of the measure, 

 and was exceedingly anxious to help it along, 

 and I for a time was tempted to think him 

 sincere. The way in which he took defeat 

 after defeat brought forth my admiration; 

 and after it was explained so I could see 

 through his ingenious tricks I could imagine 

 him turning to his employers and saying, 

 "There! didn't I work hard for you? Did I 

 leave any stone unturned to defeat these 

 fanatics? ' The '"fanatics," however, saw 

 through the "sheep's clothing," and his hy- 

 pocrisy was rebuked, and buried with a shout. 

 The Christian men and scholars we have 

 been sending to represent us said in action 

 what Paul said to the sorcerer, and just of 

 late the good people all over our land have 

 been saying to all of the great army of brew- 

 ers and their hirelings: "Thou child of the 

 devil, wilt thou not cease to pervert the 

 right ways of the Lord?" 



God has been indeed sending the Holy 

 Spirit, even the spirit of Christ Jesus, down 

 to a sinful world, and, as a result, our 

 churches, Sunday-schools, Endeavor socie- 

 ties, etc . have been working in harmony 

 and furnishing good men to be on hand and 

 to be looking after the framing of our laws. 

 The "drawing cards" the liquor party have 

 employed so long, together with their money, 

 seem to be playing out— especially this trick 

 of "amendments," in order to "make our 

 law better" (?). See the following from the 

 Cleveland Plain Dealer of Fab. 27: 



After three hours of verbal fireworks the House of 

 Representatives this afternoon passed the bill by a 

 vote of 79 to 36. Temperance advocates broke into 

 song- at the conclusion of the long fight. The leaders 

 of the movement say the law, which will go into ef- 

 fect Sept. 1, will be the means of wiping saloons out 

 of 75 out of the 88 counties of the State. 



Every attempt to defeat or amend the measure was 

 emphatically repudiated. The bill was passed exact- 

 ly in the form in which it came from the Senate. The 

 big majority persistently refused to consent to a 

 change so much as the dotting of an i or the crossing 

 of a/. 



Representative Foster, of Findlay, attempted to in- 

 ject an amendment changing palpable errors in con- 

 struction, grammar, and spelling. 



" Is this bill so sacred that this legislature can not 

 be trusted to correct gross errors?" demanded Foster. 



The answer was a shout that buried the amendment 

 beyond recall. 



The vote against the bill was almost entirely from 

 members representing counties with large cities. The 

 rural members solidly supported the measure as it 

 stood, irrespective of party. It was another demon- 

 stration that liquor interests have lost the control 

 they have claimed so long over the Democratic party. 

 The vote for and against the bill was one of geograph- 

 ical location. 



The editor of our Medina paper says Me- 

 dina County will be among the first in the 

 State to be made dry by the new law. The 

 county-seat (Medina) has been dry for over 

 30 years. Now, shall we not all join in a 



friendly strife to see which county and State 

 shall be first to say, in the plain language of 

 Paul, "O child of the devil, thou enemy of 

 all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to per- 

 vert the right ways of the Lord?" 



When the saloons are cleaned out it will 

 be an easy matter to say pretty much the 

 same thing to the grafters who are stealing 

 the money from our hard-working people in 

 other ways. The love for temperance, puri- 

 ty, and "a square deal" is in the air; and 

 it is because tiie spirit of Christ Jesus is get- 

 ting into men's hearts in a way that was 

 never known before. 



We have a jail here in Bradentown; and, 

 even if Manatee is a dry county I was sur- 

 prised to find on my first visit eleven inmates, 

 and most of them (in fact, 1 may say all) 

 through drink. Two are in for murder, and 

 the murder was done while on a drunken 

 spree just before Christmas. The sheriff 

 says the liquor comes from Tampa; but there 

 is strong talk now of making even Tampa, 

 with its 40,000 people, dry. 



Last Sunday morning 1 said to my class in 

 jail, "Boys, I suppose you will all rejoice 

 with me that Ohio has passed the county lo- 

 cal-option law, by a big majority." 



A big burly colored man at my elbow re- 

 plied, "Mr. Root, I ain't a very good man, 

 I admit; but I try to be honest and tell the 

 truth. I can't rejoice with you. The most 

 satisfaction I have ever got out of any thing 

 in this world is drink." 



I looked him over a little and then replied: 



"My friend, if you want the privilege of 

 getting drunk with a clear conscience you 

 certainly would accord the same to every- 

 body else. Suppose we all do your way." 



He replied that he could not be responsible 

 for any one but himself. 



Sometimes we often find something in a 

 private letter that is better than many things 

 written for publication, and I want to close 

 with a sort of postscript from a letter just 

 received from my son, E. R. It gives you a 

 glimpse of him you might not get otherwise. 



Dear Father:—! have just read your letter in regard 

 to the pledge to the Anti-saloon League. I am plac- 

 ing the same before John. I feel that no money has 

 ever been given to any cause that has been productive 

 of larger results than that which we give to the Anti- 

 saloon League. The showing is getting to be some- 

 thing tremendou s ; and, j ust think ! it was my old class- 

 mate, Howard Russell, who started the movement, 

 and it was vou and Mr. Metcalf who held the thing on 

 its feet until it could strike a blow. 



The Roots especially ought to feel some pride in 

 having been, as I might say, charter members of this 

 magnificent organization that has helped produce 

 such wonderful results all over the United States. 

 Butler, Indiana, Mabel's old home, has just gone dry, 

 and all t>~e towns near by are now having a battle 

 royal. The thing is going all over the United States, 

 and it looks now as if even you would see the day when 

 the saloons will be banished from all except our large 

 cities and even then they will be crowded off by them- 

 selves. The way the great journals are pouring hot 

 shot into the saloon business is very encouraging. 

 Witness what Collier's is going to do as per enclosure. 

 It has already published some splendid editorials. 



May the Lord be praised that it was my 

 privilege, and the privilege of the Root Co., 

 to say, through the Anti-saloon League, 

 "Thou child of the devil," etc., ''the hand 

 of the Lord is upon thee." 



