1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



953 



Our Homes 



Bv A. I. Root 



Therefore shall ye lay up these words in your heart and in your 

 soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be 

 as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your 

 children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and 

 when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when 

 thou risest up. — Devt. 11 : IS, 19. 



I hardly need remind you, friends, of the great 

 work that thejuvenile court is doing in this land 

 of ours. Instead of punishing boys for their 

 crimes and misdemeanors, this juvenile court is 

 looking after the parents and others, to see how 

 far the blame rests on some grown-up person in- 

 stead of on the boys. I have told you something 

 about Judge Lindsey, and how he has been pun- 

 ishing the saloon-keepers and others, and in vari- 

 ous waj'S making bad boys good ones without 

 shutting them up in prison and fining them; and 

 I think we can all say, " May the Lord be prais- 

 ed for the better methods that are being institut- 

 ed, not only in our great cities, but in the country 

 also, for a way of leading boys out of iniquity 

 and into righteousness by gentler means than the 

 strong arm of the law. " 



Not ten minutes ago I was told that one of the 

 boys in our employ had been helping himself to 

 some Yellow Transparent apples that are just be- 

 ginning to ripen close by our home. Now, this 

 would ordinarily be considered a small matter; 

 but just now apples of every sort are very scarce 

 and expensive. We have only this one tree, and 

 I have been watching it carefully in order to get 

 the first ripe apples. You may remember that 

 apples are my medicine. This boy's business is 

 in the lumber-yard; but when he goes after the 

 horse he uses, he goes pretty near the apple-tree. 

 If there were only one boy it would be a small 

 matter; but if all the hands in the lumber-yards 

 scattered over our grounds should help themselves 

 to our early apples there would not be enough to 

 go around, let alone having enough for our own 

 use. I met the boy soon afterward, and started 

 to explain to him why we could not well spare 

 those early apples; but as there were others stand- 

 ing around I hesitated. A boy's feelings are eas- 

 ily hurt, as I can well remember, even if I am 

 almost seventy years old. I did not say any 

 thing to him about it at all just then; but instead 

 of that I hung up a board on the tree, in plain 

 sight, saying, "Hands off." 



With this preface I wish to tell you that I have 

 just returned from a trip to our "cabin in the 

 woods " in Northern Michigan. When I got 

 ready to go up there just after the 4th of July, 

 three boys in our neighborhood petitioned to go 

 along and camp out in said cabin. I consented 

 under certain conditions. Their mothers were 

 to instruct them in the art of cooking so they 

 could keep house and board themselves; and each 

 one was to take along a few needed utensils. 



We reached Traverse City in good health and 

 spirits on the 7th of July. I had planned taking 

 the boys upto the cabin on a gasoline-launch; but 

 there had been a storm, and the waves were al- 

 ready tnrowing up vshite caps. A fishing-boat, 

 however, had just brought in five tons of fish, and 

 the managers of it said they would take us if we 

 could wait until they unloaded — that is, if we 



would not get seasick from the rolling and tum- 

 bling. These boys, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen 

 years old respectively, clamored for the trip on 

 the fishing-boat. They were sure they would not 

 get seasick. Well, when we reached the dock, 

 eight miles away, the boys declared it was the 

 most delightful boat-ride they had ever had in 

 their lives. Of course, they could not Stand up 

 without holding on to something; but they got 

 up near the pilot, and he explained to them how 

 he met each great wave, and told them stories of 

 fishing adventures on the beautiful waters of 

 Grand Traverse Bay. Sometimes the boat would 

 actually jump from the top of one large wave to 

 the next, and then it would come down and strike 

 the water with a crash that seemed as if it would 

 smash the boat in pieces; but it was built for just 

 such business. 



We started up the hill toward the cabin, with 

 our valises and other luggage. About as soon as 

 we struck solid land, however, I looked over the 

 wire fence and saw great luscious strawberries in 

 such abundance that I was sure the proprietor had 

 some to spare. As they belonged to Mrs. Heim- 

 furth, my nearest neighbor, I took the liberty of 

 inviting the boys to refresh themselves, and we 

 ate to our hearts' content. When I got to the 

 house I took out some money to pay for our 

 treat; but my good neighbor absolutely refused 

 to take a copper. She said they were short of 

 pickers, and they really had more berries than 

 they could take care of. 



In a little while we were up to the cabin — see 

 picture on page 658, June 15th, 1905. It was the 

 first time I had paid the dear old place a visit this 

 year, and I eagerly scanned the -premises to see 

 how my stuff had prospered since the fall before. 

 The first thing that caught my gaze was my eight 

 different varieties of currants. The fruit was 

 dead ripe, and some of the great clusters were up 

 higher than my head; and, by the way, it seems 

 to me I never saw currants anywhere so delicious 

 as those in that fruit region of Northern Michi- 

 gan; and the glittering red of the ripe fruit that 

 had not been molested by birds or any sort of 

 currant-worm, it seemed to me, was more entic- 

 ing than any thing else one can well imagine. 

 Then I glanced beyond the currant-bushes to the 

 mulberries. Let me explain a little. 



Some six or seven years ago, when ordering 

 some peach-trees and other stuff I told the nur- 

 seryman to put in two of his very best improved 

 mulberry-trees, but I said nothing about the 

 price. When I found he had sent two trees at 

 .$1.50 each, I protested, and he finally cut the 

 price down to a dollar. One of the trees almost 

 died, and I was tempted to dig it up and throw 

 it away, but I finally concluded to give it one 

 more chance. For two years it put out only a 

 very feeble growth; but now, however, it is a 

 great tree with branches higher than my head. 

 The other one made a prodigious growth, with 

 branches which went away up in the air, and then 

 down to the grass. One of my neighbors said it 

 was what is called the "weeping" mulberry, and 

 that it was worth nothing for fruit but only for 

 ornament. Until this year it had been only a 

 great mass of long trailing limbs, and I had de- 

 cided that my dollar mulberry-trees were just a 

 big swindle; but, lo and behold! on that July 

 morning both trees were bending under their 



