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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root 



Bless the Lord, O my soul; who forgiveth all thine iniquities, 

 who healeth all thy diseases. — Psalm 103:3. 



May the Lord be praised for the health, 

 strength, and enthusiasm he has seen fit to give 

 me as I looic out this bright morning, August 1, 

 on the work he has for me to do. There have 

 been so many inquiries in regard to getting health 

 on Terry's plan of uncooked food, or on similar 

 plans laid down by other writers, that I have 

 been beseeching Terry to write a brief little book 

 or pamphlet outlining the way in which he se- 

 cured most perfect health after the doctors had 

 told him he had only a little while to live. But 

 Terry is so busy he thinks he can not get at it — 

 at least not just now. I finally told him if he 

 did not write such a book on the subject I might 

 undertake it myself (to be given away), and I 

 feel just like starting it this morning. In other 

 words, I feel that God has given me a message to 

 be given to suffering humanity; and I feel so sure 

 it is his message that I really enjoy the idea of 

 giving it free to all who may want it, "without 

 money and without price." 



I should like to say, as the prophet did, to 

 those who have suffered from poor health and a 

 lack of enthusiasm, " Ho, every one that thirst- 

 eth ! come ye to the waters, and he that hath no 

 money; come." 



I have had this whole matter in mind, as you 

 may remember, for many years. In fact, I have 

 prayed over it again and again; and when people 

 have come to me for advice in regard to remedies 

 I have often prayed over the matter before giving 

 an answer. Several times in years past 1 have 

 thought of recommending some of the medicines 

 I had tried, and which I thought for a time were 

 beneficial; but it seems as if the Holy Spirit bade 

 me be careful. When the grown-up sons of Jes- 

 se were presented to the aged prophet Samuel he 

 thought they would do very well. But Jehovah 

 said, "Not so," and finally directed him to the 

 shepherd boy David. Well, I have reason to feel 

 that I have been directed much in the same way 

 in recommending remedies. I can with a clear 

 conscience recommend to you all the things I 

 have called " God's medicines;" and, even though 

 other remedies such as are used by our physicians 

 may be all right at the proper time, I do not feel 

 at liberty to recommend any of them. The out- 

 door, the pure water, the fruit that comes right 

 from God's own hand, and the delicious and 

 health-giving grains, are all God's gifts, and I 

 feel no hesitancy in recommending them. 



On page 955 of our last issue I told you that 

 the three young growing boys declared they felt 

 better, and their strength held out better, when 

 they ate just shredded biscuit and milk in place 

 of an elaborately cooked meal. Well, the boys 

 seemed to have such a preference for the shredded- 

 wheat biscuit that I commenced using it myself; 

 and I have been eating it more or less three times 

 a day ever since. As Mrs. Root thought we 

 ftiust have meat and potatoes and other things we 

 are accustomed to have, I for a time ate a little 

 of the other things, then finished up with my 

 biscuit and milk. Finallv I decided one morn- 



ing to have just two shredded biscuits and a cup 

 of milk, and nothing else, for my breakfast. It 

 is true I did not feel quite satisfied, but I thought 

 I would stop right there and see how my strength 

 held out till noon. It held out a great deal bet- 

 ter. When I went to take my nap just before 

 dinner I did not feel nearly as much in need of 

 food as usual. But I slept soundly, my mouth 

 did not taste bad at all when I woke up just at 

 dinner time, and I felt especially clean and well 

 all over. For my dinner I had a little bread and 

 butter, but otherwise about the same as for break- 

 fast, and I have been pretty nearly a month now 

 on this simple diet. Occasionally I have an egg; 

 but, aside from cooking the eggs, I can get along 

 very nicely without any cooking at all — at least 

 in warm weather. 



Now, friends, here is a tremendous achieve- 

 ment, aside from the matter of better health. 

 Several times when we have been discussing the 

 difficulty (and almost impossibility) of getting 

 some one to cook, and wash the dishes in the 

 home (it is worse in Florida than here in the 

 North), I suggested that God was striving to 

 teach us some useful lessons. Now, if I have got 

 matters right, or, in other words, if I am truly 

 interpreting the voice of God that speaks within 

 me, the lesson that he is striving to teach us, and 

 that we are so stubbornly refusing, is this: 

 We do not need any elaborately cooked meals, 

 with a great lot of dishes to contain different 

 articles of food, for 



The pie and cake, 

 That so much fussing make. 

 Give one the stomach ache 

 And send one to the undertak- 

 er. 



After all I have said in favor of the lean-meat 

 diet in years past, you may think this a rather 

 wide departure. WeH, I am not quite ready to 

 become a vegetarian. I believe that milk and 

 eggs were designed by the great Father above to 

 be a large part of the diet of the human family. 

 And, by the way, I am very fond of cheese, and 

 I like a little bit every few days: but I shall have 

 more to say about this soon. At present I am 

 eating no meat at all. I do not need it, and do 

 not care for it. I am not using any tea or coiTee 

 at all (nor headache powders). I do not need 

 them and do not care for them; and when I feel 

 the strength of mind and body and enthusiasm 

 that I have this morning, I can say, " May the 

 Lord be praised that neither tea nor coffee (nor 

 headache po-i-vders) have any thing to do with the 

 feeling of elation and enthusiasm that I feel I 

 have. " Yes, and I can say, too, that I feel pretty 

 sure that no meat of any kir.d has any thing to 

 do with it as I will tell you a little later. Now, 

 as I am planning to have quite a talk this morn- 

 ing, a sort of an A B C book on health, I hope 

 you will excuse me if I go into details pretty 

 thoroughly. 



THE A B C OF GETTING WELL AND KEEPING WELL. 



I have described pretty well my breakfast. I 

 forgot to say that I want a liberal supply of but- 

 ter with my shredded biscuit. I think the bis- 

 cuits cost about a cent apiece; and I should need 

 about a cent's worth of butter and about two 

 cents' worth of milk — just think of it; a good 

 square meal for a nickel, and no cooking; no 

 dishes to wash except the teacup and plate, and a 



