1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1141 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root 



Behold, the bridegroom cometh. — Matt. 25:6. 

 The king's business required haste. — 1. Sam. 21:8. 



The words of the texts above have been on 

 my mind a good deal the past few days, and they 

 have become very precious to me. Before I fin- 

 ish my talic this morning I hope to make them 

 vf 1 y precious to you. 



Something over a year ago I asked the question 

 here in these pages, "What great event is coming 

 next in the way of invention and discovery.?" and 

 a good brother from California, as you mav re- 

 member, informed us that the next great event 

 that would stir our nation from coast to coast, 

 and, in fact, all nations of the earth, would be 

 the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; and since 

 then I think I have told you that he has come, 

 yet most of us knew it not. I presume there are 

 none of you who have not been astonished — and 

 I hope happily so — to note the way in which the 

 temperance work has gone forward in the last 

 few months. It would seem, indeed, as if some 

 mighty power had taken hold of the people — the 

 common every-day people — and that a wave of 

 reform were just before us; for not only the in- 

 temperance, gambling, and graft, but e-uery thing 

 ih.it is low and bad is meeting such a rebuke on 

 all sides as was never seen before. Let me repeat 

 vvh.it appeared in Gleanings for March 1, page 

 298. 



A religion that leaves the saloon undisturbed, unattacked, is 

 noi worthy to be called after the name of Jesus Christ. Again 

 have we reached a time in the march of Ch ist down the centu- 

 rie'i when, if these should hold their peace, the very stones will 

 immediately cry out. This ethical wave against the saloon has 

 come like a hurricane upon the deck of a pirate ship. There is 

 but one explanation — Jesus Christ is walking across the Ameri- 

 can continent. Every place where his holy foot is lifted leaves 

 a diy spot; and the meaning is, the liquo'-trajfic must and shall 

 he destroyed. Christ is the source. The saloon must die. — Clin- 

 ton N. Howard, before Rochester, N. Y., ministers' meetini;, Janu- 

 ary, /Qo8. 



Now let me quote from a letter that I received 

 some little time ago: 



Mr. Root: — On Wednesday, August 19, we are to have a great 

 Anti-saloon League rally at the Lancaster Assembly grounds. 

 Governor J. Frank Hanly, Hon. Seaborn Wright, Bishop Wilson, 

 Governor Harris, and others will be present. 



It has seemed best to the Headquarters Committee to call a 

 meeting of the Board of Trustees at that time. While the annu- 

 al reports and regular annual business of the League will not 

 come up for consideration, vastly more important business will be 

 before us. 



The coming county-option elections will present to the League 

 the greatest amount of work and opportunity for victory which we 

 have ever faced. Tne bitter attack upon Governor Harris by the 

 breweri and the Personal Liberty League, oecause fle recom- 

 mended the county-option bill, will need to be considered, and 

 the policy of the League in the campaign definitely outlined. 



On ihe 17th and I8ih we are going to have a workers' confer- 

 ence on methods for county-option work. If you can come a day 

 or so earlier and join this conference I am sure it will help us, 

 and you will doubtless get some inspiration for the county-option 

 woik this fall. W. B. Wheeler, Supt. 



Columbus, Ohio, July 11. 



Perhaps I should explain to you that Wayne 

 B. Wheeler is superintendent and attorney of the 

 Anti-saloon League of Ohio, and he is, perhaps, 

 one of the most able men that 'we have at the 

 present day. I felt it to be a great honor to get 

 such an invitation from friend Wheeler; but I 

 mentally thanked God as I read it that I was also 

 honored by being asked to be present at a meet- 

 ing where the governors of three States were ex- 



pected to stand up and indorse the Anti-saloon 

 League of America. 



Before making any report of the doings at the 

 Lancaster Chautauqua, let me give you a little 

 explanation. This is a Methodist assembly 

 ground, and I think there have been gatherings 

 for some twenty-five years in the same place. It 

 is located on a beautiful hill along the Scioto 

 River, in Fairfield Co., not far from Columbus. 

 There are between four and five hundred pretty 

 little cottages there. These make a miniature 

 town, but it is not laid off into regular streets. 

 The fanciful little cottages are all different from 

 each other — located on paths that run around 

 through the woods — in fact, we might almost 

 call them cow-paths. The Methodist people 

 come there every summer and stay three or four 

 weeks. They bring their carpets, rugs, easy- 

 chairs, and a sufficient equipment for light house- 

 keeping. Every house has a pretty little porch 

 in front, and the people live mostly outdoors in 

 God's open air. On the top of a hill, right in 

 the center of the village, is a beautiful auditori- 

 um large enough to seat five thousand people 

 comfortably. Great speakers are secured — many 

 of them, perhaps, as good as the world can fur- 

 nish, and this large auditorium is generally filled. 

 As electric cars run every half-hour from both 

 Columbus and Lancaster, it is an easy matter for 

 the people to reach this great educational gather- 

 ing. Besides the main auditorium there are two 

 smaller ones for committee meetings or any thing 

 else that may be needed at a time when the large 

 room is occupied. Just before the work of our 

 conference, the "Temple," as this auditorium is 

 called, was occupied by a gathering of school- 

 teachers. There is always something going on 

 day time and evening on this assembly ground. 

 There are a great many nice people there — men, 

 women, and children; and during my stay there 

 of two days looking around among the people 

 right and left, I not only never caught sight of a 

 cigar, cigarette, pipe, nor any thing in the shape 

 of tobacco, but did not hear any thing approach- 

 ing an oath, nor even an unkind or uncivil word, 

 f there were differences or misunderstandings at 

 any of the meetings or anywhere else, the people 

 had grace enough and Christianity enough to 

 keep them out of sight. In fact, my stay at that 

 Methodist Chautauqua induced me to go home 

 and hunt up the following passage from the book 

 of Revelation: 



And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, 

 neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. 



Before I go further 1 want to say a word about 

 open-air meetings. This great auditorium has 

 broad shutters or doors so arranged that they can 

 be put down in stormy weather, but ordinarily 

 they are raised, so that the meetings are practical- 

 ly in the open air. You know there is much said 

 just now about sleeping in the open air. Well, I 

 think we need to apply the same kind of reason- 

 ing to our meetings — especially our religious as- 

 semblies. It used to be almost proverbial that 

 the tired farmer and sometimes even the old dea- 

 cons would go to sleep regularly (?) in meeting. 

 Mrs. Root has often asked the question why she 

 should be unable to sleep night", when she ought 

 to sleep, and yet have a desire to sleep promptly 

 the next day right in the midst of an interesting 

 sermon. But it just begins to dawn on me that 



