1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1389 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root 



Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. — 

 John 6 :12. 



In Our Homes for October 1 I spoke about the 

 importance of having a place for putting our 

 money where it will be safe, and right at hand 

 when needed. So many kind words have come 

 for that Home paper that I am convinced of the 

 great need of a postal savings bank; and I wish 

 to say something in this present Home Paper 

 about teaching the children the importance of 

 saving their pennies instead of being continually 

 looking out for some way to get rid of them as 

 fast as they are earned. But before going into 

 this I wisli to discuss a little the way in which 

 the average child is in the habit of investing his 

 earnings. 



In all of our towns and cities — yes, and even 

 in our country stores — there are a good many at- 

 tractive things to catch the children's nickels, and 

 not only the nickels, but even the pennies. Now, 

 so far as toys and playthings are concerned I have 

 nothing in particular to say against them. Very 

 likely some children, especially where there is 

 but one child in the family, have too many play- 

 things. This one child does not value them, be- 

 cause, before he has exhausted or got tired of any 

 one plaything, he gets another. What I wish to 

 refer to especially here is encouraging a child to 

 waste his pennies (or worse than waste them), in 

 buying things to eat when he is not hungry; and 

 not only that, encouraging him to be constantly 

 eating between meals. T. B. Terry's vigorous 

 teachings are beginning to wake up a good many 

 people. Hundreds if not thousands are finding a 

 great improvement in their health by taking no 

 food of any kind except at the regular mealtime. 

 Confectioners are continually planning and study- 

 ing up something new to catch the pennies. 

 A while ago it was a ball of candy on the end of 

 a stick. Every child had to have one. The 

 manufacture of chewing-gum has become so great 

 a business that quite a number of gum-makers 

 are millionaires. If the gum contained nothing 

 but what exudes from the spruce-trees, such as 

 may be gathered in the pinery woods, it would 

 not be particularly objectionable, perhaps. In 

 fact, I have heard that chewing gum is an excellent 

 means of cleaning the teeth. But when we find 

 combined with the gum variously flavored can- 

 dies to tempt the taste and appetite, it becomes, 

 I am sure, a serious meance to health. Ice cream 

 used to be 10 to 15 cents. It is now offered on 

 the fairgrounds for a nickel in little cones; and 

 in various cities it is hawked about the streets in 

 penny packages. And not only ice-cream but 

 various ices. In Havana, Cuba, I used to be 

 quite fond of pineapple ices and banana ices for 

 only a penny. I bought them for curiosity; but 

 when I found they used spoiled pineapples and 

 bananas to make penny ices I cut off that sort of 

 investment. I think that some of the stuff made 

 me sick before I inquired into it. Who can tell 

 how much money is invested at ice-cream and 

 soda fountains.? I have not bought any myself 

 for years, because I found out years ago that it 

 did not agree with me. But I often stand near 



these fountains on a hot day and look at the string 

 ot customers, old and young, that sometimes 

 crowd around the vender, and often have to wait 

 their turn. I often see boys and girls who work 

 at our establishment, and who get only small 

 pay, throwing away their nickels at these soda- 

 fountains. Perhaps some of you may say that 

 if we get rid of the saloons we ought to be satis- 

 fied without commencing to criticise the use of 

 ice-cream, soda, and soft drinks in general. 

 Some of you may also urge that physicians tell 

 us growing children need sugar — that they have 

 a natural craving for it. Granting all this, I am 

 sure it will be better for the child as well as for 

 the adult to get the sugar that is needed when he 

 has his regular meals, and in a shape where it will 

 not cost any thing near the amount of money 

 that it does to buy it of the confectioners and 

 druggists. I feel certain the long list of diseases 

 that afflict our people at the present day are caused 

 largely by using more sugar than we need, and 

 especially taking it between meals, instead of at the 

 regular appointed time. If I should suggest that 

 honey is the most wholesome sweet that can be 

 used you would think I am prejudiced because 

 this is a bee-journal. You know, if you remem- 

 ber, that I am starting out to live a hundred years. 

 I am not really sure I shall be able to write for 

 Gleanings when I get to be 95, but I will try to 

 do so if God lets me live so long. Well, one 

 aid to our living to a good old age is to be by 

 cutting off cane sugar. I have not eaten a spoon- 

 ful of sugar in a year, and very little for several 

 years. I have lost my taste for it. It makes my 

 food unpleasant to have it sweetened. Mrs. Root 

 makes two kinds of apple-sauce — one with a lit- 

 tle sugar in it, and the other with none at all; 

 and so with other kinds of fruit. The sugar does 

 not agree with me. But the sugar in sweet fruits 

 of any sort does not seem to disagree with me at 

 all. Last night I must have eaten toward a dozen 

 Paradise sweet apples. They were not very large, 

 on account of the dry weather. Now, I suppose 

 so many sweet apples just before going to bed 

 would make most people sick — I think mainly 

 because they are not in the habit of eating apples 

 every day as I do. To tell the truth, I ate more 

 than usual last evening just because I wanted to 

 demonstrate how nicely sweet apples agree with 

 my digestion. I felt better than usual, if any 

 thing. There was no bad taste in my mouth in 

 the morning, and I felt unusually well all the 

 forenoon. 



Now, dear friends, I have mentioned all this to 

 try to convince you that it is not only wasting 

 money but it is not conducive to health to use 

 candies, ice-creams, etc., and drinks, especially 

 between meals. I use lemonade quite freely, 

 and I greatly enjoy it, but always without any 

 sugar. 



Now, with all this preface I wish to tell you 

 something the W. C. T. U. has recently started 

 in the way of encouraging children to save their 

 money, and at the same time save their health. 

 My sister, Mrs. E. |. Gray, of this place, has all 

 her life been connected with the work of the W. 

 C. T. U. ; and in regard to this new phase of her 

 work she writes the following: 



DOMESTIC DISCORDS. 



A very prolific source of domestic trouble is the use of the fam- 

 ily pocketbook. If the young wife has not had discipline and 



