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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root 



Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long 

 upon the' land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. — Ex. 20:12. 



It is particularly the mother of the home, rath- 

 er than the father, that 1 wish to talk about to- 

 day. I am strongly of the opinion that the moth- 

 ers of the world are more tasked and overworked 

 than any other inmate of the home. The moth- 

 er who bears the children has more love for them 

 than the father or any one else, and God calls on 

 her to toil and make sacrifice as he calls on no 

 one else. I have seen careless giddy girls who 

 let their mothers work early and late (almost ob- 

 livious of how much trouble and worry they 

 made her), and yet when they got married and had 

 children to train they turned about and did 

 much as their mother did. Some of these same 

 "giddy girls" may read this Home paper — at 

 least I hope they will — and, may be, " turn over a 

 new leaf " before they become mothers also, and 

 before that patient and toiling mother lies cold 

 in death. 



The home is the mother's domain. All her 

 hopes and joys and all her pride are centered 

 there. It is the mother who wants her home to 

 look tidy. She is the one most interested in 

 having the house painted, the front fence fixed 

 up, the dooryard and lawn slicked up, the flower- 

 beds made to bloom and blossom, and all things 

 visible to passersby made to look respectable and 

 in keeping with the rest of the street and neigh- 

 borhood. "What is home without a moiher?" 



Now, then, my friend, while it is "spring- 

 time" what are you doing to "honor" that 

 mother, as in the language of our text? As it 

 may help by way of suggestion, if nothing else, 

 I wish CO tell you what I have been doing around 

 our Florida home for the past few days. Mrs. 

 Root said, first, she must have a green lawn in 

 front of the house, no matter where it was, in 

 Ohio or in Florida, and we have the Bermuda 

 grass started very nicely all over the front yard. 

 There is never any mud here — at least nothing 

 like our Ohio mud. Our little auto never gets 

 " spattered," and dust doesn't cling to it as the 

 Ohio dust does; but you can almost keep it look- 

 ing "spick-span new" by wiping the varnished 

 work with your handkerchief. Now, after tell- 

 ing you this it seems a little funny to say that a 

 sort of black sand is blown by the wind into the 

 houses, over porches, and almost everywhere. 

 This black sand, when the wind blows hard, will 

 cover the surface of your milk and other food, al- 

 most in spite of you. Of course, it brushes off 

 easily when it is dry; but if you spill some water 

 on it you will have about t^^e worst-looking floors 

 and porches imaginable. Nothing but scrub- 

 bing will take it off. Our very heavy dews set- 

 tle all over the porches, and this dew does no 

 harm unless you walk over it when wet; but if you 

 forget and do so the black sand and dew make 

 the floor look as if you had walked in ink and 

 then across the porch. In the early morning, or 

 just after a rain, your shoes will need a very 

 thorough scraping and rubbing on the mat be- 

 fore you go inside or you will make untold work 

 and worry for that sensitive and patient "little 

 mother." 



I can imagine right here that a hundred (may 

 be a thousand) " mothers " all over our land break 

 out with: 



" O Mr. Root! It is not only Florida but almost 

 everywhere that you men folks could save us un- 

 told trouble if you only nvould practice what you 

 are now preaching." 



Well, I for one am practicing what I preach. 

 By ti^e way, some time ago our Medina church 

 was given a very thorough overhauling. It was 

 painted all over, the floor varnished, new carpets 

 or rugs, etc. After it was all done I went to the 

 pastor and to the Sunday-school superintendent 

 and told them I wanted to talk to our people, es- 

 pecially the Sunday-school scholars, about being 

 sure they all had very clean feet before coming 

 into the new clean church and Sunday-school 

 rooms. To add emphasis to my proposed 

 talk I went and bought some doormats and foot- 

 sciapers to hold up before the audience. What 

 do you think.? Our good pastor and the Sunday- 

 school superintendent (my own son-in-law) both 

 said there was so much important business on hand 

 there wasn't any time for my talk. The moth- 

 ers of the church didn't know any thing about 

 it, or I think there would have been an "open- 

 ing " somewhere. 



Look here, my friend; when I come around 

 your way if you want me to talk to your people 

 about doormats and footscrapers I will always be 

 ready. Perhaps some of you may have guessed 

 already where I got my enthusiasm. Yes, it is 

 true I was once a savage and a heathen; but God 

 in his loving kindness sent Mrs. Root — no, that 

 is wrong — he sent me to live with Mrs. Root. 

 For that one act I shall praise his holy name with 

 my latest breath. Listen! 



The other evening I got home late with a 

 "flat tire." As I wanted the machine early next 

 morning I told "Sue" I must fix it; but as my 

 colored helper lived a long way off I feared I 

 should have trouble. I told her she was not 

 strong enough to pull up the heavy tire so I could 

 remove the inner tube; but she had faith, and we 

 two made an excellent repair. Her advice and 

 suggestions counted for more than her strength.* 



Now, don't scold, any of you-, if I confess 

 right here in print that the touch of her fingers 

 thrilled me while we two pulled on that rubber 

 outer casing just as much as they did Tf/Zy j'f«;v 

 ago when I used to go over across the river to her 

 father's home when we first became acquainted 

 Where God rules, and the dear Savior's love fills 

 the heart, the joys of courtship go clear on to 

 seventy years, and I don't know yet how much 

 longer. 



Well, as soon as that pretty and handy auto 

 house was built Mrs. Root said we wanted a ce- 

 ment walk to it from the house. There had to 

 be several curves; but with some planed stuff 1 X 

 3 inches I bent them so as to make a very pretty 

 two foot walk. As it cost $4.00 for eight iiour's 

 work for a mason, after seeing him work I built 

 some more walks myself with my colored help. 

 I just finished the last one yesterday, and I suc- 

 ceeded so well it makes me feel happy every time 



*That " Best light " lamp I have mentioned elsewhere helped 

 us greatly in working after dark. It can be carried safely in 

 quite a strong wind when wanted out of doors. By the way, 

 Mrs. Root says she believes now she would rather have our little 

 light-running auto, for tur usr, than any one of the great big ex- 

 pensive affairs, and I rather agree with her. 



