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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 1 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root. 



If a man die, shall he live again?— Job 14:14. 



Man lieth down and riseth not: till the heavens be no 

 more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their 

 sleep.— Job 14:12. 



Dear Friend Root:— I fully expected to see you on 

 your visit in Florida last winter; but a long illness, 

 brought on by overheating in fighting forest fires, and 

 then catching cold, pretty nearly finished me up, and 

 even yet I am not back to my normal condition. 



1 want to commend you for your article on pp. 382, 

 383, on law enforcement. The breaking down of all 

 authority in our homes is going to be the ruin of the 

 country. This lawlessness begins in our homes with 

 the babies before they are sLx months old; and unless 

 there is a radical change we are doomed. The lynch- 

 ings are only another manifestation of the same spirit. 

 I know a family of children, bright as dollars, but 

 without discipline. They do what they please, and do 

 it when they please — no burdens, no responsibilities. 

 The oldest boy has been charged with several of- 

 fenses, but the parents have always shielded him, and 

 recently he was indicted for breaking into a store. 

 They came to me to shelter him from the officers. I 

 said to them, " I can not make myself a party to any 

 such thing. Go like a man. If you are guilty, take 

 your punishment like a man, and then be a man the 

 rest of your days." But the father advised different- 

 ly, and now the boy is a fugitive; and unless he turns 

 a new leaf he will end in prison. But the parents re- 

 sent any suggestion that the children ought to be at 

 work, and busy, and so it goes. I tell you, after man 

 sinned God knew what was best for him, and put him 

 to work; and no greater curse can befall a boy or girl 

 than to be left without knowing how to do good hon- 

 est sweating. 



I want to call your attention to an expression on p. 

 183— " Our fathers and mothers are dead and gone," 

 and the rest of the paragraph. I am sure your feel- 

 ings can not be trusted when you teach that the dead 

 are watching, and interested in our labors, for God 

 says, "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to the 

 earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." — PSALM 

 146:4. " For the living know that they shall die; but 

 the dead know not any thing, neither have they any 

 more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten ; 

 also their love and their hatred and their envy are 

 now perished, neither have they any more a portion 

 for ever in anything that is done under the sun." — 

 ECCLESIASTES 9:5,6. "For in death there is no re- 

 membrance of thee; in the grave, who shall give thee 

 thanks?" — PsALM 6:5. " His sons come to honor, and 

 he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he 

 perceiveth it not of them."— Job 14 : 21. So it can not 

 be possible that our dead friends are interested in 

 what we are doing. The doctrine of natural immor- 

 tality was taught by the enemy when he said, "Thou 

 shalt not surely die;" and this falsehood of Satan has 

 been the basis of every false religion from that day to 

 this; and now in the closing scenes of this world's his- 

 tory, when Satan will appear as an angel of light, and 

 do many wonderful miracles, every soul not anchored 

 on the word of God will be swept from its feet. " God 

 only hath immortality " — see I. Timothy 6:14—16; and 

 we who are faithful will receive it at the second com- 

 ing of Christ, and we obtain it by faith in the right- 

 eousness of Christ; and faith is to believe God's word, 

 not Satan's falsehoods. 



Pardon me for thus criticising; but I want to see you 

 on ground that you can maintain, and that is the Bi- 

 ble — the word. It is truth; and truth sanctifies, not 

 error. I read your articles with great interest. You 

 reach a vast audience, and I want your teachings to 

 be sound to the core. 

 Bowling Green, Fla., June 30. Irving Keck. 



Many thanks, my old friend, for your 

 strong endorsement of my plea for a better 

 enforcement of the laws of our land. It does 

 me a lot of good to see that you and I agree 

 so fully, not only in regard to the enforce- 

 ment of law throughout our land but the en- 

 forcement of it in the home, with the child 

 as soon as it is born. Now, it may not be 

 worth while for us to spend much time in 

 regard to what shall take place with us be- 



tween death and the day of resurrection^ yet 

 I think a brief and friendly discussion of the 

 matter will do us both good. 



There are certain things in the scriptures 

 that God seems pleased to reveal very fully 

 and explicitly. There are other things that 

 do not seem so clear, and upon which God- 

 fearing people do not seem to agree; but, 

 aside from the testimony of the scriptures, 

 the great Father seems to have implanted 

 certain impressions within us that operate 

 like instinct. As an illustration, it seems to 

 be made clear and plain to at least most of 

 us, when we reach maturity, that we should 

 get married and have a family. And this 

 truth seems to be plain and clear to those 

 who have never seen the Bible and do not 

 know that there is one. There are other 

 duties and responsibilities that seem to be 

 imprinted on the whole human family — per- 

 haps not so plainly on some as on others. 

 Without any teaching from the Bible or 

 Christianity, every human being who reach- 

 es man's estate feels the responsibility of 

 caring for his wife and children. He knows 

 what is manly and honest and true. Some 

 of these impressions, that are really a part of 

 our very being, do not all come to us until 

 late in life. I am conscious of feeling im- 

 pressions, as I approach three score and ten, 

 that I never had before. I believe my judg- 

 ment in regard to certain things, say those 

 concerning the welfare of our nation or State, 

 is better than ever before in my life. A man 

 of mature years generally knows what to do 

 in case of an emergency better than a young- 

 er one. I hope my younger friends will not 

 take exception to this statement. When I 

 was a child I was very bashful. I was afraid 

 to approach strangers; and for several years, 

 when I was a young man, I lacked courage. 

 I was afraid ot death; but when I became a 

 Christian, and recognized that every thing is 

 in God's hands, it gave me more courage; 

 but not till recent years have I been able to 

 look coolly and calmly on death. 



It was my task, not many years ago, to in- 

 form an older brother of mine that he had 

 only a few years and perhaps only a few 

 months to live. The doctor asked me if I 

 thought it would frighten him to tell him the 

 truth. I told the doctor I thought not; and 

 when I explained the matter to that brother 

 he said, as I rather expected he would, and 

 he said it with a smile, " It does not worry 

 me any. I am ready to go at anytime." 

 Now, this brother, like myself, had learned 

 to take things coolly and quietly in his old 

 age. 



Men of education and culture, men of 

 broad experience in the affairs of the world, 

 ought to have good judgment. Their opin- 

 ions ought to be worth something. 



Now, I have sometimes thought I should 

 like to be present at a convention or con- 

 gress of the best and broadest minds that 

 this world affords. I should like to have a 

 frank expression of opinion in regard to the 

 matter of what becomes of our friends, or, 

 to come closer still, what becomes of m after 

 death. My impression is that instinct ought 



