1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



613 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root 



Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Go- 

 morrah brimstone and tire from the Lord out of 

 heaven; and he overthrew those eities, and ihat whieh 

 grew upon the trround. And Abraham trat up early 

 in the mornintr to tlie place where he stood before the 

 Lord; and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, 

 and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, 

 lo, the smoke of the country went upas the smoke of a 

 furnace.— Gen. 19 : 24. 25. 27. 28. 



There has been a little discussion and con- 

 siderable correspondence in regard to "fire 

 and brimstone" in the world to come ; and 

 I think the general conclusion was that none 

 of us, learned or unlearned, know very 

 much about it. I said that I did not believe 

 in "everlasting torture ; " but my conscience 

 troubled me afterward, because some might 

 understand by that that I did not believe in 

 future punishment ; and I tried to explain 

 that I did believe in some sort of penalty for 

 willful and deliberate sins committed here 

 in this world of ours. 



Well, friends, during this bright Septem- 

 ber morning I want to talk a little about fire 

 and brimstone, or something equally terrible 

 that we iTieet here in this life. My sister, 

 Mrs. E. J. Gray, who has been a prominent 

 W. C. T. U. woman ever since that organi- 

 zation was started, last Sunday put into my 

 hands a pamphlet issued by the Ohio State 

 Board of Health that startled me. I knew 

 our beautiful State of Ohio had a Board of 

 Health, and I have met and talked with Dr. 

 Probst in regard to the drinking-water of our 

 town of Medina, and also in a general way 

 about the drinking-water of the towns and 

 cities of our whole State. Well, this bulle- 

 tin, issued by the State Board of Health, has 

 been sent out during this present year of 

 1909; and right on the front page we read, 

 " By request of the Woman's Christian Tem- 

 perance Union." May the Lord bless eac/z 

 and every member of the W. C. T. U. I know 

 they worked for many years against great 

 odds. The great dailies poked fun at them 

 and tried to push them off the sidewalk out 

 of the way (figuratively I mean), and I am 

 sorry to say that some of the Christian peo- 

 ple, and perhaps a few ministers, sneered at 

 the W. C. T. U. and the things they were un- 

 dertaking to do; but, thank God, they are 

 beginning now to be recognized, and are 

 "coming into their own." May God bless 

 them while they remain here on earth. I 

 say this because some of them are now get- 

 ting to be pretty well along in life; and I am 

 sure he has great stores of blessing for them 

 in the world to come. Well, it would seem 

 that one of their last and bestefforts has been 

 made to have the State of Ohio issue this 

 new bulletin that 1 am going to tell you 

 about, and from which I shall make some 

 extracts. 



Our text would seem to indicate that the 

 Lord burned up the people of Sodom and 

 Gomorrah — all ages and both sexes. We are 

 not told very definitely what particular sins 

 the folks were guilty of; but this event in 



history has coined a new word. I have not 

 examined the dictionary to learn the defini- 

 tion of the word Sodomite; but I am quite 

 sure that it means every thing low, disgust- 

 ing, and repulsive."' One can hardly imagine 

 any thing more hideous if he take pains to 

 inquire into it. I suppose these people had, 

 of course, repeated warnings; but they dis- 

 dained them, and finally God saw fit to 

 "wipe them off the face of the earth ; " and 

 he did it with //re and brimstone. 



Well, now, this tract issued by the State 

 Board of Health causes me somewhat to 

 hesitate in giving you the title; but I believe 

 it is best for men, women, and children to 

 know of God's intense displeasure against 

 those who violate these holy laws. Here is 

 the title of the pamphlet : 



THE CAUSE AND PREVENTION OF VENEREAL DISEASES. 



I am now going to give you the first para- 

 graph : 



There has been a remarkable reduction in most 

 countries in the contagious and infectious diseases. 

 Smallpox, cholera, and yellow fever, which carried off 

 the people by hundreds of thousands, have largely 

 disappeared. Diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, 

 and tuberculosis, are coming more and more under 

 control, and bid fair eventually to be practically wiped 

 out. These beneficent results have been largely 

 brought about by health authorities supported by in- 

 telligent public opinion. 



There are two widely prevalent diseases, both con- 

 tagious and infectious, ifiat are causing untold human 

 misery and great loss of life, and nothing is being done 

 to prevent them. 



Yes, we do rejoice that the whole wide 

 world is making great progress in mastering 

 and banishing diseases that in former ages 

 swept off the people by the hundreds of 

 thousands. We have succeeded so well at 

 the Panama canal that the death-rate is get- 

 ting to be even less just now in that torrid 

 climate than that of many of our northern 

 cities. 



Let us now consider that last sentence in 

 the last quotation. The State of Ohio tells us 

 that these special diseases are widely prev- 

 alent; that they are causing untold misery 

 and loss of life. But now comes the stun- 

 ning statement that at the present time 

 "there is nothing being done to prevent 

 them." I do not find the name of the author 

 of this document; but I hope he is mistaken 

 in saying that absolutely " nothing " is being 

 done by the State. I have consulted two of 

 our ablest home physicians in regard to the 

 matter, and their verdict is about the same 

 as the above. This pamphlet, as I take it, is 

 for general distribution; but I can not print 

 the whole of it. My next quotation reads as 

 follows : 



These diseases can not be spoken of in polite society; 

 because they are caused by impure sexual relations, 

 and from a sense of modesty, which many think is 

 false modesty, the sexual relations are seldom discussed 

 between parents and children, or even between man 

 and wife. As these things are not taught in school or 

 college, boys and girls grow up— not in ignorance, as 

 many think, but with the most erroneous ideas in re- 

 gard to the function of generation, and the diseases 



* My attention has just been called to the latter part 

 of the first chapter of Romans. This gives us a better 

 picture of the terrible state of affairs existing in Rome 

 in its best days, and of the consequences of letting 

 loose these lower passions, than can be found else- 

 where. It is well for us to read it occasionally as a 

 warning. 



