1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



749 



big strong man full of life and energy and 

 good blood, like T. B. Terry; but he lias talk- 

 ed so much about it that both his wife and 

 daughter have recently adopted the cold- wa- 

 ter bath down cellar, and they now enjoy it 

 fully as much as he does. Since Mr. Terry 

 has'bcen teaching us so vehemently cold-wa- 

 ter bathing I have met and heard from quite 

 a number of people who say it has been 

 of more benefit to their health than any thing 

 else they ever got hold of. If you wash off 

 in this way every day, no soap will be need- 

 ed; and I am fully persuaded that soap is a 

 hindrance instead of a benefit to health un- 

 less it is washed from the body with clean 

 water after having used the soapy water. 

 Just think of it! you go to the drugstore and 

 buy witch-hazel, and no end of liniments 

 and pain-killers. The directions are to "'ap- 

 ply with brisk rubbing.'' Now, this "brisk 

 rubbing" is what gives relief and performs 

 the cure; and cold water right from the well 

 or cistern, that costs nothing, is infinitely 

 better than all the lininients and pain-killers 

 in the world. Why, when Mrs. Root and I 

 had the fever, the doctors and nurses sent 

 to the drugstore for the highest-priced alco- 

 hol (no denatured alcohol would answer; 

 we paid the tax on it that was imposed, so 

 they claim, to prevent inebriates from get- 

 ting it), and then gave us an alcohol bath. 

 I submitted just once; but I do not think I 

 ever will again. If I must die a little sooner 

 because they did not rub me off with some 

 vile alcohol, then let me die sooner. 



Down in Florida, when we were building 

 our house there was a tub out under the 

 pump, made by sawing off a third of a large- 

 sized kerosene-barrel. I sawed it off in that 

 way so as to have one shallow tub for giving 

 water to the chickens while I had the other 

 deeper tub under the pump. Wei!, one 

 night after a sweaty day's work I went out 

 to that tub to take a wash. The water (al- 

 most as soft as rain water) seemed so cooling 

 and delicious I finally removed my clothing 

 and got into the tub. As I am not a very 

 large man I found it an easy matter to get 

 clear under the water all except my head 

 and ears. Of course, it was after dark; but 

 happening to hear some voices of people 

 coming in a buggy I decided it would be 

 cheaper to get into the tub under the water 

 than to try to run back to the house. Now, 

 while I was under that beautiful cool soft 

 water, right from the well, I gave myself a 

 good scrubbing all over. Then with a coarse 

 towel 1 rubbed briskly every part of my anat- 

 omy until I was not only clean, but had the 

 blood circulating in a way that it had not 

 done before for quite a spell. 



Now, do not any of you say any more that 

 you can not take a bath because you have 

 not modern facilities. A tub big enough to 

 hold you, and a towel with which to go through 

 "the closing act," are all the facilities need- 

 ed. By the way, T. B. Terry remarked that 

 in the summer time he takes his cold-water 

 bath outdoors inside of a clump of evergreens 

 planted so as to give a secluded spot for just 

 such purposes. 



Now, friends, I have heard from quite a 

 lot of you who are proposing to keep com- 

 pany with Terry, Fletcher, and myself in 

 living to be a hundred years old. If you are 

 really in earnest about it, go and get your- 

 self a tub big enough to hold you, and then 

 "climb into the band wagon " and go along 

 with the rest of us. 



Before closing, here is another item along 

 the same line. You have probably all heard 

 of curing cold feet by wading in the dewy 

 grass early in the morning, barefooted of 

 course. You have perhaps discovered, as I 

 have, that you often catch a severe cold by 

 allowing your feet to become damp and cold 

 at the same time. Almost every fall I have 

 a trouble with sore throat— that is, while I 

 am up here in the North— unless I am very 

 careful to wear overshoes as soon as the 

 weather becomes chilly. Now, it would look 

 quite natural, 1 suppose, that all of said wad- 

 ing in the wet grass in the early morning 

 would be sure to make one "catch cold;" 

 but not so, however. You can scamper 

 around in the wet grass for fifteen or twen- 

 ty minutesjand then rub off your feet brisk- 

 ly with a rough towel (just exactly in the 

 way that I "massage" my neck and ears); 

 and instead of causing you to take cold, your 

 feet will be much more likely to keep warm 

 all day, without extra covering either. I do 

 not suppose it would answer to stand still 

 when out in the wet grass; but the cleansing 

 power of the cold water, accompanied by 

 brisk exercise, seems to have the effect, as 

 Terry expresses it, of bringing the warm 

 blood to the surface and to send it galloping 

 all through the system. If you are troubled 

 with corns, this wading in the grass is worth 

 more to you than any tning else in the world. 

 If I remember correctly, it is part of the pro- 

 gram that father Kneipp uses in his cele- 

 brated sanitarium in the old country.* 



*I find, on consulting Pastor Kneipp's book, "My 

 Water Cure," that he not only prescribes cold-water 

 baths, but even walking barefoot in soft newly fallen 

 snow. Let me quote from the book: 



yuite recfntly a young trirl came to me complaining of tIo 

 lent toothache. '• If you walk live minutes in the fresh-fallen 

 snow, your toothache will ?iiecdily disappear," I paid to her. 

 She run out into the parrien and did so. whence she returned 

 s<une ten minutes later with the .loyful announcemeni: that 

 her toothac-he was cmnpletely ^;one. 



BUILDING UP THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON 

 EARTH. 



The following is an extract from an old at- 

 torney and judge. As he is an old acquaint- 

 ance of my son-in-law, Mr. Boyden, the lat- 

 ter sent him a copy of our journal. After he 

 looked it over he returned the following 

 "verdict :" 



Mr. A. /,. Boyden :— I read the parts of the papers 

 edited by Mr. A. I. Root with much interest. They 

 show that a Christian, determined to do the Master's 

 work, can always find ways and means to accomplish 

 something toward building the kingdom of God in the 

 earth. I am glad I met you. Remember me to all my 

 friends. ERVIN PALMER. 



Detroit, Mich., Nov. 2, 1909. 



