FEBRUARY 1, 1913 



108 



my parents lived in the old log house out 

 in the woods on the farm, one cold frosty 

 morning, when there was a little snow on 

 the ground, father and some of the neigh- 

 bors were planning to brimstone a hive of 

 bees to get the honey. I asked a number 

 of questions that no one could answer, and 

 my curiosity was so great that, although 

 told I must not even look outdoors because 

 I had been suffering from a severe cold, I 

 finally escaped the attention of mother and 

 the rest, pushed through the partly opened 

 door, and got out into the crowd around the 

 beehive before anybody noticed it. Child- 

 like, I slipped down and got my hands in the 

 snow. They took me indoors and warmed 

 me before the open fireplace. Notwith- 

 standing all their care, I contracted lung 

 fever, which came so near taking my life 

 that the doctors gave me up. My good 

 mother didn't give me up, however, even if 

 the doctors did. She kept on doing every 

 thing she knew how, and praying that the 

 little life might be spared. Some one in- 

 quired afterward what doctor it was that 

 brought me out of that low spell. The 

 Christian doctor, however, replied that no 

 doctor did it; it was my praying mother 

 who saved my life. 



Now to go back. When my mother used 

 to see me so engaged with my books on 

 bees that I could not drop them, even day 

 or night, she used to say something like 

 this : " Amos, the time is coming when you 

 will read your Bible with as much enthu- 

 siasm and interest as you are now reading 

 these books on bees." I laughingly made 

 some sort of reply; but later on, as these 

 older readers of Gleanings will remember, 

 1 dragged my " religion into an industrial 

 journal," as some expressed it. Some good 

 business men and even church members 

 smiled at my unusual proceeding. But I, be- 

 lieving that I was under the influence of the 

 Holy Spirit, wisely kept quiet, and kept 

 on in my course, as you will see if I relate 

 one little incident. 



A large business firm in the East made 

 a mistake and sent me a consignment of 

 goods which I didn't order, which would 

 be rather expensive to return. After some 

 correspondence I told them that, in order 

 to save them expense, I would try to work 

 off the goods. I did this by putting them 

 on the fairground in the counter-store busi- 

 ness that was my hobby for a time. When 

 I informed them the goods were all sold, 

 and enclosed check, there came a reply 

 something like this: "Mr. Root, we will 

 confess that we were prejudiced against 

 you. We were told that you were a relig- 

 ious crank, and had the habit of mixing 



religion and business. Now, if this is the 

 way you propose to mix religion and busi- 

 ness, bring it along; the more of it the 

 better; it is exactly what the world is suf- 

 fering for." 



One reason why Gleanings has prosper- 

 ed is, I think, that it has always set its face 

 so determinedly against selling secrets and 

 frauds. I have been all my life more or 

 less in touch with the experiment stations, 

 not only in Ohio, but others, and they have 

 repeatedly said that no good thing ever, 

 came to science or art or industries through 

 a seci'et sold for a certain sum of money. 

 Our Ohio experiment station is very decided 

 in regard to this point. Yet at the present 

 time we are told by the papers that millions 

 of hard-earned money have been going and 

 are going constantly to fakers who make it 

 their business to rob people of their hard- 

 earned money, especially sick people. Now, 

 Gleanings has from first to last endeavored 

 to protect people from frauds of this sort. 

 Any advertisement that is sent in of this 

 kind, it has been my custom for years to 

 ask for sample of what they had to sell for 

 a certain sum of money. Many refuse to 

 do this, thinking it is, perhaps, none of our 

 business. 



In order to succeed in any business at 

 this present day and stage of the world's 

 industry, it is almost a necessity that you be 

 " hungering and thirsting " for every tiling 

 that is to be known about the business you 

 are engaged in. Better still — yes, ever so 

 much better — you should be hungering and 

 thirsting after righteousness. I believe one 

 of the hopeful things that we can thank 

 God for at the present time is that the 

 whole wide world is more and more hunger- 

 ing and thirsting after righteousness in- 

 stead of hungering and thirsting for oppor- 

 tunities to get a hand into some other man's 

 pocket without his knowing it. The most 

 pressing need of the present day and age 

 of the world is for men for important 

 offices who are hungering and thirsting 

 after righteousness, instead of hungering 

 and thirsting for an opportunity of de- 

 frauding the people whom they have sworn 

 to protect. 



It is true that, during the past forty 

 years, there have been various jangles and 

 disagi'eements and difference of opinion; 

 but, may the Lord be praised, they have 

 been finally settled, almost without excep- 

 tion, in a peaceable and amicable manner. 



The fashion of filling the pages of a bee 

 journal with accounts of quarrels and dis- 

 putes, instead of having the pages devoted 

 to the dissemination of useful and helpful 

 knowledge, has, for the most part, passed 



