GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



My reply was something like this: 



" My good friend, don't worry about the 

 number of Gleanings that are going at our 

 expense to foreign missions. The great 

 Father above will furnish the stamps, I am 

 sure." 



In a little time we had kind letters from 

 almost every part of the world, and these 

 good friends told me about the bees and 

 bee culture in their locality. I distinctly 

 remember one missionary who said some- 

 thing like this : " Mr. Root, your little bee 

 journal has been a Godsend to me and the 

 natives here. I had been for some time 

 past praying and studying over the matter 

 of how I should find something to enlist 

 their interest and attention so I could get 

 better in touch with them. By the direc- 

 tions contained in your little journal I suc- 

 ceeded in making a movable- frame hive; 

 had captured some bees, and finally an- 

 nounced to the natives that I would take 

 a hive all to pieces and show them the work 

 of the bees, and point out the queen, etc. 



" Now, this little object lesson proved to 

 be more entertaining and instnictive than 

 any thing else I had ever been able to get 

 hold of, brought from civilization. May 

 God speed you in your good work." 



From that time to this we have had more 

 or less pleasant relations with missionaries 

 and the missionary work in foreign lands. 

 The great Father above has furnished the 

 "postage stamps;" and not only that, he 

 has opened up trade and commerce in hives 

 and hive fixtures all over the world in a 

 way that could not have been done other- 

 wise. In fact, orders came right along from 

 foreign countries in languages that we know 

 so little about that we have an interpreter 

 in New York, besides a prettj^ fair inter- 

 IDreter here in our own office, to read and 

 translate orders from foreign lands in dif- 

 ferent languages spoken thi-oughout the 

 world. 



Another of the texts that I have given 

 above has been abundantly verified : " Seek 

 ye first the kingdom of God and his right- 

 eousness, and all these things shall be add- 

 ed unto you." 



Now let me pause a minute to ask you 

 what the consequences would have been had 

 I, as so many of us often do, refusv^d to 

 accede to the request of my good pastor. 

 Somebody asks you to teach a class in Sun- 

 day-school or to take charge of a Bible 

 class, or to lead a prayer meeting or some- 

 thing of that soii;. You (or we) forgetting 

 the abundant Bible promises, make the ex- 

 cuse that we are not posted, or we are not 

 adapted for that class of work, or perhaps 

 that we are not " built that way," so neg- 



lect the opportunity. How much should I 

 have lost if I had assured dear brother Reed 

 that I was totally incompetent (which was 

 true) to lead a missionary meeting, instead 

 of taking the book, as he requested, and 

 looking into it with eyes that were no long- 

 er blind to the words that God has sent us. 

 The injunction to go into all the world and 

 preach the gospel seems to me to belong not 

 only to ministers but to everj- creature who 

 has found " the Lamb of God who taketb 

 away the sin of the world." The responsi- 

 bility rests upon our shoulders to redeem 

 the world, not only from cannibalism and 

 other sins, but to redeem our own nation 

 from the dangers that are coming to beset 

 more and more its people. 



Not only is our journal now going regu- 

 larly to every sjDot on the earth where mis- 

 sionai-y work is going on, but it is taken 

 regiilarly by gi-eat numbers of people who 

 do not speak our language at all, and many 

 of them can not read it at all.* They look 

 at the pictures and hunt up somebody who 

 is conversant with our language, and capa- 

 ble of giving them some kind of interpreta- 

 tion, and in this way keep in touch with 

 your humble servant and what he has to say 

 in these Home papers. 



May God bless this little story, and help 

 many another brother and sister to heed 

 that closing little text, "0 ye of little faith! 

 wherefore didst thou doubt? " 



* One of the pleasantest acquaintances of my 

 life was a young man in Cuba who linew as little of 

 English as I knew of Spanish; yet we had the A B C 

 book and also took Gleanings. We went ofif on a 

 trip, and were alone together the greater part of the 

 day except the ABC, which he carried along. How 

 we did laugh and "chatter" I The Holy Spirit, which 

 filled both our hearts (for he was a young convert), 

 bridged over the lack of a language common to both 

 of us. 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE TRIUMPHANT OVER 

 THE PRESIDENT'S VETO. 



We clip the following from the front 

 page of that godly paper. The Union Sig- 

 nal: 



GREATEST NATIONAL PROHIBITION VICTORY EVER 

 WON. 



The veto of President Taft of the Kenyon-Webb 

 bill has been overridden by both houses of Congress. 

 On February 28, the Senate, by a vote of 63 to 21, 

 repassed the measure, and, on March 1, the House 

 of Representatives, by a vote of 244 to 95, took sim- 

 ilar action. 



When the news came of the victory I 

 said, " May God be praised for having 

 heard and answered our prayers;" but the 

 following from that same front page of 

 The Union Signal expresses my feelings 

 so much better I give it also: 



I thank God I have lived to see the day when the 

 representative^ of the American people will answer 



