674 



Just recently I have been pained to note 

 bj' the daily papers that the city of Cleve- 

 land has been, during the past summer, in- 

 augurating what they call "three-cent 

 dance-halls." These dance-halls purport to 

 be for the purpose of giving the children 

 outdoor exercise; and I have been waiting 

 and wondering why some of the Christian 

 men and Avomen of the different churches 

 of that great city did not come out with 

 a vehement protest, especially when the 

 authorities are proposing to open even a 

 greater number of three-cent dance-halls. 

 The following clipping from the Cleveland 

 Press would indicate that there are asylums 

 or institutions of some kind in Cleveland 

 to take care of these unfortunate results 

 from the dance-halls: 



"It is plainly the mother's duty to acquaint 

 her child with the important facts of life. But the 

 majority of mothers are obviously failing," said 

 Mrs. Ciark. "We have from twenty to thirty girls 

 here constantly. 



"They come from some of the best homes 

 in the cities, and some of our so-called 'finest 

 young men' are responsible. They come here al- 

 most invariably by way of the public dance hall 

 and amusement parks. 



"Just now we are caring for the results of last 

 winter's dances in the public halls. After the first 

 of the year those girls who this summer have fre- 

 quented the parks to their own grief, will come 

 to us. What does it all mean? 



"Primarily that their mothers failed to do their 

 duty when they failed to tell them the things they 

 should know. 



"If each girl were closely questioned I doubt 

 if we could find three of them who had been told 

 the truth. I base that estimate on the fact that 

 so many of them range from thirteen to seventeen 

 years. "One child of thirteen gave birth to a baby 

 girl here this morning. Her mother, heartbroken 

 with grief, admitted to me that it had been her 

 own fault. 



"Since the majority of parents either can not 

 or will not instruct their children, I think it is 

 flatly up to the state, through the schools, to sup- 

 ply that instruction." 



Let me add to the above clipping that I 

 fear our reform institutions will accom- 

 plish but little in the way of cure while 

 every great city forgets all about prevenr- 

 iion, and keeps on opening up more three- 

 cent dances. 



When friend C. first sent me the letter 

 at the head of this Home paper I wrote 

 him as f oIIoavs : 



My good friend, I have looked over your book 

 quite a little, but really can not take time to read 

 all of it. It seems to be an account of neighbor- 

 hood quarrels and family quarrels that nobody in 

 the world except your immediate community is 

 interested in. I think you did a very foolish thing 

 in putting so much gossip in print; and if you 

 will excuse plain talking I am sure you must be 

 at least somewhat to blame. I never knew of a 

 neighborhood where there were not more good 

 people than bad, and where the general public are 

 not always ready to give a poor man a chance. 

 Neither in your letter nor in your book do you 

 intimate that you have been holding fast to God's 

 promises. I will quote just this one: "Blessed are 

 ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, 

 and shall say- all manner of evil against you 

 falsely, for my sake." 



Now, if you are trying to do right, and ask 

 God to help you every day of your life, I don't 

 Fpe how you can have any such trouble. Get 

 down on your knees, and ask God to forgive you 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



for what you have done wrong- then ask him 

 to guide your erring footsteps. Remember also 

 the promise: "My yoke is easy and my burden 

 is light." "Come unto me, all ye that are weary 

 and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

 If you will do this I am sure you will not only be 

 at peace with your neighbors but with the good 

 wife, the mother of your children. I wish you 

 would show her this letter. If you are both bee- 

 keepers, I suppose you have been reading my 

 Home talks in Gleanings. I have prayed for 

 you both, and I will pray for you again. 

 Your old friend, 

 Sept. 13, 1912. A. I. Root. 



Well, in due time I received the follow- 

 ing reply :' 



Mr. Root : — I am ashamed to have such a letter 

 in my possession as you vsrrote me. Certainly it is 

 plain that you did not read my book. Do you 

 think I would place that letter in this woman's 

 hands ? She would clap her hands and screech 

 with delight at my inability to protect myself from 

 her. Surely she would not have to pervert that 

 letter to her liking. 



In regard to myself, first I am persecuted be- 

 cause I am a beekeeper ; next, because I was 

 friendly to sweet clover; then, last but not least, be- 

 cause opposed to strong drink being shipped into 

 our no-license village, and kept in a blind piggery 

 where several claimed the right to store their 

 liquor, then come together, to drink it ; then 

 have the brewery team come from P. every few 

 days and deliver beer in bottles and kegs at this 

 "piggery," and also at their private houses in 

 broad daylight. You should remember that I re- 

 ceived 250 copies of "A Stainless Flag," by Dr. 

 Chapman, which I faithfully distributed in F. 

 and the towns of O. and M., and that O. came 

 within eif/ht votes of going dry; and I believe 

 that, if I had had the 300 copies that the box 

 would have held (50 copies more, in place of 

 refuse paper), O. would have gone dry. 



This (for reasons best known to myself) I left 

 out of the book. This woman's father was a 

 notoroious di'inking man. Liquor and crime go 

 hand in hand; thus this crime comes against me. 

 I took Gleanings for your vpritings and nothing 

 else ; yet I look it over a little, more for sweet 

 clover and alfalfa than any thing else. I have 

 four acres of sweet clover and 3 Vz acres of alfalfa. 

 I am no hypocrite, so say little about religion. I 

 would be a i)oor person to speak in church, yet 

 I have sung in choirs for many years, and I 

 thoroughly believe what I sing. Do you think 

 that I could sing otherwise ? This woman never 

 looked in Gleanings that I knew of, nor a Bible 

 either. 



I wish I could get three or four copies of "The 

 Truth About Sweet Clover." I think I have two 

 or three copies of "A Stainless Flag" yet at home, 

 which I should like to get into this jail. Oh the 

 terror of strong drink! There is a man in this 

 jail who killed a babe less than a day old — a 

 Bohemian. His wife comes about twice a week to 

 see him. He is a prosperous farmer, woi'th 

 150,000; and now he is sober, they both nearly 

 die over the matter. 



Yours respectfullv, . 



Jail, Sept. 24, 1912. 



I have given the above letter entire be- 

 cause it illustrates the sad condition of 

 one who has become entangled in a family 

 quarrel, and finally in a quarrel with neigh- 

 bors also. It would look at first glance as 

 if the writer had been persecuted for 

 righteousness' sake; but come to look into 

 the matter carefully it hardly seems likely 

 that 2'eople should all be against him be- 

 cause he is a beekeeper or because he is 

 friendly to sweet clover, and certainly not 

 because he is a tem2:terance worker and 

 one who is faithful and earnest in dis- 

 tributing temperance literature. He says 

 he took GrLEANiNGS for my writings and 



