DECEMBKR 15, 1912 



819 



Our Homes 



A. I. ROOT 



Let every one of you in particular so love his 

 wife even as himself ; and the wife see that she 

 reverence her husband. — Eph. 5:33. 



A little child shall lead them. — Isaiah 11:6. 



During my busy life I have had occasion 

 to listen to many sermons. This is es- 

 pecially true because I never absent myself 

 from church and Sunday-school on the sab- 

 bath when it is possible for me to attend. 

 As a matter of course I have listened to 

 many good and powerful sermons, but 

 God's messages have not always come from 

 the pulpit. I told you some time back 

 about a sermon that had a tremendous ef- 

 fect on my whole life; in fact, it helped 

 to bring about a turningpoint in my life, 

 and the preacher was a small boy less than 

 six years old. Well, to-day, dear friends, 

 I am going to submit to you a sermon 

 from a girl twelve years of age. Even at 

 that early age she is a child of prayer, and 

 in answer to her prayers God has dii-ected 

 her to send this letter to me. I can not 

 introduce her, because the letter gives otaly 

 her name as ''Little Ella," and no hint as 

 to her parents' name or where she lives.* 

 May God bless the message, and may the 

 Holy Spirit go with it to the readers of 

 Gleanings. We have thought best to print 

 the letter just about as we received it, even 

 to the quaint spelling of some words. 



Dear Mr. Root: — I am a girl 12 years old and 

 I am going to wi-ite to you, as I think God has 

 told me to. asking you to do something for me. 



I will tell you my story. My papa is quite well 

 off, and we have an auto, and every thing nice; 

 but he is unkind to mamma, and she is the best 

 dearest mamma ever was, and she is always good 

 to papa — just cries and cries because he is so 

 nouty to her. She works very hard to take care 

 of things around home. Papa just makes her 

 wait on him all the time, and he never lets her 

 go any place with him, and never takes her riding 

 in the auto with him ; but he takes lots of other 

 ladies. My papa has got bees, and takes Glean- 

 ings, and he always reads Mr. Root's piece that 

 has verses out of the Bible and he thinks they 

 are such good thoughts. Now, Mr. Root, if you 

 could write a piece, something about "men orto be 

 good to their wifes," I think my papa would read 

 it, and it might help him. I ask God every night 

 to tell me what to do, and I just think of you. So 

 I guess he told me. 



* The thought several times came to my mind 

 when deciding to give this letter a place in Glean- 

 ings that the father, when he sees it, may be dis- 

 pleased with the little girl; but please let him bear 

 in mind that the message may fit a hundred or 

 more different households among our 30,000 sub- 

 scribers. Even if the child has a mistaken idea in 

 some respects, her message is honest and good. It 

 may be the means of restoring peace and harmony 

 to a thousand homes, through the i^rovidence of 

 God. And let me suggest to this good friend of 

 mine who has been reading my writings, that the 

 proper thing to do is to put your arm around the 

 child and thank God he has given her tO' you, and 

 has chosen her to bear a message of peace and 

 good will to the children of men. 



I pray you will not throw this in the waste 

 basket and not pay any attention to it. I will 

 watch Gleanings. Papa swears at her, and say 

 offul mean things to her too, and don't ever give 

 her any money. Little Ella. 



You will note from the above that our 

 young friend had no idea that her letter 

 would be printed; but I have taken the 

 liberty to do so, because I am sure it is more 

 touching, and will reach more hearts, than 

 any thing I could write. Her people are 

 well to do, as you will notice; in fact, they 

 have an automobile. But before taking it 

 for gTanted that the father is alone to 

 blame, I want to suggest that, inasmuch 

 as it always takes "two to make a bargain," 

 my experience is that it usually takes two 

 to get up a quarrel or to stir up ill feeling. 

 The child seems to take it for gTanted 

 that her mother is in no way at fault for 

 the existing bad state of affairs in that 

 home with its pleasant equipment and sur- 

 roundings. But I greatly fear, from her 

 frank little story, that the mother too, at 

 least in a measure, is in the wrong. Per- 

 haps she is tempted to give way to com- 

 plaining and fault-finding. When Satan 

 once gets a hold in a home, it is sometimes 

 very difficult indeed to make him let go. 

 Nothing but the love of Christ can banish 

 the demon and bid him be gone. This good 

 woman should be very patient, and she 

 should be very careful about criticising 

 and finding fault. May be she is like our 

 good friend Martha, as we read in the 10th 

 chapter of Luke — overcareful about things 

 that are comparatively unimportant. 



If our young friend has gotten things 

 exactly right, the father is certainly very 

 much at fault ; but please notice she tells 

 us that he always reads with great interest 

 "Mr. Root's piece that has verses out of the 

 Bible, and he thinks they are such good 

 thoughts." If this is true, that he loves 

 and admires the verses I have selected out 

 of the Bible, he certainly can not be a very 

 bad man. I think it is quite likely — yes, I 

 am almost sure — that this man and wife 

 are, as a rule, good and worthy people. 

 Perhaps one or both are church-members, 

 and yet Satan seems to have gotten a foot- 

 hold in that home. He is prejudicing the 

 liearts of both of them, and I know by ex- 

 l)erience that it is often a pretty big job 

 to get him out. Each of the parties will 

 have to take a decided stand and say, "Get 

 thee behind me, Satan." Oh dear me! I 

 know all about it, for I have been through 

 n all; but, thank God, it was years ago. 

 As I go over the past in memory I can not 



