1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



233 



0U^ P0ME^. 



What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the 

 whole world, and lose his own soul ''. — Mark 8:3b. 



Friend Root:— You may think it strange of me to 

 write j'ou such a letter as I have sat down to write, 

 and may te you will think I am interfering with 

 what does not concern me; but believe me, I have 

 given it no little thought, and am going to do just 

 exactly as I would wish to be dLne by under like 

 cireumstances. I am a Christian, though I am far 

 from being a perfect one. I know what the power 

 of temptation is. and it helps me to have charity for 

 others who make wrong steps. I think the more 

 popular any Christian becomes, and the mt)re good 

 he wants to do in the world, the more untiringly 

 Satan will work to tiip him; and so the more watch- 

 ful and prayerful he must be. 



I will tell you what I refer to. I am a member of 

 the Southern California Bee-keepers' Association, 

 and at our meeting Jan. 8, at Los Angeles, bids were 

 sent in by the various supply-dealers to furnish the 

 association with needed supplies. You will remem- 

 ber you sent a bid, and then added a postscript, say- 

 ing that, if there were lower bids, let you know, as 

 you could furnish sujiplies as low as any one. 



Now, can you see where that i)laced you? In the 

 first place, it looked very underhanded and dishon- 

 orable; then it looked very grasping, as though you 

 would wish to sell all the supplies used in the United 

 States, or perhaps in the world. A murmur psissed 

 througli the assembly. Some of tliem, in speaking 

 of it, said they were " glad to tind you out." Otliers 

 said the.v " almost knew youi- spouting on religion 

 was merel.v for the dollars it would bring you." 

 Now, I do not believe you thought twice before you 

 wrote tiiat postscript. I am very sorry, for I often 

 think that we who are trying to further tlie cause 

 of Christ are holding it back by inconsistent lives. 

 See Romans 14:21. Y'ours sincei-elv, 



Redlands, Cal., Feb. 16. H. P. Luther. 



May the Lord bless you for your kind letter, 

 friend Luther. By no manner of means do I 

 think you are interfering, dear brother; on 

 the contrary, nothing does me moi'e good than 

 plain outspoken words — that is. where they are 

 spoken or written with the spirit that I am sure 

 actuates you in the above. 1 do believe you are 

 doing exactly as you would be done by.' as you 

 express it. Your thought is a grand one. wliere 

 you speak of having charity for others because 

 you yourself know what "it is to be tempted. 

 And this is one of the good things about trials 

 and temptations — it keeps ns from being over- 

 bearing, and judging others harshly. •'For- 

 give us our debts as we forgive our debtors." 

 Your next thought, too, is an important one. 

 It is indeed true, I believe, that Satan perse- 

 cutes and follows more untiringly any child of 

 God who promises to become populnr. When 

 Finney was doing his great work tlirough Ohio 

 and York State, he was once overheard praying 

 by himself out in the ^^■oods: and the burden of 

 his prayer was that God might help him to 

 bear prosperity in his spiritual work. And I 

 want to thank you again for telling me so 

 plainly and kindly just where you think I am 

 at fault. If you will go back "to that letter. 

 however, which was read at the meeting of the 

 association, you will find the expressions you 

 mention were not the \\'ords of A. I. Root him- 

 self. As all the correspondence, however, that 

 goes out of our establishment is supposed to be 

 authorized by myself. I accept the responsibili- 

 ty, and the rebuke that comes with it. Let me 

 say. however, in extenuation, that there are 

 circumstances connected with this matter 

 which I think your association failed to take 

 into account. In the first place, we were asked 

 to make a bid as early as the ^rst of January. 

 In fact, the letter referred to is dated Jan. 1. 

 Now, at this early season, in this locality, we 

 can not tell very well what we can do. We do 



not know what the winter will be in affording 

 suitable weather to move logs. We do not 

 know how many aie going into the supply bus- 

 iness before spring: neither can we tell definite- 

 ly what the demand is going to be. Perhaps in 

 our bid we should have suggested something 

 like this, and added that we might be able to 

 do better a little later on. I have looked up the 

 letter you refer to. and the postscript, which 

 reads as follows: 



" If our quotations on sections and some other- 

 items are not as low as you have received from some 

 otiier party, we should like another opportunity for 

 a bid. We think, taking it all around, we can fur- 

 nish you goods that will please you as well as, or- 

 better, than any other." 



Now, if it were only one individual who ob- 

 jected to the above, I should be inclined to ac- 

 cuse him of a lack of charity. If. however, it 

 was the voice of an association, perhaps we 

 had better conclude they were right: for I have 

 great faith in the old saying, that " the voice of 

 the people is the voice of God." Permit me to 

 say here, that the writer of the above is our 

 business manager, and my son-in-law; and ta 

 Mr. Calvert is due, ijerhaps more than to any 

 other one person, the fact that our business has. 

 within a few years, extended and enlarged so. 

 that our goods now go to almost every habita- 

 ble part of the earth. Mr. Calvert's special 

 forte seems to be in compassing the whole- 

 earth; and he has a gift that I have never seen 

 equaled for keeping in hand, and under his eye, 

 business transactions not only of great magni- 

 tude, but scattered here and there until an or- 

 dinary mind would become utterly confused 

 and demoralized. Please, dear friend, remem- 

 ber that Mr, Calvert, like you and my.self, is a 

 follower of Chi'ist Jesus, and an enthusiastic- 

 supporter of missionary work throughout the 

 world, and one who gives so liberally of his. 

 earnings to these causes that I often feel like- 

 rebuking him. Now, let us remember that we 

 all have our special individualities. Mr. Cal- 

 vert does not write nor speak in that peculiar 

 way your old friend A. I. Root does; but I am 

 sure he feels just as kindly to his fellow-men as. 

 I do. Perhaps I may say. without any thought 

 of boasting, that God in his mercy and love has. 

 seen fit to give your old friend a peculiar gift 

 in talking to people, and in getting acquainted, 

 and especially in making friends; and it ofteii 

 happens that those who have done business 

 with me. and corresponded with me for years, 

 notice the difference when the magnitude of 

 our business obliges me to delegate to others 

 the task of dictating correspondence. Both 

 Ernest and John say. and with justice in their- 

 favor too, that it is impossible, with the pres- 

 ent amount of business, to explain at length in 

 the way I have been in the habit of doing with 

 ray friends. No other business house does it. 

 In fact, when any business begins to assume- 

 large proportions, people are obliged to take 

 for granted many things or to "read betweea 

 the lines" as it were. As an illustration: 

 When goods decline in value, every good bus- 

 iness house should, as a matter of course, make- 

 the price lower to customers, and I believe this 

 is generally done. When the recipient finds 

 that the goods do not cost what he expected to. 

 pay. he does not demand a letter of explanation. 

 He takes it for granted that there has been a 

 decline in price, but he does not find fault, even 

 if no explanation is made.* On .the other hand^ 



*A letter has just been placed before me, illus-- 

 tratlng so well the above, and at the same time pay- 

 ing a just tribute to our friend Mr. Calvert, that I 

 have thought best to give it here in a foot-note: 



Mr. Root;— Your letter of the 28th is received, in which you 

 say you give me an extra credit ot 81.65. because the goods, 

 had become so much cheaper, for which please accept thanks. 



