IS'.fJ 



(;i,iv\.\iN«;s IN HKK I ri/pri;K 



in 



not. as a )»/(. lived out in ilic (■oiiiilrv several 

 miles fniiii si'luml. I \\ anted lo aild. v\tx\\\ here, 

 ihal / lived iwo miles and a half iVuni the 

 sclioollunise; hiil Mrs. Kool dee lures /(lo.v/ /»(/.si- 

 tirclii thai I must not say a wurd iihctiit it. You 

 see. sin- is ■•sort of "" looking after me sini'e I 

 liave l>een siek. Mrs. Koot and 1 deeided that 

 Mrs. Melntyre madi' about the/«.s7 bread in the 

 world: l)iit aftei' we i-limbed the mountains, and 

 went lip the eanyoii to the falls, we bcfrmi to 

 think that Mrs. .Vruiulel was fully her e(Hial: 

 and when I be^an lo try to express it, her hus- 

 band, in ills own iiuaint. oomie way, said: 



•■ Lives there a man with soul so dead 

 Who never to himself hath s;iid. 

 This is luy own. my dear wife's bread'.'"" 



I suppose most, of you know that the b(H>-meii 

 of our land are. as a rule, a little brislitei", more 

 sni-alu'ad. and more respet-talile than theaver- 

 atre men of other callinirs: but of late I am 

 impressed with the fael that bee-keeiiers" irircs 

 are i-apable of standing riKhl up side by side 

 with thi'ir husbands. I picsume it has becMi tlui 

 ease for somi' time back: but. like many (Ulu^r 

 things, we luidn't found it (Uit. Friend .Meln- 

 lyre placed us in position at the falls. " took 

 hold of tlu> crank"' hims(>lf. and in due tinu! I 

 hojje to present you with a Kodak view of the 

 whole thing. Hy the way. friend M. told his 

 wife he would be back that night: but it got so 

 awful dark before his i)atient horse had got us 

 there up tin' mountain, he decided to stay for 

 supper. After supi)er the luoon came up: but 

 there was so much visiting to do that lie did 

 not get away: and when he carried us back to 

 the station next day it was afternoon. Mrs. 

 Root was worried for fear that his wife would 

 be uneasy. We got a pleasant letter a day or 

 two after, in which he said his wife didn't wor- 

 ry a bit. for she gave him the credit of " having 

 sense enough to t ake care of himself." — 



l-'rom Fillmore we went to Piru Station. 1 

 wanted to take Mrs. Root up the Piru Valley, 

 for two reasons: First. I wanted to have her see 

 my good fi'iends the Reasoners: and I wanted, 

 also, to drive through David Cook's ranch of 

 1.3.0(X) acres. I didn't know any one in Pirn, and 

 there wasn't a liv(>ry-stable there. I told Mrs. 

 Root to sit down in the shade; and I would hunt 

 up a vehicle. The station agent said he thought 

 I could get one of a Siiaiiiard just over the way. 

 I went to his house, hut the young lady I found 

 there only smihid, and signilied that she could 

 not talk our language. I thought if she could 

 ■sinilc ill English she could cei'tainly talk it a 

 little: but I had to giv(! it up. Then I found 

 her father: but he couldn't talk English either, 

 so he called his boy to act as interpreter. It was 

 real fun for me to hear the boy's plain, clear 

 English translation of the musical and some- 

 what romantic Spanish. The .Spanish jieople 

 have always been interesting to me, aiul they 

 were doubly so that day. I got the directions, 

 or at least thought I did. and started off. Pret- 

 ty soon something else; interesting took my at- 

 tention, ami I lost my way. Did you neviM' no- 

 tice how vveii-d and strange things look when 

 you are lost'.' Well, they look doubly so in Cal- 

 ifornia. I finally got into a very pretty garden, 

 and found a luan cultivating, t told him what 

 I wanted, and lie soon rigged me out. Then we 

 talked something like this: 



•■ My friend. I am an entire stranger here, and 

 how do you know 1 won't run off with your 

 horse and l)uggy?'" 



He didn't say much, but I thought he looked 

 as if my question was certainly a reasonable 

 one. It just then occurred to m(! that it was 

 g<'ttiiig late, and Mrs. Root must be wondering 

 where I was. Just then I espied sonu; bee-hives 

 jiiled up against a barn. 



"If that mail over there is a bt^e-keeper I 



think he has heard id me and can convince you 

 that 1 am whom I claiiii lo i)e A. I. Root, of 

 Ohio." 



You ought to have .seen the look of pleasure 

 as he came up to me and put out his hand. 



"Mr. Root, it is a great pleasure tometosee 

 one whom I have often longed to see, but cer- 

 tainly never expected to see al my own home." 



■■ \Vhy, how should you. who an- not a, bee- 

 keeper, know of me".' " 



"OhI our pastor. Mr. Petlinger. loaned me a 

 lot of your journals." 



" Mr. P(>ttingerl oh! that reminds nie he told 

 me I must be sun^ to hunt up a man in Piru who 

 raises strawberries all winter. Does he live 

 anywhere near you'.' " 



" Yes, sir. and 1 am the man; and as you will 

 need to hurry if you go to Mr. Reasoner's and 

 back b(;fore train time, I will gc^t your horse 

 ready. While I am doing so, go right out there; 

 and help yourself to the berries. If you im- 

 prove th(> time you can get back here at six, 

 and we will give you and your wife some straw- 

 berrii's and cream for supper." 



Did you ever! W^e have the Bible promise 

 that " all things shall work together for good to 

 those that love God," and it does seem as if it 

 had been verified over and over since I have 

 been away from home. I do not mean to boast 

 — you know I do not; but it does seem as if my 

 poor feeble exhortations had been blessed, oh 

 so iniu'li more than any one could have any 

 right to expect! P'riendPettinger took Glkan- 

 iN(;s when lu; k(>pt no bees, because it taught 

 righti'ousness as well as bees; and for the same; 

 reason he loaned them to one of his flock who 

 loved God and loved flowers as well as straw- 

 berries. And here, right before my eyes, was 

 the fruit of it. I at(; a good many berrii^s. and 

 til' n remembered her. and hastily gathered a 

 few in my hands to surprise her. You can't 

 think how delicious they were after ray long 

 tramp that hot, dusty (January) day. I put 

 the berries on the seat, and drove out into the 

 main I'oad. Then I looked for the depot, but 

 none was in sight. A railroad depot is certain- 

 ly a big thing to lose; but it was certainly gone, 

 and my wife with it: the suii was declining, 

 too. and we liad six miles to drive (up a moun- 

 tain canyon jiart of the way) and back again. 

 In despaii' I appealed to some schoolboys, and 

 they told me which way to drive. How could I 

 ever have gotten so far without knowing it'.' 

 When I gave Mrs. Root the berries sIk; said she 

 watch(;d me across the lields until I vanished 

 away off in the distance. It really seemed too 

 bad to say " how do you do'.' " and "good -by "' 

 in almost the same bre^ath to such iiic(> people as 

 Mr. Reasone)-'s; but there was no ludp for it. 

 Mrs. Root was very anxious to know the name 

 of our goo<l horse that took us along so fast: 

 and when Mr. Reasoner's girls caught sight of 

 him they told us very quickly, for they knew 

 ".John," and John showed by liis looks and ac- 

 tions tliat he knew them too: and then it tran- 

 spired that the Pettingers. Reasoners. and Leu- 

 tons were all good friends, not only because 

 they all belong to the same church, but liecause 

 they love God and his gifts. '■'Bleat be the tie 

 that binds.'' Mr. Leiiton succeeds in having 

 fine strawberries all winter, and in getting a 

 good price for them, in exactly the same way 

 Terry, March, Mcliityre, and all these others I 

 have been telling you of do it. They study out 

 the reijuired conditions, and then go to work 

 with all their brain and muscle to secure these 

 conditions. Mr. S. Leiiton. of Piru, Ventura 

 Co., Cal., is a florist; but his specialty is just 

 one particular flower, the carnation. In fact, 

 he has a circular, or price list, of new seedling 

 carnations — nothing else. He gave Mrs. Root 

 a bouquet of these that were just wonderful. 



