1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



387 



the table, but from the bottom of my heart. 1 

 iim well and strong now, and enjoy my daily 

 food; Init 1 do think it is \vicl<ed to get up ex- 

 pensive suppers, and more wicked siill to par- 

 take of them after we have had a good one at 

 home. I would save the money that these 

 suppers cost, and give it to starving India. 

 Why. one's canscicncc ought to keep him awake 

 nights, even if the unwholesome food at an un- 

 seasonable hour does not do it. The saddest 

 part of tills whole foolish fashion or craze Is 

 that it is mostly done by Cliristuin jjcaple. 

 Yes. our churches— a great part of them— seem 

 to encourage and foster this feeding of people 

 who have already been well fed. The laws of 

 health and the laws of God should protest 

 against it. 



Now, this is only nnc of the things that occur 

 to m>^ that we might cut off in order to save 

 suffering and avoid the loss of life. There are 

 things we do not need— things we should be 

 better off without— that most of us are paying 

 money for. We profess to be followers of Christ 

 Jesus; and in our text he himself makes the 

 startling statement that wh^n we are leaving 

 these people to suffer and die for want of food 

 we are leaving him to suffer and die. Human- 

 ity nailed him to the cross, even after he left 

 his heavenly home, and came to save a suffer- 

 ing and sinful world. We of this age claim we 

 have nothing to do with this act of his cruci- 

 fixion; but if we leave these people to starve 

 while we are ruining our health in consequence 

 of the great plenty around and in our homes 

 we are neglecting and ignoring the very first 

 principles of Christianity. Our own govern- 

 ment, in a Christianlike manner, has agreed to 

 move 4000 tons of corn or other food from New 

 York to India, free of charge; and this makes 

 me feel glad, because in it there is a glimpse 

 that, with all our faults, we are in some re- 

 spects a Christian nation. The Christian Her- 

 ald. 160 Bible House. New York, seems to be 

 pushing this matter with more vigor than any- 

 body else. T. Dewitt Talmage is in the field, 

 and seems to be taking the lead, and appeals 

 are coming through all the papers. 



And now, dear friends, for humanity's sake 

 and for Christ's sake shall we not each and all 

 of us look about us and see what we can spare, 

 and that, too, without very seriously depriving 

 ourselves, that we may help ju>t a little poor 

 famine stricken India? A human life for only 

 one dollar, or a dollar's worth of something you 

 have to spare! 



And that is not all. Jesus' ministry was not 

 altogether preaching. He healed the sick and 

 fed the hungry. America has the greatest op- 

 . portunity to heal the sick and feod the hungry, 

 perhaps, she ever enjoyed. Corn and other 

 food supplies are in such great abundance that 

 the prices offered hardly pay the cost of produc- 

 tion. Our missionaries are on hand already 

 organized, and prepared to feed the starving. 

 There is an opportunity before them such as the 

 world never saw before to gain the confidence of 

 the heathen, to glorify the God of our fathers. 

 and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to 

 all these Ignorant and bf^nighted people. A 

 few days ago Rev. W. E. Rambo was h<^re on a 

 visit from the famine-stricken region. He look- 

 ed over my high-pressure gardening, and said 

 something like this: 



"Mr. Root, your high-pressure gardening is 

 the thing of all things that Is needed In India 

 to ward off the«e terrible famines. If these 

 people knew— if they were once taught — how 

 much good nourlshine food can be grown on a 

 little patch of ground, our famines would be 

 ended. They need to have reservoirs to store 

 up the water in time of floods. They need 



irrigating-canals to spread the water over the 

 ground. They need to be taught intensive 

 gardening." 



Now. these people have been backward in 

 accepting our teaching's. In China they tore 

 up their one railroad and demolished the loco- 

 motives, and, if I am correct, these very loco- 

 motives might have saved most of them from 

 starving a few months later on Now is our 

 opportunity to teach and [yreach successfully. 

 That you may not think I am talking about 

 something that does not come within the prov- 

 ince of bee-keepers, permit me to submit the 

 letter below from a constant reader of Glkan- 



INGS: 



A LETTER FROM A READER IN STARVING INDIA. 



Gleanings has been sent to me for years. I can 

 not forbear writing you a few words as to the sad 

 times that liave fallen on India in these last days. 

 Plague on the west of the peninsula and famine over 

 at least one-third of this empire of 300 millions. 

 The plague has done no such damage to life as the 

 famine, but it has caused untold damage to busi- 

 ness, and has carried away about 1,5,000 lives. 

 Three-fourths of all the cases that have been smit- 

 ten with the disease have died, and all medical 

 skill seems so far of little use. By famine, already 

 in the last few months about 200,000 have perished 

 of hunger, and at Ihe present time about three and 

 a quarter millions of persons are being fed on fam- 

 ine-relief funds. Of these, one in five is in a state 

 of helple'^sness, and is in what are termed hospital 

 camps. The famine is not at its worst, in these 

 parts; but the distress is now closing down on the 

 poor, and the next few months are full of dread for 

 thousands about us. We are in a forest part of the 

 country, and the forest produce has kept the people 

 on a kind of food, that answers for the time, some 

 six months longer than the people in the open 

 countiy could pull on ''or. Now, even this is fast 

 coming to an end. I>.^iiy in the villages about us 

 are now living on exactly what the wild swine do- 

 that is, on roots, wild yams, berries, flowers, herbs, 

 etc. 



Recently I felt that I could not rarry to do some- 

 thing for the poor near by, and so, on a village that 

 I secured for the mission a few years back, I mark- 

 ed out some work in the .shape of a dam for the stor- 

 age of water when the rain comes, and gave a lot of 

 the poor work at very low rates— $1.00 per 1000 c. ft. 

 1 had no funds; but a friend lent me some, aud 

 about 100 people are at work. They represent fami- 

 lies that number perhaps ,500 souls. The work will 

 give about $1000 in work, and help to pull through, 

 to the time of the expected rains, 1000 souls. We 

 get our regular rains in June; and the thought that 

 rain may not come then is too terrible to contem- 

 plate. 



All the seed grain has been eaten up; and when 

 rain comes the condition of the people is one of 

 great helplessness. They must b,' helped then. 

 When I saw your note to-day 1 tliought thai some of 

 the bee-men of America might be moved with pity 

 for the distressed of this land, and tliat you might 

 put some note in your journal that would give them 

 a chance to send them something through you. It 

 may seem incredible, but millions will not get one 

 dollar's worth of food per i)erson in the next three 

 months, and yet will live; $.500 will help us to keep 

 .500 souls here out of tie reach of starvation for the 

 next three months. 



T have read for years in Gleanings what leads me 

 to think that you are Cliristian men, and thus dare 

 to hope that tiiis plea for the poor heathen of India 

 will not fall on unsympathetic ears, though this 

 writer be an utter stranger. 



1 have been over ,'iO years a Methodist missionary 

 here in India, and expect to spend all my remaining 

 days Iiere in the Master's work. 



I am an Illinoisian by birth, and all my people 

 still live near Bloomington. 111. My family are at 

 present in Wheaton, 111. My wife left India, broken 

 down, in '94, and 1 expect her and the children 

 back here this year. If you wish an- referenre to 

 satisfy you as to who I am, I will refer you to Rich- 

 ard Grant, Esq., 181 Hud.son Street, New York, or 

 Anderson Fowler, Esq., Produce Exchange. New 

 York. Twenty years have 1 given to the Lord's 

 work in this land, without salary from any mission- 

 ary society. I have trusted the Lord and his peo- 



