1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



521 



OUR * 

 HOMES, 



BY A.I..ROOT. 



Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again.— 1,uke 



I have told you how, ever}' little while, my 

 life is brightened by getting a new glimpse of 

 some beautiful text that makes it shine out 

 like a new planet in the heavens. For two 

 days past I have been rejoicing over the little 

 text at the head of this talk. Now, this text, 

 like the one quoted in my last, is not nature — 

 at least, not /luiiiaii nature. In fact, it is di- 

 rectly contrary to the natural man. 



We have had several talks on these pages in 

 regard to lending tools, and I still think it is 

 'a bad practice — that is, from one point of 

 view; but the man who would shut up the 

 door of his toolhouse, and say that he was 

 neither going to borrow nor lend uudev any 

 ciiruJiistances—vj&W, i-uch a man might pros- 

 per, but I do not think he would be a happy 

 man. On second thought I do not believe he 

 would prosper, after all, in the best sense of 

 the word; for somehow or other our relations 

 are such in these lives we are living that it is 

 wortli a great deal to have the S3-mpdthy and 

 love and respect of our fellow-man. I shall 

 have something to say about lending and 

 borrowing tools further on; but I want to tell 

 you first what made this little text come out 

 so strong and bright and grand. 



Let me begin by saying that Gleanings 

 was started and built up to a circulation of 

 something like ten thousand by my own hum- 

 ble efforts — or, at least, principally my own. 

 When I started I felt a sort of relationship to 

 ever3'body who loved the honey-bees ; and I 

 naturally wanted everybody to take and read 

 Gleanings. Of course, I wanted them to 

 subscribe and pay for it; but this latter was a 

 rather secondary matter. After the Home 

 Papers were started I felt doubly anxious that 

 every one should read Gleanings who cared 

 to read it, for I felt then that I had a more 

 wonderful story to tell about " Jesus and his 

 love ' ' than even the stories about the wonders 

 of the hive. vSome of the older ones will 

 remember when I said I would send it to all 

 missionaries free of charge, and pay postage 

 myself, provided they cared enough for it to 

 read it. At the time I did this I did not 

 think — in fact, it did not occur to me — that it 

 might open up business in foreign lands. 



Well, while the subscription-list of Glean- 

 ings was immediately under my control I was 

 always very liberal with subscribers. We 

 would continue sending the paper, as you 

 may know, without orders. But when we 

 sent it without orders, and the recipient 

 objected to paying, I have often told him that, 

 if it were worth nothing to him during the 

 time it was sent without being ordered, there 

 would be nothing to pay; and I have always 

 been glad to see Gleanings started in any 

 new community or neighborhood, or in a new 

 family. For this reason we have always kept 

 it going, at least for a short time, even if no 



money was received. Objections have been 

 made by our people here to putting the name 

 in type, and giving it a place in the regular 

 list before any money at all was received. 

 But I have always urged adherence to my 

 original plan, not only because it might help 

 to advertise our bee-hives, but because it 

 would give me an opportunity of explaining 

 to some person the meaning of these glorious 

 little texts like the one we have to-day — " Do 

 good and lend, hoping for nothing again." 



Yesterday a man wrote me that a swarm of 

 bees came to his place unexpectedly, and in 

 order to get a hive he went to a neighbor who 

 kept bees. He got a hive and some other 

 things, and along with them some old copies 

 of Gleanings, dated away back in the late 

 '70's or early '80's He said in his letter 

 something like this: "Mr. Root, if you are 

 not dead when this reaches j^ou, and if you 

 are still writing the Home Papers, I want to 

 subscribe for your journal." I need not tell 

 you that, along through the years that are 

 past, quite a few have been led to make these 

 scripture texts a part of their very lives by 

 reading my little "sermons" as some are 

 pleased to call them. So much for a preface. 

 Now read the card below : 



.1/;. A. I. Root : — I sent you a letter inclosing SI .00 

 for Gleanings to be sent to J. O. Mattoyaw, Mans- 

 field. If you have not received it, please let me knovi'. 



Savannah, O., June 15. F. P. Hill. 



When the above postal came to our office I 

 did not see it at all. It was turned over to 

 the subscription clerk— that is, after diligent 

 search had been made and we were satisfied 

 that the money never reached us. If I had 

 gotten hold of the transaction, however, I 

 would have started Gleanings to our new 

 friend the very first thing I did, and taken my 

 chances of getting the dollar or any part of it. 

 The clerk, however, wrote him that we did 

 not get the money, and asked for further par- 

 ticulars, but did not start GlEanings at all. 

 In due time came a second postal as follows : 



Mr. Root: — I gave a letter to our hack-man, just as 

 he was starting for New London, containing 3^1.00 for 

 sub-cription to Gleanings for J, O. Mattoyaw, Mans- 

 field. Please send at once, and I will send you the 

 money if not found. F, P. Hill. 



Savannah, O., June 20. 



Well, I did not see this either, but I chanced 

 to see the reply. It was to the effect that we 

 could not put Mr Mattoyaw's name on our 

 list until we had received some money. When 

 I saw this reply I remonstrated. I said that 

 Gleanings must be started at once, even if 

 we never got any thing. I was then told that 

 a recent decision had been made in our office 

 to the effect that no name was to be put in 

 type until some money had been received. I 

 remonstrated again. I appealed to the heads 

 of the proper department, and objected to the 

 ruling that changed my time-honored custom. 

 One reason given for the new ruling, and a 

 very good reason too, I must admit, was that 

 our ledger accounts were getting to be so 

 exceedingly numerous, especially with parties 

 comparatively unknown, that the book-keepers 

 had petitioned that we would not open ac- 

 counts unless some money was received. I 

 said all right so far as ordinary merchandise 



