26 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



OUR 

 HOMES, 



BY, A I ROOT. 



Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. 

 — Heb. 1:9. 



THE NATIONAL ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE CON- 

 VENTION HEED IN CLEVELAND, DECEM- 

 BER 6, 7, 8. 

 This meeting had delegates and representa- 

 tives from every State in the Union, on the 

 very first day. At the head of the program I 

 see a motto that sums up briefly the senti- 

 ment of this organization : 



Let us emphasize points on which we agree, and 

 avoid subjects as to which we differ. 



I was on hand some time before the meeting 

 opened, and was captivated at the outset by 

 the song service conducted by L. L. Pickett, 

 of Wilmore, Ky. Friend Pickett is one of 

 the geniust s of the age. Before he had open- 

 ed his mouth I felt sure, from looking at his 

 face, that the man had "vim" of some sort. 

 He commenced by asking some of the singers 

 in the audience to come up and stand beside 

 him and help. I said to myself, " Old chap, 

 you have put your foot in it this time. You 

 will not get a single person to proclaim him- 

 self a singer by coming up there in front." 

 But friend Pickett was sharper ( ? ) than I was. 

 He evidently did not expect the singers to 

 come up and help on the first invitation ; but 

 he repeated his invitation in different ways, 

 and, in fact, made an exhortation, and they 

 did come up and sing, and he made the au- 

 dience sing too. He seemed to take it for 

 granted that they would not send away down 

 to Kentucky for a man to conduct the singing 

 unless he could conduct it. And he did con- 

 duct it too. He said he wanted everybody to 

 sing, whether he could sing or not ; and if all 

 could not sing, he asked them to read the 

 words over and think what they meant. I be- 

 gan to sing, and sang myself happy long be- 

 fore the meeting adjourned. Mr. Pickett is 

 not only a singer, but he is a. genius. Some- 

 body at my elbow suggested that his zeal 

 sometimes led him to overstep the established 

 rules of harmony ; but, dear me ! who cares 

 for " rules of harmony " when souls are dying 

 from the lack of the gospel of Jesus Christ ? 

 Friend Pickett is not only an exhorter on tem- 

 perance, but he is a natural born evangelist 

 and Christian worker. As soon as we had a 

 recess I stepped up and told him I wanted to 

 congratulate him on the rare and precious gift 

 God had given him. And then I met one of 

 my " happy surprises." He said something 

 like this: "Why, bless your heart, friend 

 Root, I used to be a bee-keeper, and I took 

 Gleanings. My boys take care of the bees 

 now, but I read 3 our Home Papers just as reg- 

 ularly as the journals come." When Glean- 

 ings first started, or for several years after it 

 started, I used to set the names in type, and 

 stamp the wrappers, and I learned to know 

 every name, address and all ; and that word 

 "Pickett" used to s_trike me every time I 

 wtnt over the list. 



Now, I can not tell you all about the grand 

 talks we had on temperance. Rev. Louis A. 

 Banks, of Cleveland, made the opening ad- 

 dress ; and when he told us that our temper- 

 ance work was not confined to Ohio, nor even 

 to the United States, but that it was to be 

 carried on into Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philip- 

 pines, A'aska, and finally over the whole wide 

 earth, then we began to be impressed with 

 the importance of this national organization. 

 Gen. Shafter has already declared that no 

 American saloon shall be opened in Santiago ; 

 and one cargo of beer has been sent away be- 

 cause he would not permit it to be landed on 

 the coast. Now, then, if the United States of 

 America and the rest of the world can not 

 stand back of Shafter, and help him to carry 

 it through, we ought to be ashamed of our- 

 selves. It would seem from Dr. Banks' talk 

 that the army officers, and, in fact, almost 

 everybody else except the beer-brezvers, are 

 loud in demanding that the canteen system in 

 the army should be abolished, and that at 

 once. What is the reason, do you suppose, it 

 still hangs on when every good man and wo- 

 man is opposed to it? Just because the rum 

 power has got us all by the throat. Dr. Banks 

 did not say that in just so many words, but / 

 say it. It was either the doctor or the speaker 

 who followed that gave us a little history of 

 New England. He said that, in former times, 

 the great merchants of the city of Boston used 

 to look after the enforcement of law, and see 

 that the police, mayor, and other officers did 

 their duty. Later on, the manufacturers of 

 the great cities in the East took a hand with 

 the merchants, and kept down gamblers, bur- 

 glars, and highwaymen, and held up law. 

 Said the speaker in substance : " Good friends, 

 who is it now that looks after the enforcement 

 of law in that good old city of Boston, the 

 hub of the universe, as its friends are wont to 

 call it ? Why, it is the beer-brewers and whis- 

 key-men who have their clutches so firmly 

 riveted to every department of law and order 

 that they pretty much run the whole thing. 

 Now, do not think that I am making a tirade 

 against Boston, and singling it out as the 

 worst city of the United States. What is true 

 of Boston is pretty nearly true of every other 

 large city in our country. And it is not the 

 large cities alone that are suffering from this 

 blighting curse in municipal management. 

 And finally, dear brothers and sisters, is it not 

 true that your own little town or village is fast 

 being managed in such a way that no law 

 can be enforced where it strikes the pockets of 

 brewers and liquor dealers? " 



As this last shot went home to my heart it 

 almost sent a chill through my veins to be 

 obliged to confess that here in our little village 

 of Medina, a place of only about 2500 inhabit- 

 ants, the thing he pictures is getting to be ver- 

 itably true. We have been making a raid on 

 the blind saloons here in our town, as I have 

 told you ; but just at present it looks to me as 

 if a strange kind of blight had struck not 

 only the witnesses called up, but every officer 

 of our town, and almost every other town, 

 when a case comes up involving the liquor- 

 traffic. The witness who is bright and clear 



