1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUIvTURE. 



581 



around the stems. The center of the bed was 

 planted to flowers perfectly white ; and around 

 the white was a belt of pink, then purple; 

 outside of this a wider belt of blue, or a pur- 

 plish blue ; then the whole oval bed was bor- 

 dered with dusty miller. There are several of 

 these beds in Lincoln Park. When they are 

 sparkling with the dew of the morning, the 

 effect is enough to make one throw up his hat 

 with a shout of delight. There were other 

 combinations that were particularly fine ; but 

 this one, on account of its newness, peihaps, 

 to me, excelled them all. 



By 8 o'clock I was back in the city, at the 

 Lexington Hotel, the headquarters of the con- 

 vention. Although I am not a member of the 

 Prohibition party, I was very kindly welcomed 

 by the delegates from Ohio, and invited to 

 take a seat in their special parlor ; and I do 

 not know that it was ever my fortune to be 

 thrown among a lot of brighter, keener, and 

 cleaner men than I met there. Not only are 

 they temperate so far as liquor is concerned, 

 but I hardly think there was a man in the 

 room who used tobacco in any shape or man- 

 ner. Perhaps some of you will say, "Why, 

 then, Bro. Root, are you not one of them?" 

 I will try to answer very briefly. 



In our own town of Medina almost every 

 thing is settled in our primary caucuses, and 

 the Republicans, at present, have the upper 

 hand. A man may be ever so good a scholar, 

 and he may have every qualification to fit him 

 to advise and direct in the affairs of the town; 

 but unless he is a Republican his vote is a ci- 

 pher, and nothing more. Not only can he 

 have no word in regard to who shall be on the 

 town council ( " wet " or " dry " ), but he has 

 no part in selecting good men for our board of 

 education. If his wife presumes to take part 

 in electing a school board, she will be asked 

 at once if her husband is a Republican ; and 

 if not, she is ruled out. I am told this is not 

 the case in every town. Thank God if that is 

 true. I know there are thousands who are 

 longing and praying that the time may come 

 when we can vote for the best men without 

 any regard to what political party they belong 

 to. May be I have not got the above exactly 

 right ; but even if this is true, it is pretty near- 

 ly right, and there is more or less of this state 

 of affairs throughout the whole United States 

 of America. Ours is a dry town, and by the 

 grace of God we have kept it dry for many 

 years past. Very likely The A. I. Root Co. 

 has of late years had considerable weight and 

 influence in keeping the town dry as well as 

 the surrounding townships ; but if the mem- 

 bers of our company should support any tick- 

 et other than the Republican, their work and 

 influence for temperance, purity, and every 

 thing else, would be cut off. Good men and 

 good women have for years past lamented this 

 state of affairs. 



Now, perhaps I am getting into deep water 

 in what I am going to say ; but I think I am 

 pretty nearly right, if not entirely. Some 

 years ago the Christian men and good temper- 

 ance men of Ohio, recognizing the condition 

 of affairs which I have described, banded 

 themselves together for the purpose of restrain- 



ing the saloon by what they call the Anti-sa- 

 loon League. This League was to work with 

 the present existing political parties. Our 

 men were to be selected froin all parties, and 

 we as an organization were to labor with all 

 parties. At the time it was organized I do not 

 believe any one of us had any thought of be- 

 ing antagonistic to the Prohibition party. We 

 were banded together with Jesus Christ as 

 our leader, ready to do any thing, work any- 

 where or in any way, for upholding temper- 

 ance and righteousness. At every meeting I 

 have attei:ded, some of our very best speakers 

 were from the Prohibition party, as, in fact, 

 they were from all parties. If there are any 

 among our number who did not feel toward 

 the Prohibition party that " we be brethren," 

 working toward one common end, I certainly 

 did not know it. May be I am dull in not be- 

 ing able to comprehend even noiv wh'- th- se 

 two great temperance parties can not work in 

 harmony. Of course, it has been explained 

 to me ; but still I insist that, while Christ Je- 

 sus is our common Lord and Savior, there 

 need be be no clashing unless Satan himself 

 gets into our hearts ; and this, I am afraid, he 

 has done. My good brother J. J. Ashenhurst, 

 editor of The Cornerstone, Columbus, O., said 

 to me in Chicago (and since by letter) that he 

 personally was willing to do any thing to bring 

 about a union of the Anti-saloon League and 

 Prohibition party. If all were like him I am 

 sure it would come quickly. Now, dear 

 friends, I have pondered long and prayed ear- 

 nestly that the Holy Spirit would direct me, 

 and tell me if it is wise to bring this much of 

 politics into our journal. 



The convention was held in the great ar- 

 mory building on Michigan Avenue. I am 

 told it is capable of seating ten thousand peo- 

 ple. I got in pretty early, hoping to get a 

 seat near the speaker, as of late I am troubled 

 to hear unless I can be near by. In fact, at 

 church my seat is almost as near the pulpit 

 as it well can be I can not keep in touch 

 with the speaker unless I am close by. Well, 

 to my surprise and astonishment, at this great 

 meeting the delegates alone filled an inclosure 

 around the speaker so large that I could scarce- 

 ly catch a word of any of the addresses. 

 There seemed to be delegates from every 

 State, each one carrying an appropriate ban- 

 ner ; and if the sight of the faces of our Ohio 

 delegates gave me a thrill of joy, the whole 

 United States of America, each vState furnish- 

 ing a good-sized crowd of pure clean men and 

 women, thrilled me still more. There was so 

 much enthu.siasm and cheering I did not ex- 

 pect to hear any thing until the meeting was 

 really opened In a little time I was convinc- 

 ed that humanity needs educating in other 

 lines as well as temperance. The chairman 

 rapped on the table with a good-sized mallet 

 or gavel fully fifteen minutes before he could 

 even make himself heard tolerably.. I took 

 into consideration that hundreds of people 

 were meeting there after a long absence ; and 

 I tried to consider, too, that there was an un- 

 usual amount of brotherly feeling in that 

 crowd ; but where people have come clear 

 from the western side of the continent to 



