1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



851 



Now, there is no very great wrong right 

 here, only that Christ Jesus, and he only, 

 should be the center and ' ' chief corner stone ' ' 

 of every human being's affections. 



He that loveth father or mother more than me is 

 not worthy of me. — Matt. 10:o7. 



There can be no abiding love between hus- 

 band and wife without this. My boyish craze 

 for the girl of my choice was mostly selfish- 

 ness, although I did not see it so at the time. 

 Mrs. Root, although only 17, stood strong and 

 firm, although it cost her a struggle to do so, 

 especially as I declared I would never come 

 back. But she told me plainly, but kindly, 

 that if I really loved her I would, as time 

 passed, love her all the more for being reason- 

 able. Four years later, when we were both 

 through school, and I had developed a little 

 more good sense, I — we — well, you know if I 

 don't tell it. We commenced life together ; 

 but I, at least, had not at that time learned to 

 put Christ Jesus above all and over all. When 

 I was about 30 years of age I gained in judg- 

 ment and wisdom ; but without that "corner 

 stone " I was a good deal like the boy of 18, 

 and it is not so very strange after all that Sa- 

 tan got a chance to whisper in my ear. The 

 older readers of Gleanings will remember 

 what I allude to here. We talk about loving 

 our neighbor as ourselves. Dear reader, did 

 it ever occur to you that your own wife, and 

 the mother of your children, is in one sense 

 " your neighbor'^ as well as the man who lives 

 next door? Well, before you can truly love 

 your wife unseljis/ily you must love God. 

 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 

 thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 

 thy strength, and with all thy mind," and 

 then you can love your wife as yoursetf, and 

 as God intended you should love her. 



And now, dear reader, we are ready to go 

 back to that " farm in the woods." It was a 

 beautiful Indian-summer October morning, 

 and Mrs. Root and I started out together like 

 a couple of children. We were going out for 

 a day in the woods, "o«;' woods," and I 

 thought of that time long ago when we were 

 boy and girl of 17 and 18. We went a mile 

 and a half through the fields, and then down 

 an old wagon-road through the thick woods. 

 I thought I loved her when I was 18, but, oh 

 what a different feeling it was now ! Perhaps 

 a little incident will explain it. When we had 

 crossed the dividing line near the soft-water 

 spring* we bowed our heads, and I thanked 

 God for his great mercies to us during the 

 years he had permitted us to live together. 

 I thanked him for the dear children at home, 

 and for the beautiful spot of ground we stood 

 on and could call our own, and I asked his 

 blessing on it and all we should do to improve 

 it. 



Now, many of yoM. will say it was only a 

 notion of mine ; but it really seemed as if, 

 from that moment on, a great flood of joy and 

 peace was spread over me like a mantle. 

 God's loving eye seemed over us while we 

 spent the entire day alone in the woods. I 

 kept thinking of Adam and Eve and the gar- 



* This spring gives 300 barrels a day of water, so soft 

 even Mrs. Root said it seemed exactly like rain water. 



den God gave them ; but while they were after 

 a time afiaid of the Father's all-seeing eye, I 

 thanked him again and ag.-iin that we had 

 nothing to hide from him. I named one of 

 the old wagon-roads "Spring Avenue," the 

 one where we came in ; the central one, 

 "Clematis Drive," on account of the festoons 

 of wild clematis overhead ; and the road that 

 leads out to the bay, " Bay Road." 



During the 40 years and more that have pass- 

 ed I have a thousand times enjoyed having 

 Mrs. Root for a comrade and companion dur- 

 ing my rambles ; but during all that time I 

 do not remember that we two ever had a pleas- 

 anter time together ; and let me say in closing, 

 to the dear fathers and mothers who have 

 reared families, that, if the joyous days of 

 your courtship and early married life have not 

 followed all along through, is it not because 

 you have failed to put Gud first and foremost, 

 above dW &\\di over all? Asking his blessing 

 at the morning meal is not enough. Make it 

 more practical by asking him to bless not only 

 the business of the day but every vacation and 

 every outing or trip that you two may take 

 together, and then it will be natural and easy 

 to ask him to keep his loving eye over you 

 when you take that last great outing to re- 

 gions in that unknown world beyond this life. 



flfi 



NOTES or TRAVE|„ 



I BY A. I. BOOT . '^ 





A SEOUEI, TO MY PT,UM STORIES — SEE PRE- 

 VIOUS ISSUE. 



The following occurred to me after the above 

 had gone into print. After leaving friend 

 Dobson I started back on a different route in 

 order to avoid those hills 700 feet high, with 

 sand sometimes a foot deep clear to the sum- 

 mit. Friend D. told me I could get a very 

 nice road by taking the first turn to the left, 

 and going straight north ; and I did find a 

 very pretty wheel-road for about two miles ; 

 then I got into the everlasting hills once more, 

 especially when I left the table lands and be- 

 gan dropping down to the level of Carp Lake. 

 At one point where I inquired my way I was 

 told a foot-path through the fields would save 

 me over a mile, and a foot-paih is a very much 

 better track than a wagon-road, in a sandy lo- 

 cality.* Well, this foot-path led me down 

 hill on a pretty steep grade ; and before I 

 knew it I was at the back door of a farm- 

 house on the sidehill I concluded there must 

 be a good path around the house, and further 



* Right here comes in the convenience of a light 

 wheel. With a wheel weighing only 20 lbs I can 

 throw it over a barbed wire fence without much trou- 

 ble, and have it clear the wires ; but a wheel that 

 weighs 2.T lbs. or more taxes my .'•trength pretty se- 

 verely. It is often very convenient to make cuts 

 across the country, especially whe'e there is a path, 

 even one made by sheep or cows ; and I often have to 

 pick up my wheel and carry it for various reasons. I 

 have found by experience that a wheel weighing 20 

 lbs. is amply strong for a rider who weighs only 125 to 

 130 lbs. 



