36 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



looked about a little to see if there were 

 really any 'handsomer men' about than your 

 dear old self? Now, aren't you ashamed 

 of 3'ourself? Be honest." 



" Yes, dear old girl, I am much ashamed 

 of myself — ashamed to think that I ever let 

 Satan crowd into my heart a suggestion 

 that 3'ou were not, or at some time in the 

 dim past had not been, fully worthy of the 

 place you occupy in my heart and soul.'''' 



"Now, Mr. Root," said he, "I have men- 

 tioned this simply to tell you of the glimpse 

 I then had of the torture that must wring 

 any true man's heart when he finds his 

 wife has been listening, even a little bit, to 

 the whispers of Satan; to think she has 

 been listening, as mother Eve did, to the 

 serpent in the garden". 



In regard to the above story, I suppose 

 man}' of the womenfolks will want to "speak 

 right out in meeting here." Mrs. Root 

 would be one of them if it were not for the 

 fact that this speakingout would hit your 

 old friend A. L Root a most fearful clip. 

 What these good women — these wives and 

 jnothers — would say is something like this: 



" Mr. Root, how much belter is it in God's 

 sight for a man to be unfaithful than for a 

 woynan to be untrue? " 



I shall have to answer, even though I 

 lash myself, that I believe a man should be 

 as pure in thought and deed as he demands 

 that his wife should be. God have mercy 

 on me, a sinner. Not a sinner 7iow, thank 

 God. and not a sinner in that way, since I 

 chose the Lord Jesus Christ as my guide, 

 helper, and redeemer. But I was a sinner 

 away back at the very time when I (like 

 every other man) detnanded of my wife 

 something away up above what / was. 

 And now after I say that, I am persuaded 

 the greater part of the divorces come about 

 because wives are not loved as God intend- 

 ed, and as our text admonishes us they 

 should be loved. 



Now a word more about the wives and 

 mothers who go about with cold feet. Many 

 of you urge you can not afford a furnace, 

 or, better still, steam or hot water, in your 

 basement. But, my good friend, have you 

 reflected that a funeral — at least a funeral 

 as generally managed — will cost as much 

 as a furnace, or even more? Instead of tak- 

 ing a trip to the undertaker after your wife 

 is dead, suppose you take a trip to the 

 plumber while she is alive and well. Do 

 something this very day toward preventing 

 your wife or mother, the jewel of your home 

 from going about any longer with cold feet. 

 If she says her feet are not cold, or noi^ cold 

 enough to do any harm, be doctor for a 

 while. Take her feet often up across your 

 lap; warm them up by the cookstove (or 

 some other place) and see that thej' are 

 kept warm. The kisses and pet names are 

 all right providing they are manly and con- 

 sistent. After you have told her you love 

 her, you might add that you love her still, 

 even if she is getting gray-haired and 

 wrinkled to the outside world. After you 



have said in words that you love her still 

 and that she is not gray-haired and 

 wrinkled in yotir sight, prove it in a manly 

 way. 



Somebody has said there are farmers 

 who do not take as good care of their wives 

 as they do of their domestic animals. It 

 would be a loss of money to let the latter go 

 unprotected, or without food and water. 

 Dear me! I wonder if it would not be a 

 loss of money in the end to neglect the dear 

 wife. And what is the money for, after all, 

 when the presiding genius of your home lies 

 cold and still in death? Then, perhaps, if 

 not before, you will realize how worthless 

 in comparison is money or stock or a farm. 



Of course, I mean that all I have said 

 shall apply to husbands as well as to wives. 

 But women, as a rule, are given to loving 

 as well as craving for love. Some of them, 

 perhaps, are neglectful of their husbands' 

 happiness and comfort. Yes, there may be 

 quite a number who forget to say, " You 

 are a dear old treasure for going out in the 

 cold, and working so hard to keep me here 

 indoors with all these comforts." Perhaps 

 some of the dear women may kiss the gray 

 hairs a little oftener, and perhaps lift the 

 rough hands, hardened with toil, to their 

 lips occasionally, in recognition of what 

 these rough hands have wrought. 



When I was about twelve years old I took 

 a great liking to chemistry. A bright young 

 man taught our village school. He was, 

 by the way, an expert carpenter; and when 

 he found out, by getting acquainted with 

 me in my class in chemistry, that I was 

 making sundry experimeuts at home, he 

 suggested one day after school that he might 

 help me in getting up my home-made ap- 

 paratus. Of course, I was highly delight- 

 ed; and under his skillful management 

 with tools, my experiments were a success. 

 Well, after he had made me happy he edged 

 around to another side of the house where 

 my grown-up sisters were; and I can re- 

 member feeling plainly after a while that I 

 feared he did not care so very much about 

 the chemical apparatus after all. This 

 young schoolteacher and one of ray sisters 

 will, in a few days, celebrate their golden 

 wedding, having been man and wife f r fif- 

 ty 3'ears. Well, this brother-in-law of mine 

 has been, all his life, remarkably' skillful 

 in all sorts of handicraft. Away back fifty 

 years ago it was the fashion to make mot- 

 toes with what they called perforated pa- 

 per. These mottoes were sewed through 

 with beautifully colored yarn called crewel. 

 Of course, brother James had to try his 

 hand at the new art;* and one day in open- 

 ing a book that belonged to my sister I 

 found the prettiest piece of perforated-paper 

 work that I had ever seen. It read: 



Thifie till the heart in death is cold. 



It was about the time these two people 

 were engaged. I was a boy of about four- 



* Mr. James G. Gray was, at the time of which I was 

 writing, holding evenii g schools for teaching pen- 

 man-hip. He also gave lessons in ornaraental pen- 

 manship drawing. 



