542 



Gleanings in Bee Cukure 



ity seemed darkened: but his cheering words 

 brought life and hope again, and I began 

 (mentally) breathingmy little prayer "Lord, 

 help." We went into a florist's, next door. 

 The proprietor called through the phone for 

 the head of the insurance firm, and for a 

 Chas. Gardner whose mother was a widow. 

 But there were two men by that name, and 

 their mothers were both widows. One of 

 them happened to be at the place, and pret- 

 ty soon we were making headway. Finally 

 this good Samaritan whom I have mention- 

 ed said through the i)hone, 



"Do you know a party from Ohio whose 

 name is Root?" 



"Yes." 



" He wants to see your mother." 



The rei)ly came at once, " My mother is 

 right here, and will be exceedingly glad to 

 see Mr. Root."* 



Then this new-found friend hunted up the 

 right car, told the conductor where to put 

 me off, and in a short time I saw my niece 

 in the distance, coming to meet me. After 

 we had talked over old times, and I was be- 

 ginning to feel at home and happy, she said, 

 " O Mr. Root! there is one of the nicest young 

 men that I know of, a friend of mine, who 

 is just getting interested in bee culture, and 

 he has already expressed a wish to see you if 

 you ever come this way. He lives only a 

 little way off, and I will call him over the 

 phone." 



I shall always remember that Saturday 

 evening. The young man mentioned is a 

 bright keen young fellow, jierhaps not quite 

 half my age; but he and I became friends at 

 once. We talked until after 10 o'clock, and 

 even then did not get through. 



The next morning T found that, to get to 

 a Congregational church, I would have to 

 ride several miles in a trolley car. Now, I 

 have all my life studiously avoided any sort 

 of travel that obliges my fellow-man to work 

 on Sunday, and I asked if there was not 

 some church near by w^here I could easily 

 go on foot. There was a Methodist church 

 within two or three squares. The minister 

 was of foreign birth, and his language was 

 somewhat broken; but his sermon came 

 home to me with wonderful power, and I 

 was glad in my heart that it was a Metho- 

 dist church so my "amens" w^ould not be 

 out of place. At the conclusion he asked 

 me where I lived, what church I belonged 

 to, etc. I replied, "My good friend, at my 

 home in Medina I am a Congregationalist. 

 In Florida, where I spend my winters, there 

 is no church of our denomination, so I am a 

 Presbyterian in the winter time; and to-day, 

 as there was no other church handy without 



*At this juncture, to tell the truth, I uttered 

 aloud "May the Lord be praised." I explained to 

 them that I at first feared It was impossible to find 

 my relative at that time In such a large city, and 

 that I was greatly rejoiced, and would always re- 

 member their kind services. Please notice, I said 

 just above that C. IT. Gardner and his mother jiist 

 happened to be at the residence of the Insurance 

 man. But, dear friends, I can not begin to tell you 

 of the many kind things that "just happen," at 

 about the time when I become sufficiently discour- 

 aged, to remember my little prayer, "Lord, help." 



riding on the cars, I found myself in a Meth- 

 odist church. In fact, I am happy in being 

 a Methodist for to-day, if you good jieople 

 w'ill acce])t me." 



In his large Bible-class, after the sermon, 

 he introduced me to a lot of bright devoted 

 men; and I am going to tell you something 

 about that Bible-class in another number of 

 these Home papers. 



After hearing that good minister preach 

 again Sunday evening, my new-found friend 

 came over and asked permission to have a 

 further chat with me. I found he was not a 

 member of any church; and as it was Sun- 

 day evening I gave him a few points in my 

 eventful life, especially telling him how our 

 business had been built up, and how bee 

 culture had prospered in answer to my pray- 

 ers. He was very much impressed. He 

 said my plain and practical talks had given 

 him a new glimpse of the gospel of .lesus 

 Christ. Next morning he was on hand to 

 welcome me, bright and early, at their 

 place of business; and, by the way, I am 

 pleased to tell you that one reason ivhy he 

 was so much interested in bees was that 

 their great seedstore had just become a rep- 

 resentative of The A. I. Root Co.'s goods, 

 in connection with their seed and poultry 

 trade. Well, almost his first words were 

 something like this: 



"Mr. Root, after thinking over what you 

 told me last night I am impressed with this 

 — there is great danger that people who read 

 your Home talks on this matter will never 

 comprehend that God placed you and sin- 

 gled you out, becaxse you did not start out 

 to make money. If I understand you, your 

 undertaking was to save souls, and God 

 honored you, and answered your prayers be- 

 cause he saw that he could do so safely." 



The above is right and correct. A young 

 man in my Sunday-school class once con- 

 fessed to me that he had stopped praying 

 because it did not seem to do any good. I 

 asked him ivhat he had prayed for, and the 

 reply was, " For an advance in salary!" 



In bidding good-by to my new-found 

 friend as he placed me on the proper car to 

 reach my next point, I said to him, "Friend 

 G., can you not give me the same promise 

 that George E. Hilton gave me when I left 

 him after that half- hour's talk?" (seepage 

 475, Aug. 1.) 



He replied something like this: 



" Mr. Root this is too serious a matter for 

 me to decide on hastily. I want to think it 

 over. I will, however, promise you this: 

 that hereafter I will try to make your little 

 prayer, 'Lord, help,' my prayer." 



Now, friends, had I listened to that selfish 

 feeling — well, you may say homesick feel- 

 ing — and mipsed stopping at Troy, that 

 whole bright sabbath day would never have 

 dawned on my life. I spent something like 

 an hour that Monday morning with my 

 young friend in looking over their vast 

 seedstore. They have the largest stock of 

 poultry implements — in fact, "everything 

 for poultry," that I think I ever saw before. 

 There was no end of our discussion in regard 



