670 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



man who had seemed to hate me) , and at 

 times I felt a good deal discouraged because, 

 year after year, it seemed to make no im- 

 pression on him. Well, he went on to tell 

 me what his errand was. He said our busi- 

 ness was enlarging to such an extent, espe- 

 cially our mail business, that our Medina 

 postoffice was entitled to a higher class, 

 thus giving him a larger salary. He said 

 that all that was needed was my signature. 

 I stopjied and thought a while before I re- 

 plied. Should I, by ray signature, give this 

 man a bigger salary as a reward for what he 

 had been doing in times past as postmaster? 

 He, by misrepresentation, had caused our 

 journal to be excluded from the mails. He 

 had done me harm in ever so many ways 

 whenever opportunity offered. Should I 

 now, when circumstances made it possible, 

 do him this favor ? I confess I was for the 

 time undecided. Perhaps it was the mem- 

 ory of our other Bible text that brought 

 about my decision. 



Not very long after this his health failed; 

 and when he came to face death he wanted 

 to see the man whose religion he had so 

 long ridiculed, I mentioned the matter to 

 the pastor of the church — the one who 

 preached the funeral sermon. As the sick 

 man was a very prominent citizen, quite a 

 crowd had gathered, and I think the sermon 

 was preached in the open air, as it was on 

 the first day of June. When the minister 

 mentioned that the deceased, before he died, 

 accepted Christ as his Savior, a man by the 

 side of me, who had been an intimate friend 

 of the deceased, said to me quite audibly, 

 "That is a lie." He who knew him so well 

 could not believe that one who had been so 

 pronounced against the Son of God could 

 have changed so suddenly, even if he was 

 face to face with death. Lest some may 

 think he may not have been quite in his 

 right mind before this confession 1 may re- 

 mark that he lived several days after his 

 talk with me, and he read his Bible and 

 some other books after his change of heart. 



Just as I finished dictating the above, my 

 good friend W. P. Root called my attention 

 to the fact that he had in his possession a 

 l^aper that I dictated to him on the 21st day 

 of May, 1890, and which, for some reason or 

 other, has never been put in print. I dic- 

 tated it while the facts were all fresh in my 

 mind, to meet such an occasion as this if it 

 should ever arise. As it gives some details 

 not recorded in the above I think it will be 

 very proper to put it in right here. 



On the 20th of May, 1890, I called on my friend 



and had quite a talk with him in 



regard to his new stand in regard to the Scriptures, 

 and especially the character and divinity of Christ. 

 At the very first he stated very clearly that he 

 accepted Jesus as the Son of God. He said he had 

 been for some time uuestioning the miracles and 

 the divine concejjtion of Jesus, but that he had 

 finally, as a last resource, and the only reasonable 

 and consistent course, decided to accept it all, and 

 to trust himself entirely to the mercies of the Son 

 of God. He expressed great admiration for the 

 humility of Christ, and for his life of self-sacrifice. 

 When I suggested that Jesus pleased not himself, 

 he said that expressed it exactly. Humanity, as a 

 rule, seeks first Its own pleasure and gratification: 

 but Jesus ignored self, and gave his whole life for 



the good and comfort of others, forgetting himself 

 to such an extent that he never even once used his 

 miraculovis powers in the least degree for self-grat- 

 ification, nor even to procure food when faint and 

 hungry. In parting I expressed to him my great 

 joy to know of his new stand, and asked him if it 

 were not a great comfort and a great relief to feel 

 that the whole matter was settled, and that he 

 was resting all his hopes on the solid Kock, Christ 

 Jesus. Said he. as nearly as I can remember. " Mr. 

 Root, it is the greatest comfort and satisfaction I 

 have ever known in my life." At one part of the 

 conversation I gently urged the importance of 

 announcing in his own paper his changed views. 

 I told him of the influence of his own opinion, and 

 said that it would be helpful to a great many other 

 people. I urged the matter until, with tears in his 

 eyes, he said he would write it up fully as soon as 

 he was able; but for the present he said he was too 

 sick and too weak to write any thing. He has read 

 very extensively all the prominent writers, espe- 

 cially those who touched on theology and the dif- 

 ferent religious beliefs of the past; and after having 

 considered all these, and after having thought it 

 all over these many months when he was confined 

 to his home by sickness, and unable to read any 

 more, he has come to the deliberate decision that 

 Christ Is to poor sinful humanity all and above all. 

 He agreed with me, that the greatest event that 

 ever happened in the world's history is God"s mes- 

 sage delivered to a sinful world tiirough his only- 

 begotten son. 



May 21. 1890. A. I. ROOT. 



And now let us have one stanza of the 

 beautiful hymn that has been sung so many 

 times since it was first used by Moody and 

 Sankey: 



Lord, now indeed I find 



Thy power, and thine alone. 

 Can change the leper's spots , 



And melt the heart of stone. 

 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leop- 

 ard his spots? then ma.v ye also do good that are 

 accustomed to do evil. — Jer. 13 : 23. 



NEVER INSTDE A SALOON; THE HAND BOTTOM-BOARD 

 TRIED. — SEE PAGE 657. 



Dear Mr. Root: — I am sending a picture of my- 

 self fand wife among the bees. I am one man 24 

 years old who was never inside a saloon, and never 

 tasted liiiuor of any kind. The son and grandson 

 of Methodist preachers who were both bee-keepers. 

 I like the way you are fighting the liquor-traffic. 

 We are having a hard fight here in Tennessee, but 

 have come out on top so far. 



As you will notice in the picture, I am trying the 

 Hand switch-lever bottom-board, and will say that 

 It is surely a grand invention. By its use I got 80 

 lbs. of comb honey from two colonies when the 

 crop was almost a total failure in this neighbor- 

 hood — few colonies storing as much as 25 lbs. My 

 father, W. P. Banks, and I take Gleanings, and' 

 look forward to its coming the 5th and 20th of each 

 month with pleasure. Our Homes is about the 

 first thing to draw attention. Long may you live 

 to fight the liquor-traffic. 



Liberty, Tenn., July 10. J. I. Bank.s. 



LANGSTROTH'S OLD HOME, ETC. 



Mr. Hoot.— On p. 574 you say, "The old house is 

 there still. The name of the town. Colerain. has 

 been changed to Lyonsville, because of a trolley 

 line that runs up the.valley." I am a native and a 

 resident of Hancock, Mass. A former pastor of the 

 church in town came here from Colerain. there- 

 fore I think if the town name had been changed 1 

 should have noticed it. as the legislature would 

 have had to pass an act to that effect. The manual 

 for the (ieneral Court. 1903 (Massachusetts), gives 

 town, Colerain: postoffices In town. Colerain, Ly- 

 onsville. Adamsville. Elmgrove. Line, Griswold- 

 ville. and Shattuckville. As to the reason of these 

 offices receiving their names I am In Ignorance. 

 The first Italian bees and movable-comb hives that 

 I ever saw, two of my schoolmates procured of Mr. 

 W. W. Cary, driving to his place, each bringing 

 back a colony. That was about 186". Each hive 

 had the Langstroth patent painted on the front. 1 

 am not keeping bees at present, but have in the 

 past. My father and grandfather had them, and as 



