MARCH 1, 1914 



Our Homes 



A. I. Root 



Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 

 neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where 

 thieves do not break through nor steal. — Matt. 6:20. 



Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his right- 

 20usness, and all these things shall be added unto 

 you. — Matt. 6:3.3. 



Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves 

 together. — Heb. 10:25. 



They that feared the Lord spake often one to an- 

 other. — Mal. 3:16. 



I have told you how eagerly I questioned 

 every beekeeper and every one I could get 

 hold of who knew any thing about bees 

 when I was first attracted by that runaway 

 swarm. After I had gotten hold of the book 

 " Langstroth on the Honeybee " 1 became 

 still more entranced with my new hobby. I 

 hired a horse and buggy and hunted up the 

 beekeepers in our immediate locality, but 

 they all had box hives. Some of them had 

 heard of such a thing as a queen, but they 

 did not know for sure. At length I heard 

 of an old farmer east of town who actually 

 had his bees in Lang-stroth movable-comb 

 hives. You can hardly imagine with what 

 haste and anticipation I went over to his 

 place. There they were, sure enough, in his 

 dooryard — a dozen or more hives, just such 

 as I had been reading about in that wonder- 

 ful book. I can not quite recall, but I think 

 he opened a hive and showed me a queen. 

 Then we two all at once became fast friends. 



I soon had some hives made, using one of 

 his for a pattern, besides following the di- 

 rections in the book. After I had vay colony 

 transferred to this Langstroth hive I order- 

 ed tliat $20.00 queen I have told you about. 

 He asked me several times if I had got them 

 in good shape to winter; " for," he added, 

 '■ it would be a sad thing to lose a queen 

 that cost so much money, besides being the 

 first Italian bee brought to this region." 

 Finally he went down to my home and de- 

 clared my poor weak colony of Italians 

 would not hold out a month. You see I bad 

 experimented with them, making them raise 

 queen-cells, etc., until there were really not 

 very many bees left. By his instructions I 

 purchased a good strong colony and got my 

 queen safely introduced. 



At tlie time of which I am speaking I was 

 manufacturing jewelry, and doing quite a 

 good business. This friend of mine, Mr. 

 George Thompson, was a devoted Christian, 

 and one of the leading men in our nearby 

 CongTegaiional church. As I made progress 

 with the Italians he used to drop in quite 

 frequently to find out how I was getting 

 along with tlie bees. After we had become 

 quite well acquainted he came into the store 

 one day and said : 



" Mr. Root, you are beginning to have 

 considerable property here." 



He glanced around at our establishment, 

 and then continued: 



" I suppose you have it well insured? " 



I replied in the affirmative. 



"You have your home insured also?" 



I assented as before. 



" And your life is insured also? " 



When I replied as before, he added some- 

 tiiing like this : 



" Mr. Root, I am glad to know it. It has 

 been remarked to me that, although you are 

 making wonderful progress in your work, 

 you are a careful and prudent business 

 man. That is right and good. Now may 

 I take the liberty to question a little fur- 

 ther? " 



I laughingly replied, " Go ahead, friend 

 Thompson. I am glad to see you interested 

 in my welfare, and I shall take great plea- 

 sure in answering any question you choose 

 to ask." 



I think that, up to this point in the con- 

 versation, I had no intimation of what he 

 had in mind. So far as I can recall he said 

 something like this : 



" Mr. Root, you are managing admirably 

 for the things of this world, but what ' in- 

 surance ' have you for the Avorld to come ? 

 What provision have you made for ' the 

 home over there.' " 



He pointed up as he said this. 



I thanked him, and he hurried away, but 

 although a very busy man at the time with 

 bees and the little factory, watch-repairing, 

 selling goods, etc.. his remark kept ringing 

 in my ears. The thought kept coming up 

 like this; and let me put it in language as 

 my good friends down south might say it — 

 " Right smart " of the things of this world, 

 but how about that " home over there " — 

 the unseen world to which we are all hasten- 

 ing? What have you done about treasure 

 in heaven? What i^rogress is being made 

 in thQt direction? 



I was forced to admit tliat a frank and 

 honest answer would have been, " Nothin' 

 doin'." It would really have been true at 

 that time, dear friends, that I ])aid little or 

 no attention to what was going on in the 

 world outside of bees and business. I was 

 keeping track of the boy Edison, reading 

 the Scientific American, and the farm pa- 

 pers that touched on bees ; but I did not go 

 to church nor to Sunday-school; and yet at 

 the very time a prayer-meeting was being 

 held in one of the upper rooms of my store. 

 I used to drop in and take a back seat for ^ 



