GLEAJNINGS IN BEE CULTURB 



little while, sometimes; but as I was not 

 particularly interested I did not seem to 

 catch on. I presume it was a little later— 

 perhaps two or three years — that our two 

 children, a boy and a girl who went to Sun- 

 day-school as regxilarly as the rising of ^ne 

 sun (thanks to the good mother), begaa to 

 inquire why pava never \^'f,nt to church nor 

 Sunday-iT'liool. I have already told you 

 something about how ii happened that I 

 " woke up." I remember vividly one par- 

 ticular Sunday of going to Sunday-school. 

 The superintendent put me in the men's 

 Bible-class. My friend Thompson was the 

 teacher. I remember wondering how it was 

 that I had never before become intimately 

 acquainted with the members of that class. 

 They were good and bright men, and my 

 heart warmed toward them all. In fact, it 

 was at a time when I was just beginning to 

 love humanity and God the great Creator. 

 I do not tliink I ventured to take any part 

 in the exercises tlmt day. It was all too new 

 to me. At the close of the lesson the teacher 

 took out a little book and " called the roll." 

 It seemed at that time (close to forty years 

 ago) that it was the custom in the report to 

 give the number of regular attendants and 

 also the number of visitors. My good friend 

 had his pencil raised from the book a little, 

 and said, " Mr. Root, shall I enroll you as 

 a regular attendant of our class, where you 

 know you will be most welcome? or shall 

 I put you down as a visitor to-day? " 



How well I remember the kindly look he 

 gave me. I hesitated a little. It was a crisis 

 in my life. God only knows how grave a 

 crisis it was. Years of anxiety and years of 

 turmoil, contrasted with years of joy and 

 happiness hung on my decision. You know, 

 dear friends, I am impulsive, and have been 

 all my life. I finally replied, a good deal 

 'inder the sudden impulse, and said: 



" Friend Thompson, you may put me 

 down as a regular attendant; and, God help- 

 ing me, I am going hereafter to Sunday- 

 school every week in my life." 



I do not know what he wrote down in that 

 little book. It is probably lost by this time ; 

 but I do remember I felt troubled about it 

 right away afterward. Not only my good 

 friend but toward a dozen others heard my 

 declaration ; and above all, and incompar- 

 ably more than all, God heard it. I called 

 on him to witness my pledge or vow, if you 

 choose to call it so, that I was going to 

 Sunday-school from that time on, evei-y 

 week of my life. I not only had stepped 

 through, but I had put up the bars behind 

 me. There was no retreat. I could not well 

 ask him and the good friends I me^ on that 

 momentous Sunday to let me recall those 



hasty words. There was nothing to do but 

 to push forward; and as I puslied forward 

 my footsteps grew lighter and happier 

 every day of my life. I soon learned there 

 was a weekly prayer-meeting, and my pledge 

 seemed to include that prayer-meeting also. 

 To be consistent it also included the preach- 

 ing service, morning and evening; and pret- 

 ty soon it began to be remarked that, if no 

 one else were present, A. I. Root was suie 

 to be unless he was too sick and hence eouid 

 not go. My punctuality has been commented 

 on wherever I have been; and as of late I 

 am really obliged to get up nearer to the 

 teacher or preacher, my invariable presence 

 is more conspicuous. Please do not think, 

 dear friends, that it was only a hobby of 

 mine. A good pastor away out in California 

 once said that, during all his life, he had 

 noticed that those who are crowded up close 

 to the sacred desk are the ones who got the 

 most good; and accessions to the church 

 always come from that part of the audience 

 nearest the speaker. Our pastor has of late 

 been ui'ging at times — yes, vehemently urg- 

 ing — the members of the church to come up 

 in front, and to leave the back seats vacant 

 for strangers or those who do not go to 

 church very often. I can not understand 

 why so many good people crowd into the 

 back seats, away off from the front, when 

 it is such a pleasure for me to get up close 

 to the speaker. There have been spells dur- 

 ing all of these forty years when I was too 

 sick to go to church; and sometimes I have 

 ventured to go when the rest of the family 

 remonstrated, and I always feel better after 

 going to church, Sunday-school, or prayer- 

 meeting, and it is a good thing for the health 

 to meet with God's people. I feel sure it 

 has been the means of prolonging my life 

 — my regular habit of being on hand at 

 religious worship. Out in California, away 

 up in Michigan, and one time down in Tlor- 

 ida, my friends informed me that there was 

 no Sunday-school; but in all three places 

 I managed to have at least a sort of Sunday- 

 school when the time came around; and in 

 at least two of the places a church has been 

 built up where I started a Sunday-school. 

 Assembling with God's people on his holy 

 day is laying up treasures in heaven. Giv- 

 ing your money and your time to the cause 

 of temperance, repressing gambling, the 

 white-slave traffic, and all such evils, is lay- 

 ing up treasures in heaven. If men do not 

 tell you so, the Holy Spirit will. What do 

 the baubles of this earth amount to com- 

 pared with " treasures " laid up " where 

 moth doth not corrupt and where thieves 

 do not break through nor steal " 1 



