JULY 1, J 914 



and all say it tastes like the " honey father used to 

 make." The past two years are the only years that 

 have given me any surplus ; but I think that I, like 

 most beginners, monkeyed with the bees too much, 

 and did not give them any time to make honey. T 

 find that the more I leave them alone, within certain 

 limits, of course, the better they do. 



Last month I set some perfectly fresh Indian Run- 

 ner duck eggs under a hen. In three weeks one 

 little duckling hatched, and one week later the other 

 eggs hatched. How would you account for that one ? 

 It is a freak of nature. The little fellow seemed 

 perfect; but as I had no way to keep just one, I 

 gave him to a boy. 



Like you, Mr. Root, I believe in simplicity of diet. 

 Honey is the only sweet I eat, and I eat very little 

 of that. Two meals a day are enough for me, and 

 there are very few things in my store that I eat my- 

 self. A little fruit and vegetables are enough for me 

 with graham bread and corn muffins. Unlike Terry, 

 I find vegetables are better for me than fruit. Acid 

 fruits are not at all good for me. 



When I was 25 years old I was superintendent 

 of a cotton-mill, and a fit candidate for a consump- 

 tive's grave. In fact, I had to give up my work and 

 live in the open air. I began to study the question 

 of diet and proper living generally, and now at the 

 age of 33 I am strong and ruddy, and have not taken 

 a dose of medicine in years. Light eating, freedom 

 from constipation, and fresh air, have done the work. 

 I sleep out of doors every night in the year. I be- 

 lieve that diet is the most important question before 

 the people to-day. Diet has a great influence on the 

 morals and also on the religion of the people as well 

 as on their bodies. I believe that it is possible to live 

 so that there will be no sickness or bad feelings. 

 But if sickness begins to come on, a full enema once 

 a day for several days, and about a two or three 

 days' diet, with lots of pure water, will generally 

 forestall the doctor. 



As I said before, Mr. Root, I love you. I love the 

 work you are doing. I am with you in spirit in all 

 you do for the betterment of the people. I am "agin" 

 the liquor interests and the patent medicines and the 

 quacks and the nostrums. I am with you in your 

 efforts to let the light shine in the midst of the dark- 

 ness in which such a large part of us live. I pray 

 tliat you may live long, and that you may continue to 

 " turn on the light." It would be a great pleasure 

 to me to know you personally. 



Kirkwood, Ga., June 3. Hal Rivieee. 



In regard to honey in jsint jars contain- 

 ing a piece of comb honey, our people have 

 given up putting comb honey into jars or 

 tumblers. I rather protested ; but our "hon- 

 ey-man," Mr. L. W. Boyden, declared that 

 after the honey candied nobody would buy 

 it, and there is no way of restoring it to its 

 original shape. I know friend Wilder has 

 been putting up and selling not only tons 

 but carloads of honey in this shape. I 

 talked with him about it not long ago; but 

 he said that in the Southern States, where 

 there is seldom or never any freezing weath- 

 er, there is but very little trouble. I am 

 surprised to learn that your extractor breaks 

 the combs when they are properly wired. 

 Tf they are filled very heavy with thick honey 

 I would tkrow out a part of the honey and 

 then reverse and take the other side. This, 

 of course, takes some time, but it usually 

 prevents injury to the combs. 



523 



In regard to the one duck hatching in 

 three weeks, that one egg must have been 

 sat on by some accident, or exposed to heat 

 enough for about a week to cause the germ 

 to start. During the past winter I gave a 

 Leghorn hen 15 eggs. Not an egg had 

 hatched at the end of 21 days; but as the 

 egg-tester showed live chicks I let her keep 

 on. She hatched six chickens in just about 

 26 days, and might have hatched more of I 

 had not got tired of waiting, and " broke 

 her up." I have never been able to account 

 for this. 



My good friend, some of our readers will 

 smile when you tell us you eat very little of 

 the things you have for sale. It reminds 

 us of the doctor who would not take his own 

 medicine when he got sick. I rejoice to 

 know that you are getting your health with- 

 out doctors or drugs, and extend my sincere 

 thanks for your very kind words ; but I wish 

 to add, my dear brother, that I hope it is 

 the Christlike spirit I have faintly shown 

 that you " love," rather than my poor self; 

 and may God help us all to show forth at 

 all times that sjiirit of peace and good will 

 that ought to " shine forth " from the face 

 of each one of us. 



OUT OF HEATHEN DARKKESS AND INTO THE 

 LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 



The following should be read because it 

 comes from a son of the late D. L. Moody. 



Bear Mr. Root : — As you have given to the North- 

 field Schools during the past season, I am taking the 

 liberty of writing to report upon the work of the 

 current year, and trust that you will not view this 

 as in any sense an appeal. 



In September the Northfield Schools opened with 

 the largest attendance in their history, aggregating 

 1250. About 200 were new students, and those had 

 been selected from nearly a thousand applicants, the 

 choice being based upon need and merit. The result 

 has been an exceptionally earnest, purposeful class 

 of young people, and I have never before realized so 

 much as during the recent months the privilege 

 which is given to us here in ministering to young 

 men and young women of this class. 



It would be a great joy to us to be able to share 

 with our friends who are making Northfield possible 

 many of the individual experiences which we have 

 with our students. To know of the struggles and 

 privations which some of our young people have ex- 

 perienced to come to Northfield ; to watch with inter- 

 est the development into efficient and promising stu- 

 dents of those who have had few opportunities ; and 

 then to know of their going into the world imbued 

 with high ideals and carrying the traditions of 

 Northfield with them, is a pleasure which we should 

 be glad to share with our many friends. 



Of our graduates at Mount Hermon last spring 

 one is a man who gives promise of a great career 

 among his people. He is a Liberian, having received 

 his early education in the Methodist Mission in Mon- 

 rovia, where his gifts were recognized. Later he 

 came to Mount Hermon, where he won a high stand- 

 ing for scholarship. One of his teachers assured me 

 that he had the best mind of any student that he had 



