January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



65 



I 



N our issue 

 for Oct. 1, 

 I gave a 

 seraion that was 

 preached here iu 

 Medina in the 

 absence of our 

 pastor. Shortly 

 after that ser- 

 mon the good 

 pastor sent word 

 to me wanting 

 t o know if I 

 would go and 

 talk to his peo- 

 ple in East 

 Cleveland on the 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



Take no thought, saying. What shall we eat? or, What 

 shall we drink? or, Wlierewithal sliall we be clothed? — 

 Matt. 5:31. 



Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. — Luke 10:27. 



Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 

 and all these things shall be added unto you. — Matt. 6:33. 



subject of religion and business. I told 

 him I should be glad to go. Well, when he 

 introduced me to the large congregation of 

 nice people in that Kinsman Ave. Church 

 he explained that he had invited Mr. Root 

 to talk to his people because of a little motto 

 cut in sandstone over the front of the first 

 brick building we erected, iu 1878. It seems 

 when lie saw that motto, "In God we trust," 

 encircling a straw beehive, he said that the 

 man who had the conviction and courage to 

 start out in business in that way ought to 

 be able to tell them something about mixing 

 business with religion. Well, my good 

 friends, I am not going to tell you anything 

 about that talk more than to say that, after 

 I had finished, so many nice people, both 

 men and women, shook hands with me, and 

 perhaps talked a little, that I did not get 

 home till near midnight ; and I think I may 

 add that I did not get tired or wearied, even 

 if it was long after my usual bedtime. In 

 fact, I felt unusually happy during the 

 whole 35-mile ride in my Ford automobile. 

 Now I am ready to look at our text. 



The way I came to use the text was this : 

 I asked brother Parker to read the last half 

 of the 5th chapter of Matthew before my 

 talk, beginning with the 19th verse. Well, 

 he read it all thru without note or comment 

 until he got to the 31st verse. After reading 

 that verse he stopped and looked at his 

 audience and then said something like this; 

 but on account of my deafness perhaps I 

 did not catch all of it nor get it just right ; 

 but so far as I can remember he said in 

 substance : 



" Brethren, does not this passage just 

 now, in view of the ' high cost of living,' 

 sound to many of us a little odd? 'What 

 shall we eat and what shall we drink?' 

 With these things going up and up every 

 day we are here enjoined to ' take no 

 thought." Something has been said about a 

 new fifty-cent piece; but what benefit to us 



will be a new 

 coin while fifty 

 cents 'buys si'j 

 little of the nec- 

 essaries of life 

 to what it did a 

 few years ago?" 

 I was a little 

 disapjDointed to 

 have Mm drop 

 the subject there- 

 I did contem- 

 plate making 

 some reply to it 

 in my talk that 

 evening ; but 

 what I outlined 

 to talk about took so much time that I had to 

 let the matter drop. And another thing, if I 

 am correct, this one verse has been more or 

 less of a stumblingblock all down the ages. 

 My good pastor. Rev. A. T. Reed, once said 

 when I went to him with this verse that 

 this passage doubtless means that we are to 

 take no anxious thought, or, if you choose, 

 over-anxious thought. Do not worry too 

 much about what we shall eat or what we 

 shall drink. If I understand it, the dear 

 Savior meant it as a rebuke to selfishness; 

 and sielfishness, when we get right down to 

 it, is the foundation (or so it seems to 

 me) of almost all wickedness and sin in the 

 world. People are greedy. I do not know 

 any better word than greed to express it. 

 We need to be constantly on the watch for 

 this outcropping greediness. When 1 say 

 ice I include myself. While I strive against 

 this prevailing sin and watch and pray to be 

 delivered from it, the low animal part of 

 my nature keeps crowding in. In order 

 that you may make no mistake in under- 

 standing what I mean I will mention some- 

 thing that occurred but yesterday. 



I dug some fine new potatoes, and asked 

 Mrs. Root to test them. When they were 

 put on the breakfast-table, after asking 

 God's blessing on our morning meal on the 

 new day, I started to pick out for myself 

 the very best potato in the dish. I was 

 going to take the best one, and Mrs. Root 

 would likely take the smallest and poorest 

 as she generally does. Well, let me repeat, 

 I was going to take the best potato instead 

 of giving it to Mrs. Root, whom I profess 

 to love more than all else in the world — 

 yes, one whom I profess to love more than 

 self; but I am glad to say I did not take 

 that best potato after all. I took another 

 one and then passed the dish over to Mrs. 

 Root. Do some of you wonder why I did 

 not ])ass tlie potatoes to her before T took 

 any ? Well, she was out in the kitchen after 



