November, 1917 



EVER since I 

 heard that 

 talk by Dr. 

 Barker about 

 worry and over- 

 anxiety I have 

 tried to avoid 

 being upset by 

 any provocation 

 in business that 

 might occur. Dr. 

 Barker, in fact, 

 almost burned 

 into the ears of 

 his audience the 

 importance o f 

 putting unpleas- 

 ant thoughts out 

 of our mind bj^ 

 the force of will, and dwelling only on the 

 bright side of whatever disaster may occur. 



In a recent transaction, on account of my 

 deafness partly, and partly because I neg- 

 lected to do business in a businesslike way, I 

 was robbed, or perhaps I should say it 

 looked so to me, of something like a hundred 

 dollars; and, no matter how many times I 

 tried to put it out of my mind, and to think 

 of something else, it kept coming back. I 

 kept planning how I could protect myself 

 and get the Avrong righted. In fact, I lay 

 awake nights brooding over it. Of course, 

 T kept praying over it, and pleading the 

 gracious jjromises in God's holy word. But 

 in a little while back I was again, floundei'- 

 ing in the "slough of despond." In the 

 Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, the 

 author, Mrs. Smith, speaks about a man 

 who was walking along the road with a 

 heavy sack of gxain on his shoulder. A 

 neighbor with a wagon overtook him, and 

 asked him to get in and ride ; but the poor 

 stupid fellow, instead of dumping his bag of 

 gTain in the back end of the empty wagon, 

 kept it on his shoulder. When his neighbor 

 remonstrated the man replied : 



"Why, it seems too much to ask you to 

 carry both me and my burden. I can easily 

 keep it on my shoulder if you will just give 

 me the ride." 



Now, I was like that poor foolish man. 

 After I had brought my burden and 

 dropped it at the feet of the dear Savior, I 

 kept continually throwing it on to my poor 

 weak shoulders again, and in that way I 

 sjDoiled my peace of mind. Finally, once 

 in the night time, when I could not sleep, 

 I prayed again for deliverance. You see 

 I had been planning over and over the 

 right thing to do, and it was not very clear 

 what cours'^ 7 should take in the matter, 

 when all at once shone out in the darkness 

 the beautiful text, "In all thy ways acknowl- 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



879 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



3 



My yoke is easy, and inv burden is liglit. — Matt. 

 11:29. 



In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall 

 direct thy paths. — Prov. 3:6. 



I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for 

 thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. ^ — •Ps.4:8. 



If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away 

 thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. — -Matt. 5:40. 



bling. 



edge him and 

 he shall direct 

 thy paths." It 

 seemed just as if 

 the Holy Spirit 

 spoke out, re- 

 buking me and 

 cheering me with 

 t h e comforting 

 thought that, if 

 I would only ac- 

 knowledge Mm 

 in all my ways — 

 in other words, 

 keep a clear con- 

 science — he 

 would direct my 

 paths and keep 

 me from stum- 

 Oh blessed promise! Is it really 



true that the great heavenly Father will 

 take us by the hand, or perhaps, in a crisis, 

 put his hand on our shoulder, and guide or 

 l?ad us in the pathway a Christian should 

 follow? 



It is now two days since the above was 

 dictated, and I was most happily surprised 

 to find in the morning mail the following 

 from the head of the great establishment : 



Dear Mr. Root: — Yours of yesterday is received, 

 and in reply to the same we beg to advise you that 

 we have referred your letters to our agent, with in- 

 structions to get in touch with you as soon as possi- 

 ble, and get the matter straightened out to your en- 

 tire satisfaction. 



You see, in my brooding over the matter 

 I had got into my head the old saying that 

 " corporations have no souls," etc. But here 

 I have it, right from the head of the insti- 

 tution, that the whole jumbled-up matter 

 should be "straightened out to my entire 

 satisfaction." Dear reader, if you have had 

 similar temptations, if you have at times 

 been tempted to lose not only faith in j^our 

 fellow-men, but faith in God as your heav- 

 enly Father, and if you have been tempted 

 at times to think that it is "preposterous" 

 to expect him to bother with petitions of a 

 poor humble individual like yourself, then 

 take courage from the little lesson I have 

 given. Yes, I feel ashamed of my lack of 

 faith, and I feel ashamed to think of the 

 time I studied and worried as to how it was 

 best to do and yet all the time I had the 

 promise that "he would direct my paths." 



After Dr. Barker's talk that I told you 

 about, I was told he was to give another talk 

 on health, or how to live to be a hundred 

 years old. He did not give that talk here 

 in Medina ; but my youngest daughter in- 

 formed me he was to give it in the city of 

 Barberton, some 25 miles from here; but 

 when it was just time for us to start with 



