Algist, 1920 



I, K A X I N (i S IX I! K 



I.T r H K 



I 



E 



llAVK told 



y o u ii.uiiiii 



and again oL" 

 (lie (' oust a u t 

 sireani of "kind 

 w o V d s" t h a t 

 liave been coiii- 

 ing' for yeais in 

 regard to tliese 

 Home pa pel's. T 

 liave told you 

 about getting up 

 i n a u n i o n 

 nu'eting long ago 

 ard announeing 

 ni y determina- 

 tion to let tlie 

 L o r d ' s w o r k 

 come first and 

 A. T. Root's see- 

 o n d i Sliortly 

 aftei- tliat public decision 1 started tliesc 

 Home pajiers in tlie bee journal, little at 

 tbat time, almost fifty years ago. It was 

 v^-ry unusual, at tbat time, to see religious 

 talks in a class journal devoted to agricul- 

 ture or livestock. Just recently tbat book, 

 "In His Steps,'' by Sbeldon (wbicb had 

 sncli a tiemendous sale some years ago, and 

 wbicb lias been so much talked about), 

 commenced baving a big sale, once moie. 1 

 am glad of it. At the time 1 am speaking of, 

 altbo I bad not tben read tbat book. I de- 

 cided to conduct wbat business I might 

 have in this busy woild, as near as I could, 

 the way Jesus would do it were he engaged 

 in business. No doubt I started out awk- 

 wardly, as a baby does when it is just 

 learning to walk; and even some of my 

 good f i-iends, p 7"0 f e s s i n g Cliristaans, 

 thought 1 was nuiking a mistake in start- 

 ing such a de])artment in a journal devoted 

 to bee (uUurc. I ])rayed that God's Holy 

 S])irit might direct my ^loor efforts, and I 

 bad faith to believe that he would so di- 

 rect. Aliuost as soon as the journal came 

 out with my poor at(em])t to iell how 7 had 

 been lifted ''out of the mii'v clay" and my 

 feet jilaced on the solid Rock, a letter 

 came with a vigorous protest. The writer 

 said that if T proposed to "cram my re- 

 ligion dow-n the throats of my readers" in 

 tiiat fa.sbion he wanted his journal stopped. 

 Well, I <lo not tiiink my faith wavered very 

 much : but in order to see bow many felt 

 as this man did I published his letter. As 

 soon as the journal cont^iining the protest 

 was fairly out there came another letter, 

 and this second letter read something like 

 this: 



"Hrotber lioot. when 1 saw you bad lost 

 a subscriber 1 told mv wife tbat I was go- 



G 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



r. It (i()(l. ;iihI kiiuw my Iicart : li'.v ine, 

 m\ tlioiisrht.s, and see if there be any 



in tli(>i way ever- 



iiiid know 



wicked • wiiy in ni(>. nnd lead m 



lastinir. — Tsalm l.T9:2n, 2 1. 



I know that my Hedoenicr livctli. — .Tol) 19:2,5. 



.*^imon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall 

 we jjo ? thou hast tlie words of eternal life. — John 

 H:(>S. 



Fie hroujrht me up also out of a horrible pit, 

 out of the miry clay, and set my feet npon a rock. — 

 P.salm 40:2. 



491 



ing to get you 

 another in tiic 

 place of the oiu' 

 lost, and lliat, 

 too, I) e f o r e I 

 went to bed ; and 

 I had better 

 luck than 1 ex- 

 pected. Here is 

 the money for 

 /('■'* new sub- 

 scribers." 



Other letters 

 of a like teiioi' 

 followed, a n d 

 the same thing 

 is going on now 

 and has lieen 

 going on f o y 

 over 40 yeai-s. 

 When the good 

 pc()|lc of oni- land— yes, and, I am glad 

 to say. of other lands too— found out I 

 was working first for the Lord Jesus Christ, 

 and not foi- self, kind, loyal friends sprang 

 up everywhere, and Gleanings went, as you 

 know, all over the world. T think I stated 

 that some e.xtra i)ages would be given for 

 the Home papers so that our i-eaders could 

 remember that the Home papers cost noth- 

 ing. And by the Avay, dear friends, all 

 along these years T have enjoyed work for 

 which I received no pay, in dollars and 

 cents, more than anything else. In fur- 

 nishing seeds for the new sweet clover T 

 do it without any pay; and every little 

 while somebody sends money for some 

 seeds; but my special clerk who sends out 

 the seeds is instructed to ci-edit all such 

 money on subscriptions to Gleanings or 

 retuDi it. The A. I. Root Co. sell goods; 

 l>'it A. I. Root himself has nothing to sell. 

 We ai-e just now .getting our new seeds 

 of the new annual clover from our little 

 plantation down in Florida, and we shall 

 have luore coming on here in Ohio, when 

 the Florida seeds are gone; but they are all 

 to be given away and are not for sale. 

 Let us now^ go back to the Home papei's. 

 Other friends besides the first one men- 

 tioned have objected to my "theology" as 

 they call it. Just recently a writer who 

 sent for seed sug-g-ested that if I were bet- 

 ter posted T would be thanking "evolu- 

 tion" for this new clover .seed instead of 

 thanking God. I think be suggested thai 

 God had nothing to do with it — it all canu^ 

 thru evolution. And then he went on to 

 .say tbat if I knew anything about the doc- 

 trine of evolution I would recognize T Avas 

 I c'''nd t!'e times in giving the old discai'ded 

 a co.int of creation as given in Genesis. 



