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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1921 



IN Our Homes 

 for September 



I to 1 d you 

 how I stood up 

 in public and an- 

 nounced that 

 from that day 

 and hour I was 

 going to work 

 for the Lord 

 Jesus Christ 

 first, and for self 

 second. During 

 the night there 

 was a mental de- 

 bate as to what 

 or how I should 

 u n d e r t ake to 

 carry out the new program. 

 . At that time I was a jeweler ana watch 

 repairer. My store was, as a rule, opened 

 with the very first places of business on the 

 street; and it was a good deal the fashion 

 for the merchants clear along up and down 

 the street to be out early with their brooms 

 sweeping the pavement. My next-door 

 neighbor was a grocer, and we were quite 

 well acquainted. As we both stood there, 

 with broom in hand, I said: 

 . "Alec, you want to come out to the meet- 

 ings we are having in the different 

 churches. ' ' 



The man with a broom on the other side 

 of my place of business came up and said: 



' ' What is that you are saying, Mr. Eoot? ' ' 



I told him I was inviting my neighbors, 

 right and left, to come to the meetings we 

 were then having, and pretty soon a crowd 

 gathered around us. The fact that A. I. 

 Eoot, who had scarcely entered a church or 

 Sunday school for years past was out invit- 

 ing his friends "hither and yon" to come 

 to church, was an innovation. Pretty soon 

 somebody said, "You want them to come to 

 yonr church, of course." 



Now, even if I had not been a church- 

 goer, I am glad to tell you that Mrs. Eoot 

 and the two children were always promptly 

 on hand both at church and Sunday school. 

 Well, in response to the above hint (that of 

 course I was working for the Congrega- 

 tional Church), I replied: 



"No, no! Come to any of the four 

 churches in our town." 



Then somebody said, "Oh! that is too 

 thin, pf course you are all working for 

 your own church." 



Then they began to banter me. My next- 

 door neigh iDor finally said: 



"Mr. Eoot, if you will get all four of the 

 preachers in our town to stand together like 

 brothers in one pulpit I will go to church." 

 Others in the crowd said, "And I," "And 

 I," "And I." 



Then there was a lot of merriment to 

 think they had cornered me; for away back 

 in those times churches did not stand to- 

 gether ns they do now — that is, in most 

 places. But I accepted the challenge. I 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



I 



Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? — Acts 9:6. 



Behold, he prajeth. — 'Acts 9:11. 



I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them 

 that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and 

 pray for them which despitefully use you, and per- 

 secute you. — Matt. 5:44. 



told them we 

 would do that 

 very thing, and 

 added that I 

 would hold them 

 to their prom- 

 ise to come, and 

 I think I drop- 

 ped business 

 and everything 

 else and start- 

 dd out to visit 

 our ministers 

 and tell them 

 of the challenge. 

 They replied 

 smilingly that 

 they would take 

 great pleasure in doing just that very 

 thing. Well, dear friends, from that day on 

 I have had many wonderful answers to 

 prayer, and many of them have been sicift 

 answers. In looking back and reviewing it 

 I do not wonder that my faith has never 

 once failed; and it has just occurred to me, 

 that before I go down to my Florida home, 

 where I have no stenographer, I had better 

 leave here an account of some of those won- 

 derful answers to prayer of years ago, to be 

 used in case there should be no Home paper 

 forthcoming for the winter months. 



Today is Oct. 4, and we expect to start 

 for our Florida home in just two weeks. 

 Well, now for my first experience in prompt 

 answers to prayers. 



Three of our ministers acquiesced at once. 

 The pastor of the fourth one lived out of 

 town about half a mile, and I started out 

 with enthusiasm to see him. To my great 

 disappointment, however, this fourth pastor 

 declined; and he said, furthermore, that if 

 I had been at all acquainted with the tenets 

 of his denomination I would have known 

 better than to promise the crowd as I had 

 done. I did not give up easily, and I urged 

 until he finally got up, and, I think, but- 

 toned up his coat, suggesting by the act, 

 I took it, that I could not take any more of 

 his time. In fact, I felt that I had been 

 "snubbed," to use a slang phrase. Now, I 

 had gotten a little religion at that time, but 

 not enough so but that my temper came up. 

 I think, to call things by their right name, 

 that I went down the steps just a little 

 "mad." But I was not vexed enough to 

 keep myself from remembering the Bible 

 promises I had just been going over so glad- 

 ly. I began to pray; find, by the way, good 

 friends, if there is ever any time when you 

 ought to pray it is when your temper is 

 coming up. As there were then no houses, 

 or at least but few, between the parsonage 

 and the business part of the town, I prayed 

 out loud; and from that time on, when I have 

 been greatly interested in some particular 

 matter, I have been in the habit of going 

 out into a cornfield or somewhere where I 

 could talk out loud and tell the dear Savior 

 my troubles and what I wanted. Cement 



