672 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



And Jesus went about healing all manner of sickness 

 and all manner of disease among the people.- Matt. 4:23. 



His disciples were a hungered, and began to pluck the 

 ears of grain, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. 

 —Matt. 12:1; Luke 6:1. 



I told you some days ago that I loved 

 working in my little carpenter shop down in 

 Florida, because Jesus was a carpenter in 

 his early days. The question may some- 

 times arise as to what his occupation was 

 after he gave up carpenter work and until 

 his death. I suppose the answer would be, 

 of course, primarily preaching the gospel. 

 But there is another occupation that kept 

 him very busy indeed. Our first text tells 

 us it was healing all mannei of sickness; 

 and the record that we have of that beauti- 

 ful pure life informs us that his work on 

 earth was to help and cure all who were 

 sick or suffering in any way ; therefore if 

 we wish to follow in the footsteps of the 

 Lord Jesus Christ we ought to make our 

 business, or a large part of it, in life to al- 

 leviate sickness and pain. I was going to 

 say " and death;" but death will come to us 

 all. But, even though that may be true, it 

 is in the power of humanity to do much to 

 alleviate the pain and suffering that usually 

 come with death. 



It has rejoiced my heart in the past few 

 days to see how our whole United States 

 has dropped everything, and it would almost 

 seem as if it had forgotten every thing, in 

 its readiness and willingness to help the des- 

 titute and suffering in that ill-fated city far 

 away on the Pacific coast. I have been 

 wondering if that great calamity would not 

 arouse some of us and help us to get over 

 the craze that seems recently to have got- 

 ten hold of our people to rob our fellow-men, 

 or, to make it more direct, to rob the people 

 who pay our taxes. 



To get back to our subject, there are quite 

 a few noble men and women in our land 

 who are doing much to relieve sickness and 

 suffering by applying their vigorous minds 

 to this problem of getting well and keeping 

 well. One of the foremost in this line is, 

 to my notion, T. B. Terry, of Hudson, O. 

 You who have read his potato-book and 

 strawberry-book, and " Our Farming," 

 know something about how this man by his 

 vigor and energetic way made a poor farm 

 in Northern Ohio yield up its treasures of 

 potatoes, wheat, and clover; and the straw- 

 berry-growers have read the story, and been 

 benefited by the same vigorous way in 

 which he taught us how to grow more (and 

 better) strawberries, and with less expense, 

 than the world ever did it before. 



Well, after many years of teaching and 

 preaching (yes, a lot of Bro. Terry's teach- 

 ings are real preaching) his health failed. 

 As he was getting good pay for traveling, 

 and talking at farmers' institutes, it was an 

 important matter for him to hold out, and 

 so he consulted some of the best and wisest 

 physicians in the land. But his troubles 

 seemed to be one of the hard cases to man- 

 age. I remember a despondent letter he 

 wrote me wherein he despaired of ever be- 

 ing well. I did not know how badly off he 

 was, however, until yesterday, when his 

 good wife told me the doctors said at one 

 time he could not live more than about three 

 weeks. Well, T. B. Terry did not propose 

 to die and give up his work right in the 

 prime of life, even if the doctors did say so. 

 He went to studying over the matter, and 

 experimenting. He went to digging down 

 into the whys and wherefores and the causes 

 of things (just as he did with potatoes 

 and strawberries), and God has blessed his 

 efforts. Why, it makes me think of that 

 old favorite text of mine— "knock, and it 

 shall be opened unto you" Some of my 

 good friends may say 1 have no authority 

 for applying it to potatoes, strawberries, 

 and good health; but I am sure the great 

 Father is not displeased, even if we do apply 

 it in any way. Terry's digestion was out of 

 order. He knew that. And there was kid- 

 ney trouble. His experience reminds me a 

 good deal of Dr. Salisbury's early experi- 

 ments. Dr. S. , however, turned his atten- 

 tion to lean meat while Terry's investiga- 

 tions took a different line. You know how 

 often of late I have spoken of " God's med- 

 icines" Terry was full of faith that God's 

 remedies were infinitely better, more natu- 

 ral and proper, than the stuff in the drug- 

 stores, or even the medicines that most of 

 our leading physicians are recommending 

 and using. 1 think one of his first attempts 

 was in chewing his food very thoroughly. 

 On page 236 (Gleanings for Feb. 15) he 

 has told you something of what he has done. 

 I was so much impressed with that account 

 that I told Mrs. Root I was going right over 

 to visit friend Terry as soon as I got home, 

 and I was going to beg the privilege of eat- 

 ing a meal of uncooked food with him. May 

 be I had better tell you about that visit. 



I found Mrs. Terry a perfect picture of 

 health, out in the front yard; and as we 

 started to go into the hou^e I stopped with 

 an exclamation of surprise. They have re- 

 cently put in a sort of bay window. The 

 middle pane of glass is, perhaps, three or 

 four feet wide, and five or six feet long. 

 In front of that sheet of glass was the 

 finest begonia, covered with bloom, I ever 

 saw anywhere. Beside it were geraniums 

 and other plants that out- rivaled in thrifty 

 luxuriance any thing I ever saw before. 

 There was not a wilted leaf in the whole 

 collection. Not a leaf had a dark color, nor 

 was it shriveled around the edges; and all 

 their house-plants, for that matter, were 

 just that way. I have my reasons, as you 

 will notice later on, for thus speaking of 

 the house-plants. 



