1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1017 



ing higher, at 500 feet he repeated the operation. Then 

 deliberately turning the airship in the direction of the 

 White House he proceeded to call on the President. He 

 alighted safely in the inclosure back of the executive 

 mansion. 



The President was attending a commencement exer- 

 cise, and was not at home to welcome Beachy. Mrs. 

 Roosevelt with keen interest watched his daring per- 

 formances. 



With the ease of a bird Beachy and his machine again 

 sought the upper air currents, and safely above the 

 towers of the buildings the first tour of the famous 

 P« nnsylvania Avenue by an airship was made. 



Beachy circled the capitol dome, showing that he had 

 absolute control of the airship, and made a landing on 

 the east front opposite the rotunda. He was loudly ap- 

 plauded as he stepped from his machine and modestly 

 received congratulations. After a brief rest he again 

 ascended; and, passing over the capitol, returned to the 

 Virginia resort, crossing three miles of housetops and 

 a river one mile wide. 



I am sorry, friends, I can not give you a 

 report from the real flying- machine made 

 by the Wright brothers; but one will come 

 very soon if you will be patient. The one 

 given above indicates what can be done by 

 the aid of a balloon, and I am glad to see 

 young Beachy with his home- made machine 

 is making progress, even if he does require 

 a balloon to keep him up in the air. 



" Ye are of more value than many sparrows.— Luke 

 12: 6. 



ALMOST A MAN. 



About July 1st I had planned going back 

 to the cabin in the woods; but as Mrs. Root 

 could not at that time go with me I rather 

 decided to go alone; but on my return from 

 the Philadelphia field-meeting my two eld- 

 est grandchildren, Leland Root and Howard 

 Calvert, boys of 15 and 14 respectively, put 

 in a plea to go in Mrs. Root's stead. 



"But," said I, "boys, I am planning to 

 live up there in the woods on 'uncooked 

 food.' and you two growing chaps wouldn't 

 think, after the way your mothers have 

 been giving you three good ' square meals ' 

 a day jcu could ever put up with that." 



"Yes, we can; yes, we can," they both 

 put in; "besides, our mothers have been 

 giving us lessons, and we can cook tiptop. 

 We will cook for you as good as grandma 

 does. You just take us along and see. We 

 won't make you any trouble." 



The matter worried me somewhat. I 

 have been telling my friends of late, as an 

 excuse for rushing about so much, that I 

 am trying to be "where God needs me 

 most," and this implies I am trying to do 

 what God wants me to do most, without 

 much regard to selfish feelings. I am more 

 than 50 years older than these two, ' ' almost 

 men" in stature, and almost young men in 



intellect. A good many of our ideas are in 

 widely different channels. I meditated that 

 they would likely displace, lose, or break 

 my tools, step on my choice plants, litter up 

 the cabin, etc. One reason why I enjoy this 

 home in the woods is because nobody touches 

 any thing there but myself. No dog, chick- 

 ens, nor children (may God forgive me) 

 meddle with or disturb my work, nor in- 

 terfere in any way with my old-fashioned 

 (and perhaps cranky) notions. 



While thinking of this, another and a bet- 

 ter spirit suggested, "But, Mr. Root, these 

 boys are not only your own flesh and blood, 

 but they, in God's providence, will soon be 

 the sinews of ' The A. I. Root Co. ' Is not 

 God's voice back of their boyish pleading to 

 go with you? and may it not be the oppor- 

 tunity of jour life to instruct and guide 

 them at just this crisis in their lives, that 

 they may preserve and hold up whatever the 

 firm that bears your name has honestly 

 earned in years past ?" Then I thought of 

 the Savior's words, "Ye are of more value 

 than many sparrows." 



When I fell in with their plan they put in 

 another plea, that I must wait until after 

 the Fourth. Now, I was rather planning to 

 get away from the noise and din of this 

 event; but God was leading, and not /. 



At Traverse City the liveryman wanted a 

 little more time to get his rig ready, and 

 suggested I surely wanted to take a little 

 while to show the boys around and ''buy 

 them some cigars " 



"No, sir! my boys don't use cigars" 



"But they haf ' to learn. All boys learn 

 some time; might as well learn now as 

 later. ' ' 



Of course, this was pleasantry, more or 

 less, biit I invariably thanked God that these 

 two, with the bringing-up they have had, 

 would almost as soon think of jumping into 

 the fire as to touch tobacco in any shape. 



Dear parent or grandparent, I have now, 

 as I write, been with these two boys close on 

 to two weeks, and it has been a wonderful 

 revelation to me of God's love, and of some- 

 thing I hardly dreamed of before, that I 

 should, after all these years, for the first 

 time, learn to know and love my own flesh 

 and blood. There have been anxious times, 

 and there have been times when I prayed as 

 I seldom pray of late years; but there have 

 also been wonderful answers to prayer. It 

 has been a drill for me as well as for the 

 boys; but. thank God, I think it has been a 

 loving drill on both sides. As I give a few 

 of the incidents by way of illustration I feel 

 that some parents will say I have been too 

 easy and indulgent; and then, again, there 

 will be others who insist I have been too 

 strict and puritanical, especially for this 

 present age. 



In two things particularly the boys' incli- 

 nations were not just in accordance with my 

 "notions," as some might be pleased to 

 call them. First, how much work should 

 boys of fourteen and fifteen be called upon 

 to do, say during vacation time? Secondly, 

 how much liberty should boys of that age 



