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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



HOMES,! 



BY A.I.ROOT. 'V 



In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall di- 

 rect thy paths.— Prov. 3;(i. 



As you have seen by the journals, our 

 carload of bee-keepers started from Chicago 

 on Wednesday evening-, Aug. 12, and I be- 

 lieve it was not until after we started that I 

 learned we would reach the Grand Can3on 

 at 5 on Saturday evening, and would leave 

 at 9:30 on Monday morning, so as to give 

 the bee-keepers all Sunday to explore. When 

 I asked how such an arrangement came to 

 be made, nobod}'^ seemed to know. Proba- 

 bly the railroad company thought that that 

 would be exactly what the bee-keepers 

 would want. I could have told them bet- 

 ter, and would have been glad to do so had 

 I been consulted. As it was, perhaps I am 

 as much at fault as any one, because I did 

 not in time look out for such a state of af- 

 fairs. I am glad to say our car of eighteen 

 bee- keepers, men and women, were mostly 

 professing Christians. We sang gospel 

 hymns, and talked temperance. Sabbath 

 observance, etc., almost as a carload of En- 

 deavorers might have done; and some one 

 remarked he had not seen one of our crowd 

 in the smoking-car at all. This is a little 

 remarkable, and perhaps it is owing to the 

 fact that the editors of our bee- journals are 

 " clean men " right through. 



Well, there was much discussion as to 

 what we ought to do under the circum- 

 stances about exploring the canyon on Sun- 

 day. Many inquired, a little anxiously, 

 perhaps, what A. I. Root was going to do. 

 Of course, they looked to Dr. Miller, Edi- 

 tor York and his good wife, and others, in 

 much the same way; but as your humble 

 servant has in years past been a little more 

 vehement than the rest in denouncing Sun- 

 day excursions, it seemed to center some- 

 what on him. I am free to confess I was 

 puzzled as to what I ought to do, or, if you 

 choose, as to what God would have me do 

 that Sabbath day. As all would be up 

 early, we arranged for a morning service 

 at six o'clock. 



Our train dropped us Saturday evening 

 on the brink of that awful chasm; and eve- 

 ry soul of us, as we gazed down, admitted 

 the sight was worth all it cost, and was 

 worthy of all that had been said about it. 

 The human eye, unused to such vast depths, 

 at first failed utterly to take it in. Our 

 guide pointed out to us some white objects, 

 part way down, and asked us to guess what 

 they were. I said they looked like five- 

 cent sacks of salt that some one had drop- 

 ped. What I called a sack of salt was 

 really a group of ei^ht tents, or sleeping- 

 rooms, belonging to the hotel below. Part 

 way down on the trail they looked like 

 Simplicitj' bee-hives painted white. These 

 tents were 3100 feet straight down, three 



miles distant on a bee-line, ^nd five miles 

 along the trail. 



There were trips out along the rim. both 

 ways; and if we thought best not to take 

 the long trip down to the great river (a full 

 mile straight down, and eight miles along 

 the trail), we could take the side trip 

 above. What would be the right and prop- 

 er thing for a body of Christian people to do 

 on that Sabbath day? I, like many of the 

 rest, had looked forward to this trip almost 

 all my life; and but few if any of us would 

 ever see it again. I went part way down 

 the trail Saturday night, and came up aft- 

 er dark. I was more and more fascinated 

 with every' step I took down; and as it was 

 bright moonlight after midnight, I tried to 

 get the manager of the horses to take me 

 down by moonlight Monday morning, and 

 get me back by train time. He flatly re- 

 fused. I meditated walking down before 

 breakfast, and back before train time; but 

 I knew that, at my age, it would be more 

 than I had any right to undertake. God 

 knows I tell it truly when I say I decided 

 to go away and not take the trip. I had so 

 decided at the morning service; but I con- 

 cluded it was best not to s ly so to the rest. 

 Mr. and Mrs. York, at this service, by 

 their beautiful rendering of familiar hymns 

 (assisted by Dr. Miller, of course), made 

 it a most enjoyable meeting. I spoke on the 

 text at the head of this paper, and was 

 happy, even though I had decided to stay 

 all day at the hotel, or near it. I think 

 that God was pleased, if I may so express 

 it, at my willingness to give up for his 

 sake. Now, dear friends, do not think me 

 visionary when I say I feel that, after thus 

 giving up, he bade me go. I know I am 

 approaching dangerous ground for a spir- 

 itual teacher to take, but I believe there is 

 solid rock under my feet. 



Our service was over, and I went out 

 near the brink. I had said to some I would 

 advise avoiding hiring horses or setting 

 anybody to work on Sunday, as far as pos- 

 sible, and a little crowd of bee-keepers was 

 starting out on foot. Only one of our num- 

 ber rode a pony. I said, " Why, boys, if 

 you are going on foot, take oflf your coats, 

 and, better, vests too. Do not carry an 

 ounce more than y^ou are obliged to. Then 

 you have no canes. You must all get a 

 stout light cane, and, above alt, each one 

 must carry a bottle of water. It is five 

 miles over the hardest road you ever trav- 

 eled before you can get a drop of wa- 

 ter." 



Now, it was right here that the Holy 

 Spirit told me to go with these friends and 

 be one of them; at least I felt so then, 

 and I feel so now. I felt very sure that 

 I could contribute to their comfort and hap- 

 piness, and God gave me strength and 

 endurance that day that made me praise 

 him all day long. We sat down often, and 

 took in the grandeur of that scene. We 

 had confidential talks while we rested; and 

 when we reached a beautiful spring, near 

 the tents, we bathed, not only our dirty 



