The Lovable Root Family. 
Human beings are more interesting 
than honeybees. For me that state- 
ment implies much because I am in- 
tensely interested in honeybees. 
With all my affection for the ordi- 
nary things of nature below mankind 
I have none of the spirit of Henry 
David Thoreau, who would retire from 
the haunts of men and live as a hermit 
they are by far exceeded by the Root 
family’s personal diaries. I know that 
some persons rather deplore the fact, 
as they refer to it somewhat jocosely, 
that so much of the magazine is occu- 
pied by the Root family’s memoirs. To 
me, however, the department and its 
allied articles are the most charming, 
heart touching and inspiring of the en- 
tire magazine. I find from my own ex- 
MR. A. I. ROOT AND WIFE. 
Mrs. Root recently died. 
by a Walden Pond. I know a student 
of nature that is fond of saying that 
solitude is a most enjoyable thing, if 
you have with you plenty of people to 
whom you may communicate those 
joys. Notwithstanding my enthusiasm 
for nature, I have recently announced 
a lecture of which the subject is, “Girls, 
the Loveliest of All God’s Creations.” 
When I am asked, “What is the most 
interesting thing you have discovered 
about honeybees?” I reply, “The Root 
family of Medina, Ohio.” All our 
apiarists know that Medina is the 
world’s center for honeybee interests, 
and the center of Medina is The A. I. 
Root Company — in fact all the indus- 
try of the town is embodied in that cor- 
poration. At Medina is published a 
magazine known as “Gleanings in Bee 
Culture,” filled from cover to cover 
with valuable information and sugges- 
tions rich in commercial possibilities in 
regard to honeybees. But excellent as 
all the magazine’s departments are, 
perience that when “Gleanings in Bee 
Culture” arrives I without hesitation 
turn to “Our Homes” department and 
there read delightful, characteristic, 
heartfelt references to little things and 
big things, to big Roots, ordinary Roots 
and little Rootlets, that please me bet- 
ter perhaps than any other part of the 
magazine. 
But perhaps the most touching of all 
the matter published in recent months 
is the affecting manner in which Mr. 
A. I. Root refers to the death of his 
wife. The January number contains no 
ordinary obituary notice. It has some- 
thing more than that. The first is 
eulogy of women in general and then 
Mr. Root tells of the first meeting with 
Sue, a girl of only fifteen, whom he 
invited to become his wife, but she 
strongly insisted that she must com- 
plete her education. 
Reading on a little further we find 
that the article was written a few days 
after the death of Mrs. Root, who was 
