1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.■{59 



lists to stitch and fold, for tlie pressman did not 

 want to turn thorn ovt'r while they were 

 "green" — that is, before the ink was dr5'. 

 Then in the morning, when they were turned 

 and printed, we had a cold wave and a snow- 

 storm, even though it was April 15; and the 

 girls did not get around, and I began to crowd 

 things. I told them to have wrappers address- 

 ed and stamped, for applications most urgent, 

 so as to go right on the price lists the minute 

 two or three hundred were ready. As soon as 

 the stamp was on, we bundled ihem into a light 

 soft bag made of stout cloth. This bag is one I 

 use on my wheel. If it is not too full I can 

 shake the mail-maiter toward the ends, and 

 squeeze it up in the middle, like a small waist, 

 you know. Small waists are all right for bags, 

 even if they are not for women-folks. All 

 right. Then we jusr slipped that small waist 

 down into the lamp-holder on the wheel, and it 

 makes a very simple and expeditions package- 

 carrier. There, I have just got ready now to 

 tell my story. You see, this story is one with 

 a long preface and a short moral; but the 

 moral is to come. When one of the small girls 

 was asked to hold the bag so the price lists 

 could be put in quickly, I was going to help 

 her. Did you ever undertake to hold a bag, 

 and find that you needed just one more hand 

 than the orthodox number that God has given 

 us? It takes two hands to hold a bag, and 

 then it will not stay open. I was going to hold 

 the bag open myself, so we could get in the 

 price lists quickly; but Faith (that is the name 

 of the small girl) dextrously slipped one elbow 

 Inside of the bag; then when she held it open 

 with her two hands there was a three-cornered 

 opening just right to shovel in merchandise. 

 She said she learned it of Miss Cole. Miss Cole 

 bosses the paper-room; and she (Miss Cole) 

 said her father taught her how to do it when 

 she held bags for him to shovel in corn. etc. 

 Now, if our farmer readers knew this before, it 

 may not be any new invention: but I am .53 

 years old, and have been watching all my life 

 for short cuts in all sorts of farm work; but I 

 never got hold of this little kink before; and I 

 felt ashamed of myself when a little girl taught 

 me something so common-senselike and simple. 



Ourselves and our Neighbors. 



Hell and destruction are before tlie Lord; liow 

 much more tlien tlie liearts of the cliildren of men ? 

 — Prov. 15:11. 



A few days ago a newspaper was laid upon 

 my table. As usual I glanced over it hastily to 

 see what passage had been marked for me to 

 consider. While glancing over it my eye acci- 

 dentally struck upon the following, which was 

 given simply as a piece of news. In the neigh- 

 boring town of Fostoria. Seneca Co., in our own 

 State of Ohio, a lady teacher belonging to one 

 of the Fostoria schools happened to be ofT a lit- 

 tle by herself on her way home. She noticed 

 a man following her; and, being somewhat 

 alarmed, she hastened her footsteps. He also 

 increased his pace; and she finally, in much 

 fright, started to run. He ran too; overtook 

 her, knocked her down, and robbed her of her 

 pocketbook containing some $20 00. At the time 

 the statement was made she was in a critical 

 state from nervous i)rostration caused by fright 

 and the blow. Nothing was said about hunting 

 up the perpetrator of this foul deed, and I did 

 not learn that the community rose up, as I think 

 it ought to have done, to demand that this man 

 be hunted up and punished, even if it cost 



thousands of dollars to find hiui. In repeating 

 the circumstance I have been told again and 

 again, " Why, Mi'. Root, that is nothing partic- 

 ularly remarkable. Such outrages are men- 

 tioned in the newspapers every day, and they 

 belong to no particular locality, and no partic- 

 ular locality seems to be entirely free from such 

 terrible events." 



May be this is true; bnt in our own town of 

 Medina no such thing ever happened, to my 

 recollection. We frequently hear of men being 

 knocked down, and robbed of their money. 

 This occurs mostly, however, in our large cities; 

 and, so far as my knowledge extends, such acts 

 of highway robbery are mostly confined to in- 

 dividuals who have thoughtlessly exhibited 

 money where prowlers and thieves might get a 

 glimpse of it. At other times it has been caused 

 by people who persist in carrying considerable 

 sums of money on their person, or keeping it in 

 their houses. For years I have been in the hab- 

 it of giving our people severe lectures about 

 both of lh(>se things; and to set a good exam- 

 ple I never carry more than five or ten dollars 

 in money in my pocket at any time. In my re- 

 cent travels I very rarely carried as much as 

 fifty dollars in money. Most of the time I car- 

 ried checks in my pocket, of $25.00 each. When 

 one of these checks was exhausted I got anoth- 

 er one cashed at the nearest bank. Until with- 

 in a few weeks ago we were in the habit of 

 paying our help every Satuiday afternoon here 

 in the factory. The messenger boy who went 

 to the bank was then obliged to carrv through 

 the streets from $.500 to $1000. I have scolded 

 about it for a good while. Once or twice during 

 dinner-time I have found the pay money left 

 without being put into the safe. We now cut 

 off all temptation in this line by giving our help 

 a check on the bank, so no money is handled 

 here on payday at all. 



I recently saw an account that a member of 

 the famous Dalton gang, with one oth(>r man as 

 an assistant, robbed a certain paymaster of two 

 or three thousand dollars, and got away clear. 

 A great crowd of men had been working hard 

 all the week. They had earned the money by 

 the sweat of their face. They were justly en- 

 titled to it if ever anybody is ever justly en- 

 titled to any thing; and yet this tieud in hu- 

 man form, who had not worked nor sweat at 

 all, could coolly, and without scruple or twinge 

 of conscience, take all their earnings, and use 

 it for the selfish gi-atification of si^onie low pas- 

 sion. We have been told by scientists and the- 

 ologians that there is at least a sptirk of some- 

 thing (xodlike in the breast of every human be- 

 ing. There is no need, however, for any scien- 

 tist, theologian, nor anybody else, to tell us that 

 there is also something devilish in the hearts of 

 a great part of humanity. Let us now get back 

 to our first illustration: 



If there is any class of people in this world 

 who are entitled to the respect, reverence, and 

 careful treatment of the whole human family, 

 it is the lady teachers of our schools. To them 

 are intrust(>d, next to the mothers of our land, 

 the task of training the children. A great part 

 of this work seems to be falling into the hands 

 of good wom.en, and it is right that it should. 

 Some of the noblest specimens of humanity 

 that I have ever met in the world are among 

 these w omen teachers. I feel proud to number 

 them among my friends. I feel it an honor that 

 it has been my privilege to assist them some- 

 what, and to givf them my aid and encourag(!- 

 ment. God bless the schoohna'ams of our land, 

 as we used to call them. I do not kiu)w of any 

 other class of people in this whole wide world 

 who need our prayers, our encouragcunent, our 

 respect, and our help, as do our lady teachers. 

 The man who would covet their faithful earn- 



