934 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. 



Let us not be weary in well fioinp-; for in due sea- 

 son we sliall reap if we faint not.— Gal. 6:9. 



My talk this time is going to be a good deal 

 to the boys: but I think it may prove helpful to 

 girls too, and some boys and girls who are 

 pretty well along in years as well. Perhaps I 

 shall put a different construction on my well- 

 known text from the one generally used; but I 

 think you will all agree that it is an exceed- 

 ingly practical one. It has suggested itself to 

 me because, just before the coming winter, so 

 many are wanting employment, and so many 

 are out of employment. The question is con- 

 tinually coming up, " Why is it that farmers 

 and manufacturers, and other people who some- 

 times employ help, and who might employ help, 

 can not do any thing for the needy ones?" 1 

 shall not undertake to give all the reasons, but 

 I think I can give one very plain reason, and 

 one that will do us all good; and this reason is, 

 that so many, in the language of our text, get 

 weary in well doing — at least, they become un- 

 easy, and grow tired when they are doing fairly 

 well. A great many people in this world can 

 not let well enough alone. It seems to me a 

 great many people are dissatisfied and restless, 

 when they ought to be thankful and happy. 

 And right here comes in this tendency to think 

 you are of more value to the world than the 

 world is willing to pay you. This attitude of 

 heart is a very bad one, and I think it is one of 

 Satan's biggest pieces of machinery to get 

 people into trouble. He whispers to a farmer 

 who is doing fairly well, "Look here, my friend; 

 yoti know, and everybody else knows, that a 

 farmer never gets rich. A man of your ability 

 and intelligence ought to be doing something 

 else. I would not stay here and drudge for any- 

 body." After Satan has got a listener to go 

 thus far, the way is pretty well paved for some 

 oily-tongued patent-right man or agent for Bo- 

 hemian oats, or some lottery or gift enterprise, 

 or some scheme to get the upper hand of your 

 neighbors. 



I suppose boys can be considered somewhat 

 excusable if they do fret, and get an idea that 

 they ought to have a man's wages before they 

 are out of their teens. But sometimes boys 

 learn wholesome lessons, even in their teens. 

 Let me tell you of one boy I know of. He came 

 to work for us when he was perhaps 15 or 16 

 years old. He was steady and industrious, did 

 not stop to play, even though others were play- 

 ing and cutting up around him; and, as a con- 

 sequence, his wages were steadily advanced— 

 that is, once in six months or a year he would 

 get a cent or two more per hour. After he had 

 been with us for perhaps a couple of years, our 

 engineer mentioned that F. was considerably 

 interested in the engine and boiler, and suggest- 

 ed that he take him under instruction if I 

 didn't object. Of course, I assented, and he 

 seemed to enjoy the hours he spent with the en- 

 gineer, and was making good progress. After 

 he had been at work a suCticient time he was al- 

 lowed to look after the engine for short inter- 

 vals while the engineer tended to something 

 that was some distance away. About this time 

 some of the older and wiser heads of the differ- 

 ent rooms of the establishment suggested to me 

 that the boy was hardly old enough to be trust- 

 ed with so much responsibility — too many lives 

 and too much property were at stake. I assent- 

 ed, and recommended that the engineer had bet- 

 ter not be out of sight, and that F. should not 

 have too much responsibility thrown upon him, 

 even though he did seem to be unusually wise 

 and careful. Things went on in this way until 



F. was 17 or 18 years old. He assisted while 

 cleaning the boilers, and sometimes got up at 

 two or three o'clock in the morning in order to 

 do this. I found out, however, by his time-card, 

 which I inspected every Saturday night, that, 

 after getting up this early Monday mornings, 

 he was in the habit of putting in a full day's 

 work during the day, thus making 1.3 or 14 hours 

 of labor for a boy in his teens. It may be well 

 to mention right here that the State of Ohio has 

 enacted a law, a part of which reads as follows: 



The number of hours of labor required of minors, 

 under the age of eig'hteen years, employed in tliis 

 room, shall in no case exceed ten in any one day. 



I spoke to F. about it, and I spoke to his father 

 about it, telling them it was not best. I sug- 

 gested that, when it was necessary to get up so 

 early and help the engineer Monday mornings, 

 he ought to stop work early in the afternoon so 

 as to make up on Monday night for his lack of 

 sleep Sunday night. However, he did not seem 

 to think there was any need of caution— he was 

 stout and well, and he thought it would not do 

 any harm; and as he was over 18, if I am cor- 

 rect, he was not really transgressing the letter 

 of the law. Our engineer has for some time 

 been in the habit of shutting off the steam 

 from the glass gauges that indicate the amount 

 of water in the boiler, just as he leaves at night. 

 The first thing he does in the morning is, of 

 course, to open the valves connecting the glass 

 gauges, so that they may once more indicate 

 correctly the height'of the water in the boilers. 

 His reasons for doing this are, that these glass 

 gauges sometimes break, even in the night, 

 when nothing touches them— at least, it is said 

 they sometimes break in this way. I have nev- 

 er known such a thing to happen in my own ex- 

 perience, and I confess I am a little incredu- 

 lous. If a door should be opened, letting a cold 

 blast strike the hot glass, I can understand that 

 it might possibly break; but I can not under- 

 stand how these heavy glass tubes should 

 break thus, when the engine-rooms are perfect- 

 ly closed, so that no circulation or draft can af- 

 fect the temperature. No matter. He thinks 

 it best to do this way. It seems that this boy 

 had been instructed to fire up just before start- 

 ing the engine; and when he commenced firing 

 he was also in the habit of opening the valves 

 to the glass gauges. One morning, by some ab- 

 sent-mindedness or something else, he opened 

 the valve to o?ie of the boilers and not to the 

 other. The engineer glanced up when he came, 

 and noticed that both boilers had just the prop- 

 er quantity of water. In a little time the water 

 began to sink in one boiler, and he started the 

 pump. As the other boiler seemed to have plen- 

 ty, he did not start the pump: then he began to 

 think it singular that that special boiler was 

 using up no water at all. Had he then turned 

 on the water without investigating, our whole 

 establishment would probably have been blown 

 up, and perhaps several lives lost. He tried 

 both valves to the glass gauges, and found the 

 first all right, but was startled to find the second 

 had not been opened at all, and the water was 

 out of sight instantly, as soon as he moved it. 

 Like a wise and experienced man as he is, he 

 drew the fire as quickly as possible, and inves- 

 tigation showed that the flues were already red- 

 hot, and great damage done to the boiler. 



Let me say further, to the credit of the engi- 

 neer, that he at once shouldered the whole of 

 the blame, and told me to figure out what the 

 damage was, and charge it up to him. As he 

 had been a very good and faithful man, how- 

 ever, and had never had an accident of any sort 

 before, I told him I would wait a while before I 

 made out my bill of damages. When things 

 got settled a little, careful investigation brought 

 out the fact that the boy had forgotten to open 



