1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



57.5 



plying a county that our customer did not give." 

 It is kept constantly in our price list to im- 

 press upon our friends the necessity of giv- 

 ing the county as well as town. Our clerks, 

 all of them, have had ample experience in 

 regard to the matter of counties. The 

 county is often of more importance than any 

 thing else. If you have the county, the 

 goods will generally find the town. Please 

 notice that the responsibility falls upon a 

 great many people in this little transaction ; 

 but it comes first upon myself. As there 

 was just time to get a few lines mailed 

 before train time, by my direction the book- 

 keeper told our customer of the shameful 

 blunders that had been made, and wound 

 up by saying we had ordered the goods re- 

 turned to us; and, more than that, if she 

 would tell us what our blundering had act- 

 ually cost her we would try to pay it. 



Now for a practical application of our 

 text. Being tired and overworked, is, I 

 know, quite an excuse for doing things in a 

 half-hearted, mechanical way. It is, to a 

 reasonable extent, an excuse for a want of 

 sympathy for those whose comfort and hap- 

 piness depend upon our fidelity ; but not- 

 withstanding, if we esteemed others better 

 than ourselves, and had that real feeling of 

 sympathy in our hearts, and love for every 

 human being, even though miles away, we 

 should be more careful than we usually are 

 about doing them wrong or injury, even 

 through inadvertance. If somebody puts a 

 great heavy boot on your corns, you can ac- 

 cept an apology with a pretty fair grace, es- 

 pecially if he says he did not mean to do it. 

 There is, however, a feeling in almost every 

 one's heart, that the man who has great 

 heavy boots, and a big heavy body to bear 

 down on them, should look carefully where 

 he steps ; and, dear friends, it behooves a 

 Christian not only to look very carefully 

 where he steps, but to be careful what he 

 does, especially if his work be of such a na- 

 ture that it may work injury that can not 

 well be repaired. The clerk who added 

 " ridge " to the name of the county, has a 

 postal guide right on his table, expressly to 

 set him right when there is any doubt in 

 regard to an address. Had he looked in 

 this he would have found a Breckenridge 

 Co. in Kentucky ; but had he looked fur- 

 ther he would have found that Augusta is in 

 Bracken Co., and this would have made him 

 safe. We have had ample experience of the 

 danger of "tinkering" with addresses in 

 any way. If we direct goods exactly as we 

 are ordered to, we can easily prove our- 

 selves exempt from blame ; but if we add 

 to, or take from, in the least respect, we are 

 doing a dangerous business. 



Now, so far my story looks a good deal as 

 if I were complaining that but little Chris- 

 tian sympathy is found, as a rule, among 

 business people. It might look, too, as if I 

 meant to say that A. I. Boot has lots of 

 Christian sympathy, and that is why he is 

 doing so big a business. Now, please do not 

 get that idea. A good many of you know 

 that it is not so. A. I. Root once in a great 

 while takes a freak of showing forth a spirit 

 somewhat akin to that of the glorious 

 Master. But this light he has been able to 



shed to you through these pages is all a 

 borrowed light. AU credit and honor and 

 GLOHY belong to Him who came to a sinful 

 world because he loved sinners. I do not 

 know but I scolded most about that postal 

 card with that important part underlined. 

 When I went to the book-keeper with it she 

 admitted that it was a grievous thing to 

 neglect and ignore such a plain suggestion 

 as to the cause of the trouble ; but she shoul- 

 dered the whole blame at once. In fact, as 

 I understood it, she took it all on herself. 

 A few minutes more, however, another lady 

 — a devoted Christian, who sends the tracers 

 — came to me saying, " Mr. Root, I send all 

 the tracers, and it surely was my fault that 

 that card was distributed without inquiring 

 into the matter underlined. Tell me what 

 it costs to make this good, and I will pay 

 it." Then I felt happy. We had reached 

 bottom, and were beginning to stand on the 

 rock Christ Jesus, according to the text. I 

 feared she did not realize, however, how 

 great was the damage, and, said I, '' Why, 

 my friend, it may cost a hundred dollars to 

 make good this woman's loss." I watched 

 her face to see what the effect would be. I 

 could see the inward struggle, but she bore 

 it bravely, and replied, " Never mind, I will 

 pay it, or my share of it, whatever is right." 

 This, my friends, is what I call shouldering 

 the cross in business matters. As she is a 

 comparatively new hand, her wages are not 

 very large ; and one hundred dollars, as a 

 consequence of passing a postal card along 

 before it was fully answered, would prove a 

 pretty heavy cross. The book-keeper, who 

 has had many years of experience, and has a 

 pretty fair salary, protested, however, and 

 insisted that she was probably the one who 

 passed the card along for distribution. I do 

 not know whether it occurred to them that 

 their old friend A. I. Root would never 

 stand back and see two w^omen lift on a 

 burden like this without lending a strong 

 hand. My impression is, that they did not 

 think any thing about it ; only they felt for 

 their poor sister away off in Kentucky, who 

 tells most plaintively in her letter of her 

 troubles that came about through our care- 

 lessness. 



The leader of our young people's meeting 

 not many Sundays ago made the remark 

 that speaking well of people is contagious. 

 I spoke right out ("in meeting") and re- 

 marked, "So is fault-finding,"and the whole 

 meeting smiled. Now, my friends, this 

 spirit of Christian sympathy is contagious. 

 Why, it catches and goes like wild-lire ; and 

 if that sister away down in Kentucky does 

 not get a little of the contagion too, and 

 come forward and clasp hands with her sis- 

 ters here, even though they have done her a 

 damage, I shall be much mistaken. After 

 she has seen this statement of the matter 

 she will show a Christian spirit in making 

 out her bill of damages, whether she be a 

 professing Christian or not.* 



* Since the above was written, the clerk who add- 

 ed the •' rid^e " to the name of the county has sent 

 me a little note, written on his type-writer, express- 

 ing great sorrow for his error, and proposing to 

 work for less wages until he has made up for that 

 and some other mistakes. So you see there are 



