1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



(ill 



for a moment the loss of a few cents, or even 

 .a few dollars, to the loss of a soul ! 



We were recently notified by an express 

 agent in Colorado that a package with a 

 considerable amount of expressage on it was 

 refused. We accordingly wrote as follows 

 to the one who ordered the goods : 



E. M. Brckuith,— 



Dear Sir:— We understand from your agent at 

 Rye, Colorado, that the package we shipped you 

 June :i3 is refused by you on account of excessive 

 charges. You should have acquainted yourself 

 with the expense of shipping before making the or- 

 der. We filled the order just as you gave it; and in 

 order to have express shipments forwarded prompt- 

 ly, we have to guarantee charges; and if you do not 

 pay them, it will come back on to us, and we in turn 

 will have to get it out of you some way, if possible, 

 if you are worth it. You might just as wtU save 

 all this troutile by accepting the package and pay- 

 ing the charges, and learn a useful lesson by which 

 you can profit in the future. 



It seems, however, that the express com- 

 pany had been hasty as well as ourselves. 

 In due time comes the following letter : 



Mr. R )<>t.:—\n your understanding that I refused 

 to pay the charges on your express packages, you 

 are not correct. I never refused to pay the charges, 

 but simply said that they were excessive. The 

 package lay in the office during my confinement by 

 sickness, some two weeks, but I sent the money to 

 the agent before I was able to go for the packages. 

 I had Mrs. EUwell, of Pueblo, send last spring, a 

 year ago, for your hives and fixings, which I am 

 using. But your fear that you can not make the 

 charges out of me will prevent me hereafter from 

 getting my friends to patronize you, lest their deal 

 with you be no better than mine. 



Rye, Col., July 30. E. M. Beckwith, M. D. 



You will see from the above that our 

 friend did not refuse to take the goods ; 

 and, furthermore, that he has been for some 

 years a friend of Gle.vnings, and has in- 

 duced different individuals to send orders 

 to us. No wonder he felt provoked when he 

 received such a sharp letter as ours, simply 

 because sickness prevented him from going 

 to the express office. Do you not see how 

 much better a mild letter of inquiry would 

 have been in the first place V 



You will notice that the letter opens up 

 with '• Dear Sir." Most of our correspond- 

 ence, as you may have observed, commences 

 with " Friend." But as we were vexed be- 

 cause the goods were refused, as we had 

 been told, I presume the "Dear Sir" ac- 

 corded more with our feelings. Looking 

 back at the transaction now, it is very easy 

 to see how much better something like the 

 following would have been : 



Friend Bechwith: — 'We are told by the express 

 agent at your place that you have refused the pack- 

 age of June 23, on account of excessive charges. 

 Perhaps you are not aware that we shall have to 

 pay these charges if you do not. Of course, we do 

 not know you; but we can hardly believe that you 

 would willingly let the whole burden of this expense 

 fall on us when we simply did exactly as you direct- 

 ed us to do. Will you not please let us hear from 

 you at once? 



Now, if such a letter as the above would 

 not bring a courteous and gentlemanly ans- 

 wer, then it would have been time enough 

 to suggest to him that he was legally re- 

 sponsible — that is, if he was a responsible 

 man — for the consequences of his blunder if 

 it was a blunder. 



A little incident in the papers a few days 

 ago read something like this : 



A little girl propounded a question to her 

 mother. 



"■ Mother, which do you think is the worse 

 —stealing, or telling lies ? " 



Her mother was somewhat puzzled, and 

 asked her little daughter what she thought 

 about it. She replied something like this : 



" Why, I rather think that telling lies is 

 worse than stealing ; because, you know, if 

 you steal any thing you can carry it back or 

 pay for it ; but if you tell a lie it just stays 

 there for ever." 



Now, my friends, there is a sad moral to 

 the wonderful truth expressed by the little 

 girl. We can atone for the loss of property 

 by an apology ; but when we hastily give 

 way to the temptation to speak harsh or un- 

 kind words— words that cut and sting— it is 

 a pretty hard matter to take them back. 

 The express company thought it very likely 

 that our friend refused the goods because of 

 the excessive charges ; and we, in a like 

 manner, took it for granted that we had got 

 to pay the tremendous express charges this 

 long distance, and then get them home the 

 best we could. " Is not easily provoked ; 

 thinketh no evil." What a grand little text 

 this is, in view of matters like the above ! 

 Below is our letter of apology, but W3 feel 

 that it will hardly heal up the wound we 

 unwittingly gave to a friend of ours : 



Friend Beckwith: — We beg pardon for having 

 worded our letter quite so strongly. We have had 

 quite a little trouble recently with parties refusing 

 express shipments because they thought the 

 charges too high; and from the way your agent 

 Slated the matter, we thought you presented a case 

 of the same kind. We are glad to know that in this 

 we were mistaken, and beg your pardon for having 

 accused you falsely. We trust you will not cherish 

 any ill will toward us because of this. 



Another productive cause of trouble is 

 returning goods without first writing to us 

 and asking what disposition to make of them 

 in case they are not wanted. It is very ex- 

 pensive shipping goods long distances, either 

 by express or freight ; and our trade is scat- 

 tered so thoroughly that we can almost al- 

 ways order, to somebody near by , a thing that 

 is not wanted, and thus save losses ; where- 

 as if the goods are sent back here, we are 

 obliged to pay transportation two ways if 

 the mistake is ours. If the mistake is our 

 customer's, he is needlessly out of pocket ; 

 and I do not feel a bit better to see some- 

 body else lose money than I do if I lose it 

 myself. May be that is a pretty strong 

 statement, but I hope it is true. Sometimes 

 when I am vexed or provoked I am tempted 

 to say, " It teaches them a good lesson ; " 

 or, " Perhaps it will help them to remember 

 next time." But I always feel bad to see 

 anybody lose his hard-earned money. I 

 know what it is, dear friends, to work hard; 

 and I am willing to work hard, but I do 

 want a proper compensation for my labor. 

 When I work hard and get nothing for it, it 

 vexes me ; and when anybody else works 

 hard and gets nothing for it, it vexes me 

 just as much, I am sure. And when some- 

 body is so bad and wicked that he will, with- 

 out scruple, take another's hard earnings 

 without recompense, I am tempted to get 

 into a fighting mood. At such times I might 

 make haste to pull out the tares, and root 

 out, also, good wheat. Well, in our price 

 list we very emphatically request that noth- 



