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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



ing be returned before first writing for in- 

 structions in regard to it. When you get 

 something that does not please you, the 

 proper thing to do is to write and say so, 

 telling the sender the goods are subject to his 

 order^ and asking for directions for disposal. 

 Now, please, friends, bear this in mind : If 

 you decline to receive the goods, they are 

 not yours; and if not yours, you have no 

 business to send them anywhere. Just think 

 of taking the liberty of sending goods that 

 do not belong to you, without authority! 

 Even an express agent has no right to return 

 goods until he has instructions so to do from 

 the owner. If he does, he is responsible for 

 all charges. This we have settled by actual 

 test ; therefore please remember this, that, 

 when you receive something that is not up 

 to contract, or that, for some reason or other, 

 you do not want, or did not order, neither 

 you nor your express agent has any right 

 ichatever, nor any authority whatever, for 

 sending the goods anywhere. Write to the 

 real owner of the property in question, and 

 ask him his pleasure in regard to it. If he 

 does not reply, and the things still remain 

 on your hands, you can, if you choose, make 

 out a bill for storage and care for them. 

 But until he does reply, they are his property 

 intrusted to your care. You may leave 

 them at the railroad depot or at the express 

 office, if you choose, and while there the 

 owner must pay for storage, if he does not 

 give orders in regard to their disposal. 



Some years ago some very good friends of 

 ours— Christian people too. if I am correct- 

 received something they did not order. In- 

 stead of waiting to hear from us they made 

 haste to send the goods back to us by express. 

 Now, it happened that these goods were the 

 product of a manufacturer who agrees to 

 make good every imperfection in regard to 

 them ; and his instructions are that every 

 thing shall be shipped back to the factory. 

 Our customer, without waiting to be inform- 

 ed of this, sent them back to us with heavy 

 charges, when they could have been sent 

 more cheaply to the factory where they were 

 made. We had to pay the express charges on 

 receipt of the goods, and then they had to be 

 reshipped to the factory. I was provoked, 

 and wrote him that we should have to ask 

 him to pay the expense of his folly in ex- 

 pressing them to us without any instructions 

 from us to do so. It was the old story— be- 

 cause of the loss of a small amount of money 

 I pulled up the wheat with the tares. He 

 became angry, and said that if such a letter 

 as that was according to my ideas of Chris- 

 tianity, he wanted no further deal with A. 

 I. Root, and never wanted to read Glean- 

 ings any more. I wrote him, explaining 

 matters ; but he was soured, and has never 

 traded with us since (several years have 

 passed), until I saw a small order from him 

 during the rush of the past season. How glad 

 I was to see the old familiar signature ! 



Eriend , if this meets your eye, please 



forgive me for my hasty letter. I should 

 have remembered that you had been for 

 many long years a friend of ours, and a 

 friend of Gleanings ; and if you were 

 hasty it was my duty to have reminded you 

 of it in gentle terms, at least before writing 

 harshly. 



Most of you can recall instances where 

 those who have been excellent friends for 

 years have had trouble over some trifling 

 matter, and, for some unaccountable reason, 

 former friendly terms have never been re- 

 newed. I have seen people quarrel in a 

 good-natured way as to who should be per- 

 mitted to bear the expense of some little sum. 

 Each one held the other in such friendly 

 esteem that it became a privilege to pay 25 

 cents, or even a dollar or more, to show his 

 friendship and good will. This state of af- 

 fairs exists because the two parties have 

 unlimited /ai7/i and confidence in each other. 

 You, perhaps, have friends whom you feel 

 so sure are the very soid of honor that you 

 would entrust them with almost any amount, 

 without even a thought of anxiety. You 

 hsiwe faith in such a one. This kind of faith 

 is beautiful to behold, and I am sure it 

 would be better if there were more of it. 

 When the two are brothers in Christ Jesus, 

 such confidence and perfect trust are still 

 more beautiful to behold. It is one of the 

 things in life worth living for. Well, now, 

 such a faith and such a trust may be upset 

 and demolished, and ruthlessly torn to 

 shreds by just this thing I have been talking 

 about to-day. Even such people as the ones 

 I have described, who are the soul of honor, 

 are still human, and have their imper- 

 fections. As a faithful friend it is your duty, 

 no doubt, to labor with them in regard to 

 their faults and failings, and they will think 

 all the more of you for it, providing you do 

 it with a careful and loving hand. I re- 

 member one such friend now ; and the very 

 thing that makes him exceedingly near and 

 dear is because he talks to me plainly. He 

 says to me things that I would hardly dare 

 to say to anybody else, and that perhaps no- 

 body else would be plain enough to say to 

 me. But he says them with such exceeding 

 kindness that I never feel vexed toward 

 him. Now, suppose he should some time, 

 when vexed, or sorely tried with me (or per- 

 haps with somebody else), forget himself so 

 far as to speak to me in anger. Even if he 

 did, I hope and pray that God would give 

 me grace to remember the years when he 

 has given me only sympathy and kindness 

 and gentleness. It wants a Christian spirit 

 on both sides. We ought to be ready and 

 willing to bear with our friends, even if they 

 do forget themselves; and they on their 

 part ought to be very careful about forgetting. 

 Every Christian should be prepared to do 

 more than his part both ways. He should 

 do more than his share of forbearing, and he 

 should do more than his share in forgiving. 

 In this way these misunderstandings, and 

 words that hurt and sting for years after- 

 ward, may be avoided. In this same line let 

 us be slow to think evil. I told the friend 

 who expressed the goods back to me that 

 we should have to ask him to pay the ex- 

 pense of what he had done without orders. 

 Under other circumstances I would have 

 paid the amount twice over rather than ap- 

 pear ungentlemanly to one whom I had 

 known so long, or rather than to appear 

 small in deal. A dear friend of mine, who 

 is not a Christian man, once saw a store- 

 keeper and customer using hard words ove 



