1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



64o 



fjYSEiiF MB jiY piEiepBeRg. 



I pray not that thou sliouldest take tliem out of the 

 world, but that tliou sliouldest keep them fi'om the 

 evil.— John 17: 15. 



While I \vn't('. an cast ami west railroad is 

 building through our town: and yesterday 3:i 

 teams and ru) or M) men were emi)]oyed in mak- 

 ing a out through our own grounds. As tliis 

 cut is from ™* to 1^! tVet in depth, it lias re- 

 quired quite a force of men for about two 

 weeks: and during these two weeks it has been 

 my privilege to get i)retty well acquainted with 

 thea\'erage gangof i-ailroad employei's and em- 

 ployes, with their liorse teams and mule teams, 

 with their plows and scrapers, their pick-axes, 

 and necessary adjuncts for camping out along 

 the line. There is. I need not tell you. a gener- 

 al i)i-ejndice against this class of people. .Many 

 look down ui)on them: and jierhajis a gooil 

 many who take their ease and wear tine clothes 

 .say in their hearts as they look down upon 

 them as they work in. the deep cuts going 

 thi'ough the hills, sometliing as the Phai'isee 

 said in the i)aral)le: "(Jod. I thank thee I am 

 not as" — these nuMi who have to work in the dirt 

 to earn their daily hread. I know this is not 

 the ijrevailing feeling in all hearts, for most 

 good peo|)le look upon these friends as the pio- 

 neers, or tlios(:' who go before and ijrepare the 

 way for this great machinery of tral'Hc and 

 commerce, tireat crowds of town peopl(> come 

 down and gaze upon the ruin this railroad has 

 made through my market-garden. The finest 

 cro]) of busli lima beans is right in its i)athway. 

 and they would have been ready to jiick in a 

 week or ten days. Hut tlie men and teams 

 could not wait. One of the tinest ])atclies of 

 Ford's Early corn I have ever rais(^d was also 

 right in the i)athway. and this would have been 

 tit to pick in a week. Hut it had to go. When 

 peojjle exi)ressed sympathy, and said it was too 

 bad. I told them that we were glad to remove 

 the garden-stuff for something so much better. 



"Why. do you consider th(» railroad so much 

 better than a garden?" 



I have exitlained the matter so much that I 

 fairly get tired of talking it over. To be sure. 

 I consider the railroad better than a garden, or 

 else I would not have given S'i.50t) to have them 

 come through. Not only this. I gave them a 

 strip of ground right thiough the center of our 

 grounds, that was worth to me. under the cir- 

 cumstances, nearly if not quite fc'.")00 more. For 

 six months back I have been expecting the 

 work; and while 1 have becMi anxious to see 

 them, there has been at the same time a feeling 

 of dread. In some way. from what I had heard 

 I had got an idea that tlu' railroad-construction 

 folks wei'e a class of people without liearts or 

 souls: but in some res|jects I have been agree- 

 ably disappointed. The chief engineer and the 

 surveyors are very nice peoi)le indeed. In fact, 

 some of them are boys who graduated fi'om our 

 own town. The chief engineer kindly consent- 

 ed to spare my carp-pond, although the right- 

 of-way line went right through the middle of 

 it: and they also arrang<'d so as to .save my 

 fruit-trees. Not one liad to be cut down or re- 

 moved. In Ernest's absence I fear I neglected 

 business somewhat, in order that I might im- 

 prove the oi)portnuity to get as well ac(inainted 

 as possible with these people who carry the 

 lines of i)rogress in their hands. It was two 

 weeks ago tliis morning (to-day is the ;,'7tli) 

 since they c(nnmenc<'d. I had just finislied my 

 breakfast. We had read our IJible-lesson. and 

 I had prayed for grace and sti'cngth to take up 

 whatever trials tiie day migiit bring. As I 

 passed down the walk toward the factory I 



kn<'W there might be trials in store for me. 

 greater than I exjjected. but I was glad tliat I 

 did not hnoic w hat they wei-e. Before I reach- 

 ed tlie factory, however, one of the boys said, 

 "The railroaders, with a great string of plows, 

 scrapers, and other tools, are marching down to 

 your gaiden." 



1 made a shoi't cut. found the boss, and told 

 him that, while every thing was at his disposal, 

 I should be very glad if lie would help me a lit- 

 tle in protecting my crops, and also asked of him 

 the privilege of removing the surface soil be- 

 fore they commenced their excavations. In a 

 few minutes he surprised me by his hearty 

 good will and emphatic directions to the team- 

 sters. 



"Why. Ml'. Root, we will do evmy thing we 

 can to avoid unnecessary damage to your stuff; 

 and as to tlie surface soil, if you will stay here 

 and boss it we will remove it for yon." 



From that moment pleasant relations have 

 been k'ept up until the present time. May be. 

 you begin to wonder why I go into all these de- 

 tails about .something comparatively unimpor- 

 tant. Perhaps you wonder \\'hat it has to do 

 with the text. Just this: I knew by past ex- 

 perience, tliat. as soon as the men got well at 

 work, cursing and swearing would be the order 

 of the day. and I was not mistaken. I had re- 

 solved to lie with the miMi in the outset, and get 

 acquainted with as many of them as possible: 

 and I wanted, if I could, to manage to remon- 

 strate at the first oath that \yas uttered. I 

 think I did. and for some time I was greatly eii'- 

 coiiraged to see how pleasantly they agrer>d 

 with me. and gave me a soi-t of half promise 

 not to swear, even if things did go wrong. It 

 was not \('ry long. howe\'er. before some pi'etty 

 loud calls came from the factory and different 

 parts of tlie grounds. I could not give my 

 whole time to the new railroad. Hefore tlie 

 men got thirsty I showed them my little spring, 

 and got one of onr boys to carry around w ater. 

 with a dipper and jiaii. I lent them an a\ and 

 hatchet, a chain and a pick, and a shovel: and 

 I kept men near by to assist them. I turned 

 the cow and the poiiy outdooi'fe. and let the men 

 have the use of the cow-barn to stable their 

 hoi'ses; and I succeeded without ditticully in 

 winning their friendliness and good will. Hut, 

 alas! it seemed like a drop in the bucket to at- 

 tempt in my own feeble strength to teach men 

 that a railroad could be Iniilt without cursing 

 the (lod who made them. The scraixM' W(^ 

 brought on tlie grounds to remove the surface 

 soil was rather small foi' a big team, and not 

 exactly the right shape. Tlie boss suggested 

 right away that we could have one of his if we 

 would have a little repaiiing done on it. Our 

 blacksmith soon did the repairing, and, in fact, 

 we have had ijuite a trade in reiiairing their 

 tools foi- them right along. When 1 took their 

 scraper I removed their clevis, as we had one of 

 our own. That it might not annoy anybody. I 

 hung it on a stake. Somebody else took it and 

 laid it in one of the wagons. Finally somebody 

 drove his team up to the scraper to hitch on. 

 The clevis was mi.ssing. I{y the way. dear 

 friends, have you ever liad any experience in 

 the amount of swearing that has been called 

 forth l)y the lo.ss of a clevi.s? We do not swear 

 here on oui' own grounds, but I have been sorely 

 vexed many times to find tiie team away off in 

 the lots, tlie plow or harrow all in readiness, 

 doubletrees on hand, and no clevis. On this 

 account w(> have a lot of them hung up in a 

 special place in the tool-liouse. Well, this man 

 began to swear about the delay, and then In- 

 cursed the one who took the clevis away. \i\ 

 this time I was right iiefore him. with my hat off. 

 '• I>ook hei-e, my dear friend, it was I who 

 took that clevis." I ining it on that stake, in 



