396 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



Eleven days ago I sent you cash for a Parker filn. 

 fastener, and a Novice, cold-blast smoker, and am 

 getting anxious, as I hear nothing of it. 



June 27,1880. C. P. 



A search was made the same day, for any 

 trace of such letter's having been received, 

 and, failing to find any, we packed up the 

 goods and sent them, without waiting to 

 hear from you again, fearing the want of the 

 goods might be much more than the worth 

 of them. We also wrote you the circum- 

 stances. The goods went July 2d. Could I 

 possibly do more? 



On the 8th of July came the following : 



Three weeks ago next Thursday I sent you cash 

 for a Parker fdn. fastener, and a Novice, cold-blast 

 smoker. I have also written once since, but hear 

 nothing from either. The articles were for another 

 person, and I must refund his cash. Did you get 

 the money? C. P. 



July C, 1880. 



This was promptly answered also. Were 

 you not a little impatient, my friend? I too, 

 have had some trying experience with hu- 

 manity, but, with a hundred in my employ, 

 and customers that number several thous- 

 ands, I have not formed quite so bad an 

 opinion as you have, and I believe I have 

 had to do with almost all classes. I am 

 afraid, if you will excuse me, that I have 

 been most ' sorely tried with those who have 

 refused or objected to standing half of the 

 losses; but, thank God, I feel pleasantly 

 toward all of them now. You evidently 

 have decided that I have received the money 

 and kept it, for you say those who have 

 wronged you are professing Christians, and 

 you have no means of knowing that any of 

 my clerks are such. Our mails are all han- 

 dled by those of your own sex. No man or 

 boy touches the letters at all. Could you 

 take a look at them now as they are bending 

 over their work, I think you would agree 

 with me that anybody would be insane who 

 should for a moment suspect them of any 

 such dishonesty. You have been serving a 

 whole community, besides us editors. Can- 

 didly, friend Carrie, is not that a little ex- 

 aggerated? Would you yourself let people 

 do business for you, without thinking of at 

 least protecting them from loss in the mat- 

 ter? and is it not likely that you are about a 

 fair average of the people around you? If 

 mankind are unthankful, it is likely you are 

 too, is it not? Can you not, if you stop to 

 think, remember favors they have done you, 

 that will about balance all you have done for 

 them? I do not wonder that you are sick 

 and discouraged, and I have no doubt at all 

 that you will go to the poor house, if you 

 keep on in that strain ; but it will not be be- 

 cause you have served humanity too much, 

 but because you have served them too little. 

 Never were truer words uttered than these: 



Whosoever will be great among you, let him be 

 your minister ; and whosoever will be chief among 

 you, let him be your servant.— Matthew, 20: 26, 27. 



I do not mean necessarily, my friend, that 

 you shall continue to do business for noth- 

 ing, or that I would advise recommending 

 people to go into bees, or to buy this and 

 that. I would be very careful about giving 

 such advice, but would rather hand them 



the journal and price lists, and let them de- 

 cide for themselves. If they ask you to do 

 business for them, unless you get a discount 

 on the goods so it is some object, and so you 

 can afford to bear losses, I would suggest to 

 them that, for many reasons, they would 

 best do the business themselves. If they in- 

 sist, tell them beforehand that there is a 

 risk in sending money so, and have a clear 

 understanding that you are relieved from all 

 responsibility in the matter. It is often a 

 kinder thing to refuse to do other people's 

 business than to do it. But, suppose you 

 have done it, and after pleasantly stating 

 the matter to them, they refuse to bear the 

 loss. In other words, how shall we get along 

 Avith selfish people. I agree with you that 

 the world in one sense is full of selfishness. 

 My own heart is so full of it that it some 

 days makes me almost sick, in my attempts 

 to fight against it. What shall we do? Do 

 as the old deacon did with the hams. If you 

 can not get away by yourself where you can 

 go down on your knees, say in your heart 

 over and over, "O Lord, help thy weak and 

 stumbling child to bear this new trial, and 

 to pay this money freely and without any 

 hard or revengeful feelings toward this 

 brother, who seems just now so very hard 

 and unreasonable. 1 ' In a few minutes, you 

 will be happy and smiling, and I have 

 learned of late to really enjoy this giving up. 

 Such prayers, if really thorough and in earn- 

 est, are always heard and oftentimes the 

 money comes back tenfold. Still more ; you 

 are loving God and your fellow men as in 

 our opening text, instead of hating. Do 

 you not know, friend Carrie, how miserable 

 one is when he gets to feeling bitter toward 

 everybody? A very dear friend of mine said 

 a few days ago that when he got really out 

 of patience and scolded, it made him almost 

 sick for nearly a week. In one way you go 

 along happy, helping yourself and every- 

 body else, while, in the other, you stop your 

 own work or kill it out, and block the way, 

 and hinder everybody else. Do you know 

 how much we admire in others the spirit 

 that "suffereth long and is kind," in spite of 

 all that can turn up? 



I once used to say that, if I wanted an 

 honest man, I would go somewhere else than 

 among Christian people for him. I do not 

 now know what made me say so, unless it 

 was when I got into one of those ugly moods 

 that are prompted by Satan. Not long ago, 

 I met a man who would stop and talk by the 

 hour about the dishonesty of professors, and 

 the faithful conscientious way in which he 

 always did all he agreed. I employed him, 

 but he left such a sad record of selfishness 

 and inconsistency, that he has studiously 

 avoided me ever since, although I have nev- 

 er reproached him for it. The attitude of 

 real, earnest Christians whom I meet is sel- 

 dom a boastful one, but rather in the line of 

 "God be merciful to me a sinner." A few 

 months ago, I asked for the names of pious 

 people who would not pay their debts, but I 

 have not received any yet. Several thousand 

 people are now owing* me money, and I can 

 get my pay without any trouble of those who 

 confess to a hope of salvation "through the 

 blood of Christ ; " but those who come right 



