.500 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



most as much expense as they are worth, 

 while they only intended to do me a kind- 

 ness. I told the young man I would put 

 them in the mud hole that the horses have 

 stamped near the watering trough, and ded- 

 icate them to a useful purpose. "]>utthe 

 small boys will dig them out." 



The idea suggested itself to me that I 

 would do it after dark, but would that be 

 just exactly right and square? I think I will 

 propose the question to our young folks at 

 the noon service. I have always told them, 

 I have no secrets in the world to keep from 

 anybody. 



The counter store has prospered as you 

 know, for tons of goods have been sent to 

 you. A few days ago, the idea occurred to 

 me of testing its practical working among a 

 crowd of people, by taking it to our county 

 fair. As soon as I mentioned it, several of the 

 girls and boys volunteered to take charge of 

 it, and Mr. Gray, a little to my surprise, en- 

 tered into the scheme heartily, though at 



f ess that I myself began to doubt the wisdom 

 of the undertaking, when I reflected that it 

 would take S clerks two days to take care of 

 it, besides the labor of moving it over, and 

 setting it up. We talked it over at break- 

 fast table, on the first day of the fair. 



" If you only made a decent profit on the 

 goods, " said my wife, " but to pay 4 c. for 

 articles, or even more, and then sell them 

 for 5c, as you do some of them, is out of the 

 question. Why, you will have to sell at least 

 a hundred dollars 1 worth, to even pay expen- 

 ses, and it seems almost impossible that you 

 can do that." 



Let us kneel down and ask God's blessing 

 upon it, said I, and then went away, feeling 

 willing to have it a loss, if it was his will. I 

 do not tell you these things, my friends, be- 

 cause I wish to boast of my success, but be- 

 cause I wish you to learn to go to that kind 

 Father, with all your cares and trials, and to 

 learn to trust him, while you are trying to do 

 right by your fellow-men. 



OUK COUNTER STORE READY FOR THE GOODS, AS IT APPEARED ON THE FAIR GROUND. 



first, if I am correct, he was a little inclined 

 to think it small business. Accordingly he 

 built the little structure shown you above, 

 only he had a roof of boards, where the en- 

 graver has shown canvas. The counters 

 were divided by low partitions, as you see, 

 so as to make a place for every article in our 

 list. In the bottom of each box, the printed 

 name and description of each article is past- 

 ed, so that even a new clerk could tell all 

 about each thing, whether it was silver, steel, 

 iron, etc., and what it was intended for. Un- 

 der each counter are shelves containing the 

 surplns goods to replace each article as soon 

 as it was sold. On the bars overhead are 

 places to hang baskets and other bulky art- 

 icles. 



It was quite an expensive task to fix it all 

 up, and my wife suggested that it was al- 

 most impossible that we could ever sell goods 

 enough to pay for so much expense. I con- 



I went over on the morning of the first day, 

 and, although everything was in nice trim, 

 and the clerks ready for work, the people 

 seemed to stand off at a distance, and look 

 upon our little store with curious eyes, won- 

 dering and sometimes asking if it were not 

 a lottery, or something of that kind. I ex- 

 plained that it was only useful articles, most- 

 ly those used in every household, for very 

 low prices. One young man came up, and 

 took a ]0c. hammer. He told how many 

 years he had kept house, but had never 

 owned a hammer, because he felt he could 

 not afford one. As he laid down the coin, 

 which might have been used for a cigar, he 

 walked away, with evident satisfaction, as 

 he looked at its good, strong, hickory handle, 

 and polished surface, even though it was on- 

 ly chilled cast iron. lie showed it to others, 

 and more were sold. Very soon a group 

 was gathered near, picking up the articles 



