1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



525 



is your ■paying customers, and not yourself, who have 

 to makeup the balance on such losses; otherwise 

 you would be forced to give up business. 



Now, I say for one, that I do not wish you to as- 

 sume responsibility for any mistake of mine in any 

 dealing-s between us, and I do not see the justice of 

 imposing- on me an extra price for goods I may want 

 of you simply because some one else demands more 

 than is fair. Is not that it in a nut-shell? No man 

 should ask more of others than he is willing to con- 

 cede himself ; and any one who is unwilling that the 

 above rule should be applied to himself, wants more 

 than fair dealing culls for. Of course, all due pre- 

 cautions should be tak^n fas you undoubtedly do 

 take them) to prevent and correct mistakes before 

 closing the transaction. After ti at, it is perfectly 

 clear to a disinterested observer who loves the riirht, 

 that your responsibility ceases. Let these careless 

 ones pay for their own mistakes. That will be an ac- 

 tual benefit to them, as well as do right by all con- 

 cerned. 



Very likely your troubles of this nature are multi- 

 plied because of your well-known anxiety to do more 

 than your share in all cases of doubt; relying on 

 which, many would use less care in dealing with you 

 than they would with other parties ata distance, and 

 especially with those known to them onlv through 

 the medium of printer's ink. It is my humble opin- 

 ion, that if you give out and rigidly adhere to the 

 rule I have given, your troubles of that nature will 

 soon be reduced to a minimum. Where you assume 

 risks, as in the case of express charges, for the sake 

 of your patrons you should exact the amount in ad- 

 vance to secure you against loss, the same as you 

 have been obliged to do for your goods. That will 

 effectually prevent the recurring of any such mis- 

 take as this Texas man's, as, of course, it is evident 

 that, had this rule been applied in his case, that 

 trouble would have been prevented. Let me sug- 

 gest, that you formulate and print conspicuously 

 and briefly in your journal, every month, rules for 

 the guidance of all your mail customers (and your- 

 self) to be infte.rilfy observed— unless you see g-ood 

 reason for relaxing them in spc cial cases. And don't 

 publish those special cases, unless yon want more 

 trouble. E. H. Marsh. 



Danbury, Ct., July 22. 1880. 



Many thanks, friend M., for bringing out 

 so clearly a very important point. But, my 

 friend, are you not overlooking the element 

 of mercy entirely, in your excellent essay on 

 justice? I know'it is not right to pay out our 

 monev because other people have made 

 blunders ; but cun we always have our 

 "rights" in this world? Can all of us al- 

 ways have all the money that justly belongs 

 to us? To carry it a little further, can every- 

 body always have what tliev think is their 

 "right"'V Now, almost every thing has dif- 

 ferent aspects ; and he who is wise will en- 

 deavor to see each subject from all its differ- 

 ent points; and I would beg of yon to care- 

 fully and thoughtfully,— nay, I would prefer 

 the word prayerfully, — consider that I am in 

 one sense a teacher A great number of 

 young men, if not older ones, aie looking to 

 me for an example; and. if my business con- 

 tinues to increase and prosper, they will be 

 looking to me more and more. If' I should 

 sue friend Brooks, and collect the $18.75 by 

 law. if he is worth it. they would think that 

 the proper way was to go to law for amounts 



of that kind. If, on the other hand, I plead 

 with him as well as I could for what was 

 justly my due, and let the matter drop only 

 when I had exhausted all my powers of per- 

 suasion, and let it drop only to avoid quar- 

 rels and contention, would they not be in- 

 clined to do the same way? You may urge 

 that this question is a pretty clear one ; but 

 such questions are always clear to the suf- 

 fering party. Each one of us is selfish, and 

 we all think we are right, and the other 

 party wrong. If I were sure my judgment 

 was always right, and that of everybody else 

 who differed with me wrong, I should not 

 have so much hesitation about going to law. 

 Shall I, in my position, advise our boys to 

 have more to do with the law in settling diffi- 

 culties, or less? On which side of this great 

 question are we? or, if you choose, does hu- 

 manity err oftener in insisting on justice, 

 or in giving mercy? 



Kemember, I do not advocate giving up 

 everything. If I did. I should not have a 

 Humbug and Swindle department, or even 

 the Black List which you see in this num- 

 ber. I recognize the evil of either of the two 

 great extremes, and, feeling that the quar- 

 rels and troubles of this world, especially of 

 the business world, are almost all caused by 

 going to the extreme of insisting on justice, I 

 am laboring hard the other way. 1 do not 

 want our boys to waste $50 00 in law for the 

 sake of saving $10.00 worth of property ; 

 and, what is still worse, hardening their 

 heart to the influence of the Spirit that 

 would lead them to eternal life. How many 

 of you who read these words have been driv- 

 en from your churches, — ay. and Bibles too, 

 — because of some quarrel into which you 

 have fallen with some neighbor? Who can 

 enter into a lawsuit, and have his heart filled 

 with love, at the same time, toward his fel- 

 low-men? Friend Brooks is not a swindler, 

 nor does he deserve a place in the Black 

 List, for he answers letters promptly and 

 pleasantly, as you will see by turning back 

 to his letters on p. 347 of the July No. I 

 know his example is a bad one. His course 

 is discouraging our young men from adopt- 

 ing the peace method of settling difficulties. 



Friend Brooks, as your eyes rest on these 

 words, I call upon you before God and be- 

 fore your fellow-men, who are in danger of 

 being led astray by your example, to come 

 forward and show yourself a man, — one who 

 will not see another suffer because of a mis- 

 take entirely your own. That some of our 

 skeptical friends may not again accuse me of 

 interested motives, I will, if you choose, 

 withdraw my claim, and you may give the 

 money to the support of the nearest church 

 or Sabbath-school. It may come hard, I 

 know, and you may be illy able to bear it; 

 but God will bless you in doing your duty 

 and in making a sacrifice for the sake of his 

 cause, for as such. I feel all just debts to be. 

 Gladly would I pay it for you if I could ; but 

 there are cases when no one can stand in 

 our stead. Let not, T pray you, my brother, 

 this one act stand in the way of having men 

 accept as their guide in business matters, 

 the text, Christ's plea for the sake of peace: 



If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away 

 thy coat, let him have thy cloak alio.— Matt. t. 40. 



