6G6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



whom you deal, to presume they have some good 

 reason you do not know of, for their upp irent '-dig- 

 nity," as you have termed it, and to try to^forbear 

 harsh censure?] 



Bis dat qui cito dat. That is, "Twice done which is 

 done quickly." The ABC arrived three days be- 

 fore the return of the registration receipt card, and 

 I am satisfied. But the spirit moves me, and 1 must 

 say something more. It may be that it will . ive you 

 pleasure; if so, well. It may be that it is a matter of 

 indifference to you; if so, I have lieen benefited b' 

 exercising 1 a kindly intention. Heretofore, and still, 

 I have alwavs shrunk from a man who drags relig- 

 ion, God, and the Bible, into the common run of 

 business affairs. Why? Because 1 have personally 

 experienced, oh so often! hypocrisy of that sort 

 used as a cloak for deception; and consequently, 

 on reading the first number of Gleanings, owing 

 to the prejudice of 30 years or more I felt as a cat 

 might be expected to feel on rubbing her hair, the 

 wrong way. On second consideration, however, 1 

 saw the work was a valuable one to bee-keepers, 

 and that its tendency was highly moral. In tone, 

 too, it had the peculiar riny of sincerity (at least, I 

 think so), and I said to myself, " judge not. If Root 

 feels like quoting Scripture, and expressing his relig- 

 ious feelings on every occasion, why should 1 object 

 because my task is to keep my personal religious 

 feelings to myself, although, probably, quite as 

 strong as his? Perhaps after all it is I who am 

 wrong, although I am neither afraid nor ashamed to 

 own up to my allegiam-e to Jesus, when occasion re- 

 quires it. Quien saoe? as they say in Mexico." 



Well, what is the moral of all this? I felt, as I was 

 reading Gleanings this morning, that perhaps I 

 was doing Root an injustice in my own mind, and I 

 felt so uneasy that l arose, left a comfortable fire, 

 and sat down here in a cold room to write this 

 "amend." Why I should have done so, I know not 

 further than that the spirit moved me (I am not a 

 Quaker), and on reading a "Life Picture in two 

 Chapters," it comcided so with my own experience, 

 that I thought it might give you some pleasure to 

 know, or let your readers know, my loss On the 

 ltth of Sept 1 wrote to you, inclosing remittance, 

 and registered the letter. In about a month after, 1 

 thought it time to get a reply, but none came. Well, 

 on the 22d of Sept. I sent a registered letter to a 

 firm in Chicago, and on the 18th of Oct. I received a 

 reply and return of registered receipt, but no word 

 from Mr. Root, although I had written to him eight 

 days before writing to Chicago. At this stage of the 

 proceedings, having for the moment forgotten I had 

 registered my letter to Root, I actually sat down 

 and wrote to him to know the reason — why. When 

 I recollected I had registered his letter, and as I had 

 not his returned receipt, of course I knew he was 

 not to blame so far, and I tore up my note. Finally, 

 on the 2M of Oct., just 1 month and 3 days, I re- 

 ceived the books, etc., from Root, and in advance, 

 too, of the register receipt. Had I not registered 

 my letter, I would have been harboring hard feel- 

 ings against Root all that time, which he would not 

 have deserved; for which, bogus advertisers are 

 chiefly to Mame in making good-natured, and even 

 Christian gentlemen suspicious. If you wii-h to pub- 

 lish this in whole or in part, you may do so leaving 

 out my name and address. 



KIND WORDS TO OUR CUSTOMERS. 

 Do not return any thing until you have first writ- 

 ten us what you think is wrong about it, and we have 

 desired you so to do. 



Several of our friends have immediately, on re- 

 ceiving their goods, written back harshly, because 

 some article was missing; whereas, had they but 

 waited for the next mail, they would have received 

 a bill notifying them that the missing article was 

 out of stock, and would be sent soon by mail. Shall 

 we not learn a lesson in being slow to complain? 



ORDERS REFERRING TO PREVIOUS CORRESPONDENCE. 



A great many of you write first and ask for an es- 

 timate on certain things made so and so. Well, this 

 is an excellent way to do, and we are very glad to 

 give such estimates; but many troubles and com- 

 plaints have occurred by our friends not referring 



to this estimate, or giving us any hint that such a 

 one has been sent them, when they come to make 

 the order. As an illustration, a friend asked what 

 50 ridge-boards for chaff hives would cost, made 2 

 inches longer than ordinary. We gave him prices, 

 and he sent an order; but the order said 50 ridge- 

 boards, and nothing more, without the remotest al- 

 lusion to his having written before for figures on an 

 odd length. When he got them, if I am correct, he 

 said he could not use them at all. We can instantly 

 lay hand on all your former letters, if you give us 

 any kind of a clew to the fact that one is to be 

 looked up; but there is no such thing as remember- 

 ing, scarcely one hour, where so many are at work 

 and so many letters are all the time before us. Will 

 you not try to bear this in mind? 



EXPENSE OF GETTING GOODS TO YOUR HOMES. 



Although we are making it a study all the time 

 to make our price lists plain, it seems there is a 

 good deal of misapprehension. A lady asks if we sell 

 the counter goods; if not, where she can get them. 

 Another friend wishes to know if we could not send 

 them by freight or express, where one wants quite 

 a number of articles. Why, bless you, my friends, 

 we are all the time filling great boxes with them, to 

 go to almost every part of the world. We put on the 

 postage, simply to give you an opportunity of get- 

 ting samples cheaply, before you buy in quantities. 

 Orders from great distances, California, for instance, 

 often go cheaper by mail, even if the package 

 weighs 3 or 4 lbs., and then you always know just 

 what the goods are going to cost, without any mis- 

 take. We are constantly figuring, and doing our 

 best all the time, to get cheaper rates by express 

 and freight; and if you carefully read over our 

 rates in the fore part of our price list, you can usu- 

 ally avoid expensive shipments. On postage, eve- 

 ry cent represents 1 oz. Well, from these figures 

 you can easily determine what the goods will weigh; 

 and if you will ask your station agent how much it 

 will cost to get a package weighing so much, he can 

 usually tell you very nearly, and thus prevent dis- 

 appointment. 



BLAMING POSTAL AUTHORITIES, AND EXPRF.SS COM- 

 PANIES, ETC. 



I know how natural it is, my friends, to scold 

 somebody or about somebody, when we are disap- 

 pointed, and how seldom it is we think of the idea 

 that we may possibly be wrong. A card was brought 

 me just now from a man who says he sent an order 

 for grape sugar, and hopes we are gentleman 

 enough to send it along at once. Inasmuch as it is 

 the first thing we have ever had from him, it seems 

 a little rough. Right under my hand is a letter from 

 our friend P. P. Rhody, New Castle, Ind., containing 

 $7.00. The address on the envelope is as follows, 

 not a scratch of the pen more:— 



Mr A I Medina 



Ohio 



As the letter reached us, it seems to me the postal 

 clerks ought to have a medal for their skill in de- 

 ciphering what is wanted by the people; and it 

 should he something more than a leather medal too. 

 Just imagine them, while hurried with business, 

 guessing out that a man by the name of "Medina," 

 who lives in the broad State of Ohio (the whale State, 

 mind you, no particular county), was your humble 

 servant ! Shall we not at least give them a vote of 

 thanks, and promise to do our part better? 



