ISSo 



r;LEANL\C;S iN JJEE CULl'UilE. 



41< 



BUSINESS MEN AND BUSINESS 

 METHODS. 



MHS. CHADDOC K (JIVES US AN EXKHOKTK STIR- 

 IlING-UF IN KEGAHD TO PKOMI'TNESS. 



SN page 269 of April loth Gleanings is an ad- 

 vertisempntj tliat reads as follows: " Hecs hy 

 the pound. From April »'0 to May ::0, #1.00. { 

 Dollar queens to go with hees as ahove, $1.C0 

 each '■ (see advertisement). Brother Phillips 

 and myself sent, on the .'ioth day of April, for four 

 1-lb. packages of bees with a dollar queen in each 

 package; sent him the money, $8.00, and then wait- ! 

 ed for the^bees to come. \Ve live five miles from 

 town; and after a week had passed we began to. 

 haunt the postottice and express oftice to find out 

 about those "Tennessee bees." We took it by turns. | 

 I went in one day, and Brother Phillips would go the 

 next; and time wore on without hearing a word 

 from them till yesterday, the sth of May. Then we 

 got a letter from Mr. Gates, saying he can not send 

 usfoui- packages with a queen in each, but can 

 send us two ;Mb. packages with 3 (or is it a 3Vi 

 queens; or, if wo prefer, he will return the money, 

 If we will send stamjjs for the registry fee. 



>fow, this I call business with a xengeance. Keep 

 our money this long, and tell us he ciiu tint live up 

 to his agreement, but will do something else— and, j 

 crowning stroke of all, make us pay registry fees 

 Both ways on the money, when his not doing as lie 

 agreed to has probably c«)st us dollars instead of 

 cents. 



I sent to jou once loi- live "dolhu" qucciis; 1 

 sent the order on Monday morning, and the i|n(>(iis 

 came to the postottice here on \Ve<ln(sda.\ e\ening, 

 just like throwing a ball to you and JOU tossing'it 

 back again; and yet people con)i)lain that they 

 have (jueens to sell, and no one will liii.\ tlwin. 

 Perhaps they wait too long, and then (Her to do 

 some other thing. . 



T used to raise early vegetables for market— peas, 

 potatoes, beans, cabbage, lettuce, radishes, straw- I 

 berries, and other small fruits; and if I promised to 

 furnish a nuin with berrif'S onacertuin day I <((- 

 irayti did it, even if I had to go out among the 

 neighbors an<l buy them up. One time, I remembei-. 

 I was selling strawb(>rries on a certain cold Satur- 

 day. Mr. ('haddock was with me (generally I went 

 alone); and while 1 was In a stori- delivering berries 

 he sold all that were left, and just then a num came 

 up and said I had jiromised him a gallon for Sunday, 

 and I went into the stoi-e and bought back a gallon, 

 paying ten cents mori' on the gallon than I would 

 get of him; and l,woulil doit in an.\- business that I 

 expected to carry on. >Iy 'motto always was, pn- 

 fect satisfaction. 



Another time I engaged ten bushels of early po- j 

 tatoes, at one dollar per bushel, in a little town four 

 miles away, and they nearly all agreed to take 

 tlu-m, on con(litit)n that I,wo,uld bring them in on 

 the morning of the 4th of .luly, as there was to be a 

 celebration thei-e that day, and they all expected to 

 have company, and they wanteil new potatoes for | 

 dinner. I promised to take them, and thought it j 

 wonid be easy enough to till the promise, as we ' 

 fully expected to go to the celebiation; but Mr. i 

 Chaddock had afield ofwheat that was spoiling to 

 be cut, and he found that he could get help, and he 

 would not go to the celebration, and, of course, I i 

 had to be at homo to cook for the ten men. The 

 hire J girl bad been promised her "liberty " on that 



daj-, and that promise must be kept. Well, the 

 hired girl and I dug the potatoes late the evening 

 before, and I got up at two o'clock and ate a cold 

 snatch while Mr. Chaddock got the team read}-, and 

 I was in Ipava just as the sun was rising and the 

 merry bells were ringing in the " glorious Fourth." 

 I delivered the potatoes (half a bushel at each 

 house), and got home at 8 o'clock; in plenty of time 

 for the hired girl to start for the celebration with 

 her beau, and 1 had ten dollars in my pocket to pay 

 for my work. The' next week, potatoes were a 

 dnig at 2.5 cts. a bushel. The early bird catches the 

 worm. Mahala B. Chaudoik. 



Vermont, 111, 



A little more cliarity, my good friend Mrs. 

 ('. Friend (iatts is one of the best men we 

 have, and 1 think the trouble comes (or I 

 suppose there is not very much trouble! 

 from the different ideas you and friend Gates 

 seem to have as to what is straight business 

 and what is not, because you both look at it 

 from a difterent standpoint. There are 

 quite a few of the brethren whom 1 suspect 

 would feel pretty glad if they could gettlieir 

 money back by paying the registry fee. 1 

 wondei' if 1 can be enough of an outsider to 

 take an unbiased view of this whole trans- 

 action. Vouare both good friends of mine, 

 and for the life of me 1 can not tell which of 

 you I like better, therefore T am sorry to see 

 you have even small dilferences. Friend 

 (iates does a large business in shipping bees: 

 and unless he has (piite a little help and a 

 good deal of capital, he is liable to have 

 more oideis tlian lie can manage. Xow, it 

 is no i>rolit to him to get money and send it 

 back again : in fad. he has ail the trouble 

 and coi icsiioiidence. and not a cent prolit. 

 The notice in (ii.K.wiNfis of tliose who have 

 untested (H'.eens and bees for sale reads: 

 "They also agree to return the mcmey at any 

 time when customers become impatient of 

 such delay as maybe uii;i\t)idalile." Now. 

 friend (Jates naturally decided that, mider 

 such circinnstaiu'cs. the sender ought to pay 

 for the return registry fee : and although"] 

 can not (piite agree with him. I can not see 

 that he is so very uurea.sonable. I need not 

 state tiie case from your point of view, for 

 you have stated it pretty well yourself. A 

 "great many Of these things can be made per- 

 fectly easy of adjustment l)y having an agree- 

 ment beforehand. Suppose friend (iates 

 say in his price list. " When my ctistomers 

 beconu' impatient of unavoidalile delays, I 

 will return their money, providing thej" pay 

 the return registry fee."' This would hav'e 

 made it all right. Again, you see he agrees 

 to (ill the order, iiroviding you will permit 

 him to stil)stitute bees for queens, because 

 he is. like the rest of us. short of queens just 

 now. 



I ;im much obliged to you for the com- 

 mendatory iiotice you giveus ; but, my good 

 friend, we do not always send a queen right 

 back, like ''tlirowing a ball and tossing it 

 back again." 1 wish we did, and I do not 

 know any way we can advertise our business 

 so well as to have (pieens enough "ahead so 

 we can always do this. This present season, 

 in spite of all we could do. we have been 

 short of queens, and some of the brethren 

 (may be some of the sisters too) feel a little 

 bitter toward me even yet, I suspect. 



