lie tliut i» t'uitlilul in thut wliich is least, is faithtul al.s 



■h.— LuKK 16.10. 



MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBORS. 



And Abram said unto Lot, Let llicre be no strife, 

 T pray thee, between me iintl thee, luul l)etween my 

 herdmen and thy ht-rdmen; tor we lie bretlna^n. 



-Gkn. V.i-.K 



BELIEVE I have tokl you something 

 about our lioiiey-\va,t?oii that we seiul 

 aroimd our towu* every day. Our popn- 

 latiou is ouly somewhere about L'OdO. so 

 that by taking one-halt of the town one 

 day, and tlie other lialt tlie next, we go to al- 

 most eveiy house eveiy two da>s. Well, 

 while we are eariyini^ honey aroiind to the 

 houses, we could just as well take something 

 else; and as niaiket gardening- is a sort ot 

 kindred industry, we have been takiuji: cel- 

 ery, summer s(iuashcs, melons, cucumliers, 

 and lettuce, besides fruits, such as apples, 

 pears, peaches, huckleberries, etc. The un- 

 dertaking was rather a novelty in our town. 

 and it first occasioned considerable remark. 

 iMany prophesied that it would not pay ex- 

 penses, etc. I rather thought it would pay 

 expenses in time, because it is a convenience 

 and saving of time to the ])eople of a town 

 of this size, to have such things delivered 

 right at their doors. It saves them carrying 

 heavy market l)askets; it gives them' the 

 products of the soil fresh from the groimd, 

 and they can see the things befoie liuyiug, 

 and can buy or not. as they clioose. The op- 

 position that at lirst arose soon gave away, 

 as I expected it would, and eventiuilly the 

 market wagon begun to be regarded as a 

 convenience instead of an innovation. 



Many of my new enterprises oftentimes 

 make me feel badly before I "et them thor- 

 oughly established" because tliey sometimes 

 interfere more or less with other people's 

 business. But this lield I regarded as al- 

 most unoccupied ; aud I have for ten years 



past felt a longing to open such an industry 

 in our town, because it seemed to need it 

 badly. During the past winter our grocers 

 I received from Cleveland many barrels of 

 lettuce, which was sold for as much as i'.") 

 cents per ixnmd in winter. Considerable 

 quantiti»'S of other early garden stuff were 

 daily brought in by express, during the lat- 

 ter part of winter and early spring. Tiiink 

 of the idea, of an agricultiiral people send- 

 ing to the great cities for garden stuff which 

 they could easily raise at their doors, with 

 the aid of a little greenhouse, a few cold 

 frames, and things of that sort! Well, I 

 thought this time I had got a lield that was 

 so nearly unocciiiiied it woidd harm no one. 

 I found out my mistake, however; for one 

 Saturday evening an old neigh boi', whom I 

 had known for years, and wiio had been 

 most of that time a particular friend of mine, 

 came to see me.' I saw by his looks that 

 something was amiss, but could not think 

 wliat it was, until he commenced as follows: 



"Mr. Hoot, I want you to give me and my 

 iioys something to do."' 



" Why, my good friend, we have nothing 

 for our reguiar hands to do scarcely; and to 

 keep them l»usy until another season opens 

 for bee-supplies, we have been making gar- 

 den, and doing almost every thing we could 

 i lind to do." 



•' Well, then I think I had better start a 

 saloon, for a man must do something for a 

 living."" 



•'But, neighbor , why do you come 



to hK with tills announcementy why am / 

 under obligation to furnish you and your 

 boys workV"' 



'• V/ell, Mr. Hoot, it seems to me it is plain 

 enough why you are to blame, when things 

 have got to such a pass that you load up a 



