644 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



not even liave llie matter brought before 

 their e.ves unless they care enough about it 

 to send for the book. Now to get back to 

 our subject. 



At the same time I visited friend Terry I 

 called on and took along with me Mr. I). E. 

 Fenn, of Tallmudge. O., a relative, and a 

 very successful farmer, fully up to the times. 

 It was a rare treat to me to" hear these two 

 great enthusiasts talk as we walked over the 

 tields and went through the barns. Both 

 Mr. Terry and Mr. Fenn have nice tools and 

 farming machinery, clear up to the times, 

 and Mr. Terry has just built the most beau- 

 tiful tool-house I ever looked at or thought 

 of. It is just "a thing of beauty,'' and, I 

 dare say, to him ''a joy for ever.'' I am go- 

 ing to give you a picture of it some time, 

 any way. I "want to mention right here that 

 Mr. Feiin has a Cierman in his employ who 

 is so careful of his hoes ai^d spades that he 

 keeps a cloth in the proper place, witli which 

 to wipe olf all the dampness and soil before 

 they are put away for the night. After they 

 are wiped so the bright polished steel is 

 handsome to look at, he takes another cloth, 

 saturated with oil, and oils all the l)right 

 parts. This absolutely prevents any rust on 

 their bright surface ; and if you do not know 

 the difference between a bright shining hoe 

 and one covered with heavy rust, when you 

 start out to work just try two hoes— one 

 rusty, the other bright. A man would ac- 

 complish a fourth more with the clean liright 

 tool, and save his strength besides, because 

 the bright hoe slides into the soil so easily, 

 and the same soil slides off so that the tool 

 Avill keep itself clean. Mr. Terry keeps 

 the tools in his tool-house a good deal in the 

 same way. They are nicely put away, and 

 very handy and convenient doors right in 

 front of each tool permit it to be reached at 

 once without clambering over other tools. 

 The same with his plows and harrows. 



We are getting further and further from 

 tlie subject of Elijah and his complaint, are 

 we notV Well, let us see. I asked Mr. Ter- 

 ry if he was in the habit of lending these 

 nice tools to his neighbors. lie replied , that 

 it was generally understood that he did not 

 lend any thing: it was impossible for him to 

 do so. The importance of succeeding with 

 his work as he does succeed, depends great- 

 ly on having the right tool ready to be used 

 the very hour it is wanted, and" sometimes 

 witliout the delay of even live minutes, 

 when tJie weather is treacherous, as it has 

 been this season. Mr. Fenn remarked, that 

 one of the greatest troubles in his life was 

 the trouble in regard to borrowing tools. 

 As the conversation was started in this di- 

 rection, one told a story about the annoy- 

 ances he had suftcred, and another told a 

 story, and these stories reflected so sadly on 

 my fellow-men that I felt badly al)out it, and 

 have l»eeu feeling badly about it ever since. 

 ]May be 1 told some of the stories too. When 

 my conscience began to trouble me I re- 

 marked, '* But, Mr. Terry, you surely ha\e 

 .sw»e neighbors who would tiike as good care, 

 or l)etter care, of borrowed tools than they 

 would of their own. — who will always re- 

 turn a tool exactly as they promise to 'do; or 

 sooner, who also recognize what it costs you 



to keep such a stock of tools carefully hous- 

 ed, and will insist on paying you hand- 

 somely for the use of these tbolsV" 



Now, I do not know that the above are 

 exactly the words I used, but it is what I 

 had in" mind. .Mr. Terry is a Christian man, 

 and, as a rule, is not uncharitable. He sees 

 the faults and failures of his brother-farm- 

 ers ; but I do not believe he exaggerates -- 

 at least, as a general thing. I wanted to 

 hear him say that there were a.t least a few 

 aroimd him who were exceptions to the gen- 

 eral run of people who borrow, and I also 

 wanted to hear Mr. Fenn give a good report 

 of at least a few of liis neighbors of tlje 

 township of Tallmadge, where every farmer 

 seems to be thriving and prosperous, but I 

 was disappointed. Mr. Terry said he did 

 not know of any such. Mr. Fenn said the 

 same thing substantially. Now, then, my 

 friends, you and I are the folks who borrow 

 tools. Do we average better than Mr. Ter- 

 ry's and Mr. Fenu's neighbors? I don't 

 think we do, unless it is because we read 

 bee-journals and agricultural papers, and 

 their neighbors don't, but I cant believe 

 that is so. "^ 



Elijah kept saying over and over, "And 

 I, even I only, am left." Had he reflected 

 a minute he would have recollected the 

 lifty prophets that Obadiah mentioned ; but 

 he had in mind at the time only Ahab and 

 Jezebel — those liateful persons and their 

 worshipers, and he " sort o' forgot " about 

 the rest who did not force themselves upon 

 his notice. Now, I am inclined to think 

 that it was the same witli our good friends 

 Terry and Fenn. When I asked them to 

 recall to mind, they did not think of certain- 

 ly a dozen good honest unselfish men — men 

 who are never known to put anybody out of 

 the way without making restitution so far 

 as they could. Yet I think there must be 

 at least a dozen in their own vicinity who 

 have never troubled them by borrowing 

 tools ; or if they did, who gave value re- 

 ceived, or more, in other ways. We remem- 

 ber things and people that vex us, but we 

 don't remember things and people that don't 

 vex us ; that is, we forget favors, but we 

 don't forget perplexities so easily. 



Now, then, what is the result of settling 

 down to the decision that mankind are so 

 depraved we might as well give ui> V Elijali 

 went away into tlie woods aiul sat down 

 under a tree, and asked God to take him 

 out of the world. lie gave as a reason for 

 his request, that he was not better than his 

 fathers. He was discouraged and disai»- 

 l)ointed. He was displeased with (iod just 

 as we aredispleasfd with him when we com- 

 plain in tliat wholesale manner of our fel- 

 low-men. Is it a good frai:^e of mind to be 

 in V Are we standing just where a Christian 

 man ought to stand," wlien we decide that 

 the bulk of mankind are so slipshod, lazy, 

 indolent, selfish, that there is no use in try- 

 ing to be neighborly V I hoi)e friend Teriy 

 will excuse me if I seem to be personal. I 

 do not mean to be : or, at least, I mean to 

 put myself iu the same boat when I criticise. 

 In the potato-l)ook, friend Terry tells us 

 about what it usually cost one of his neigh- 

 bors to get his potatoes dug. The neighbor 



