1885 



GLEA^IA'GS LN BEE CULTUKE. 



795 



0a^ pejiEp. 



We will not have this man to reign over us.— 

 Luke 19 : 14. 



TTIoVERY few days something occurs to 

 1^) remind me that I am growing old. 

 tPr People speak of me as belonging 

 ^■^ among the class of old people, and I 

 find myself telling the children what 

 happened, not only 25 years ago, but 80 and 

 35 — yes, almost 40. There are a few events 

 that I can distinctly recall to mind, that 

 happened 40 years ago. 1 have been employ- 

 ing boys and girls for almost 30 years ; but 

 of those who worked for me 30 years ago. or 

 even 25 years ago, there is not one remain- 

 ing with me now. I have just made some 

 inquiry among our hands, for the matter 

 came up at our noon service, and there are 

 two who have been with me for 17 years. 



Well, just 23 years ago this fall, a boy 

 came to me for a job. just as boys come even 

 now every little while. lie came from the 

 country, but he had good parents, and his 

 step-father was a minister. I happened to 

 be needing a boy about then, and, oh how I 

 did want a aood boy! I iiad tried a good 

 many boys, out they were of the sort who 

 lay things around and lose them, tip over 

 things and break them, and need so much 

 showing, that it was -almost with anguish of 

 spirit that I thouglit about trying another 

 one. He wanted a little better pay than I 

 had been in the habit of giving. I told him 

 so, but he replied something like this : - 



" Mr. Hoot, if you will let me go to work, 

 and you say, when S.iturday night comes, 

 that i have not earned the price mentioned. 

 I will take whatever you say is riglit, and no 

 liard feelings. I think I can save you 

 enough to make up the difference, if you 

 will let me try." 



Tiie last sentence struck the right spot, 

 and I was glad to have liim undertake it on 

 those terms. I can not remember what the 



trice was he wanted, but it was somewhere 

 etween 7i and 10 cents an hour. 1 will tell 

 you liow he started out to save me '2i cents 

 an liour. 1 love to tell it, for there is a good 

 moral to it. He got hold of a broom, and I 

 soon discovered that he was an adept in 

 sweeping. He loved his mother, and I i)re- 

 sume lie bad helped her about her liousework. 

 and she had taught him how to sweep prop- 

 erly. While he was sweeping he Innig up 

 the tools that he found scattered around. If 

 there was not a place for them, he luoposed 

 to me that they should have such and such 

 a place ; and it" they were not made to hang 

 up, he fixed them "so they would hang up 

 nicely ; and in this way he went through our 

 whole establishment. 



When he had got through in the upper 

 rooms he asked permission to "slick up" the 

 cellar. He found an old iron sink in the cel- 

 lar, covered with cobwebs and slime. He 

 scoured it out with a piece of brick, brushed 

 it off, and then went over It with a cloth. 

 He scoured the wash-basins until he made 

 holes in some of them, then he put up some 

 stout nails for them to be hung on. He fix- 

 ed a cupboard for the lamps ; and when it 

 began to grow dusky where I was reading 



my letters, toward the close of the autumn 

 days, a lamp was placed before me, without 

 my asking for it. The chimney was spot- 

 lessly clean ; the lamp was filled, but not so 

 as to run over. The wick was trimmed, ev- 

 idently by an expert in caring for lamps; 

 and when he was done, his scissors and ar- 

 rangements for cleaning and caring for 

 lamps, as well as the coal oil, were all nicely 

 put away. He even went mto the dark 

 corners of the cellar and slicked those out ; 

 and whenever it came time for his meals, his 

 face was washed, his hair combed, and 

 clothes dusted oft', until he looked like a 

 bright, happy boy, which he was. Other 

 boys and girls had considered this kind of 

 work the work of a S3rvant ; but he seemed 

 to delight in being a servant. If anybody 

 twitted him of it, he answered back prompt- 

 ly and smilingly, that this Avas just exactly 

 what he ims. and that he felt proud of his 

 oflice ; that I had paid him money to serve 

 me, and he liked to work where he could 

 show every day that something had been 

 done when night came. 



In clearing out and slicking up one day he 

 found a lot of old-fashioned watches', or 

 watch movements, rather, in an old drawer 

 near the watch-repair bench. One evening, 

 after his work was done, and my lamp was 

 placed before me, giving its accustomed 

 clear, steady light, he made a remark some- 

 thing like this : 



"Mr. Hoot, I wonder if you would have 

 any objections to my working a \vhile even- 

 ings with those old watches in that drawer." 



I told him that, as they were of no value 

 to anybody, he might do as he pleased with 

 them ; and if he broke them all up. they 

 would be worth just about as much. He 

 acciirdingly worked away at them night 

 after night ; but instead of breaking them, 

 he succeeded in making nearly all of them 

 keep time. Although I had formerly been a 

 watch repairer. I gave him no instVuction. 

 He said all he wanted was the tools and the 

 watches. Pretty soon he began to repair 

 clocks, ami did it as nicely as he did the 

 sweeping. Why, my friends, the boy or girl 

 who is an expert and enthusiastic housekeeper 

 can do almost any thing there is to be done 

 in this world. He was very soon able to do 

 almost any kind of work done in the shop. 

 His wages went up rapidly, first a cent per 

 hour at a time ; but he soon got into the 

 teens, where he had 15 cts. per hour ; then 

 IS, and, if I am not mistaken, by the end of 

 his second year he had 20 cts. an hour. Then 

 he went to a larger city to work for a rich 

 jeweler, and after a while he married one of 

 the girls who worked for me — one of his 

 old shopmates, and together they started 

 life in a new and growing railroad town. 

 We will leave him there for a little time. 



During the two years that he worked for 

 me I was not a Christian. I never said a 

 word to this young friend about the welfare 

 of his soul. I was glad to see him spend his 

 evenings in the way I have told you ; and 

 when he told me his step-father was a min- 

 ister, I presume I thought my apprentice 

 ought to be a good steady boy on that ac- 

 count, but I gave him no word of encourage- 

 ment in that direction. He was much at- 



