1885 



GLEAKINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



851 



MOEE ABOUT HONESTY AND HONEST 

 WAKES. 



STRICT BUSINESS PRINCIPLES. 



f 51 HANK you, friend Eoot, for the credit you 

 a'' give me, of both kinds, for my last ai-ticle, 

 f Oct. 1.5. Bless your heart, I should like to 

 give you a great deal more of the same kind, 

 if you can have patience with me. I meant 

 to add, that Mr. Wright said he must make the mis- 

 take concerning that hnney " right with the old 

 fellow," and I have no doubt he did. I can gener- 

 ally tell by the way a man says such a thing wheth- 

 er he means It or not. Can't you? 



Mr. E. went to a shoe-shop to get his boots 

 mended. Mr. D., the cobbler, had not been long 

 settled in M., and he was not acquainted with E., 

 neither did he know Jim S. as well as his neighbors 

 did, until he had lately found him out. E. Avanted 

 Mr. D. to mend his boots, and E. would bring him 

 wood in payment. Mr. D. said he would take the 

 wood, but he would have to have it before he did 

 the work. E. was rather taken down, for he had 

 never been taken up that way before. Mr. D. ex- 

 plained that he had done some work for Jim S. on 

 uch an agreement, but the wood had never come, 

 and he could not afford to run another such risk. 

 E. replied, " I do not blame yoii. lUit I will give 

 you a load if you will go out and find one man who 

 will not tell j'ou that I will bring you the wood if I 

 promise to." 



At this juncture Mr. D. stepped into the shop, and 

 E. stated the ease. 



"You mend bis boots," said Mr. I!.; "and>ir he 

 does not bring you the wood I will pay ^ou for it." 

 Mr. D. mended the boots, and E. hauled him the 

 wood. Who would you or I rather be— E. or Jim S.? 

 Why, bless you, E. possessed what was worth more 

 than any $10,(00 that Jim S. might gain— a good 

 name. 



It is not every man who would scorn to tell a lie 

 for a thousand dollars— who would feel insulted if 

 offered a bribe— who is clear of little, petty, secret 

 deceits. It is the subtle form in which temptations 

 often come that constitutes their chief danger. 

 .Many men who regard themselves as (luite honest 

 will cheat in a horse-trade by failing to mention 

 some little blemish, or will, if a man pays him a 

 little too much change, keep it. " He made the 

 mistake; let him learn to be careful." Such things 

 seem to me very dishonest. In no way is one more 

 often tempted than to sell an article slightly inferi- 

 or, for a good price. To produce a really flrst-class 

 article at a high price, even at, it may be, some pe- 

 cuniary loss, is a kind of honesty as worthy as any. 

 Speaking of E. led me to the above thoughts. He 

 has always sold his wood a little higher than any 

 one else around here; yet there arc a number who 

 prefer to buy his wood. It is the same kind of timber, 

 but is all of full length, well split; and he gives, as 

 we often term it, " Methodist measure." 



E. once made some railroad-ties for a horse-car 

 road. One of the company said, as he examined 

 them, "I have but one objection to them; that is, 

 that the rest are not all as good as these." He did 

 not make as much money as other contractors, per- 

 haps, but he earned what was better. I repeat 

 nearly what I said before: To produce a first-class 

 article— an honest article, if you please, is to win a 

 golden name— an honor which is as well earned, 

 and may be as proudly worn, as any the world can 



offer. It is a prize worth having, if nothing else is 

 involved. I am far from estimating the value of a 

 good name in dollars and cents alone. To be justly 

 esteemed by others is a great boon: to be justly 

 esteemed by myself is a greater one. On the con- 

 trary, to be dishonored by others is only better than 

 to be dishonored by myself. All these things are 

 involved in this matter. 



I once went into a drugstore to get a glass of 

 soda. While drinking, the druggist stepped into 

 the back part of the store. Hidden from his view 

 bj- the apparatus I could easily have stepped out; 

 and when at length he came to receive the monej' I 

 jocosely told him so. 



" Oh ! well, now, you wouldn't have done that. 

 Why, you would have felt worse about it than I 

 should." 



I thought, " You are right. Mr. D.; I ttJwuld have 

 felt worse. And no matter what 1 might slip out of 

 or slip into, if I should do such things I should 

 Ivnow myself to be a slippery man, and others would 

 know it, and I would to that extent lose the respect 

 of myself and all true, honest men. I prefer to be 

 honored and trusted by myself and others, at what- 

 ever sacrifice." 



I once accidentally overheard awhispered remark 

 concerning myself: " He is as honest as the day is 

 long." I felt, not vain, but proud. If I am honest, 

 lam amply repaid for it. I am a poor man, and 

 discontented with my lot; but I would rather take 

 poverty with honor, than the wealth of Jay Gould 

 with all its attendant blessings, and the name he 

 has acquired with it. 



Hut I do say, that honesty in all things will pay 

 pecuniarily. Rogues sometimes prosper more than 

 any honest man can. But usually the reverse is 

 the case. E. rejected a number of wood-choppers, 

 to employ a man whom he knew would do a good 

 job— a species of honesty. It paid that man to be 

 thus honest. I know that the growing business of 

 Mr. Wright, before mentioned, is very largely due 

 to the fact that he is known to be trustworthy. 



The propensity of some men to make false prom- 

 ises, or thoughtless promises, which they make 

 no effort to fulfill, is very annoying. Either one is 

 a kind of dishonesty— the former, a bad type of it. 

 The one who practices such deceit is sure to lose 

 the confidence of his customers; and to do that is 

 to lose both reputation and business. I once wanted 

 a job of nice work done at a planing-mill in S. I 

 gave the order in the forenoon, and the material was 

 promised by three o'clock. I got there a little after 

 time, and, so fai- as I could tell, my order had not 

 been yet touched. The boss came and told me that 

 they did not have all the lumber necessary to fill 

 the order, and had had to send for it before they 

 could do the work, looking anxiously into the back 

 room as he said it. Did you ever see a boy try to 

 sneak out of a room with something under his coat 

 that he wanted to hide? Well, that man talked just 

 as such a boy would act. I believe that excuse was 

 a pure fabrication. He could hardly see how to 

 excuse himself, it appeared to me. 



" How long before the stuff will be ready?" I 

 asked. 



" About fifteen minutes." 



I went away, and returned in about half an hour, 

 to find a man sawing at some boards that looked 

 like mine; but surely mine were done. I looked at 

 them and then at the boss, who said nothing until 

 spoken to. 



