480 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



sion in a minute, but I should have to take a 

 three-mile wheelride and back again before 

 we could get to work. As there was no help 

 for it I started to make the trip. Then he 

 told me to go down to the dock and see his 

 brother-in-law, Mr. Weisler. Mr. W. said he 

 could not possibly come before afternoon, but 

 he would come then, sure, and bring a stone- 

 boat, plow, and harrow. Mr. W. further told 

 me that Mr. Henshaw, the foreman of the 

 dock, was invested with full authority to man- 

 age Mr. Oberlin's men and teams. Said he : 



" You go to Mr. Henshaw and tell him how 

 you are fixed, and Mr. H. will take the re- 

 sponsibility of directing Mr. Burdo to stop 

 on the oats from now till noon." 



You see I was to have Mr. Weisler's team 

 after dinner. Mr. Henshaw very courteously 

 declared it would be all right for Mr. Burdo 

 to stop the rest of the forenoon, and he did 

 so. On my way back to the ranch I thought 

 of my boys. Pretty soon I heard some boys 

 in the thicket ; and there I found Orville, who 

 had promised to help me the afternoon before, 

 but he did not show up. The mother also 

 promised he should come. But she said, when 

 I asked her why he did not come, that they 

 had to have him help load the boat. 



Orville and his companions were making 

 whistles out of basswood sprouts. The bass- 

 wood was just leaving out. Now, I am always 

 glad to see boys make whistles, providing they 

 can make them with a clear conscience ; but 

 Orville had hired out to me, as I understood 

 it, and his mother said he was down helping 

 them load the boat. Perhaps I had better ex- 

 plain here that, when a vessel comes into the 

 dock, it must be loaded, whether or no ; and 

 for this work the men and boys get much 

 higher prices than they get for ordinary farm- 

 work, so every thing else has to stand aside. 



" Why, Orville, your mother said you were 

 down helping load the boat, even though you 

 had promised fair and faithfully to work for 

 me ; and here you are, sitting in the shade, 

 making whistles." 



He hung his head down, but ventured as an 

 excuse that they found out they did not need 

 him at the dock. 



" But why in the world did you not hustle 

 up at once to meet your appointment to work 

 for ine ? You know you promised to be there 

 yesterday afternoon." 



"But, Mr. Root, I did not know that I 

 promised to work for you to-day." 



To tell the truth, he had not exactly prom- 

 ised to work for me any longer than that aft- 

 ernoon. But I told him I wanted him badly 

 right along, and I expected, of course, he 

 would help me right along. This was only a 

 sort of boy's philosophy. I have learned by 

 experience with boys that they have some- 

 times queer ideas of things ; and it is not best 

 to expect too much of them, either physically 

 or in the way of keeping promises. Let me 

 say right here that Orville helped me right 

 along after that, and proved to be an excellent 

 boy in almost every respect. He and I are 

 the best of friends, and I hope we shall be as 

 long as we live. Mr. Burdo came with his big 

 team, and did a tremendous lot of stump-pull- 



ing, plowing, and removing big stones for the 

 rest of the forenoon, about 3^ hours. 



After dinner my men were on hand, but no 

 team showed up. Mr. Weisler's boy was soon 

 there. He said his father was surely coming, 

 for he saw him start off with his team ; but 

 when the afternoon was a good part gone I 

 sent Charley to see what the matter was. He 

 said the wind changed, and the vessel could 

 not get under sail without assistance from all 

 the men and teams in the neighborhood. I 

 did not learn how they use teams to move a 

 vessel out in the water ; but that is the way I 

 understood it. We had to get along the best 

 we could, and I managed to keep my men 

 busy, though not in a profitable way, without 

 any teams. 



Mr. W. promised to be on hand early next 

 morning. Sure enough, he did come; but in- 

 stead of having a plow and stoneboat he had 

 nothing but a harrow. He explained that the 

 stoneboat was a mile away from home, and he 

 had not had time to go for it. The plow was all 

 broken to pieces, and therefore he could not 

 bring one. 



Now, I had made up my mind to make 

 friends with the people all round about my 

 home, no matter what it cost. I was going to 

 have their good will and co-operation ; and I 

 knew by past experience that finding fault 

 and blowing a man up would not help — well, 

 let us say it does not help one to sleep well 

 nights, and get along nicely with those who 

 live around him. Some of you will under- 

 stand me if I tell you that I not only prayed 

 for all these people, but I prayed that God 

 would give me grace and wisdom and under- 

 standing to help me build something of a 

 thousand times more importance than the gar- 

 den and the little home out there in the wil- 

 derness. When I saw my friend and neigh- 

 bor come up with nothing but a "drag "in 

 place of the plow and stoneboat, I prayed the 

 great Father above to help me get along prof- 

 itably with just the drag. 



I think I will not tell you of any more of 

 my disappointments and troubles in conse- 

 quence of broken promises. When I foilhd I 

 could not have the plow I set the big team to 

 moving rocks without a stoneboat, getting out 

 stumps, snags, etc. I had the big rocks lo- 

 cated for the foundation of my building, and 

 then I remembered three hewn timbers, forty 

 feet long, that somebody had cut out and left 

 in my woods. You see, while I was far away, 

 and paid no attention to my property, my 

 neighbors sort o' helped themselves to my 

 timber. My conscience did not trouble me 

 for appropriating these forty - foot sticks. 

 I cut each in two in the middle, and then 

 placed them on top of the big rocks we had 

 placed for the foundation, nailed some boards 

 across them, and there was the foundation of 

 our new home — a good solid one too. 



We used the team and drag all that after- 

 noon to very good advantage ; and after over- 

 coming all my perplexities one by one I began 

 to get very happy, I worked very hard — per- 

 haps as hard as I ever worked in my life ; but 

 I rarely if ever have passed a happier eight 

 days, and I was happy when Sunday came. 



