1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



481 



The boy who was helping Orvillemake bass- 

 wood whistles came along with us. We called 

 him Earl. Pretty soon another friend of the 

 two boys, named Thomas, came and proffered 

 his services. Well, when I could not secure 

 any men or teams to help me work. I had just 

 these three boys — sometimes four of them ; 

 and I tell you we did a lot of work. I know 

 there is an old saying that " one boy is a boy; 

 two boys are half a boy, and three boys are 

 none at all." I had some experience with this 

 trouble. So many boys together would have 

 fun and play more or less in spite of any thing 

 I could do. If a chicken-hawk soared over- 

 head, they had to stop and look at it. If 

 Earl's puppy got a woodchuck in a hole it was 

 boylike to want to see the fun. Sometimes I 

 became discouraged ; but when I did so I 

 prayed, and then the boys all of a sudden did 

 a man's work for quite a little spell. Toward 

 noon they would get pretty tired ; and when 

 I stopped to take my nap on my big blanket 

 on a pile of leaves I suppose they took things 

 pretty easy, and I don't care if they did. 

 May God bless and guide those four boys. 



One afternoon when they were pretty tired, 

 and did not seem to feel like working at any 

 thing much longer, I told them I had got to 

 go to Bingham on my wheel to order lumber 

 for the building. I suggested to them that 

 there was not a very good wheel-path through 

 the thicket in the corner belonging toOrville's 

 mother. I asked them if they would not cut 

 away the briefs, and fix it so we could get 

 through easier, laack and forth. Then I went 

 to Bingham. When I got back it was about 

 dusk, and I was surprised to find something 

 like half a day's work done in fixing up a 

 very nice little roadway through that trouble- 

 some thicket. 



" Why, Orville, you boys did a tremendous 

 lot of work after I left. You must have work- 

 ed after quitting time, didn't you? " 



Then his mother suggested that they did 

 not get around till after 7 o'clock. Now, you 

 see boys sometimes give us pleasant surprises, 

 especially when they take a notion to a job ; 

 yes, and after they are apparently tired out 

 with a hard day's work they will jump and 

 run as if they had not done any work at all. 

 Oh how I do love nice clean pure-minded 

 boys ! Even if they do vex and try us at 

 times, God knows we can well afford to over- 

 look a great deal. 



Right in this line let me give you one more 

 experience. I had been delayed and disap- 

 pointed so much in getting the ground ready 

 for those peach-trees that I had about given 

 up thinking they would amount to any thing. 

 Finally, one day after we had got the ground 

 all slicked up in pretty good shape, and I was 

 just about ready to think of sending for trees, 

 friend Hilbert drove up with his ponies and 

 spring wagon, with all my stuff. Sure enough, 

 some of the peach-trees were budded, and al- 

 most in bloom. I told the boys how anxious 

 I was to get the trees out, even if it did rain, 

 and we kept right at it except when it rained 

 the hardest, and got them out in good order. 

 Of course, we stayed in the building when it 

 rained the most. 



About five o'clock one of the boys said he 

 had to go home early that night. As it was 

 his last day with us, I paid him off. When he 

 objected to receiving full pay for the rainy 

 day, I told them they had shown their good 

 will by working out in the wet, and so I did 

 not take out any thing for the time it rained. 

 At this all the rest of them set up a " hooray." 

 Then one of them volunteered, "Mr. Root, is 

 there any thing else you would like to have 

 us do before we quit ? If you are going to 

 pay us wages for the time we sat still when it 

 rained, we will try to make you out a better 

 day's work." 



Well, I had almost given up clearing up my 

 ravine. I wanted it done badly, for I thought 

 it was about the best ground I had on the 

 place. The raspberry-bushes down in that 

 dark place last fall were toward ten feet high, 

 and there were luscious berries on them al- 

 most up into November. I knew the ground 

 was very rich, and I wanted to use it for some 

 of my choice varieties of fruits and vegeta- 

 bles. I told the boys I should be very glad 

 to have that ravine cleared out of rubbish, 

 and every thing that would be in the way of 

 working on it, the next day. They went at 

 it with another hooray, and an hour later I 

 could hardly believe it possible that those boys 

 alone could have done so much work. Most 

 of the stuff had to be pulled down hill ; and 

 they would all together get hold of some tree 

 or log, and down it would go on the fly. I 

 had brought with me a Daisy wheelbarrow, 

 and the most approved spades, shovels, hoes, 

 mattocks, etc , that could be found in the 

 market ; and the boys seemed to take to those 

 nice new tools almost as ducks take to water. 

 In just a few days they became very expert 

 with them. 



I had almost forgotten to tell you about 

 building the house. The boys and I fixed the 

 foundation and laid the floors, as I have told 

 you. I engaged two carpenters, but they 

 could come only one day. I could not possi- 

 bly manage to get them any longer. I had, 

 however, four boys to wait on them, and a 

 very good man who is handy with tools, even 

 if he is not a carpenter. By noon we had the 

 walls up, and a little after noon we were ready 

 to begin shingling. I asked the carpenters if 

 they could not each take a boy, one on each 

 side, and keep watch so that they would lay 

 the shingles and make a tight roof. The four 

 boys were all ambitious to help in shingling ; 

 and you ought to have seen that roof go on. 

 Of course, the boys were expected to wait on 

 the carpenters ; but once when he thought I 

 was not looking I saw the boss carpenter car- 

 rying shingles from the ground up to the roof, 

 and he put up quite a lot of them too. He said 

 he would rather do it himself than to urge 

 the boys to get more. The roof was on, the 

 door was made and hung, even to the lock 

 and key ; and all the windows would have 

 been in, but the teamster who was to bring 

 them over from the store at Bingham forgot 

 to put them on top of his load of lumber. I 

 wonder if this fashion of forgetting things, 

 that throws expensive men out of a job, and 

 costs people sums of money untold, is preva- 



