464 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUR.E. 



■ I I \K 



work together nicely, but lately we can not 

 get them down so as to wring any thing as 

 dry as it should he." 



Before she had done speaking, however, 

 I found that the blocks that moved the 

 hearings of the rolls closer together touched 

 each other at their ends, so that the screw, 

 instead of crowding the rolls toward each 

 other, simply crowded the two blocks of 

 wood against each other ; and had the 

 weight of a ton been put on them it would 

 not have affected the distance of the rolls a 

 particle. I pulled the blocks out in a twink- 

 ling, and shaved off the ends ; then the rolls 

 came down together as they did when new. 

 Next, in attempting to turn the crank, the 

 uprights that support the rolls " waggled *' 

 back and forth one way and then the other. 

 The wringer is one of those mounted on 

 a bench, on two uprights. The bench is 

 large enough to hold a tub on each side of 

 the wringer. Well, these two uprights had 

 been "waggling' 1 for I don*t know how 

 long, in just that way. When I expressed 

 my disgust at such a performance, my wife 

 replied again, "Oh ! that is the way it has 

 been for this long time, and I have been 

 pounding the wedges in at the bottom with 

 all my might, but it does not do any good at 

 all, or not much good." 



I smiled as I drove the wedges clear out 

 and showed her that the uprights did not 

 nearly lill the mortise in the top of the ma- 

 chine*. Instead of having been driven in snug, 

 as the manufacturer ought to have made 

 them, there is nearly a quarter of an inch 

 play ; but by keying the wedges up tight 

 the uprights had an appearance of being 

 firm. Perhaps they were firm for a little 

 while when the machine was new. 



" Well," said my wife, " what are you go- 

 ing to do about it? The holes were made too 

 large in the first place, and they can not be 

 made any smaller.' 1 



Right within reach stood a basket of 

 strips of wood. They were remnants of 

 frame stuff from the factory. With one 

 hand I selected a piece of wood that just 

 filled the vacancy in the mortise. Then I 

 called for a saw to cut it off with, at the 

 point where it was just thick enough. My 

 wife has a nice little saw for home use. I 

 found, however, that it was so dull it would 

 hardly cut off a pine stick; secondly, it 

 " waggled " in the handle just as the stand- 

 ards " waggled " in the wringer. I looked 

 my disgust again, and she explained : 



L- Well, the nice, neat, sharp little saw you 

 gave me was borrowed by one of the men 

 when they were at work near the house. 

 As they did not bring it back, I sent for it, 

 and this tiling came instead/' 



Now, my friends, you have a picture of 

 some of the stupidity of the world I have 

 been trying to tell you about. Somebody in 

 a hurry borrowed the nice little saw, be- 

 cause it would save time in going to the 

 factory, which was all well enough had he 

 been conscientious enough, kind enough, or 

 gentlemanly enough, perhaps I might say, 

 to have handed my wife's saw back to her. 

 He did not do it, and nobody knows where 

 the saw is. Then somebody else, equally 

 stupid (I hope I am not getting to be un- 



duly uncharitable here), gave her this mis- 

 erable tool to use in her work. Any work- 

 man — in fact, I should say any man or 

 woman — ought to be ashamed of having 

 such a dull thing to work with. We have a 

 man in our establishment, employed on pur- 

 pose to keep saws in order. In fact, he 

 does nothing else ; but yet day after day I 

 find valuable, high-priced hands using dull, 

 crooked saws, loose in the handle. All that 

 was wanted to make the saw tight in the 

 handle was to tighten up three or four 

 screws. Possibly a wedge was needed also, 

 to make a substantial job of it. 



To return to the wringer : I selected my 

 wedges so that the tenon required considera- 

 ble driving before it would come down to 

 the shoulder ; and when down, the uprights 

 were so rigid that it seemed as if the keys 

 below were not needed. However, I made 

 these keys draw just right, and then drove 

 them all they would bear, without breaking 

 the wood. By the way, it is quite a trade to 

 learn just how much driving wood and met- 

 als will bear ; and this can be learned only 

 by experience. Those uprights will proba- 

 bly never loosen or move again ; and in all 

 the repairing I did, I tried to remedy the 

 defects made in manufacturing in the first 

 place. The wringer will probably work for 

 years, no mishaps occurring, such as I have 

 mentioned. 



Now, while the world is full of people 

 wanting something to do, waiting for some- 

 body to set them at work, there is only one 

 in a hundred— no, perhaps not more than 

 one in a thousand— who has gumption or 

 energy enough (it occurs to me again that I 

 am using pretty strong language ; but, dear 

 friends, I do hope it does not apply to you) 

 to see that the tools he works with are in 

 shape to do their best. There are individu- 

 als, I know, who like nice tools, and those 

 who won't go to work until their tools are 

 in good trim ; but they are few and far be- 

 tween. In fact, there is such a tremendous 

 want for such people that they almost al- 

 ways get above— that is not just the expres- 

 sion I mean, but it tells the story — using 

 tools of any kind. They get a reputation of 

 doing every thing thoroughly and well, and 

 at the same time expeditiously, by using 

 good sound common sense at whatever they 

 may apply their hands to, and pretty soon 

 they get great wages. A relative was stop- 

 ping with us a few weeks ago, who gets 

 $3500 a year I questioned him some as to 

 why he could command such pay. It is just 

 in the line I have been telling you ; and one 

 other thing comes in with it. He said ever 

 since he commenced selling goods he has 

 made it a point to tell the purchaser every 

 thing about the make of the goods that was 

 to be known. He thoroughly posts himself 

 in regard to the use of the article, the meth- 

 od of manufacture, and then he is so strict- 

 ly honest that no one who ever deals with 

 him ever has reason to suspect him of even 

 " keeping dark.'" He sometimes sells sin- 

 gle firms S5000 worth of goods. Now, then, 

 friends, you have something of a key to this 

 problem, " What shall we do ? " I think I 

 can tell a great many of you what to do. 

 Go and turn your wife's wringer ; see if the 



