1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



999 



0a^ pejiEg, 



He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; 

 and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a 

 city.— Pbov. 16:32. 



a ECEMBER 7 was a beautiful sunshiny 

 day ; in fact, it seemed more like April 

 or May than December; but at the Home 

 of the Honey-bees we were exceedingly 

 anxious that it should be a fine day. 

 The foundation for our large reservoir was 

 already finished, upon the hill near the fac- 

 tory. The staves for the great tub were 

 piled up close by. The windmill, pump, 

 and other machinery, were all in readiness, 

 and the man was expected on the morning 

 train to " boss the job " of putting the ma- 

 chinery in place, and rearing the whole 

 structure. We telegraphed him to come the 

 day before ; but as it was rainy we did not 

 feel very bad when we found that he did not 

 come. When the sun, bright, clear, and 

 warm, shone out on the day in question, 

 however, we felt very anxious. Our people 

 are all interested in the matter, and the 

 workers in wood, metals, dirt, brick, stone, 

 etc., were almost as anxious as I to see this 

 individual who travels from place to place 

 bossing the erection of such structures. 

 Sure enough, he got off the train. After a 

 few brief questions he told the carpenters 

 what to do ; then the masons were set at 

 work ; then the ditchers commenced in the 

 trenches, to put in the great wooden pipes, 

 down out of the way of frost, and all work- 

 ed with a will. 



I now wish to digress from my story a 

 little right here, to consider this matter of 

 bossing others, or, if you choose, of taking 

 charge of a number of men. It comes a 

 good deal in the same line as taking charge 

 of out-apiaries — having several apiaries in- 

 stead of one. How is it that some have a 

 gift in that line, and others have not V The 

 man who came to put up our waterworks 

 receives four dollars a day, and all expenses. 

 There is nothing about him at first sight to 

 indicate that he is much more than a com- 

 mon day laborer ; but the great firm of Fair- 

 banks, Morse & Co., who put up such works, 

 and guarantee them against leakage, etc., 

 gave him an excellent recommendation. 

 They said, that whatever work he put up 

 never had to be done over afterward. This 

 is a great thing, I grant, and I watched our 

 new friend anxiously to see how he had 

 earned this high reputation. I soon discov- 

 ered that it was almost altogether in giving 

 his personal supervision to every little point. 

 I presume he has usually two or three men 

 to help him — possibly four. Here at the 

 Home of the Honey-bees we are in the habit 

 of setting a dozen, or perhaps thirty or 

 forty at work all at once. This man insisted 

 on doing every thing himself, pretty much. 

 His helpers are simply waiters. They hand- 

 ed him the tools, and held the pieces while 

 he drove the nails or turned the bolts He 

 was not satisfied unless he had the wrench 

 in hand and tried every nut and bolt before 

 he left it. With the years of experience he 

 has had in putting up similar structures, 

 and perhaps in repairing faulty ones, he 



knew just where to expect something to give 

 way. He never broke a bolt or bursted a 

 joint by turning it too hard ; but every thing 

 was turned up just about as far as the 

 strength of metals or wood would allow. 

 He never said, " I guess that will do well 

 enough, " and let it go. If a bolt turned in 

 its place, or if a nut slipped a thread, it had 

 to be taken out, and a new one put in its 

 place. Undertaking such kind of work in 

 December was exceedingly risky, and I was 

 very anxious indeed to have the whole ar- 

 rangement moving at once, from the factory 

 clear to the top of the reservoir and wind- 

 mill tower. I am so much in the habit of 

 being " boss " of every thing on the prem- 

 ises, it tried me exceedingly to be obliged to 

 await the movements of a single individual. 

 I could have my choice, it is true ; but if he 

 did not have every thing just as he wanted 

 it, the company would not be responsible for 

 a failure of some part of the work. It was 

 quite a cross for me to bear ; but, dear 

 friends, it did me good. It was just the 

 discipline I needed, pretty nearly if not 

 quite in a line with the above thought in our 

 text. Now, in our work here, no one is ever 

 idle. Strangers who come here to work are 

 often a good deal surprised, and sometimes 

 feel hurt, because they are told that nobody 

 ever need wait for somebody else during 

 working hours. A few days ago a friend of 

 mine hired three men to come and help him 

 thrash. The machine did not get along, and 

 so they sat down and loafed the whole half- 

 day, waiting for the machine to come, and 

 he had to pay them full wages. I have nev- 

 er done such a thing in my life. I would 

 have told those men to pick up stones from 

 the field, gather up rubbish and cut it into 

 firewood, dig ditches, slick up the yard, pull 

 weeds, straighten water-courses, fix the 

 fences, straighten up the underpinning 

 under buildings before it gives out, or some- 

 thing of that sort. I do not believe that I 

 ever saw a homestead where I could not set 

 half a dozen men at work profitably for half 

 a day or several days — that is, more profit- 

 ably than to sit still and wait for somebody 

 else. Very likely I have a special gift in 

 this direction. 



As this is a matter of exceedingly great 

 importance to most of our readers, I wish to 

 digress still a little further to tell you how 

 I learned it. It came about principally in 

 the effort to find employment for people 

 whom I wished to benefit. To* come right 

 to the point, I think I may say, because I 

 wished to bring them to Christ ? Jesus. I 

 have taxed my wits and my abilities day and 

 night, for perhaps twenty years, in this 

 direction. Sometimes, by an unexpected 

 occurrence, three, four, or half a dozen men 

 are stopped in their work, and they come to 

 me. Perhaps others are waiting for me be- 

 sides. My plan is this : 



I first say, " Boys, just stand right still, 

 just a minute ; don't go away, any of you, 

 until I give you leave. Here, George, you 

 pick up stones over in that field/' 



"All right, " says (ieorge; "'but where 

 shall I put them?" 



"I'ut them in little heaps until I get 

 ready to tell you. Willie, go to the fruit- 



