168 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



smile as he replied : " Yes, I take it all 

 back, and more too; for 1 really believe that 

 just now he is the most profitable man we 

 have on the farm." 



I hope the above may be a good lesson 

 not only for fathers and mothers, but for 

 boys and girls who are good for some things 

 and not for others. You wouldn't think 

 from the above that I was the sort of chap 

 that would ever hire help by the dozens or 

 hundreds, would you?* 



It was not until I was grown up, had a 

 family, and Gleanings was started, that I 

 had any serious thoughts of hiring help for 

 any other reason than to help A. I. Boot. 

 I have told you .of meeting the young 

 preacher, Rev. A. T. Reed. Well, he preach- 

 ed a boyish sermon about working for 

 Christ and humanity that made my heart 

 bound at the thought of standing by his 

 side and working with him for poor needy 

 and hungry humanity. In a prayer meet- 

 ing not long after, I mentioned the matter 

 of giving work to those in need. I have told 

 you about one young girl whose mother told 

 me she " wasn't a mite of use " in the home, 

 and how this girl later on took charge of 

 the subscription list of Gleanings^ etc., but 

 I did not tell you of bow, in answer to my 

 prayers, I gave work to almost the whole 

 town — fathers and mothers and children. 

 When our brick store that held the windmill 

 was full of workmen, upstairs and down, 

 we had a lot of children in the yard back 

 of the store using boxes for seats and tables, 

 nailing up small work, making queen-cages, 

 etc. A friend came along one day; and 

 after looking through the busy factory he 

 came among the juveniles, out in the open 

 air. 



" Well, I declare," said he, " this must l)e 

 what one would call ' the little end of the 

 horn.' " 



A prominent business man said a few 

 days ago, " The first work I ever did was 

 for A. I. Root, and I worked for three cents 

 an hour." 



I now recall that I started the' school- 

 children at 5 cents; but some smaller ones 

 who cried because they couldn't have " a 

 job " I set to work at 3 cents. 



* When I first began waiting on Mrs. Root, a 

 relative of hers, and a very jrood wise woman, re- 

 marked to Sue that she feared I would never have 

 II vitality " enough to support a wife. That word 

 "vitality" sort o' "stuck in my crop," and I said, 

 "Sue! we'll see about that," and I think the remark 

 did me good. When I began to realize that I should 

 likely be "handicapped" for life in the way of health, 

 I began daily bathing, etc.. and studied the best 

 authorities in regard to building up a good strong 

 constitution. This relative, years after, when she was 

 left a widow, made our h)ec-veils in lier own home 

 for many years, and I fear no one has ever made 

 them since her death with such painstaking care as 

 she did. 



Since laws have been passed prohibiting 

 '• child labor " 1 have ofteiv felt that they 

 are overdoing the matter. Many children 

 would be far better off busy at work, espe- 

 cially in the open air, than running the 

 streets in idleness. 



In order to give as man}' of the needy 

 work as possible it became a study as to 

 what we could make in Medina instead of 

 sending off to buy it; and I soon had a 

 carpenter-shop, a blacksmith-shop, a ma- 

 chine-shop, printing-office, tin-shop, etc., 

 and thus 1 Avas able to employ all kinds of 

 help, each one working at his own trade, 

 and all this directly or indirectly for the 

 bee business. I even went into our county 

 jail (as you may remember) and took the 

 boys who would much rather do real work 

 than to stay there in idleness. Had I done 

 all this to make money, and get rich, instead 

 of lending a helping hand to humanity, I 

 could not have consistently used my little 

 prayer, " Lord, help," as I did all along. 



Let us now pause a minute. A good kind 

 friend has suggested that Edison (see p. 

 9.")9, Dec. 1) could have done just as much 

 for humanity if our Government had owned 

 liis plant; and also that, if intoxicants were 

 sold to the people at bare cost, so there 

 would be no money in the traffic, the saloon 

 business would die at once. In regard to 

 this last suggestion, if I am correct, the 

 " dispensatory " sj'stem was right along in 

 tliat line; but it soon developed there was 

 not only intemperance but shameful fraud 

 almost as bad as before. 



In regard to Edison and others like him 

 working for the Government, I shall have 

 to confess I do not understand just how it 

 could be done. Those who have written me, 

 if I have got it right, suggest that every 

 workman should have just what he needs 

 and no more, and high-priced salaries are 

 to be done away with; for Uncle Samuel is 

 to own every thing, and there are to be no 

 more either rich or poor. This condition 

 may come to pass in the " kingdom of hea- 

 ven," but I have little faith that it ever will 

 here on eai'th. If humanity could not own 

 and control ]>atents, big farms, great fac- 

 tories, etc., I greatly fear that, without the 

 incentive of ownership, little would be done. 

 As might be supposed in employing so 

 many people, I was often short of funds; 

 but I made it a Christian duty to pay off 

 all every Saturday night ; but to do this, 

 other bills for stuff often had to wait. At 

 one time when I was pushing ahead and 

 branching out almost recklessly, a good 

 fiiend in our Medina bank Avrote me a 

 letter. A good many old heads in business 

 were predicting disaster ahead of me, and 



