68 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



all the way through (just like that dog); 

 and even if I should stop my story to chase 

 him clear off the farm, or even clear out of 

 the county, I am afraid he will be back the 

 next instant. And by the way, dear friends, 

 it has occurred to me that the prince of 

 darkness travels, especially when he is up 

 to mischief, about as fast as the electric 

 waves Marconi has invoked; and with this 

 long preface I will begin my storj'. 



Last spring I was planning, as you may 

 know, to have a summer outing in the Trav- 

 erse region, and I was very anxious indeed 

 to have a couple of acres of potatoes on that 

 forty acres in the woods. I wrote to my 

 young friend Orville to find somebody, if 

 he could, who would plow the ground on 

 that piece that had not been plowed for over 

 twenty' years. I told him, also, to get a 

 man somewhere in the neighborhood to cut 

 down the sprouts and grub out the roots so 

 as to get the land in fair trim. But the 

 teams and farmers were all so busy he said 

 he did not know whether he could get any- 

 body or not. Along toward July he wrote 

 me he did not believe he could find anybody 

 unless it was one man near by who uiight 

 get around to do it. Another thing, I could 

 not get away from home, and so, even if the 

 ground was plowed, I should not be there 

 to plant it. I wrote to Mr. Hilbert that if 

 Orville should get the ground plowed, and 

 if he had time and any potatoes left after 

 his own planting, to get in some potatoes 

 on my place if he could. If he could not 

 do so handily, let it go and I would sow 

 the piece to clover in August, as many farm- 

 ers do in that region. 



Well, one beautiful morning along the lat- 

 ter part of July I called at Mr. Hilbert's, 

 and one of the first questions was as to 

 whether any plowing had been done. He 

 said he reallj' did not know. If it had been 

 done he was too busy at home to do any 

 thing with it. I then said if it was plowed 

 I would put in clover; if not, I would try 

 myself to have it done. Then I went away 

 with a light heart through the well-known 

 path down through the woods, wondering if 

 I should see some plowing done over by that 

 spring or not. To my great surprise, I 

 found not onlj^ a plowed field of toward two 

 acres, but a growing crop on it. Part of 

 the field was planted to beans and the rest 

 to potatoes. In much surprise I went over 

 to the residence of Orville, whom I had em- 

 ployed to look after my property. Now 

 comes the part of my story that is going to 

 test my ingenuousness. May God give me 

 grace. Orville said the man who did the 

 grubbing put in the beans and potatoes. 

 We will call this man Mr. Brown, for con- 

 venience. Orville said he told him he had 

 better not do it without writing to me. Mr. 

 Brown replied that, if he took time to write 

 me, it would be entirely too late to get in 

 beans or potatoes either. He further said 

 that he understood from one of the Hilbert 

 family I had written to Mr. Hilbert that I 

 was too busy to get away, and that Mr. H., 

 or anybody else might have the use of the 



ground if thej- would plant it. You see it 

 was comparatively new ground, and consid- 

 erable labor would be needed to keep the 

 crop in any kind of condition; and this 

 first crop (at least so Mr. Brown thought) 

 would break up the tough sod so as to fit 

 and make it really better for the crop an- 

 other year. 



Now, Mr. Brown's statement was pretty 

 near the truth, but it was not quite the 

 truth. Very likely he so understood it. 

 He did not see Mr. Hilbert himself, because 

 Mr. H. was absent ; but he did see Mr. 

 Hilbert's son. The latter had not seen the 

 letter I wrote — he only knew I had written 

 something; but j'oung Hilbert did not know 

 anj' thing about what I said about putting 

 in clover in August. Well, I was rather 

 glad to see a crop on the ground, even if it 

 was not mine. I supposed that, of course, 

 Mr. Brown expected to give me some sort of 

 share for the use of the ground, for I had 

 paid $8.25 for having it plowed. Now, I 

 confess I felt a little surprised and some- 

 what hurt when Mr. Brown said that he 

 had not intended to give me any share, as 

 no crop would have been on the ground if 

 he had not taken hold of it. In fact, he 

 said it would not even have been plowed if 

 he had not volunteered to help the man by 

 cutting the roots and small trees out. At 

 this I said, "Well, Mr. Brown, you put in 

 several days, as I understand it, in grub- 

 bing and tutting out the roots, etc. Of 

 course, 3'ou will allow this as rent for the 

 use of the ground." To my surprise, he 

 declared that I would have to pay him some 

 five or six dollars for this work, as I had 

 agreed, besides giving him the use of the 

 land. 



Now, do not be too hard on Mr. Brown. 

 I think I could take his side of the case, 

 and make it look pretty fair and reason- 

 able. By the wajs when I gave that little 

 talk in the church Mr. Brown and his wife 

 and children were all present. The ques- 

 tion that confronted me was not what would 

 be fair as Dieii generally do business; nor 

 was it what would be fair according to the 

 opinion of the neighbors or those who knew 

 of the transaction. The question that con- 

 fronted me was what course I should pur- 

 sue that would be most pleasing in the eyes 

 of the great Father above. The old pa- 

 triarch Abraham, in pleading with God, 

 said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth 

 do right?" I like to think of this, and I 

 like to think that the same great Judge who 

 can not err is watching us with loving kind- 

 ness. Shall not we in like manner do right 

 in his sight? On page 650 of Gleanings 

 for August 1, last year, I alluded to this 

 transaction. I spoke about kneeling on the 

 summit of that big hill as the morning sun 

 was just shedding its beams over all that 

 part of the earth. I told you of praying 

 for this brother, and that in a few minutes 

 more the matter was pleasantly settled. I 

 will tell you now how it was arranged. I 

 went down to Mr. Brown's and told him 

 that the matter of his crops on my land was 



