296 



G1.EAN1NGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 1 



home maiuly for the basswood-trees grow- 

 ing on it. There are thousands of them, 

 large and small, and I wanted the other 

 timber out of the wa}'. When I talked 

 about getting- a man to cut it into cord wood 

 my neighbor said there was nobody who 

 would cut wood (bjr the cord) nowdays. 

 They used to do it in olden time, but it was 

 too hard work. When it became known, 

 however, that I wanted somebody to cut wood 

 by the cord during winter, a man volun- 

 teered to do it for 60 cts. per cord. The old 

 price had been 50. I am speaking of 18- 

 inch stovewood. I told him I would not 

 only give 60 cents but I would give 65 if he 

 would take every thing as it came, little 

 and big. He agreed to this, and I told him 

 to begin nearest the road until I got around 

 again. A few days later I found he had 

 gone away off to the back part of the woods, 

 and, in fact, across the line, and had cut 

 down some nice beech-trees on atiot/ier 

 man's land! When I remonstrated he ad- 

 mitted he had disobeyed orders, and had 

 not worked according to contract, giving no 

 other reason for not keeping his word than 

 that "no man could make a living" in 

 cutting such trees as he found where I had 

 directed him to start in. Of course, I could 

 have refused to give him any pay for cut- 

 ting wood on land that did not belong to 

 me, contrary to orders; but he is a poor 

 ipan, and so I called it a mistake, and paid 

 him just the same, and now I have got to 

 fix it up with my neighbor as best I can. 



Let me give you one more illustration. I 

 wanted some plowing done. A man with a 

 big stout team said he would do it if I 

 would give him $3.50 a day. While I went 

 along with him and helped to get the bush- 

 es and stumps out of the way he did a very 

 good day's work. One day, however, I 

 was obliged to be absent. I told him I did 

 not expect to be back till night. Unexpec- 

 tedly I got back in the middle of the after- 

 noon. When just in sight of the field I 

 caught a glimpse of him disappearing with 

 his team over the hill. As he said in the 

 morning he had a bad headache I conclud- 

 ed he had decided to put in only three- 

 fourths of the day's work. When he came 

 to settle up, however, he insisted on having 

 pay for a full day's work. Now, one does 

 not like to be small and close, especially 

 about trifles; but where one lets a good 

 many things of this kind pass, thinking it 

 is not of sufficient importance to make a 

 fuss about, he finds himself, finally, where 

 his crop costs more than he gets for it. 

 " Eternal vigilance " is not only the price 

 of liberty, but it is the price of success in 

 almost any work. Lots of boys — j'es, I 

 might say lots of men— will do very well — 

 yes, I may say tiptop — as long as their em- 

 ployer goes right along with them; but 

 there are not very many (and I say it with 

 sadness) who have more regard for the all- 

 seeing eye of the great God above than they 

 have for any human employer. It is praise- 

 worthy, no doubt, to have somebody who 

 tries hard to have his work make a good 



showing before his employer when night 

 comes; but, oh how much more praisewor- 

 thy it is to find one who has the faith to 

 believe (and let his daily actions show that 

 belief) that it is more important to have 

 every thing' right in God's sight than be- 

 fore any human being! What a millenni- 

 um it would be here on earth if we had 

 people of that sort! 



I have had many kind and encouraging 

 words because people have found that I, 

 even while alone and unwatched, strive to 

 be honest and unselfish; but, to tell the 

 truth, I do it only by fits and starts. The 

 voice of conscience and the influence of the 

 Holy Spirit (perhaps both are one and the 

 same thing) are constantly prodding me. I 

 do not quite like the word, but I do not 

 think of another that will express it. It is 

 as natural for me to be selfish as it is to 

 breathe, and I find myself almost continu- 

 ally yielding to it if I do not look out; but 

 that better spirit comes in, at least occa- 

 sionally, and may God be praised that it 

 comes occasionally, if not always. Let me 

 illustrate it by a little story which I think 

 bears on this point. 



I told you about the dogs and cats, how 

 they annoyed me. The neighbors said, 

 " Shoot the cats and the dogs too." They 

 said the law would uphold me in so doing 

 — it was my duty. But, dear friends, sup- 

 pose one of you should visit me. Suppose 

 you should see A. I. Root, the author of 

 these Home papers, with a pistol in his 

 hand, trying to shoot a cat! I presume it 

 would be only trying, for I never fired a 

 pistol in my life — that is, I do not remem- 

 ber that I ever did, and the poor cats would 

 stand a good chance of not getting hurt at 

 all. Suppose, however, I should be lucky 

 enough to hit one, and it should drag itself 

 away in terrible suiTering. No, no! I am 

 62 years old, and have never fired a pistol 

 so far. I may possibly commence, but not 

 on a cat or a dog, God helping me. Well, 

 the cats drove away the poultry from their 

 cold victuals, and then I drove them away 

 with corncobs; then I threw ears of corn; 

 but they looked up in my face confidingly, 

 and seemed loath to believe that I had any 

 very wicked feelings toward them. A nice 

 little hammer hangs up on a nail near the 

 door. One great ungainly cat bothered me 

 by breaking the glass in my poultry-house 

 in order to get in. You may remember that 

 I remonstrated with the boys some years 

 ago because they could not make the chick- 

 ens stay away from the plant-beds. I told 

 them if they would give the chickens a good 

 scaring they would go away and stay away, 

 and I gave them an example of how it was 

 to be done. I frightened the flocks of hens, 

 roosters and all, so they cackled about it 

 nearly all the rest of the afternoon, and 

 they did not come near our plant-beds for 

 weeks afterward. Well, one day when I 

 was sorely tried by this cat I declared I 

 would give it such a scaring as I did the 

 chickens. I took the hammer off the nail, 

 and, remembering my practice witli an In- 



