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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



Travelers wore to set their watches forward or 

 backward exactly an hour after passing cer- 

 tain points. As one thinks of it. lie wonders 

 how the world got along withont having some 

 regular system like this years before they did. 

 I believe it was expected that the great world 

 of people — especially intelligent, educated 

 American people — would fall in with this rea- 

 sonable scheme of having something fixed and 

 definite in regard to the matter of time. Like 

 other improvements, however — in fact, accord- 

 ing to the language -of our text — Uncle Sam 

 was obliged to acknowledge, '" My people doth 

 not consider." A great many did not under- 

 stand; and those who did, in a heedless, 

 thoughtless way, "" kicked." if I may use the 

 American expression, against the innovation. 

 Of course, there were certain points where rail- 

 road time agreed with the time already in 

 vogue, or within a very few minutes: and in 

 such places there was no trouble. Here in 

 Medina we happened to be at a point where 

 there would be about 28 minutes' difference 

 between standard time and the time we had 

 been accustomed to; but the truth of the matter 

 is, the most of us had not b^en accustomed to 

 <t7uj particular time. The clocks in our homes 

 varied from a few minutes to half an hour — 

 sometimes a whole liour. When somebody out 

 in the country, iiowever, had reason to think 

 that his clock was a whole hour out of the way, 

 he shoved it back to about where some neigh- 

 bor guessed it oHfy/it to be. Watchmakers and 

 jewelers did a little in trying to straighten 

 things np: but many of them, in smaller towns, 

 were as stupid as the people in the country. I 

 was in that business for a good manv years, 

 and I know something about it. Rival jewel- 

 ers would have their clocks as much as 10 min- 

 utes apart; and I thought sometimes they 

 stuck to it just to spite each otlier. 



Who can tell the time that has been wasted — 

 yes, valuable time wasted— by the resulting 

 want of harmony in meeting appointments'? 

 Let me give you a few items from experience 

 that meet me right along. Two of our men 

 agreed to get up in the nighttime to make some 

 important changes that could not be made 

 while the machinery was running. One had 

 his clock set by sun time, and the other had 

 standard time: so a valuable man stood out in 

 the cold, waiting for the door to open. I do not 

 know whether he charged me for that half- 

 hour or not; but I presume it was all right if 

 he did do so. The man who drives our big 

 team was going out into the basswood orchard 

 to get some timber. Three men were to go 

 with him. He told them to be on hand at a 

 certain corner, at such an hour in the morning. 

 A part of them had sun time, and the others 

 had standard. The team and expensive men 

 (worth a dollar an hour at least) had to wait 

 for the men who had the other kind of time. A 

 father and mother, with a family of liitle chil- 

 dren, came down to the depot one Saturday 

 morning, just 1.") minutes after the train had 

 left. Thoy could have reached home by night, 

 had not tln^ clock been sun time where they 

 stopped over night. I heard them discussing 

 about going to a hotel to stay all day Saturday 

 and all day Sutiday. They were poor people, 

 and, besides being needed at home, they could 

 very ill afford the expense of two days at a 

 hotel with their children. They started for the 

 train so as to be 15 minutes ahead; and I do 

 think it would have taught the m.an or woman 

 who kept sun time a useful lesson to make 

 them pay for all this expense and trouble, be- 

 cause they stubbornly refused to set their clock 

 correctly, according to the best light of reason 

 and common sense at the present time. 



There is no need of multiplying these in- 



stances. You have all seen it. When I wa 

 having my teeth fixed, the dentist told me tt 

 come at half- past one. Well, even as bright: 

 man as he is had his clock set by sun time. Hi 

 time, in the middle of these short winter days 

 is worth a dollar an hour or more; but he migh 

 have lost half a dollar by having his time se 

 according to his own notion rather than ac 

 coi'ding to the dictates of business and sense 

 If it had been the other way, I should have los 

 my tira(^. 



You know how I have tak'm the part of rail 

 roads— that is. I have in many cases: and sonn 

 of the friends have stoi)ped taking our journa 

 because, they said, I sided in with the " monop 

 ollsts.'" I think it was only yesterday, or th( 

 day before, that I overheard a grown-up mat 

 say something like this: 



"Let the railroads have such time as the; 

 choose; but what business have they to inter 

 fere with the time (ce keep? All in the work 

 they do it for is just to be arbitrary, and shov 

 their authority. They are getting the uppe 

 hand of us every day, and bossing in this, that 

 and the other. Now they are undertaking b 

 tell us how we shall set our clocks in our owi 

 homes." 



Such speeches as the above bring to my min( 

 vividly our text. Why, the ox in his stabh 

 should have more sense, for he knows his owner 

 and knows where his interests lie. The proph 

 et, however, adds, in a kindly way, '• Hut Is 

 rael doth not know, my people doth not con 

 sider." 



Again, we hear the expression over and ovei 

 " (Jod's time is good enough for anybody;" * and 

 "Give us the good old-fashioned time of on 

 fathers." Well, there may be some sense i 

 wanting the good old-fashioned time; butissui 

 time any more God's time than standard time 

 If God is supposed to use sense and reasor 

 the latter would certainly be the time he wouli 

 recommend. It is about 35,000 miles around th 

 earth. The sun goes around it in 24 hours— oi 

 at least, it seems to. Just 20 miles east of n 

 we find the large city of Akron. The differ 

 ence in sun time— that is, if there were such i 

 thing as accurate sun time— wonid be about 

 minute and 20 seconds. Now, would anybod 

 be so stupid as to declare that Akron should 

 have one time and Medina another, and tha 

 the railroads should change their time to agre 

 with every station? A minute and 20 second] 

 would not n)ake very much diff-rence; but it 

 some kinds of business, where the proprietor: 

 have learned the value of even minutes, i 

 might make a great deal of troul)le. The cit'i 

 of Oberlin. about 25 miles west of us, had 

 fearful railroad collision that resulted just froni 

 the lack of one minute to get out of the wayi 

 Their regulations were figured down so exac i 

 that a diffenMice of one minute in the watclieii 

 of the railroai officials brought disaster. Oi 

 course, even railroad comi)anies do not, as i\ 

 general thing, work on such close margins; bu 

 in this case a combination of circumstances 

 made a minute of exceeding iTnportance. Thd 

 railroad companies have decided to mak( 

 the time one hour earlier after running west- 

 ward a little over lOOO miles. I tliink no onfi 



* Wlien I he;ir people sayinfr that tliis. tliat, an(| 

 tlie other is fiood enough tlie wiiy Giul jjavi" it to us. 

 I feel lil<o sayins' to sucli people, " Loolc lier(>, mj 

 fiiend, why do you wear srectuclesV Avp not 1hf| 

 eyes llijit God g-ave you g:ood eiioujili ? Wliy do yoi 

 fuss or l)other witli tliese tliinfis that are only inven 

 tioiis of man V" Tlie truth is, God {jave us a little 

 expecting- us, by oin* God-g-iven Intellect, reason 

 and common sense, to lii/nt up and find out tliingSi 

 ever so much better; and the time has gone by wlier 

 any reasonable being <"in oliject to iJrogres.s ttm 

 shoi't cuts because God did not furnish it withou' 

 any etfoi't on our part. 



