158 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



face close to the radiator, I could get a glimpse 

 of the spot vvlu-re the water came from. With 

 a clean cloth I wiped the water all off and 

 watched its reappearance. In a minute I whs 

 ready to shout -'Eureka 1" The leak did not 

 come from the juint ai all. It came from a 

 minute sandhole in the malleable iron in tlie 

 elbow. There was very little room to use the 

 hammer in such a place; but after twisting 

 myself in some more (lueer shapes I managed 

 to get a prettv fair blow with the peen of the 

 hammer. T.vo or three strokes did the busi- 

 ness, and I just felt happy when I saw the last 

 drop of water curl up in a little wreath of 

 steam, and the pipe was left dry, clean, and 

 hot. Over and over again I have seen me- 

 chanics go to work and spend hours of time and 

 considerable money when almost a single tap 

 with a light hammer in just the right spot 

 would have been a p(M-f»-ct cure for the thing 

 they were trying to renu^dy. All that was need- 

 ed was skill and brains to wield a little ham- 

 mer. On one occasion, expensive men were 

 employed, one after the other, to remedy a 

 peculiar trouble with the pump. They finished 

 the job. so they said, and they got their pay. 

 We are sure of that. But they went away 

 leaving the pump no better than when they 

 came there. Finally a mere boy studied otit 

 where the difficulty was, and fixed it himself. 



Now, people are out of work because it costs 

 so much to have any thing fixed. People can 

 not stand it. They have been humbugged by 

 paying to have things done only to find them 

 no better, but sometimes worse. You may think 

 I am complaining of humanity. I do not mean 

 to. I make stupid blunders myself, and a great 

 many of them. But 1 am learning every day 

 of my life. If I were out of work I^ would com- 

 mence educating myself to repair domestic 

 machinery. Wlien I first startf>d in business as 

 a mechanic I did this very thing. My business 

 was watch-repairing; but if anybody wanted 

 me to mend a coffee-mill I took it thankfully 

 and cheerfully; and I made sure the coffee-mill 

 did good work by actual test; and then I made 

 sure again that my price for repairing was not 

 more than the mill was worth. To do this I 

 sometimes worked for one-fourth of regular 

 wages. But I was determined to build up a 

 bnsiness.no matter what it cost, and most of 

 you know how I have succeeded. 



The market-wagon came around a few min- 

 utes ago. with the back springs broken down. 

 Three pieces of steel were snapped. As the 

 roads were a little rough, it is not very sur- 

 prising: but I have learned by experience, how- 

 ever, that there is almost always a very plain 

 reason; and. nine times out of ten. if we inves- 

 tigate we shall find the breakdown resulted 

 from carelessness or forgetful ness. After giving 

 directions to the blacksmith about an imme- 

 diate repair I took hold of the hind wheel near 

 the break, gave it a shake, and saw that it slip- 

 ped on the steel spindle nearly an inch. * 



" Why," said the blacksmith, " you have lost 

 out the washers I put in there about six months 

 ago. Don't you linovv I told you that whoever 

 greased the wagon must be very careful that 

 the washers should not drop out and be left out 

 when the wagon was greased?" We always 

 grease the wagon while it stands in tfie middle 

 of the floor of the room where it is kept over 

 night and loaded up. If tiie washer fell out it 

 dropped on the floor. The shake of the load, in 

 consequence of these washers being left out, 

 was probably what caused the break of the 

 springs. The driver said he knew it had been 

 out a long time. The world is clamoring for 

 men who think — who are alive to the interests 

 and rights of other men. People come to me 

 day after day, with pitiful faces, saying they 



have nothing in the world to do. and do not 

 know wheie they can find employment. Now,, 

 may be you think 1 am rough and severe: but I 

 can hardly believe there is a man, woman, or 

 child in our land who has absolutely nothing to 

 do if such persons were dead in earnest in want- 

 ing something to do. Even if we are out of 

 work, it costs us something to live. Food, 

 clothing, and fuel cost money. There are few 

 people, especially poor people, who take care of 

 their clothing as they might do, and who take 

 sufficient pains in keeping it in repair; and the 

 same with shoes. My boots are promptly and 

 properly cared for. and they will last two years 

 and do me good service; but a great many do 

 not care for their boots or shoes at all. If they 

 clean them they rarely or never oil them. The 

 simple matter of neglecting to oil your boots- 

 and shoes will make them wear out in six 

 months or less, where they might otherwise 

 last two or three times as long — if also repaired 

 promptly and judiciously. 



During the winter time we must pay out 

 more or less for fuel. The way fuel is common- 

 ly used, half or threefonrtlis goes up the chim- 

 ney. Using the intelligence that God has given, 

 you will cut down the bill for fuel a half or 

 possibly more. See to it that the wind does not 

 blow under your house and up through the 

 cracks of the floor nor in around the windows. 

 I believe in ventilation, but von can have the 

 best ventilation in tlie world and save your fuel 

 besides. 



When I was quite a small boy I became in- 

 terested in this matter of protection from the 

 weather. I wanted to work with tools; but 

 there was a family of seven children, so my 

 tools and my work would be rather in the way 

 in the house. I made a little shop of my own^ 

 outdoors; and when the weather was severe I 

 warmed it with a brick oven of my own man- 

 ufacture. After I had had experience in hav- 

 ing my eyes filled with smoke, I learned my 

 first lessons in conducting smoke. The cellar 

 to your dwelling can be made very comfortable, 

 and a neat work-room during the winter time. 



For ten or twelve years a great part of the 

 cellar under our home has been >o untidy — I 

 don't like the word " untidy "' after all. for Mrs. 

 Root has persisted in sweeping and scrubbing it 

 up in spite of all difficulties: but since we put 

 in the new heating-apparatus we have had the 

 walls whitewashed and the floors cemented, 

 and now it is such a pretty, light, warm room 

 that Huber prefers it for a playroom, and the 

 girls are going down there to study their les- 

 sons. The place has been made so pleasant 

 that I feel happy every time I go down there 

 to take TTiy accustomed nap just before dinner. 

 With some hard work and a little expense, al- 

 most every home may have a cellar that will 

 do quite well for a workshop in winter. 



When Orange Judd was a boy in college he 

 ran short of funds. He too had learned to " fix 

 things" in his childhood. Well, he wanted 

 money, and he wanted the most he could make 

 in a short space of time. He went off across 

 the country fixing clocks. Would people em- 

 ploy an unknown adventurer? He told them 

 he was coming back a month later, and he did 

 not wa'^t any pay until they had tested the 

 clock thoroughly. Of course, there was no 

 trouble in getting work in that way; and there 

 will be no trouble in getting work now. If your 

 determination is to give full value for the mon- 

 ey you will receive, and if you are prepared to 

 be responsible for your work, everybody will 

 want you. 



A good deal has been said about cutting off 

 the profits of the middlemen. lam not quar- 

 reling with the middlemen. I do not believe 

 they are cheats. But there is a certain kind of 



