420 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



and too much of a want of conscience, I al- 

 low ; but let us not be discouraged when we 

 see this. Let us look for the better qualities 

 that many times overbalance the evil. Good 

 traits uiiii evil traits may often be found in 

 the same individual ; or, if you choose, we 

 often find men who seem to have a lack of 

 principle in one direction, and in the next 

 they show themselves liberal and generous. 

 I don't know why it is, and I have just been 

 thinking perhaps you may see the same dis- 

 position in myself. If you do, please think 

 gently when you see my imperfections, and 

 1-emember my other good qualities in a way 

 tliat will help to overbalance them. Educa- 

 tion, many times, has much to do with it. 

 AVe have been accustomed to do tricky 

 things, and don't stop to realize how wrong 

 they ai'e ; and at the same time we may in 

 general be generous and liberal. Let mere- 

 late a little circumstance. 



I have just purchased a span of horses 

 that cost me toward $400. Good judges de- 

 clared I had one of the best teams in the 

 county. For several weeks they seemed 

 perfect, without a flaw or fault. Finally one 

 of them showed unmistakable symptoms of 

 what we took to be blind staggers. A good 

 friend of mine, and one whom I have always 

 considered to be a very honest man, advised 

 me to keep still about it and never mention 

 that such a thing ever happened. This at- 

 tack happened luckily (so he said) out in 

 the fields, where nobody noticed it. 



" Just keep still about it ; take him into 

 the city of Cleveland ; and as nobody can 

 see a thing amiss in liis looks, you can sell 

 him for all he cost and more too." 



I protested. 



" Why, said he, he was put on to yon, and 

 you are an innocent party. Just sell him 

 tlie same way you got him, and may be he 

 won't show it again for months, and perhaps 

 not at all." 



I quietly replied, that, if he were sold, the 

 one who bought him should know as much 

 about his failings as I did. 



" Why, my friend, you can never get 

 through the Avorld that way. You will be 

 swindled when you buy, and swindled when 

 you sell ; for if you tell wliat you know of 

 this horse, yon might not be able to get a 

 fourth of his value." 



I replied that I liad got through the world 

 so far, and never lacked friends or money, 

 and that I should take the chances of being 

 honest before God in all my transactions, no 

 matter if it did cost me $150 or more. 



I mentioned the subject a few evenings 

 ago at one of our teachers' meetings, wlien 

 an old farmer present said that the fashion 

 of buying and selling stock or produce in 

 the way 1 had illustrated was the besetting 

 sin that was the rnin of our churclies, many 

 of tliem, as well as of their members, and 

 that strict lionesty in deal was more needed 

 than almost any other one thing. 



Now, friends, how much do you think 

 such transactions have to do Avitli the want 

 of faith between employer and employes? or 

 the lack of faith among men in each other, 

 because of these crooked things? I am hap- 

 py to tell you that a vet einary physician 

 told us a few days afterward that my horse 



hadn't had the blind staggers at all. lie said 

 that it was caused by a rush of blood to the 

 head ; perhaps by overfeeding, or more like- 

 ly because the new collar he had been wear- 

 ing didn't tit right, and obstructed the cir- 

 culation. He said if the horse had had tlie 

 blind staggers it would show in the animal's 

 eyes ; whereas his eyes looked perfectly 

 bright, and he was as full of life the minute 

 after the transaction as he ever was. Fur- 

 thermore, he never showed any such symp- 

 toms except when he was pulling a load. 

 Now, then, the friend whom I have qnoted 

 above was an old farmer and an old horse- 

 trader. A great part of his life had been 

 spent buying horses of the farmers for city 

 markets. I may not have given the conver- 

 sation exactly as it occurred, but the sub- 

 stance of it was the same. A few days aft- 

 erward I wanted to buy some manure of 

 this same fiiend. As he kept a good many 

 hens and only one horse, a large part of the 

 manure was "from the poultry. I told him 

 that, under these circumstances, I would 

 give him 2") cts. more for it than what I had 

 paid other people. lie said he didn't want 

 any more ; he was quite willing to sell it at 

 the regular price, if I would take the whole. 

 I examined it, and told him it was well 

 worth 2-5 cts. more, but I could not make 

 consent to take it. So you see he is not 

 close in deal, and does not lack in liberality. 

 These things are, as you see, a good deal the 

 force of habit. No doubt Satan takes ad- 

 vantage of these habits and Avays ; and no 

 doubt he is constantly seeking opportunities 

 to whisper covetous thoughts and feelings to 

 us. I have seen this little evil weed of cov- 

 etousness take root, and grow. I have seen 

 it increase from raontii to month, and from 

 year to year. When the poor tempted sin- 

 ner gives way to it, and indulges in un- 

 charitable thoughts of liis friends and neigh- 

 bors, he soon gets to talking to others about 

 his Avrongs and indignities ; and if the love 

 of Christ does not come in to pull him out 

 of the abyss into which he has fallen he may 

 not bring up until he reaches the peniten- 

 tiary or insane-asylum. 



A good deal of this spirit of covetousness 

 comes from mistaken notions that people 

 have about what others oitght to do. A pret- 

 ty wise old lawyer once said to me, " People 

 ought to do whatever they agree to do. When 

 a man does that, he is a pretty good man." 



Perhaps this code might not be safe for a 

 Christian, but I tliink all of ns would be 

 better Christians if we kept the matter in 

 mind. A man once brought me lialf a bar- 

 rel of maple syrup. Now, I had learned by 

 experience to be careful about buying. I 

 told him I would take it if it was just to my 

 notion, and the price suited. I was carefiil 

 not to say if it were good, because so many 

 had declared that their maple syrup was 

 strictly first class, wiien I didn't pronounce 

 it so at all. After testing it I told him he 

 must have been careless about cleansing 

 the barrel, for that it had a musty taste that 

 would very much injure the sale of it with 

 my customers. He declared tliere was no 

 musty taste about it at all. I pleasantly 

 told him we would have to call it a diiference 

 of opinion, but that I didn't care to buy it. 



