GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1."). 



But I was spoaking of the annoyance, care- 

 lessness, and di'lays in dealing with village ex- 

 perts. My driving horse (h(» works too) had 

 lost a front shoe, running in pasture, and the 

 other was loose. I sent him by a boy with a 

 note stating in explicit terms that I wanted 

 both front shoes set. and within three hours, as 

 I needed him for a long drive. The horse came 

 back with one .s/ioc .s'cf and the other hanging 

 clattering by^two nails. L took him back my- 

 self at great inconveiuence and delay. The 

 " expert " pulled my note from his vest pocket 

 unread. " The boy didn't say you wanted 

 both set." " But the note did, and I will find a 

 shop where they can Hnd time to ^/id out and 

 do what I want." 



Such things, actual recent occurrences, make 

 one think the village experts do not want one's 

 custom. There seems to be no effort to under- 

 stand, accommodate, expedite, please, excel. 

 And such experiences for years have made me 

 gradually fit up what is. at last, pretty nearly 

 my ideal of the fdnner's warksliop. There, in 

 stormy weatiier or in sudden emergency, I can, 

 and do, do almost all kinds of mechanical work 

 except hot blacksmithing, and do it quicker and 

 with far less annoyance than I can take or send 

 the job (especially small ones) to town or get a 

 village expert to do them, and oftentimes do 

 them better and more thoroughly. 



This shop with its tools and supplies of ma- 

 terials and conveniences, and the saving and 

 convenience 1 Hnd it to be to me. I will try to 

 describe in the next numbei'. The non-expert- 

 ness of village experts is one of the " difficul- 

 ties "' of the farmer. It will be his " fault " if 

 he does not either overcome or avoid it. 



W. I. Chambeklain. 



It would seem from the above as if wagon- 

 makers are especially guilty in the line friend 

 C. has marked out. About a year ago one of 

 our heavy wagons broke down a wheel while 

 we were helping to move some timber for the 

 new railway. We sent the wagon to the shop, 

 with instructions to put in none but the very 

 best timber for spokes. We had the usual dis- 

 appointment in getting it when promised; and, 

 almost as soon as used, the sam«^ wheel broke 

 down again under a very moderate load. It 

 was sent back and repaired again, but we were 

 compelled to pay full price right through. In 

 fact, both bills for repairing the wheel were 

 more than a new wheel would cost outright. 

 The proprietor said he knew if, but it was al- 

 ways that way; and when i showed him a 

 piece of one of the spokes he first put in, I ask- 

 him if he called that lumber fit for spokes for 

 a heavy wagon, and he candidly admitted that 

 it was not, but yet refused to make any abate- 

 ment, claiming that he was in no way at fault, 

 because he used the best lumber he had. Now, 

 this strikes one great and important point. 

 The avera(je village mechanic is very much 

 averse to taking any responsibility or to mak- 

 ing any reduction if his work amounts to 

 nothing. 



Another case occurs to me right here. I once 

 employed a man to mend a wheelbarrow. The 

 charge was SI. 50. When I remonstrated he 

 said he did not get quite his regular price per 

 hour, even then. When questioned closely as 

 to how he came to work so many hours on that 

 wheelbarrow he said one of the steel pivots on 

 which the wheel turned was bent, and he 

 thought it ought to be straightened. In at- 

 tempting to straighten it, however, the temper- 

 ed steel snapped off, and it took him a long 

 time to get the broken piece out, so as to put 

 in a new one. Now, when he undertook to 

 straighten the bent pivot he did it on his oi«h 

 responslbiJltii. and I should say that it was his 



own job. for I employed him only to put a new 

 handle in the barrow. As he could 'not under- 

 stand, however, why he should be called upon 

 to lose his time, I "paid the bill. While I was 

 talking with him I explained it by an illustra- 

 tion. In my hands were a lot of spoiled sections. 

 They were made of beautiful white basswood: 

 but the man who set the machine made a mis- 

 take. Said I, " My friend, here are a couple of 

 thousand sections made wrong. It cost me at 

 least SS.OO. It is hard to lose so much, but I 

 should be glad to sell the lot for 35 cts." He 

 suggested that I could afford to do business 

 that way. but he could not. because he was a 

 poor man. Do you see the point, friends? I 

 have been assuming responsibilities all my life 

 in just this way. and it has not made 7/ie a poor 

 man either. Do you not see that it verifies 

 what our text tells us? People who rise, people 

 who stand at the head of great lines of busi- 

 ness, have to accept responsilailities. They are 

 in the habit of standing in places of terrible 

 responsibility every day of their lives. In ask- 

 ing about a recimt railroad accident I was told 

 that the engineer calculated on making his 

 station with only one minute of time to spare. 

 1 was astonished, and inquired of a raili'oad 

 man whether it was customary to run trains of 

 cars with so little leeway (if that is the term) 

 as only one ininnte. He said they did that, or 

 very near it, "right straight along." 



"But. my friend, where do they get ivatrlics 

 that are so accurate that the officers all along 

 the line can l<noir that their timepieces do not 

 vary more than that?" 



"Well. I want to tell you, sir. that, at the 

 presfMit time on our great thoroughfares, they 

 have [lot to provide themselves with watches 

 that will agree with the standard time within a 

 minute." 



All these men are high-priced experts. If 

 sickness or death, or any other accident, should 

 prevent them from filling their places, a substi- 

 tute would be provided, without any hitch or 

 hindrance; and we have great rail way compan- 

 ies that have trained men so perfectly for each 

 appointment that they run trains daily for 

 manv years without single accident or loss of 

 life." 



Now, here in the first place we have a glimpse 

 of the jewelers who sell watches and keep 

 them in repair. .Such watches cost a big price, 

 and the man who repairs t'hem mu><t be steady 

 and cool, and remember that the lives of hun- 

 dreds if not thousands depend upon the fidelity 

 with which he attends to little things. It is 

 the same way with the engineer; it is the same 

 \\ ay with the conductor; it is the same way 

 with the train-dispatcher. Not only does their 

 bread and butter depend upon their assuming 

 responsibility, but the very lives of the great 

 traveling public. 



Of course, they get great pay, for such men are 

 scarce. The world is full of people, of course, 

 who say by actions if not by words, " Oh, well I 

 I guess you had better get somebody else, if you 

 are goiiig to be so reriy particular as that;" and 

 the consequi'uce i*, the whole world does get 

 somebody else. They employ somebody who 

 cares for consequences, and who values his rep- 

 utation. Let us go back a little. If I were the 

 village expert who painted all those blinds, 

 when informed of it I would have paid friend 

 Chamberlain damages, in order that I might 

 learn better next time. If the village expert 

 who spattered the floors and windows with his 

 paint had any ambition he should also have 

 made good his' daubing, or paid somebody else 

 for doing it. This other fellow that kept the 

 wagon-shop, and put up a sign, and had to wait 

 for wagon-spokes by express when he got a job. 

 had better give up business and go and hire out 



