930 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. 



Poverty unci shame sliall be to liini that reTuseth 

 in.struction; but lie that regai'deth reproof shall be 

 honored.— Prov. 13:18. 



I have felt moved to take up the subject ex- 

 pressed in our text because of some trying 

 experiences I have had duiing the past few 

 months. It is on a matter which I have written 

 and spoken about many times befoi'i-; and it is 

 a matter ihal is tioubiing and vexing the souls 

 of ^ome of the best of our American people just 

 now. What I mean is this matter of work and 

 wages. It seems to me that, in the nature of 

 things, a great part of humanity are destined 

 to work for somebody else. The farming class 

 of community are, perhaps, more their own 

 bosses than almost any other calling: but yet 

 the farmer can not do very much business un- 

 less he employs help of some sort: and then 

 comes this vexing matter of finding somebody 

 who will do a fair and honest day's work, with- 

 out constant ^upei-visioii. If the farmer works 

 with his hired man all day long, there is com- 

 paratively little trouble; but. like other occu- 

 pations, the emuloyer fiflentimes gets a hired 

 man for the express purpose of doing his man- 

 ual labor that he may be thus spai'ed to look 

 after and ovei.see other things pertaining to his 

 occupation. Tiiere are thousands of people out 

 of work, and they do not seem to know why 

 tliey are out of work. The worst part of it is, 

 they won't lielieve it, won"t accept or won't 

 heed it if you tell them plainly ivhxj they have 

 nothing to do: and others say right out that 

 they would rather continue to loaf than to come 

 right down to business. What I mi^an is this: 

 Mriny of our best and most successful ravmers — 

 T. ]i. Terry, perhaps, heading the list — declare 

 they will have no man at w<,rk on their prem- 

 ises who drinks, swears, or u.<es tobacco. Well, 

 a great part of those out of \\ ork would rather 

 remain out of a job than to give up the things 

 mentioned. Oh yes! they will jjror«isc to give 

 them up. or keep the fact concealed, that they 

 are guilty of any of these bad practices; but 

 sooner or later, like murder, it comes out. 



Now, I am not going to dwell on the above 

 three things in this talk just now. There is 

 something that is continually coming up that 

 is just as bad as any of the things I have men- 

 tioned, and I do not know but it is a little 

 worse, and perhaps it keeps mote families in 

 suffering and want than the things I have men- 

 tioned — that is. when they do not all go to- 

 gether. The thing I have in mind is a lack of 

 conscience — a want of honor or manliness: a 

 disposition to cheat in one way or anothei just 

 as soon as an opportunity is open. The fore 

 part of our text hits exactly the outcome— 

 '■ poverty and shame." The habit of cheating 

 is exactly like the habit of strong drink or 

 swearing, or giving way to temper, or using 

 tobacco. It gets a hold upon the human heart, 

 and it is like pulling teeth to weed it out. Ali 

 first I Thought of saying what I intended to say 

 to-day, directly to our helpers. When they 

 get their money Saturday night it counts to 

 them in an envelope. On the outside of this 

 enveloi)e is a record of the number of hours and 

 minutes each has worked during the week. 

 I do not know how many of these; helpers 

 read these neighborly talks in Gleanings; but 

 the ones who are in the habit of cheating in 

 their work probably do not read them. I hav«! 

 many times asked them the question. No won- 

 der they do not like to hear any of this kind of 

 talk. Neither do they, as a rule, attend the 

 noon services. Although it is not often the 

 case, even professors of religion do sometimes 



so lose their spirituality that they get into these 

 habits: and it is a sad fact to chronicle, that 

 women, as well as the men, get led astray in 

 this very way. I know I am finding fault with 

 my fellow-men; but may God give me love and 

 charity while I find fault in the line I am doing 

 to-day. At this season of the year, as usual, 

 great numbers are coming to me for employ- 

 ment. It seems as if the number were greater 

 now than ever before. A good many quite good 

 workmen in diflerent trades and occupations 

 come to me and i)ropose to work for any wages 

 1 think proper to give. Perhaps they have 

 learned by past experience that I am in the 

 habit of giving liberally for fair, honest ser- 

 vices, no matter what the agreement may be. 

 I like to do a little better than I agree; and by 

 the way, friends, this is one of the grand secrets 

 of success in this world: Be careful what you 

 agree or promise to do. and then do a little bet- 

 ter than you agree. The world is full of people 

 who fail continually in sticking to their prom- 

 ises and agreements; but those who make it a 

 point to do a little more than they agree to do, 

 right along, are scarce, I tell you. 



Our people all work by the hour. For many 

 years they marked down on a slate when they 

 commenced work and then marked on the other 

 side of the slate when they stopped work. Thus 

 each one was permitted, as far as the demands 

 of business would admit, to commence and stop 

 when he chose. With the great bulk of our 

 help this plan worked very well. Nine-tenths 

 of our people, or perhaps even mere, would 

 mark down on the slate exactly when they 

 commenced and when they stopped. But dur- 

 ing all these years when we practiced this plan, 

 there was almost constantly some person — per- 

 haps some of the younger ones — who would dis- 

 cover the slate was not watched very closely, 

 and they would begin marking a little earlier 

 or a little later, as the case might be, so as to 

 get more pay for the time they actually worked; 

 that is, if they came ten minutes after seven, 

 and nobody was around to watch, they would 

 mark it seven o'clock. When one was caught 

 at this he was watched; and when we found it 

 was a regular plan, and not a mistake, the 

 matter was referred to myself. Oh what tussles 

 with the powers of darkness I have had in this 

 very line! Just after the verse I have quoted 

 for my text, there is one containing this start- 

 ling truth: "It is an abomination to fools to 

 d(;part from evil." Just think of it. friends! 

 Did you ever hear a truth more pointedly or 

 vividly expressed ? The one who is caught in 

 this sort of deliberate cheating seems to take it 

 for granted that he must get out of it by lies, 

 no matter how many it takes to get him out. 

 As I write now. I can not remember that I ever 

 found a person who fairly and squarely owned 

 up to this sort of thing. The text I have quoted 

 calls such people " fools." It seems hard and 

 strong, does it not? Well, just listen: Almost 

 every sinner in this line follows pretty much 

 the same track. At first he says, "Oh! I work- 

 ed overhours the other day. and did not make 

 any charge for it. and so I jtist marked a little 

 more time on my slate, and thought it would 

 be all right." My reply is, however, " Look 

 here, my friend, several of us have been watch- 

 ing you. You cheated in your time not only 

 Monday, but Tuesday; and on Thursday you 

 cheated in the forenoon and afternoon. We 

 have also watched you. and taken pains to find 

 out whether there ^v as any overwork or any 

 thing that might possibly excuse you for this 

 sort of irregularity. We have let the matter 

 go until you are fenced in on every side. There 

 is nothing for you to do but to confess your sin 

 and ask (Jod to forgive you, and then turn over 

 a new leaf and do better." You would think 



