1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



935 



we put in a bill for damages, delay, etc., and 

 decide that they are a set of clumsy rascals? 

 God forbid. No lives were lost on account of 

 that carelessness, and probably no great dam- 

 age to property resulted. The foundation, that 

 cost a lot of money, may have been somewhat 

 injured We can not tell exactly just yet. 

 In view of the fact that we have to meet such 

 things almost every day in a large business, 

 shall we not rather weep over human frailty, 

 and conclude they really did not knoiv how 

 badly they had done their work ? We have 

 not heard from them at the present writing, 

 so we do not know what they propose to do 

 about it. 



Very soon afterward I felt obliged to go to 

 the dentist's because a filling had dropped 

 from one of my teeth. With all the care and 

 responsibility of our new establishment, a 

 grumbling tooth was not a very desirable com- 

 panion. Whatever you do, dear friends, keep 

 your teeth cared for, especiall}' if you have 

 responsible work on 3-our shoulders When I 

 got back from the dentist's, one of the car- 

 penters greeted me with: "Mr. Root, has 

 anybody told you that the new elevator has 

 gone all to smash? " 



The new elevator had just been started that 

 morning. It cost .?400, and it was built to 

 carry a big two-horse load of lumber, even if 

 the lumber was 1(5 feet long, from the' base- 

 ment to any one of the rooms, even up to the 

 third story. When I first heard the news it 

 gave me a sort of dazed feeling. I said to my- 

 self — no, I guess it was Satan who whispered 

 it — "Well, you might as well give up and 

 quit trying to have any expensive machinery ; 

 just disaster after disaster, and breakdown 

 after breakdown, etc." The above is what I 

 thought, mind you. I did not say a word out 

 loud, but passed along trying to look cheerful 

 and pleasant. My little prayer, " Lord, 

 help! " started up of itself, and I added an 

 emphatic amen, for I felt it was needed ; and 

 then my informant went on. He said, " They 

 say it started up of itself." He meant the 

 elevator ; but / was thinking of my little 

 prayer. What a pleasant thing it is to have 

 good things " start up " of themselves from 

 the force of habit! Then he went on : "It 

 first went down to the bottom, then it turned 

 and started for the top The cable unwound 

 and got into the machinery, and tore the big 

 drum all to smash. The whole thing is a per- 

 fect wreck." I had been hoping and praying 

 that the thing was not so bad after all. Me- 

 chanically I approached my box at the mail- 

 desk. The lady who opens the mails handed 

 me a letter, saying, " I have just opened this 

 letter this very minute. I thought perhaps 

 you would like to see it." Here is the letter. 

 I think I may venture to give the name this 

 time. 



Gentlemen: — Our man reports, on returning here, 

 that there was one thine that he forgot to tell your 

 carpenter. When he builds the house on the roof, 

 have him put a piece of wood about two inches from 

 the under side of the cable, and about 10 feet apart, 

 so if the cable shoul' possibly slack up it will not sag. 

 When the cable is taut it will run free : but if any 

 thing should get underneath the platform, and the 

 cable should slack up it would sag on the roof be- 

 tween the top sheaves, and this would not let our 



slack-cable device work properly. Please have your 

 man attend to this. Ebmonds Elevator Co. 



Cleveland, O., Nov. 30. 



Well, the letter was a partial answer, at 

 least, to my little prayer. It threw the re- 

 sponsibility on the manufacturers and not on 

 ourselves, you see. Now, dear friends, I sup- 

 pose you know that I never rejoice when I 

 find out that some loss lies on my neighbor's 

 shoulders instead of on my own. That would 

 be a poor sort of Christianity, but it was per- 

 fectly right and proper to rejoice that the 

 disaster was not the result of any stupidity 

 and blundering or meddling on the part of 

 our own people. Pretty soon I found John 

 and Ernest, and they told me they had already 

 telephoned the factory, and that the man who 

 put up the machine was on the way to our 

 place. He reached here an hour or two later, 

 and found the damage was only a few inex- 

 pensive castings that could be easily replaced. 

 He telephoned for them, and in a few hours 

 our big elevator was "a thing of beauty" 

 once more. 



By way of recommend to the above elevator, 

 permit me to give part of a conversation that 

 occurred between myself and the man who 

 came here to set it up. When he had finished 

 his job I said : 



"Mr. A , does this elevator require a 



specially appointed man or boy to run it, or 

 can it be used by any one who wants to move 

 freight ? " 



" Wh}', let anybody use it, of coitrse, who 

 wants to. Any man or boy in any establish- 

 ment will very soon learn how to work it. It 

 can not get more than so high nor more than 

 so low, and that is all there is to it." 



"Do you mean to tell me, Mr. A , that 



you put up elevators all over the country, and 

 guarantee them, with the understanding that 

 any man or boy in the establishment can work 

 them ? ' ' 



"To be sure, we do." 



" Well, then I want to say to you that you 

 must have a very good machine indeed, and 

 nmst take very great care and pains in putting 

 it up, for we have had more breakdowns and 

 troubles with elevators during the last few 

 years than with almost any other one 

 thing." 



Now, the point before us is this : Here was 

 a good man and a gentleman — an expert in 

 the business, and an old hand at it, and yet 

 he forgot- a matter of vital importance until he 

 got on to the train and was on his way home. 

 Had the company wired us, instead of waiting 

 to write a letter, it would have saved them 

 quite a few dollars. One who goes through 

 the world demanding his rights, right and 

 left, wherever he goes, might call the above 

 criminal carelessness ; but a better way is, I 

 think, to say that, as no lives were lost, and 

 as the company made good the little mishap, 

 we had better let it drop, remembering that, 

 in this world of ours we can not have abso- 

 lute perfection in any thing. 



My illustrations so far have been with 

 machinery. How is it with doctors who hold 

 human lives in their hands — 3'es, on the very 

 tips of their fingers ? I wish I could say that 



