146 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb 15. 



his employer rushes through the room. In 

 order to do this he should not only have one 

 pencil sharpened, but half a dozen of them, 

 right at hand. He wants his bladik book open 

 at the right place, and a date over every day's 

 transactions, so that, if his employer tells him 

 to get off something very brief before the mail 

 has gone, he can do it in one nii)inte. Now, I 

 have explained this to our clerks over and 

 over, and some of them have caught on, and 

 are always ready ; but there are others, not- 

 withstanding frequent failures in the same 

 line, who will have to hunt for a book ; then 

 they will turn the pages before they get to the 

 right place, then open drawers, or feel in all 

 their pockets, or tumble around a lot of loose 

 papers to find a pencil ; and these same clerks 

 are, a great part of every day, addressing 

 wrappers (or something of that sort) in order 

 to keep them busy. May be they have no as- 

 pirations in the way of getting a raise Satur- 

 day night ; but it is more likely that it does 

 not occnr to them that the very best way in the 

 world to get a raise is to show their employers 

 how quickly they can get off a message, and 

 get it right. 



Again, at this season of the year we always 

 have an abbreviated price list of seeds. This 

 is put into every envelope, to save answering 

 questions. To make sure this was in every 

 envelope I had a lot folded and put into a 

 large number of envelopes. Then I could just 

 say to a customer, "The inclosed leaflet gives 

 you the price of the seed you mention, and 

 the little pamphlet [also inclosed) tells you 

 all about the plant, and how to grow it — quan- 

 tity of seed per acre, etc." Now, with too 

 many of our clerks (mind you, not all of 

 them ) the letter would get to the customer all 

 right, but the leaflet containing the prices 

 would not be in the envelope, nor the pam- 

 phlet. The excuse given for not using the 

 envelopes with the price list already placed in 

 them was that they did not work well while 

 addressing them in the typewriter. The clerk 

 forgot to put the things into the envelope, 

 even after he told the customer he would find 

 one inside. 



Some of my Christian friends will say right 

 here, "O Mr. Root! do not be too hard on 

 the clerk. He forgot to put in the things you 

 mention, and we are all liable to forget," To 

 which I reply, " Very true ; but when this 

 thing goes on day after day with the same 

 person, what would you do then?"* The 

 trouble is, so many ivill not assume responsi- 



* when a boy about a dozen years old I was very for- 

 getful. A very good and wise teacher gave me a talk- 

 ing-to that, even though it made me cry. did me a lot of 

 good. He would not have been thus severe had he not 

 been deeply anxious that I should get over my infirmi- 

 ty, and become a good and useful man. What made 

 me cry was because he said the reason I forgot was be- 

 cause I did not iff r^ enough about the matter ; and, mj» 

 friend, let me say to you in the same wav, the reason 

 why you forget, day'after day, that whi'ch your em- 

 ployer has ver/ plainlyasked y ju to be sure to remem- 

 ber, is because you do not care enough about your 

 employer, your work, your place, or your future ad- 

 vancement' The Bible says, "Blessed are they who 

 hunger and thirst after righteousness:" and 'right- 

 eousness means doing right. When yovi really hunger 

 and thirst after advancement or, if you choose, right 

 doing, your reward will come. 



bility. If you wish to be of assistance to your 

 employer, step into his shoes long enough to 

 see how many things he has to keep an eye 

 on, then see if you can not take his place, at 

 least to so}>ie extent, and relieve him of some 

 of the responsibility ; and especially make it 

 a study to be sure that no forgetfulness or 

 half-heartedness on your part adds to his al- 

 ready many busy cares.* 



Oh ! it is not the Medina boys and girls who 

 alone are responsible for such work. I once 

 wrote to a large manufacturing establishment, 

 asking the price of a steel shaft that I wanted 

 at once. They replied I would find the very 

 thing I wanted, described and priced on the 

 card inclosed in the letter ; but no card was 

 in the letter, nor in the second one in reply to 

 my protest, so I sent my order somewhere 

 else. I really preferred their make of shaft. 



When I attended a convention in Buffalo I 

 was called as a witness in regard to a suit in 

 which sweet clover was called a noxious weed. 

 A young lady stenographer was to take down 

 my statements. A smart young lawyer sug- 

 gested to her, by way of caution, that I would 

 probably use technical terms she was not fa- 

 miliar with, and requested her to be very care- 

 ful to get it down correctly. He also request- 

 ed me to speak very plainly when using such 

 technical terms, and spell the words for her 

 when she required it. She took it down very 

 rapidly, and seemed to be quite an expert ; 

 but when I came to read' my report as she ren- 

 dered it I actually could not, for the life of 

 me, get at what I had been trying to tell her. 

 Frank Benton, who was on the same case, told 

 me that was exactly his experience. He had 

 to cross out a great part of what she had writ- 

 ten, and write himself what he wanted to say, 

 as nearly as he could remember. 



Now, there is another point right here. 

 Sometimes "silence is golden;" but I know 

 of quite a few boys and girls who would get 

 much better pay if they would talk to their 

 employer, ask questions about his business, 

 and try to look at things from the point of 

 view he is taking. Why, I always feel glad 

 when some of my helpers ask for an explana- 

 tion so that they may be able to use their 

 brains instead of going to work like a parrot. 



Now, I am not going to find fault in this 

 talk, all the time, any way. We have some 

 as bright and smart Medina boys and girls 

 here on our premises as there are in the world. 

 If you were here I think I could make you 

 admit it. Sometimes a stranger comes here 

 and wants work. He says he has spent all 

 his life with wood-working machinery, and 

 thirfks he can run any machine we have on 



* Some one may say right here, " Oh ! it is very well 

 for voH to find fault with clerks ; you are the bo!^'s, and 

 they are the unknown, perhaps uncared for, hired 

 help." To which I reply, that these criticisms are for 

 their own good, and not for my own particularly. I 

 am anxious — yes, I am glad — to see them advance, and 

 in their turn take charge of other helpless people. 

 Some who commenced with us as typewriters have 

 progressed, and have now large establishments of their 

 own : and may be they thought T scolded a good deal 

 away back years ago ; but I should not be surprised if 

 one or more of you who read this will say now you owe 

 me a vote of thanks because I did urge you to be more 

 careful and more accurate. 



