854 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



trembling so, they could hardly stand on 

 their feet. As soon as I was near enough I 

 stopped my machine, and not only soothed 

 the women but I would have soothed the 

 horse also were it not that he did not see 

 any thing to make a fuss about. The grand- 

 mother, who held the baby, said, "But you 

 see, stranger, we have a baby here, and we 

 can not take any chances on babies." I told 

 her she was exactly right, and I soon made 

 friends with the baby and the baby's mother. 

 I tried to have them get back into their bug- 

 gy, but they said their horse was just fran- 

 tic at the sight of an auto, and they insisted 

 on walking in the dust clear up to my ma- 

 chine and past it. The horse paid scarcely 

 any attention to it whatever, although I led 

 him right up to it. Now, these people were 

 profuse in their expressions of gratitude. 

 The grandmother said something like this: 

 " If all men were as kind and careful as you 

 have been, stranger, what a different world 

 this would be!" 



Of course, it took some time to get by all 

 of these vehicles in this way; but it gave me 

 a rare opportunity of showing forth the spir- 

 it of Christ Jesus. And when we come 

 right dowTi to it, what is the most important 

 business we have in life? Why did the dear 

 Savior give me a human life to live? and, 

 finally, for what reason did he send me out 

 on this trip, unless it was to show forth his 

 spirit wherever I go and to all I may meet? 

 Permit me to say right here I do not know 

 that I ever thanked God for his mercies, and 

 for giving me this life to live, any more than 

 I did dur.Rg that outing of two weeks; and 

 I think my happiness was due to the pains 

 I took to make friends, not only with men, 

 women, and children, but with the horses, 

 geese, and chickens. Whenever I stopped 

 to oil the machine, make adjustments, or 

 get gasohne, a crowd soon gathered. I was 

 sometimes tempted to be vexed with the 

 inquiring curiosity of small boys. There are 

 always some in the crowd that look the ma- 

 chine all over intently, but never touch any 

 thing; but there are others whose itching 

 fingers can hardly be kept off the rubber 

 tires, cranks, valves, etc. In vain I told 

 them they must not touch a thing about the 

 machine or they would m.ake mischief; but 

 when I was watching the oiling, something 

 would be handled. What makes the differ- 

 ence in children? Why, my dear father and 

 mother, it is the home bringing-up. If your 

 child has not already been taught to avoid 

 meddling with things when he goes around 

 machinery belonging to somebody else, go 

 right at it this minute. It will not only en- 

 hance his money value anywhere in the 

 world, but it may save his life. In one 

 town there was a boy who was so bent on 

 getting hold of every thing it was next to 

 impossible to stop him. I cautioned him re- 

 peatedly ; but when my head was down under 

 the machine I heard a sharp click, then an 

 explosion in the cylinder, and a rap as if you 

 had struck a boy with a ruler. I asked the 

 boy what happened, and he whimpered out, 

 ' ' Whv, that crank all at once flew around 



and struck me on the head." He said he 

 did not touch any thing; but the other boys 

 said he turned the electric switch. The en- 

 gine had been stopped with the compression 

 on; and it happened that, when he moved 

 the switch, it ignited the charge. I hope 

 his punishment will cure him, at least to 

 some extent, of his peculiar propensity. 



I usually made friends with the boys and 

 girls while on my trip, telling them I would 

 give them a ride as far as they chose to go, 

 providing they were willing to walk back; 

 and the memory of their childish thanks is 

 still fresh in my mind. 



As it is now vacation time, I did not won- 

 der there were large numbers of boys scat- 

 tered through the Ohio towns, with nothing 

 particular to do. But it did give me pain to 

 see able men, and especially young men, 

 loafing and smoking in front of the country 

 stores. Not only were they smoking cigars 

 and pipes, but in almost every town, if I 

 made any sort of stop, somebody would roll 

 up a cigarette and light it, and almost make 

 me sick with its fumes, even when we were 

 in the open air. I wonder if the use of to- 

 bacco promotes loafing. My trip was made 

 during harvest time, and through a part of 

 Ohio where there are great factories em- 

 ploying thousands of men; and yet able-bod- 

 ied men were loafing, and seemed to be try- 

 ing to kill time at the country stores all 

 through Ohio. The rural free delivery of 

 the mail cuts off the excuse to go to the 

 postoffice, and ought to discourage loafing. 

 Some of the smokers of cigarettes were well 

 dressed — apparently the sons of well-to-do 

 parents; and with the cigarettes were almost 

 always oaths. 



During warm days I found that it was 

 necessary to give our engine fresh water 

 about once in ten or fifteen miles. I knew 

 our water-pump was badly worn. While at 

 Xenia the pump failed entirely; but I was 

 fortunate in finding a factory where they 

 were building automobiles. The proprietor 

 said he was familiar with the Olds machine, 

 so we proceeded to pull it to pieces, and then 

 found a part of the pump had literally worn 

 out. A new piece had to be made. Now, I 

 am a little nervous about setting strange 

 men at work on my machine. I was afraid, 

 in taking it all to pieces, they might do 

 harm as well as good. I was agreeably sur- 

 prised, however, to find them really bright 

 and capable mechanics. The young man 

 who was set at work to make the new part 

 of the pump especially impressed me. He 

 was exceedingly careful to have every thing 

 exactly right. When mechanics attempt to 

 rush work of this kind, and quarrel with 

 their tools and machines, it always tries my 

 patience. But this man was a model work- 

 man in his line of business. The proprietor, 

 however, although equally skillful, was in- 

 clined to be impatient. After we had been 

 at work an hour or two he began to swear. 

 Said I, "My friend, may I ask your name 

 again? " 



He replied, "My name is Baldner. " 

 "Well, Mr. Baldner, if you will excuse 



