1184 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



direct Huber. Now, please consider. He 

 had never seen an automobile before like 

 this in his life; and altho he is a deaf mute 

 he ran that macliine all over the city, dodg- 

 ed vehicles, gave a wave of his hand to 

 policemen everywhere, and did not get into 

 a bit of trouble. 



There is a beautiful little periodical pub- 

 lished by the Ohio State School for the 

 Deaf, entitled Tlie Ohio Chronicle. It is in 

 its 44th year. Well, now, in this periodical 

 I find an article written by Mrs. Neillie, 

 that I am going to copy. It ought to prove 

 not only a rebuke, but an inspiration to 

 millions of people who can hear and talk. 

 May God bless the message that it is my 

 pleasure to give from my good friend Mrs. 

 Neillie. 



HOW WE GOT OUR HOME 

 MRS. neillie's interesting story shows how any 



ONE WHO WILLS TO OWN A HOME CAN DO SO- — ■ 

 THE EFFORTS GIVE A GREAT DEAL OF PLliASURE 



AND FINAL HAPPINESS ONLY ABOUT THIRTEEN 



YEARS WERE REQUIRED TO ACQUIRE A COZY MOD- 

 ERN HOME, ALL PAID FOR. 



We were married two years wbe'^ we decided to 

 buy a home. We had only a very small account in 

 the bank when we started the venture. After look- 

 ing it up we decided to buy a lot 40 x 200 feet, 

 paying $25 down and |5 per month with 6 per cent 

 interest ; and we heard of a house for sale, so we 

 decided to take it and move it on our lot, two miles 

 distant. It was a three-room house, and, small as it 

 was, it would be a home for us. " Be it ever so 

 humble, there's no place like home." 



We moved into it as soon as it was on the lot, 

 mounted on stilts. The day being Thanksgiving 

 Day, we gave thanks. At the time, my husband was 

 earning only $1.75 a day, and there were three oi 

 us. The factory shut do\^Ti shortly after wfr bought 

 the home, and, after a few weeks without work, my 

 husband got work in a tin-mill at $1.37 V^ a day. 

 An awful comedown it was to us, so we had to be 

 very frugal. 



We decided to get something from the garden. 

 We planted fruit-trees the first year, and had a good 

 garden that helped us out a lot. 



We had been in our home just a year, and again it 

 was on Thanksgiving Day that we were discussing 

 how to better ourselves. I had learned the dress- 

 making trade before I was married, and suggested 

 that I put up a sign " Dressm.aking." No, Mr. 

 Neillie would not. Just at that minute in stalked 

 Prof. I. F. Patterson, a brother of Miss Nora Patter- 

 son, of Columbus, asking Mr. Neillie how he would 

 like to work in the city parks. Of course we were 

 delighted, and gave thanks. It was $1.50 per day, 

 eight hours work, so it looked good to us. 



We were able to keep up the payments on the lot 

 all the time. We borrowed some to pay on the house 

 and for the moving. Then by and by better times 

 came to us ; an advance in wages, and we continued 

 to make progress. At times things did not look very 

 encouraging, but a little reflection always showed me 

 that it would be worse paying the same amount for 

 rent, perhaps more. Most of the needed repairs we 

 did ourselves, as we felt we could not afford to hire 

 the work done. 



Our trees grew well. We planted grapevines of 

 three different kinds, also berry-bushes, currants, 

 etc., and managed to make use of every foot of land. 

 We kept chickens and bees, and they have always 

 brought us a neat sum. 



By and by we got the place paid for, only to ven- 

 ture into another debt to enlarge the home. My 



family had increased in size, hence the necessity. 

 We borrowed money from bank at 6 per cent inter- 

 est, and we were informed we could have the loan 

 for 99 years, and we had to pay interest twice a 

 year. 



Would we have the loan for 99 years? Nix! We 

 saw the amount we borrowed would double up in a 

 few years, so we began paying on the loan as goon 

 as we got straightened. There was not quite enough 

 money to get everything done as we wanted, so we 

 let some things go and did all of the interior painting 

 and varnishing ourselves and all small repairs we 

 could, so I got to be a master of saw, hammer, and 

 brush. We built a new coop and out-building — • 

 what it is called I don't know, for my husband calls 

 it shop, my boys call it barn, tho we have no horse. 

 To me it should be a storage barn, wliich, I am 

 proud t'' say, I helped to build. People gasped see- 

 ing me on the roof, putting shingles on, and on lad- 

 der painting, and some came to advise that I'd be in 

 the hospital if I worked at that rate. Thank good- 

 ness, I have never been there. 



Where there is a will there is a way. Any one 

 can own his own home if he has the will, and it 

 helps to teach one to save and make money go the 

 furthest. 



Last January we got all clear, and since then we 

 have put in a furnace, cupboard in the pantry, and 

 paid for forty feet of sidewalk that was laid last 

 summer by the city. Furnace and cupboard have 

 been paid for too. 



Last summer we had a fine crop from our fruit- 

 trees — four bushels of pears from one young tree, 

 three bushels of plums ; there was none to buy for 

 our canning, and we gave quite a lot away. Our 

 grape crop was a sight to behold, so thick with clus- 

 ters, so any one can imagine how we are enjoying 

 the fruit of our labor, and we are carrying the air 

 of " I am monarch of all I survey " if I do not look 

 beyond the line of the fence-posts. 



There are six of us in the family now, the oldest 

 being fourteen years old and youngest three next 

 July. Ali but one of our children were born in our 

 own home, and all have grown up outside in the 

 yard with the chickens, bees, weeds, and flowers, 

 and they do grow like weeds under these conditions, 

 being outdoors all day except on very bad days, 

 when I have to drag them in. There has been near- 

 ly no sickness to speak of, owing to their manner of 

 living outdoors. So just think how nice it is to have 

 a home all paid for while children are small. 



My oldest boy goes to high school next fall, and 

 the older the children grow the nioi'o they cost; so 

 there is a consolation in the thought we can do well 

 by our children since we already have a home of 

 our own. 



All these years I had to be as saving as I could 

 be, and I do all my work and sewing, so my hands 

 are full ; but there is a pleasure in that, and it is 

 our aim to keep going up the ladder. 



I just wrote this thinking it would help some of 

 the readers wanting to own a home but who are not 

 sure they can do it. May be some will profit by my 

 experience. Mrs. Neillie. 



After the above was in type I submitted a 

 copy to our friend Neillie, and he gives us 

 some additional facts as follows: 



Mrs. Neillie deserves all you said about her and 

 more. She has done all the managing, as I turn over 

 to her my pay envelope, unopened, which has grown 

 from $1.50 a day to a yearly salary of $1400. Per- 

 haps I should tell you I have been working for the 

 Forestry Department and Parks 17 years — 3 years 

 as gardener and 14 as a tree-warden, and as the city 

 entomologist. , 



There are 5 children in the family — four boys and 

 a girl. The oldest boy is 18. You never saw him, 

 tho I stopped at your home September 16, when I 



