36 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTUEE. 



Jax. 



f/j^ "§rcwkrn" 



This department is to be kept for the benefit of those who are 

 dlssatisfled ; and when anything is amiss. I hope vou will ' ' talk 

 right out. " As a rule, we will omit names ancl addresses, to 

 avoid being too personal. 



QIVEN'S COLUMN. 



Jj\ LTHOr GH your condemning my press was the 

 f^ means of cutting' my sales square off for the 

 ' time being', and made me feel that I was out- 

 rageously wronged, I can now see that it has been 

 of more benefit to me than a standing advertise- 

 ment, as it has brought the truth squarely before 

 the people, and my line prospects for sales this 

 season I attribute to this. Whilst I am thankful 

 for this, the motives I leave with yourself, and shall 

 let by-gones be by-gones. I only ask that I may of- 

 fer a little advice, as coming from one who has had 

 experience, and hoping it may be a benefit to my 

 brother-inventors that may yet come. 



First. If you have asked a man to advertise with 

 you, and taken his money, you should be very care- 

 ful about condemning his invention; for, if you 

 should be mistaken, surely this money is not a tit 

 money to be used in those charitable objects you 

 tell us of. 



Second. If you have purchased from him, and are 

 unable to get his invention to work, then sit down 

 and write him wherein you fail; at least, give him 

 some chance to help you. Don't presume you know 

 all about it after seeing it a few hours, and that he 

 knows nothing after working perhaps years on it. 

 Take one step down from that high and exalted seat 

 we often see you take, and at least tell him before 

 you kill him. 



Third. If you have condemned an invention, and 

 find that all others who have bought it speak against 

 you, you should then come down at least one or two 

 steps; yes, you might be willing to come down 

 among us— we might do you good. 



Don't you know you have fitted a great many suits 

 on some of us when we happened to growl a little 

 about things you sold us that we could not get to 

 work? Come down, now, and we will fiod you scores 

 of those suits you have cut for us that will fit you so 

 snugly that not a wrinkle will be found from head 

 to toe. Come, now, and take for yourself a few of 

 these. Again, we would advise the use of one kind 

 of specs. Don't use a pair that will show a sample 

 at one time as all that could be desired, and order 

 from it, and then afterward use another pair by 

 which you are able to look back through a space of 3 

 months, and see that same sample as being poorly 

 made. Certainly it would be better to always use 

 the good ones, and then you can see the imperfec- 

 tions in the sample before you order; or are the 

 good ones intended for extreme cases? 



We think it's your privilege to advertise what you 

 please in your extra leaves of Gleanings; but for 

 the part you sell to us for a bee journal, we surely 

 have some rights. If our inventions have been sold 

 through it and condemned in it, we certainly have 

 the right to say through its pages that we will take 

 back our inventions and return the money to all 

 who are dissatisfied. There is much other advice 

 v,e might ofTer; but as we are allotted just one col- 

 umn, we can not go further; but I hope these lines 

 Jmay be the means of some help for my many broth- 

 er - inventors^ and that Gleanings for 1881 may 



be conducted with more charity for all; that all use- 

 ful inventions, whether manufactured in theMedina 

 shops or invented and manufactured elsewhere, 

 may be treated with due respect, and that we all 

 may be a band of brothers, advancing hand in hand, 

 step by step, onward an't upward, and that no one 

 may be found trying to exalt himself above his 

 brother. 



"For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon 

 every one that i« proud and lofty, and upon every 

 one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low."- 

 ISA.3:12. 



Hoopeston, 111., Dec. 8, 1880. D. S. Given. 



Whj', friend G., you have no idea what a 

 long breath of relief I drew when I got to 

 the end of your letter. Visions of some 

 awful thing that I might have said or done 

 during the hurry of last season flitted 

 through my mind, and of something, possi- 

 bly, that could never be explained to any 

 one but God, who knows the heart. I be- 

 lieve you are right, my friend, and that I 

 should have more charity. I know I do not 

 see my faults as others see them, and I am 

 sometimes literally appalled at the horrible 

 picture I see of myself, when some kind 

 friend holds it u]) before me as you have 

 done. Although I can not recollect it now, 

 I presume I did solicit an advertisement of 

 you ; but I did it Avith an honest and sincere 

 purpose of helping you, even though it 

 should spoil tlie sales of my rollers. I had 

 proposed to give you one of the best helps in 

 the way of notices I ever gave any one, be- 

 cause I thought you an honest, hard-work- 

 ing inventor. When we got your machine 

 off the cars, I was most grievously disap- 

 pointed. Perhaps I should have reflected 

 that, for the price, we could not expect a 

 good flnish ; notwithstanding the jokes and 

 smiles of Mr. Gray and Washburn, I stoutly 

 stood up for it. Tlie handle, being made of 

 cast-iron, and left on the machine, was snap- 

 ped off in transit, and I had first to have 

 that repaired. The hands, I presume, had 

 caught the general spirit, and decided the 

 machine would not work, before it was tried. 

 I gave them the directions, and when they 

 decided it would not work, I tried it myself. 

 Very likely I was nervous and impatient on 

 account of the many cares that then weighed 

 upon me. The machine was tried at differ- 

 ent times, on several days, and the sheets 

 were hung in the hives. They worked all 

 right after the bees got them, but we found 

 it very hard to get the sheet to stick to the 

 wires long enough to carry them to the apia- 

 ry; Avhile, by our regular way, we could 

 put them in quite rapidly, and have them 

 stand shipping safely, long distances. As 

 our room was Umited, and orders pressing, 

 there was no other way but to move the press 

 into the back room, as I mentioned, that we 

 might go on with our work and fill orders. 

 It did not occur to me, until now, that I 

 should have returned the money you paid 

 me for advertising ; but I will most cheer- 

 fully do it now, friend G. The principal 

 objection to the machine was the dies ; and, 

 if I am correct, the i^air sent me have never 

 been used, — friend Ileddon having procured 

 a new set after he got the press from me. 

 Did I not publish every favorable report 

 from the iiress that has been offered, after 

 others said I was mistaken? Now, friend 



