198" 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



AUGi 



with a request to the smith to put in a better 

 spring; this he does, but when the lock is in 

 place, it is fonnd that another spring has been 

 lost or left out, and th« result is that the door 

 is found locked about half the time when it is 

 to be openexl. There are two ways of proceed- 

 luff in such cases: one is to call your boy up 

 before you and tell him' sterc-ly that you vrill 

 teach him that when i/ou tell him to- do a 

 piece of work, it is not to be forgotten. You 

 can tell your wife that it i? a shame to have 

 things lost rn that way, (before you discover 

 that you lost them) and that it is shiftless to 

 have oil cans empty, or screw drivers loose in 

 the handle, and then if you will go and give 

 the smith a blowing op for doing his work so 

 heedlessly, you may feel that you are doing 

 your duty as every good citizen should. I saiy 

 you may feel that you have done your duty ; 

 on the contrary, I think you will feel very 

 , much as if you had done something to be 

 ashamed of. 



Suppo»<e instead, when you found the door 

 was out of repair, you had taken the oppor- 

 tunity of explaining to your wife and children 

 just how such locks were made, and to be 

 sure to make no botch before your audience — 

 if you ])ay them the compliment of consider- 

 them an audience, they will very likely return 

 it by considering you a professor — you will 

 provide yourself with well made strong tool.s. 

 If the oil can needs tilling, tell the young 

 hopeful that it requires a very skilful boy to 

 do such work without soiling his clothes or 

 lingers ; that you hardly expect one of his age 

 to do it, but tiiat he may try. Tell him to 

 take both bottle and can out on the gi-ass, for 

 fear of accidents, and with mamma and sisters 

 for spectators, he will be very likely to suc- 

 ceed. With 3c. worth of brass wire, you can 

 repair the lock yourself, if you are used to 

 "being useful ;" but if it be neccessary to send 

 it to the smith, I fear it will be best for you to 

 take it yourself, and to examine it carefully 

 before taking away, to be sure it is all right. 

 It is true there are workmen who make it a 

 business to see that every little thing even 

 down to a door lock is repaired faithfully and 

 honestly, but the number is so few, and they 

 so quickly rise to more important work, or 

 rather to work that commands better pay, 

 that I fear we shall have to see to such little 

 things personally, if we wish to have them 

 right. With children esjiecially, we should 

 lose no opportunity of impressing on them the 

 importance of doing their work well ; and 

 woe betide the parent who finds it too much 

 bother, or who cannot take the time to edu- 

 cate his children to this end. Supi)ose it does 

 take "line u]K)n line, and precept upon precept;" 

 will not almost any sacrifice pay, if you can 

 enable your child to go through the world 

 strong and cheerful, rather than bending un- 

 der a load of cares and perplexities. If your 

 boy is forgetful, it is probably because you are 

 forgetful, at least forgetful of your duty to 

 keep a constant and careful watch over him. 

 Not only is it a duty of yours to lift your own 

 children above these little weaknesses, by 

 your superior strength and cheerfulness, but 

 it is a dntj^ you owe to your fellow men all 

 around you, and if you find your smith, jew- 

 eler, shoemaker, tailor, or any other trades- 



man in the- habit of doing his work poorly, or 

 not on time, there is a way of speaking to him> 

 a.bor.'t it that will give him. a lift,, as it vrere,. 

 instead of wounding ar provoking him. There 

 is a great field for this kind of work, and! 

 while you by this means make all ;^bout y.oui 

 happy, you take the very shortest v^ay in the 

 world o-f making pourself happy. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 



For if ye love them, which Jove yoiir wliaS rewarc^ 

 have you ? D'o not even She pablieaas the same ? 



—Matthew,, v : 46- 



5>^nf5pHEN i>eopIe quarrel, tiisey do no-t love- 



\ff^^ each other. Tliere may not be any 

 great amount of wisdom displayed in making 

 this statement, and very likely you may think 

 it a t-drZt 30 self-evident, that it were needless 

 to waste pai>er in making it. I have some- 

 times wondered of late, why we &hoiild cjaiar- 

 rel at all ; why it should conae so very natural 

 for us to desire to hurt or injure one who ha.Si 

 actually, or seemingly injureil us. 



A fellow brought a ring to Ije n^nded a few 

 weeks ago, and as the work was a little difta - 

 celt, the clerk arranged with him that it 

 would cost 2.>c. to do it jost as he wished. 

 This was while I was at dinner. When I had 

 returned, lie called for feis ring, put it in his 

 pocket and coolly started off. When askec^ 

 about the pay, he said he had paid the clerk. 

 Very shortly the clerk came in, and I foumi 

 he had not paid at all. A mere trifle is 35c. 

 but to think 1 had taken his word anfl 

 been humbugged in such a barefaced way, stir- 

 red up, before I was hardly aware of it, the 

 old temper — or tempter — and as I hurried to 

 the door, I saw him just climbing into his wa- 

 gon, l>efore the door of a neighlx)ring saloon. 

 Bareheaded as I was, I started with a <letern> 

 iuation of pulliag him out of his wagon, if I 

 could not recover the money I had been de- 

 frauded of otherwise, just l>ecause I could not 

 consent to be "run over" in that way. Con- 

 science just then l>egan pleading, , 



"Steady my boy ! Is the course you are bent 

 on just the one you would teach iu your 

 Sabbath school ? " 



"But I want to teach him to respect the 

 property and rights of others." 



"But are you at present in the right mood to 

 do it y You noticed the poor fallen brother 

 v/as partially intoxicated : is not the saloon 

 more to blame than he?" 



I did not run after the man, but there was 

 for some little time visions of the exquisite 

 pleasure it would be to tumble him out of his 

 wagon into the dust, or to sma.sh that saloon 

 all into splinters, or "spile" something some- 

 where after the old fashion before I commenced 

 teaching "good for evil" to the little boys and 

 girls ; and in vain did conscience keep saying 

 that the whole matter should be treated as if 

 it were 35 cts. that I had carelessly dropped 

 into the fire. 



Whence comes this feeling that we see so 

 painfully manifested when two neighbors get 

 into a quarrel, a controversy, or perhaps a 

 lawsuit? Both strain every nerve, and leave 

 no stone nnturned, to make out something 

 against the other. An amount of energy and 

 talent too, many times, is wasted aud in stri- 



