187a 



XiLEANmGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



282 



[111 this departiaent I beg to he allowed to lay aside iiw 

 •editorial "we," liave a f«encHy cfaat asd feel "at home,"] 



CFIAPTE31 XXX. 



WHAT SHAI^L, WE CO WITH «O^Ji^ JfONEY ? 



■^ WONDER what kind of answers I would 

 J!}L; hear if this -qncstion «houM ^x; addressed 

 to each of ray r<?aders iiKlivid«aIly. I cau 

 imagiJie one sayiiiji:, "A very easy <:iucstioi5, 

 for it is decided long before the money is earn- 

 <id". Another, "it is how to get it, that 

 troubles «^, not what to do with it;" still an- 

 other, "Keep it." And there would bo a few 

 who would say, "Wc don't have any ; or at 

 least not enough to cause us any uneasiness, 

 ■so tlie question is very easily decided." Per- 

 haps the point I wish to get at would be bet- 

 ter stateil by saying "What shall we ?iot do 

 with our money 'r"" W^ell in a general way I 

 would advise that we should not make pur- 

 chases that we will afterward be sorry for. 



Perhaps the greater part of the purchases 

 that are made to be afterward regretted, are 

 those nade at the urgent solitation of others, 

 ■and I have many times wished oue could be 

 4it ail times allowed to do just as he pleased 

 peaceably, as I believe he is, in most first class 

 estaljlishments; iu fact it is for the greater 

 part, only among the traveling or transient 

 claims of ciealers, that things are forceel on, as 

 it were, those who are too good uatureei to 

 assert their rights. I like to be pleasant, and 

 to treat courteously all who honor me by 

 making me a call ; but really, my experience 

 of late has been such, that 1 have almost felt 

 it a duty to treat every new face with cold- 

 ness until I knew to whom I was talking. 

 Only a short time ago, a very bland and pleas- 

 ant individual inquired for me, anel the waj- 

 an which he smiled as he put out his hanel, 

 hiducecl me to think he must be one of my 

 subscribers, who had perhaps been following 

 me through these very Home papers. When I 

 finally signified that I shoulel be pleaseel to 

 know his rame and wishes, he comraenceel re- 

 •(-•itiug a tale of the very high esteem iu which 

 he had learned I was held by all my acquaint- ' 

 isnces, and mankind iu general, and before I 

 could well interrupt his flov/ of eloquence, he 

 went on to say the distinguished Company 

 which he had the honor to represent, had de- 

 cided to — 



"My elear sir you are making a great mis- 

 take." 



"/making a mistake? Iu what am I mis- 

 taken?" 



"In thinking that I could by any possibility 

 desire to have any thing to elo with you, or 

 the class of inelividuals to which you seem to 

 i)elong." 



'Do you mean to say you have all the bus- 

 iness you desire?" 



"Ai!, of the nature you represent." 



"Not even if 3 out of every §5.00 were to be 

 clear profit, auel if you coulel make a dozen 

 such sales every day by taking only a small I 

 part of your time?" 



I shook my head, which seemed the hardest 



answer to his question I could possibly have 

 given hi-m, for he really seemeel for an instant 

 at fault as to the projjer move to be maele 

 next; but speedily recovering, he made a pro- 

 found bow, wishing me good day, with the 

 air of one who was determined to be a polish- 

 td geiitleman, no matter how undignifled 

 others riUght choose to l?e. "Tlrere!" said I 

 mentally, "You saved your money that time 

 old fellow didn't yow," and I began to feel 

 once more that I was good for anything iu 

 the way of agents that coulel come along, 

 after the wide experience / had had. but 

 listen; A well dresseel, quiet business mau 

 came iu a few days after and asked if I coule? 

 spare a very few minutes. Of course, I put on 

 my armor, and expresseel readiness to hear 

 what was to be said. 



"We w^ould like the privilege of collecting 

 your bad debts," said this "gooel Samaritan," 

 "and if you will give us a few of the very worst 

 you have, we wiil try to show you that almost 

 any debt may be collected, ard our pay in the 

 shape of a small per cent, is taken out of the 

 amount if collected, otherwise you have noth- 

 ing to pay." 



Have }ou ever felt elear reader how hard i^ 

 was to have your hard earnings go for noth- 

 ing, and to feel that if you only hael all that 

 was jnstlj' elue you, you would almost feel in- 

 dependenl? Have j'ou never felt that if there 

 were only some way devised whereby people 

 could be m/ide to do as they hael long ago so 

 faithfully p]X)raised, what a blessing it would 

 be? As this very good man unfolded the plan 

 whereby the tricky ones were to be held up to 

 the scorn of all good people, in a way that 

 would protect the honest ones, and then al- 

 layeel all scruples, by showing that the whole 

 business was to be transacted by one of our 

 own influential citizens, I really felt like thank- 

 ing him for bringing such a progressive idea 

 into our out of the way town. A few days af- 

 ter he wanted just $10,00 for enrolling us as a 

 life UiCmber of this very praiseworthy institu- 

 tiou. a small matter that had not occurred to 

 him on his first visit. After paying him the 

 money it occurred to me that I had better ask 

 judge L. about having his name on the papers 

 of this great moral institution. He replied that 

 he had only agreed to collect accounts for such 

 a per cent, which was a little more than his 

 regular rates, anel he knew nothing further in 

 regarel to it. Their regular journal w'as to be 

 issued monthly, containing the names of all 

 persons who utterly refused to pay their hon- 

 est debts, but it was nearly a year before the 

 fij-st number came, and then it was a miseralile 

 little poorly printed pamphlet, containing a 

 few dozen names, purporting to be the entire 

 list of "dead beats," of Ohio and two other 

 large States, and that was the last of the §10. 



A few days ago a couple of gentlemen (?) 

 tried the same thing over again, but before 

 they got started their eloquence receiveel such 

 an extinguisher, that they dodged almost as 

 if a club had been raised at them as they de- 

 served. Nest day they came back with a 

 reinforcement and begged to be allowed to 

 talk bees ; finding this would uot work, they 

 induced one of our townsmen to approach me 

 on the subject ciuletly. Now our home is get- 

 ting besriged in the same way. A tall, slick, 



