The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-08-12

l kiss the tiny faded spray,
My sweetbrier graces far away,
The land Of pure delight!
Ali the Year Round.
THE LOAD Of WOOD.
The boys were talking about the kind
of business they would choose, when
Uncle Asa came into the room. As Uncle
Asa had tried several kinds, and been
prosperous in all, they appealed to him
for advice.
''What want to know is this" sale
Charley, in the course of the discus
sion which followed; ''you have bought
and sold good many things, but
what has turned out to be the most prof
itable?''
Uncle Asa considered a moment
while curious smile passed over hi
pleasant rosy face.
.'Well, if l were to name any one
thing which l have handled, and which
has in the long run proved most to my
advantage-well," said the old gentle
man, nodding decidedly, 81 think must
say. load OF wood"
"A load of wood?" chorused the boys.
They had expected he would say wool
or wheat, or hardware, or indigo; anG
they couldn't believe his reply was quite
serious.
''But it isr' said Uncle Asa. "a loat
of wood. and not large load, either
not nearly so large as it looked. 1t was
really the beginning of my fortunes, anG
l am sure owe more to it than any
lhing else l ever dealt in.
Tell you about it? Of course will,
if you wish it; and perhaps it will help
to start YOU in the right direction.
ut was when was boy-about
your age, Charley; l think l was six.
teen that fall. The summer work was
well over; the winter school had moi
yet begun; and my Cousin Medad and
were considering how we should earn
a little pocket-money. My father heard
us talking over some boyish schemes,
and said to us:
81 can give you an idea better than
that. There's the oak that blew ovel
last spring, in the mill-pasture. You
may cut it up, and have all you can
make out of it.
"'But there's work in that said.
eyes; so there is in almost any honest
job people are willing to pay money for.
But it isn't so hard as you think sale
my father. One stroke at time; sc
many strokes an hour; so many hours a
day. That's the way great things are
accomplished, 1t isn't much of tree;
you'll wish there was more of it before
you get through
WELL" Uncle Asa continued, eve
undertook the job, and we did wish
there was more of it. With cross-cut
saw and beetle and wedges, then with
a hand-saw and an axe. we reduced thai
tree to stove wood in very short time
and had fun out of it, too. Boys have
only to be interested in their work, 20,
know, to find it pleasant.
1--WE saw profit in every stick, and
had as much talk about the way we
would dispose of the wood, and what
we would do with the money, as if We
had been young millionaires discussing
some great project.
pile wood. to sell it, Medad said
There's Jake Mckenzie says he car
take nine cords of wood and pile it ovel
and make ten out of it, easy as moth
ing
".Yes,' I replied, and my father say,
he can throw his hat through some o
Jake's wood-piles : such great holes
He don't really make ten cords of it tina
way
".Yes he does.' Medad insisted
There's holes through every wood pile
and you measure SO much for a cord
whether they re big or little
"'But that's cord-wood,' said. sYo,
can't pile stove-wood up so as to max,
so much more of it. .
'''We'll see about that Medad re
piled, with laugh. We're going tt
make the most of our job, amt we?'
"'Of course said; and waited will
a good deal of curiosity to see how b,
would manage.
"He showed me in day or two. w,
had an old one-horse wagon; we har
messed Dolly to it, and backed it up t.
our wood-pile. Then we began to La
the sticks loosely in the box, so as tt
make them take up as much room a!
possible.
''But they did not fill up so fast as W,
had expected; for we knew that if W.
piled them too loosely they would b.
apt to shake down together on the way
to the village. and so cause our load t.
shrink before we sold it.
"Medad looked at the wood in the
box when it was half-filled, and then a.
that which remained on the ground
and shook his head obviously. ''Twon'
do' he said. I'VE ought to make thre,
loads of it; but at this rate we sham
make two. I've an idea!'
".What" said, wondering how h,
would get out of the difficulty.
Throw it all out again; I'll show
YET
II didn't like that notion; but he in.
sisted, and the wood was all unloaded
but few sticks in the bottom of the
wagon-box. With these he began te
build the load, as he aptly termed it.
Instead of laying the sticks together al
one way, he placed q few on the bottom
far apart, and others crosswise on those
also very far apart, dollhouse fashion
Then he called upon me for more wood
"'But, Mede,' objected, this vii
never do
".Why won't it do?' he demanded
So IT, cheating, isn't itP'
It's no more cheating than thu
way Jake Meeker piles his wood il
: cheating! Other folks do so. Only w
make our pile little more hollow thar
common
81 couldn't deny the truth of this ar.
gument. And ii others made the most
of their wood by their skill in piling it,
why shouldn't we do the samep
"Still l hesitated. A man MIGHT.
perhaps, be excused for cheating lii.
tie; but we were preparing to cheat q
good deal.
1.-the principle is the same,' Medad
said. when mentioned my scruples
(pretty fellows we were to talk of prin.
ciples)! 1t amt cheating exactly; but
even if It's, it's what everybody doe
I'm the way of business. Ye can't gel
along without it; maybe ye can in the
next world, but We can't in this. Who
tells the bad points in anything he wants
to sellp Don't everybody cover them
up, and show the good points. and make
the most of 'em? OF course they do.
Hand me more sticksv