The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-10-23
Hired Help.

Except under wise and skillful man.
agement the hired help on a farm is a
source of never ending trouble and
vexation, not to say actual and material
loss. On the whole, the faults are very
nearly balanced between employees and
employers. Sometimes the employees
are really lazy, inefficient and untrust-
worthy, and sometimes the employers
are harsh, overbearing and tyrannical.
An intelligent, capable man of indie
pendent spirit, who knows his rights as
well as his duties, will not long endure
service under a man who is Extensively
d~omineering or a chronic scold and
Pathfinder, any more than an en-
ployer of the former character will re-
tain a nan in his service who is %sullen,
shiftless and unreliable.
1t will be found in the case of hired
help, that it pays in the end to be kind
towards them, and considerable of their
welfare. The mai who treats his help
as he does his cattle, with the sole view
of getting as much work out of them
as possible with the least possible
trouble and expense to himself; who
drives them to work early and late;
who is harsh and exact;ng in his deal
ings with them; who is quick to deduct
from their wages for all lost time, and
slow to allow compensation for extra
service, may succeed for a time in such
a course, but he will be the loser in the
end. He will often find himself de-
serted in emergencies and forced to de-
pend upon temporary and transient
help. He will be subject to constant
and vexatious change, for the best men
will remain with him the briefest time.
Those who, for various reasons, feel
obliged to remain in his service for any
length of time, will take but little real
interest in his affairs, and their work
will generally be done in the most me-
chanical and superficial manner. An
employer who manifests little or no re-
gard for his employees beyond the mere
question of the amount of work per-
formed a hardly expect them to
manifest, in turn, that intelligent and
genuine interest in the results of their
work which is necessary for its most
complete and successful fulfilment. All
work is done best that is done heartily
and cheerfully, but this cannot follow
where the work is done under the eve
of a petty-spirited, merciless taskmas-
ter.
Methods that are practiced with the
poor and ignorant classes of some east
ern countries, can never be introduced
with success in a country like ours. and
especially in districts where the hired
help are native Americans and quite
equal to their employers in intelli-
gence. 1t is often complained that
really good help is scarce, but it is
probably not more scarce than the PEG
pix who know how to keep good help
when they get it. Forbearance and
consideration need to be exercised on
both sides.-NeU York Observer.
A row of fine trees along the road
side forms an attraction to any farm,
says the Tribune and Farmer, but it is
not always desirable in every view. If
the trees are close to the side of the
field their roots will often exhaust the
soil for a rod or more inside the fence.
md this, to farmers who pride them
selves on having crops even over the
whole field, makes the trees almost as
much OF a nuisance as they would be if
not beautiful. 1t is the water that these
take up that makes the crops poor I'M
der them, SO that even heavy manurinr
does not entirely remove the difficulty.
An old traveller gives the following
as a rule for conductor ship-board dur.
ing a storm: ''po not become alarmed
so long as the sailors continue to swear.
when they stop swearing put on q Lire
SreserVer."