Do It Well | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · May 21, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 20.

"Do It Well."

"Do it well, James." It was Grandpa Clark's voice. James knew that, and he didn't look up from his work of raking the weeds out of the garden path. He raked them carelessly, leaving a weed here and a weed there, and not stopping to remove the long root of knot-grass that had caught on the corner of the onion bed.

"The sky is clouded," said Grandpa Clark, "and if it rains to-morrow, those scattering weeds will take root and be as thrifty as ever. Whatever you do, my boy, do it well. The slighting of any piece of work, however unimportant, leads to neglect of more important things, and soon everything the hand touches is passed over carelessly. Habitual neglect makes a bad workman. Let me tell you a story. You are warm and tired; come here and cool off in the shade of this tree, and you will work the better for the rest and for the little lesson you will find in my story."

James dropped his rake and hastened to accept the invitation of his employer. The old gentleman scowled as the long handle of the rake fell across the row of early peas, but he said nothing about it, and as the lad seated himself on a rustic seat, and fanned himself with his broad-brimmed straw hat, Grandpa Clark went on:—

"Several years ago a well-to-do farmer, in a prosperous Connecticut River town, divided his property, consisting of real estate, stock, and farming tools, equally between his two sons, while he and his wife went to another county to live with a married daughter. The boys were twins, but were utterly unlike in character. While they worked under their father's instructions this difference was not particularly noticeable; but when each went to work for himself, it cropped out immediately. While Henry cultivated a little land in the nicest possible manner, Harvey worked a good deal and slighted it all. Each was ambitious in his way,—Henry to become a good farmer, as the surest way to make farming, in the long run, profitable; Harvey to make money, whatever the consequences to the farm. The first year he did very well. The next year the weeds which had been left around the borders of his fields to go to seed, were multiplied four-fold; the next, forty-fold. Indeed, his crops were swamped with weeds. The people in the town began to look upon the farm as a seed-bed which was doing great damage to the whole township of fine, highly-cultivated farms, and a few of the most prominent men got together to talk it over.

"I have great regard for the family," said one, "and Harvey is a good fellow, but a man who will allow a plot of Canada thistles, and other noxious plants and weeds to go to seed on his farm year after year, can be called nothing but a bad citizen, who not only harms himself but his neighbors also."

"It is a shame for him to go on so," said another, "after we have waged a war of extermination upon these troublesome plants to have him invite them back. He has undone the work of years already."

"He ought not to be tolerated in town," said a third; "we must buy him out."

"So they set a value upon the farm; each one told what he would pay toward it, and one was chosen to make the offer to Harvey. He caught at it very readily, as it was a liberal one, and he supposed he could purchase another farm in the vicinity; but, to his surprise, there was not a farm for sale in the township; the people were all leagued against him. When he found out the truth of the matter, he was very indignant, and said he had a right to seed his whole farm to ox-eyed daisies, wild parsnip, and butter and eggs, if he chose, and that he would get the better of them yet. He bought a farm in the next town, but the succeeding session of the State Legislature prohibited the sowing of the seeds of noxious weeds.

"So poor Harvey was not able to revenge himself in that way. It seemed for a time that he made an effort to correct the shiftless habits, but he found it a hard matter. All his life he was hampered by that early contracted habit of slighting everything he undertook to do. Bad luck followed him, of course; and while his brother Henry became a wealthy man, a good citizen, and an active Christian, poor Harvey lost all his property, and to-day would be a public charge were it not for the kindness of his brother, who provides for him and his wife."

"Thank you, sir," said James, heartily. "I think I shall get an old broom and sweep out the walk; then I shall be sure to get every weed. After this I will try to make your lesson, 'Do it well,' my motto. I shouldn't like to be turned out of town." And James picked up his rake and hung it upon the bough of an apple tree, while he hastened away after his wheel-barrow and broom.—Sel.