Page:Once a Week Volume V.djvu/35

28  can produce such articles as at last are sold for—only a penny!

Only a penny! is not this the increment of all wealth; does not the wisdom of our ancestors in this commercial land say, “Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.” Yes, it is the penny which both enriches and impoverishes. The merchant warehouses and banks are built with pence, the river and the docks are filled with them. Contempt for “only a penny” will beggar an heir of thousands, and has brought many to the court of bankruptcy or the poor house. This is the little leak which sucks away so mysteriously the ways and means in those households where there is never a spare shilling—where bills and wages are unpaid—though the income be never so good. Nobody can be in easy circumstances who despises the copper margin to his fortune. Let him look after that ring fence, and his estate will be safe; but treat that ill, let that get out of repair, and the poachers will soon have your gold and silver pheasants.

But if neglect of pence disorders the budget of the rich man, it beggars the poor. Small, careless, or selfish expenditure just marks the distinction between the respectable artisan and the pauper; small savings, on the other hand, eventually make the respectable artisan independent of impoverishing sickness, loss of work or even age. Penny banks are found to be the best forms of provident institutions; they do not deter the small depositor so much as even savings banks. These last have much of the furniture of a large establishment,—clerks looking at you through rails, managers chatting over an inner fire, huge books, and altogether a mysterious repelling air of wealth.

The boy or man who has made up his mind to save pence, and has found an old teapot on the mantelshelf but an insecure custodian, would not like to pass on to the savings bank at one stride. No, the humbler office close by, with an easy, sympathising, domestic air about it, which takes a penny, indeed adopts the very name of this coin, that is the house for him to keep his account at—the best stepping stone to the larger establishments. These Penny Banks are spreading, and promise to supply the want which was felt of some net sufficiently fine to catch the smaller fry of would-be depositors, and thus enourageencourage [sic] the first movement towards self-help and independence. H. J.

we’re deep in Titus Livius, Or in Plato all the day, Trust us, we are not oblivious Of our maidens far away. Though we hide in far-off places, Working ever week by week, We remember your dear faces, Learning Latin, grinding Greek. Living up in dismal attics, Or in coziest first-floors— Reading toughest mathematics, Classics, science—horrid bores.

Turning leaves of dictionary, Working hard as work we can, We remember pretty Mary, Lively Louie, gentle Anne.

Though we’re deep in Titus Livius, Or in Plato night and day, Trust us, we are not oblivious Of our maidens far away. F. V.