The Oxford intelligencer., 1860-08-29
From "Household Words"
A Stocking Full or Bank Notes.

SOME years ago-in the days OF the thirty
shilling notes-a certain Irishman saved up the
sum Of eighty-seven pounds ten, in notes Of the
Bank of Ireland As sure means of securing
this valuable property, he put it in the foot of an
old stocking, and buried it in his garden, where
bank note paper couldn't fail to keep dry and to
come out, when wanted, in the best preservation.
After leaving his treasure in this excellent
place ofdeposit for some months, it occurred to
the depositor to take look at il, and sec how it
was getting on. He found the stockingfoot ap-
parently full of the fragments Of mildew and bro
ken mushrooms No other shadow of shade
of eighty-seven pounds ten!
In the midst of his despair the man had the
sense not to disturb the ashes Of his property
He took the stocking-foot in his hand, posted off
to the Bank in Dublin, entered it one morning as
soon as it was open, and, staring at the clerk
with most extraordinary absence of all express
sion in his face, said
"Ah, look at that siri Can yo do anything
for me p
'What do you call this Z" said the clerk.
"Eighty-siyen pounds tin, praise the Lord, as
Tn a sinner 0chonel There was twenty
as was paid to me by Mr.. Phaln 0'Dowd, sir, and
tin as was changed by Pat Reilly, and five as
was owen by Tim and Ted Connor, says he to
oud Phillips"
"Well Never mind old Phillips. You have
done it, my friend"
"0h, law, sir, and its done it have, most COM
MIA ltnl 10 ciY do
nothing for me"
81 don't know what's to be done with such a
mess as this. Tell me- first of all, what you put
in the stocking, you unfortunate blunderer."
"oh, yes, sir, and telly true as il it was the
last word had to spake intirely, and the Lord be
good to you, and Ted Connor says he to ould
Phillips, regarden the five as was owen by Tim,
and not incuden of the tin which was changed
by Pat Reilly"
"You didn't put Pat Reilly or old Phillips into
the stocking, did your"
as it Pat or ould Phillips as was ever the
valy of eighty y-siven pound tin, lost and gone,
and includen the five as was owen by Tim and
Ted Connor-"
Then tell me what you did put in the stock
ing, and let me take it down. And then hold
your tongue, you can and go your way, and
come back tomorrow"
The particulars Of the notes were taken, with
out any reference to ''ould Phillips" who could
not however, by any means, be kept out of the
story, and the man departed. When he was
gone, the stocking-foot was shown to the chief
engraver of the notes, who said that il anybody
could settle the business, his son could And
he proposed that the particulars of the notes
should not be communicated to his son, who was
then employed in his department Of the Bank, but
should be put away under lock and key, and if
his on'singcnuity should enable him to discover
from these ashes what notes had really been put
in the stocking and the two lists should tally, the
man should be paid the lost amount To this
prudent proposal the Bank of ireland readily as
sented, being extremely anxious that the man
should not be loser, but of course, deeming it
essential to be protected from imposition.
The son readily undertook the delicate CON-
mission proposed to him. lie detached the
fragments from the stocking with the utmost
care, on the point of penknife laid the whole
gently in a basin Of warm water, and presently
saw them, to his delight begin to unfold and ex-
pand like flowers. Bye-and-bye, he began to
''tease them" with camel's hair pencil, and with
the penknife got the various morsels separate
before him, and began to piece them together.
The first piece laid down was family recogniza-
ble by practiced eye as bit of the left hand
bottom corner of a twenty pound note; then
came bit of a five; then of ten; then more
bits of a twenty; then more bits of five and
ten; then another left hand bottom corner Of a
twenty-so there were two twentiesl-and so
on, until to the admiration and astonishment of
the whole Bank, he noted down the exact amount
deposited in the stocking, and the exact notes
of which it had been composed. Upon this, as
he wished to see and divert himself with the man |
on his return, he provided himself with bundle
of corresponding new, clean, rustlng notes, and |
awaited his arrival
He came exactly as before, with the same
blank staring face and the same inquiry-''Can
you do anything for me, sirY'
SWELL" said our friend, II don't know. May
be l can do something. But / have taken a
great deal of pains and lost great deal of time,
and want to know what you mean to give mey"
SIS it give, sira Thin, is there anything
wouldn't give for my eighty-siven pound tin,
sir; and it's murdered | am by ould Philips"
"Never mind him. There were two twenties,
we're there not Z"
''Oh holy mother, sir, there wasl Two most
llgant twentiesl and Ted Connor-and Phalin
which Reilly"
lie faltered and stopped, as our friend, with
much ostentatious rustling of the crisp paper,
produced new twenty, and then the other
twenty, and then ten, and then five, and so
1orth. Meanwhile, the man, occasionally muir
nuring an exclamation of surprise, or a protes-
ation of gratitude, but gradually becoming
Tague and remote in the latter as the notes reap
peared, looked on, staring, evidently inclined to
believe that they were the real lost notes, repro
luced in that state by some chemical process
At last they were all told cut and in his pocket,
Is he still stood staring and muttering ''Oh, holy
mother, only to think of i'll Sir, it's bound to
Tou forever that aml''-bnt more vaguely and
-nYnofalv poxr than hofora