Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-02-09
Gbe aain spp: aolorfest fOap Honing february g. 1872

I wou1d sufice lin quantity 10 ill a three-v0l-
ume novel. And all this procured by that very
| iudicious investment of another penny from my
| shilling.
Among other matters in the newspaper was
the Judgment 10 lawsuit in which favorte
niece of mine, residing IN Sidney, New South
Wales, was interested. | Immediately folded
up the paper, and, having directed it 10 her,
invested another penny of nv shilling in
a postage-stamp, and then forwarded the
paper to the post office, from whence, through
divers agencies, it will be carried fifteen
thousand miles, and at length be placed safely
IN my nieee'S hands. Let me see now how
my account stands: Tea, ID; milk, 3D.;
sugar, I'd; sardine, ID; bloater, ID; bread,
-; butter, ID; paper, Id; postage, Id; total
The reader will perceive that had still bal
ance of 2ld. in my favor What shall do with
il Shall give it in charity, or save it, or put
il to the cost of my next breakfast? At first
liked the idea of the charity investment; hut
then remembered the persons to whom might
give it would be regular whining street mendi-
cants, nine hundred and niney-nine out OF
thousand of whom are imposters, and thus my
aims might do more harm than good. The idea
of car rying it over to the account of my next
mornings breakfast rather pleased me at first,
from an economical point of view. Ii adop'ed
the same course five mornings consecutycly, on
the sixth might obtain nv breakfast gratuit-
Ouslv. STILL did not feel satisfied with the
arrangement. 1t was selfish TO throw over the
charity portion of the question in so uncere-
monious a manner, even though | could not
close my eyes TO the fact that penny almSgiving
was a very injudiciOuS Application OF that
most excellent gift" And then the idea
struck me whether it would not be possible TO
put the TWO and half pence to such & profit
able use as should not only pay me a great
deal more than the value of one breakfast, but
return me sufficient surplus to allow me TO
give a sovereign 10 the funds of the Scottish
hospital in London, where | knew it would
be udicouSlv distributed. | determined to
make the attempt | invested another half
penny of my shilling in a postal card, and sent
by il message to the editor of Good Words,
who, as the Daily News informed me, was then
at Balmoral, asking if he would allow the mar
rative of "What Did with a Shilling" to APP.
pear in the columns of Good Words. Having,
by return of post, received reply in the affirm
alive, | sent my servant with the Cd, balance
still remaining in my hand to a statoner'S, tell
ing her to bring me back rs many sheets of
to0sCap paper as she could get for the money.
She returned with three, and | then occupied
the next two hours in writing out clearly for the
press the manner in which | had invested my
shilling.
l now took the article TO Good Words office,
and shall receive for it as much as will, in all
probability, supply me for a hundred days
with sufficient funds for similar breakfasts TO
the one l have partaken of this morning. one
hundred copies of the Daily News, giving me
every morning the latest intelligence, including,
when the house sits, voluminous parliamentary
reports, collected by gentlemen of high educa-
ton, brought to the printing Office perhaps at l
A. NJ, after each debate had taken place, and
set up in type, printed, and placed on nv break
fast table, still damp from the press. After hav-
ing read each paper, shall forward it TO my
niece in Sydney, distance of fifteen thousand
miles, making continuous distance for the
whole hundred papers carried of not less than
million five hundred thpuSau1 miles m in
other words more than fifty times the cirrum-
ference of the world, while the surplus cXpend-
ed in paper, and emitting the sardine at break
fast, will afford me balance over equal to
the sun propose sending to the Scottish hos
pital.
truth is not stranger than fiction? Ii you do
not agree with me, then tell me any fairy tale
you ever read which contained anything more
wonderful than "What / did with a shilling"