Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-01-15
mise, any time; for material and labor can
not be obtained without money"

not be obtained without money"
ssBefore returning home Luke bough
some delicacies for Sunday din
ner, a weekly literary paper and his wife
religious magazine. Besides he gave tel
cents to little beggar girl, who held ou
her hand, blue with cold, from under th'
shreds of battered shawl. When he fl
nally reached home his pocket-book fell
considerably lighter, but his conscience
was clear. OF the trife over two dollars
which he had left, he laid aside two dollars
to deposit in the savings bank, where there
was already quite a respectable sum to his
credit.
Meanwhile the various divisions Of his
ten dollar greenback, now scattered about
in different hands, began to chuckle. They
said with one voice: ssThis is what | like.
I'll see something of the world, and in all
probability do some good"
Let us see how it was. The three dol
| lars na,forty cents which he had left at
Slxettle's grocery went to help to make up
the quarterly rent which Skettle owed, and
which was due that very night. He paid
it to MI. Balcolm, who, in turn, promptly
handed it over to some workmen who had
been making repairs. 1t SO happened that
a portion of it went to a carpenter who
had sick child, and who was thus en-
abled to purchase some needed delicacies.
thereby, perhaps, saving the child's life.
A dollar and half of it went to a bod car
rier. who Immediately took it and bought
of Skettle sundry small packages of sugar,
coffee, flour, etc. Skettle took this same
dollar and half and gave it to his wife,
who wished to pay wesAan for some lit
tie odd jobs Of scrubbing and cleaning.
Now, this woman was the hod-carrlers
wife: and so this dollar and half of Luke's
greenback went first to Skettle, and then
to the hod-carrier, then back to Skettle
again, then to his wife, and then to the
hod-carrier's wife. 1t is not presumable
that it lay long idle in her hands. Curious,
wasn't it?
And the two dollars and ten cents that
went to the butcher? Why, this was paid
to the boy who tended shop, who handed
it to his mother, who in turn paid it to
carpenter Bailey for some repairs done on
her little cottage. Bailey settled up his
coal bill, the coal merchant paid one of his
teamsters, the teamster walked straight to
tie butcher-shop and paid for his weeks
meat, and the butcher put the money with
another pile and paid it to farmer for a
good fat COW. And what did the farmer
do? Why, he went and bought wagon
at the factory that had paid the ten-dollar
bill to Luke Preston over it's black walnut
desk.
And the dollar that went to old Gar
land? He did as he had told Luke he
should-paid it to John Brady as part of
the borrowed sum. John Brady said he
had need of the whole amount, but would
get along the best he could. OF the dol
lar, fifty cents went for provisions, and the
other fifty to a poor old cobbler for mend
ing Johnny's shoes. This had to be ex-
pended at the hardware store to replace d
broken awl, and the hardware man paid it
to a boy for shoyeling the snow off his
sidewalk. The boy ran home in eXulta-
ton to his rheumatic mother to inform
Hel Ol Ills gnu luCh'
And the dollar that went to Editor
Quill? He paid it to his sdeyil," from
whose hands it went to poor woman who
had been making him a coat, and who
held body and soul together by the earn
| ings of her needle. The beggar girl to
whom Luke had given ten cents bought a
loaf of bread, and thus allayed the pangs
of hunger that were torturing half a dozen
brothers and sisters.
And the thirty odd cents expended at
the neWsroom went into q box of small
change which was subsequently counted
over and pinned in neat packages OF one
dollar each and sent to the news company
where the supplies of papers and maya
zines came from. These small sums from
five to forty cents enabled the dealer to
maintain his little stand, greatly to the
convenience Of those who depended on it
for their periodical supplies OF reading
matter.
The two dollars remaining Luke depos-
tied. as has been mentioned before, i'll the
savings bank.
"Ah, ha!'' exclaims some surly, short
sighted reader, who begins to see the point
of this sketch, $50 Luke Preston boards
up money, too. Isn't it just as bad, in
proportion, for him to consgn his two
dollars to idleness as for the fat old fraud
to keep his money so close?"
But pause and consider for a moment.
The. savings bank pays Luke five per cent
| interest on his deposits, and how could it
do that if the money lay idle in its vaults?
No. such is not the case. The savings
bank took Luke's money, put it with that
of few other depositors, and lent it to a
well-to-do farmer who wished to make
some improvements in the way of building
fences and barns and purchasing choice
breeds of stock. The farmer laid out the
money to good advantage and paid the
bank seven per cent. inter est, the extra
two per cent. going to pay the running ex-
penses Of the institution and affording it's
stockholders small dividend
Now about the time the farmer was
ready to begin his improvements business
was slack in the establishment where
Luke worked, and there was prospect of
his being thrown out Of employment for a
month or more. But he CHANGED to learn
that the farmer required some labor that
was in his line, and straightway entered
into an engagement with him. And so
the money that he had put in the savings
bank was loaned to the farmer, and by him
paid into Luke's own hands again, and
Luke still receiving interest on it all the
time.
And now we must leave Luke Preston's
greenback TO it's fate. We have OF course
| ,,olotod o,,lu :, fithn of its entire history