The Portland daily press., 1883-02-09

The new nickel is larger and thinner than
that which has been in use for SO long time
1t is feared by some that this may prove pos
siole disad vantage, for there will be a certain
risk that careless people may pay away nickels
for quarters, to the chagrin of hackmeu and
The detriment of bartenders, who are notorious
ly infantile and simple in regard to currency
The designs on the faces Of the new coin are
also different. On the diverse is female fg.
ure, the ideal representative of Liberty, sur
rounded by those immortal stars which are the
real symbols of true freedom. On the reverse
the old and gracefully flowing lines of the Ar
abic figure SO" will give place to the severe
angles Of the Roman numeral "V.' These
changes point to the conclusion that the de-
signer of the new nickel is either keen hu-
morist, or has been victim Of too generous
condolences in the honesty Of his fellow-men
Possibly he has so often loaned and lost 'V'.
that he has made noble and laudable effort
1t is to be hoped that it may prove equally
successful-to save future generations of soft
hearted men from a similar calamity. Hither-
to- when Mr.. Daily Dedbroke pressed for the
loan of "V,'' his success depended in a mea-
cuAC Uu luo dDlllty VI us pEObpo0blN6 tlCItl W
keep supply Of SIS bills in his clothes. For
the future, however, Mr.. d. DIS chances will
bs increased 100 to !. The fortunate possessors
of greenbacks are not necessarily greenhorns'
and they will not be slow to perceive that a
nickel s'V" is as good as greenback ''V"-for
the purpose of lending. This view may-nay.
certainly considerably disgust Mir. Ded-
broke and cause him to verbally consign the
new coin, its inventor and all and sundry to
Hades; but, at the same time, by the law Of
compensation, that gentleman's friends will
chuckle consumedly and mentally pour out
blessings on the heads of all concerned in the
new nickel's production. These Numerically
opposite effects add another illustration of the
correctness of the long ago recognized opinion
that it is impossible to please everybody, even
in matters of numsmatic art; and that zone
mans meat is another's poison.
American appreciation OF the mighty dollar
is rapidly passing-if it has not already passed
Into proverb, and good, practical WHOLE
some proyerb it is, too, let those sneer at it
who may 1t is all very well for poets and
philosophers and heroes in dramas and scribes
in newspapers to deride and contemn money.
- bAOd1Oo eAC4At Nl4A uocD III OOplOS4dtO bAo CHT
rency. But the truth is they know very little
about money except the want of it. If it is
'the root of all evil" they are ignorant Of its
habita t, and do not know where to delve for it
and all the good that branches and blossoms,
and ripens from ii is not for them More's the
pity, poor Mephistopheliansl 'sYellow EARTH
is the opprobrious term invented for it by Bnl-
wer. but he did not despise the acceptance of
money for money" for all that on the con-
trary, he was tolerably keen in looking after
his rights in that direction. Gold is recognized
everywhere by virtue Of its intrinsic value;
and the greenback is recognized everywhere by
virtue of its extrinsic vaIue. There is magic
in its very greenness. 1t is a promise to
pay made by the most powerful and most
wealthy nation on the face of the earth, and
the promise is relied upon and believed in
by every money dealer in the remotest corner
of the globe. 1t is as potent in Paris or Lon
don, in Vienna or St. Petersburg, in China or
Peru, as in Boston or New York. And why?
Because it bears the endorsement of the United
States Moreover, it is certificate of work
already done, 1t is a record of the past-of
cultivating the earth, of fishing in the sea, of
toiling in the workshop, or wearying at the
desk, or OF the pursuit of any one or all of the
countless modes by which free men on free
soil have created material wealth. There is
not greenback in existence whose face value
is not the result of toiling and moiing of some
body or other in the otherwise dead past 1t
rspresents actual property, and the actual prop
erty must have been produced and made con-
vertible by the labor of mems brains aad
hands before the greenback could be made
"joy forever And if actual property is a
blessing, SO also is money. Wealth is tree of
slow growth. Too, too often it is nurtured by
tears and matured by priyation; but it is none
theless a good and strong and healthy tree,
fair to gaze upon, and is blessed or cnrsed in
the fruits it yields solely as the gatherer may
choose. If he be of evil nature, and reves in
s-.fo L.
| 'sroot OF all evil inasmueh as it is the means
| ne abuses for base and ignoble ends. But to
the wise and prudent and thrifty money is an
incalculable blessing which enables them to
cheer desolate homes, provide refuge for the
diseased and for the poverty-stricken, make
| life endurable to the blind and the lame, the
dumb and the imbecile and sprinkle love and
| joy ana gladsomeness over all humanity.
Why the dollar should be specially deified,
and the nickel comparatively despised, affords
matter for reflection. Inasmuch as it is as
easy to earn 20 niekels as a dollar, why should
not nickel be regarded with 20 times more
favor than the dollar? "Never mind; it's only
nickel, said charming young lady, the
other day, to some polite bystanders who were
vigorously proddiDg and stirring up the snow
in quest of the coin she had dropped. Only
nickel" growled ne erdc-well under his
breath: s'it,s good for a schooner anyhow" and
he continued the hopeless search long after 9TH
ers had retired from fhe scene. And what a
host of things the nickel is gooe for. 1t is
good for cigar, not of the choicest brand per-
haps, but strong enough to fumigate a morgue;
it is also good for a loaf OF bread. Thus, for a
nickel, young Amerca-and, for the matter of
that, old America too-can make his choice
between the two necessaries of life, tobacco
and bread. Again, are there not half hidden
| in cul-de-sacs or perched at street corners, or
hoverlng around convenient hooks and cor
ners, sable professors" who will give boots a
"boss shine for nickel? And will not a
nickel buy pair of socks on which to hang
such resplendent boots? To be sure it will;
but the 5-cent counter of a Well-stocked store
places the stores are, and to think that nick
el has purchasing power thereini 1t is mar
velious. Boston stores are prodigies of COM
mercial enterprise. They are unsurpassed
even in Paris or London, the traditional
homes of wealth and elegance. Thousands of
square feet of floor space, ditto of counters,
ditto of shelves, and all jammed with
goods. Cheek-by- -jowl stand 5-cent goblet
and 5000 dinner set. Everywhere financial
extremes meet, and the costliest elegancies
rub against the homeliest utilities. The venti-
latlon is perfect, and the warmth cosy. There
are crowds of purchasers and curious prone
naders; locomotion is difficult, but there is no
unseemly crowding, no jostling, no pushing
Everything is quiet and orderly, and supremely
pleasant. Smiles and courtesies are the order
of the place, and an act of rudeness would Gre
ate as much surprise as indignation Here 'the
people" are shopping, and they do it with a
grace anu SudFltJ tIlat a uucuesS mlglb COPY, IL
she would not envy. And the "salesladies"
where are their peers to be found? How
charming they are to gaze upon; and how all
unconscious they seem of anything but their
dutyl How quick they are to capture the fugi-
tive nickel, and how quietly and unobtrusively
they tempt the purchaser by ready display of
the points" of a novel articlel How assidu-
ously--albeit ndemonstratively-they labor to
swell their quota of the "takiDgs' of the dayi
Why, oh, why! did not the cantankerous Os-
car spend some of his leisure in the process of
improving his mind in these gorgeous empori-
ums of trade? A critical examination of the
more salient features of Boston stores would
have taught him many things that his asthet-
ic soul is now ignorant of. 'sThere are moro
things in heaven and earth than are dreamt Of
in his philosophy" and the high order of iudg-
ment, taste and forethought displayed in fur
nishing Boston dry goods stores are some of
them. And If to these be added the wealth OF
dress, the ease of department, and the beauty
of form and feature of "the people, who mass
therein, living and aesthetic picture is pre-
sented which the limner's art could never re-
produce Oscars patrician mother might also
profit by the realization of scene that is to be
witnessed any Working-day in Boston Perad-
venture she would not again declaim about the
"brutal self-assertion in their ordinary inter
course" of the working CLASSES, which she late
ly did in an essay on the "Social Graces,"
where IL was sinpnlarlv ont of nIaca IL mot ar