The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-08-29
RICH MEMS CHECKS.
THEY SHOW SHALLOWNBSS WHEN
THEY ARE TOO F1NCY.

j
Engineer in ~Petttcoats-The Dee
colIete Bathing Costume.
A man shows a good deal of his 1ndl-
viduality in his checks. A hashy man
will have a f1ashy check, and a man VINO
wears loud clothes and big rings VIII
have a check engraved on tinted paper
with pictures, and his name covering the
ends of it with ornamental characters. a
plain, quiet business man has a plaln'
quiet check. 1t does not follow because d
man has his check made to order, instead
of taking the ready-made kind that the
banks furnish him, that he has a long
bank account, any more than O cheap sur
of clothes indicates that a man can AoV
afford to buy better. On the contrary, =
man with q bank account who uses quleI
checks usually has a bigger balance than
the man who sends out specimens Oh
engraving with his signature to them.
The Astors use checks with no engrav-
ing on them and everything is printed.
When an Astor draws a personal cheek
the name is printed near the left edge IN
the plainest kind of way. The NUMBER
are not even printed on them, but when
filled in at all are filed in with ink. An
Aston check, however, does not usually
have the same writing throughout, as
there are clerks who fill in the body OF the
check. The signature alone is written
by an Astor. The Astors use good quallty
pink colored paper. They a the plain
est possible kind of a a check.
Unlike the Astor's plain checks, some
people use tints, ~engravings, pictures ana
ornaments in quantity. Some small store
keepers nave checks with their advertise"
ments; in some cases with their pictures
on tinted paper. There is a coffin COM
nanu that hoe n pintnra Of a coffin with
its advertisement on its check, and m
stone manufacturers lave been known TO
put engraved monuments on theirs. u Is
q common thing for a picture OF the place
of business to be at the left hand n Oh
a check, with the name and address IN
der it. One of the most noticeable ehecKs
has been given up 10Y as it attracted 100
much attention. That was the cheek Oh
a man who used Bible pictures and texts.
Many wealthy men think that The
checks the banks give out for notning are
good enough for them. Ii any add1t1on1 is
made it is to have their names printed IN
plain type on the end of the check. Banks
usually have their checks printed on
some other than perfectly white paper;
PinkiSh paper is the most common. Inab
is the kind the Astors use. The fayorlte
color of Philadelphia banks is green. Inc
Western banks have more elaborate
checks thai the Eastern banks have, but
bu0 pdpeE - uOb 81 SOOQ anu thS 800
cost less. The Western banks nave more
engraving tina the Eastern banks,
the Western men have more engraving
and advertisements than Eastern men.
Eastern men have better paper.
The Vanderbilts' checks are more ella
borate than the Astors', though not mucn
more. They are not as elaborate now as
they used to be.
jay Gould is one of the most careless OF
all rich men about the kind OF paper JnaG
he draws checks on. When he was gath
ering the roads together for his South
western system he drew up a cheek Tor
several million dollars on the back OF an
envelope. The check was all in his own
handwriting, and it would have been
harder to alter than many checks on pic
ture paper.
Capitalists usually have plain checks
and storekeepers elaborate checks. a
small broker has a more elaborate checK
than a rich broker, as a rule. Men WIN
small accounts also nave better checks
than men with bigger accounts, though
that is governed to a great extent by the
kind Of checks that the bank IS accus-
toned to give out.
One of the first things that men do
when they go into business for themselves
is to have their checks made to order.
They think that it gives them a certain
distinction, and that it shows that
they are of Importance. Getting
checks made to order does not cost
much. and it is SO easily one that it de-
tracts from rather than elevates the stand
ing of the man who does it. A check
be written on a plain piece OF paper that
will draw money U of a II
the man who sends it has money there
lust as well as if elaborate ~engravings
formed the background of the writing.
If there can be said to be a fashion in
checks, the small checks are the most
fashionable ones. A big check is bad
form. It is also bad form to carry a
pocket checkbook. 1t has an air OF dis
play about it, and shows the character of
the man Just as the wearing of many dia-
monds does. 1t costs nothing to carry a
pocket checkbook. The proper thing to
do is to nave a big book, three checks
wide, and to tear out two or three to carry
around with you loose in your pocket, just
as If they were cash. 1t is also better form
to nave a printed check than an engraved
check. The Astors' precedent should be
| sufficient for this. 1t should interest a
fashionable young man to know that
| everything about the Astors' checks, eX-
| cept the date, number, name of the payee,
amount and signature, is printed in type
OF the old English style.
Wonfen's Bravery.
Pleasant stories are those of the women
and girls who with such courage and
| skillful woodcraft have undertaken long
missions to carry news that help was
needed or to get powder. Such was that
| girls ride IN the mountain edge of North
| Carolina, which named all the creeks ac-
cording to the miles she had passed.
| Such was "Mad Ann Bailey's" ride, from
Clendemin's Fort, here at Charleston, w.
| Va. to Lewisburg, 100 miles away, to get
the powder upon which their salvation
depended, and such was the daring ex-
plot of pretty Elizabeth Zane.
She was a sister of Colonel Ebenezer
Zane, after whom GAINESVILLE, Ohio, was
named, but who in 1882 was near the fort
at Wheeling. A sudden alarm caused
everybody, except those at Zane's house,
to hasten into the stockade. among whom
was the colonel's young sister, a girl who
had Just returned from school in Phila-
delphia and was totally usused to these
wild scenes. The attack was fierce and
prolonged and the powder gave out be-
fore the redskins showed any signs of
retreating. In this emergency 1t became
necessary to replenish their ammunition
from Colonel Zane's house, which was
about fifty PAGES distant.
1t was therefore proposed that one of
their f~ieeteSt men should endeayor to
reach the house, get a keg of powder and
return with it. The enterprise was full
Of the keenest danger, yet many volun-
teers presented themselves for the task.
AMONG them was Elizabeth Zane. She
was young, athletic and fearless. "You
have no one man to spare" she pleaded.
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