The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-19
HAD MONEY TO WASH.
CURRENCY THAT SOMETIMES RE-
QUlRES AN AMMONIA BATH.

A Fair Young New York Cashiers Plan,
Which Includes an Increase of Salary.
Tho Experience of n Young Actor aud
His Brilliant Wife.
The fair metropolitan cashier has add
ed new factor to her growing valua-
ton which will not prove so desirable
vile in the eyes Of her employer as the
honesty and efficiency which have won
for her almost monopoly in the bust
ness. It is the result of the microbe
craze, and is nothing less than washing
all the money she handles and charging
her employer overtime too.
The discoverer of this new way to en-
hance her usefulness and cost is Annie
Nesmyth, the money taker of big down
town hotel. Miss Nesmyth serves at
night mostly, and, while less money
comes i'll then than in the day, she is
generally kept busy enough. The money
is often very dirty and to the last degree
repulsive to handle. Now, the cashier is
n trained nurse resting" from her ar
duous professional labors. After sick
spell from handling the soiled currency
she concluded to resign. She was per-
suaded not to by an increase of salary
and permission to wash the money. So
every night sees n soup plate of am
monia water at her elbow, into which
each note, as it arrives, is dropped. 1t
gets quick bath and is then laid out OH
piece of flannel to dry as tenderly as if
it were her best piece Of jewelry. The
water has to be changed two or three
times i'll n night.
The cashier recently had an offer of
another similar job. Being asked what
usual figure, with the proviso that it
must be SO much more eff there's money
to wash
"Money to wash?" said the aston
ished would be employer. "Why, l
haven't enough for my hides Che is a
leather and tallow dealer), much less to
wash.
"You see,' she said calmly, your
business is dirty, and it's likely the
money will be. / won't wash another
fellows money in ammonia water-it's
bad for the hands and head-without
consideration in my salary. Different if
it were my money!" She says she's
passing the tip along" and soon all
merchants in business that calls for
an unusual fortitude in the olfactory
and perceptive nerves will have to pay
extra salaries if they wish to retain
steady and efficient help.
A money washing episode which con-
verified Charlie Bigelow, the actor, and
his wife to belief in banks is worth
recording. By dint of great saving and
denial the young couple got together
$500 in the first year of their marriage.
The money was kept in u chamois bag,
which the wife strung around her waist
under her corset, and rs the fund was q
great secret which both tried hard to
forget, SO that the we'll known borrow
ing propensities of their profession
might not be excited, it was never
touched or even looked Mt for months.
But a run Of bad luck finally drove the
young folks to draw on the channels
bag, when to their intense dismay it
was found the money had become per
fectly illegible. One by one the eight
500 bills We're laid OH the bed, all in
the same condition of greasy. uniform
black green no color. Husband and wife
took turns Mt trying to restore the at
tractive greenness Of the filthy lucre, but
i'll vain. The young wife wept; the saw
ing husband raved. Then together they
went to the bank which had given them
the bills. The bank refused to recognize
the money, nor could Manager Bakers
Endorsement make the cashier change
his mind. The manager then took a 500
bill off their hands for friendships sake
and got managerial friend to do like