The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-08-09
FINDING LOST MONEY.
THE SILVER THAT IS UNDER BoS-
TONS WOODEN pooRSrePs.

Incomes When Making Repairs ON
Stops and verandas.
III / could have the contract for re-
placing all of the wooden steps and
verandas of the city that are old and rot.
ten, would take my chances on making
good days pay each day without
charging any one for the $3.50 which
receive" said carpenter to a Herald
man as the former was engaged in work
of this kind. And as he pulled away the
side of the step that had seen service
for dozen years or more he peered ill.,
tently into the semidarkness, then reach
ed in. picked up a silver quarter, brushed
the dirt from it and ~ it in his pocket.
This opened new train of thought in
the newspaper mans mind, and he i'm,
mediately began his interrogatories.
do you find much money in this
way"
DO L? l won't take back what l said
about contracting for nothing to replace
wornout steps. This is sample Here
l have picked up Il quarter, and haven't
taken away the steps l may not lind
any more here, because the step is conf
paratively new. 1t has simply rotted on
the sill, not worn out And still may
be in luck and find more-maybe a cart
wheel or half; maybe dime or two
and another quarter"
How do you account for it?' asked
the inuusitor, who knew well enough.
but desired the carpenters explanation.
"Dropped it," was the terse reply.
'Take man, for instance, who carries
his change in the same pocket with his
keys. When the keys are pulled out, out
comes a bit of silver also that drops to
the floor, and down it goes through
crack. Find it again? l guess not. A
man couldn't have his steps taken nway
every week or so for dollar, but when
ever he drops n bit of change he remem-
bers it anG hopes, il he is living there
when the steps are renewed, that he VIII
recover it, but that never happens. An.
other family is living there when the
new steps are built, and then the car
pcnter finds the mine.
' Now, a man may come home late at
night-what's that, in dreamy state?
Yes, cali it that if you will, and in his
endeavor to pull himself together he pulls
everything out Of his pocket while get
ting out his keys. Knife and change and
whatever else he may possess will follow.
If he drops few pieces of money, he
never can tell what the denominations
arc, even if he realizes his loss, but even
if lie does realize it he cannot get down
and tumble for it.. He has other things
on his mind, and ten to one if he should
attempt to find the coin he would brush
it through crack before he could get his
fingers around it,
GLOW much did you ever ind?" was
the next question.
well, you would be surprised and
scarcely believe it, but my biggest haul
from any one step was 81 10. The step
was an old one, the back entrance to Il
boarding house, and was a sort of cover
ed stoop arrangement. The only way l
can account for this find was that posi-
bly, the butcher or the baker or some
other tradcsman was in the habit Of maxi
ing change n this place when receiving
pay for wares. When such person
pulls ont handful Of silver, n portion Is
almost invariably dropped through the
fingers. Such drop in that place meant
loss, because, as | remember it, the
cracks were wide, and rolling money al
ways disappears through the first crack
it reaches.
"Why didn't they take up the floor?
Couldn't do it. The covering went way
down. 1t would have been necessary to
take down the whole thing in order to
get up even one board. The sides of the
steps were also boarded down and edged,
so that an involuntary deposit in that
bank tied up the money as long as the
steps lasted. found 1t anyway.
"The average veranda with lattice
work front is the hest thing in the world
for money catcher. Why, the dirt UNI
derncath one of them is just loaded with
it. Now, | account for it this way:
When man gets into big easy chair
on a veranda and gets his feet on the
rail, higher than his head, his money
slides. If he hears it strike, it is gone
before he can recover it. The same man
may lose several dollars in change in this
way and never feel the loss or even think
Of it. but when you multiply the losses of
those who live there after him you have
quite n sum for the carpenter whose good
luck 1t is 10 rebuild that yeranda. Say,
don't think nm the only one who knows
this secret. Every carpenter knows it,
and each is looking for chance to build
new steps or vcranda.
Il remember one job Of the kind where
1t didn't all come my way. | went at the
work with the air of man who had
struck it rich in copper. had just taken
off the top board and was looking for
wealth when an old lady came to the
door. She watched me minute or so
and then said:
III you don't mind, mister, wish you
would look for 80 cent piece nly~son
dropped through this step five years ago
81 said, All right and. kept at my
work, but she staid BY in order not to
miss the half. Finally l saw it down
among the dust, picked it up and handed
it to her. She thanked me and closed the
door. Then went down again and pick
ed out quarter and dime. SO you see
we don't always have everything we find,
although generally We do
With that he spit on his hands, worked
vigorously for few minutes, MS if TO
make up for the time he had lost, and
just rs The Herald man turned the cor
ncr he looked back in time to see the
overworkcd carpenter brush something
else and put it in his pocket.-Boston
Herald