Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-24
COUNTRY banking, unlike
~ it's hard and fast cousin,
city banking, is of that free and

city banking, is of that free and
elastic quality that admits and enjoys the pres
humor than of business. In all businesses
there are occasional oddities and variations
which divert the attention from the sordld
grind of money chasing. and country banking
is the fruitful soil upon which humor blossoms
as the proverbial green bay tree.
All bankers have to do with the peculiar, the
odd, the eccentric, and the unfathomable de-
positor. The man who carries checking &C
count that approximates, in its halcyon days OF
aff1uence, the sum of two dollars and thirty-five
cents is we'll known. Many men of this stamp
nearly wear themselves out in the furious and
embroiling rush of drawing two ffty-cent
checks a week. l once knew man who
emitted the general impression that he was
house, and whose personal account once
reached the astounding proportions OF eleven
dollars and ninety-eight cents. Bankers who
have accepted with Chesterfeldian grace de-
and bent cent from this man will at once rec
ognize the deep undertow of humor that ac-
companies nanipulations of this sort.
There is, too. the elderly woman who desires
change for bill, but finds it necessary to go
into retirement behind door in order to
get it, because she keeps it where moth does
not corrupt nor thieves have the te1nerity
to steal. l remember one woman who sat
down in the lobby and removed her shoes,
peering into each with evident concern and eN
soles and renewed the investigation. Con-
sternation suddenly changed places with
pectation and she slipped on the shoes with i'll
concealed haste. Her departure was taken as
matter of course,-she had merely put on the
wrong shoes and her reserve was still safe at
home.
All bankers have met the woman who owns
the bank when she becomes the possessor of
checkbook. One of this kind overdrew her
account with me and, after some natural
hesitation, naively mentioned the circum-
stance to her. Not in the least worried, she re-
Piled cheerily:
"overdrawnl overdrawn3 How many dol
mentioned the sum, small one.
"Oh, dear! Only that? l didn't know was
down to that. Just give me the money and
I'll give you the book. It's terrible nuisance
to write checks, anyway!
1t took ten minutes to diagram it out to her
so that she understood she owed the bank.
Not all humor is furnished by the customer;
there are some bankers whose peculiar attri-
butes of nature create them a community
laughingstock. The crank is so preponder-
atingly few, however, that we can easily forget
him, and deal only with the humor that Sits in
across the counter or through the wide portals
provided by Uncle Sam mail service.
bank one morning looking pretty much tagged.
"Hello!" began. What's up? Been sit
ting up with the sick?"
He glanced at me scornfully. Huh! I'm
down LOT an unpIOInpCu speech at the CoIlVeIl-
ton this evening, and I've been up nearly all
night working on the COMPOUNDED thing" he
snorted.
He failed to see where laughed.
One of the most humorous things that ever
happened to me las seen from this distance)
was being reused out of bed at eleven-forty-
five p. N. to get up letter of recommendation
for farmers son who was going to the city to
learn the barber business. Needless to say
gave him cutting letter.
One of the highly humorous things in a
bankers life is when he finds counterfeit money
in his till. The receiving tellers always riot
ously positive that they did not take it in; but
it gets there nevertheless. The usual method
is to sack it up and leave it where the clerks
can feast their eyes on it as a warning. bank
examiner once fell on sack of this 1eaden junk
before the banker could switch it out of sight,
and after look jumped back about yard.
What is this. may l Ask" was his caustic
inquiry.
The bookkeeper came to the front heroically
"Our secret reserve" said he, and the air
cleared.
An examiner dropped into bank one morn
ing and began proceedings, as usual, by count
ing up the cash. AS he completed the count of
the visible coin and currency he noticed the
banker feverishly operating the adding ma
chine.
Are you listing the discounts?" asked the
examiner.