Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-27
CASH AND THE WOMAN.
One of the Few Cases In Which They
Were not Soon Parted.

were NOT Soon FaTSeo'
A New England woman, young, poor,
with no immediate family, Unexpected
ly received a legacy of $4,000. She
didn't know anything about investing
money because she had never had any
to invest.
First she took it to a savings bank.
which declined to handle so much at
once Then she put 1t into the nation
al bank while she could look about for
a chance to make that legacy work.
Being in search Of an honest man, and
being a woman, she went to her cler-
gyman.
The clerical gentleman was right
there with the advice. According to
the Worlds Work-for which maga-
zine she finally wrote the story of her
experience-the minister lost no time
in urging her to buy income bonds of
a boys school, of which he was trus-
tee and which had only recently deter
mined to raise money for an extern
sion.
He talked of nothing else. She
promised, but wanted time to get some
more disinterested advice from other
sources. The clergyman was a little
hurt, but he hoped that in the end she
would be quite sure to be safe and
conservative.
An uncle to whom she wrote replied
at great length. He advised her to
split it up. putting half of it into real
estate at home, and the rest into the
stock of four mining companies. which
he named. They were all stocks well
known on the Boston market, and all
paid dividends.
The revenue under this plan would
be more than 5000 a year. Under the
clergyman's plan 1t would be only $500.
She wondered why the church school
was so stingy.
A second cousin a New England
maiden lady, refused to go into details
with regard to the whole fund. but
urged her to give tenth Of it ito the
Lord" but without specifying the name
of the earthly depository.
An elderly man, who had been a
close friend of her father and who liv-
ed in Boston, named her a list of cot
ton mill stocks representing plants of
most of which she had heard. The in
come, he explained, would be very high
in good times-as much as $1,000 a
year. In bad times it might be very
low. That didn't suit the lady, who
said she was sure of her living in
good times. What worried her was
the bad ones.
A banking house whose name she
got from a church paper sent her vol
umes Of mail. 1t was all about three
splendid companies. They were the
wonders of the age. They made nee.
essaries of life, and they made them so
easily and cheaply that they were GER
tainly going to turn the old world up
side down.
She was fascinated. She had heard
of such things. Her first impulse was
to buy a lot of the stocks of each and
sit down to enjoy the plethoric wealth
that was sure to come along in good
time.
But she was n cautious lady of the
New England type, and determined to
make no mistakes. She heard of a
great financial publication in New
York which gave advice about such
matters. She wrote to it and received
a short but careful reply.
The editor, while declining In make
ed her to he very, very careful. He
talked Of sound finance" of "undOubt-
ed liens" of gilt edge bonds" of say
ings bank standard" of prior lien
mortgages" She read the letter in
sort of a daze. Finally she picked out
the one phrase that meant something
to her, Savings bank" and determin-
ed to follow it up.
She took the letter to the savings
bank which had not wanted to TAX" all
her money at once and demanded
again to see the president. This was
i'm Massachusetts. He admitted her to
his office. read the letter and said:
He is quite right The proper in
vcstment for YOU is in gilt edged bonds
and prior lien mortgage securities
But | don't know what they are.
she exclaimed in desperation, "or how
to find them. never saw anything gilt
edged but a book. And what does
prior lien mean"
The old man recognized that he had
on his hands the education of Il real
novice. He undertook it. He talked
an hour. At the end Of that time she
summed up the situation in this wise: