Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-05-22
MONEY and A MAID
And a Financial Deal That Had a
Curious Climax.
AN EXPERIMENT IN SAVING.
Il Looked as Though the Plan Pro-
posed by Papa Was Doomed to Fail
ure, but the Little Lassie Had a Big
Surprise For Her Fond Parent.

1t is not necessary to, mention neI
name, but it Is of interest to note that
she is the daughter of one of 1.-The first
families of Virginia" and one charac'
teristic of these same first families Is
apt to be an utter carelessness of that
which pays for your daily bread and
mine and which keeps us all out of the
poorhouSe-money.
She was just rising eleven, this little
maid. two years ago when her father
first noted her lack of interest In things
financial. Starting as barefoot boy
because of the prodigality of his prog
enitors, he had drifted north, worked
for a scant living at whatever he could
get to do. developed an ability. studied.
worked and climbed until at last he
found himself a success and was able
to spend about $4,000 year for the
maintenance of himself and the wife
and child he had accumulated. Then
said the wise papa to himself, remem.
bering his days of poverty and stress.
II must teach her to save"
He tried several plans, all of which
failed to have any good effect Just
year ago he hit upon a scheme which
seemed to have merit.
"Here Boots" he said, II want to
make proposition to you. This is
what propose: will give you brand
new dollar bill every Saturday night.
and | will write the date upon each
one. At the end of the year | want
you to show me how many of those
actual dollar bills you have. and for
every one you can show me will give
you two Do you think you can make
money that way"
The child thought she could and re-
peated the conditions as well as her
mind grasped them, but her father
thought she did not get them ac-
curately.
Wait" he said; "Fll write it out SO
that there cannot be any error"
So he wrote:
Il will give you a new one dollar
bill every Saturday night. will write
the date on each one as | give it to
you. For every such bill that you can
show me at the end of the year | will
give you two others" Then he sign
ed 1t.
There was a dearth of childish funds
for awhile in that household and not
few efforts on the part of the daugh-
ter to extort money from her mother.
yhs
dation. But some way. 1t did not
then transpire how. the little girl dug
herself out of penury and into COM
parative nlfiuence and that without |
meaning to exercise guile. She seem.
ed to nave money in her purse and
was quite able to hold up her end at
the soda fountain or wherever else
her little friends gathered, and her
parents, who said nothing at all about
1t to her, wondered and speculated,
finally agreeing that Boots was spend
ing at east large part Of her allow
ance.
The dollar bill came every week,
duly inscribed with the date of the
gift, and was accepted by the little
maiden with appropriate thanks. Then
came the Christmas holidays. and the
parents wondered If she would save
her money or remember them. She
remembered them. but not with much
Then came the last of
the fiscal year. and the father inscrib-
ed another note and turned it over to
her.
Now, Boots" he said. 81 have CIV
en- you tifty-two of these. and prom
ised you two for every one you could
show me at the end Of the year. How
many have your"
'Ill get them for you" said the in
nocent child and ran away.
The old folks had a laugh between
while she was gone. think
Ing that she would exhibit two or
three bills and fully believing that the
experiment had failed. Then in came
the daughter. She laid a sheaf of bills
down before her father.
He counted them-tifty-two! All un-
used and bearing his Endorsement OF
The date of gift Among them was the
agreement written by her father
Now. how much do you owe meT
she asked.
Il reckon | owe you Sl04." he said,
but | cannot see how you managed
to save every one of these bills and
yet had all the money you have spent"
well, pop" she answered. Its this
way. | told Joe one time that l
couldn't spend any money. although l
lad It, and he asked me why. | told
him and showed him what you had
written. Then he made me what you
all a proposition.
''He has an allowance of 50 a week.
lie said he would give me 20 cents a
week II l would keep all the bills and
dve them to him at the end of the
ear after showing them to you. It's /,
perfectly fair agreement have
ad my 20 cents a week. show the
ills, you give me s104 and I turn over !
D him the $50. He makes $15.60, and
make $10L And ! don't have to be
oor or broke"
Now, what would you do with a
hid like that?-Detroit Free Press.
Let those who would affect singular. A