New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-22
The Way of a Man
With q Dime

dime in merely the ordinary course OF
daily affairs-oh, quite honestly, and
without even the faintest idea Of who 1t was
that had given 1t to you. Would you calmly
throw it away, despite the fact that 1t repre-
sented the tenth part Of dollar In coin " the
realm! Is your conscience so acute that you
couldn't save the coin in a separate pocket
until YOU might slip it into the ravenous NAV
Of a dime-sucker some dark night on the roof
Of . Fifth Avenue bus? Are you so deter
mined a censor Of your own actions that you
couldn't even permit yourself to use it to ring
the bell twice one day when you might call your
almost-suburban friend from deposit-ten-
cents-please telephone?
WE'LL regardless Of what may be your par
ticular decacies in such matters, 1t was George
who had the impossible dime and the almost
impossible problem. So George thought the
case over with great care.
II it were counterfeit, said he to himself,
there'd be only one thing to do. One would
simply have to unpocket the coin and pocket
the loss. But this shining disk that lay In his
hand with the portrait Of that royal name
sake of his and all the rest, was perfectly
good dime 1t was merely in the wrong place.
He might mail it to some one in Canada, to
spend in the natural way but whom did he know
in Canada? Not soul, Of course. However,
he wouldn't even have to 60 all the way to
Canada. Buffalo or Detroit or ST. Paul would
do, for lots of Dominion money was used in all
Of those places.
Yes, thought George, he'd mail the dime up
to his cousin in Buffalo, and ask him to send
back real honest-to-goodness United States
1o-cent piece. But the postage? Two cents
each way left six to cover the paper and en-
velopes, and the time and the trouble and the
risk of losing it all in the post! At that rate
he'd be owing himself money! 1t would be
cheaper to chuck it away.
But it was a nice, shining and properly
coined 1915 dime, whose med edge hadn't
even worn smooth, SO he dropped it in his
pocket and forgot it.
That evening when he left the office George
bought his usual paper from the usual boy just
outside the building, and was absorbing parts
of the biggest headlines as he lodged over
toward the subway station. Suddenly he felt
strong Juggling at his coat, and murky palm
with dazzling disk resting in it was shot al
most into his face. "Looka' wat y gimme!"
yelled the boy, angrily, and George looked at
his Canadian dime!
Well, thought George, after he'd traded two
dull nickels for the little piece of stamped sill
YER, the boy was right. If he'd noticed ii he
certainly wouldn't have taken his paper and
nine pennies for that foreign dime. The boy
would be likely to lose any customer he gave
1t to still, there wasn't any reason for
the youngster to make such fuss about it.
The dime was good, and not counterfeit.
Not counterfeit, eh? How did he know!
There must be bad Canadian dimes, just as
there were bad copies of our own money. Per-
haps he had palmed off worthless coin on
that newsboy and the fellow knew it and
thought he'd made it HIMSELF rather guilty
blush started across his forehead as he saw
the boys Imagination picturing him with
crucible and hand-mould somewhere, turning
those things out by the quart to pass on inno-
cent newspaper vendors. Just then his eyes
rested on pair of square-toed boots with blue
legs rising out of them; he gave such nervous
Jump as he looked up and met the policeman's
gaze that the puzzled officer turned and fol-
lowed him all the way to the subway entrance
before concluding that nothing much was the
matter.
But it felt like good dime, said George to
himself. He remembered that some one had
told him that counterfeits always felt greasy,
and this one certainly was not slippery. At
least, it did not seem very slippery-probably
it was his hands that made it slide little, for
they felt moister than usual. How could folks
tell what was bad money, anyway? He had
seen Italians bite coins he'd given them, so as
he went down the steps he chewed little on
the edge of this one. It didn't seem to taste
different from any money he'd tried before, but
of course it had been years
CHANGING up, he saw a Broadway express
pulling in. He rushed to the ticket window,
looking sideong to see if he could possibly get
through before that nearest end door was
banged shut. He took his nickel change, and
was just about to pick up the subway ticket
when he was surprised to see the agent ex-
citedly grab back the green bit of pasteboard