The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1917-03-23
TALKS ON BANKING
american Bankers Association)
THE TURKEY THAT +;
WOULD BUILD A HOUSE.

There is a Negro story Of q turkey
who, every time it showed, drew his
feathers about him and firmly resolv-
ed to build him a house. But before
he could decide where to build. or
what kind Of a house, the sun came
out and he would shake out his feath-
ers, strut around and say to himself:
Nobody wants to be in a house on a
day like this" and the result was he
froze to death one winter night.
There are a lot Of people in the
same frame of mind as the turkey.
When things are going wrong, work is
slack, times are hard, sickness or acci-
dent comes and their money is gone,
they firmly resolve that in the future
they will take care of their money and
look out for the rainy day; build them
a house, as it were; but as soon as
things right themselves, they forget
their good resolution and the next
time of i'll need finds them as i'll pro-
pared as ever.
Most of us are merely grown up
children. We want what we want
when we want it. We live day by day.
Tomorrow is a vague uncertainty to
us. The boy will gorge himself with
green apples in June and forget that
there is physical law against eating
green apples. Tomorrow he will find
it out, and may resolve not to eat
green apples again; but a good resolu-
tion never gets a man anywhere un-
less he keeps it. Many a New Years
promise is made only to be broken
and pledges are singned only to be
forgotten. How many a man has re-
solved to stop drinking when drinking
has brought him in court! He should
have stopped before.
Thousands of men have firmly re-
solved that they would start savings
bank account, made deposit or two,
and then quit. An examination of the
books of any savings bank will show
a large number Of accounts with but
one deposit. It is mute evidence of
good resolution broken. A certain
father with two children had them in
sured in an industrial insurance COM
pany. He concluded that he could
save the money he was paying for in
surance some other way and decided to
put it in savings bank and proceeded
to open an account for each child. The
| first was the last deposit ever made.
The insurance collector quit his visits
and the fathers good resolution to
save for his children stopped with his
coming, and today they are without
either a bank account or insurance.
The rainy day comes to every man.
No matter how long it may be delayed
or how distant it may seem, or how
bright the sky today, trouble is bound
to come to US all, some time. A Ger
tain young man, full Of energy and
ambition, with as bright prospects as
man ever had and highly successful,
made the boast that he never expected
his income to be less than it was at
that time; but inside of three wears
it was nothing. He thought he had a
life job, and it had every indication Of
being such, but the props went out
from under, and at 40 he had to begin
building all over again. He does not
boast now.
The turkey in the story was no more
foolish than a lot of human beings.
The difference lies in the fact that the
turkey takes what is given him, or
what he can find. We have the power
to choose. We are in large measure
masters of our own fate. The beaver
and the ant have the right idea; they
build their houses, fair weather or
foul, knowing that having a house you
can go into when it rains or stay out
of doors when it don't. as you like.
You are safe either way. adv.