"ONLY A PENNY."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1020, 9 January 1911, Page 6

"ONLY A PENNY."

"Herewith cometh no penury; neither stale provision."—Anon.

(By Nudis Verbis.)

Only a penny! Mean coin of tho realm. What is its purchasing power? What will it bring in these days of ever-increasing demand and supply? This plain bronze token long since degraded from "denarius" dignity. To tho ancient Roman it was represented by a silver coin until the time of Sevcrus, when picces mingled with alloy were substituted to bo in turn replaced by golden. In England, until the time of Edward tho First, the silver penny was so deeply cross-marked that it . could easily be broken into halves or quarters; hence the halfpenny or farthing. In old English law this "denarius Dei," or "God's penny," was received as

earnest money by contracting parties, and when county courts held jurisdiction, twothirds of every line was reserved for the King, and- one-third, or a perinv, for the earl as shireman of the county. Proverbial philosophy has never ignored tho importance of the penny, while thrift has sometimes exalted it beyond its due. "lie not penny wise" says- one of England's greatest in the great times of Elizabeth. "Riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves." But the question here proposed is not how best to save, but how best to spend a penny, for few could accurately give an Answer to tho first. Individual needs and individual cases differ," and what seems desirable to one may be contemptible in the ojvs of another. To some ■extent the.second problem-is for similar reasons very far train easy, and can u my be solved by removal from immediate personal surrounding to the wider sphere of public and imperial • interest. For personal investment, it must be admitted, eventually affects tho many. Penny readings, once so popular, and penny dreadfuls, not yet extinct, helping or harmful, do certainly increase and multiply the bliss or bale-producing quality of. printed matter thus placed in the possession of tho public, and the single penny cast into the slot suggestivo of bewitchment, may represent the staking of the all, tho gambler's passion for tho risk. Surely, never boy was born, w;bo, with tho vanishing of that first precious coin; did not experience the thrill of trembling venture. "Penny wise, pound foolish," is alike' the motto of the gambler in novitiate, and. tho hoaryheaded doyen of finance, and it is still the noble citizen who asks—and is not ashamed to answer.

"What penny hath Rome borne? What men provided?" when his State is in danger of his honour in peril. For reasons personal and petty, the dark-skinned babies sporting in the Whaka spring cry "Frow it here," and not so long ago, to soothe our national pain and salve our wounded pride, the call of "Pay, pay, pay" leaped hoarsely fiom tho throat of Empire. Here, at least, an instance, fixed in historic record, proclaimed the vaiue of tho "nimble penny J multiplied bv millions. As we ask, What can he do?" whent we would gauge tho .man, or &tate what he has done, to prove his claim to valour, so do we, in appraising tho penny, ask, not how many articles useful or alluring, how many pins or'needles; how many nails or screws, how much wool, or how much wood, how much.coal, or how,much gas may be purchased for a penny, but what v.ill it procure for lis that will cover and condense, and count tho most. How niueli profit and how much pleasuro can it add, to life? What contribution to ill knowledge.-' The pennyworth that challenges the vote of preference must prove itself pro-' Ufic, punctual, and precira.' A wonderful exchange. Born of brain and muscle, a ™ to all the ages since tho birch ot Laxton,the voice of every whisper of • it , f '°" c ' sum ot aII tlic silent mirth that have gone to make great history and build an Empire, it is but the creature of a day. To-morrow, speaking relatively-, its value will bo secondary, each issue taking something from the value of its predecessor, though, speaking paradoxically, .it adds thereto; because* things that-are begot in the ventricle ol memory, nourished in tho womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the melloivin* of occasion," become hallowed in the hoarding; though, and here again we are jostled by a paradox, such matter is not always stored with an appropriate company. In truthful record there can. be no exclusion. • ,

Intrusive and elusive- —this seductive and instructive pennyworth, before each passes into comparative oblivion, must be taken with its. grain of salt, for here the worthy of thf 'vorld arrest attention, and there the base-proclaim thoniEelve«. Here would-be gods declare their shame, and here the fool says openly "there is IV ?1" I*, • • H? 1 ' 0 COIII O 'he trooping thoughts that wait the magic of th: readers mind; the finer issues of the spirit, nnd hero nfter somo process of purgation tho tale of villainv, of misery and shame. ■ Here, too, linked with the past, is spread m words the pageant of the dav, or period tho most -remote: • "Hero vou Trt "peaker in the theatre ol life; weigh oach bauble and estimate each curse, and thus lie called to share the sorrow of. the world,-perhaps while lushed to mournful pause, bo outraged by tho unashamed brutality of man." : . . Have you heart and mind to exercise or fancy to be held in thrali ? Here, indeed, is matter full .of wond-ET lor a penny. . , . Would you, in imagination, share tho toil of travel, investigate on land, bv sea, or through the air? Here you may he transported, or if/at home you choose to eat your heart oufby the firo with sentiment alone for- company find bread of sorrow and water of affliction. Do you turn from tragedy? Comedy will laugh into your eyes.' If. you would'lie wealthy, here in a hundred ways, through offer and advertisement, you may elect to learn. If spending be your joy here is the tale of need; appeal that-gives sweet opportunity to cloth?, the shivering and cheer the sad. . .. Too old perchance for venturous .quest, though .urged, may bo, by Viking blood, here by the open road or on the windy hill, you may read and taste the tang of icy air that freezes breath and scuds to fatal,sleep so many a brave explorer".

Engrossed, perhaps, or. merely, interested, in so-called practical affairs, you would be versed in wide-world politics, and find rehearsed the speech of Parlia-

ment; the essence of its State-craft suckcd for you, the veins and arteries of commerce traced with skill and certainty, its latest pulse recorded financial temperature correctly charted, and' the game of life on every playing-field brought swiftly into -tabulated view; hero you can be instructed. Nay, .more; havo -you

uncultivated faculty for science? Do you on its outskirts seek to peer into its mysteries, to learn something of the procession of tho stars, or the story of our planet? To have described for you the way of life in air or sea? Put your penny in tho Slot of Time and ten to one the morning or the evening will bring its special knowledge or its last discovery. So there is much to be well-bought, a few tilings to be wcll-misssd, and a great deal to be held as inalienable treasure in this, singularly cheap investment. : . . Going home this evening, waking to-morrow morning in no mean city. it will be a thoughtless citizen who dees not find within the compass of his hand a great exponent of the greatest value for n penny;' its onen secret in a faithful, though not flawless, mirror of tho age.