OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 741, 14 May 1886, Page 4

OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

A GREAT FINANCIAL SCHEME.

By Sophie Swktt. (Continued). Even Dan Vibbert, who worked in the clothespin factory, and supported his mother and little sister, and was as wise and prudent as if he were sixty instead of sixteen, agreed to save ten cents a week from his earnings, if possible, and deposit it in the bank ; and he gave Ben, on the spot, fifty cents which he had saved to buy a blue necktie with red dots.

Dick Malcolm, who was a rich man’s son, but who spent all his money on caramels and cornballs, sternly resolved to forego these luxuries, and tried to sell his donkey and cart that he might deposit the proceeds in Ben’s bank.

Arthur Wingate, who had saved seven dollars towards buying a bicycle, lent a willing ear to Ben’s argument that money which was increasing every day was better than a bicycle which was wearing out; and Tommy Tripp sold his calico colt that hehad meant to raise.

There was a great financial excitement in Quebasket. Ben came home in the in the evening and found that the sign, upon which Tobias had worked zealously all the afternoon, had ‘ Quebasket Double-Penny Bank ’ on it, in dazzling white and yellow letters on a black ground bordered with red lines. The office equipments, were very primitive, and Ben resolved that the bank’s first earnings should purchase a desk which wasn’t evolved from a trough, and a safe which would give a dignity to the establishment that was not to be imparted by an old tin coffee-canister and a cake-box.

But the coffee-canister and the cake-box had money in them, and so where more business like than an empty safe ; and with this reflection Ben consoled himself, even when some of the boys—who had no money to deposit—said they ‘ could put their money into tin boxes at home without carryin’ it up to Scattesgood’s ole workshop.’ Of course Ben knew that no one could

expect to carry on so ambitions an enterprise without having some troubles ; so he was , mother sent him after the peddler in hot haste mother sent m m nr ice, because they He TO Sot surprised, but he almost wished £? listened to Tobias, who said girls ought not to be allowed to deposit, because they would want to take their money out the very next day to buy candy or ribbons, or would be fussy and come every day to see if it were safe. But he was glad afterward that he hadn’t listened to Tobias, for some girl-friends brought money and seemedjust fs sensible about it as the boys, from Mary Jane Pemberly, who had earned seventy-five cents by knitting stockings, to Ki.ty Malcolm, who was saving up her allowance to buy a Shetland pony with a tail that touched the ground. Kitty had eleven dollars, —she was almost as wealthy as Lhakim Tueslev ; and Ben, who believed in woman’s rights, had some idea of making her one of the directors. But when he confided this idea to the boys, it was with scorn and derision, and Ben abandoned it with the patient superiority oh one who knows that his opinions are in advance of his age. He decided, soon after, that he would have no directiors, but would himself be the sole manager of the institution, and this decision prevented impending hostilities between Eliakism Tuesley and Win Reeder, who intended to deposit fourteen dollars when his uncle came home ' Another trouble was that some of the depositors returned weeping, and demanded their money back, owing to ?f e^ udlCe their parents or guardians. But happened that the larger capitalists had full control of their funds, so this was no serious drawback to the success of the bank. Ben s father seemed to regard the undertaking as sport, and Ben had better be at work. But Ben thought he would soon be able to show neonle that his enterprise was som-thmg more than play ; and that all the little trials incident to its beggimng would be iorgotten in the glory °f its success. But Ben’s strong argments had aroused such a zeal for savtng money and putting it into the bank, that noboay seemed to think of borrowing any to spend. Ben felt himself under the necessity of affixing to his sign the information that the bank would ‘ loan money on personal proparty or any good security. He dmn t like the looks of that notice ; it detracted very much from the dignity of the bauk ;, he wished people would understand, without that, how his bank must be managed ; and he felt very much annoyed when uncle Amri Treworgy, as he was drivmg by, stopped and laughed, and called out : . ‘Gone into the pawnbroker business, Ben ? Where are your three gilt balls * Uncle Amri was a queer old fellow, who had amassed a considerable fortune by shrewd investments and specu ations. He was called ‘ Uncle ’ by everybody and was in reality a great-uncle to Ben ; and Ben had thought of asking his advice the bank. He was glad cow that he hadn t But his wounded feelings were soothed y the immediate results of the notice. It was novel and - exciting to be able to borrow money ! There was a reaction from the severe self-denial that had made the taste of peanuts and taffy almo-t forgotton delight to Quebasket boys, and some of the depositors were the first borrowers ! There was so great a demand for very small sums that Ben feared the labor of keeping the books would be too great, and he refused to lend any amount smaller than a quarter of a dollar. This caused great dismay among the smaller boys ; and the village confectioner, who had ordered a double quantity of peanuts and corn-balls in view of the unusual demand for them from young capitilists, was now left with the increased supply on his hands. The interests on loans was to be paid weekly, but Ben found it very difficult indeed to make his collections. The boy who borrowed a quarter thought three cents a week very little to pay for the use of it when he borrowed it, but three cents looked much bigger at the end of the week, and it •increased rapidly to very astonishing proportions ! At the end of three weeks it was nine cents, and it was often very inconvenient to pay it. And in how much worse con dition was the boy who had borrowed a

too, Ben found it difficult to be sufficiently hard-hearted to take possession of the mortgaged articles. But Tobias counseled firmness, and Ben at length felt obliged to take possession of several pocketknives, a Guinea hen, a cage of white mice, a silver watch, a backgammon board, and a squirrel. The owners of most of these articles very soon appeared with the interest due and claimed their property, but one of the knives had been broken after it was mortgaged, and the gray squirrel had slipped out through a hole in the hen-house, and probably rejoined its family in the woods ; and its opinion undoubtedly was that the Quebasket Double-Penny Bank had done some good in the world. But Tobias, with a wrinkled brow add deep misgivings about his * dollar’n’ nineteen cents, charged the knife and squirrel to the loss account of the i>ank The Guinea hen, too, caused embarrassment by laying three eggs while imprisoned in the bank, which John Sylvester, her owner, claimed. And when he threatened to have a lawsuit if they were not returned to him, and Ben felt; obliged to give them up, because he thought an appeal to law would seriously interfere with the success of the bank. Poor Tobias spent half a day in calculating the profits that might have accrued to the bank from those three Guinea hen’s eggs, and he never became reconciled to their loss. Ben’s strict measures produced two results : one was that the interest was paid much more promptly, but the other was that the boys became more sby of borrowing. The novelty had begun to wear off, too, and times were undeniably dull at the bank. But one morning Quebasket awoke to find its fences and walls, and even its rocks and trees, adorned with flaming posters, which announced that the ‘Gigantic Royal Hippodrome and Stupendous European and Asiatic Menagerie, applauded by all the Crowned Heads of Europe, Great and Small, and considered by the Czar of Russia the

Eighth Wonder of the World, ’would exhibit at the Stapelton Mills, a neigbormg town, the next day. Every Quebasket boy knew very well that those lofty-sounding names meant simply that the circus had come . And the blissful news was shouted from one to another. _ m u• ‘ Lively times to day !’ said Ben to Tobias, as they saw the baDk-building fairly cove re with the beguiling bills. ' Crowds of boys will want to borrow money to go to the circus !’ ... (To be continued.)