A PENNY HAINED IS A PENNY GAINED.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10493, 28 June 1910, Page 6

A PENNY HAINED IS A PENNY GAINED.

(By Alec Alan.)

"Hained" is a Scotch word meaning saved; that is, not spent; and the sentence is a Scottish proverb, often quoted, and intimately connected with thrift, the "saving grace" of the Scot that hankers after "siller." He who sets himself to -build up a fortune by takinji c;:re of the pence must have a mind and a soul endowed with patience and a thorough- belief in the power of littles. "Mony. littles mak a muckle," and "Little drops of water, little grains of sand, Make the mighty ocean and the solid land."

This is the atomic theory in embryo. It is the bedrock of the Scot's belief

who sets out to do his best to possess the earth, or "as muckle o't as he can onyway." Ay, "ony way I" What said the Kev. Jjr Campbell to his two sons, when advising them for their future benefit, as they were setting forth into the world to push their fortunes r "Now, lads," said he, "if you wi.sli to succeed, do what you can to make money —honestly, if you can; but by all means make money." One died a baronet, and the other a peer. Not even Scotsmen can all attain to such eminence. But they can try, and then of a certainty something will be acquired.

Now to my story. "Marriage makes or mars a man." "A candle burning at both ends is soon finished." You can fancy how different it must be when both a husband and his wife are industrious, saving, and thrifty. James Armourer and Jean Dickson, as certainly married for lovo as they, after marriage, worked for ■"siller." Jean was a cook—a born cook, and had been in good service. James was a weaver in his younger days: at the time of marriage he was a warper. Jean, who was reared among weavers, could weave too, but did not care for it. When James brought home a web to work at in his leisure hours, Jean filled his pirns. James was regularly employed as a warper by a local "manufacturer" whose business consisted in distributing the manufactured thread or yarn to the handloom weavers in such portions as could be worked into webs. These portions the weavers took home to their own looms in their own shops, and returned them when woven into cloth, chiefly of the coarse linen variety. The couple began their married life in a humble cottage, to which, like others in the row, were attached a loomshop and a good garden. James kept the garden in good order and fertility, and was able to dispose of surplus produce. Jean's cottage was distinguishable from the others by its being cleaner and tidier even in outward aspect. - Her frowsy neighbors said, "It's easy for her. bhc has nae bairns to dart ii.' T Only after three or four years a baby boy arrived to bless their union. There were, never any others, boy or girl. Just as her house excelled the others in tidiness and cleanness, so also did James the younger excel tho children of her neighbors. These said, when they saw the boy's smart clothes, "Ye would think they were gentry, the way they dress that laddie." When Mr and Mrs Armour had been about ten years married, and were in the prime of life, with their mutual savings they were able to purchase, in another part of the town, a large section with two dwelling-houses and loomshops for eight weavers upon it. James improved the houses by adding one loom-stance to each as an additional dwelling room. They went to live in one of the houses themselves, and let the other to a respectable artisan at a fair rent. The six other loom-stances also were let to such weavers of tho vicinity as came to his master for webs. He arranged with the manufacturer and the weavers that a sixpence per web should be retained for him. As his, tenants were always sure to get webs, he thus secured an increase of tliree shillings per week to his income.

Emigration to Otago was the next thing to effect Armour's income for the better, two of his wearers leaving for that Antipodean colony. They were two young unmarried men, who in the busy season of the building trade worked as masons. One was drawn away by ambition: an uncle had written from Otago where he was prospering. His mate was caught on the rebound. His sweetheart, Agnes Adamson (Nance Adieson the weaver lads called her), whom he had asked to be his wife, had scornfully rejected him, and when his chum said, "Never you mind her, Willie; just pack up and come away with mo to New Zealand," Willie readily agreed to emigrate. Their looms, which were, their own, Armour took over at a valuation, and was soon getting good interest for his outlay, in an additional sixpence paid weekly. He soon found means and opportunity to become the owner of all the six looms; and willing workers, finding that they* could always depend on getting' webs, kept the shop full- and working- full time. James Armour was even then looked upon as a man of means, and looked well after the items of his in-

come. He now agreed to allow his wife n stilted weekly amount for housekeeping. About Martinmas, 1856, two things happened in their immediate neighborhood which affected their welfare in a curious way. Their tenant, the artisan aforesaid, left for another town, where he got promotion in his trade. Across the street there died- an old woman, a widow, whp had long kept a small shop. She sold "potted-head" and other edibles that were saleable in that weaving quarter of the town. Mrs Armour made her own potted-meat, and that of a superior quality. She could outstrip that old woman easily in all sorts of cookery. In the forenoon Mrs Armour had, from her window, watched the "flitting" of their tenant, whose furniture was being carted to the railway station. It was womanlike and neighborly. In the afternoon she looked out

at the funeral, from the little shop, of old Granny Fernie. who had lived all her married and widowed life in the sarao house. Her family, reared there, were all away in houses of their own, and rearing families in their turn. There was no one of hers left to succeed her in her small, very small, business. In the evening Mrs Armour had a proposal to make to James, to which, after fully discussing the pros, and cons., he generously agreed. Her plan was that she take the empty house next door, which the artisan had just vacated, and set up business there as a maker of potted meats and other dainties. She would give him more rent, to be paid quarterly in advance—(these were the points that stirred up his generosity)—on condition that certain alterations should be made at once. The two houses were contiguous, having a mutual gable. Through this it would he necessary to break out a door of communication, or add a passage from back door to back door. I have no certain knowledge as to which plan was adopted. Possibly the latter, I as the kitchen and added loom-stance were at the further end of the second house. These gave ample convenience for the public cooking that was proposed, as well as for their private cuisine. By the new arrangement their only son. who was then in the senior classes of the local academy, had a .study as well as a bedroom all to himself: and their own family sitting-

room, which had been kitchen and diningroom. with a fixed-in bed for James, jun., was enlarged and freed from ilw smells and discomforts of cooking. All the alterations were ultimately made in accordance with Mrs Armour's proposals, but she did not wait till they were effected before she began business. The very next day the household furniture and effects of the late "Widow Ferine were disposed of by public roup (auction), summoned by tuck of drum. Mrs Armour was there to secure the hvs pot and the moulds used for pottedmeat. Her announcement that she intended to supply the neighborhood as old Mrs Fernie had done enabled her to purchase all the necessarv articles and furnishings at her own bids. She had samples of her cooking displayed in the kitchen window next afternoon. But Mrs Armour being, as I have already noted, a born cook, soon improved on the -quality, tastiness, cleanliness, and even cheapness of the wares supplied. Then she introduced variety, which, with the added excellence of her cooking, increased the demand. This led her to improve and enlarge her appliances. Her next step was to become a wholesale dealer, by supplying several small shops in various parts of the

town "with her tasty confections and concoctions. Her potted-head and other meats in moulds and pots, her dish-pies and sausage rolls, her calf'sfoot jelly, and her bladders of lard for frying, all tasty, good, and wholesome, were Known (far and wide, and met ready sale. The weavers of the town and "district preferred her pats of fat to dress their warps with, when they could get them. She had turned her kitchen into a factory and her little shop into an emporium. Mrs Armour was a. busy woman then, and needed help. This was easily ob> tained. A weaver's widow, a young woman with two young children, was fighting with poverty in one of the small cottages that James had got into the habit of acquiring with his savings. Her small rent was easily deducted from her wages, and she and her bairns grew strong and healthy on the generous soups and plentiful food of Mrs Armour's kitchen and bakery. Yes, bakery—not of bread, "but for pies, shortbread, scones, small cakes, and all liko toothsome dainties. Mra Armour worked from morn to 'night, but never neglected her duty to her husband and their only son. In the evening, James, . the younger, studied higher English, mathematics, and the rudiments of living and deadlanguages of Europe, and generally pre. pared himself for the place which in the end he attained —Dux of tho Academy and Winner of the College Bursary at-_ taclicd to tho position. Mr Armour, always paid his son's tailor's bill, ' which, of course, was included in his own. Thus ever since lie had allotted to his wife the part of his wages that had been agreed upon between them for housekeeping and personal purposes, lie had taken no active interest in her little "pottedhead" business. Except in tho matter of the quarter's rent nothing connected with it ever cropped up between them, and as lie appeared to tako no interest in her business affairs, she gave him no occasion to tako interest. Ono evening, however, when work was over, and the worthy couple were "haein' a, crack" before retiring for the night, James remarked: "Lwish I knew where to lay my hands on £3OO or £400." "W'ha's sellin' hooses 1160?" asked Jean, feeling sure that he saw some good chanco of acquiring desirable property. "It's no hooses this time, Jean; an' I buy nae hooses that cost ,£3OO or £4OO. It's yarn." Then ho explained the effort on supply and demand that the slavery war in America was likely to cause. . The war' would stop the cultivation of cotton in the Southern States, and even what they already had in stock could not bo exported on account of the warships of the Northern States blockading the ports. Thus there would be a shortage, if not stoppage, of cotton supply for the mills of Lancashire. There would, therefore, be a greater demand for all sorts of linen goods, and those who held linen yarn bought at the present low prices would be sure to reap the profit of advances. There were other ways, he said, of making money than by earning a daily wage, or by securing a percentage off . weavers' wages for their rents. Buying yarn and holding-it for a rise, and then selling it was a* common and simple way. It could be done often in the course- of. a year—the often er the better. But if one could get the yarn cheap, and get it manufactured into cloth, there would be a surer and greater profit. It would always ensure a fair income for him, he continued, if he were to become a manufacturer himself. He had premises sufficient and a good number of weavers already depended on him for webs. A little advance on wages would bring plenty of weavers to him. But- he could not get the necessary cash that would be wanted for a special chance. Then he read from his newspaper the notice of a sale of yarn in a bankrupt estate, which must be a cash transaction. . Now, it is a curious thing that a man such as 'James Armour had developed into, saving and hoarding, should never havo inquired info the results of his wife's cooking venture. As he regularly received his rent from her without complaint, he coidd see that she was holding her own and the business' fairly prospering; but to what extent he never dreamed —at all events, he -never inquired. Hence there was no more astonished person in the parish than James Armour that night when Jea"h, his wife, rose, saying: "I'll see what I can do for you," and having unlocked the drawer of the "full Scotch" set in which she kept her own bijouterie and personal documents, therefrom took her savings' bank book tied up along with some rer ceipts, etc. These she handed to him with the remark: "There'll maybe be enough there, James." James could scarcely believe Ms eyes when he saw three deposit receipts for £IOO each, and the book showing a current account with something over £6O to credit.

"The very thing the doctor ordered L" exclaimed he. "But, do yo mean to tell me, Jean, lass, that your pottedhead has paid hand ower fist like this?"

"Ay, potted-head an' the rest. Ye'll see what the business is worth if you look at the weekly amounts paid in to mak up the last £60." "An' are ye owiu' onybody anything:"'

"No, naething. I. pay for most things ready money, or by the week, an' get them cheaper so. For things that arc paid by the month, the quarter, or tho- half-year, I aye lay by eneueh in there (herdrawer) as will pay them when the time comes before I put any in the bank. Forby, my rent is aye fore-haundet, as ye ken." . r"You're a perfect business ' woman, Jean. I'll hae to tak a leaf oot o' your book, or else get James to become clerk for us baith." , " 'Deed, you'll do naething o' the sort! If you canna keep yours yoursel' .you needna set up as a manufacturer. You'll get someane to do the warpin' for you, an' that'll gie ye braw time to keep your books, an' to write letters an' accounts. But James'U go on wi' iu's studies for college and church, as we're already agreed aboot." This was said with determination,- for Jean wasa determined woman—a patient, industrious, purposeful, and strenuous wo-' man.

Often, when her husband walked forth with a dignified mien, and a quiet, almost morose, countenance, I havo thought that he was the kind of man who firmly ruled his wife and household. But later years showed me many things that proved that "the grey mare was the better horse." It is natural for a child, in its early years, to cling closely to its mother,. and an only boy will do so more lovingly and longer. James, jun., though he never thought of disobeying his father, simply worshipped his mother. I remember a trifling instance of his respect for her when he was a boy still in kilts—there were no "knickers" foiboys then. I was sent for groceries, and was in the shop when young James stepped m like an embryo Highland chief with "glengarry" perched perilously on the right side of his head, on winch the hair was smoothly combed and curled. The young assistant grocer seemed tickled with tho appearance of the boyish fop, and when he had served •James he came round the counter, and, having taken the cocked bonnet from tho side of his head, he placed it straight and level on top, and shoved it well on, saying: "Your bonnet's on wrong, laddie. You maun wear't so's it'll no fa' off."

'lt is not wrong!" said the youn% chief, angrily, aa lie replaced it on the side; "my mother put it there" —with such stress on "mother" as signified "And siie knows better Hum any man."' Well, James Armour, warper," developed into Mr James Armour, manufacturer, and, by ignorant folk} sometimes got letters addressed to "James Armour, Esq." Of course, the change fcr the better, like all other changes, gave occasion for'many surmises among the neighbors. - The observant said, when some one asked "Whaur'U he hae gotten the siller?" "Oh! Jeems has aye been a savin' creatur'. Think o' the hooses he's bocht the last twa'ree years."

i i,'P^" ay '" remark s a third, "wi' them he 11 hae the bank at his back." A fourth conjectured: "He micht hae a sjeepm' pairtner," and did not know that his guess was correct in every respect. I remember that about that time I had the notion that some former case of wifely help in a pecuniary way must have given rise to the expression. It js a more plausible origin for it than we find for lots of others in glossaries and the like. Profitable business came at once to

Armour, and its effect upon his little dignity was to make it effloresce into a pomposity that was only checked by the fact that his wife still made and sold "potted-head," at a small cup for a "bawbee", and a large one for a penny. This' paltry occupation he now affected to despise, although it had been the means of raising his status in the industrial community. Jean pointed out to him that her business was to be measured by its honest, profits, which, as he weel kenned, werena sma'. It wasna by wars m other countries that she had made siller, but by hard work an' thrifty savin'. Her business, too, had risen to be a factory, since the maist o' her work 1100 was to look after her helpers who produced wares that were sold wholesale as well as retail.. The "pottedhead" was noo just a by-product. She made faur mair noo. oot o' ither things; but she wasna intendin' to lose sicht o' the potted-head, that had been the foundation o' her business, an' it was still needet to swell the profits an' add to her savings, which, he kenned weel eneuch were o' some account. No, she wouldna retire from her business until ho retired from his, or until she was compelled by want of health an' strength to cairry it on." James knew that further argument would be unavailing, and with such grace as he could acquiesced with her desire. He continued to walk pompously, but it may only have been habit with the little man.

The last time that I saw Mr and Mrs Armour was when they came to spend a week or two at the seaside, like many moro pretentious people. They looked very genteel, and I knew them to be a worthy couple: I was out on the golf links, and they were enjoying a walk out with their son, who, for two sessions previous, had been, as always, a diligent and successful student; I rejoiced to have a word or two with' thenv but had it cut short on account of my play. I was playing a semi-important round in a match, and my opponent could not be delayed. I was sorry to hurry away, as I was leaving college, after graduation, on the very nextTday, and had a feeling that it might be long ere I would see them again. I had known young James all his days, and, as a pupil-teacher at the Academy, had taught him hi class. His father and mother I had known for over twenty years before that meeting —from the first week of their marriage. It is now more than double that time since I had that short chat with them on the famous golf links of St. Andrews. The father and mother are long dead, and the son is a grey-haired Doctor of Divmitv.