WHERE THE MONEY WENT

New Zealand Tablet, 24 April 1913, Page 61

WHERE THE MONEY WENT

. Alec was a grocer’s boy; that is to say, he worked for the grocer, ran errands, tidied the shop, unpacked the vegetables, sorted the fruit, and now and then served a customer.

It was Saturday, and Alec was running home full of glee. He burst into his mother’s little house and threw down three dollars upon the table. The mother smiled and watched her boy’s face. ‘ There, mother,’ Alec said, 1 there is my first wage. It is all for you and will keep us off the street, won’t it?’

Mrs. Wood smiled again, but there was some humor this time in the smile.

‘ Well, my boy, three dollars is very welcome in this establishment, and I am glad to see you have earned a bit for your own keep. You go on as you have been adoing, and there’s many a dollar as’ll find its way into your pocket, before you’ve a beard, I dare say.’ Alec was satisfied. He watched the money drop into the brown teapot and then settled himself to his afternoon’s work—cleaning the boots for Sunday, cutting wood, filling the coal scuttle, and peeling the potatoes. There wasn’t an idle bone in the boy, as his mother said many a time when the father found fault with his son’s tongue or his pushing ways. Two weeks passed, and Mrs. Wood thought she noticed a cloud on the boy’s brow. What’s to do, Alec?’ she said' one morning. * You have not been so spry of late; aren’t you well?’ ‘Mother,’ said Alec, I’ll tell you, though it does seem a queer thing to say; I want to know where all my money goes to? You can’t be spending all the money that I get every week, with nothing lying by ! A chap works hard for six days and doesn’t spend a cent, on himself, and yet he hasn’t a penny for a ’ he was going to say cigarette but checked himself in time—‘for an apple or a sweet. I’m sure I could make a dollar go further than you do. You see, when you come to work for money you begin to know its value.’

Mrs. Wood smiled secretly, and looked down at her sodden hands, that told so plainly what her profession was. But she entered into the spirit of the thing and answered: ‘ Now, my lad, I think that’s a very good say for you. And we’ll just bide by a bargain. I’ll give you

lodging and firing and clothes, but you shall find yourself in food. And I’ll cook whatever you bring to me to be cooked, 'and you shall live on your own earnings with nothing out of my store, and then you will see how the money goes.’ Alec was delighted. He took back his three dollars and went out shopping. Now Alec was a hungry boy and liked substantial things; he laid out his money for his Sunday’s meals with no stinting hand. Monday’s meals were also purchased, and Tuesday came. But lo! there were only a few cents left. The boy pushed his hands deep into his pockets and set out to buy a roll. When he returned, his mother asked where was the food for dinner. Alec growled something about not being hungry; he would eat just what was left. The mother did not say a word, though her good heart ached for the lad. She brought out a very small piece of steak and a potato, left from yesterday’s superfluity, and warmed them up. Wednesday things were worse. There was nothing left, and no money. ‘ But where’s the money gone to, Alec ?’ said his mother. This is only Wednesday, and you’ve to live on until the end of the week.’

Alec looked ready to cry. ‘ Mother,’ he said, ‘ T know now where the money goes. Will you buy my dinners for me?’ ■ \ Now Alec had learned a lesson for life. He never asked his mother again what had become of his three dollars. And he made a tremendous effort to earn better wages. And that little grocer’s assistant lived to command a ship and be his own master. And a good master he made!