Money box

“ Before taking the box to his parked car, the Cub leader carefully wrapped it in his coat. Everyone breathed a bit easier when they were out of the church.
Mr. Hatfield locked the money box into the rear compartment of his car.
“Oh, by the way, boys, just a word of caution,” he said as he prepared to drive away. “Until I’ve had a chance to report to the police, it’s just as well that no one learns about the money. So I’m depending upon you to keep our discovery a secret.” ”

“ THE MAN WHO KEPT HIS MONEY IN A BOX. I first saw the man who kept his money in a box in the midst of the ravine of the Via Mala. I interchanged a few words with him or with his wife at the hospice, at the top of the Splugen; and I became acquainted with him in the courtyard of Conradi’s hotel at Chiavenna. It was, however, afterwards at Bellaggio, on the lake of Como, that that acquaintance ripened into intimacy. ”

“ From the slight frown which settled over his face, the three boys guessed that he was worrying about the money box.
“It’s certainly queer how it came to be in the coal bin,” Dan remarked. “I nearly fell over when my shovel turned it up.”
“We never did finish our count of the cash,” Brad recalled. “Seeing that man in the churchyard gave us all a jolt.”
“I’ll count the money at home,” Mr. Hatfield promised. “Tell you the truth, I wanted to get the box away from the church. I’ll feel more comfortable after it’s turned over to someone else for safekeeping.”
The car had halted at an intersection. ”

“ Fred hastened to obey.
“I hope no one followed us here,” Dan said uneasily. “That car—”
“Oh, we lost it before we stalled in the high water,” Mr. Hatfield reassured him. “The chances are we imagined we were being trailed.”
“Maybe, only I thought—”
“Fellows, just because we found a cash box is no reason for working up a high-grade case of the jitters,” the Cub leader said. “The important thing is to maintain a sensible outlook. Now let’s count the money.”
“Right-o,” grinned Dan. “Guess I did let my imagination lead me a race.”
With the blinds lowered, the boys opened up the money box. ”

“ Money was everywhere; banknotes, treasury bills, money in the greasy notes of a Chinese Government bank, money in the shape of Greek drachmas and Italian lira. Sometimes a box would contain nothing but these valuable squares of paper, sometimes a box held thick packets of correspondence addressed to Trasmere, at queer looking towns in Northern China. ”

“ Under its grinding “punch” our poor little dollar goes, and with it a hundred dollars beside. With a savage accuracy it stabs two holes through every one. This is done for the purpose of absolute cancellation. Then each bundle is returned to its box, the messenger picks it up, the counter follows, and both hasten to the cash-account clerk of the division, whose business it is to see if all the money received and delivered to the counters, has been returned and accounted for. ”

“ The alms-box was emptied only last week, in order to distribute its contents amongst the poor. How comes it now, then, there appears such a large quantity of money, which, you see, consists chiefly of gold and silver, besides paper money; and that diamond ring I see, whence is that? I think it will be found that the heap of money on the ground will be too large a sum to enter into the box. If it cannot enter, how could it have come out of it?'
"'All the greater miracle,' cried the sacristan, devoutly.
"'True, true,' cried the people. 'A double miracle! ”

“ It is interesting as illustrative of the extreme frugality of the Chinese character to note that before laying out the sum of three cash—say the fourteenth part of a penny—upon a box, the purchaser may be seen counting the number of matches in the box, in order to assure himself that he is receiving full value for his money, and to enable him to discard any matches found without heads before finally concluding his bargain. ”

“ Was it possible that a man of business, who had made his fortune in London, should allow his wife to keep all her jewels in a box, and carry about his own money in the same?
“I don’t see why you need be so very unhappy, papa,” said Sophonisba. “Mr. Robinson, I’m sure, will let you have whatever money you may want at present.” This was pleasant!
“And will Mr. Robinson return me my jewels which were lost, I must say, in a great measure, through his carelessness,” said Mrs. Greene. ”

“ For this purpose the currency of active banks is delivered from the assorters through the teller to a "maker-up" who takes an inventory. Next day he assorts the packages of a group in a till similar to those already described, except that it is laid flat upon a low counter. Then he takes the contents of a box, ascertains, by examining the upper note of each package, that the money is all the issue of a single bank, and writes in ink upon a blank label the title of the bank, the amount of each denomination, and the total of all, signs and dates this, and straps it upon the bundle. ”

“ In other words, when the boxes have been dropped into the sachel and mixed none of them contain a note of a larger denomination than one dollar, the confidence man having still in his possession all of the large bills. When it is remembered that not more than one box in ten contains any money whatever, the chances of drawing a prize are readily seen to be exceedingly small. ”

“ One need not believe it whole. A much more probable explanation is what any highwayman knows. He might make off with a dozen [Pg 34] of those strong boxes and then be no richer than he was before. They contain no money at all, but stocks and bonds, numbered and registered, which represent wealth reduced to an impalpable, theft-proof form. A railroad may lie in one of those boxes. But if you ran away with the box you would have neither the railroad nor anything you could turn into cash. The lost stock and bond certificates would be cancelled and new ones issued in their place ”

“ A strong-box is worth just what it holds; or rather, it is a mere accessory of that which it holds. Who ever sets any price upon a full purse except the price established by the count of the money deposited therein? ”

“ Timid depositors have withdrawn their savings for the time being from national banks, trust companies, and savings banks; individuals have hoarded their cash and the workingmen their earnings; all of which money has been withheld and kept in hiding or in safe deposit box to the detriment of prosperity. ”

“ To register the amount of money taken from the box, it will be necessary either to place each distinct piece of money in separate divisions, or to put a number together in one deep recess capable of admitting but one piece to pass at a time. As the pieces are shaken out, they will in their passage raise a lever capable of moving a wheel one division in the passage of each piece. ”

“ Dan grinned, moving aside so the man could reach the milk box at the doorstep. “I’m getting ready for the big Cub Scout knighting ceremony we’re to have at the church.”
“The Cubs really do a lot of interesting things,” replied the milkman. He slipped two bottles into the box and gathered up the empties. “I read the other day how the Cubs found some money—say, weren’t you the one who turned up that tin box?”
“Guilty,” agreed Dan. “I almost wish I hadn’t found it too! So many persons have put in a claim. Then to make matters worse, the box disappeared again.” ”

“ Man open de box en look at de money. Dem two silver dollars layin' in dar des like he put um. W'iles de man dun dis, look like he kin year sump'n' say 'way off yander:—
"'Whar my money? Oh, gim me my money!'
"Man, he sot de box back on de shel-uf, en time he put it down he year de money rattle—clinkity, clinkalinkle, clink!—en den fum 'way off yander sump'n' say:—
"'Oh, gim me my money! I want my money!'
"Well, den, de Man git skeer'd sho' nuff, en he got er flat-iün en put on de tin box, en den he tuck'n pile all de cheers 'gin' de do', en run en jump in de bed. ”

“ In the mean time the landlady and the three daughters had clustered round Mrs. Greene, administering to her all manner of Italian consolation. The box, and the money, and the jewels were after all a reality; and much incivility can be forgiven to a lady who has really lost her jewels, and has really found them again. ”

“ She pushes him a box all wrapped up with a check on it "Pay at the desk." I'm not going to cry. The lady at the desk is small and grey-haired. She takes his dollar through a little door like the little doors little animals go in and out of in the Small Mammal House. The cash register makes a cheerful tinkle, glad to get the money. A quarter, a dime, a nickel and a little cup, is that forty cents? ”

“ In any case, we’re not getting ourselves mixed up in anything. We turn this box over to Mr. Hatfield—right now.”
“Sure, I guess you’re right,” Dan admitted. “I intended to show it to him. Only I thought if no one claimed the box, the money might go into the Cub’s treasury or maybe the church building fund.”
“That’s an idea,” nodded Brad. “But let’s not count any chickens—or rather, cash! I have a hunch whoever planted this money here won’t forget about it!”
Excited over their discovery, the two boys hastily tossed another shovelful of coal on the fire. ”

“ In Manchester the school children are encouraged to save up their money by means of money-boxes, and 44,000 of them now have deposits in the savings banks. 278It has been found a very successful way of encouraging thrift. ”

“ Turning over my memoranda, I find one very peculiar habit which I ought to have mentioned when out west, for I have not seen it elsewhere. Suppose a man has a box of matches in his hand, and you ask him for a light for your pipe. He takes out a match, lifts up the right leg, bent at the knee to draw the trousers tight, and ignites it on the lower part of the thigh. The effect is peculiar; he seems to be drawing fire from that part of his body! No one there ever lights matches any other way, and doubtless it is easier done so than on any other object, as I learnt by experience. ”

“ All are sealed, put on a hand-cart, and rolled off to the vaults of the cash division, whither we still, you and I, pursue our little dollar.
Passing through the cashier’s office and the superb Marble Cash-room (to which we will soon return) , at the opposite end we reach one almost exclusively occupied by the iron vault of the United States Treasury. The double iron doors swing slowly back, and we stand in the money vault of the nation. It looks light and airy as a china-closet. The sealed packages, lining the shelves to the ceiling, are full of money. ”

“ The fittings are perfect, as perfect as in a London bank, and there is an air of extreme precision. Yonder open drawers are full of pass-books; upon the desks and on the broad mantelpiece are piles of cheques, not scattered in disorder but arranged in exact heaps. The very inkstands are heavy and vast, and you just catch a glimpse round the edge of the semi-sentry box which guards the desk of the chief cashier, of a ledger so huge that the mind can hardly realise the extent of the business which requires such ponderous volumes to record it. ”

“ He took from his pocket a typewritten paper that he handed to the partners who thoughtfully read it:
Dear Mr. Carruthers: Your bank has never sent for the box you gave us to take care of. We don’t like to keep it any longer, because we've opened up our ledge and are going to put on a gang of men to work. Somebody might get on the job that would get curious about the box and break it open to see what’s in it. You'd better get some one else to keep it for you. ”

“ The Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-operative Society "combine the securities and facilities of a bank with the profits of a trade." But the business by which they mostly thrive, is by the purchase and sale of food, provisions, groceries, draperies, and other articles, with the exception of intoxicating liquors.
The sole secret of their success consists in "ready money." They give no credit. Everything is done for cash; the profit of the trade being divided amongst the members. Every business man knows that cash payment is the soundest method of conducting business. ”

“ All the juvenile depositors seem inclined to take care of their pence by depositing them in the bank; and the grown-up people have become of the same turn of mind,—rather than carry their loose money to the public-house, or spend it foolishly. Some factory operatives have saved sufficient to buy stock and commence farming. ”

“ Each time that a state makes a recoinage, it becomes momentarily the depositary of all the money called in, belonging to the subjects of that state. His bank was to effect the same purpose; that is to say, to receive in deposit all the coin of the kingdom, but to give in exchange its bills, which, being of an invariable value, bearing an interest, and being payable on demand, would not only supply the place of coin, but prove a better and more profitable currency.
The regent caught with avidity at the scheme. ”

“ Of course not!” Mrs. Martin replied. “But Mr. Narr might think it wrong of Mr. Keller to lose the keys. One of the keys, it seems, opens Mr. Narr’s strong box in the bank. In the box, or safe deposit vault, are valuable papers, stocks, bonds and so on. Mr. Narr may think that because Mr. Keller has lost the keys some one may find them and open the box, robbing him of his wealth.”
“Could they do that?” asked Ted.
“I think not, my dear. It takes two keys to open the safe deposit box in the bank. One key is that of the man who rents the box, and the other key is kept in the bank.” ”