A BANK FOR LOSINGS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 62, 12 March 1872, Page 4

A BANK FOR LOSINGS.

BY T. L. CUEYEK, D.D. On the chief thoroughfare of this city I often pass a stately Savings Bank, built of freestone, and I see groups of working people going in to deposit their hard-earned money. Some are mechanics, some are Irish domestics; some are poor widows laying by a few dollars for their fatherless children. But on the same street the tempter has opened more than one Bank of Losings. In some parts of the city there is one in nearly every corner. In almost every rural hamlet, too, there is a similar institution. New York city contains six thousand of them. In each of these banks for Losiugs is a counter, on which old men and young, and even some wretched women, lay down their deposits in either paper or coin. The only interest that is paid on deposits is in redness of eyes aud foulness of breath, and remorse of conscience. Every man goes into the bank with a full pocket, and comes out empty. Another goes in with a good character, and comes out with the word drunk written on his bloated countenance. I have seen a mechanic enter with a bran new coat, and coming away again as if the mice had been nibbling away at bis elbows. I have known a young cleik to leave his "situation" behind him in one of the Devil's Banks of Losings. Several prosperous tradesmen have lost all their business there. Church members have been knowu to reel out from these seductive haunts, trying to walk straight, but back-sliding at every step. What is worst of all, thousands of people go in there and lose their immortal souls ? If the cashiers of these institutions were honest, they would put on the door some such notice as this : " Bank for Losings. Open at all hours. Nothing taken in but good money. Nothing is paid out but disgrace and disease, aud degradation and death. An extra dividend of delirium tremens will be given to old depositors. A free pass to perdition given to those who pay well at the counter ; also tickets to Greenwood and other cemeteries, entitling the holder to a drunkard's grave ! All the children of the depositors sent without charge to the orphan asylum or I the alms-house." Young men, beware of the Bank for Losing ! Some bait their depositors with | champagne ; some with ale or bourbon ; with a pack of cards ; and others with a billiard table. If you wish to keep character — keep out ! Young ladies, never touch the hand that touches the wine-glass ! Never bear the name of a man who is enrolled on the ! deposit list of the Devil's bank. Never lean on the arm that leans on the bar-room counter. It will be a rotten support. The best savings bank for a young man's money is a total abstinence pledge. The best savings bank for his time is honesty, industry, and a good book. The best savings bank for his affections is a true woman's heart. But if you do not want your greenbacks turned into black eyes and red noses ; if you don't want your pocket emptied, and your character worm-eaten, and your soul drugged with the poisons of the pit — then keep outside the " National Brandy Bank for Losings."