THE NICKEL'S STORY

New Zealand Tablet, 8 November 1906, Page 37

THE NICKEL'S STORY

The nickel is a small American coin of the' value of five cents, or about' 2£d of our money. Here is an account of its wandeiings :—: — - I was first sent to a great bank, and I was proud of my rich home ; but word came that I was wanted in the small trade, and I was shipped off to a country town. There 1 fell into the .hands of a "man going to a large city. When he arrived at the city he called a small boy, and told him that he would give me to him if the small boy would carry his valise across the street. The small boy stiffened up, and, with a leer, said : 4 Hey ! . what d-ye take me for ? I don't carry no valise for no ol' nickel.' Before I recovered from the shock a man with a torn coat, frayed trousers, and badly-torn shoes told the gentleman that he would carry his valise. "Now, I thought, I can do some good to the poor. The poor man. took me and straightway went, hot to a bakery, - but 'to - a saloon, and bought some hastysmelling stuff, which he carried away in a can. Maybe he intended to carry it home to wash the bedsteads, so as to kill all disease germs. I was put in * a drawer with many other nickels, all of whom said that they had been brought there and exchanged for the same kind of bed-wash, or for rolls of tobacco that must have • been rotten, for the people immediately set fire to it and it burned with a horrible smell. When I got out of that disagreeable place I was given to a street-car man, who took me to the company's office, where I was thrown upon a pile of nickels that a boy was wiapping up, in equal-sized packages. The boy began to curse "us, and wonder why nickels were . ever made to be such a bother to him. -After that, a little girl got possession of me, and went right off to the candy store and bought, gum with me. She said she did it because the gum would last longer, than candy, and she could get only a little bit of good candy anyhow for a nickel. She thought her mamma was real mean to give her only a nickel. Then a man took me home and. gave me to the baby, who came near swallowing me. The baby's mother put me in the baby's bank, but the next day she shook me . out of it with some other coins x arid took us to a bargain counter, where she paid two prices for something she did not need, but her neighbor, Mrs. Somebody, told her it was just lovely, and everybody who was anybody was using it. ; .It seemed that I was of very little account anywhere. I had lost the great opinion I had had ' of myself, and with it almost all my hopes of ever giving to any one, when one day I found myself m the pocket of a great man. There were silver , coins and gold pieces and a snug roll of bills with me, and at last I felt that I had found my proper place. The great man wore fine clothes, and he had a richly-furnished house and a down-town office. He always gave- ten cents, for his' cigars, and when he treatedva friend he called for a. Scotch high-ball and a smoke for two. In paying lie would peel off a- bill from the roll, and give a , portion of the ohange to ( the

polite waiter who served them in the little private apartment of the White House Exchange. He gave a dime to the bootblack, and another to 'the colored man who brushed his coat and hat at L the barber's- shop."The great man was a prominent citizen, -and I found out that he was a Christian, for, when Sunday - came, he went to church. There was a special^ collection . announced for that Sunday, and when, the box was passed around the great, man fumbled- in his pocket/ and> sing- - ling me but from among the more worthy" coins, he'put me in the box as his tribute to his God. Of course, I felt proud, but as the box passed along it came to a poor woman who was plainly but decently dressed. She opened a slender and well-used purse, and between her fingers, which were worn and hardened by toil,- I coiitd see that her little store of money consisted of a nickel and- a quarter. I could hear her sigh that she had so little to give, but I was glad that' l would have the company of another nickel, when, to my surprise; she dropped the quarter in the box, and it fell right on top of me. I peeped out from' under the edge of the quarter, and I saw that the great man was- not ashamed, and I -was glad to lie there hidden while J I thought how time had turned things around in this world, and how some people ought to be in some * other people's place.