A shoe-maker being asked how he contrived to give so much, replied that
it was easily done by obeying St. Paul's precept in I Cor. 16: 2: "Upon
the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as
God hath prospered him." "I earn," said he, "one day with another, about
a dollar a day, and I can without inconvenience to myself or family lay
by five cents of this sum for charitable purposes; the amount is thirty
cents a week. My wife takes in sewing and washing, and earns something
like two dollars a week, and she lays by ten cents of that. My children
each of them earn a shilling or two, and are glad to contribute their
penny; so that altogether we _lay by us in store_ forty cents a week.
And if we have been unusually prospered, we contribute something more.
The weekly amount is deposited every Sunday morning in a box kept for
that purpose, and reserved for future use. Thus, by these small
earnings, we have learned that it is more blessed to give than to
receive. The yearly amount saved in this way is about _twenty-five
dollars_; and I distribute this among the various benevolent societies,
according to the best of my judgment."