CALCULATIONS.
"Now, Rollo," said Mr. George, after breakfast Monday morning, "we will
go into the city and see St. Paul's this morning. I suppose it is nearly
two miles from here," he continued. "We can go down in one of the
steamers on the river for sixpence, or we can go in an omnibus for
eightpence, or in a cab for a shilling. Which do you vote for?"
"I vote for going on the river," said Rollo.
"Now I think of it," said Mr. George, "I must stop on the way, just
below Temple Bar; so we shall have to take a cab."
Temple Bar is an old gateway which stands at the entrance of the city.
It was originally a part of the wall that surrounded the city. The rest
of the wall has long since been removed; but this gateway was left
standing, as an ancient and venerable relic. The principal street
leading from the West End to the city passes through it under an
archway; and the sidewalks, through smaller arches, are at the sides.
The great gates are still there, and are sometimes shut. The whole
building is very much in the way, and it will probably, before long, be
pulled down. In America it would be down in a week; but in England there
is so much reverence felt for such remains of antiquity that the
inconvenience which they produce must become very great before they can
be removed.
Mr. George and Rollo took a cab and rode towards the city. Just after
passing Temple Bar, Mr. George got out of the cab and went into an
office. Rollo got out too, and amused himself walking up and down the
sidewalk, looking in at the shop windows, while Mr. George was doing his
business.
When Mr. George came out Rollo had got into the cab again, and was just
at that moment giving a woman a penny, who stood at the window of the
cab on the street side. The woman had a child in her arms.
When Rollo first saw the woman, she came up to the window of the
cab--where he had taken his seat after he had looked at the shop windows
as much as he pleased--and held up a bunch of violets towards him, as if
she wished him to buy them. Rollo shook his head. The woman did not
offer the violets again, but looked down towards her babe with an
expression of great sadness in her face, and then looked imploringly
again towards Rollo, without, however, speaking a word.
Rollo put his hand in his pocket and took out a penny and gave it to
her. The woman said "Thank you," in a faint tone of voice, and went
away.
It was just at this moment that Mr. George came out to the cab.
"Rollo," said Mr. George, "did not you know it was wrong to give money
to beggars in the streets?"
"Yes," said Rollo; "but this time I could not resist the temptation, she
looked so piteously at her poor little baby."
Mr. George said no more, but took his seat, and the cab drove on.
"Uncle George," said Rollo, after a little pause, "I saw some very
pretty gold chains in a window near here; there was one just long enough
for my watch. Do you think I had better buy it?"
"What was the price of it?" asked Mr. George.
"It was marked one pound fifteen shillings," said Rollo; "that is about
eight dollars and a half."
"It must be a very small chain," said Mr. George.
"It _was_ small," said Rollo; "just right for my watch and me."
"Well, I don't know," said Mr. George, in a hesitating tone, as if he
were considering whether the purchase would be wise or not. "You have
got money enough."
"Yes," said Rollo; "besides my credit on your book, I have got in my
pocket two sovereigns and two pennies, and, besides that, your due bill
for four shillings."
"Yes," said Mr. George, "I must pay that due bill."
What Rollo meant by a due bill was this: Mr. George was accustomed to
keep his general account with Rollo in a book which he carried with him
for this purpose, and from time to time he would pay Rollo such sums as
he required in sovereigns, charging the amount in the book. It often
happened, however, in the course of their travels, that Mr. George would
have occasion to borrow some of this money of Rollo for the purpose of
making change, or Rollo would borrow small sums of Mr. George. In such
cases the borrower would give to the lender what he called a due bill,
which was simply a small piece of paper with the sum of money borrowed
written upon it, and the name of the borrower, or his initials,
underneath. When Mr. George gave Rollo such a due bill for change which
he had borrowed of him, Rollo would keep the due bill in his purse with
his money until Mr. George, having received a supply of change, found it
convenient to pay it.
The due bill which Rollo referred to in the above conversation was as
follows:--
[Illustration: Four shillings. G. H.]
Mr. George adopted the plan of giving or receiving a due bill in all
cases where he borrowed money of Rollo or lent money to him, in order to
accustom Rollo to transact all his business in a regular and methodical
manner, and to avoid the possibility of any mistake or any difference of
opinion between them in respect to the question whether the money was
actually borrowed, or whether it had not been repaid. I strongly
recommend to all the readers of this book to adopt some such plan as
this in all their pecuniary transactions with others, whether they are
great or small, and to adhere to it very rigidly. This rule is
especially important when the parties having pecuniary transactions with
each other are friends; and the more intimate their friendship is, the
more important is this rule.
It is true, it would not be polite and proper for you to _ask_ for such
a memorandum of a friend to whom you casually lend some small sum, but
you can always _offer_ it when you borrow; and in all cases, where you
have frequent dealings of this kind with any person, you can agree upon
this plan beforehand, as a general rule.
But let us return to Rollo and the watch chain.
"Well," said Mr. George, after some hesitation, "I am by no means sure
that it would not be a good plan for you to buy the watch chain. A gold
chain is an article of permanent and intrinsic value. It will last a
very long time. Perhaps you would get as much enjoyment from it as from
any thing you could buy with that money. At any rate, the money is your
own; you have saved it from your travelling expenses by your prudence
and economy; and it is right for you to expend it as you take a fancy.
If you take a fancy to the chain, I do not know why it would not be a
good purchase."
"I think I should like the chain very much," said Rollo.
"Let us see," said Mr. George, in a musing sort of tone; "there is
another way to look at these questions. What is the interest of eight
dollars and a half?"
"I don't know," said Rollo. "How much is it?"
"Let me see," said Mr. George; "seven times six are forty-two--say
fifty; and then we must add something for wear, and tear, and
depreciation. I should think," he added, after a moment's reflection,
"that the chain would cost you about sixty cents a year, as long as you
keep it."
"How so?" said Rollo.
"Why, the money that you will pay for it will produce about fifty cents
a year, if you keep it at interest; and of course, if you buy a chain
with the money, you stop all that income."
"Yes," said Rollo, "I understand that for the fifty cents: and now for
the other ten. You said sixty cents."
"Why, the chain will be gradually wearing out all the time, while you
use it," said Mr. George, "and I estimated that it would lose about ten
cents a year. That makes up the sixty."
"Yes," said Rollo, "I suppose it would."
"You see," continued Mr. George, "that the little links and rings, where
the chief wear comes, will gradually become thinner and thinner, and at
last the time would come when you could not use it for a chain any
longer. You would then have to sell it for old gold; and for that
purpose it would not be worth, probably, more than half what you now
give for it.
"So you see," continued Mr. George, "you would lose the interest on the
money you pay for the chain every year; and besides that, you would lose
a portion of the chain itself. When you have money safely invested at
interest, you have the interest every year, and at the end of the term
you have your capital restored to you entire. But in such a purchase as
this, you are sure, in the end, to sink a portion of it by wear, and
tear, and depreciation; and this circumstance ought always to be taken
into account."
"Yes," said Rollo; "that is very true."
"Making such a calculation as this," continued Mr. George, "will often
help us determine whether it is wise or not to make a purchase. The
question is, whether you would get as much pleasure from the possession
and use of this chain as sixty cents a year would come to."
"Yes," said Rollo; "I think I should."
"That would be five cents a month," said Mr. George.
"Yes," repeated Rollo; "I think I should."
"And one cent and a quarter a week," added Mr. George. "Do you think you
would get pleasure enough out of your chain to come to a cent and a
quarter a week?"
"Yes," said Rollo, confidently; "I am _sure_ I should."
"I think it very likely you would," said Mr. George; "and if so, it
would be a wise purchase."
It was not necessary absolutely that Rollo should obtain his uncle
George's approval of any plan which he might form for the expenditure of
his surplus funds, since it was Mr. Holiday's plan that Rollo should
spend his money as he chose, provided only that he did not buy any thing
that would either be injurious or dangerous to himself, or a source of
annoyance to others. Now, in respect to the chain, Rollo knew very well
himself that it was not liable to either of these objections, and that
he was consequently at liberty to purchase it if he thought best. In the
conversation, therefore, described above, his object was not so much to
obtain his uncle's consent that he should make the purchase as to avail
himself of his uncle's opinion and judgment in the case, in order to
enable him to judge wisely himself.
"I _think_," said he, at length, in announcing to his uncle his
decision, "that it will be a good plan for me to buy the chain; but I
will not be in haste about it. I will wait a day or two. I may possibly
see something else that I shall like better."