It is an old saying, that “a pin a day is a groat a year,” by which
homely expression some wise man has intended to teach thoughtless people
the value of small savings. We shall endeavour to show the value of a
somewhat higher article, though a much despised one,--we mean a penny.
Pennies, like minutes, are often thrown away because people do not know
what to do with them. Those who are economists of time, and all the
great men on record have been so, take care of the minutes, for they
know that a few minutes well applied each day will make hours in the
course of a week, and days in the course of a year; and in the course of
a long life they will make enough of time, if well employed, in which a
man may by perseverance have accomplished some work, useful to his
fellow-creatures, and honourable to himself.
Large fortunes, when gained honestly, are rarely acquired in any other
way than by small savings at first; and savings can only be made by
habits of industry and temperance. A saving man, therefore, while he is
adding to the general stock of wealth, is setting an example of those
virtues on which the very existence and happiness of society depend.
There are saving people who are misers, and have no one good quality for
which we can like them. These are not the kind of people of whom we are
speaking; but we may remark that a miser, though a disagreeable fellow
while alive, is a very useful person when dead. He has been compared to
a tree, which, while it is growing, can be applied to no use, but at
last furnishes timber for houses and domestic utensils. But a miser is
infinitely more useful than a spendthrift, a mere consumer and waster,
who, after he has spent all his own money, tries to spend that of other
people.
Suppose a young man, just beginning to work for himself, could save one
penny a day; and we believe there are few unmarried young workmen who
could not do this. At the end of a year he would have 1_l._ 10_s._
5_d._, which he could safely deposit in a savings’ bank, where it would
lie safely, with some small addition for interest, till he might want
it. After five years’ savings, at the rate of a penny a day, he would
have between 8 and 9_l._, which it is very possible he might find some
opportunity of laying out to such advantage as to establish the
foundation of his future fortune. Who has not had the opportunity of
feeling some time in his life how advantageously he could have laid out
such a sum of money, and how readily such a sum might have been saved by
keeping all the pennies and sixpences that had been thrown away? Such a
sum as 8 or 9_l._ would enable a man to emigrate to Canada, where he
might, by persevering industry, acquire enough to purchase a piece of
land; and, if blessed with moderate length of life, he might be the
happy cultivator of his own estate.
Eight pounds would enable a mechanic, who had acquired a good character
for sobriety and skill, to furnish himself on credit with goods and
tools to five or six times the amount of his capital; and this might
form the foundation of his future fortune.
It often happens that a clever and industrious man may have the
opportunity of bettering his condition by removing to another place, or
accepting some situation of trust; but the want of a little money to
carry him from one place to another, the want of a better suit of
clothes, or some difficulty of that kind, often stands in the way. Eight
pounds would conquer all these obstacles.
It may be said that five years is too long a time to look forward to. We
think not. This country is full of examples of men who have risen from
beginnings hardly more than the savings of a penny, through a long
course of persevering industry, to wealth and respectability. And we
believe there is hardly a condition, however low, from which a young man
of good principles and unceasing industry may not elevate himself.
But suppose the penny only saved during one year: at the end of it the
young man finds he has got 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._ Will he squander this at
the ale-house, or in idle dissipation, after having had the virtue to
resist temptation all through the year? We think not. This 1_l._ 10_s._
5_d._ may perform a number of useful offices. It may purchase some
necessary implement, some good substantial article of dress, some useful
books, or, if well laid out, some useful instruction in the branch of
industry which is his calling. It may relieve him in sickness, it may
contribute to the comfort of an aged father, it may assist the young man
in paying back some part of that boundless debt which he owes to the
care and tender anxiety of a mother, who has lived long enough to feel
the want of a son’s solicitude. Finally, however disposed of at the end
of the year, if well disposed of, the penny saved will be a source of
genuine satisfaction. The saving of it during the year has been a daily
repetition of a virtuous act, which near the end of the year we have
little doubt will be confirmed into a virtuous habit.
Suppose a dozen young men, who are fond of reading, were to contribute a
penny a week to a common stock: at the end of the year they would have
2_l._ 12_s._ This sum judiciously laid out, would purchase at least
twelve volumes of really useful books, varying in price from three to
four shillings, besides allowing some small sum for the person who took
care of them and kept the accounts. Another year’s saving would add
another twelve volumes; and in five years the library might contain
sixty volumes, including a few useful books of reference, such as
dictionaries, maps, &c.--an amount of books, if well chosen, quite as
much as any one of them would be able to study well in his leisure
hours.
But suppose the number of contributors were doubled or trebled, the
annual income would then amount to 5_l._ 4_s._, or 7_l._ 16_s._, for
which sum they could certainly procure as many useful books as they
could possibly want. There might be some difficulty in the choice of
books, as it is not always easy to know what are good and what are bad.
We propose to meet this difficulty by occasional notices of particular
books under the head of ‘The Library.’ At present we will merely suggest
what _classes_ of books might gradually find admission into such a
library. There are now good practical and cheap treatises on the
principles of many of the branches of industry which are followed by
mechanics--such as books on the elements of geometry and measuring of
surfaces and solids; on arithmetic; on chemistry, and its application to
the useful arts, &c.; lives of persons distinguished for industry and
knowledge; descriptions of foreign countries, compiled from the best
travels; maps on a pretty large scale, both of the heaven and of
different parts of the earth: such books as these, with an English
dictionary, a gazetteer, and some periodical work, would form a useful
library, such as in a few years might be got together.
It would be impossible to enumerate all the good things that a penny
will purchase; and as to all the bad things, they are not worth
enumerating. But there is one which we cannot omit mentioning. A penny
will buy a penny-worth of gin, and a man may spend it daily without
thinking himself the worse for it. But as every penny saved tends to
give a man the habit of saving pennies, so every penny spent in gin,
tends to cause him to spend more. Thus the saver of the penny may at the
end of the year be a healthy reputable person, and confirmed economist,
with 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._ in his pocket: the spender may be an unhealthy,
ill-looking, worthless fellow; a confirmed gin-drinker, with nothing in
his pocket except unpaid bills.
We wish it were in our power to impress strongly on the working people
of this kingdom, how much happiness they may have at their command by
small savings. They are by far the most numerous part of the community;
and it is by their condition that the real prosperity of the country
should be estimated; not by the few who live in affluence and splendour.
Hard as the condition of the working classes often is, are they not yet
aware that by industry, frugality, and a judicious combination of their
small resources, they can do more to make themselves happy, than anybody
else can do for them?
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