In finance, a figure is a figure. Two equal numbers have the same value, and a hundred dollars are twice fifty and twenty times as much as five dollars. But when intentions are involved, it is another matter; then the value of the figures depends no longer upon their size. This is what Jesus causes us to observe. Beware of neglecting the little pennies; there are pennies that are poems, there are pennies that have a soul.
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VALUES IN QUESTION
Money talks just as loudly in the realm of music as anywhere else. The despised violin, which merely is an incumbrance when it is thought to be worth not more than $10, becomes the chief ornament of the household when an expert says it is worth not less than $1,000. In Chicago there is a business man who owns a violin. He inherited it from his father, who was a musician. The business man does not play. One of his friends is a lover of violin music. That friend often had told the business man the violin was a good one, and that he ought to treasure it. The business man regarded the advice as that of an enthusiast. One day the argument became so warm the friend insisted that the question be settled at once by carrying the instrument to a professor of music, who is admittedly an authority on violins.
“Why, I wouldn’t carry that violin through the street for anything,” the business man said. “My friends would think I had gone music mad in my old age.”
“I’ll carry it,” his friend said quickly. “I’m not ashamed to carry a violin anywhere. Come along.”
They went. The professor was at home. The back and the belly, the neck and the bridge, the tail-piece and the sounding-post, all passed beneath his critical eye. “It looks all right,” the professor said. From the case he drew the bow and ran the hair several times across the cake of rosin. Then, striking A on a near-by piano, he proceeded to tune the instrument which for so many years had been held in so light esteem by its owner. After the violin was in tune he tested it, string by string, chord by chord, and harmonic by harmonic, in all positions. Then he began to play. The fulness, the richness and sweetness of the tone appealed even to the matter-of-fact business man.
“It is a genuine old Italian instrument, and I’ll give you $1,000 for it,” the professor said. The business man gasped.
“I’ll tell you frankly, it is worth more than that, but that is all I can afford to pay,” the professor continued.
“I can’t think of selling it,” the business man replied, with a halt in his speech. “You see, it came to me from my father. It is an heirloom. I thank you, however, for the test you have made and the good opinion you have exprest.”