CHAPTER XI.
CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
“And when I shall go to my account, and the great Questioner whose judgments err not, shall say to me, 'What didst thou with the lent talent?' I can truly answer, 'Lord, it is here; and with it all that I could add to it—doing my best to make little much.'”—Ebenezer Elliott.
The above words of the brave Corn Law Rhymer refer of course to far higher duties than any with which we have dealt in this volume. That application may be made of them even to our present subject is nevertheless clear, and we leave the thoughtful reader to make it. Real economy and frugality are virtues, and as such are inculcated in the Christian code; neglect of them is condemned both by the moral and the religious code. Christ expressed the very spirit of economy, care of little things, a prudent thrift, and avoidance of all waste, when after miraculously feeding the multitude in the desert He instructed His disciples to “gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost:” and it is at least noteworthy, that this injunction immediately followed another, wherein He warned the same men against the greed of life, telling them that a man's riches did not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
This may be perhaps a very fitting opportunity to say that a great deal depends upon the motive and the object for which such virtues are cultivated; that it is very possible to attach far too great an importance to mere habits of saving: the motive for saving may at times be vicious, and the purpose for which and the manner how the hoards once scraped together may be applied, more vicious still. This is so palpable that we need not dwell upon the subject. Not less so is the wise medium course to be followed. The difference between those who cultivate and those who neglect frugal and economical habits may be expressed simply in the former having bread enough and to spare, and the latter having bread for to-day—and not always that—but none for to-morrow. It is by the capacity of looking forward in the present moment to the possibilities of to-morrow that the civilized man is distinguished from the savage; it is by the readiness with which provision is made for possible emergencies that the wise man is distinguished from the fool. Real economy, aided by prudence, is a virtue. Cicero says that “the best source of wealth is economy;” but it is also the best source of comfort, self-respect, and independence. Prudence thinks of an adverse season amidst the prosperity of a good one; and Economy arranges for the bad time. Prudence thinks of two very possible and one certain contingency in the life of every human being; and Economy weighs the chances well and provides for the worst—it provides for the incidence of failing health, and for the chances of losing, through one of the many eventualities of life, worldly position, or the means of breadwinning; and it also does something to provide for that time when the anxieties, the joys, and the sorrows of life shall be hushed in death.
It is well, therefore, and it is almost indispensable, that these habits should be cultivated; it is well also, and quite indispensable, that means and provisions should be used to this end. The first stone which the learned Wotton refers to in the motto on the first page of this volume, is without doubt the first act in the habit of economy; and we have been endeavouring throughout the course of this history to point out with some approach to accuracy the exact spot where a person may lay this indispensable “first stone,” where he may probably best lay the second or third, and how possibly he may commence with the superstructure.
Savings Banks and the other provident measures of which we have spoken are principally to be regarded as preliminary means, the first or stepping-stones to higher things. When a man has become, for example, a depositor in any of the numerous kinds of Savings Banks, he has only taken, as it were, the first step on the road to competence; but one step leads to another.[206] A very slight knowledge of human nature will show that when once a man gets his foot upon the round of the social ladder, and keeps it there till he is secure of his footing, he is soon ambitious of taking the next step. So true is this regarded, that in common parlance many kinds of journeymen are said to have made their fortune when they have saved their first pound. When George Stephenson's wages were raised to twelve shillings a week, he declared “he was now a made man for life;” when he had saved his first guinea, he proudly said to one of his mates, that he “was now a rich man.” And in one sense he was right; he had taken the first step; and further, “The man who,” says Mr. Smiles, “after satisfying his wants, has something to spare, is no longer poor.”
We have said that Savings Banks are preliminary means. We think, however, that they are the safest initiatory steps that could be taken by those of the labouring classes who wish to rise from small beginnings to those higher things spoken of.[207] Thousands of people of small means are content with them; with the Savings Bank they begin, continue, and end, and many of them have had reason to congratulate themselves upon having taken such a course: they have been saved endless trouble and disaster, have in the great majority of instances felt that their earnings were safe, that the profits were not going up and down like those of their neighbours, but were always steady, always to be relied upon, and always calculable to a penny. That these returns are really not so insignificant as many suppose, and that if small earnings are allowed to accumulate at compound interest they must make a decent provision against the winter of life, the following case will demonstrate.[208] The late Mr. Thomas Allen of Gledholt, Huddersfield, on the 28th of March, 1818, gave to each of his seven servants a sovereign to become depositors on the opening of the Huddersfield Savings Bank. On that day Esther Sykes became a depositor to the extent of 1l.
| £ s. d. | |
| She continued to deposit the Savings from her wages from that time to the 21st of July, 1828, amounting to | 119 11 0 |
| Interest accruing from 1818 to 1828 | 30 9 0 |
| 150 0 0 | |
| This sum of £150 being allowed to accumulate by interest until 1836 became | 200 0 0 |
| From 1836 interest on this sum had to be withdrawn half-yearly, which from 1836 to 1863 amounted to | 160 9 8 |
| Esther Sykes died March, 1863, aged 78, and her executors received from the Bank the sum of | 200 0 0 |