Part 12 (1/2)
Mr. Sikes next proceeded to ventilate the question of Post Office Savings Banks. He was disappointed that no measure for the improvement of Savings Banks had been adopted by Parliament. The day appeared very distant when his cherished wish would be realized,--that the Savings Bank should really become the Bank of the People. But the darkest hour precedes the dawn. When he had almost given up the notion of improving the existing Savings Banks, the idea suddenly struck him that in the money-order office there was the very organization which might be made the basis of a popular Savings Bank.
He communicated his plan in a letter to his friend Mr. Baines, then member for Leeds. The plan was submitted to Sir Rowland Hill, who approved of the suggestions, and considered the scheme ”practicable so far as the Post Office was concerned.” The plan was then brought under the notice of Mr. Gladstone, who afterwards carried the Bill through Parliament for the establishment of Post Office Savings Banks throughout the country.
To use the words of Mr. Sikes himself,--when predicting at the Social Science a.s.sociation the success of the Post Office Savings Banks,--”Should the plan be carried out, it will soon be doing a glorious work. Wherever a Bank is opened and deposits received, self-reliance will to some extent be aroused, and, with many, a n.o.bler life will be begun. They will gradually discern how ruthless an enemy is improvidence to working men; and how truly his friends are economy and forethought. Under their guidance, household purchases could be made on the most favourable terms--_for cash;_ any wished-for house taken at the lowest rent _for punctual payment_; and the home enriched with comforts until it is enjoyed and prized by all. From such firesides go forth those inheriting the right spirit,--loving industry, loving thrift, and loving home. Emulous of a good example, they in their day and generation would n.o.bly endeavour to lay by a portion of their income. Many a hard winter and many a slack time would be comfortably got over by drawing on the little fund, to be again replenished in better days. And if the plan were adopted, remembering that it would virtually bring the Savings Bank within less than an hour's walk of the fireside of every working man in the United Kingdom, I trust that it is not taking too sanguine a view to antic.i.p.ate that it would render aid in ultimately winning over the rank and file of the industrial cla.s.ses of the kingdom to those habits of forethought and self-denial which bring enduring reward to the individual, and materially add to the safety of the State.”
The working cla.s.ses have not yet, however, taken full advantage of the facilities for saving afforded them by the Post Office Savings Banks.
Take Birmingham for instance, where the artizans are among the best-paid workmen of the town. In the list of depositors in the Post Office Savings Banks, we find that the artizans rank after the domestic servants, after the married and unmarried women, and after the miners.
They only const.i.tute about one-tenth of the entire depositors, though it is possible that they may deposit their savings in some other investments.
Then take the returns for the entire United Kingdom. Out of every ten thousand depositors in the Post Office Savings Banks, we find that the domestic servants are again the first; next, the women, married and single; next, persons of ”no occupation” and ”occupations not given;”
next, the artizans, and after them, the labourers, miners, tradesmen, soldiers and sailors, clerks, milliners and dressmakers, professional men, and public officials, in the order stated. We must, however, regard the inst.i.tution as still too young to have fully taken root. We believe that the living generation must pa.s.s away before the full fruits of the Post Office Savings Banks can be gathered in.
The inhabitants of Preston have exhibited a strong disposition to save their earnings during the last few years,--more especially since the conclusion of the last great strike. There is no town in England, excepting perhaps Huddersfield, where the people have proved themselves so provident and so thrifty. Fifty years ago, only one person in thirty of the population of Preston deposited money in the Savings Bank; twenty years ago, the depositors increased to one in eleven; and last year they had increased to one in five. In 1834, the sum of a hundred and sixty-five thousand pounds had been acc.u.mulated in the Savings Bank by 5,942 depositors; and in 1874, four hundred and seventy-two thousand pounds had been acc.u.mulated by 14,792 depositors, out of a total population of 85,428. Is there any other town or city that can show a more satisfactory result of the teaching, the experience, and the prosperity of the last twenty years?
CHAPTER IX.
LITTLE THINGS.
”The sober comfort, all the peace which springs From the large aggregate of little things; On these small cares of daughter, wife, or friend, The almost sacred joys of Home depend.”--_Hannah More_.
”Know when to spend and when to spare, And when to buy, and thou shalt ne'er be bare.”
”He that despiseth little things, shall perish by little and little.”--_Ecclesiasticus_.
Neglect of small things is the rock on which the great majority of the human race have split. Human life consists of a succession of small events, each of which is comparatively unimportant, and yet the happiness and success of every man depends upon the manner in which these small events are dealt with. Character is built up on little things,--little things well and honourably transacted. The success of a man in business depends on his attention to little things. The comfort of a household is the result of small things well arranged and duly provided for. Good government can only be accomplished in the same way,--by well-regulated provisions for the doing of little things.
Acc.u.mulations of knowledge and experience of the most valuable kind are the result of little bits of knowledge and experience carefully treasured up. Those who learn nothing or acc.u.mulate nothing in life, are set down as failures,--because they have neglected little things. They may themselves consider that the world has gone against them; but in fact they have been their own enemies. There has long been a popular belief in ”good luck;” but, like many other popular notions, it is gradually giving way. The conviction is extending that diligence is the mother of good luck; in other words, that a man's success in life will be proportionate to his efforts, to his industry, to his attention to small things. Your negligent, s.h.i.+ftless, loose fellows never meet with luck; because the results of industry are denied to those who will not use the proper efforts to secure them.
It is not luck, but labour, that makes men. Luck, says an American writer, is ever waiting for something to turn up; Labour, with keen eye and strong will, always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy; Labour turns out at six, and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the foundation of a competence.
Luck whines; Labour whistles. Luck relies on chance; Labour on character. Luck slips downwards to self-indulgence; Labour strides upward, and aspires to independence.
There are many little things in the household, attention to which is indispensable to health and happiness. Cleanliness consists in attention to a number of apparent trifles--the scrubbing of a floor, the dusting of a chair, the cleansing of a teacup,--but the general result of the whole is an atmosphere of moral and physical well-being,--a condition favourable to the highest growth of human character. The kind of air which circulates in a house may seem a small matter,--for we cannot see the air, and few people know anything about it. Yet if we do not provide a regular supply of pure air within our houses, we shall inevitably suffer for our neglect. A few specks of dirt may seem neither here nor there, and a closed door or window would appear to make little difference; but it may make the difference of a life destroyed by fever; and therefore the little dirt and the little bad air are really very serious matters. The whole of the household regulations are, taken by themselves, trifles--but trifles tending to an important result.
A pin is a very little thing in an article of dress, but the way in which it is put into the dress often reveals to you the character of the wearer. A shrewd fellow was once looking out for a wife, and was on a visit to a family of daughters with this object. The fair one, of whom he was partially enamoured, one day entered the room in which he was seated with her dress partially unpinned, and her hair untidy: he never went back. You may say, such a fellow was ”not worth a pin;” but he was really a shrewd fellow, and afterwards made a good husband. He judged of women as of men--by little things; and he was right.
A druggist advertised for an a.s.sistant, and he had applications from a score of young man. He invited them all to come to his shop at the same time, and set them each to make up a pennyworth of salts into a packet.
He selected the one that did this little thing in the neatest and most expert manner. He inferred their general practical ability from their performance of this smallest bit of business.
Neglect of little things has ruined many fortunes and marred the best of enterprises. The s.h.i.+p which bore home the merchant's treasure was lost because it was allowed to leave the port from which it sailed with a very little hole in the bottom. For want of a nail the shoe of the aide-de-camp's horse was lost; for want of the shoe, the horse was lost; for want of the horse, the aide-de-camp himself was lost, for the enemy took him and killed him; and for want of the aide-de camp's intelligence, the army of his general was lost: and all because a little nail had not been properly fixed in a horse's shoe!
”It will do!” is the common phrase of those who neglect little things.
”It will do!” has blighted many a character, blasted many a fortune, sunk many a s.h.i.+p, burnt down many a house, and irretrievably ruined thousands of hopeful projects of human good. It always means stopping short of the right thing. It is a makes.h.i.+ft. It is a failure and defeat.
Not what ”will do,” but what is the best possible thing to do,--is the point to be aimed at! Let a man once adopt the maxim of ”It will do,”
and he is given over to the enemy,--he is on the side of incompetency and defeat,--and we give him up as a hopeless subject!