HENSLOW'S CRAB CATCHING FISH. while the Glass-crabs are so transparent that print can be read through them, and being thus difficult to detect, they readily escape the watchful eyes of hungry fishes. In the selection of their homes, the crabs show curious characteristics. Some of the hermits burrow in the sand, arranging the opening so that the large claw fits it perfectly, forming an animated door that rises up to grasp any intruder that seeks entrance. Certain crabs travel about on the backs of turtles; there is one kind that lives in the interior of a sea-cucumber, while another crab is found living within a large Brazilian star-fish. One little fellow of the crab family lives in the folds of the jelly-fish, while another clings to the feathers of a certain sea-bird. A CRAB CAPTURING A BIRD. small sea-animals living and dead; but they become in turn victims themselves to the fishes of the deep sea. BEN SCATTERGOOD felt that his talents were running to waste. It was discouraging for a boy who intended to be the greatest financier of the age to have to till the soil on his father's little farm in that part of the township which was called "Pharaoh's Heart," because it was so stony, and to have to pick huckleberries and do "chores" for the neighbors, to earn money to buy his Sunday shoes. He did not expect to burst upon the world a full-fledged Rothschild or Vanderbilt; but driving a plow, and digging turnips, and milking cows were occupations that did n't seem even to pave the way to a great financial career; Ben was very discontented. And there was Tobias, who really loved farming, and yet he was to be sent to the city to learn business, because he was lame and left-handed and his father thought he was n't fit for anything else. Ben was sometimes tempted to run away, but he felt that it would be mean; for his father had rheumatism, which grew worse and worse every year, and there was a brood of little ones, all younger than Ben, and going down as evenly as a flight of stairs until one came to the two pairs of twins, Jed and Jethro, and Mirandyo and Marosybo. Ben felt that he was needed at home. Yet he also felt a daily-growing conviction that handling pumpkins and potatoes was a very tame occupation for a boy who wished to be handling stocks and bonds; and that keeping the twins straightened out was but a paltry use for talents that might make their owner a power in Wall street. When the weekly paper found its way to "Pharaoh's Heart," Ben always retired with it to the nearest available seclusion, generally the hay-loft, and eagerly scanned the financial column; and he thought he understood all about bulls and bears, and puts and calls, and margins and corners, as well as he understood when to plant corn, or when the trout in Stony Brook were most likely to bite. But, alas! of what avail was such knowledge to a boy who had to work and spend his time on a stony little farm in Quebasket, where stocks and bonds were almost unknown? Strangely enough, it was Tobias who suggested to Ben a great idea,- Tobias, who was the proud but embarrassed possessor of a dollar and nineteen cents, with which the speckled hen had come off triumphant after the vicissitudes of hatching and rearing a brood of ducklings. It was particularly gratifying, because the speckled hen had hitherto met with reverses in all her business undertakings, and Tobias had cherished gloomy forebodings that she would die in debt. But even now perplexity was casting a shadow over Tobias's joy. "It's queer, but I declare I have n't anything particular to do with that dollar 'n' nineteen cents!" he said, limping into the barn, where Ben sat on the meal-chest, moodily snapping corn at the cross old gander. Ben stared at him in astonishment. This was an entirely new experience for one of the Scattergood family. To have a great many things to do with money, but no money, was their every-day condition. Tobias might be slow, but he was not frivolous. "I might buy some turkeys' eggs and sell 'em," he said. " Turkeys are more excitin' than hens, but then they're more risky, too!" "Turkeys! You tried that last year, and only five eggs hatched, out of a dozen, and the gander kicked one of the young ones to death, and one was drowned, trying to swim with the ducks, and one ran its head into the rat-trap, and the horse stepped on one, and the other just up and diedbecause it was lonesome, I suppose. A great investment that was!" said Ben contemptuously. "I suppose I had better put the money away," said Tobias. "Eliakim Tuesley said, the other day, that he had thirteen dollars and ninety-one cents in an old stocking. There was a tin bank in our house - it would seem more appropri't to put it in a bank than in an old stocking - but some of the twins hammered it all to pieces trying to get a copper cent out." "That is a great kind of a bank! If I were five years old, I might put my money down the chimney of a little tin house painted red," said Ben, with withering scorn. 66 "Lend it!" Tobias actually turned pale at the thought of his "dollar 'n' nineteen cents." "I guess you don't know Quebasket boys so well as I do! There was Lem Rollins,- he went off to Boston with my jack-knife in his pocket; and Zach Halstead broke my musk-rat trap all to pieces and never offered to buy me another; and Tom Jenkins has owed me thirteen cents these two years; and when I ask him for it, he says times are very hard! Of course some boys would pay "You must be clever to think I shall lend money without security! Of course boys can't do things just as men do, the fellows have n't real estate, but I shall take mortgages on personal "I should like to know where I could make it property. Tom Jenkins's gun is worth eight or double itself in a year," said Tobias. Ben was in a brown study. "There ought to be a bank in Quebasket," he said at length. "Tobe, I think I shall set up a bank!" Tobias gazed at his brother in astonishment, not unmingled with admiration. nine dollars, and he 'll not borrow any money from my bank without giving a mortgage on the gun; and if he does n't pay principal and interest when it is due, I shall foreclose,— that means take possession of the gun!" Tobias's doubts were swallowed up in admiration. His brother Ben was a wonderful boy, and "It's a pretty big undertaking, but if any boy the Quebasket Double-Penny Bank was the greatcan do it, you can, Ben," he said. "If I make it go," said Ben," you shall be the first depositor, and I'll pay you ten per cent. for your dollar 'n' nineteen cents." Tobias was not equal to the task of computing his year's interest without time and a pencil; but ten per cent. sounded well, and dazzling visions of wealth rose before his eyes. "The old work-shop is n't just what I should choose for a bank-building, but it will do," said Ben. "It's lucky that we happen to live on the main road; it would n't look well to have a bank out in the field." And then remembering that Tobias could paint letters of astonishing evenness, he said: "You may paint the sign, Tobe, if you 'd like to. I've thought of a name that will sound well, -The Quebasket Double-Penny Bank. Make the sign big and showy. We must make everything attractive! I'm going to talk to the fellows; and I say, Tobe, if it turns out well you shall be cashier, no, you can't reckon quickly enough for that, but you shall have some position." That had a very agreeable sound to Tobias's est financial scheme of the age! Tobias hurried away in search of a smooth board and his father's paint-pots, while Ben went to talk to the fellows," paying his first visit to Eliakim Tuesley, the greatest capitalist of his acquaintance. Eliakim was strongly impressed with the importance and responsibility attending the possession of his wealth; but he was readily convinced that it would never double itself in the toe of the stocking, and that it might in the Double-Penny Bank. Ben's task was much easier from the fact that his mathematical abilities were so highly regarded. If any boy could make a bank a success, it was Ben Scattergood; that was the universal opinion. Ben was " square," too, which in Quebasket vernacular meant honest, it was safe to trust him with money. Even Dan Vibbert, who worked in the clothespin factory, and supported his mother and little sister, and was as wise and prudent as if he were sixty instead of sixteen, agreed to save ten cents a week from his earnings, if possible, and deposit it in the bank; and he gave Ben, on the spot, fifty cents which he had saved to buy a blue necktie directors. with red dots. Dick Malcolm, who was a rich man's son, but who spent all his money on caramels and cornballs, sternly resolved to forego these luxuries, and tried to sell his donkey and cart that he might deposit the proceeds in Ben's bank. Arthur Wingate, who had saved seven dollars toward buying a bicycle, lent a willing ear to Ben's argument that money which was increasing every day was better than a bicycle which was wearing out; and Tommy Tripp sold his calico colt that he had meant to raise. There was a great financial excitement in Quebasket. Ben came home in the evening and found that the sign, upon which Tobias had worked zealously all the afternoon, had “Quebasket DoublePenny Bank" on it, in dazzling white and yellow letters on a black ground bordered with red lines. The office equipments were very primitive, and Ben resolved that the bank's first earnings should purchase a desk which was n't evolved from a trough, and a safe which would give a dignity to the establishment that was not to be imparted by an old tin coffee-canister and a cake-box. But the coffee-canister and the cake-box had money in them, and so were more business-like than an empty safe; and with this reflection Ben consoled himself, even when some of the boys— who had no money to deposit - said they "could put their money into tin boxes at home without carryin' it up to Scattergood's ole work-shop." Of course Ben knew that no one could expect to carry on so ambitious an enterprise without having some troubles; so he was not surprised when his sister Arethusa Ann sold her gold beads to a peddler for twenty-five cents, to put into the bank, and his mother sent him after the peddler in hot haste to get them back at any price, because they had belonged to their grandmother, and Ben had to give the peddler a dollar for them. He was not surprised, but he almost wished he had listened to Tobias, who said girls ought not to be allowed to deposit, because they would want to take their money out the very next day to buy candy or ribbons, or would be fussy and come every day to see if it were safe. But he was glad afterward that he had n't listened to Tobias, for some girl-friends brought money and seemed just as sensible about it as the boys, from Mary Jane Pemberly, who had earned seventy-five cents by knitting stockings, to Kitty Malcolm, who was saving up her allowance to buy a Shetland pony with a tail that touched the ground. Kitty had eleven dollars, she was almost as wealthy as Eliakim Tuesley; and Ben, who believed in women's rights, had some idea of making her one of the But when he confided this idea to the boys, it was received with scorn and derision, and Ben abandoned it with the patient superiority of one who knows that his opinions are in advance of his age. He decided, soon after, that he would have no directors, but would himself be the sole manager of the institution, and this decision prevented impending hostilities between Eliakim Tuesley and Win Reeder, who intended to deposit fourteen dollars when his uncle came home. Another trouble was that some of the depositors returned weeping, and demanded their money back, owing to the prejudice of their parents or guardians. But it happened that the larger capitalists had full control of their funds, so this was no serious drawback to the success of the bank. Ben's father seemed to regard the undertaking as sport, and said Ben had better be at work. But Ben thought he would soon be able to show people that his enterprise was something more than play; and that all the little trials incident to its beginning would be forgotten in the glory of its success. But Ben's strong arguments had aroused such a zeal for saving money and putting it into the bank, that nobody seemed to think of borrowing any to spend. Ben felt himself under the necessity of affixing to his sign the information that the bank would "loan money on personal property or any good security." He did n't like the looks of that notice; it detracted very much from the dignity of the bank; he wished people would understand, without that, how his bank must be managed; and he felt very much annoyed when Uncle Amri Treworgy, as he was driving by, stopped and laughed, and called out : "Gone into the pawn-broker business, Ben? Where are your three gilt balls?" Uncle Amri was a queer old fellow, who had amassed a considerable fortune by shrewd investments and speculations. He was called "Uncle" by everybody, and was in reality a great-uncle to Ben; and Ben had thought of asking his advice about the bank. He was glad now that he had n't. But his wounded feelings were soothed by the immediate results of the notice. It was novel and exciting to be able to borrow money! There was a reaction from the severe self-denial that had made the taste of peanuts and taffy an almost forgotten delight to Quebasket boys, and some of the depositors were the first borrowers! There was so great a demand for very small sums that Ben feared the labor of keeping the books would be too great, and he refused to lend any amount smaller than a quarter of a dollar. This caused great dismay among the smaller boys; and the village confectioner, who had ordered a double quantity of peanuts and corn-balls in view of the unusual demand for them from young capitalists, was now left with the increased supply on his hands. BEN LISTENS TO UNCLE AMRI'S "LECTURE." (SEE PAGE 851.) The interest on loans was to be paid weekly, but Ben found it very difficult indeed to make his collections. The boy who borrowed a quarter thought three cents a week very little to pay for the use of it when he borrowed it, but VOL. XII.-54. three cents looked much bigger at the end of the week, and it increased rapidly to very astonishing proportions! At the end of three weeks it was nine cents, and it was often very inconvenient to pay it. And in how much worse condition was the boy who had borrowed a dollar! Then, too, Ben found it difficult to be sufficiently hard-hearted to take possession of the mortgaged articles. But Tobias counseled firmness, and Ben at length felt obliged to take possession of several pocket-knives, a Guinea hen, a cage of white mice, a silver watch, a backgammon board, and a squirrel. The owners of most of these articles very soon appeared with the interest due and claimed their property, but one of the knives had been broken after it was mortgaged, and the gray squirrel slipped out through a hole in the hen-house, and probably rejoined its family in the woods; and its opinion undoubtedly was that the Quebasket Double-Penny Bank had done some good in the world. But Tobias, with a wrinkled brow and deep misgivings about his "dollar 'n' nineteen cents," charged the knife and the squirrel to the loss account of the bank. The Guinea hen, too, caused embarrassment by laying three eggs while imprisoned in the bank, which John Sylvester, her owner, claimed. And when he threatened to have a lawsuit if they were not returned to him, Ben felt obliged to give them up, because he thought an appeal to law would seriously interfere with the success of the bank. Poor Tobias spent half a day in calculating the profits that might have accrued to the bank from those three Guinea hen's eggs, and he never became reconciled to their loss. Ben's strict measures produced two results: one was that the interest was paid much more promptly, but the other was that the boys became more shy of borrowing. The novelty had begun to wear off, too, and times were undeniably dull at the bank. But one morning Quebasket awoke to find its fences and walls, and even its rocks and trees, adorned with flaming posters, which announced that the "Gigantic Royal Hippodrome and Stupendous European and Asiatic Menagerie, applauded by all the Crowned Heads of Europe, Great and Small, and considered by the Czar of Russia the Eighth Wonder of the World," would exhibit at the Stapleton Mills, a neighboring town, the next day. Every Quebasket boy knew very well that those lofty-sounding names meant simply that the circus had come! And the blissful news was shouted from one to another. "Lively times to-day!" said Ben to Tobias, as they saw the bank-building fairly covered with the beguiling bills. "Crowds of boys will want to borrow money to go to the circus!" |