A MESSAGE FROM THE MINT.
By William T. Ellis
William T. Ellis, in Forward. THE lack of money preaches sermons to most of us; yet a visit to the government institution where money is made, and where it abounds in bewildering quantities, is a still better revealer of spiritual truths. Everything in the mint is a figure. So real are the deeper meanings of the processes through which metal goes in becoming currency, that one almost overlooks their first purposes. The most distinct general impression which one bears away from the mint is that of testing by fire. The experience is a lesson in the philosophy of the furnace. Every grain of metal that comes out of the mint has passed through the fire. First of all, is the fire of testing. In the small retorts adjoining the assayer's office the metal is tried in little clay crucibles. There its quality is determined. As you look, you can see the vapors curling upward from the crucible; these you are told are the impurities. The gold and silver of the mint are proved by fire. Next there is the fire of refining and for mixing. The gold or silver must be freed from impurities, and then it must be amalgamated with other metals to make it good currency. It gets the right proportions in the fire. The crucibles of gold boil and bubble away at a furious rate, like a kettle of clothes on washday. What fearful heat! Yet it is the salvation of the gold; thus it becomes coin to provide food for the hungry and clothes for the naked. If the seething mass could speak, it might rebel; but after it has received the government's stamp, it blesses the hot experience that gave it power to become the servant of man. Not only does the fire test and refine and purify and fuse together the necessary constituents of a good coin, but it also anneals. After the coin has been melted, rolled, and cut into strips, it is placed in annealing furnaces, to temper, toughen, and harden it. Thus it is fitted to stand the wear and tear of currency. Is it because the gold is not regarded as precious that it goes into the furnace so often? Ah! it is subject to fire because it is precious. In the fierce heat of the furnace it loses nothing but impurity, and its own value is increased. Because God puts us into fiery furnaces are we no longer dear to him? It is because we are dear to him that he gives us this experience. Thus he rids us of our impurities and imperfections. Thus he tests our souls. Thus he gives us characters of purity and durability. In the furnace he fits us for service. He can not use us—we can not be ready to receive his stamp—until his furnace has first done its work with us. God is a refiner; for this we love him, because we are his treasure, and he wishes us to be pure and serviceable.