p. 9 | A LESSON IN BANKING

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 7, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 14.

A LESSON IN BANKING.

“PLEASE, grandpapa, the grocer’s man has just brought his bill.”

Mr. Harding smiled upon Dorothy from the depth of his easy-chair, where he was sitting with his lame foot supported by a heap of cushions, and held out his hand for the bill. “Now, little feet and hands,” said he, after he had carefully inspected it, “you may bring me my writing tablet and pen and check-book in the drawer of my desk.”

Dorothy sprang to do his bidding. To be “feet and hands” to her grandfather during his tedious imprisonment in his room was her dearest pleasure.

When she had brought the desired materials, she knelt down on the floor beside him, and, clasping her hands together upon his shoulders, watched with eager interest while he filled out a blank check for the amount required by the bill.

“What a wonderful thing it is to be able to make money so easily!” said she.

“Do you think so?” asked her grandfather, laughing. “When you have given this check to the grocer’s man, come back and we will talk a little about that.”

“What will the grocer do with the check, Dorothy?” said he, when she was at his elbow again.

Dorothy reflected a moment. “I suppose he will take it to the bank and get the money for it,” she answered.

“Very well, my little business woman. But

suppose I had no money in the bank—what then?”

Dorothy hesitated once more. “Then they would not give him any, would they?” said she, at length.

“Right again. Then, in order to get money out of the bank—so ‘easy,’ as you were saying a minute ago—what must I have done beforehand?”

“I know, grandpapa. You must have put some in.”

“That is just what I was coming at, my dear. And because the same is true of so many things in this world beside money, it is very important, indeed, to understand it. Nobody has any right to expect to take without giving—to draw out without having put in.”

Dorothy’s face sobered, and she was silent. “What is it, girlie?”

“Think what I’m doing then, grandpa. I’m taking everything from you—my clothes, my books and playthings, my pretty room—even the food I eat every day. I have never been afraid to ask you for anything I wanted. And yet I have had nothing to give you—not so much as one little penny!”

“Ah, my child, you have not learned all about banking yet! I do not always draw from the bank the same money, or even the same kind of money, that I have deposited there. I may put in gold, and if I choose, take out silver or notes. Or, I may exchange the coin of one country for that of another, paying what is called a discount, if there is a difference in value between the two.”

“Now, what my Dorothy has stored up in the strong vault of her old grandpapa’s heart is a great treasure of gentle obedience and loving service. From such a fund as that, she may go on drawing forever, without any danger of coming to the end of it. And only think of the discount, darling! For a whole world full of gowns and shoes and knick-knacks wouldn’t be worth so much as love.”

“Love, you know, is the gold of the heavenly kingdom and the measure of value, even here on earth, among the children of the King. The Master Himself gave us two rules for its use—one, rather, since the two only state the same thing in different ways: ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them,’ and, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’”

“The gentle words that we speak, the kind deeds that we do, the sacrifices we make for others—all these are laid safely away in the bank of heaven, to come back to us in our own need. He is poor indeed who has no such hoard to draw upon!”

“But, grandpapa—”

“Yes, Dorothy.”

“God gives us everything for nothing.”

“Yes and no, my darling. It is true that in the overflow of His loving-kindness He blesses even the unthankful and the evil; yet of each one of us he asks, ‘Son, daughter, give Me thine heart.’ If we heed His voice, we need never fear want. My child, in all the universe there is nothing else so wonderful as this, that, bringing to God our hearts, with all their weakness, mistakes, sinfulness, if only our love go with them, we may draw in return upon His infinite treasures of wisdom, goodness, and power. Earthly banks may fail, and the strongest safe be broken, but he who has the heavenly riches is afraid neither of loss nor robbery.”

“I know a verse about that, grandpapa,” said Dorothy softly.

“What is it, my child?”

“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”

“And the next is like it,” said the grandfather, drawing the bright golden head upon his breast. “‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’”—Advocate.