FUN AND FINANCE OF BOYHOOD 21 



use of the precious metals as measures of value, 

 and the province of paper in its relation thereto, 

 may have been prophetic of the career toward 

 which I was tending. Most firmly fixed in my 

 mind was the fact that a bank bill was merely 

 a token, representative of the specie that must 

 always stand ready for its redemption. 



Fate favored me with an opportunity to test 

 the theory which had so profoundly interested 

 me. I was one of a party from the Sunday 

 school in my father's church to go on an excur- 

 sion to the nearby town of Fitchburg. Father 

 handed me a one-dollar bill as I left home, and 

 told me that I might spend twenty-five cents of 

 it. This was truly to me a munificent sum, and 

 the possession of the bill made me feel like a cap- 

 italist. As I was walking alone on a Fitchburg 

 street I saw a sign on the building opposite, 

 "The Rollstone Bank." 



That was the bank which had issued the bill 

 I held in my hand, and a great opportunity had 

 come to me. I crossed the street and entered 



