A
considerable number of them had sums lying at interest. As years rolled
on, Mr. Sikes often witnessed the depositor commencing with ten or
twenty pounds, then make permanent additions to his little store, until
at length the amount would reach one, two, or, in a few instances, even
three hundred pounds. Mr. Sikes would often imagine the marvellous
improvement that would be effected on the condition of the working
classes, if every one of them became influenced by the same frugality
and forethought, which induced these exceptional operatives to deposit
their savings at his bank.
About that time, trade was in a wretched condition. The handloom weavers
were almost entirely without employment. Privation and suffering
prevailed on every side, and these were often borne with silent and
noble heroism. Various remedies were proposed for the existing evils.
Socialism, chartism, and free trade, were the favourites. Theories of
the wildest and most impracticable character abounded, and yet even in
those dark days there were instances of men who had to some degree made
the future predominate over the present, who could fall back upon their
reserve in the Joint Stock or Savings Bank to tide them over into better
times. Believing in the beneficent results of free trade, Mr. Sikes was
equally convinced that national prosperity, as well as national
adversity, might be attended with great evils, unless the masses were
endowed with habits of providence and thrift, and prepared by previous
education for the "good time coming" so eloquently predicted by the
orators of the League.
Pages:
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220