Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1875 — The Baak-Note. [ARTICLE]

The Baak-Note.

Ths following amusing scene, which occurred recently in an American family, wfll be found not uninteresting to our readers. The chief role is played by money, the prime mover in such affairs. An eye-witness recited to us the occur* rence in the following word*: One evening I took tea with an intimate friend of mine, and while we were seated at the table Mr. Baker, my friend’s husband, while absently feeling in hi* vest pocket found a five-dollar note which he had no recollection of putting there. “Hallo*!” he exclaimed, “that is no place for you. I should have put you in my pocket-book. Here wife, don’t you want some ready money?” and he threw the note across the table to her. “ Many thanks,” she replied; “money is always acceptable, although I have no present need of it.” She folded the note and put it tinder the tea-tray and then proceeded to pour out the tea and attend to the wants of her guest*. At her right sat Mrs. Easton, or Aunt Susan, whom all knew as an old acquaintance who, from lime to time, spent a week with Mrs. Baker. Her visit was just at an end and she was about to return home that evening. As Mrs. Baker was pouring out her tea it occurred to her that she was in her aunt's debt for several small matters, and when she had an opportunity she pushed the note under her plate, saying: “ Here, aunty, take this five dollars in part payment of my debt” “Very well,” she replied; “but the money does not belong to me. I owe you fifteen dollars, my dear Grace, which you lent me last Saturday. I had to pay the taxes on my little house and had not the ready money, and Grace lent it to me,” exclaimed Aunt Susan.”

Grace, an orphan, was a cousin to Mrs. Baker. She and her brother Frank boarded with her, and made a very pleasant addition to the family circle. She was studying music and her brother was a clerk in a mercantile establishment. As soon as Aunt Susan received the note she handed it to Grace, saying: “I will give you this now on account, and the rest as soon as I get it.” “ All right,” answered Grace, laughing; “ and since we all seem in the humor to pay our debts, I will follow suit. Frank, I owe you something for music you bought me; here is a partof it;” and she threw the bank-note across the table to her brother, who sat opposite. We were all highly amused to see how the note wandered around the table. “Tin* is a wonderful note,” said Mr. Baker. “ I only wish somebody owed me something, and I owed somebody something, so that I could come into the ring.” “You can,” said Frank. .“ I owe Mrs. Baker or you, it's all the same, for my board; I herewith pay you part of it.” 5 Amid general laughter Mr. Baker took the note, and playfully threw it again to his wife, saying: “It’syours again, Lucy, because what belongs to me belongs to you. It has completed the round, and we have all had the benefit of it” “And now it must go around again,” replied she, gayly. “ I like to see money circulate; it should never lie idle. Aunt Susan, you take it; and now I have paid you ten dollars.” “Dear Grace, here is another five dollars on my account,” said Aunt Susan, handing it to Grace. 4 ‘And you, Frank, have received ten dollars for the music you bought me,” said Grace, handing it to her brother. “And I pay you ten dollars for my board,” continued Frank, and the note once more rested in Mr. Baker’s hands. . The exchanges were as quick as thought and we were convulsed with laughter. “Was there ever so wonderful an exchange?” exclaimed Grace. •“It’* all nonsense,” cried Mr. Baker. •‘Not in the least,” answered his wife. “It's all quite right. It is a fair kind of an exchange, though very uncommon.” “It shows the use of money,” said Aunt Susan. “It makes the circuit of the world, and brings its value to everyone who touches it.” “ And yet this note has not finished its work yet, as I will show my dear husband, if you will give it to me again,” said Mrs. Baker. “I present you with this five-dollar note,” said Mr. Baker. “And I give it to you, Aunt Busan. I owed you fifteen dollars, and I have paid my debt.” “You have, my friend, without doubt, and now, my dear Grace, I pay you my indebtedness; many thanks for your assistance.” “ I take it with thanks, Aunt Susan, and now the time has come when this wonderworking, this inexhaustibly rich bank note must be divided, because I don’t owe Frank five dollars more. How much have Ito pay yet?” “ Two dollars and sixty-two cents,” replied Frank. “ Can you change ?” “ Let me see, two thirty-eight; yes, there is the change; the spell is broken, Grace; you and I divide the spoils.”. “ This bank note beats all I ever saw. Howmuchhasitpaid ? Let us count it up,” said Grace.

“Mrs. Baker gave Aunt Susan fifteen dollars, which Aunt Susan gave me I gave Frank twelve dollars and sixty-two cents—Frank gave Mr. Baker ten dollars —altogether fifty-two dollars and sixty-two cents.” “It’s all nonsense, I tell you,’’cried Mr. Baker again. “ You owe each other what you owed before.” “You are deceived, my dear, by the rapid, unbroken race this little sum has made; to me it is as clear as daylight,” replied Mrs. Baker. “Is it til nonsense? How couldthenote which you gave Mrs. Baker, if nothing to me or to you, be divided between us two ?” asked Grace. Mr. Baker didn’t seem to see it very clearly, but the others did, and they often relate this little history for the amusement of thoix friends.— LetUSt Budget of Fun. —ln the bright lexicon of feminine ftihion there is such a word as faille. —Moonlight mechanics is the latest for burglars. —Ague without fever is no great shakes.