CHAPTER X. — SAM'S INVESTMENT.

 "What a fool you were not to take the money he offered you!" said Sam when they were in the street.

 

"Why should I? I didn't find the ring. I had no claim to it."

 

"No matter, if he was willing to give it to you. He can afford it."

 

"I have no doubt of it; but I didn't want to take it."

 

"You ain't much like me, Henry. You wouldn't catch me refusing."

 

"I presume not," said Henry, smiling.

 

"I say, wasn't that a tiptop dinner?" said Sam, smacking¹ his lips as he thought of it. "It beats the restaurant all hollow. We'd have had to pay a dollar apiece for such a lot of things, and then they wouldn't have been so good."

 

"That's so, Sam. We can't expect to live like that every day."

 

"There's one thing seems funny, Henry—them bowls of water they bring on at the end to wash your hands in. I was just goin' to drink mine when I saw Mr. Chester wash his fingers in his. It don't seem nice to have wash bowls on the dinner-table."

 

"We never have been much into fashionable society, Sam. I've no doubt there are a good many things that would seem strange to us if we did."

 

"When I am rich, I'll live just like Mr. Chester," said Sam, enthusiastically.

 

"We have never been much into fashionable society, Sam. I've no doubt there are a good many things that would seem strange to us if we did."

 

"When I am rich, I'll live just like Mr. Chester," said Sam, enthusiastically.

 

"If you ever want to be rich, you must save up money."

 

"I can't now."

 

"Why can't you save up part of these twenty-five dollars?"

 

"I owe part of it to you."

 

"Only about five dollars."

 

"I've got to get along till the end of the week."

 

"You ought to be able to save fifteen dollars, at any rate. I'll go with you to the savings²-bank, and you can put it in to-night, I know a bank that keeps open till eight o'clock."

 

Sam hesitated, and looked reluctant.

 

"I guess I'll wait and see how much I need to carry me through the week," he said.

 

"At any rate, pay me what you owe me, and I'll deposit a part of it on my own account."

 

Settlement was made, and Henry, accompanied by Sam, went round to the Sixpenny Savings-Bank, then established on Astor Place, in a part of the Mercantile Library Building. It is kept open every day in the week from 10 A. M. till 8 P. M., thus affording better accommodation to depositors than most institutions of the kind. Sam had never been in a savings-bank before, and he looked about him with curiosity.

 

Henry took the five-dollar bill which Sam had paid him, and handed it with his bankbook to the receiving clerk, saying: "I want to deposit three dollars of this."

 

An entry was made in the book, which was returned to him, with two dollars change.

 

Henry turned away.

 

"Is that all?" asked Sam.

 

"Yes, that is all."

 

"Supposin' you wanted to draw out money, what would you do, then?"

 

"Go to that other clerk, and tell him how much you wanted to draw. He would give you a paper to sign, and then he'd give you the money."

 

"How much money have you got here now, Henry?"

 

"Thirty-five dollars," answered his companion, with pardonable pride.

 

"That's about twice as much as I have got here."

 

"Yes; don't you think you had better take out a book?"

 

"I guess I will come next week," said Sam, hesitating.

 

"You have no idea how independent it makes me feel," said Henry. "Now, if I am sick I know I shan't have to suffer, for a time at least. I could live for seven or eight weeks on what I've got here in the bank."

 

"That's so. I wish I had thirty-five dollars."

 

"You may have it after a while if you'll do as I do—be economical and saving."

 

"I'll think about it," said Sam. "I'd like to have something to fall back upon in my old age."

 

Henry commended this plan, though he knew Sam too well to have much hope of his carrying it out. As it turned out, not a dollar of the reward which he had been paid found its way to the savings-bank. How it was disposed of we shall see.

 

The next day, as Sam was going to the office, he met a young man with whom he had lately become acquainted.

 

"How are you, Sam?" he asked.

 

"Tiptop," answered Sam.

 

"How does the world use you?"

 

"Pretty well. I've just made some money."

 

"How much?"

 

"Twenty-five dollars."

 

"That isn't bad. How did you do it?"

 

"I found a diamond ring in Wall Street, and got the money for a reward."

 

"Have you got it now?"

 

"Most of it."

 

"What are you going to do with it?"

 

"Henry Martin advises me to put it in the savings-bank."

 

"Who is Henry Martin?"

 

"He is a boy that rooms with me."

 

"Take my advice, and don't do it."

 

"Why not? Would the bank break?"

 

"I don't know as it would; but what good would it do?"

 

"They give you interest, don't they?"

 

"Yes, but it's only six per cent. The interest on twenty-five dollars would only come to a dollar and a half in a year. That's too slow for me."

 

"What would you advise me to do, then?" asked Sam. "Is there any way of making money?"

 

"I'll tell you what I'd do if I were you. I'd buy part of a ticket in the Havana lottery³."

 

"Could I make money that way?"

 

"Say you bought a fifth of a ticket; that would come to ten dollars. Now the biggest prize is a hundred thousand dollars!"

 

It almost took away Sam's breath to think of such a large sum.

 

"I couldn't draw that, could I?" he asked, eagerly.

 

"You might draw a fifth of it; that would be twenty thousand dollars."

 

"Why, that would make me rich!" exclaimed Sam, in excitement. "I'd never have to work no more."

 

"Besides, there are other prizes a great many, only smaller."

 

"I'd be pretty sure to draw something, wouldn't I?"

 

"You'd stand just as good a chance as anybody."

 

"Have you got any tickets in the lottery?"

 

"Yes, I bought a fifth of a ticket yesterday."

 

"Where do they sell? 'em?" asked Sam.

 

His companion told him.

 

"I guess I'll go round and buy one," he said. "It must be better than putting the money in the savings-bank."

 

"That's what I think. You may not get a big prize the first time, to be sure, but it's worth waiting for."

 

Sam was not much of a financier, nor did he know how little real chance there was of drawing the large prize he desired. He did not know that it was about the most foolish use he could make of his money. He was deceived by the consideration that somebody would win the prize, and that his chance was as good as anybody. It is always unlucky for a boy or young man when he yields for the first time to the fatal fascination⁴ of the lottery. He may fail time after time, but continue to hug the delusion⁵ that the next time will bring him luck. There are clerks in New York and other large cities who have not only squandered⁶ all their own savings, but abstracted money from their employers, led on by this ruinous passion.

 

During his noon intermission Sam went round to the lottery office, and returned with the coveted⁷ ticket.

 

He put it away with great complacency, and gave himself up to dreams of future wealth. If he could only win that twenty thousand dollars, how rich he would be! How he would triumph over Henry, with his poor thirty-five dollars in the savings-bank!

 

"Poor Henry! I'll do something for him, if I only win the prize," he thought. "Maybe I'll buy out some big business, and make him my clerk, with a good salary. Won't it be jolly?"

 

No doubt it would, but Sam was counting chickens that were not very likely to be hatched.

 

There was another bad consequence of his purchase. It made him lavish⁸ of the money he had left. It amounted to nine dollars and some odd cents. Had he followed Henry's advice, a part of this would have been deposited in the bank; but Sam's dreams of wealth led him to look upon it as a mere⁹ trifle, hardly worth taking into account. So day by day it melted away till there was none left.

 

1 smacking   

活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的

参考例句：

• He gave both of the children a good smacking. 他把两个孩子都狠揍了一顿。
• She inclined her cheek,and John gave it a smacking kiss. 她把头低下，约翰在她的脸上响亮的一吻。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

4 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

5 delusion   

n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑

参考例句：

• He is under the delusion that he is Napoleon.他患了妄想症，认为自己是拿破仑。
• I was under the delusion that he intended to marry me.我误认为他要娶我。

6 squandered   

v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He squandered all his money on gambling. 他把自己所有的钱都糟蹋在赌博上了。
• She felt as indignant as if her own money had been squandered. 她心里十分生气，好像是她自己的钱给浪费掉了似的。 来自飘（部分）

7 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

9 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。