for the beer? William thought even this quantity of beer too much, but he must have beer, and Frederick would certainly take some of it in exchange for a pair of shoes. So he offered William a very fair waistcoat which William accepted, though he did not much want it. Frederick took half the beer, leaving in its place a pair of shoes, and went home with his dinner secured.

Richard, now beginning to find out some of his difficulties, determined to pay the butcher a visit on his way home: he found John at his shop, who felt quite easy about his dinner; and when Richard came up, and asked him how much beer he would require for a small loin of mutton, he replied: "Why, I suppose that would be worth four gallons of your best beer; but you have no beer with you, and I must know what it is like before I conclude my bargain. But I see you have a new waistcoat, and as I want one very much, I will give you these three loaves for your old one, which will do very well for me." Richard was too glad to take advantage of this offer, as he now thought he should. turn his visit to William's to account. So he placed the loaves in his barrow, and hastened home in good spirits. Harry, who had been waiting for him a long time, was glad enough to see him returning; but his joy was soon at an end when he found that Richard was abundantly supplied with bread.

Harry was quite at a loss what to do. He had nothing else to offer to Richard, nor to John, and he seemed destined to dine upon dry bread. Time was now passing on, and the usual dinner-hour had arrived. Richard hastened with a four-gallon cask of his strongest beer to John's, and got back with his loin of mutton, nearly an hour after the time at which it should have been ready for the table. Poor Harry, as a last resource, had to trudge first to William's and then to Frederick's, to see if he could exchange his bread for some articles more likely to tempt John and Richard. With William he so far

succeeded as to exchange four of his loaves for a cheap waistcoat. But when he came to Frederick's, he found him in no want of bread, and so an exchange with him was out of the question. After again trying John and Frederick, and finding that of all articles of clothing, a waistcoat was one which they least desired, he had to return home, tired and hungry, and content himself with the best his own shop could furnish William had seen and heard enough in the course of the morning to be willing to save himself further trouble, and partake of his bread and beer, and to think that it was well for him that he was no worse off.

At the end of the evening, the master called the boys up to give him an account of their trading. "Well," said he, "with the exception of Harry, you have managed to fare pretty well. But what journeyings backwards and forwards you have had!-and scarcely one of you could get exactly the quantity he wanted of any one thing; how you would manage to go on with your present plan, I do not see. Frederick would scarcely find a sale for his shoes to-morrow, and it will be long before any of those who bought beer will want a fresh supply. Then, whenever Harry wants a coat, he must get together more loaves than his shop holds; and even then I suppose William would scarcely think it a good bargain to fill his house with bread, of which he could. not eat half whilst it was good. Besides, it would be difficult to determine the exact value of any one

very

thing.

"I fancy Harry would, at the end of the day, have given a good many loaves for a piece of meat, and he would have parted with them the more readily, because there seemed so little chance of getting rid of them on better terms before they were spoilt. But besides bread and meat and beer, and coats and shoes, there are numberless articles both of clothing and food, in daily use which we consider necessaries of life.

Each of these we want at different times, and in different quantities. You can easily see that it is quite impossible to provide them by any exchange of goods. Something must, therefore, be found of which everybody knows the value, and of which everybody will take more or less quantities in exchange for his goods. For convenience' sake it should not be too heavy to be easily carried about.

"This is the origin and use of Money. Anything would answer the purpose if there were pieces which we might exchange for things of very small value, provided we were fully agreed as to what exact value one piece of money should represent. In some parts of the world, there are nations who use cowrie-shells for money, but this would do only among themselves, An Englishman, for instance, would not give his goods for cartloads of shells, which would be of no use to him in his own country; so it is found best to have money made of precious metals, which are of nearly ti e same value in all countries.

"The Government of each country issues coins made of copper (or bronze), silver, or gold, and each coin is so stamped, that we may know for certain its exact value. In this way the baker will receive a great number of the smaller coins from different persons, and will have, perhaps, to give all that he receives in the day to the tailor for one coat. But then, the tailor must make this money procure him necessaries for many days, and some of it will go for beer, and some for meat, and so on; and he may divide his money in such a way as to buy just as much of everything as he may want, and no more. If we had none but copper money, we might, perhaps, do very well; but it would be troublesome to carry enough about with us to purchase things of great value.

So, as silver is worth more as a metal than copper, we have silver coins, and these are of different values

(fourpences, sixpences, shillings, florins, halfcrowns, and crowns), for the convenience of changing. Thus, if I want to buy sixpennyworth of bread, and have a shilling in my purse, I receive back sixpence. If I have a halfcrown in my purse, I receive back a florin, or two shillings, or four sixpences, or their equivalent value. And in smaller coins I should be very glad to be spared carrying twenty-four pence, or forty-eight halfpence. I should ask that my 'change' might be in silver coins. Then, again, with respect to gold: one sovereign is worth twenty shillings, and a halfsovereign represents ten shillings. So I can carry one sovereign instead of twenty shillings, and can get 'change' when I want it, in half-sovereigns, or in some of the silver coins.

"Our smallest copper coin in common use is the farthing, so called because the penny used to be coined with a deep-cut cross upon it, so that any one could, if he pleased, either break it in two, and then each half was a halfpenny, or into four, and then each part was a fourth-ing, or farthing."

CHAPTER V.

THE VALUE OF MONEY.

Harry. You said, sir, that money is made of copper (or bronze), silver, or gold, and that the value of the coins is known. Is the size of the coin settled by the value of the metal ?

Master. Yes. A sovereign is made of almost pure gold; and if you bought uncoined gold, you would have to give about a sovereign for a sovereign's weight of that metal.

John. Does the value of gold ever alter?

Master. It does, slightly. Gold has been discovered

in Australia and other places, and great quantities have been brought to England; still, for various reasons, this has not materially altered the value of the metal. William. Why has not the discovery of gold made much alteration in its value ?

Master. I cannot tell you all the reasons for the alteration not being greater than it is, but many people think that in time the discovery of gold in so many places will materially lessen its value. However, you can understand that it requires great labour to get it, and it cannot be brought from great distances for nothing, and this keeps up the value.

Richard. Then the value of a sovereign is always nearly the same?

Master. In one sense it is, and this is why gold is a very proper material to be used as money. There is another sense, though, in which the value of money alters very considerably. Farm-labourers' wages here are now 10s. a week; last year they were 9s. Is the labourer better or worse off now than he was a year ago?

Frederick. Flour is now sold at 10s. a bushel; last year it was 8s. 6d. Beer is dearer now than it was then, and so is meat. Tea and sugar are about the same price; candles are a penny a pound more. labourer was therefore much better off last year.

The

Master. And yet his wages were one shilling less; his wages must consequently be of less value to him now, because they will procure for him less of what he wants. A plentiful harvest makes bread cheap, and when bread is cheap, labourers can afford to work for less money; but then they must also find themselves in lodging, coals, meat, beer, and many other things. So that, before you can tell whether wages in any place are really good, you must know the price of the common necessaries of life in that district.

Harry. I have heard that a common labourer in