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you want any shoes?" he did not get so favourable an answer as in the former case. No, John was well provided with shoes, he should like a waistcoat, or some beer or bread. Frederick now began to think he had made a mistake in carrying the bread home. Well, he could go for it again. So he asked John how many loaves he should require for the leg of mutton that was hanging up in his shop. After a little thought, John said six. Frederick was puzzled, for this was one more loaf than he had got. So he agreed with John, to take some chops for four loaves, and after a second journey to fetch them, he reached home with bread and meat provided for his dinner. He must now start again to procure himself beer; so he came to Richard's shop with his shoes to see if he could exchange any for beer, but he was again disappointed Richard wanted meat or bread, but Frederick had only enough of these for himself. The only article of clothing which Richard cared to have was a coat. So Frederick had nothing for it, but to hasten to William's shop, and see if he could obtain a coat for his shoes, but William thought it would be a very bad bargain to give a coat for one pair of shoes; and as to taking a whole bundle of shoes, that would be to make his a shoemaker's shop, and not a tailor's. While Frederick was considering what next to do, Harry the baker thought it was time to provide meat for his dinner. "I shall have no difficulty," he said to himself; "John is sure to want bread, and I have only to take enough to buy myself a nice joint." By-the-by, thought he, I may as well make one journey of it, and get my beer at the same time; so he put a board on his head with eight good-sized

loaves upon it, and set off, to John's shop. He was much surprised, and not a little mortified, to find John abundantly supplied with bread, and only wanting beer to make up his dinner. "Well,” said Harry, "I must get a double supply of beer, and come back again to John." But when he came to Richard's, he found that Richard had set out on his travels.

Richard, who had not thought about any difficulty in providing himself with bread and meat, was gone off to William the tailor's to procure his coat. He had taken with him a nine-gallon cask of beer, which was quite as much as he could carry in a wheelbarrow; and arrived at William's rather tired. William had coats enough, but he could not agree to exchange one for the barrel of beer, that would be a very bad bargain; and if Richard would have consented to wheel up beer enough to make the exchange equal, William had no more fancy for filling his house with beer, than with shoes; indeed, the beer would be spoilt long before it was possible that he could drink it. So the proposal about the coat fell to the ground; however, Richard did not relish the idea of wheeling his heavy barrel back again. So he asked William what he would exchange for the beer? William thought even this quantity of beer too much, but he must have beer; and then Frederick would take some of it in return 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.

LESSON 22.

THE USE OF MONEY.-PART II.

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 leaving 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 well enough 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 put on his new waistcoat, 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 Richard abundantly supplied with bread. Harry was quite at a loss what to do. He had nothing 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 it should. have been ready for the table. Poor Harry, as a last resource, had to trudge to William's and 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 William, 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 there have been! and scarcely any of you could get exactly the quantity he wanted of any one thing, and how you would manage to go on in 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 wanted 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 very difficult to determine the exact value of any one 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. There must, therefore, be found something, 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 one piece of money should stand for. In some parts of the world there are rude nations, who use cowrie shells for money, but this would only do among themselves. An Englishman 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 to be best to have money made of precious metals, which are worth nearly the same in different countries.

"The king of each country has coins made of copper, silver, or gold, and each coin is stamped, so that we 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

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