I do not know how long I may have lain in the womb of the earth; nor am I acquainted with any particulars regarding the men who dug me out further than that they were workers of some kind or another. Neither have I any knowledge as to what part of the world I come from as a piece of silver, nor about what class of workmen carried me to England.
But well do I remember the day when the people of this country, the British nation, gave me my start in life.
When a small shapeless mass I was taken hold of by one of the citizens, and then by another and by several others after them.
This was in what is called the citizens’ mint.
I was squeezed until I almost cried, carried on endless belts, dropped, lifted, and put into one machine after another and finally placed before a very nice citizen who took me up and looked into my face.
“What have you been doing to me?” I asked.
The citizen smiled, and, answering, said unto me, “We have been putting you into a form by which you shall be recognised as a coin belonging to the citizens of Great Britain and Ireland. This is their mint you know.
“Turn yourself over and you shall see that we have given you an impression.”
“So you have!” cried I, “You have made me beautiful. Am I the Queen?”
“Oh, no,” he answered, “You are only a shilling, you are only the least little bit of the Queen.
“The Queen, you know, is the citizens’ figure-head, the citizens have made her their figure-head. This is the citizens’ symbol of motherhood, to remind us that we are all brothers and sisters, living as one big family in one big house called the United Kingdom.
“And you, my dear shilling, have been impressed with her likeness in order that you shall perform the duty of reminding us of our brotherhood and sisterhood.
“That is the purpose for which you were made.
“Every time you are looked at by a citizen a quiver of brotherly or sisterly love shall be felt in the bosom of that citizen.”
I was about to thank this pleasant citizen for informing me that I was one of the citizens’ emblems of love when suddenly I heard a great jingling noise and at the same instant found myself found myself being thrown head foremost into a linen bag along with a great many other shillings.
As I lay, almost smothered, near the bottom of the bag, I thought that the pleasant citizen must either have been mistaken or else some great calamity had occurred.
With an endeavour to attract attention I called out, as did all the other shillings in the bag, “We are little bits of your Queen, symbols of motherhood and love.”
While shouting and trying to get into more comfortable positions, we were carried away to a place called a bank.
Here we were released by a very nice citizen known as Teller.
He untied the bag and, with less ceremony I must confess than might have been expected from such a nice man, tumbled us head over heels into a drawer beside some other shillings which, from a sanitary point of view, were in a very shocking condition.
But I shall let that pass. In this drawer I lay praying for the time when I was to be sent on my mission of love.
Suddenly a hand seized me, along with some other shillings, and, in less time than it takes to tell, I was dropped into the trousers pocket of a citizen who happened to call to tell the teller it was a fine day.
Off this citizen went, along one street, up another and into another, stopping at a shop, which he entered.
He stood at the counter for some time, and every now and again put a hand into the pocket where I lay, and turned me over in a manner which made me feel that he was about to take me out so as to remind himself, by looking at my face, that he was a member of the Big Citizen Household.
At last he did take me out; but instead of using me as a reminder he tossed me into the air, caught me while falling to the ground and then placed me very gently on the counter.
If you please,” cried I, “Will you tell me why I am used in this irreverent manner?”
Both the citizen who had brought me to this shop and the lady behind the counter laughed very heartily at my question.
“Why,” answered the lady—a very nice lady she was. “The gentleman wants a book.”
“Well,” asked I, “Can you not give him a book?”
She smiled most beautifully, looked carefully and long into my face and then, with a loud laugh, raked me into a drawer.
I had been warm through having lain so long in the gentleman’s pocket now I was beginning to feel cold and feverish turn about, as if some of the influenza germs had alighted upon me. Indeed I am almost certain that a few millions of the little pests were playing hide and seek all over me, for I felt a creeping sensation. In this state I fell sound asleep in the drawer and dreamt that two citizens, a lady and gentleman, were fondly looking at me and discussing the propriety of converting me into a button or a brooch. It was a delightful dream, for as a button or a brooch I knew that the object of my existence would be realised.
But while the lady and gentleman were still considering the matter another citizen joined in the conversation and from his remarks I learned that I and all the other shillings, far from being emblems of brotherhood and sisterhood were looked upon, and actually used, as mere counters in a cruel game of chance which necessitated the sacrifice of all true happiness among the citizens.
I awoke with a start just at this moment, and found myself in the hand of the lovely lady behind the counter.
“Please make me into a button,” I said. “Do not laugh, for I am in earnest. Why, my dear lady, you have no need to use me for such a vile purpose as that of counter. When your little brother at home asks for a biscuit you do not demand a counter from him.
“It is therefore very wrong of you to take a counter from a citizen when he asks you to supply him with a book.
“For, is not this shop but a small room situated here for the Big Household of which you are a member?
“Being a token of love, it is my duty to speak plain.
“What difference will it make to your big family of citizens whether the book a citizen requires should lie in this shop or be taken to his place of abode? The book will be no less a book no matter where it lies in our big house.
“Nor will I be any less a shilling if you cease to use me other than as a button.
“And the citizens of whom you are one shall be no poorer.
“No, my dear lady, they shall be all the richer by your giving a book to any brother or sister who may be richer by the amount of pleasure and knowledge supplied by the book.
“And they shall be richer in their lives if I be used as a button.
“Sweet lady, I have just learned that thousands of your dear brothers and sisters have no counters, and that, merely because of this, they cannot obtain the books that are lying idle and useless in this little shop; that thousands upon thousands, merely because they have no shillings, cannot get the use of the houses built by their brothers and themselves, nor the furniture and furnishings lying idle in other shops, and which were also made by themselves; that thousands of your brothers and sisters forming your big household, merely because they have no counters, are without the necessaries of life that the mere want of counters prevents them from building proper houses for themselves, making proper furniture for themselves, and scratching the earth to obtain proper food for themselves.
“My lovely lady,” I continued, taking advantage of her sweet disposition to listen, “Adam and Eve did not use counters, nor did Robinson Crusoe on his desert island. The absence of counters did not prevent the fruits and flowers from growing in the lovely garden of Eden, not the goats from giving milk on Crusoe’s island.
“Bees do not use counters. Indeed, sweet lady, if bees were to adopt counters the worker bees would soon become half-starved, sickly, insects; for the drones who do no work would soon get hold of the shillings and live upon the honey produced by the slavish workers.
“You may not have thought of it, but it is a fact that the healthiest monkeys enjoy all the necessaries and pleasures of life without the aid of counters.
“But that they enjoy life in their glorious forests and gardens is a truth which you, possibly, cannot understand, for you have only seen them living artificially in cages. I think you are no more capable of understanding the true reason for its imprisonment. For you, yourself, in the life you live in this shop, are even further away from your natural element than are the caged monkeys.
“You are a caged prisoner, trained from your infancy, like a showman’s dog, to be obedient to others, and that irrespective of your longings to get away to the fields, the woods, the glens, the sea shore; there to meet your lover or engage in the work you were made to perform—work which no other could imitate, any more than one perfume or one flower is like another; irrespective of your longings to live with nature, where there are no counters.
“Sweet maiden, do not let superstition cause you to shudder when I tell you that you are living in the only hell. It is a cruel word, hell, to be used in presence of a caged citizen like you, for you have been trained to listen to it with horror, just as an ass, or a dog, will tremble for the lash when they hear their masters utter words that are always accompanied by a stroke of the whip. Get accustomed to the word and you shall fear it no longer. Hell means nothing but the state in which you live, and the use of shillings for counters has made it and maintains it.
“Heaven. What is Heaven? Where is Heaven?
“It is hell without counters. It is here, in this United Kingdom, which shall become a glorious garden filled with the music of love whenever all the shillings like myself are turned into buttons and brooches, and used for no other purpose than that of reminding angels like yourself who and what you are.”
When I had finished speaking she smiled upon me and gently dropped me into one of the most delightful, sweet-smelling purses I have ever sampled.
ADVERTISEMENT
Any lady or gentleman can be supplied with a shilling like this one, along with a certificate from D. B., for the small sum of 2s. 6d., by applying to the editor, who will use the balance in the interests of the citizens.