HOUSE AND GARDEN, June, 1939 The Bulletin Board
Thrift.
There’s the admirable habit of thrift. We symbolize it on this page by amusing
banks, from the collection of the First National Bank of Boston, with which New
England children were taught to save their pennies, with the solemn assurance
that if they looked after the pence, the pounds would take care of themselves.
With such banks saving was made a game. Yankee ingenuity glorified a habit that
might seem penny-pinching into an amusing bit of play. Moreover these banks were
so ingeniously constructed that you couldn’t take the money out, once it was
inside, except by force. Thereby was laid the foundation of that belief, held by
strict New Englanders, that once you deposited money in savings banks, it was
immoral to withdraw it!
As mentioned in the accompanying notes, these amusing old coin banks are symbols of two worthy New England traits: Yankee thrift and ingenuity. We selected these from the interesting collection assembled by the First National bank of Boston.
