When Money was Scarce in 'Olden Days Playing Cards Took Its Place. Some Strange Coins and Tokens were once Used in Canada. Imagine paying for a new suit; thet, It is emphasised by the of clothes with the ace of spades soundness of the money market at or the king of clubs! Picture your- home, and the rapidity with which self nonchalantly handing your the country is absorbing its own na- wife the ten of diamonds, the ace tional, provincial and municipal of hearts and a few other assorted | loans. playing cards as her share of your | The uniform snd stable decimal wages, salary or Income for the eurremcy of the Canada of the pres- week! Yet something like that was/ done in the long ago when Canada !is a comparatively new thing. On was New France aad the Intenduat | Jeauery 1, 1853, by an act passed was a mighty personage. When [in 1857, all government accounts currency ran short decks of sards, | for the "province of Canada,' were the worse for wear, took its place ordered to be kept in dollars and on occasion. The cards were cents, Thus the intention of a stamped with their respective measure carried in 18563 and pro- values, and bore the Intendant's|vidiag for deciwal currency, with signature. It was not & very satis-|a doilar equivalent to the American factory plan, but it had- its place | dollar, was carried out, The British with beaver and other furs, tobacco sovereign, which has always held and wheat, all of which were med- | its own pretty well, was at the same fums of purchase and sale. Beaver |time made legal tender at $4.56 2-3 was for a long Hhme a standard of [as It is to-day when at par. It is exchange, particularly in the terri-|a singular thing hat the dollar in- tories which the hunters fre- troduced by Spaia to this continent, quented, extending to Hudson's) sheuld have held its place of honor, Bay. A medium sized beaver skin | while the glory of Spain as a colon- was the medium recognized by|izing and conquering power lives white man and Indian alike, ana only in the pages of history. this and other objects continued to Perhaps the first formal and offi- be the basis of barter in the in-|cial attempt to systematize the cur- land territories, now cur Prairie rency of Canada was made after the Provinces, long after more modern conquest by the British, when iue systems of currency were in vogue | Captain General and Governor in in older Canada. No doubt the [Chief was James Murray. In an wives of the days of playing cards order dated at Quebec, Sept. 14, and beaver skin currency often 1764, he cites the various kinds of asked that time-honored question coin in use and fixes their value, of their hubbies, "Is this all?" | The list of the coins is illuminative. In these days when the Canadian | It includes the Johannes of Portu- dollar is quoted on a parity with | gal, Moydore, Cardin of Germany, that of the United States in the lat-|the British guinea and shilling, ter's own money markets, it is not| Louis D'Or, Spanish or French easy to vision a day of makeshift|pistole, Seville, Mexican and Pillar currency. Nor is it easy to recon-|dollar, French crown, pistareen, cfle that remote period with these |French nine-penny pieces, and Brit- times of bank absorptions and |Iish coppers. mergers, with their capital and gen- eral business being measured by The "Holy Dollar" In General Murray's order the billions of dollars, and their indis- pensable place in the life of the na-| practise of cutting dollars and pass- ing the fragments as small change, tion. Canada has no minor position in the world of finance on the basis |is forbidden as liable to cause fraud of its population. The standing of | and deceit. But it existed in what its dollar in the New York market |is now Canada, long after that time, gt this rpoment is proof enough of land by authority too. Prince Ed- ent, with the dollar as the unit, ward Island in 1825 or thereabouts had the "holy dellar,"" as it wae known, and which became very popular. There was a shortage of sliver a: the time and an Order in Council was passed allowing one- sixth of its weight to be cut out of the centres cf the Spanish or Pillar j Jonar: the piece so cut to be pass- ed for one sailling and the rest for five shililugs. The Pillar dollar was then worth only six shillings on the island, though it passed in Boston, U.S, for six shillings and three- pence. While Upper and Lower Canada had divided in 1791, and each con- ducted its own internal affairs, there were matters on which it was wise to act in unison. Thus in 1796 they mutually agreed to give legal standing to the gold eagle and the silver dollar of the United States. There was much confusion and amazing variation in the cur- rency in all of Canada then inhabi- ted, as there had been since the conquest and as there continued to be for many years. The authority conferred upon financiers and mer- chanta to make coins or tokens hav- ing certain values, and to {issue paper notes, which passed as cur- rency also, added to the confusion. Some odd situations developed as a consequence. Montrea! was the home of a most unique nne in 1837, when a period of depression in the United States was reflected on this side of the border. Jn response to suggestions following conferences of the business men, the banks sus- pended specie payments, and paper currency had a great vogue. Cop- pers, says one recorder of the day, becams a great nuisance and ail coppers ne issued by the govern- Iment cr other governments, were | called in and great quantities were thrown into the St, Lawrence River. A dearth of small change was the natural sequence. To meet it a number of firms issued fractional notes varying in value from three- pence to two shillings and six-pence. These were regarded as a great con- venience and were eagerly accept- ed. Alas this led to forgeries and deceits that could not be tolerated and a law was passed making il- legal the general circulation of "promises to pay," except such as were issued by chartered banks. Bank and other tokens, which served as coins in their day, were common enough in this country to within quite recent times, and are still met with occasionally. Those issued by private concerns, as a rule, have more value for collectors. The token issued by the North- west Company. is said to be the "Is this all?" rarezt of Canadian coins. Its spon- sor was the Company which suc- ceeded the French Fur Company, and was for many years a rival of the Hudson's Bay Company in the fur trade, the latter company finally scoring a signal triumph, The Owen Ropery, token struck in Montreal, is another rare coin, while many issues of paper currency of various kinds have apparently passed clean out of existence. A number of them were of rather flimsy material, un- able to stand for long the ravages of use and time. The last of the bank tokens was made about 1857, and the first true coins for Canada, as it was then, were struck by the Royal Mint, London, in the next year. They were twenty, ten, five and one cent. pleces. All through these years British money had been legal tender in Canada, and there were some at- tempts to make it the only recog- nized currency. The growing fam- {liarity of Canadians with the dollar not only by influx from the South, but through the seaports of what are now the Maritime Provinces and British Columbia. nullified such efforts. The British sovereign, of course, remains legal tender in Canada at $4.86 2-3 par, but the one-time hope that it would be the basis of our currency system, is dead enough now. It is a somewhat strange feature of Canadian coin- age history that no gold coins were struck for this country up to the time of the establishment at Ot- tawa of the Canadian branch of the Royal Mint, in 1908. The first then made were sovereigns similar to the British sovereign, but with the let- ter "C," identifying them as having een struck in Canada. In 1912, the first ten and five dollar Cana- dian gold pieces were made at the Mint, but not in great quantity; Canadians preferring notes to gold, chiefly because they are more easily handled. In this connection it is interesting to recall that in 1863, British Columbia embarked upon a gold colnage of its own. The issue was confined to one twenty dollar plece and one ten dollar piece. Both subsequently found a resting place in the British Museum, and presumably are there vet. They \ were the outcome of the excitement over the gold discoveries in what was then a colony. Captain, after- wards General Gossitt, of the Royal Engineers, was treasurer of British Columbia at the time, and by his efforts a small mint was put up in New Westminster. After the two coins mentioned had been struck, it was found that there was no authority for minting coin outside of the Royal Mint, and that ended the idea of a separate coinage sys- tem for British Columbia. Canada's chartered banks had their birth in a Montreal institu- tion at the end of 1817. There have been many amalgamations, mergers and absorptions, as well as disap- pearances due to other causes, in the intervening vears. and the char- tered banks of to-day number just twelve. They have done more than any other agency to accustom the people to note currency in the place of coinage. Nor should the system of government notes be overlooked, with its issues from "'shin-plasters" with their value of twenty-five cents, to notes as high in value as $1,000. These are exclusive of certain notes for use between banks only and running in value as high as $50,000. A diYerent proposi- tion these to the military notes issued under authority of the Brit- ish Government during the War of 1812 and which were in common use, especially In Ontario in that period. Some are in existence as curios yet. TERR CANADIAN VIEWPOINT By WILSON MACDONALD. pe Love Poems. I wo bachelors, Arthur O'Shaugh- gy and Robert Burns, wrote some of the most remarkable love poems in our language. This fact, coupled the knowledge that Shelley posed his best love lyrics while go from mafrimonial convention- jlities, leads us to assume that bach- dom is more stimulating to the as far as this one branch of is coficerned than is the marriage state. The enthusiasts of : sonjugal felicity combat the idea ; "the poetry of Robert and Mrs, ning and a royal debate is on. Disappointment in love seems to stimulated more poetry of on than .the successful invasion a heart has ever done. Perhaps eauty «A Gleamy Mass of Hair BSc "Danderine" does Wonders for Any Girl's Hair the key to this seeming anomoly lies in that poem of Landor where- in he suggests that the loss of the loved one means the perpetuation forever of the ideal which, after marriage, is too often lost. Blake, pursued by an army of dis- appointments, wrote one of the most charming love lyrics that ever embraced the beauty of a thought. No other love poem has laid down so rigid a law in so artless a man- ner. The lovers of all generations to come would do well to accept as a creed: "Never seek to tell thy love; Love that never told cam be; For the gentle wind doth move Silently, invisibly. I told my love, I told my love; I told her all my heart. Tremblings cold, in ;ghastly fears Ah! ghe did depart. Soon after she was gone from me: A traveller came by; Silently, invisibly He took her with a sigh. The greatest of Coleridge's: love poems is "All For Love" and no one - would designate these verses as the offspring of a contented, do- mestic life. We are Inclined to think of Genevieve as one more akin to the phantom Lenore of Edgar Al- lan Poe than to the flesh-and-blood Mary Morrison. There is something of the magic of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" in this poem, but the maiden here apostrophised is the very antithesis of the one in the poem of Keats. She is to Cole- ridge "La Belle Dame avec Merci" and woman is again restored. The witchery of one poet's warning has been translated into the witchery of another poet's blessing. The first bard glngs: : : "And there she lulled me asleep, And there 1 dreamed--Ah! woe betide! The latest dream I ever dreamed On the cold hHll side." i And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two and twenty Are worth all your laurels, though { ever so plenty." { In the debate, which should read: | "Resolved that the bachelor-poets wrote finer love poems than the ; benedict-poets' we must give Shel- i ley a place among the first named | for scarcely any of his finest tri- butes to women were Inspired by the lady whom he married. The world is richer for the breaking of a marriage vow that would have stifled forever the immortal: "I arise from dreams of Thee In the first sweet sleep of night, When the winds are breathing low And the stars are shining bright: I arise from dreams of thee, ) And a spirit in my feet Hath led me--who knows how? To thy 'Bhamber window, sweet!" Wordsworth must also be consid- ered on the side of the pros in the argument for he married late In life and long after his beautiful tri- butes to the unkmown 'Lucy' ap- peared. The most voluminous of poets could be the most crythic on occasion and it is doubtful whether so great a passion was ever caught in a sheaf so slender as in the wistful: "She lived unknown, could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, "THé difference to me!" The poets of the sixteenth cen- tury and particularly Carew, Sir John Suckling and Waller were not always eulogistic of theif loves. These bards did not pine away and die when women were cold to thelr advances, but were fortified by a philosophy that the bards of suc- ceeding generations would have done well to emulate. There is no note of regret in Suckling's tribute to an obdurate maid: "Quit, quit, for shame! this will not move, This cannot take her; ' It of herself she will not love, and few Swollen Joints, Quickly Limbered Up Rob On Nerviline You would be surprised, at the wonderful action of "Nerviline"" in just such cases. Being thin and not an oil preparation, it is able to pene- trate quickly, and down it sinks into the tissues, carrying its healing, soothing action wherever it goes. For stopping muscular or nerye pain, for easing a stiff joint, Nerviline is a complete success. Pain, soreness, stiffness all vanish before the magic power 'of this wonderful" liniment, N rly fifty years of success proves the merit of Nerviline, which is sold everywhere in large 35 cents bottles. Nothing can make her; The Devil take her!" One of the most remarkable vir- tues of the literature of this cen- tury was its worship of the inner worth of men and women. Never be- "fore or since has character Inspir- ed more poems than did comeld- ness. It might be a valuable pilgrim- age did a generation, whose idols are vain and vapid beauties of the screen, take a literary journey oc- casionally into a period that de- lighted to honor the immortality of character. Perhaps Carew compos- ed the most delightful of these Tyrics: "He that loves a rosy cheek Or a coral lip admires, Or from star-ltke eyes doth seek Fuel to maintain his fires; As old time makes these decay, So his flames must waste away." --WILSON MacDONALD. (To be Continued) A lovely evening gown from Paris is of heavy white satin with a very wide girdle of gold tissue cloth that is tied with long, loose ends, Brown ottoman or ribbed silks in the heavier weaves makes very love- ly afternoon and even street gowns when combined with brown fur. MAY YOHE BROUGHT LOW. Her Husband in a Boston Hospital With Bullet Wound. Boston, Nov. 28.--Does the vaunt- ed curse of the Hope diamond still pursue May Yohe, once its proud owner, Her husband, Captain John Smuts, is in a Boston hospital with 2 bullet wound about which the po- lice have raised a question. He says THE GROOM SAID NO | AT HIS MARRIAGE Judge Satisfied She Was Mar= ried Under Threat and An= nulled the Contract. Montreal, Nov. 28. -- When she was but fifteen years of age, in 1905, Liliane Mathilda Viau married Adrien Charlebois, because 'accord- ing to the story she told Justice Bruneau yesterday he threatened to disfigure her face with vitriol if she refused. Declaring itself satisfied' that the charges were true, the court granted her request and an- nulled the marriage. The woman told His Lordship that at the age of fifteen she left home, and, while workless and friendless met Charlebois, who took her to his sister 'for protection." Shortly after this, he told her that if she would not marry him he would disfigure her for life, and, under this threat she went through a marriage ceremony with him. However, when the clergyman asked him "if he took this woman for lawful wife," Charlebois, while pretending to answer in the affir- mative, murmured "no" under his breath in so low a tone that only she heard him,' Two years later he left her, declaring that she was not really his wife because of the "no." If she dared divulge the circum- stances of their marriage he would return and "burn the house down," he told her. After hearing her story Mr. Jus- tice Bruneau expressed himself as assured that she had married under threats, and accordingly declared the mariage null and void. NOTHING TO EQUAL BABY'S © Mrs. C Lefebvre, St. Zenon, | Que., writes: "I do not think there is any other medicine to equal Baby's OWN TABLETS| The Carmen sash which is worx very low over the hips and tied di rectly in front is a novelty worthy of the attention of thin and medlum- sized women. Facts About Optometry R. Arthey, Optometrist 148 PRINCESS STREET NO. TWENTY-FOUR Should persons with astigmas tism wear their glasses constantly ? Yes, if the error demands cor rection, it should be kept corrects. © od, An error of vision cannot be CURED ? x No, it is merely corrected and ft is corrected ONLY when the glasses are worn. Yes, and removed the last thing night. (To be continued)