"
"How?"
"Certainly, M. l'Abbe, Jacques has not forgotten this; it is a kind of
appendage to his Bank for the Poor."
"Can it be true?" cried the priest, clasping his hands with admiration.
"Continue, Jacques," said Polidori.
The notary proceeded to read with a rapid voice, for the whole scene was
odious and hateful to him.
"These loans have for their object the remedy for one of the gravest
incidents in the life of a laborer--intermission of work. They shall
therefore be granted only to those out of employment. But it remains to
provide for the other cruel embarrassments which reach even those with
employment. Often, the loss of one or two days, caused sometimes by
fatigue, by the attention necessary to bestow on a wife or sick child,
deprives the workman of his daily resources. Then he has recourse to the
pawnbroker's, or to unlawful lenders of money, at an enormous rate of
interest. Wishing, as much as possible, to lighten the burden of his
brothers, the founder of the Bank of the Poor sets apart an income of
twenty-five thousand francs a year, for the purpose of lending on pledges,
not to exceed the amount of ten francs for each loan. The borrowers will
pay neither cost nor interest, but they must prove that they follow an
honorable profession, and produce a declaration from their employers which
will prove their morality. At the end of two years, the articles which have
not been redeemed will be sold, without costs; the proceeds arising from
the surplus of this sale shall be placed, at five per cent.
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