fer_ it when you borrow; and in all cases, where you
have frequent dealings of this kind with any person, you can agree upon
this plan beforehand, as a general rule.

But let us return to Rollo and the watch chain.

"Well," said Mr. George, after some hesitation, "I am by no means sure
that it would not be a good plan for you to buy the watch chain. A gold
chain is an article of permanent and intrinsic value. It will last a
very long time. Perhaps you would get as much enjoyment from it as from
any thing you could buy with that money. At any rate, the money is your
own; you have saved it from your travelling expenses by your prudence
and economy; and it is right for you to expend it as you take a fancy.
If you take a fancy to the chain, I do not know why it would not be a
good purchase."

"I think I should like the chain very much," said Rollo.

"Let us see," said Mr. George, in a musing sort of tone; "there is
another way to look at these questions. What is the interest of eight
dollars and a half?"

"I don't know," said Rollo. "How much is it?"

"Let me see," said Mr. George; "seven times six are forty-two--say
fifty; and then we must add something for wear, and tear, and
depreciation. I should think," he added, after a moment's reflection,
"that the chain would cost you about sixty cents a year, as long as you
keep it."

"How so?" said Rollo.

"Why, the money that you will pay for it will produce about fifty cents
a year, if you keep it at interest; and of course, if you buy a chain
with the money, you stop all that income."

"Yes," said Rollo, "I understand that for the fifty cents: and now for
the other ten. You said sixty cents."

"Why, the chain will be gradually wearing out all the time, while you
use it," said Mr. George, "and I estimated that it would lose about ten
cents a year. That makes up the sixty."

"Yes," said Rollo, "I suppose it would."

"You see," continued Mr. George, "that the little links and rings, where
the chief wear comes, will gradually become thinner and thinner, and at
last the time would come when you could not use it for a chain any
longer. You would then have to sell it for old gold; and for that
purpose it would not be worth, probably, more than half what you now
give for it.

"So you see," continued Mr. George, "you would lose the interest on the
money you pay for the chain every year; and besides that, you would lose
a portion of the chain itself. When you have money