投资 · 创业者自述

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯:节俭·摘录 266

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《节俭》· Thrift · 投资

It was not until the Rev. Henry Duncan, the minister of Ruthwell, a poor parish in Dumfriesshire, took up the subject, that the savings-bank system may be said to have become fairly inaugurated. The inhabitants of that parish were mostly poor cottagers, whose average wages did not amount to more than eight shillings a week. There were no manufactures in the district, nor any means of subsistence for the population, except what was derived from the land under cultivation; and the landowners were for the most part non-resident. It seemed a very unlikely place in which to establish a bank for savings, where the poor people were already obliged to strain every nerve to earn a bare living, to provide the means of educating their children (for, however small his income, the Scottish peasant almost invariably contrives to save something wherewith to send his children to school), and to pay their little contributions to the friendly society of the parish. Nevertheless, the minister resolved, as a help to his spiritual instructions, to try the experiment.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14418
定位:Excerpt 266 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

储蓄银行真正成形,要归功于邓肯牧师。他在苏格兰一个穷教区任职,居民多是佃农,周薪平均不到八先令,没有工业,土地收益微薄,地主又多半不住当地。在这样穷的地方办储蓄银行,看似不可能,因为人们连糊口、供孩子上学、交互助会会费都吃力。但邓肯牧师还是决定试一试,把它当作辅助精神教导的手段。这说明:推动一项好制度,不必等条件完美;在最需要的地方先做小规模试验,反而能证明其价值。

上下文

斯迈尔斯《节俭》中讲述亨利·邓肯牧师在苏格兰鲁斯韦尔教区创办储蓄银行的背景。

今日一问

你是否因为觉得条件不成熟,而迟迟没有开始一件该做的事?

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