Butch Has a Penny for Your Thoughts

Last week I pulled into a fast food restaurant drive-through, and while paying at the window, the cashier dropped my change…a dollar bill and some odd cents. No one was behind me, so I pulled up and got out to retrieve it. On the ground, in addition to my change, were approximately twenty to twenty-five coins…mostly pennies, but also quarters, dimes, and nickels…which had evidently met the same fate. All in all there was almost two dollars, which I handed to the young cashier, “Here’s your tip for today!” However, I kept one penny.

   You see, I have lifelong habit of picking up pennies off the ground. “See a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck.” I don’t care if people see me do this or not. Now I realize that picking up a penny does not guarantee good luck, but it can’t hurt…can it? The younger generation will not bother to pick up a penny, but you older folks know that “a penny saved is a penny earned.” There isn’t much of anything you can buy with a penny, but hey…they do add up. Someone mentioned to me that one day the government will likely stop making pennies, and I suppose they will become collector coins similar to the Indian head pennies.

   In the good old days, a person could buy quite a few things with a penny….penny photos, penny postcards, and penny candy, just to name a few. There were penny arcades for entertainment, similar to the video games we have today. I would bet that many of you played “penny-ante poker” at one time or another. When I was in grade school, we played a game in which we flipped pennies into a circle drawn on concrete, with the closest penny to the bullseye winning the pot. One time a friend and I placed two pennies on the railroad tracks that ran next to the Darlington Farmers Feed and Grain elevator, waiting for an oncoming train to smash them. Old-timers told us that these now curved pennies would bring good luck. I can also remember that at one time downtown Crawfordsville had parking meters that took pennies.

   When I was ten years old, I started collecting Lincoln pennies when I received a coin book for Christmas. I went through Dad’s change each week to see if I could find all of the years and mint marks. It was always interesting to find those steel pennies that were made during WWII. I never did find all of those dates, and gave up after two years. When I was a high school student in the 1960s, many of us teenagers wore brown leather “penny loafers,” and placing a penny in those was supposed to bring good luck. I have also heard of people placing several pennies in a sock and then freezing it to use later as a cold pack for injuries. Others have made artwork or jewelry with pennies. And occasionally I have used a penny to turn a screw when I couldn’t locate a screwdriver.

   Well, I guess all things come to an end eventually. The nickel may become the smallest type of currency in the future. I will need to think of a saying to recite when picking up a stray nickel off the ground. “Don’t get in a pickle, pick up that nickel.” I don’t think that sounds as cool…In fact, “It’s not worth a red cent!” Perhaps one of you can “put in your two cents worth” and think of a better one. And if you ever see me picking up a penny from the ground, I am not crazy. Old habits never die. I buy a lottery ticket every week. I need some good luck….and if I ever win, you’ll begin picking up pennies, too.

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 36 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.