1889, Horatio Alger, Driven From Home, ch. 10:A dollar and a quarter seems a small sum, but if you are absolutely penniless it might as well be a thousand.
1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 17, This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.
