Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-11-03

HoaoC Vi mdpniilcence
should like to throw it open severa,
times yearly, for the gay and fashiona
bic throng-l should like you to dine
twice a week with me, and runish a few
bottles Q fold, very old, Madeira. Why
am not rich? | deserve to be rich;
must be rich;" said he, musing, and a
intervals dropping his voice, as he slow.
ly withdrew his eyes from the long cav.
alcnde of coaches and phatons anc
whiskered footmen.
Hundreds, no doubt, thought as he
did ; hundreds expressed the same feel.
ings and felt the same desires, and all
under the delusion that money is wealth
that sheer, palpable gold and silver
constitute riches, and It is under this de.
fusion that thousands OF our citizens
are racking their brains by night, their
thoughts by day, toiling and sweating,
and managing, and twisting and turn
ing, out ofthe common settled and reg.
ular order ofthings, to get gold and sill
yer, under the impression that with
their possession they will be rich.
Statesmen, politicians, nay the govern
ment itself, is ~inoculated with the same
mania, ard fall could succeed, we shall
be compelled to blacken our boots and
wait upon ourselves at table. The de.
fusion, however, consists simply in this
in considering a piece ofgold the on.
y representative of wealth, and disre-
garding what we in ourselves possess,
which is an equivalent to wealth. We
are for the most part rich without ex-
actly knowing it. The anvil of the
blacksmith is 10 him, with his handi-
craft a valuable weighty lump of gold
he lives by it, and to his mind, ba-
bits and wishes, as well as he who lives
to pay out his eagles and his half ca.
giles in the market. SO with the pain
ter-so with the professional man, the
sculptor, the musician, the man of tall
emit, all who possess the means ofacqui.
ring wealth are actually wealthy; for,
if temperate and Industrious, all their
faculties are convertible materials into
wealth-nay, are more valuable and
| durable and available, than the mere
man of gold and silver. Let such q man
SWIM to the shore from his shipwrecked
vessel, with the mechanic and mar of
| mind and see who q succeed in ear
ming that morsel of bread necessary TO
| sustain life.
What does the man Of princely in.
come do, which gives to him so many
supposed advantages, and opens the
door to so much mooted happiness? He
rises late-turns day mo n~ight-daw-
dies his time away in trifling, and pid-
ling employments-drivees his horss &
dogs-gives grand dinners for ostenta-
ton, and large parties for fashion, and
is at best a poor, discontinued, dyspep-
tic patrician, respected only for his gold
and silver, one Of no possible use to the
community. Take the mar of moderate
means, and he employs life as life ought
to be employed-a mixture of employ
ment aud recreation, Of rational pleas
ure and discreet hospitality /: go down
to what is called the poorer classes,
| but which we call the substantially
rich-the hardy mechanic, and see
how he enjoys life. Rising with the
| sun, his labor does not cease until the
sun sinks into the west. He return to
his little family and snug tenement at
night, and finds an ample board spread
by a frugal wife the smoking steak,
the good cup of coffee, the white bread
and butter, and an appetite s~harpened
| by labor. His iepast over, he takes
| his chubby boy IN his knee, pinches
his dirty, rosy cheeks, and runs his fin
gers through his matted hair-talks
| with his wife on household affairs,
| reads the paper, converses with his
| neighbor on the best meaEs of saving
the Commonwealth and when the hour
| of rest arrives, he stretches himself on a
hard but healthy bed, and soon his SEN
SEES are STEPPED in f~orgetlulness, and
| his slumbers are sweet and sound until
| the shrill clarion Of the cock awakens
| him on tho morrow to renewed labor.
But then he has no coach. Has he
not? He has only to 60 into the street
and hold up his finger, and a splendid
omnibus and four elegant horses drives
up to the sidewalk and he jumps IN
it is his coach while he occupies 1t,
and he leaves it when and where he
pleases. Can the man of gold and sill
YER do more? 1t is all an error, a mis-
conception, a delusion. We have no
poor, excepting the idler and the drum.
kard.