Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1837-04-07

hibit q heraldry to which they are not Ell.
titled. We gazed at several of similar
growlh--,he riches which sprung up over
night like Jonah's gourd some by specu
lation, others success some by fortunate
marriages, and some more credtably by
mechanical labor and ingenuity. why
am not rich man?' said thy friend. Il
must purchase somewhere 10 the west--or
in the moon-n0 matter where | must
plunge in the current Of speculation, and
swim on to fortune and cminence. ! must
be rich; every body tries to be rich-why
should not | be rch' am liberal in my
disposition, hospitable and free. I should
like 10 have such coach and pair Of horses
"a house of corresponding magnlficence.
should like to throw it open several times
yearly. for the gay aud fashionable throng;
should like you to dine twice n week
with me, and punish q few bot, les of old,
very old Madeira. Why am not rich?
deserve to be- rich said he, musing and al
intervals dropping his voice, as he slowly
withdrew his eyes from the long cavalcade
of coaches and ph9tons, and whiskered
footman.
Hundreds, no doubt, thought as he did |;
hundreds expressed the same feelings, and
felt the same desires, and all under the de-
fusion that money is wealth; that sheer
paIpable gold and silver constitute riches ;
and it is under this delusion that thousands
Of our citizens are racking their brains BY
night, theirllhoughts by day, toiling and
sweating, AID managing, and twisting and
turning out of the common, settled aud
regular order Of things, to get gold and sill
yer, under the impression that with their
possession they will be rich. Statesmen,
politicians, nay the government itself is in
ocu|ated with the same mania, and if all
could succeed we should be compelled to
bIacken our own boots, and wait upon our
! selves at table.-The delusion, however
consists in this in considering a piece Of
gold the only representative of wealth, and
dlsregarding what we in ourselves possess,
which is equivalent to wealth. We are
for the most part rich, without exactly
knowing it. The anvil Of the blacksmith
is to him, with his handicraft, a valuable
mighty lump of gold; he lives by it, and to
his mind, habits, and wishes, as we'll as he
liyes who pays out his eagles and half ca
giles in the market. So with the painter
so with the professional man, the sou ptor,
the musician, the man of talents; all who
possess the means Of acquiring wealth are
actually wealthy; for if temperate and in
dustrious, all their faculties are convertible
materials into wealth; nay. are more valu-
able, and durable, and available than the
mere man Of gold and silver. Let such
man swim to the shore from his shipwreck.
ed vessel, with the mechanic and the man
Of mind, and see VINO can succeed in earn.
lug that morsel of bread necessary to sns
tain life. What does the man of princeiy
income do, which gives to him so many
supposed advantages, and opens to much
mooted happiness, He rises late; turns
day into night: dawdlcs his time away
in trihlng finding employmens, drives his
horses and dogs, gives grand dinners for
| ostentation. and large parties for fashion;
and is at best q poor, disconlen,ed. dys-
peptic patrician, respected only for his
gold and silver, and TO no possible use to
the community.
Take the man of moderate means, and
he employs life as life ought to be employed
n mixture OF employment and recreation,
or rat ional pleasure and discreet hospitality
90 down to what is called the poorer classes
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 wes,.
He returns to his little family and tenement
at night, and finds an ample board spread
by frugal wife; the smoking steak, the
The good cup of coffee, the white bread and
butter, and an appetite sharpened by labor
His repast over, he takes his chubby boy
upon his knee, pinches his dirty, rosy
cheeks, and runs his fingers through his
matted hair 1; talks with his W ife on house
hold affairs, reads the paper, or converses
with his neighbor on the best'means Of saw.
ing the commonwealth and when the
hour OF rest arrives after committing him
to the protection Of his Maker, he
stretches himself on his ha,d but healthy
bed, and soon his senses are stepped in
to forgelfulness, and his sleep is sweet and
sound until the shrill clarion of the cock
awakens him on the morrow to renewed
labor. But he has no coach. He has not
He has only 10 60 into the street and hold
up his finger, and splendid omnibus and
four elegant horses drives up to the side.
walk. and he jumps in it is his coach
while he occupies it, and to leave it when
and where he pleases. Can The man Of
gold and silver do more, 1t is an error
a misconccption, deuson. We are al
rich when we possess within ourselves
The means of acquiring wealth. We have
no poor, excepting the idler and The
drunkard.
A Running Gypsy-A very singular
character is existing at present in the
n, ghbor hood Of Letherhead in the person