Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1845-09-27
VOL. III.


thropy is that which yields ten per
cent.-the best knowledge, how to get
Money-the best book, the Ledger
the best friend, Wealth.
Yet prosperity smiles over the land;
business thrives; the white-winged yes
sells cover the ocean the sunbeams
fall the raindrops refresh the earth !;
the harvest bends beneath the sickle !;
the fruitful soil teens with plenty. To
be rich is the universal aspiration. 1t
is the dream by night, and the Impulse
by day-the prayer in the closet, the
aim Of life. But it is false and un-
worthy ambition, pointing to that which
is neither the highest good or nobiest
pursuit, and detracts much from the
otherwise brilliant and splendid char
acter Of the Age.
There is something truer and more
divine than the heap of gold dust, more
beautiful than the sparkling of gems,
more lasting than houses and lands
But in an Utilitarian Age, when the
greedy cry of Avarice is loudest, Genius
must hide herself in the garrett, while
Wealth faunts in the parlor Mind
must go clothed in sackcloth and rags,
while the Purse queens it in state.
The universal pursuit for money is a
death blow to the customs of the past.
The good old fashioned habits of our
fathers are abolished. The farm house
and the old homestead are deserted
TiIling the earth is neither money
making nor genteel. The teeming
granary, the velvet grass, the tasseled
corn, the fragrant orchard, the quiet
fireside, the true life of independence,
arc exchanged for the workshop and
the counter. The plough is left for
the cobbler's hammer the free and
healthy breezes of heaven for the dense
and suflocating atmosphere of the mill.
The young men flee to the cities TO be-
come knights of the yard-stick, like
| gaudy butterflies, to float and caper,
and run at the beck and nod of the
shopping bellies. They grow up, weak,
puny, and mindless, dunned by their
tailors, beset by thousand little debts
that annoy their ephemeral life, ever in
dread of payday at the bank, or with
the iobber, and ninety out of a hundred
fail, cheating the tailor, the butcher
the baker, and the washer-woman, out
Of their little earnings.
Most any device will be followed
after rather than hard work. Men
vii! 90 round with a monkey and {
hand organ, making the arch Of heaven
hidcous with discord, and pass round
the hat to levy contributions for theil
melody or exhibit the three-leggec
calf, the two-headed goose, the great
anaconda, or the wonderful baboon.-
i. The Fejee mermaid, manufactured
from the chest of the monkey and tht
tail of Goldfish, proves profitable ex
/, pedicnt TO puzzle the learned, gull thu
people, and ell the purse.
Pack on his back, like the drome
Diary, the Biped roams fom house tC
house, to sell pins and tape, spool thread
!, thread and needles through the coun
try, or versed in few tricks Of legcr'
demain, with the aid of screechine
;, fiddle and a magic lantern, nightly as
tonishes the town with feats of cunning
, harmonious catgut and beautiful pic.
|, lures. If he can balance straw or
his nose, or dance on the slack rope
or twist his limbs out OF shape, he i:
better paid than the minister of the
! Gospel or the impartial dispenser Of
Justice. If the Almighty made him
too small to be a man, instead of per-
ishing in insigni6cance, it is as good as
a fortune in his pocket; he is one Of
the lucky ones, that are born with
golden spoons in their mouths, made
great by their very littleness.
A man born without hands cuts him.
self out a fortune with his feet, and has
reason to thank God for being shorn
of his members. White men black
washed play the African builoon and
sing the Ethiopian songs.
i More mysterious than all, score oil
Migrants perambulate the country, prac-
/ Using receptions on the people by Hum
4 bug Lectures. from Mncmonics to Ami
NAL Magnetism. Mystifed crowds,
who take an "ipse dixit'' for law and
gospel, with open mouths pass through