Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-01-14
III oral Teatbtn9s.
R &c II NJ E N .

And the resplendent heavens his to enjoy
With propriety that none feel,
But who, with fial confidence inspired,
Can lift to heaven unpropious eye,
And smiling say, "MY FATHER made them all!'
Are they not his, by peculiar right,
And by emphasis of interest his,
Whose eyes they fill with ofholy JOY
Whose heart with praise and whose exalted mind
With worthy thoughts of that unweared love
That planned, and built, and still uphods a world
So clothed in beauty. CowpaR
There is somewhere in the interior of Africa,
we are told by travellers, negro king of small
tribe, who, every day after eating his filthy din
ner, causes his herads to make proclamation that
all the other kings Of the earth may now eat
theirs; piece of condescension duly appreciated,
of course, by all crowned heads President Polk
we presume, comes within the scope of the Con-
COS gracious permission.
There is something unspeakably Iudicrous to
our mind in such an incident. His majesty
huge, greasy negro, after tearing his Ioathsome
provender with his fingers, and gorgng it like
shark or boa constructor, wipes his lips on the
back of his hands, and then, with all gravity and
regal pomp, gives leave to all the other kings to
commence their dinners, if they have any. The
immenseness of the selfimportance and selEcom-
placency is not so alarming as it is funny.
And yet, when one comes to think of it, we
find ourselves not much behind Guinea in in
stances of large and ludicrous pretension, the
manner of showing it only being different and
the grotesque extravaganza being worn off by
use and familiarity. For example, regard thought
fully the antics and airs of many man, who, in
common parlance, has become rich, and see if
there is much difference between the inflated
fool of Congo and the bag of dollars, with man
to it, Of Broadway or Wall street. Mr.. Careful
has acquired one hundred thousand dollars. 1t
is bad grammar to say he is worth one hundred
thousand. His money is worth that sum, while
he may be perfectly worthless fellow Now,
how does Mr.. Careful behave himself, having ac-
CURED the said dollars! Does he say outright
with Congo, that other people may dine when he
is done? Not that exactly, for he would be laugh
ed at. But there are thousand other ways of
expressing his belief that he is better than other
people, and this is all that Congo means by his
ridiculous proclamation. If Mr. Careful mag
ines that because he is made steward and keeper
ola bag Of dollars, he has right 10 kick and
cuff other people, or treat them unhandsomely,
or practically claims the recognition of their in
feriority and his own immense Importance, the
spirit Of his conduct is exactly that Of his black
majesty, who must eat his dinner before any one
else in the universe can lawfully take a mouth
ful.-Alasi that such folly should be one of tie
most common exhibitions in civilized and Christ
ian society. 1t seems to be almost universally
agreed that the possession of wealth lifts man
many degrees in the social state, and entities him
to consideration and influence which mere
moral excellence can scarcely hope to reach
the arlstocracy of wealth holds its head higher,
and demands profounder homage than the aris-
tocracy of gentle blood and noble birth and lin
cage; or than that Of learning or rank. Now
all this folly results from wrong views OF what
constitutes real wealth. What is properly called
riches is not wealth, and is not, when possessed,
rational ground of pride and selEcomplacency
but rather OF anxiety and careful solicuude.
The radical idea in the popular notion of
riches is exclusive possessions; right which shuts
out every other right, in certain things conyen-
tonaly called riches To be rich is to have ex-
elusive control of these things, whatever they
may be, that constitute the material or the rep
rtsentation of weaIth.-What they are is uncer-
tain and variable At one time, in one state of
society, the skins of animals, at another certain
Shells at another, gems or iron, copper, brass,
gold, silver, crude or coined, &c. How much
of any of these things must be exclusively poss-
essed to constitute a rich man, has never been
determined No one has ever been able to tell
where the dividing line is between poverty and
Iriches-Some would think man rich that own
ed twenty thousand dollars. Others would not
think him rich with twice that sum. 1t seems
to be matter of comparison rather than any fix
ed quantity, and man is rich in proportion as
he holds more than his Neutrality-suspicious.
When we come to anayze that thing popularity
called riches, we find that it consists not in some
certain unchangng thng,of great intrinsic worth,
but in any thing, muscle Shells bear skins, beads,
stones, or bits ofiron, gold or silver, that men
may agree upon to take from each other in trade
At present, gold and silver constitutes riches in
the popular sense. Any man having exclusive
control of so many pieces of gold is rich man
we say. But we all know that intrnsically,
gold is worth very little. There are very few
and unlmportant uses TO which it can be applied
The same weight of iron is worth a great dea
more. If man were cast on an island, far from
human help, he could use his iron for thou
sand valuable purposes, but his gold, being
so soft and maleable would be useless. Blu
it may be said that the great value of gold con
ssts in its convertbiity into any thing its own
er may desire. True, he can turn it into bread
: but can he eat that breadl He can turn it int
houses, but can he occupy all those houses
7 Then he only changes one useless thing into an