The republic., 1851-01-03
From the Louisville Journal.
Insanity and the Pursuit of yyea,

From the Louisville Journal
Insanity and the Pursuit. of Wealth.
We see il stated that the wealhiest man in the
State of Illinois has become deranged in his intel
lcct and has been taken to a Lunatic Asylum.
The cause of his insanity was intense desire to
accumulate money.
Cases of kindred nature with this are by no
means unfrequent. Every community contains
men who place an insane estimate ON the value OF
money, and are induced to devote all their time to
its accumulation. The desire to make money, and
the fear of losing money that has been made, very
often shatter minds which might, if usefully EN-
poyed, have exerted wholesome influence ON
others. Avarice is one of the most ignoble of all
passions, and cannot be long and ardently cult
waited without rendering its possessur exceedingly
selfish and prone to acts Of meanness He who
selects the altar OF Mammon on which to offer his
prayers is certainly unwise and will certainly be
come unhappy. He may succeed in piing up gold
in his Golfers until he is among the richest of men
but his money cannot make his heart bright with
the sunshine of happiness a man who starts early
in life ardenty in the pursuit of wealth will each
year become more and more slave OF avarace un-
I'll all his noble sentiments vitiated and he be-
comes a great moral deformity with one monster
and master passion swaying its rude and iron scep
tre his heart. The slaves of avarice, Who own
vast possessions and are afraid to expend any con-
siderable portion OF their means. arc for the most
part the least loved men in in the community. Ii
a man who is merely able to secure the necessaries
OF life, but whose heart ID full of affections and
beaming sentiments, could by wish exchange
chre in which lie entonbed all its early aud most
kindly feelings, he would indeed be fool to utter
the wish
The desire to accumulate money when it is kept
subservient to higher feelings, is not only lawful
but very commcndabe. man may be sufficiently
eager in the pursuit Of wealth to succeed in
ing splendid fortune and at the time cher
i-h all the best sentiments of his heart ard all the
| purest tastes of his mind. There many in
stances of men who have assiduously devoted
themselves To the achievemento oi fortune who have
also been renowned for their accomp plishments in
literature and their good deeds to humanity. But.
such men never suffered themselves to become SER
vile votares of avarce and devoted all their
enercies by day and by night TO the accumulation
of money. In proper hours they manifested busi-
ness qualifications of the highest order, but when
such hours were passed they gladly sought the
bosom of their families and devoted themselves to
study and TO the genial rompanionship OF cultiva-
| ted men 1t is not the disciplined desire for money
that is to be cxecrated; but, when the desire for
wealth becomes avaricious, IT is then that it's pos
| SCISSOR ID worthy only OF compassion. When the
slave of avarce ID unsuccessful in the pursuit Of
money he is miserable indeed, and the halter
the cold bosom of the river is apt To terminate his
worthless and wretched career. An avaricious
man may be honest within the limit Of the law
| long as success smiles on him, but let change
come over his circumstances, and let exigencies
arise and let temptations to deiraud others arise
and in nine out of ten such men will not long
hesitate to crafty the leading passion of their
| iure at the expense of their integrity.
We have known men of gIeat wealth who Were
not only utterly unable TO enjoy their money by
| expending it either in the way Of use or of orna-
| nent, who have become perfectly insane from the
fear of losing their possessions or from deusion
overspreading their minds and causing them TO
believe that they were on the verge of EXTREMIST
| poverty. We have known insanity of this kind
the most successful of the slaves OF avarice
and to blight their hopes, and to bring the feeling
| Of poverty them while they were in the midst of
the most ample pecuniary means. The spectacle
Of man OF great wealth shivering with fear lest
their hard earned possessions shall be lost 10 hn
| Or deluslOn
with the keen, gnawing pangs OF poverty, is well
suited to the purpose OF rendering men of very
moderate possessions contented and happy. The
poorest lauorcr in the streets can look down with
sovereign pity on the man of wealth, whose brain
is crazed, and believes that he is suffering the
/ keenest agony of poverty.
! A young man who feels sprngng Up IN his heart
the feeling OF avarice would do well to guard II well
| and to suppress its growth. When he nnds that
all other pursuits in life dull, in comparison
with the pursuit OF wealth. he Is already IN a con-
dition of much peril lie should Immediately make
strong and efforts enchain the feeling of
avarice, for e he does it will beyond all doubt
succeed in enchanting him and making him slave
for life.
| 1t is a law universally applicable 10 human life,
that the heart which chcrishes only one passion
and suffers others to wither in its bacful shade,
cannot be happy. Happiness springs up spont,-
neousy, and produces its genial fruits only in the
heart in which all good and grateful sentiments
flourish The man OF one solitary and overmas-
terng passion, the slave of avarice the slave of
ambition, may feel spasms of delight in the mo-
mens of his triumph, but he knows nothing OF the
! oheerfulness and contentcdness that dwell in the
heart which does not place insane estimate on
any worldly achievement, and which Is full OF love
tor man, for Nature, and for the Deity. A
reign passion ought never to be permitted to exert
its despotism. Unhappiness is the certain, and in
sanitya probable, result Of "A long and slavish devo
ton TO pursuit subject Ia lunatic asy-
unis, . a general rule, each victm is devoted To
one idoa, and that fact constitutes his insanity
Abolish that devotion to the one idea end you
the mental maady. Insanity from religion springs
from too long and too dcvotedy dwelling on some
one subject which holds the minds in bondage. So
also insanity in any of the pursuits OF life springs
from an exclusive dedication of thought and feel
ing To that pursuit. IL is not to be greatly
dered at, then. that au exclusive devotion ot the
Riud 70 the accumulation OF money often ter
inmates in downright and unqualified insanity
There arc many shades and degrees of insanity.
and in the business thoroughfares of any city YOU
may iud men pursuing wealth afflicted with each
and every one of these degrees. The true philoso
ply Of life requires that variety of subjects shall
yield pleasure TO the heart, and the heart should al
ways be 30 disciplined as to be able to enjoy every
species of genuine pleasure within its reach. In
this condition lies mine of wealth infinitely more
desirable than all the undiscovered gold of Cali
tornia.
The Boston itas states that il is unde stuOd that
the has been sold 10