Litchfield enquirer., 1857-05-07
What would yea do with It ?
THE TEST OF CHARACTER

THE TEST OF CHARACTER.
We often hear people lamenting that they
are not rich, and saying If had plenty of
money would do SO aud so. / would give to
this or that charity l would help this Or that
deserving person struggling with poverty I
would purchase the means of self-cuture or of
educating my family" The real test of char
acter would be to give such a person money
cases out of ten he would not do with it as he
says he would or perhaps thinks he would
What would he do with it He would dis
pose OF it just according to his general char
aeter. The honest man would take it and
without loss of time would go straight and
pay his debts, if he had any He would not
choose to keep from Others their lawful proper
ty any longer than he could help it. The os-
tentatious man would consider what article of
show he could purchase which would ado to
the respectabili,y' of his appearance He
would buy an equipage ard dash up and down
street with pair of bays or dapple browns
Or perhaps, if his desire of admiration were
very intense, he would get match of milk
white and coal black The man of taste
would adorn his house W til statuary and raint-
lngS partly as a matter Of aesthetic gratifca-
ton and partly of social distinction. If he
had kind heart as we'll as OVERLOOKING means
he would find pleasure in patronzing modest
and deserving genius, and bestow his wealth
with double purpose of gratifying his taste
and rewarding merit. The man of deep and
true affections would first and foremost think
of the natural ties and family obligations. He
would let the sun of his prosperity shine upon
those to whom he owed the earliest debt of
gratltude--his father and mother, if any still
survived, who had watched over and protected
him before he was capable OF approaching the
obligation, who perhaps haC straitened their
slender means to make him what he has since
become. He does what he can to smooth
their declining years The most precious
things about his splendid dwelling are Their
aged forms, and the most gratifying fruit Of
prosperity is that it gives q grateful child the
means Of manifcsting the afftctionate care
which is due to advancing age. The man of
pleasure would use his newly acquired wealth
ill making larger provision for the enioyments
Of the senses he would fill his cellars with
more costly and delicious wines and load his
table with greater profilsion of luxuries and
delicasics. lie would extend his acquaintance
among the lovers of good living aul learn their
recondite and precious lore. The mscr would
tind it impossible to conceal his ruling passion
The unexpected acquisition of wealth, instead
of opening his heart, would only add fuel to
the fame and make him ten times as pcnurious
as before. His only happiness con lists in
boarding, or rather in re-inn c>ting at the high
est rates Of interest. 1t goes into the vaults
Of u bank, there to be~,t more money to be
rc-nvestcd in the same way, till its pos>essor
drops at last into his grave having had no
more Use Or enjoyment of his enormous wealth
than if had daily dropped his gains into 4 ere
vice i'll the earth. HIS relations to money had
become morbid, unnatural, distorted. Money
is means and not an end. It's only rational
purpose is to supply our natural wants or to
procure the materials of innocent endowment
These ends arc in fact the measure of the value
OF money. Ia itself it is as vautlcss as the
sands upon the scashorc. But when sought
tor Its own sake it generates species Of III
sanity. 1t can no longer he used for its lcgit-
mate ends. The irrational attachment to it is
such that no pleasure it can purchase will
compensate the pain which the parting with it
occasions. Its poSsessor is Ike Tantalus in
the ancient mythoogy-up to his lips in water
and pcrishng of thirst We know beforehand
what the mere sensualist would Go with it. He
would merely multiply his visits to the nearest
haunt of dissipation till his physical system
would siuk under mere rcckessness or his newly
acquired means of selfindul gcnce would be ex-
haustcd. He would become the common spoil
Of the reckless and abandoned, who would re-
gard him and his new possessions as the pratt
cal wrecker sees the treasurc-ship drifting on
his lee shore in storm. And what would the
wise and good man do with it 70? He would
employ it as thing to be used and not to be
boarded or thrown away. He will first apply
it to meet and satisfy the claims of justice
Short of this he cannot be satisfied, and in the
midst of wealth must feel mean and huma-
ted Next come the demands of ma tura affec-
ton They cannot be rcpudiat:d by noble
soul Next those of friendship and the long
scores of private Obligations. Last come tenn
perate and moderate additions to the means of
comfort and enjoyment.
Reader, while your eyes have passed over
this article, you have been looking into a mir
ror, which has revealed to you your true char
acter What are you doing with it You
are getting something all along some little sur
plus, and what do you do with it Does it go
to pleasure, to ostentation, to the miser's
strong box ; or is it devoted to Justice, to af-
lection, to charity, to the means of selfculture,
to generous hosptality---is it tributary to the
cause Of progress and humanity 49,.
Baltimore Sun.
The post-office of London is the largest
post-office in the world. It has front of 400
by $50 feet deep. There are $500 persons