The hydraulic press., 1858-08-28
Il ORIGINAL
LOG CABIN INKLINGS.
No. II.

pity that portion OF my fellow
beings who have been so unfortunate
as to be born with gold spoons in
their mouths.
Don't cry "sour grapes" at me for
this burst of pity. I do not live in a
glass house, and that stone from the
old quarry of Esop falls harmless up
on the roof Of nay humble cabin.
On reflection, I repeat that I pity
them. Wealth has entailed upon
them an ignorance worse than that of
the unlettered plebian, who substitutes
for the full flowing signature of the
colleges the hieroglyphical x he calls
his mark. Do not laugh at that crows
foot, ye rich ones, fresh from college.
Forget not that it was the rulers of
the earth who first used 1t, and that
its primary Specification was as sacred
as the CROSS it initiated.
True, wealth brings with it many
desirable things which are seldom en-
joyed by those who have nothing from
the world but what they force from it
many blessings unshared by the
wretchedly poor. AS Charles Lamb
pleasantly observes
'Goodly legs and shoulders of mutton, exhilirating
cordias BOOKS pictures, the opportunities Of seeing
e!gn countries, INDEpENDENcE, heortse ease, mans oscn
slime to himself, are not ntuck-however may be
fO nf1a
.'ful metal that provides them for us.''
But these things to be properly en-
joyed must be earned. The man who
inherits them lacks the keen appreci-
alton which poverty alone can give.
Herein consists one proof of his
ignorance, though not the greatest.
Let me ask myself again-am I en-
vious? Would l be the thing he is
for what he owns? No-yet / do
envy the born-rich. / envy him his
capacity for usefulness-thc bounds
less means he possesses to make his
neighbors happy and to surround him
self by an atmosphere of human love.
I envy him the spectacle that he might
have Of fearful gratitude, or, better
yet, the sight of faces brilliant with
happiness Of his creation. Unknown
to myself there may be lower motives
for this envy than those I mention
Perhaps no Diogenes amongst us but
has felt, or fancied, his superiority to
the wealthy Alexander standing be-
twixt himself and the sun. Yetnone
of us-none Of US poor ones, / mean
ARE agrarians and Jewelers.: we know
too we'll the truth Of what has been
said, that if the worlds wealth were
equally distributed to day, Tomorrow
it would be drifted into heaps again.
When we feel envious-for which
heaven forgive us!-we envy not sell
fishly. But we cannot look upon
wealth unaccompanied by more valu-
able qualities, without an unpleasant
sensation of dislike and sense of in
justice. We scorn the ignorant pride
which makes the calf isolate himself
from the proletarian world, and think
he should be .worshipped on his PEI
destal Of exclusiyeness because he is
made of gold! Alack the day! He
does indeed find many worshippers-
as erst his prototype in the wllder-
ness---wretches unworthy to be poor,
for which reason poverty is to them a
curse, and to get rid of it they are
ready to do for mammon all his dirty
work.
I repeat the Of the gold spoon is
a sad ignoramus. =. 500,
No man is truly intelligent who
does not 60 to school to NATURE
who does not receive from her thor
ough cosmopolitan education, which
maLeth all men known to him and all