Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1863-08-28
WORTH OF MONEY.

, WV61A OE AONE1.
We hear a good deal about tn
worth of property. A house is wort
ten thousand dollars; lot is wort
Eve thousand dollars; a farm is wort
eight thousand; a horse three hur
dred; a carriage FIVE hundred, ant
so on endlessly. This is all very wei
in its way. But ought not the ques
tion, sometimes, to be put the Othe,
way, how much is a mans naOnes
,Ool IT,? There is wider range il
the value of money than most per
sons think. And, upon little in
quiry, 1 suspect that it will be found
that all persons who possess it, have
a way Of measuring it, not by dol
lars, but by its value in some sort Of
pleasure or article.
One man earns thousand dollars
and says to himself, there, that puts
me one step out of debt Money to
him is means of personal liberty.
The man in debt is not a free man.
"The borrower is a servant to the
lender"
Another man sees in a thousand
dollars a snug little homestead, a
home for his children, a shelter to
his old age, a place to live in, and a
good place to die in. But his neigh
Dor only sees one more link in the
golden chain of wealth. 1t was on
ly thirty-nine thousand last month,
he is worth forty this; and his joy is
IN the growing numerals He ina
yines how it will sound, full, round
md hearty, when men say, he is
worth a hundred thousand dollars" !"
Nay, when it comes to that he thinks
i've a better SOUND. than one, and
i've hundreds thousand dollars is o
sound most musical to his ear-tho'
ne loves even better yet to call il
half millionl The word million
cuts a great swath in mems imagin-
ltions. All this estimate of money
s sheer ambition. The man is vain.
he thinks muchcf himself on ac-
count of money not Of character. A
man who is openly proud of money
s secretly contemptuous of those
who have none.
Another man wishes to see the
world. Every dollar means travel.
\ thousand dollars means Europe.
Two thousand dollars means Egypt,
Palestine and Greece.
Boys dealing in small sums reckon
the same way. A penny means a
stick of candy; sixpence is but ano-
ther term for ball; shilling means
i<ite, and fifty cents a jack-knife.
The young "Crack" sees in his mo-
ney skeleton wagon and fast nag,
lrousing trot, jolly drink and
smashing party.
But many and many weary soul
sees in every shilling bread, rent,
fuel, clothes. There be thousands
who hold on to virtue by hands of
lollars; few more save them; a few
less, and they are lost. Their gayer
sisters see feathered hats and royal
silks in their money, or rather in
their fathers and their husbands.
The poor scholar passes daily by
the stall where books tempt his pow
erty. Poor clothes he is content to
wear; plain and even meagre diet
he is willing to subsist upon; and as
for all the gay designations and ex-
travagant wastes of fashionable life,
he looks upon them without even
understanding what they mean, as a
child looks upon the milky way in
the heavens, a glowing land of far
away and unexplored wonders. But
O, those books ! He looks longingly
1t morning; he peers at them with
1 gentle coveteousness at night. He
imagines new devices for earning a
few dollars. He ponders whether
there is not some new economy by
which he can save few shiIlings. |
And when good luck at last brings
1 score of dollars to him, with a fer
vor of hate does he get rid of them, |
fairly running to the stall, and fear
ing at every step, lest some fortu-
nate man should seize the prize
Wasteful man that night saw too
much oil burnt in poring over the
joyful treasure. Books are what his
money is worth. But others see
differentvisiens. Money means flow
ers to them. New roses, the latest
dahlia, the new camelia, or others OF
the great houri band of flowers that
ill the florists paradise-the gar
den. -
Some men see engravings in mo-
ney; some, pictures; some rare cop
les of old books; some, curious mis-
sails. Others, when you say money,
think of fruit trees, of shrubbery,
md arboretums, and pinetums, and
fraticetums. And we have reason |
to believe that there are some poor
wretches who, not content with one
insanity, see pretty much all these
.hings by turns,
But there arc nobler sights than
these to be seen, through the golden
lens of wealth.; a father and mother
place | in comfort in old age; young
man helped through college or estab-
lished in business; friend extrica-
ted from ruin; a poor woman saved