Polynesian., 1863-02-28
Value Of Money.

! a
on the various estimations in which money is held
We have heard a good deal about the worth of
property. A house is worth ten thousand dollars
that lot is worth fifty thousand dollars; farm is
worth eight thousand, horse three hundred, car
riage five hundred, and so on, endlessy. This is
all very well in its way. But ought not the question,
sometimes, to be put the other way-how much Is 8
mans money worth: There is q wider range in the
value of money than most persons think. And,
upon little inquiry suspect that it will be found
that all men who possess money, who long to pos
sess it, have q way of measuring it-not by dollars,
but by its value in sort OF pleasure or article
! One man earns thousand dollars, and says to
himself-there, that money puts me one step out OF
debt. Money to him is a means OF personal liberty.
! \ man in debt is not free man. =" The borrower
! is servant to the lender.
Another man sees in a thousand dollars snug
little homestead, home for his children, shelter
to old age place TO live n and good place to die
in Bot his neighbor only sees one more link in the
golden chain of wealth. 1t thirtynine thorsand
last month, he IS worth forty this. And his JOY IS
in the growing Numerals. He imagines how it will
sound-round, full and hearty-when men say, he
is worth a hundred thousand dollars Nay, when
il comes to that, he thinks five better sound than
one; and five hundred thousand dollars is sound
most musical to his though he loves even better
vet to call it half million The word million cuts
great sYath in mems imaginations. All this est-
mate of money is sheer ambition. The vain.
| He thinks much Of himself on account OF money,
not character. A who is openly proud Of
money. is secretly eontemptuous of those who have
none
Another man wishes to see the world. Every
dollar means travel A thousand dollars means
Europe. Two thousand dollars means Egypt, Pal
| estne and Greece.
Bows dealing in smaller sums reckon in the same
way A penny means stick of candy; sixpence is
but another term for ball shilling means kite;
and fifty cents, jack-knite.
But many and many weary soul sees in every
shilling bread, rent, fuel, clothes. There
thousands who hold on to virtue by hands of dol
lars a few save them few less, and they
are lost Their gayer sisters eathered hats aud
royal silks in their money, or, rather, in their
fathers and their husbands.
The poor Sc olar passes daily by the stall where
books tempt his poverty. Poor clothes he is con-
tent to wear plain and meager diet he is
willing to subsist upon and, for all the gay dis
sipatOns and extravagant wastes Of fashionable life,
he looks upon them without even understanding
what they mean, a child looks upon the milky
| way, in the heavens, glowing bard OF far-away
and unexpIored wonders. But .. those books He
looks lOngngly at morning; he peers at them with
a genuine covetousness at night. He imagines new
devices for earning few dollars. He pInders
whether there is not some new economy which can
save a few shillings. And when good luck at Last
brings a score of dollars to him, with what a fever
of haste does he get rid of them fairly running to
the STALL and fearing lest some fortunate man should
have seized the prize. Wasteful man That night
saw too much oil burnt out in poring the joyful
| treasure. Books are what has money is worth But
others see different visions. Money means flowers
to them. New roses the latest dahlia, the new Ca
melia, others of the great houri band of flowers
that fill the florists paradise-the garden.
| Some men see engravlngs IN money; some, pic
lures some rare copies of old books some, curl
! Gus mssas. Others, when you say money. think
of fruit trees, shrubbery, of arboretums pinetums
and fruc,lceiumS. And we have reason to believe
that there some poor wretches who, not content
with any insanity, pretty much all these
things by turns.
But there are nobler sights than these to be seen
through the golden lens of wealth father and
mother placed IN comfort in their old age; young
man helped through college, established in bus-
ness friend extricated from ruin; poor widow
saved from beggsry, and made supplant before God
for mercies your head. every day that she lives
the sick and unfortunate succored, the orphan edu-
Gated, the school founded, the village lined with
shade-trees, free library established, and thou
sand such like things. A man is not to be known by
show much money he has, but by what that money
is worth to 90 him. If it is worth only seishness,
meanness, stinginess, vanity, and naughty state,
man is not rich if he own a million dollars If it
generosity, public spirit, social comfort, and
refinement. then he is rich on few hundred. You
must put your hand into mans heart to find out
how much he is worth, not into his pocket
0 View nights since Tom Jones went home
to his wife In rather disguised condition. He had
drank so often for the success of our volunteers,
that he compelled to eat handful of cloves to
remove the smell of whisky. While undressing,
his wife detected the perfume Of the spice, and
said:
GOOD gracious, Tom, how dreadfulIy yOa smell
of cloves"
'Eh p" said Tom, starting, a. cloves?
"Yes, cloves; any would think you had
been embalmed like mummy" This made his
wits go wool gathering. "Phew! you are regu-
larly scented with them. Where have you been
| to-night?" continued his wife.
Tom completely thrown off his guard-his
brain rambed, and without the remotest idea of
what he was saying, replied:
W-h-y--hic-Clara, the fact is, | have just
been on little trip to the East Indies, and while
| | was there fell over a spice box!
| Then she knew what the matter was