The Portland daily press., 1869-06-03


Fourth Page-A Birds Nest, by Florence
Percy; Stockholders and Telegraphlc Blum
ders; The Weehawken DueIling Ground.
The P-ngs of Cresus.
No one has undertaken, so far as we know.
to disparage the manner 10 which the digest
i've and other organs appertaining to Thomas
G. Durant do Their work. No one has spoken
disrespecttully of his liver, limited at any de-
feet in the arrangements for his circulating
fluids or insinuated aueht against the health
fnlness of the various muscular and nervous
tissues that go to make up his corporal per
sonalty. Not to consider the case quite SO
atomically, NO one has suggested iu his case
predisposition to insanity, congenital ten
dency ito melancholy, domestic, social or pollt-
ical difficulties, or any of those misfortunes
that usually disturb the peace of mankind.
His way of life has been as smooth as If the
kind fates had invented for it lubricatinp
fluid of unheard-of efficacy. He has more
than heart can wish. His cup runneth over.
He has b-ilt the Union Pacific Railroad and
won fame and the accompanying decoration
for bis brows He is as deep as anybody iu the
Credit Mobiiiere and has won wealth that is be-
yond computation. He has a familiar ac-
quaintarce with government subsidies of mon
ey and lands. He knows what ALTERNATE Sec
tions'' are. Dividends and big salaries are no
strangers to his pock' is. He has fine houses
he has pleasure yachts; he knows the taste of
turtle soup and genuine champagne He is
one of those rare men who say carelessly TO
their friends: "Adieu,-I have a million dol
lars to pay before noon.' But Thomas is un-
happy Nay, scoffer, doubt not, be has shown
himself to a reporter in mental deshdbiHe, and
the witness made microscopic examination of
these great spots on the sun Of his intellect.
II the case oe Thomas were an unusual one
we might let him pass as a phenomenon. But
he has so many associates of his own kind in
the Slough of Despond that we have chance
to generalize, and SO become wiser. What
shall we say Of the whole race Of Astors, with
to enable one of them to feel single thrill OF
anything more than the lowest sort of pleas
ure? And OF A. T. Stewart, king of the mill
ionaires, more than the peer of the magnif-
cent Fisk, q monetary head and shoulders
above Vanderbilt, alone on the vast heights he
has climbed dollar by dollar? Is his gleeful
counteuance? And what more unhappy man
than Sprague will you find, if you search the
world through? He is as full of querulous
faultfnding, of envy, jealousy and various
other evil and uncomfortable passions as any
one you can find. The general rule is that
men who have got up very high among the
millions are peculiarly unhappy. The case of
Mr.. Durant, the retiring Vice President, Of
of fho TTn;nn paoiGo Poll sc all
able. but is merely new discovery.
Having arrived then by process of intIuc-
ton at the conclusion that all millionaires arf
wretched,it is imperative upon society De'
only to provide some relief but to change the
current of its sympathies into an entirely new
channel. The world has hitherto bestowe its
pity mainly upon the poor, the sick, the un
fortunate. Tears have been shed at the sight
of children starving for bread or frozen by
cold; of INDECENT and frieDdless old age, thar
had no immunity from toll down to the very
last moment when supreme effort of the will
could compel the worn-out, aching body to d,
more; OF poor women, homeless, hopeless
toiDg all day long TO: recompense thai
would not procure for them even decent lode-
ing; of children brought up in such an atmos-
phere OF vice that only the direct interpositioD
of Providence could save them from such live,
as would bring them inevitably either to prE Oh
or 10 the gallows; of such as are the victims o
disease for whi b their want of means pre-
vents their obtaining adequate remedies. Act
ual ply sicai suffering and mental woe for an
assigpable cause these have hitherto been tie
things with which philanthropy has occupied
itself Mistaken worldl Stupid, insensible
philanthropistl Why, look you, a poor child
trying in vain to cover its shuddering bod,
with rags in hovel, all through bitter win
ter's night, is perhaps legitimate object o.
some commiseratiop. But the Red Republican
fury of the age is such that sympathy will bend
over his poor human mite, utterly ignoring
the mysterious pangs of the capitalist whom
vague unrest depriyes Of repose and causes to
lose an tour's sleep each night He is sub
stantial, tangible object of sympathy. When
man has million dollars to "back" men
talqualm or physical twinge the world ought
to see that it is deserving of attention and of
respectful sympathy. If Pity wishes to find
herself worthily aud nationally occupied, lei
her array herself in deepest black and with
fearful eyes follow the detected Sprague as he
stalks moodiIy from the Senate Chamber after
one of his great speeches; let her accompany
Stewart to his marble palace after business
hours; let her comfort with her soothing touch
Vanderbilt, when he has had tilt with
Prince Erie" Away with this sickly senti-
mentaism hat has censured the Rothschild
that held in his one hand money enough to
feed and clothe millioa of these inccnsidera-
BILE people who starve and freeze! Our tears
hcnceforth are only for the sorrows of the mill
ionaire. Hereafter we repudiate the sentimen'
in this quotation from Shakespeare, the chief
of the sickly sentimental poets:
Heavens, deal so still
Let the superfuous and Unsolicited man,
That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Brca Sc he does not teel feel your power Quickly;
So distribution shall ando excess,
And each man hare enough.
This unsophisticated old rascal of poet YVES
bit of an agrarian in his way, and Jumped
forward" very considerably in his homely and
obsolete phraseology, and we move that his
works be burned by the common hangman in
the plaza