Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-09-09
from All the Year Round.)
The Lives Of Five Rich Men.

and struggling that it is q fine thing 4
be rich and if wealth is not happiness
it is q very near approach to it. Doubt
less it is q good thing to be rich, if tn,
rich person knows the value Of richie,
and turns them to proper account
for his own advantage and that Of hi
family, his friends, and his fellow-crea.
lures. Doubtless it is very sad thina
10 be poor, to endure cold. hunger, naked
ness, or to owe debts which ono canno,
pay. But when the 10 ass of people come
to the conclusion that, ~ Q rule. tho rich
IRE much happier than the poor, and
that the poor have no compensation for
the hardship of their lot, and the rich no
drawbacks on the luxury Of theirs-an
error OF serious consequence to their own
well-being takes possession of their minds
and leads to that worst kind of heresy
that 1t is everybodys duty to get rich.
In the course of not very long life !
have known the histories of many per-
sons who had to use the common phrase,
"lots of money"-money that they either
acquired by speculation, by industry, or
successful commerce, or that they had in
herited from their ancestors. Out of
seven such people whose histories I knew,
i've were either very miserable in their
would gladly have exchanged ali their
money for something that poor people
had, but which unkind fate had not be 4
slowed upon them.
The first of these little histories ia that
OF gentleman, who had acquired q mil
lion OF money, at least, by successful COM
meTce, and was able to retire in the prime
OF life and strength, and marry for love a
T0nnO W. IL -
beautiful The world was fair between
them. They had town house and a |
country house, and a shooting box in the
highlands. They had large library and
picture gallery, carriages and horses,
and, g yacht. They had troops of friends,
and the respect of everybody who knew
them. They were hospitable and charit-
ABLE, and adorned every society into which |
they entered. But they wore not alto.
gether happy after the first two or three
years of their welded life Not that their
love diminished, bat Fortune, which had
given them 80 much, did not give them
everything. The gentleman desired an
heir to his estates, and the lady, with
large maternal heart, desired a child for
the sake OF child; and the desired boon.
for which she would have been so CRATE
ia. and SO happy, was denied her. Beg
gars came to her gate with twins in their
arms, and she sometimes thought sncb
bessars were happier than she; at last the
siyhS Of an infant would SO excite her
cE7y, and so deeply impress her with the
esnss OF loneliness, and of undeseryed
misery. as to produce paro1ysms of pas
Gionate hysteria.
Another little story is that of a success . !
ful N nufacturer, but rude unlettered.
and without much mental resource to
Eelp him pass away his time, who retired I
from business at the age of sixty. and I
built himself splendid manson-he call '
ed it castle-on the shore of a lovely y
lake, in the highlands of Scotland. far a
away from the nigh ways of travel. in or t,
Der that his aristocratic seclusion mixht i,
not be invaded by tourists or desecrated a
by the plebian rail and the whiz of the b
democratic locomotive. When the "castle" a
was furnished. and his grounds were laid al
out to his order, he suddenly dis D.
covered he had nothing to do to occupy N
MS time. lie was no company to him. IL
self, and he and his wife were u
mentally as opposed to each other as vine az
gar and oil Friends and acquaintances 81
came to visit him; but he %
lived too far out of the beatenItrack to ex- it
pect visits from any but idlers, but what n,
Inc scotch call 'sorners," and as his con- lie
Versation was not amusing, and he never of
eht or gave away money, even such waits w
ma strays from the great fold of human re-
tty seldom veRtured into his remote seclu- he
non. he was too proud to go back to the W,
5reat city and recommence business ca
which might have been done under the On
So he continued to dwell
n his mountain fortress, without an OBJ
cot in life, or any amusement that he =.
AIRED about. He had ~ thing TO do but a.
o fish, or to shoot, and he cared nothing M
Or either OF these modes Of pastime. At 10y
or about six months of it, he ordered a
oat upon the lake, to go, as he said, fish St,
~ tor salmon Unobserved by any one. me
e put an old grindstone into the boat. to
nd few yards of rope line and rowed an
1mself away to the middle of the lake. to
lie was never seen again alive. The boat is
rlfted on shore without bin in the even str
", and three days afterwards his BODY in,
as Drawn rom the bottom of the lake, int
itn the grir u-tone tied round his neck. &c
no W .rd little story is equally sugges- raj
w. A very hard working professional an
Am, careful, prudent. abstemious, but
omewhat eccentric, retired from busy life
nth thirty Thousand pounds, in order, as toI
g said, enjoy himself, and pass the even is
ny of his life in the mild radiance of the WI
citing sun. But it was not to be. A
erious, and, AS it proved, fatal illness,
vertook him before, as he expressed it, ma
he he'd been three months out of bust
ess." He did vt suffer much, and by tn,
o means anticipated fatal termination or,
D his malady. After ten days confine Io,
lent to his room, he was somewhat alarm
d by the grave face and demeanor of his rul
sually hearty and cheerful medical at Ing
endant II think" said the latter, "that sal
is my duty to recommend to you, if you Sa,
ave any worldly affairs to settle, that 49,
on should settle them" The patient 'ne
'rang up in bed. "Do You mean to tell Ten
lie, doctor, that am dying 7" "Ob, no." fro
nd the doctor kindly. Il hope not and GOO
trust that many happy years are in Al.
ore for you. Still, ii there is any mat ul'
ST of business for you to settle, settle it. arr
life is always uncertain and it is best h'e
} be prepared for all contingencies
Doctor" said the sick man, "you !.
.nnot deceive me. You think POI
N dying, and you do not like to tell OF
20 the truth. Well! | have toiled and ney
-uggled, and screwed and saved for for up,
years, and thought that at the last / cor
m going to enjoy myself for little
hilc before the end And now you tell S
e am dying Al car say'is. it i. H..
-" He added two words that were -
cry tragic very comic, very lanentabl,., ''i
Try unrepeatablc; turned his face to the the
all, and never spoke more qua
The fourth on my list of tho unhapp, me,
ch, is a gentleman who retired ut tLr T:
70 OF fifty years, from large and pros
rous business, with the expectation that p''
> share of the partnership would amount qua
half million sterling. Thi. expecta- afte
N WIS not realized. On "A settlement of ~ ,
counts, and valuation of the assets
t"ean him and his partners, it was
o,d that hi. share fell a little, but not q
onh, short of two hundred thousand AZ
unds. This was a prieyous disanno;,t NeV