Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-02-16

| quiring how much he can judiciously
spend upon his own comfort The list Of
physical pleasures is very soon exhausted
A man has but one palate and but one
pair Of hands. Even if he wore a new
coat every day, he would soon find that an
old coat is far more comfortable; and the
most skillful cooks will admit that dishes
only become very expensive by being out
Of season or by useless extravaganza
A house of moderate size is as com
Portable as a palace, and a few hun
dreds year will provide the best Of
dwellings, in the best Of situations
Building, indeed is temptation,
because architects have an almost
unrivaled skill in getting rid of money.
but building houses for ones self very
soon becomes building prisons. There
are disadvantages even in single coun-
try house for a man living in town. 1t
forces him to spend part of his summers
in a particular place, when he might pre-
fer travelling; it obliges him to enter
tain friends Of whom large percentage
are certain to be bores; and ii subjects
him, unless he is very strong minded
| person, indeed, to the necessity Of taking
a part in various troublesome local du-
] ties. Admitting, however, that couple
of establishments give more pleasure
than trouble, we have still not passed the
bounds Of u reasonable income. The
next question is, how much a man can
spend upon his pleasures, and here there
Is, Of course, wide field for expenditure
Assuming, however, that wise man
would wish to be respectable and that he
has certain intellectual tastes, his tether is
not IA very long one. A man of literary
or artistic culture may wish to form Ii
brary or picture gallery. But even here,
so far as books are intended for reading
and pictures for looking at, the powers of
money are moderate. A library of few
thousand volumes will provide the greatest
OF literary gluttons with all the books from
which he really derives enjoyment; and so
large proportion of the best pictures are
in public galleries that comparatively
moderate collection will serve all purposes
OF private possession. Of course, by be-
coming hunter of rarities great deal Of
money may be spent, but that is pursuit
which, however respectable, is generally
most enjoyable when the means are lin
lied. When Charles Lamb screwed up
his courage TO give a few shillings for an
old dramatist, he got more pleasure
out OF the bargain than the rich man who
would give as many hundreds. AS some
people have found rat killing as amusing
AS lger.shooting, SO the poor collector
gets as much fun out of his pursuits as his
rival with botomless purse A really
good whist player holds that very high
stakes destroy the true interest of the
game; and the various forms OF curiosity
hunting, whether the objects be the old
masters, or rare books, or china, or auto.
,vru lac nj, .l L..
terestng The more intellectual mans
tastes the more he really cares for art or
study, the less he will be interested,
speaking generally, in these subsidiary
amusements. Shakespeare can be studied
Just as well in the fac smile of the first
folio as in the original; and all that the
rich man gains in this sense is that he
has not to make SO many visits
to the Brisish Museum. When a
man has as good "A house rs he
cares to inhabit; as good wines and
meats and cigars as he cares to con-
sumo; rs many books as he can read,
and as many pictures rs he can eniov; as
much hunting or fishing or travelling as
he can find time for, and can see his
friends rs often and in ~ much comfort
rs he chooses, he will begin to find it
rather troublesome to invent new gratiti-
cations, We assume that such a man is
able to provide sufficiently for his family.
Most people are philosophical in regard
To their children, and can see very dis
tinctly chat il is doubtful advantage to
young man To be born without the need
OF eXerting himself. Alter all that can be
said, it is plain when we are talking
OF our neighbors that Tive greatest of all
securities tor happiness, after the posses
sion OF good constitution, is to have an
absorbing pursuit. Any profession which
rewards a man tor eXerting his faculties
to the utmost is in the long run source
of the greatest pleasure in life. Whether
| man Is the best Jockey, or the best law
Yer, or the greatest writer in England he
has for the time inestimable security
against the possibility of being bored.
Though we should all like To grow rich,
| few people would maintain that a man
| born toa fortunes, on the average, happier
| than man who has n fortune to make,
| and is capable of making OF it. The fact
Is clear enough 10 make any reasonable
man Conientcd who can start his children
| with sufficient provision against poverty,
though he may not be able to leave them
large fortunes.
The question then is, for how much
| money these advantages may be obtained
The answer, of course. varies, and proba-
bly, the figure suggested would become Il
| little higher every year. enc suggestion
has been made, that the happiest of all
conditions is 10 have ten thousand "A wear
and be supposed TO have five We fully
agree that ii is possible to be happy upon
ten thousand year; and indeed We are
| inclined To hope that many people get all
! the essentials of life upon less. II is II
! plausible doctrine, too, that ii is desirable
/ that your income should be undereStima-
! ted, II Is OF course pleasant to get credit
for liberality when you do not deserve it,
and to teel that you are escaping demands