The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-05-15
Love rs an Investment.

Chicago Times Report of Bob IngersoEs Lecture.
Love is the only thing that will pay 10
per cent. of interest on the outlay. Love
is the only thing in which the height of
extravaganza is the last degree of econo-
my. Applause. 1t is the only thing,
I tell you. Joy is wealth. Love is the
legal tender Of the soul laughter l.
and you need not be rich to be happy.
We. have all been raised on success in
this country. Always been talked with
about being successful, and have never
thought ourselves very rich unless we
were the possessors of some magnificent
mansion, and unless our names have been
between the putrid lips of rumor we could
not be happy. Every little boy is striv-
ing to be this and be that. I tell you the
happy man is the successful man. The
man that has won the love of one good
woman is a successful man. The man
that has been the emperor Of one good
heart, and that heart embrace all his, has
been success. Applause.] Ifanother
has been the emperor of the round world
and has never loved and been loved his
life is failure.
It won't do. Let US teach our children
the other way, that the happy man is the
successful man, and he who is happy
man is the one who always tries to make
some one else happy. Applause. The
man who marries woman to make her
happy; that marries her as much for her
own sake as for his own; not the man
that thinks his wife is his property, who
thinks that the title to her belongs to
him-that the woman is the property of
the man; wretches who get mad at their
wives and then shoot them down in the
street because they think the woman is
their property. Loud applause.] Itell
you it is not necessary to be rich and
great and powerful to be happy. A little
while ago I stood by the grave of the old
Napoleon-a magnificent tomb of gilt
and gold, fit almost for dead deity-and
gazed upon the sarcophagus of black
Egyptian marble, where rest at last the
ashes of the restless man. 1 leaned over
the balustrade and thought about the
career of the greatest soldier of the mod
ern world. I saw him walking upon the
banks of the Seine, contemplating sui
eide. I saw him at Toulon-I saw him
putting down the mob in the streets of
Paris-I saw him at the head of the army
of Italy-I saw him crossing the bridge
of Lodi with the tri-color in his hand
I saw him in Egypt in the shadows of
the pyramids-I saw him conquer the
Alps and mingle the eagles of France
with the eagles of the crags. saw him
at Marengo- Ulm and Austerlitz. /
saw him in Russia, where the infantry
of the snow and the cavalry of the wild
blast scattered his legions like winters
withered leaves. I saw him at Leipsic
in defeat and disaster-driven by mil
lion bayonets back upon Paris, clutched
like wild beast, banished to Elba. I
saw him escape and retake an empire by
the force of his genius. I saw him upon
the frightful field of Waterloo, where
chance and fate combined to wreck the
fortunes of their former king. And
I saw him at St. Helena, with his hands
crossed behind him, gazing out upon the
sad and solemn sea.
thought of the orphans and widows
he had made-of the tears that had been
shed for his glory, and of the only woman
who ever loved him, pushed from his
heart by the cold hand of ambition.
And / said / would rather have been a
French peasant, and worn wooden shoes.
would rather have lived in hut, with
a vine growing over the door, and the
grapes growing purple in the kisses of
the autumn sun. / would rather have
been that poor peasant, with my loving
wife by my side, knitting as the day died
out of the sky-with my children upon
my knees and their arms about me. l
would rather have been that man, and
gone down to the tongueless silence of
the dreamless dust, than to have been
that Imperial impersonation of force and
murder, known as Napoleon the Great.
Loud and renewed applause.
1t is not necessary to be rich in order
to be happy. 1t is only necessary to be
in love. Laughter and applause. =
Thousands of men go to knowledge and
get certificate that they have an educa-
ton, and that certificate is in Latin, and
they stop studying, and in two years to
save their life they couldn't read the GER
tifcate they got. Laughter.
1t is mostly so in marrying. They
stop courting when they get married.
They think we have won her, and that is
enough. Ah! the difference before and
after! How we'll they looked! How
bright their eyes! How light their steps
and how full they were of generosity. |
tell you a man should consider himself
in good luck if woman loves him when
he is doing his level best. Applause
Good luck! Good luck!