Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-10-06
Seli9iplas department.
MAKING HASTE TO BE RICH.

1t is very suggestive and impressive
fact that all warnings seem to be ineffec-
tual after appetite has become excited |
and the power of the will has been weak
ened by indulgence. Too expensive
habits of living. against the warnings of
conscience and the better judgments Of
earlier hours of innocence and honor,
have been formed. The possibilities of
sudden wealth have been constantly
dwelt upon and made the subject Of
earnest desire and study; the growing
hunger for the social position and enjoy
ments which wealth brings with it has
exasperated the eager longings to secure
it, hushed the voices of conscience and
season, and destroyed or demoralized
the force of the will. The man reaches
the point where he is absolutely helpless
without supernatural interposition.
The possible and awful ruin before him,
the indescribable distress and wretched-
ness of his wife and family, the loss of a
noble name and character, the open door
of prison after a public trial-all this
is like wisp of straw to hold him back,
when he has once fully yielded himself
to the power of the temptation. and
dwelt in growing desire upon the one
object for which he must stake every
thing that is pure and true. y .
1t is fearful thing to cultivate within
the heart an absorbing sensual or worldly
appetite. This habit of looking upon
wealth as the chief object of life. of
filing the inauguration with pictures
of its comforts, of subordinating the
cultivation of the mind and the higher
works of charity, humanity and religion
to the one struggle for wealth, is peril
GUS in itself to all noble development
and spiritual peace, and is quite sure to
entail some form of temptation that will
work out the ruin of the mistaken and
too eager aspirant for riches. The
modern form of this unwholesome passion
is especially perilous. Men are not only
persistent to acquire large fortunes, but
they are unwilling to await the slow pro-
gress of honorable gain by honest toll.
They are constantly on the alert for a
chance move on the speculative board
which will bring them thousands at once.
They cannot endure to accumulate by
economy and daily labor. They despise
the ancient virtues of the fathers. They
want their fortunes in their prime
while they can, as they say to them.
selves, enjoy them; but they rarely dc
enjoy them. They constantly peri
everything in order that they may reach
higher goal, goaded on by the same
!. desire that urged them in the beginning
: only thousand times stronger for tn,
qualification they have enjoyed. 1t i
: one of the rarest of all events that on,
who has suddenly secured a fortune b,
Il some happy speculation retains hi
r wealth for any considerable period
Our cities and towns, our poorhouse
5 and insane hospitals. and our state pris
IS ons, are filled with men who have hast
II lily and unscrupulously accumulate
n wealth and as rapidly dissipated il
l. One of the most important social truth
L to be impressed upon our youth until
e crystallizes into habit and nature, j
that of the scared character of the prop
" erty of others entrusted to their care
e. 1t is never in any form to be considere
q their own, never to de used as their owl
n never to be used in any form contrar
q to the exact acquisitions Of the owners
y 81 There is no safety this sid
Ct of absolute honesty and the most unqua
D. fled scrupulousness in the managing {
&c the property of other people. Til
DC smallest verge from the line of trut
e. will soon lead into the most devior
Is paths and to certain wretchedness.-
N lions Hearald.