The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-09-06

money naQ deem wanting. 60nc6IOrGn
his friend should have chicken and
Madeira in plenty. Dollars eyes mois-
tened at the joy of informing his old
tutor that he should have two hundred
a year. This was one pinched life to
beeased along the downhill path. Like
all poor men, Mr.. Dollar had many
proteges and hangers-on. He felt in
duty bound to share his prosperity with
his old tutor, but early association and
kindly feeling now took the shape of
many a claim. There was his college
friend, James Downing, who had taken
to literary pursuits instead of the out
of door life that might have given him
a physique. This poorfellow was hope
lessly struggling against a consumptive
temperament and fl-health generally,
with the cares of domestic life and a
smoky London climate, when a couple
of winters at Algiers might quite set
him up. Then, not to speak of pen
s%ioners, how many small yet priceless
services might a rich man render his
friends-help this ones promising lad
to a profession, that ones girl to a
marriage outfit or a college curriculum.
A millionaire may, indeed, supply eyes,
ears, hands, digestion, and even appe-
tite to his friends, seeing most of us at
some time or other find out that these
tried servants of ours, the senses, are at
least for a time worn out. Especially
in Dollars line of life that WA the case,
most of his friends being of those who
wear out their brains and bodies by
perpetual strain. At last he began to
think of himself, and what a wide field
here for satisfaction and b~enevolence!
Rev. Mr.. Dollar was not q vain or self
inflated man, and did not overestimate
himself; perhaps, indeed. erred on the
other side. The superciliousness of the
world had led him to discommend his
own ego. He had summed up things
in general with the reflection that, after
all, human beings were poor creatures,
and Rev. John Humphrey Dollar had
got, perhaps, his deserts.
But all the time there had been a
lurking conviction that the world was
Judging or rather misjudging him by
circumstances. rather than character.
And is any of us without weakness? 1t
was pleasant to think that henceforth
he should be listened to, made way for,
no longer meet with the half attention
accorded to shabbiness, no longer be
jostled against by careless neighbors.
Respect hath more than charm. 1t
brings consciousness with it, as Mr..
Dollar knew to his cost. How many
times but for his callinghe should have
cursed the time-serving spirit of his
fellow-townsfolk. 1t had again and
again happened to him that when MAX
ing hasty purchases in the brief inter-
val between school hours, the shopman
would leave him, his business but half
done, to attend bareheaded upon some
lazy dowager in her carriage, and, in
the case of young girls similarly cush-
toned, insult seemed added to injury.
Again, as we all know, Jul friends treat
us, shabby as We are, on the level with
the rest of their guests. But when did
society, especially that section of it that
wears livery, fail to find US out? Dollar
had more than once been inclined to
throw some rich friends turnkey down
stairs for the suspicious chances cast at
him. But Heaven forbid that we should
appear to confine snobbery to the
kitchens 1t flourishes equally in the
salon and is found to perfection among
well-bred people. Rev. Mr.. Dollar re
Elected cheerfully that h~enceforth, when
he entered a drawing-room, those in il
would at once show an alert conscious.
ness of his presence. The difference
between a millionaire and a nobody is
nicely indicated here. When Dives
crosses the threshold, there is a just
~perceptible futter; even the mistress
pet poodle, by intuition, ways his tail.
When Nobody comes, the silk gown Of
the mistress does not rustic and there is
no wag of her pets tail. These may
i seem bagatelles, and indeed they are;
+ but just as field mice, by gnawing the
bow-strings of the Assyrian army, en-,
abled the enemy to obtain an easy vic
tory, so will trifing checks and annoy.
ances often destroy mobile nature. Mr..
Dollar saw, as clearly as any man
could see, the .%unlovely, sordid side O
money, but nevertheless he realized by
slow-bought and better experience the
t value of wealth in enabling us to make
the best of ourselves. Be as lofty
minded as we please, we are yet con
strained to accept the worlds STANDARD
as we accept its mintage, till a bette
one be found.
, From g~eneralities to particulars:
: In his fortieth year Rev. Mr.. Dolla,
/ could hardly ccuse himself of an ex
! travagance. The virtue might hav,
: been obligatory, but it was a virtue
nevertheless. He naturally possessed
fastidious tastes. He liked, for in
! stance, a glass of good wine, the glitte
| of ancestral plate on the board; thu
:: science of cooking was extremely inter
esting to him; his health, he felt sure
, had deteriorated in consequence of poo
and often ill-cooked food. The save
of exquisite meats, already fiatterin,
his senses, he found very pleasant. Blu
!. this was one of the least qualifications
For it could never crafty those taste
2 that really uplifted a man. He coul,
travel, and felt the keen interest of
scholar on classic ground, would listel
: to the nightingales at Athens, and fol
lowing the track of Horace and his frien,
e from Rome tt Brundusium. Biblica
scenes had as strong a fascination TO
: his mind. He would fain tread in tn
steps of Paul in Pisidia and stand by tn
, ruins of On.
Hitherto he had only been enabled t
/. make one or two of those cheap littl
Swiss tours by contract, which may b
compared to hearing s.Fidelio" from tn
:. topmost gallery.
a Most of us have seer Mont Blanc Gel
e tainlv. But the vulgar company, tn
crowdlng, the confusion! Better to be
s hold such marvellous natural scenes b
the minds eye only. .
S How different travel that takes no az
}, count of the cost! All! the mind is II
freshed, the body invigorated then.
o To lounge at will through foreig
picture galleries, to float idly in gondt
It las, to be in no hurry to reach Ell
e chanted spots, under no obligation t
tear ones self away. The gist of trav,
is surely here, to be able to take it 8
we should take nature when we are i
|, the humor. Then he thought of al
e other luxury.
He was u lover of books. He we
almost a photographer to boot. But b
d had never yet been able to indulge
this taste except on the most Unite
l. scale. There were books he had sighe
st for as q girl signs for a lover-not
IN l.