Savannah weekly echo., 1884-02-10
THE GOLDEN MAXIM.

Mr.. John Richardson was one of the
most respected of London citizens. He
had arrived young in the metropolis,
very foot-sore, and with five and mine
pence in his pocket. In the course OF
thirty years he had increased the five
and -ninepence to fifty thousand pounds.
This was generally considered clever, but
in truth the man had no cleverness in his
composition. The lack was more than
supplied by the possession of that val
liable quality called prudence. He was
slow, to be sure; dull, but industrious
short-seeing, but sharp eyed within his
ken. He passed through his life acqulr-
ing few ideas, but many guineas. He
began ignorant, and he ended ignorant
he began poor, and he ended rich.
Mr. John Richardson, at the age OF
sixty, found himself retired from bust
ness, widower, with one son. Alfred,
the son. was spirited young man. He
despised trade and tradesmen, and par
ticularly despised the tradesman, his
father. He owned to very dim notion
of the east-end of London, but paraded
his intimate knowledge of the west His
associates were entirely aristocratic. Lord
Cheroot, Sir Edward Allnight, and the
Honorable Tom Daredevil were his sworn
friends. 1t was rather an expensive
friendship, certainly, for among them they
borrowed of him to the extent of hun
dred pounds a month or so, not one far
thing of which they made even a show
of returning.
But he had his moneys worth of praise.
They assured him that his spirit, his wit,
his sagacity, were quite extraordinary,
and, for the citizen, almost miraculous.
To be sure there was manner-an air
something only to be acquired by
companionship with persons of birth;
but he had improved greatly in this re-
spect, they said, and would, in time, be
perfect. All this was averred to his
face, and, if behind his back their re-
marks were different, why, they afforded
them amusement and gave him no pain.
One evening, Mr. John Richardson,
that respectable, elderly, we'll ltodo indi-
vidual, was suddenly taken ill. He went
to bed-and never rose again. Just be-
fore his death he called for his son, AL
fred, and, taking his hand affectionately,
delivered himself thus, in a broken
voice:
"Son Alfred, / am about to die, and
before / do so, want to say few
words, as l have always made it rule
to do everything in a business-like man
ncr. shall leave you more than fifty
thousand pounds, all got honestly and
by hard work. There is something else
| shall leave you, almost as valuable.
Attached by green ribbon to the parch-
mcnt on which is written my will, you
will find sealed paper, containing the
wisest sentence ever put together. by
acting in the spirit of that maxim | made
all my money, and by acting in it you
may use we'll the money made. am
not much of a philosopher, son Alfred,
but say that all man need know is
contained in that maxim. Do not take
it only in its vulgar sense-it applies to
every situation in life, and if people only
understood it better, they wouldn't be
such fools AS you despise or venerate
my maxim, so will you fail or prosper"
Soon after pronouncing these words
the old gentleman expired. At the
proper time the will was produced and
read. Attached to it, sure enough, by a
green silk ribbon, was Q small sealed
paper, on the back of which was written,
in German text, "The Golden Maxim"
The anxiety was intense as the man in
authority broke the seal, and opened the
mysterious paper. With loud, clear
voice, he gave forth the contents, which
were as follows:
"YoU MUST PAY THE BEST PRICE IF
YoU WANT THE BEST ARTIcLEm
At this strange end to their expecta-
tions, the auditors were variously affected.
Some laughed-some whistled-some
were angry; but not one, certainly, felt
the least respect either for the maxim or
the maxim -giver. Alfred, for whose
especial benefit the seal had been broken,
did not affect to conceal his contempt.
As soon as the company had departed,
and he was alone, he soliloquized thus:
"Well, this is pleasant, curse mel The
old fellow must not only bore me with
his musty maxim, but render me ridicu-
lous before my friends AS for the fifty
thousand pounds, I'm so far obliged to
him, but | want none of his narrow
minded posthumous advice how to use it
and conduct myself in the world. These
slow -goers are always so ready with their
counsel-and deal more ready than well
comel can take care of myself, or I'm
mistaken"
The first thing he did, to show that he
could take care of himself, was to sell
the old house and the old furniture, and
take residence in a more fashionable
situation, which he Immediately set about
furnishing. But here one of his peculi
arities came into operation. In spite Of