Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1884-02-18
The Golden Maxim.


He had arrived young in the metrop-
oils, very foot-sore, and with fve-and-
nindpence in his pocket. In the
course of thirty years he had in
creased the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to fif-
ty thousand pounds. This was gen.
orally considered clever, but in truth
the man had no cleverness in lis COM
position. The lack was more than
supplied by the possession of that
valuable quality called prudence. He
was slow, to be sure; dull, but in
dustrious short-seeing, but sharp
eyed within his ken. He passed
through his life acquiring few ideas,
but many guineas. He began igno-
rant, and he ended ignorant; he be-
gan poor, and be ended rich.
Mr.. John Richardson, at the age
of sixty, found himself retired from
| business, a widower, with one son.
Alfred, the son, was a spirited young
man. He despised trade and trades
men, and particularly despised the
tradesman, his father. He owned to
a very dim notion of the east-end of
London, but paraded his intimate
knowledge of the west. His asso-
ciates were entirely aristocratic.
Lord Cheroot, Sir Edward Allnight,
and the Honorable Tom Daredevil
were his sworn friends. 1t was rath-
er an expensive friendship, certainly,
for among them they borrowed of
| him to the extent of q hundred pounds
a month or so, not one farthing of
which they made even a show of re-
turning.
But he had his moneys worth of
praise. They assured him that his
spirit, his wit, his sagacity, were
quite extraordinary, and, for the cit
izen, almost miraculous. To be sure
| there was a manner-an air-a some
thing-only to be acquired by COM
panionship 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 thei1
remarks were different, why, they
afforded them amusement and gave
him no pain.
One evening, Mr.. John Richardson,
that respectable, elderly, well-to-do
individual, was suddenly taken ILL.,
He went to bed-and never rose
again. Just before his death he
called for his son, Alfred, and, tax
ing his hand affectionately, delivered
himself thus, in a broken voice:
"Son Alfred, / am about to die
and before / do so, / want to say s
few words, as | have always made il
rule to do everything in business.
like manner. shall leave you more
than fifty thousand pounds, all go
honestly and by hard work. There i:
something else l shall leave you, al
most rs valuable. Attached by ;
green ribbon to the parchment OIL
which is written my will, you vii
find sealed paper, containing thC
wisest sentence ever put together
By acting in the spirit of that maxim
1 made all my money, and by acting
in it you may use well the money
made. | am not much of philoso
pher, son Alfred, but say that al
a man need know is contained in tha
maxim. Do not take it only in it
vulgar sense-lt applies to every sit
uation in life, and if people only un
derstood it better, they wouldn't b.
such fools. AS you despise OF vener
ate my maxim, so will you fail o
prosper"
Soon after pronouncing thes
words the old gentleman expired
At the proper time the will was pro
duced and read. Attached to it, sur,
enough, by a green silk ribbon, wa
a small sealed paper, on the back o
which was written, in German text
'sThe Golden Maxim" The anxiet,
was intense as the man in authorit'
broke the seal, and opened the mys
terious paper. With loud, clea
voice, he gave forth the contents
which were as follows:
"YoU MUST PAY THE BEST PRICE L
YOU WANT THE BEST ARTICLE -
At this strange end to their expect
ations, the auditors were variousl
affected. Some laughed-some whis
tled-some we've angry; but not one
certainly, felt the least respect eithe
for the maxim or the maxim-giver
Alfred, for whose especial benefit tn
seal had been broken, did not affec
to conceal his contempt. AS soon a
the company had departed, and h
was alone, he soliloquized thus:
"Wen, this is pleasant, curse me
The old fellow must not only Dor
me with his musty maxim, but rende
me ridiculous before my friends A
for the fifty thousand pounds, I'm S
far obliged to him, but [ want non
of his narrow-minded posthumous ad
vice how to use it and conduct my
self in the world These slow-goer
are always so ready with their coun
sel-and a deal more ready tha
welcome! I can take care of myself
or I'm mistaken
The first thing he did, to show ths
he could take care of himself, was
F, sell the old house and the old furn
fY,pa a,,d fatro 1oC;6opaa MOI