The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-03-30
GOLD DIGGING.
Uneducated Men Who Received More Harm
Than Good from the Acquisition OF
Wealth.


Than Good from the Acquisition of
Wealth.
The more the element of chance
enters into the acquisition of money.
the greater is the harm it does the man
who gains it. This probably is the
reason why gold-digging seldom ele-
Yates, either morally or materially,
those who follow it. 1t demands of
the digger enterprise, perseverance,
toll and indifference to hardship. quail
tiles the exercise of which should
make man of him. Yet the ''luck''
associated with the business seems fatal
to manly virtues and permanent pros
perity.
The digger may toll for weeks with.
out raising the color" and all the
time he sees his neighbor of the next
''claim" washing out an ounce of gold
to the pan. The view is not likely to
eradicate his natural envy or cOvetous-
ness. On the other hand, he may, by
a few days of prospecting, wander
ing over the barren hills, with dom
key for companion and a burden
bearer, stumble upon a fortune. In
most cases the find tempts the finder
to add another to the thousands OF
illustrations of the fact that that which
is gained without labor is spent with
out thought.
A gentleman of large experience in
the Australian gold fields says that al
most the only instance he ever knew
where an uneducated man did not re-
ceive more harm than good from find
ing gold, was the following:
A man who had been few months
in the colony, and had supported HIM
self by digging in a garden, went up to
the s'diggings. He knew nothing of
mining, and could hardly tell quartz
from common rock. Within two weeks
he stumbled upon a nugget of pure
gold, weighing seventy ounces. That
very day he started back to the coast,
as if in a hurry to get away from the
mining district. On reaching sea
port, he engaged passage for England
on the first boat. and went home to
enjoy the profits of his brief mining ex-
pedition.
AS an offset to this rare case, the
gentleman mentions several cases in
which men were ruined by their sud
denly acquired wealth. Four sober,
industrious men worked a. claim In
partnership. They. S+Cruck gold. af1p
thousand dollars apiece. But in tw
wears three out of the four died drunk
ards, and the fourth lost every penn
of his fortune by prospecting for gol
and buying Improbable claims.
A blacksmith dabbled in mining, an
got into debt. One day he struck gold
He worked on, and was soon in the re
ceipt of twenty-five hundred dollars
daY. His claim continued to "pal
OUT better and better, until no one
not even himself, knew how much h
was worth. The man had the stuff i
him out of which noble characte
might have been formed. He laugh
himself to read and write, and for
season went onward fitting himself t
become a good citizen and safe ma
of business.
But madness was in his blood. H
took to wild speculation in gold mines
set up a racing stud, "bulled'' o
''beared' the wheat market, and wen
into every thing which admitted c
gambling. The nervous strain tempte
him to brace himself with stimulants
He became a drunkard, and in a fey
years was gazetted as bankrupt.
The young man who by industr
and self-denial saves his first on
thousand dOllars-John Jacob Asto
said it cost him more to gain that sun
than it did to acquire the rest of hi
fortunes prepared to carry steadily
without losing his head, the ten o
twenty thousand which he may ge
afterWard.
A few years ago a young man O
Boston was the marvel of his friends
His mercantile ventures turned out
large profit. Whatever he touched
stocks or merchandise, turned int
gold. Young men pointed him out a
the envied one, and crafty mother
with manageable daughters viewed
him as catch to be worked for
But old merchants shook their heads
Knowing that it requires as much self
control and wisdom to keep fortuna
as to gain one. they looked to see
this young Napoleon of the street wa
moved by a mercantile head or
gamblers rashness. Within four year
from the time that his name was
synonym for success, he was bank
rupt.-Y Youths Companion.