The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1886-08-28
whas s wealth


Wealth cannot be any mere sum
Of money Money has no settled
value. In one place, among certain
conditions, you can get for mere
triile what you cannot buy with
thousand pounds somewhere else.
What will purchase pure air and
clear sky in the heart Of London in
November Millionaires cry out for
them invain. Yet some poor woman
say in Shetland, who never sees
money, but exchanges her knitting
work for her triAe Of tea and cloth,
can get the bracing wind and the
bright sky for nothing. We all
know how seriously this cunsidera-
ton should enter into our estimate
of the real improvement TO be look
ed for in any change Of out place or
prospects. What better off are we
in going somewhere to earn double
wages ii all the commodities of life
there costs three times as much rs
where we are now? People rush of
to capital cities To "bcticr' them
selves, by earning II few shillings
more per week or few hundreds
more per year, at the case may he
They generally find that the things
they must have absorb al. the APP
parent surplus, while many things
which they had before, and ought
TO have they have to resign alto
gether.
Wealth docs not consist Of posses
sion Of any kind. Take an illustrn-
ton: A man is wrecked on desert
island; the ships runs aground, and
he finds himselfthe owner Of bags of
bullion and precious stones, of rare
books and rich fabrics, But he can
get no fresh water Presently he
dies of thirst--a poorer man than
the beggar who wins u humble meal
by sweeping doorstep or wedding
a garden. Indeed there is no pow
erty so terrible as the possession OF
everything except what we want,
The Persian poet Sadi has a story on
this point. lie says:
Il saw an Arab sitting in a circle
of jewellers of Bosrah, and relating
as. follows; Once on n time, having
missed my way in the desert and
r having on provisions left, l gave my
self up for lost, when happened to
find bag full of pearls. l shall
never forget the relish and delight
that l felt on supposing it to be fried
wheat, nor the bitterness and DIES
pair which | suffered on discovering
that the bag contained pearls .
; Still less docs wealth consist ii
mere accumulation; we really do no
have what we do not use. A mise
had store of buried gold, owe
which he used secretly to gloat.
= thief stole them away, and wis
7 man strovc to comfort the miser b,
} pursuading him toburH;t,,, = . ,,s,or
hill, i, ;t,- - some Oyslel
q .--s-ss.. = place, and to visit them
and chuckle over them, as he had |
done over the gold.
Now let us turn to what wealth is
in the higher sense. Wealth is the
satisfaction OF those needs of human
life which, if unsatisfied, cheek its
harmonious development. No man
can be wealthy till he finds out the
limits of his needs, for "Want is n
growing giant whom the coat of
Have was never large enough to
cover" So we cannot find out what
wealth is till we find out what these
needs are.
Our bodily needs are pure air,
good water, sunshine, wholesome
food, sufficient clothing and shelter,
labor andre Our mental needs
are the education of our senses, some
leisure and some intellectual nour-
ishmcnt, either from books or so
ciety. Our spiritual needs are love
and duty. f. Mayo, in Sunday
at Home.