Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-08-05
TWO KINDS OF VICE.
The Avarice of tho Rich and the Extrav
agance of the Poor.

The Avarice of the Rich and the Extrav-
agance of the Poor.
One of the most remarkable features
of human nature, which is so strange
as to seem almost paradoxical, is the
parsimony of the rich and the extrava-
gance of the poor. Some rich men
bend all their energies to saving to-
day, as if they feared starving to-mor.
row; and those really destitute of prop.
erty seem eager to spend all that they
acquire, Look at most of the exam
Piles of very rich men in our own coun-
try, or any other, and their names are
associated with meanness and parsi-
mony. Stephen Girard starved his
clerks and himself, and was so shabbi-
ly dressed as to be frequently mistaken
for one of his own porters. The jew
ish millionaire Rothschild, who con,
trolled the money market of London
and carried the exchequers of half the
kingdoms of Europe in his pocket, oft
en- employed him self in calculating the
smallest possible sum on which clerk
could exist, and reducing the result to
practice in his own business. John
Jacob Aston, at the end of long
life spent in cautious enterprises and
long savings, left just one per cent. OF
bis prodigious fortune to found Ii
brary.
We can not discover any adequate
cause for covetousness, and may as
well set it down at once to the account
of the folly of man. What possible
benefit can this passion be to its pos
sessorp 1t renders him an object OF
pity or contempt to his fellows, for
which his own pleasure in satisfying
the greed of accumulation is but poor
exchange. Avarice, when carried to
the pitch it rises to in many men, is a
disagreeable and repulsive disease
Many man has actually starved him.
self, and, so far as he could, his fami.
ly, to satisfy more fully the accursed
lust of boarding. The monstrous alb
surdity of this fasting is seen in the
fact that the miser does not really pos
sess his money, but his money possess.
es him.
This boarding avarice is one form OF
the disease; but squandering avarice is
another. The poor squanderer is a
stranger phenomenon than the rich
miser. 1t is hard to understand why
any man should watch over treasure
which he never designs to use, but
much more difficult to comprehend
how man should, in the face of GER
tain fore-knowledge of his poverty, the
contempt of the world and other mis-
fortunes, still squander all he gets, and
never think of curbing his extrava-
gance. When this vice comes to its
height, it proves destructive to society,
for the spendthrift, like banker who
breaks, not only hurts himself, but EN-.
harnesses or ruins all who depend upon
him.
Profuseness, indeed, sometimes wins
the appellation of generosity; and the
extravaganza, so long as he retains pos.
session of his estate, is highly esteemed
and caresse | by parasites and flatterers.
1t is too customary to Judge mans
liberality by his cellar, equipage and
kitchen; so that if his table is pro-
fusely supplied, and his horses and car
riages cut a dash in the eyes of the
world, he acquires the reputation of &
generous man, when he deserves only
that of a spendthrift. On the othel
hand, the man of truly liberal and gen
erous tastes, who purchases books
pictures, statues, and devotes a liberia
share of his income to private and un
obtrusive charities, may be called GOV
etous by the herd, while he who con
tributes to the support chiefly of tav
erns is accounted model of generosity
There is no rational motive for eithe
extravaganza or covetousness. Tn,
hoarder heaps up for others, and tn,
prodigal soon scatters what others hav
heaped. The hoarder thinks so mucl
of the time to come as to forget tn
present; the squanderer has his thought
so taken up with the present as t,
neglect the future. The first acts as
he was never to die, and the last as j
he had but day to enjoy.-Bostoi
Budget.