, 1891-05-27
A POOR UNFORTUNATE.
lie has plenty Of Money, but he is always
afraid Of being poor.

We know a man who deserves a great deal
ofpity.
He is possessed of houses, and lands, and
stocks, and bonds, and horses, and cattle, and
the world calls him rich.
Almost everybody envies him.
He wears his broadcloth and diamonds every
day, and drinks good wine if somebody else
will pay for it.
But this rich man feels very poor. His
whole life is a round of direst apprehension.
He is afraid the banks will break. He studies
the financial record as If his life depended on
what he read. He cannot sleep ii he hears
that any one of the railroads whose bonds he
holds Is not paying expenses.
He lies awake nights and worries about fire,
and II he hears the alarm he is out of bed and
dressing with Ii htnlng speed. He is afraid
it may be some Of his buildings.
If anybody talks about murrain, he grows
pale; he has thousands of dollars invested in
cattle.
He is always talking about hard times. 1t
is difficult, he says, for him to make accounts
balance at the end Of the year. He is at such
an expense and so little coming in. Taxes are
enormous, outrageous, in fact, and how he is
going to pay them is more than he knows.
There ought to be something done to lower
this tax rate; it is eating everybody out of
house and home.
His family are under the cloud of his poverty
continually. He buys the cheapest steak and
the strongest butter, and suggests to his wife
thatthey should use molasses in stead of sugar.
times are so hard. He wonders where on earth
that barrel offour has gone to. He never saw
anybody use SO much flour as they do. If they
are not careful they'll have to 20 to the Aims
house yet
He is always cutting down lis wife's sup
ply of pocket money; he knows she is not so
careful about her expenditures as she might be,
and he says he wishes he could be a woman for
a spell. He'd see to those swindling dress
makers and miIlinerS i'll way they would not
relish.
If any of his workmen are two minutes be
hind tinein the morning, he groans and feels
bitterly aggrieved, and vows he will cut them
down 10 per cent, if such a thing occurs again.
He'll let them know that he is not going to pay
them for loating up and down the streets. No,
Sir
He beats everybody down. If only a few
cents can be saved, h. says, it is worth while.
He wants to try and get enough together to
carry him through. But times are SO hard,
and investments so tlcklish.
Ask him for charity and he will look at you
as if@he deemed you mad. Want him to give
something for smiths family of children, 10
of -'em! Why, good heaven! whatever
could Smith be a thinkin of to raise SO many
children. Din't he know he was poor? Din't
he know it costs money to feed SO many
mouthsg
For his part, he has ways enough for what
little spare cash he gets to go without feed
ing those TO- children that had no business to
be born. What if Smith did get killed by fall
ing from the roof of one of his buildings that
he was Iepairing7 That wasn't his look
out, it was Smiths. He hadn't any business to
fall; he was paid. for staying up there and lay
ing shingles, not falling down and getting
killed. 4
Ask him for money for a minister. He will
laugh in your face, and instance st Paul and
several other ancient worthless, who preached
for nothing and found themselves. He doesn't
want any minister. If Everybody behaved as
we'll as he does, there would be no need OF
ministers.
And we quite agree with him; for if all the
world were like him it certainly would not
be worth saving. 1t would not be a paying
investment.-N. Y. Daily News.