The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-08-03
WEAKNESS OF MONEY.
THOMAS DIXON's FOURTH
SERMON.
The Poverty of Some Moneyed
Men---Money Cannot Buy a
Real home or True Affection or
the Life Of q Loved One---Jay
Gould and Mrs. Boo tn.

the Life Of Loved One---Jay
Gould and Mrs. Boo tn.
The text chosen was Proverbs XII. -,
He that trusteth in his riches shall
fall"
Let no man believe that money In It
self is an omnipotent pOwer-that money
in itself is the power that rules the world
There never was q greater blunder. 1here
never was q sadder mistake. AS n mat
ter OF fact, money in itself is the weakest
thing on this earth.
First-It cannot even make gentle
man. We see strutting down the streets
Of q great western city q man who SUD
denly became possessed of q fortune OF
81, 900, 900. He purchashed his paper
from the newsboy on the corner, and in
his grandiloguent way, when the little
fellow handed him back his change, re-
turned it to the boy, saying, "keepyour
money, sonny; keep the change; take it
and buy a cake OF soap to wash your
face" The little fellow drew himself up,
and handing back the money Indignantly
replied, "Take your pennies and go and
buy book OH etiquette and learn how
to be q gentleman. The possession OF
money does not even imply that a man
is a gentleman.
MONEY AND THE HOME.
SecOnd-It can not make a home.
man may own houses by the possession
| OF money, but money in itself can not
build a home. / know men who own
| miles of houses who do not have a home.
| To possess house is one thing, home
| another thing. The poor man who be-
lievcs he can buy it with money makes
as grave @ mistake as the millionaire
| who tries to construct his ideal in the
| palace on the browning hill. 1t is said
| that an Irishman, who was SO ugly that
he could find nobody who would marry
him in the old world, came to America
| to try his fortune. AS he walked the
streets he saw sign which read, "Fami-
lies supplied" He went in at the side
door and asked the clerk if families were
supplied. The gentleman behind the
counter replied that they were. He ran
his hand in his pocket, drew out his
greasy wallet and began to unrOll his
money He said to the clerk, 81 will
take Il wife and two children This inn
possible story but states in the concrete
truth so simple and yet so hard for
man to learn that the brightest dream
| of the soul of man can not be had in life
| Soitl vi Dttilh IlottS.
Equally impossible is it for the man OF
millions to build a home out of his
money. On Knob Hill, in San Francisco,
there are magnificent palaces that cost
millions whose broad sweeping lawns are
| OvergrOwn with tangled grass, whose
doors are locked and bOlted and barred.
One of them was owned by great Million
aire senator. Why this desolation now?
He butt it for a home. 1t cost millions.
Simply because he walked over the thresh-
old of that house one day behind the
coffin of the only child he had in the
world. AS he crossed the door of his
palace home he declared, 81 will never
cross the threshold of this house again
if live to be 100 years Oldr' He sent
carpenters, bolted and barred and nailed
the palace up, and he has never crossed
the dOOrsll since.
Money is a mighty power, and yet it
is the weakest thing in the world. Itcan
not make man a gentleman. 1t can
not give man a home. And if man
has no home and is not q gentleman,
what is he?
Third-So weak is money in itself that
it cannot give q man life. A policeman
on the force OF New York who has been
brave and faithful officer, who broke
up several gangs of roughs in several
quarters OF the city, who tramped his
beat with sense of duty and OF the
highest service to the State, was recently
LETT a fortune, and a few weeks after he
received his fortune-money sufficient to
lift him from poverty to wealth and
luxury and the things of this worId-his
body was found dead in his room with q
pistol bullet in his brain. Why should
he slay himself when he had been given
release from his hard task, when he would
be required no longer to tramp the
streets and brave the dangers of the
storms of winter and the sweltering su MS
OF summer, to go on his dark errand OF
arrest in the dangerous quarters of the
beat, when he might have lived his life of
ease and luxury? Simply because there
was little country girl whom he had
learned to love who died three weeks be-
fore, and he declared that life was not
worth living because she had been taken
from him. He had money and all its
power, and life was not worth living.
MONEY VERSUS WEALTH.
Fourth-MOney is so weak that it can
not even give man wealth. We areapt
to confuse wealth with money. A man
may have money, but not be rich Real
riches are one thing, money another.
heard OF a grocer who was growing rich
They said, by way of parenthesis, that
he was SO sting.y and mean that he would
chase q fly all around the room for a
grain of sugar. Riches are impossible
under such conditions. Such man may
accumulate mOney-he may possess it
but he is not rich
The Duke of Brunswick had accumu.
lated his treasures. He had his wealth
in diamonds and gold. He had a room
built whose windows were of iron bars,
whose doors We're OfirOn, double riveted
There was an opening in the solid stone
wall OF the room in which there was an
iron safe. His treasures were there placed
He slept in an iron bedstead rolled
against this iron door, There was only
single window through whose din
light the sun greeted him. He slept with
two enormous pistols by his bedside anG
with light always in the room. Was
this man rich? Did he possess his wealth
or did his wealth possess him? As 9
matter of fact, he was q miserable dos
chained to his treasures. | had rather
be common cur dog and wander through
the streets and highways than to besucl
man shut up in dog kennel forever.
THE RUSSIANS BED.
Was the Russian nObleman rich who
owned his vast acres and millions. who
proudly displayed his treasures to hi.
friends, in the possession of them? He tool
the stranger through every room in hi
house, showed him each art treasure
: while he wondered at their beauty ant
value. He took him into his bedcham
Der, showed him the magnificent tapes
tries, wonderful eastern rugs, themarye
ious bedstead, with its quaint carving
it's inlaid precious stones. The Russian
; fairly swel!ed with pride as he looked dow
on this bed, the laces on which wer
worth their weight in gold. "But is i
not magnificent??'' he asked his guest.
The guest replied that it was certainl,
the most wonderful bed he had ever seen
With sly wink the Russian replied
But you do not suppose, man, that
sleep on top of that? l sleep under here ;
|, He lifted the covering and showed .
mean trundle bed beneath the great bed
You could not make a man like tina
rich. Put him in palace; give him ;
bed worth a million dollars to sleep in