The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-05-16

fearful picture OF a mldnlgnT scene IN
a m~illionaire's householG-riches I'm
able to brighten a wretched life. His
nerves gone, his digestion gone, his
brain gone, he dies.
And while the pUrsuer of wealth is
apt to lose his health, he is also liable
to neglect the cultivation of his intel
lect. AS an instance to substantiate
this statement, l will point you to the
life of Mr.. Beckford, the author of
"Vathek." Although he, in his youth,
produced a story which bears all the
signs of true inventive genius, he al
lowed his love for money to get the
better of his higher intellectually.
This man really had invention, and an
extraordinary narrative power, that
these faculties, after having once re-
vealed themselves, should have con
tentedly remained dormant ever after.
wards is one of the most curious facts
In the history of the human mind.
BecktOrds case appears to have been
one OF those in which the love of great
wealth diminishes or wholly paralysis
the highest energy of the intellect. A
refined self indulgence became the
habit Of his life. He exercised no in,
fuenCe beyond that which any man
of wealth exercises. His owe of the
beautiful began and ended in simple.
personal qualification; it led to mo noble
labor, to no elevating severity of dis
cipline. He to whom nature and for
tune had been so generous with their
gifts he whom Reynolds painted and
Mozart instructed, who knew the poets
of seven literatures, culling their jewels
like flowers in seven enchanted gar
dens, he to whom the palaces of knOwI-
edge all opened their golden gates even
in his earliest youth, he for whom a
thousand craftsmen tOiled in Europe,
and a thousand slaves beyond the sea.
What has this gifted mortal left as a
testimony of his power, as the trace of
his ~fOur-scOre years upon the earth?
Only the "Reminiscences of a vague SPLEEN
dor, like the fast fading recollection of
the cloud that burned at sunset; and
one small gem of intellectual creation
that lives like a tiny star.
Again, a mans love for wealth some
times causes him to sacrifice all the
nOblest possibilities Of his soul, and to
use such means to gain his money as
W'A@A OtS4A42I AOAN@O Ill Ii O411 1AOCg III
He who has no higher aim than the
possession of dimes and dollars may
become a very rich man, and yet re
main an exceedingly poor creature; for
riches are no proof of moral worth,
and their glitter often serves only to
draw attention to the wOrthlessness of
their p~OssessOr as the glow worms light
reveals the grub. Neither a mans
means nor his worth is measurable bv
his money. If he has a fat purse and
a lean heart, a broad estate and a mar
row understanding what will his
means" do for him, what will his
worth" gain him?
The name in which so many allow
themselves to be sacrificed to their love
of wealth remind one of the cupidity
of the monkey. In Algiers the Kabyie
peasant attaches a gOurd to a tree, and
places within it some rice. The gOurd
has an opening to it merely sufficient
t. admit the monkeys paw. The crea-
ture comes to the tree by night, inserts
his paw and grasps the booty. He
tries to draw his paw back, but it is
clenched, and he has not the wisdom
to unclench it. So there he stands till
morning, when he is caught, looking
as foolish as may be, though with the
prize in his grasp.
There is in Australia what is known
as the cannibal tree. 1t does not grow
very high, and it spreads out its leaves
like great arms, until they touch the
ground. In the top is a little cup, and
in that cup q mysterious kind of honey.
Some of the natives worship the tree,
and on their festive days, they gather
around it shouting and dancing. Then.
as a part of their ceremony, they select
one from their number and, at the
point Of spears, drive him up the tree,
He drinks of the honey, he becomes in
toxicated as it were, and then those
arms, as if imbued with life, rise up,
encircle in their folds and crush him to
death, while his companions stand
around shouting and singing for ioy.
Money greed has been our cannibal
tree, and as one after another of the
promising young men Of this country
have been driven by it into a peniten-
tiary cell, a drunkard's grave. or to
the gallOws beam, their fellow citizens
have stood around and shouted, Great
is the power of money"
Butt the dream has passed, the night is
gone, and in the East we see more than
the light of coming day. When Christ
said, What shall it profit a man if he
gain the whole world and lose his own
soul, d" thus teaching the priceless worth
of every human creature, he intro
duced a new idea into the world, which
is leavening society. 1t has manumit-
ted slaves, it has elevated it
has overthrow despotisms, and has
swept away privileges and abolished
castles. A marvellous change is taking
place, and coming from the North the
South, the East, the West, their faces
radiant with a new-found joy, multi
gience to this grand reform. The peo-
pie are beginning to see, with Marcus
AUrelius, that we are made for CO.
operation, and to see that acting against
! each other is nnntrnr- "a 4LSSl-