The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-09-17

come and live there, but happiness Will
not come. They send footmanned and
postilioned equipage to bring her She
will not ride to their door. They send
princely escort. She will not take their
arm. They make their gateways tri-
umphal arches. She will not ride under
them. They set golden throne before
golden plate. She turns away from
the banquet. They call to her from up
holstered balcony. She will not listen
Mark you, this is the. failure OF those
who have had large accumulation.
And then you must take into consid-
ration that the vast majority of those
who make the dominant idea of life
money getting fall far short of affluence.
1t is estimated that only about two out
of hundred business men have anything
worthy the name of success. A man
who spends his life with the one dom
inant idea of financial accumulation
spends life not worth living.
Worldly Approval.
So the idea of worldly approval II
that be dominant in mans life, ne Is
miserable. Every four years the two
most unfortunate men in this country
are the two men nominated for the
presidency. The reservoirs of abuse and
diatribe and malediction gradually NIL
up, gallon above gallon, hogshead above
hogshead, and about midsummer these
two reservoirs will be trimming full,
and hose will be attached to each one,
and it will play away on these nom
inees. and they will have to stand 1t
and take the abuse, and the falsehood,
and the caricature, and the anathema,
and the caterwauling, and the filth,
and they will be rolled in it and rolled
over and over in it until they are
choked and submerged and strangulated,
and at every sign of returning con-
seriousness they will be barked at by all
the hounds of political parties from
ocean to ocean. And yet there are
hundred men today struggling for that
privilege, and there are thousands OF
men who are helping them in the strug-
gle. Now, that is not life worth llv-
ing You can get slandered and abused
cheaper than that. Take it on smaller
scale. Do not be so ambitious to have a
whole reservoir rolled over on you.
But what you see in the matter of
high political preferment you see In
every community in the struggle for
what is called social position. Tens of
thousands of people trying to get into
that realm, and they are under terrific
tension. What is social position? 1t is
difficult thing to define, but we all
know what it is Good morals and in
telligence are not necessary, but wealth,
or show of wealth, is absolutely in
dispensable. There are men today as
notorious for their libertinism as the
night is famous for its darkness who
move in what is called high social posi-
ton. There are hundreds of out and out
rakes in American society whose names
are mentioned among the distinguished
guests at the great levees They have
annexed all the known vices and are
longing for other worlds of diabolism
to conquer Good morals are not neces-
sary in many of the exalted circles of
society.
Neither is intelligence necessary.
You find in that realm men who would
not know an adverb from an adjective
if they met it hundred times in day,
and who could not write letter OF &C.
ceptance or regrets without the aid OF a
secretary They buy their Libraries by
the square yard, only anxious to have
the binding Russian. Their ignorance
is positively sublime, making English
grammar almost disreputable. And yet
the finest parlors open before them
Good morals and intelligence are not
necessary, but wealth or a show OF
wealth is positively indispensable. 1t
does not make any difference how you
got your wealth, if you only got it.
The best way for you to get into social
position is for you to buy large amount
Oh credit, then put your property in
your wife's name, have a few preferred
creditors, and then make an assignment
Then disappear from the community
until the breeze is over and come back
and start in the same business Do you
not see how beautifully that will put
out all the people who are in competi-
ton with. you and trying to make an
honest living? How quickly IL will get
you into high social positionf What is
the use of toiling 40 or 90 years when
you can by two or three bright strokes
make great fortune? All. my friends,
when you really lose your money how
quickly they will let you drop. and the
higher you get the harder you will drop.
There are thousands today in that
realm who are anxious to keep in It,
There are thousands in that realm who
are nervous for fear they will fall out
of it, and there are changes going ON
every year, and every month, and every
hour which involve heartbreaks that
are never reported. High social life is
constantly in fiutter about the delicate
question as to whom they shall let in
and whom they shall push out, and the
battle is going on-pier mirror against
pier mirror, chandelier against chande-
lier, wine cellar against wine cellar,
wardrobe against wardrobe, equipage
against equipage. Uncertainty and in
security dominant in that realm, wretch
edness enthroned, torture at a premium
and life not worth liviugi