Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1897-05-20

disorders For sale by DR.. ]. X. Waters
tho strange feature. The rumor ran
that he was keeping three or four million
on deposit at several New York banks.
The runor was investigated, and result
ed in the discovery that the millions in
question were indeed there, but they
were millions, not of dollars, but of
pounds sterling. News came from Bos-
ton and Philadelphia that there was as
nnch more to his credit in those cities.
It leaked out that the great London and
Westminster bank in London was pay
ing Count de Lisle dividends on eight
million pounds. But these vast sums
were but the fringes of tho counts for-
tune. He was large investor in real
estate and lands; indeed, a wag started
the story that he had purchased all of
Manhattan island below Canal street,
with it's buildings and inhabitants; but
this proved to be an overstatement.
Such fantastic exaggerations are merely
illustrations of the impossibility Of con-
ceiving really great wealth.
A million-ten millions-hundreds of
millions-the mind cannot grasp the idea
of such sums in relation to any single
owner; one seems practically about as
good as another; and, in the effort to
bring them within the bounds of COM
prehension, we give way to jests and
fairy tales. Was Count de Lisle's income
twenty-five thousand dollars a day-or
fifty thousand-or more? Whether it
were more or less he certainly could not
spend it on himself. And yet the innate
desire in the human mind to see giants
and heroes and gods-men who in their
single persons are the equivalent of na-
tions-lnakes us hope that each new
millionaire will find some way to wear
all his millions rs garment, or, rather,
as a skin, in which his own proper life
circulates Surely the wants Of man
arein1inite; how, then, can any amount of
money overwhelm him? Be it billion,
every separate dollar of it ought to be
tingling with vitality, and as busy min
istering directly to its owner as are the
corpuscles of his blood. That any of it
should be lying dead seems reflection
senses The horse is his who mounts it,
the fortune is his who spends it. No
doubt great riches need great genius, and
even genius needs practice. The power
to make ones self legitimately cost, say,
hundred dollars minute, night and
day, from years end to years end, and
year after year. is a mighty and admir-
able power, probably not yet attained on
this planet.
OF course it is understood that the
spending must be personal, and that it
must have an object. It will not do to
throw the gold into the sea, to burn the
banknotes, or even to gamble. Still
less must the ideal millionaire shirk his
burdens by ''tying mp his capital" in en-
terprises or industries where it will re-
main for long periods latent-potential
wealth only. This is simply to make
ones self an agent Of the public expend
iture; the personal element sinks out Of
sight. But let him build palace in a
night, like Aladdin; drink priceless
pearl, like Cleopatra; throw a bridge Of
gold across the Hellespont; give feast
where fountains shall run precious
wines, the dishes be set with diamonds,
the guests be seated on chairs of gold
and ivory, and every breath they draw
be freighted with the value Of priceless
treasures. The magical, the impossible
are what we demand of boundless riches,
and we are continually disguised, be-
cause, after all, nothing very much out
of the common seems to take place.
Count de Lisle, however, was still an
unknown quantity; he had not shown
what he could do, and he might there
fore still do anything. His fancy Of
great free school and museum of art,
which few pcfssns were cognizant Of,
looked we'll enough for side issue, but
for him it could hardly be more than
that. 1t was known that he had pur-
chased tract of land several miles in
extent on Long Island, and was having
it laid out and improved, with view,
apparently, of making private or semi
private park Of it, and no doubt the
site Of the school would be there. He had
houses Mt Newport and Saratoga, and pal
aces, it was said, in various European
countries; he had, since coming to New
York, given orders for the building of a
steam yacht which was expected to com
bine the best qualities of Cleopatra's
barge and an Atlantic greyhound. AS to
the Trent house, as it was still called, no
one knew exactly what he was doing with
that; he had already taken up his quarters
there, but it was understood that altera-
tions of some kind were still going on.
After all known facts were allowed for,
it was felt that the real nucleus of the
matter had scarcely been touched, and
that the sensation was yet to come.
Then, where had the counts money
come from2 So gigantic fortune could
not have been long in existence, or it
would have been heard Of. Was its
source in the mines Of Mexico? 1t was
from Mexico that the count had come to
New York; and, according to his own
account, he was the son Of single
French gentleman, and had received his
title of nobility from Napoleon-a COM
plimentary gift merely, unaccompanied
by revenue. Perhaps he had found the
key to open the long closed treasure
house Of the Montezumas. Perhaps be
had stumbled upon hoard laid up at
the period of Maximilian's accession,
when France anticipated gaining per
manent foothold in the country. Per
haps he had discovered a diamond mine
on his own account richer than those OF
Golconda. Or possibly he had only come
suddenly into number of great inher-
itances, to which circumstances had
given multiplied value. The founda-
e hn Rnth.nhilIS