The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1898-02-17

"Woe unto you that are rich For We
have received your consolation"
We gather from all these that ma
terial riches alone cannot confer any
worth through their possession that
thew are ofttimes a hindrance or
snare that they lead many to perdl-
ton. and in most cases exercise an In
furious and whitening influence on
character. Yet it cannot be denied
that they are powerful for good as we'll
as evil and that in the hands Of the
comparatively few who know how to
use them Alright, they may be made
the means of knowledge and happiness
of rescuing the weak and honoring the
worthy.
Lord Bacon called riches the bag
gage or impedimenta OF virtue,
and it Is certain that the stress OF ex-
treme poverty is calculated to destroy
worth. Some one else SAID: at is
easy to be virtuous on ten thousand
a year." and most people think so, but
we question whether it is not easier to
be vlrtuous with more moderate in
come. The wise man prayed, "Give
me neither poverty nor riches" And
it Is certain that in every condition OF
life the middle state Is the safest.
There is, however, glamour in
wealth which dazzles and deceives the
beholders. They see its pleasures but
know nothing OF Its pains. To be able
to purchase whatever the eye desires,
or to command any luxury that money
will buy, appears the height OF human
bliss. But could they look behind the
scenes, they might see in many a
wealthy home, grim misery and cark-
ing care, vacuous and stated lives, hearts
seething with discomfort or deadened
by protracted qualification.
The author of tbe"Wealth of Nat
ions" says with the greater part of
rich people, the chief enjoyment of
riches consists in the parade of riches,
which, In their eye, is never so COM
plete as when they appear to possess
those decisive marks of opulence which
nobody can possess but themselves"
! If this be true, then the richest man is
no happier than the Lord Mayor in the
show, who notwithstanding the plau-
dts of gaping multitude, may be
more truely wretched than the most
miserable of them all.
What then is worth but that excel
lence or goodness which belongs to one
apart from all the accidents of for tune
that personal nobleness or ability which
Is Independent of extraneous circum-
stances, and which can neither be
given nor taken away. Or old Robert
OF Gloucester may answer for us: "Vor
the more that man con, the more
worth he vs." Ability is the test OF
worth as utility is the test of virtue.
He who can do nothing is worth moth
ing he who can do much shall be our
hero. And whether he STAY monsters
or dig sewers, whether he Invent OF
construct, whether he think or act, il
he do aught to purify human nature
or to improve mankind materially, in
tellectually, or morally, we will deem
him worthy.
| The proper perception and recogni-
ton OF real worth is not thing oil
small moment. II we enthrone the
false and dishonour the true, we pro-
mote misery and impede progress. It
behooves us, therefore, to know what
worth is and wherein it lies, and, hav.
ing found it, to do it reverence. Any
other policy means retrogression and
disaster. If the Roman senate had on
either occasion despised Cincinnatus
, because their ENJOYS found him at one
time holding the plough and at another
dining on roast turnips, Rome would
! probably have been destroyed. It il
, not what man has, but what he i.
} and what he can do that must be thu
measure of his worth. And he wht
3 cultivates any kind OF worth in himseI
} or promotes it in others. not only en-