The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-27

But Never Spent a Penny for Per-
SOnaI LuXuries.

out SpcAk u ISnhy
sOnaI Luxuries.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Mr.. James Tyson, who died at the
age of seventy-six in Sydney, Austria
liza, during December, worth S25, 900 900,
was, perhaps, the most peculiar mil
lionaire of modern times and his life
contains number of leSsorS-of vary
ing kinds His idomitable energy, so
| characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race,
was remarkable, but not nearly SO
much so as the fact that practically not
cent of his immense wealth was spent
upon personal luXurieS. To use his own
words, he never entered church or
a theater or a saloon; never tasted beer,
wine or spirits; never swore, never
used soap (using sand in the place Of
iG, and never wore a white shirt or
glove"
To most men this would seem like a
willful waste of opportunities, and a
voluntary choice of a dull and barren
life. But 1t is all in the point of view.
The first exclamation of an American
is: why he might just as well have
never had the money"
That was precisely the view taken
by Mr.. Tyson. He did not care the
snap of his finger for his great wealth
his only pleasure being not in seeing it
pllt up, Dul Tie IledIS Nv WHICH
he accumulated it. He explained the
matter quite naively:
ut is the game" said he with an ex-
ultant snap of his fingers. Every man
has his purpose in life. Something to
fight and to pursue"
And he was right. With some it is
wealth, some fame some the public
veal. There are those who spend their
days signing and plotting for a wom-
an, and others who live but for pleas
| ure. Tyson's sole delight lay in con-
Quering the desert.
st am persuaded" he said, that at.
tainment is nothing; the pleasure is
in the pursuit, and 1 have been pur-
suing all my life and I believe 1 have
been happier, as I have been more for
tunate than most men,"
His early life UP to the age of thirty
was most unlucky, but at that period
he began to buy cattle from stockmer
who had no money and to sell to miners
in the newly opened Bendigo gold fields
who had no meat, and with keen fore
sight gradually extended his opera
lions until he owned half a million
acres and held leased lands covering
several thousand square miles, becom-
ing the largest land owner in Australia
Retaining these lands from the de-
sert became his hobby.
Fighting" he exclaimed. THAT has
been my work! I have been f1ghtine
the desert all my life, and 1 have won
1 have put water where there was nc
water. and beef where there was nc
! beef. I have put fences where there
were no fences, and roads where there
We're no roads. Nothing can undo
what [ have done, and millions will be
happier for it after I am long dead and
forgotten
He lived and died a bushman, igno-
rant so far as letters and social usage
went, careless of religion, trying only
to do what he thought to be right and
arriving at wise conclusions through
no path but rugged good sense He
fought and won his fight, with one pur-
pose steadily in view at all times and
seasons, living fearlessely and consist
emily the life he had chosen for him
self. The wealth that he had gained
and left behind him was but side in
cident, trivial detail in the work that
formed his pleasure and his task as
well. and who shall say that he did not
live as happily and to as good a pur-
pose as another? AS one reviewer puts
1T: He was the most harmless mil
l1onaire that ever lived"