The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-05-26
COMMON SENSE ABOUT MONEY.

Because thing is an everyday
matter does not imply that we know
all concerning it. Few people, even
school teachers, know all about the
common air, common water and COM
mon sunshine. Only the other day
experiments with liquid air have led
to new theory as to the cause of
thunder. From the days of Solomon
to the moralist of yesterday money
has been discussed, and the last word
has not been said yet. Perhaps, like
other things common, we take only a
partial view of it, narrow one, or yet
more frequently one out of all true
relation or perspective. The pur-
suit of money or the love of it is sim
ply form of ambition. There are
hosts of people who never attempt
art, music, poetry, science, litera-
ture or Congressional oratory but
most people work for livelihood, and
so an increase of income is not only
acceptable in itselft, but to obtain it
gives a pleasant feeling of success.
In one sense the possession of wealth
is not necessarily an advantage, if
happiness is the aim of life, for often
do we find that those born with sill
yer spoon in their mouth, as the COM
mon saying has it, are not necessarily
any happier for their seeming good
fortune. Our millionaires find out
that wealth entails more labor than
poverty, and certainly more anxiety.
But after saying all this, the indispu-
table fact remains, that the possession
of an income, increasing as the years
roll on, adds very largely to the COM
fort of life and its independence of
spirit. Says the proverb "The
man with brains and no money is a
slave with money and no brains is
fool with both money and brains is
a king" Burns expressed a great
truth in saying:
Gather gold in every vile
That's justified by honor.
Not for to hide it in a hedge,
Not for train attendant.
But for the glorious privilege
Of being independent.
IL ID uGNSl ulOuCy III ltSSllj Jul luC
love of it, which is "the root of all
evil" The really poor man is he
who has abundance and longs for
more. He is like the drunkard,
whose thirst increases with the more
he drinks. John D. Rockefeller said
in an address before a New York BIZ
bic class the other evening: "The
pursuit of riches is not wrong thing.
On the contrary, gold is one of the
mightiest agents for the doing of
good, and though there are bad rich
men just as there are bad poor ones,
l believe that most wealthy persons
look upon their money as sacred
trust which they hold for the good OF
their fellows Such view Of mon
Hsses eroper andt tucnnSse., ~ w -
I1els gwen i1l sswsTyI- It IS Decofffs
a Prevailing one among wealthy men.
The true value of money depends
partly on the manner in which it is
acquired, and more largely on know
ing what to do with it.
Scion made very pertinent answer
to Croesus "Sir, if any othef, come
that hath better iron than you,
be master of all this gold" N
prayed that everything he toud
might be turned to gold, but when
found that his wine, bread, cloth
and very bed became what he long
for he had to pray to be rid of t
curse. Wealth, to be an advantag
depends upon the use we make of
Like every other blessing-knoW
edge, strength, beauty or skill
can be abused, it is valuable, in thd
it gives command Of so many thin
Leisure, the power to help pool
friends, books, works of art and gen.
eral improvement. To use it forl
mere display or ostentation is out of
relation to true happiness. Still,
there is something quantity pious in
Pepys' boast: Abroad with my
wife, the first time I ever rode in my
own coach; which do make my heart
rejoice and praise God, and pray him
to bless it to me, and continue it,
This, indeed, was somewhat selfish
satisfaction, but then a little selfish
ness, properly directed, becomes a
sort of virtue.
Solomon, speaking of wealth and
its accompaniments, said What
hath the owner but the sight Of it
with his eyes. A collector may pay
a hundred guineas for an autograph
of Shakespeare, but the poorest boy
can buy Hamlet for a nickel. So we
are all really richer than we think.
We often hear of earth hunger. Peo-
pie envy the owner of big farm or
estate, and fancy how delightful it
must be to have such an establish
ment, forgetting what Emerson says:
eff you own land, the land owns
you." A current magazine tells Of
the magnificent stables of certain rich
men-the largest being that of VIM.
c. Whitney, $40 feet long. But he
cannot use hundred horses in day
or month. In way they possess
him. To the wise man all the world
is his acres. He has the roads and
footpaths, the streams and rivers, the
hills and mountains, the mill-dani
and ocean. What most people lack
is not money, but the power Of enjoy
ing what they possess. If we do not
have certain things let us enjoy look
ing at what others have, as this en-
tails no labor and requires no man
agement on our part. Henry Ward
Beecher was true philosopher, who
said he did not care to possess dia-
monds so long as jewelers. put them
in shops windows for him to look at.
-Lan0aster (Pa.) Examiner.
IAcK-"How did you come out on