The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-01

upon increasing his wealth. and the
wife's every energy was strained to-
wards climbing upon the social ladder,
and so poor were they in contentment
they might as we'll have been beggars
on the street corner for all the pleas
ure they got out of their possessions.
And l have been in homes where the
furniture was imitation oak and the
parlor carpet a thing to make an aes-
thetic shudder, but where the mistress
exhibited her plush chairs to you with
an attitude full of reverence for their
splendor, and where the man believed
his little five-room cottage an archi-
tectural wonder; and have envied
them with all my soul, for they were
satisfied, and so were rich beyond the
dreams of avarice.
My face is my fortune. sir, she
said" replies the milkmaid in the old
song when questioned concerning her
dowry, but if l were a young man,
thinking of getting married, l would
go fortune hunting for a wife who
was an heiress by virtue of possessing
a sunshiny and cheerful disposition.
can think of nothing else that would
so enrich man for his whole life as
such companionship as that. Such
wife has a capital of hope and courage
and energy of which her husband NAV
borrow when he has exhausted his
own resources, and that will set him
UP in business again when he feels
like falling. The girl who laughs, who
can take a soaking in the rain with
imperturbable good nature, and who is
always ready to enjoy anything that
comes along, in any old way, is the
real rich girl, and not the disgruntled,
iH-contrived little bit of French mil
linery whose papa may have left her
few thousand dollars.
Then there's love. What a thing it is
to be rich in love- Now and then VIC
see some fortunate individual who
seems to have the power to draw all
hearts to him. He has the ability to
win love as another man has the gift
to make money. out we never say Of
a man, "Oh, he has made a great
success in life: he has made everybody
he met better and happier for having
known him; he's rich in love" Yet
surely, to be prosperous in love, to
feel every face brighten at your APP
proach, to know that good wishes go
with you and hearts beat in sympathy
with your sorrow or your gladness-
surely that makes man rich with \
wealth that is far beyond gold and is
worth as much to him as, say, being
a bank director.
There are also fortunate people who
are rich in their family relationships.
Every man who has got a good wife
has the wealth of a Golconda. Every
woman who feels her heart beat
against a husbands and knows it's
every throb is true, and who knows
that his strong arms will defend her
against the world. has something that
all the money of the universe cannot
buy. The poorest mother who holds
her babe upon her breast would not
sell it for all the jewels of a queen.
We know these things vaguely, but we
need to have them brought home to us
now and then when we are disposed to
grow anarchistic over the unequal dis
tr.bution of wealth.
The poorest person on Gods earth is
the rich man or woman with no tender
family ties, and that is only too often
the sacrifice that life demands of the
successful. 1t is the pound of flesh
over the heart that the shylock, Fate,
EFFORTS as its recompense for fame or
money. The man of millions has no
time for family life. Often he is too
busy to marry; if he does he plunges
into the vortex of money-making and
the wife into the whirlpool of society,
the children are left to nurses and gov
efnesses, and III many and many a rich
household there is hardly common
meeting place, and no environment IN
which that tender love that is made up
of the memories of a mothers Drawers
and cradle songs, of stories told in the
dark and hoped out, and dreams
dreamed together can strike down its
roots and grow.
have very dear friend who is rich
in everything else except money. She
has good hpaIfh a
family of charming sons and daugh-
tiers; but she is ceaselessly complain
ing because she isn't rich enough to
send her children to Europe or have
opera boxes, and otherwise live like a
millionaire. Not long ago / induced
her to go with me to see a poor, lone
ly. decripit old woman who has Moth
ing but money. Coming on home 1
said: Don't you envy Mrs. Croesus 4?
Wouldn't you like to exchange lots
with herr"
Exchange my lot with her!" she
cried. why you must be mad to dream
of such a thing; give up my husband
and my children to sit forlorn by my
self in that big house all day? Why,
she hasn't got money enough 20 hire
me to do it for a week"
We'll. l said IF you are so much
richer than she is. / think you would
stop whining about being poor. Don't
you think it's a little selfish to expect
to have everything? You have got the
gold-the best riches OF earth-and yet
you want all the paper money, to-"
Another rich man, though he isn't
called upon 10 pay taxes on his ac-
emulation. is the man who can truly
say. My mind 10 me a kingdom II. E"
and whose wide culture has stored his
mind with all the treasures Of poetry
and history and romance. Who con-
siders him prosperous II he has 10 lit
tie Of this worlds goods that his coat
Is shabby Yet We might envy a poor
81 man.
50 completely has the idea Of mate
rial prosperity taken possession u rs
that even when We speak u laying up
something for a rainy day Ne cOncera