, 1904-11-16
TREASURES OF MEMORY.
The Kind of Wealth That no BANK
Failure or Shift in Values Can
Ever Take Away.
BY L. u. WEIR.

ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Nov. 9.-Whlle
wandering through the palaces ana
plazas of the Ivory City, drinking in
its beauties, listening to its harmonies,
floating on its blue lagoons, learning lis
manifold lessons, conversing with us
strange inhabitants and enjoying a
thousand and one unique and delicious
experiences possible nowhere else, the
thought that has come to me again and
again, allow delightful it will be to
look back upon these glorious days"
When | reflect upon the many former
Worlds Fairs that | have attended and
the amount of pleasure | nave derived
from reverting in thought to the incl
dents of those visits, l realize that the
incomparably richer store of memories
| am now taking in will be worth more
to me than a dozen fortunes.
After all, what can the greatest wealth
give us, ver and above what the most
modest competence affords, save en-
larged opportunities for creating a past
that will be the solace and delight of
our future? Most of us can eat, drink,
sleep, read and enjoy all the ordinary
comforts of life; but a multimillionair is
able to accumulate limitless stores of
the interior riches ofexperience, such as
are, under ordinary circumstances, ell
tirely beyond the reach of his poor re-
lations.
But here and now we are all multi
millionaire. The wealth of a Golconda
has been lavished in providing for our
entertainment beauties and wonders of
which not Eel the mightiest emperor
of the past had ever dreamed; and at
every turn we are offered that which
will throw a ray of sunshine into all
our future years. [ may lose my for
tune, | may lose my friends, and all
the qualities that can win friendship, /
may lose my originality, l may lase my
health, but as long as consciousness
persists my imagination will neN,r fail
to Great anew, whenever my soul turns
back again upon itself, the stately IA
cades, the dreamy vistas, the heaven
piercing fountains, the labyrinths of
perfume-bathing gardens, the intoxica-
ting strains of choicest music, upon
which it has here been feasting. Once
again will l sip tea in the gardens of
the Flowery Empire, Or vodka on the
Siberian steppes, or coffee or the divans
of Stamboul, or in the encampments of
the Arabian desert; once again will 1 be
a pilgrim through old Jerusalem, and
eat pistachio nuts profanely in the
Mosque of Omar; once again will /
hagglo in the marts of Calcutta and
Boyrout and lspahan; once again will
l climb the snow-clad Alps, and in fair
Tyrol drink my fill of beauty and joy;
once again will l bid time turn back in
its flight and see all the past ages of
the world live again before my aston
ished eyes; once again will | stand be-
side the stadium, acclaiming the victor
in the Olympian games; once again
will | descend into the bowls of the
earth, or traverse the depths of the sea,
or soar through the upper regions of
the air, OF venture with Dante and
Virgil across the River of Death.
| a say, like Monte Cristo, "All the
world is mine" OF whatsoever any
II may hereafter speak / have seer or
examined it. | have been in all lands,
participated in all arts and all indus
tries, heard all great music, lived among
all people, seen all famous edifices and
all historic relics, talked with all great
men, and dreamed with the poet and
the inventor and the seer all dreams of
ideal futurity.
Nhen l sit old and decrepit, in my
chimney corner, silent for long hours at
a time, my grandchildren will know
that 1 am C more moving in men,
DRY from arch to arch through one after
another of the vast palaces that sprang
up, as by magic, for a year and a day,
IN the city of the sainted king in that
1ar-aWay year of 1904. AS the miser
counts his gold, so will l., and many an
other o~ctogenarian and nonagenarian
OF That time, count we the memories
or that wonderful year, deeming all
otners as poor indeed who have no
share in them.
w. A. Herren of Finch. Ark savs