Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-08-04
A POOR OLD MAN.
Times-Dispatch.)


CRichmond Times -Dispatch.)
The saddest figure In American
life today is that of John ID. Rookie
feller, sitting lonely and unloyed
among the millions which he can
neither enjoy nor give away. His
lifelong yearning for great riches
gratified to safety, he has the pain
of finding those riches as ashes in
his mouth. He sacrificed almos,
everything to his passion for wealth,
and his success has left him DESC
late. And too late he has walked to
the simple truth that it takes more
than pile of glistening gold to
make q man happy and glad of life.
Whether rightlyor wrongly, Rookie
feller is judged as the arch offender
OF his type. He is reputed at once the
richest and the most heartless of men.
Through his perfectly organized
news-cllpping bureau, now almost
his sole personal interest, it is his
unhappy lot to learn in his old age
how the methods and impulses Of
avarice strike upon the hearts of a
people. Glutted with acquisition.
be turned at length to distribution.
only to meet an unparalleled hnmili-
alton. A great church shrank from
his money lest it pollute her. To
bis infinite and bitter modification,
be found himself among the Greeks
of the poet, feared even while he
brought gifts. Harassed and mis-
cradle old man, who could buy a
principality for an hours amuse-
ment, he is suffering for want of a
kind word.
In the wide world there is but
one thing that John d. Rockefeller
wants-a thing so free that even
the poorest of us so often have it in
abundance, which, yet, all his hard
wrung dollars cannot avail to buy.
1t is just drop of human affection
and kindly sympathy aud the ap
proval of his fellow men. In the
words of a recent dispatch, he
"thirsts for sympathy, hungers for a
kind word" In the grounds of his
magnificent estate at Forest Hill, he
sits for hours with his chin sunk on
his breast, morose, wretched, alone
but for the guards lowering in the
distance. Who can plumb the bit
terness of the thoughts that then
rise up to oppress him?
So regular churchman as Mr..
Rockefeller can hardly have es-
capped learning that men are Judged
of each other by their fruits; that
his countrymen must estimate him
by his life's record of deeds need
not, therefore, surprise, though it
may pain, him. He set out in life
with the overmastering desire to
grow rich, and he has had his ambi-
tion triumphantly gratified. Verify,
he has his reward. Other simpler
souls have lived out their days in
the kindly desire to do good and
help others. And they have their
reward In the love aud esteem of
those who know them. at the out
set of life, each of us comes to the
parting of the ways, and we make
the choice according to our kind.
Aud We, each of us, have our re-
ward. But the reward of the poor
man who is writ as one who loves
his fellow men is heartfelt tribute,
quite distinct from finance, which
all the rich mans gold may not
buy.
Poor, rich, old Rockefeller! So
rich in wealth, so poor in common
affectionl So rich in barren pos
sessions, go. poorest in that he has none
to enjoy them with! Richest of
Midasses, poor of meni The richest
man in the world, with whom not
the humblest would wish to change
placesl
Was there ever so pitiful picture?