The Washington herald., 1908-05-13

ridge shoot in Norfolk He had taken
time TO study his children. and know
them, and teach them the philosophy OF
life. The poor and oppressed had had
their share of his wealth. His son was
a power in politics.
One day he asked VandTaken. ST.. when
he was going 10 stop work and begin TO
enjoy himself, and TO live
When ! am the richest man in the
world, or when I am dead. Not before
was the answer
Then his friend compared the lives they
had both lived, and asked him whether,
If he could live bis life over again. he
would live for the money game or live
for life, and the old Croesus broke down.
and confessed that his life had passed in
a fever that he was q wealthomaniac.
and ineurable; that he could not stop
the game. because he had no other inter-
ests in life, and it was too late to ac-
quire them. But he remembered he had
a son. and he made a resolve. He would
1--we again in that son. All the things
he had not done, all the money he had
not spent. that son should do and spend
As first step toward the realization OF
his plan he sent the boy 70 Harrow.
His wife having recently died. and there
being no one to spend 1.-The money, 1t
piled up prodigiously.
When Standish Vandraken had been
at Harrow for three years his father
died, but not before he had dinned into
his sons ears that he was TO spend
money, not make It. Perhaps he hoped
to be conscious in some other world that,
on the earth he had left, bone OF his
bone, flesh OF his flesh, was doing all
the things he had left undons. weaving
a complete pattern out OF the tangled
threads he had left behind.
The boy came back to America for his
fathers funeral and entered Harvard,
which, in spite OF an allowance equal 10
the Presidents salary, did not turn him
out as conceitsd as the average college
boy; Harrow had seen to that. He had
inherited brains. too. and had q sense OF
humor-b0th enemies OF conceit.
II would have heen better II he had
had less brains. for the creative faculty
having reached a climax IN hts father,
could 80 no further. so it resct,z and
manifested Itself as a destructive force
In the son. But he had inherited no sense
OF the responsibility Of wealth; no school
or college had taught him how Il vas
made, or that It was concentrated essence
OF labor. dangerous 10 spend without
much thought. equally dangerous TO keep
and accumulate. An explosive IN the
hands Of a boy. and that boy playing
with it in crowded thoroughfares.
He could not see the danger OF such
concentrated wealth, either TO himself
or to the community which had helped
in its concentration; but he could see
great possibilities of personal enjoyment.
1t would, OF course. take careful plan
ning. he mapped Of his life into sec
tions: so many years for the lust Of
the flesh. so many for the desire Of the
eye. Looking forward. he saw clearly
that enjoyment existed only in contrast.
He Was a mateFialist born and bred. he
was as material as all hts world will be
in few years. unless some great reae-
ton sets in They say that the worship
instinct exists in every one. Vandraken
worshiped the physical; the spiritual
had no meaning for him. Something
which was called conscience bothered
him. but he only regarded IL as an In
convenient survival from Puritan days,
much as the surgeon regards the survival
Of the appendix; that conscience was a
call from the spiritual world would have
seemed absurd 70 him.
Consequences were something TO be
Teckoned with. rocks TO be carefully navi-
gated. The appalling fact that vast
wealth carried no added capacity OF en-
joyment was another difficulty in the
way OF MAPPING out his life. But as
his father and grandfather had overcome
problems in the steel business. hs hoped
70 End a way out Of the cirCumscTibed
physical limits he found so annoying.
In the map OF his future life the larg-
est space was given up TO marriage;
only il must be with his ideal woman,
and after he had created a background
OF stormy joys. as a contrast against
which the calm OF married life would be
peacefully Testful In the pride OF youth
and wealth. he thought that he could
plan his life. He mistook the laughter
OF the gods for the smiles OF the world.