The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-01-26

10 gain those riches he ne'er enjoy Pope.
Moral Essays, ~. l.
The maybe instinct OF the boarding miser
is of the strangest freaks of our weak
humanity. With wealth amassed. but use
less the miser follows niggard and penurious
course OF life, deprivng himself Of creature
comforts afflicted with poverty. This lat
eet instance is reported from Pittshurg, where
n supposedly poor man left coin and bank notes
to the amount of 100000 in a safe deposit box.
So carefully had he concealed any knowledge
OF his riches that even his brother and, sister
We're not aware that-hc was other than the
poor man he seemed to be
Wastefulness is evil against which moralists
have preached in every age. Certain forms
OF wasiefulness have been defended by some
economists on the ground that luxurious indul-
gences by the very rich to satisfy capricious
fancy put money into circulation and afford
employment to many people Another school
of economists condemns this reasoning the
ground that the same labor and money were
better employed in adding to the worlds exist
ing stock OF wealth rather than In waste But
miserliness is another form or wastefuness by
which the miser cheats himself and the world.
Money is the instrument Of commerce and
industry. 1t is useless the individuals and
the nation II Withdrawn from circulation and
boarded in safe deposit box, perhaps In
some Insecure place of hiding. If deposited in
bank the misers treasure become available
for the worlds work through banking chan
nels and the waste in relation to the body polite
Is minimized. II secreted carefully that
ITS existence 1s not suspected it means that
commerce and industry are deprived of the
benefit of so much money
Frusality is always TO be commended but
voluntary privation is vice. Polonius a wise
cid man. who strangely enough has become
identified with the type of senile folly and
tediousness, uttered sagacious .precept
than when he said to Laertes;
y
Costly thy raiment as thy purse can. bear, :.
But not expressed in fancy; rich not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the
A mans clothing is the index of his char
acter. 1t creates preposscsson in his favor
when in taste and quality it corresponds with
what Polonius advised. But the miser is con-
tent TO go through the world In threadbare
the rational pleasures of the table He loathes
to spend the money needfui for the most
nourishing food. Charity the most deserving
wins nothing from his contracted nature He
having none for himself. His days are passed
in trepidation lest his riches De swept away
This fear which arises. from a form of in
sanity In many cases, is the natural and logical
development OF the avaricious habit of mind
In all the affairs of life there is a golden
mean. Extravaganza and m.~erliness are tbc
opposite evils. Wastefuness In luxury bring,
no happiness. but often destroys health of body
and mind. Miserliness is no less harmful than
spendthrift waste to the individual and RI
society. This Pittsburg man evidently Struck
oil' at some time In the past when he worked
In the petroleum fields of Pennsylvania Instead
OF enjoying the legitimate fruits of his labor
he preferred to let his brother and sister think
him poor man Now that he is dead they
will enjoy his concealed wealth, excepting the
proportion which the State will exact as cot
lateral inheritance tax and what the law and
lawyers will require. That any portion of the
horde should go In taxes and legal expenses
would surely have been a maddening Thought
a disposition may be his punishment In death
Philadelphia Press.