The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-06-08
"The Boredom Of Being Rich.'


The following essay, ON the above
topic, was awarded first prize IN the
! New York Suns amateur contest loi
| the week Of April 27
Most of US have had no personal
exner:ence of the boredom OF pelns |
rich but eve don't have to go 70
congress to get congress water, as
Huckleberry Finn observed, and per
sonaI experience is not always neces'
sary.
| A vivid realization of the entertain
ing possibilities of being poor IS an
| excellent way of understanding the
miseries Of the contrary state, ana
II is doubtless lack Of this reallza-
ton that makes so many OF the rich,
though bored, still anxious to con-
;inue in their unhappy condition.
The rich are bored because they
are not completely alive-they have
tnever had to be. They have 1acultles
which they have never used IL -
necessity alone that gives us most
Of our joys. For instance, there ~
that very common, and yet very feal
ioy-the joy Of contriying-that max
ing Of something out of nothlns,
which is almost creating. FROM lhts
the rich are inevitably barred
) For it is silly to contrive Wheh
We don't have to-as silly as to use
: candles in house fitted with cleo
| trio lights. But those of US who nave
l never had to go to bed by candle
light have missed some fine effects
7 in dim lights and gigantic shadows.
: And the rich woman who orders Sc
: many iewelied pins from Tiffany's to
!: distribute as Christmas gifts mas
: missed all the enforced but joyous
+ exercise Of ingenuity which the poor
+ woman knows.
+ And the rich are bored because
@ they have SO little change or variety
although they are always seeking
8 both, Generally speaking, we know
+ people of our own class; that is, the
n poor know the poor and the rlch
l. know the rich Consider the variety
a of the poor. Poets, actors, soldiers
$ priests, sailors, fremen, dukes, an
n archists, cooks, musicians, burglars
J. are poor-almost everybody is poor
q Only millionaires and few socialist:
i and suffragettes are rich. And the
y rich miss. too, all the entertaining
p VdgarleS OF tHe Nedthel Wy poi
4 chasing one kind Of climate all owe
h the continent They rush to Lake
~ wood, to Florida, to California, We
- travel itself is tame to the rich be
. cause it brings them SO little change
= Suppose a rich man goes to Lon
don. He leaves the hotel, or nous
very like a hotel where he happen
:. to live, and he goes On board tn
! latest thing in ocean liners-'a tloa1
-. ing hotel,' where he has all the ele
u, ~ vators, tennis courts and SHOVE
- baths to which he is accustomed. II
a. does not know he is on shipboard III
se less he is seasick. In London d
81 stops at a hotel just like the one b
has left. He eats about the sam
~ things, meets the same people, is su
u rounded by about the same servants
a rides around in the same autos an
~ taxi cabs, through streets that ne.
to loo bored to see; he has been thel
"a before, anyhow
on But though trips to London or eve
Ia to Coney Island may be. beyond q
Oh Widest, possibilities, SO much Il
re- more do our minds seek the far ho1
ps IONS. We have castles in SpaI
so The rich have only cottages"
Newport. We have air castles. I'll
dl- rich have only airships. Air castl
we last longer, The limitations OF Il
he rich are all of the wrong kind,
eel golden walls that shut them aw;
'ri- from the common lot. What is the
our human that interests them? VIII
ons do they care about the price of egg
the what do they know Of that old al
ide Inspiring game of making en-
ost meet?
in Those were true and beautiful lin
i'm mat Kate speaks in THE TWel
eff Pound Look" Poor souls, | 5
ost O. them; poor SOUL they say OF n
of 1t keeps us human
re- O. them; poor soul; they say Of n
ate And SO it does. Poverty and t
struggle keep US human. But it
only when some great calamity oy
OILS Whelms them that we or they c
realize that the rich are a part
mankind