Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1913-10-15
DENIED ONE PLEASURE
HANDICAP rHATais THE ACCOM-
PAYMENT OF RICHES.
Possessors Of Great Wealth Debarrsd
From Owning Anything That 10
Difficult to Aequire-Joy He II
.E 10 Doomed to Miss.

things from q man as It brings him, as
serts William Frederick Dix In the
New York Independent. The man Of
many millions loses one Of the great
est pleasures in life-the zest of own
ers hip, that sense OF satisfaction which
comes with the possession OF some
thing which has been longed for and
finally acquired with difficulty.
II something that one possesses can,
IL lost or broken, be at, once replaced
without the expenditure Of anything
that can be missed, 1t necessarily has
no value, because whether 1t Is lost OF
not is immaterial.
This is perfectly simple law of hui
man nature working automatically and
universally. The value Of a possession
depends upon the sacrifice required to
obtatnft and the difficulty of replacing
It. The only exceptions to this are the
things OF no intrinsic worth, such az
heirlooms, tokens Of love, or souvenirs
with sentimental associations. Those
are precious but not valuable. The
countless tempting, material things OF
fife that lure the unwealthy-cl clothes,
toys, books, furniture, pictures, mo-
tors, yachts and so on--cannot bring
with them the full Joy OF possession to
the man who has but to stretch out his
hand to take them.
The fascination OF the jewellers win
dow are not for him. He can select
anything and everything in the shop
which he fancles and tuck it into his
pocket without pricing It. His secre-
tary will draw a check for the bill. He
may fancy these jewels, but he cannot
prize them, they have no endowment
Of charm, because they have been ac-
CURED without effort and could be re-
placed without the slightest inconveni-
5ence. The rich boy has never known
the ecstasy of owning pushmobile
made out Of a soap box. The Joy Of
saving and planning for, and finally
selecting a certain long coveted fish
ing rod, or canoe, OF set of books, can
never come to him..
Nv One might say, that the pleasure OF
ownership is only one OF degree after
all-that the poor man finds pleasure
in owning his cottage and the rich
man in owning his railroad. Poets
have for ages sung OF the joys Of home,
the sweetness OF the hearthside and
the happiness found at the vine clad
cottage door, but have any poets ever
sung the hallowed delights Of owning
chain of rolling mills, or extolled the
joys OF the fnancier as he acquires the
voting control OF a railroad system?
81 How can a man Of many millions
conceive Of the delights Of digging and
planting a little suburban garden,
planning for it winter evenings with
his wife's eager help, buying the seeds
and coaxing them during the radiant
summer. days into fruitage, when the
only garden he knows is the vast, for.
NAL one on his country estate. planned
and built by the landscape architect,
cultivated by foreign gardeners and
visited by himself for an occasional
after dinner promenade?
It is not his, he merely transferred q
few thousand for the title to It. The
patting lovingly into place Of the seeds,
the wedding and watering and watch
ing and welcoming of the first shy
shoots are not for him. He does not
see the timid thrusting out Of tender
green things in the spring. the dawn
OF fragrant color as the buds open to
the sunshine. and. finally, the full now
or and fruit, nor feel the pride OF IA
therhood, OF ownership, Of possession
az he looks over his garden. Tony or
Mike or Sam have attended to all those
details! And what q world of Joy, Of
beauty and fragrance, what peace and
content, what feeling Of triumph
have his millions robbed him of in the
unfolding of that garden!
The man Of many millions has been
given many things. but he has been
deprived Of a corresponding number Of
things which count in this world.