St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-07-14
A..
CAREER
By DONALD CHAMBERLIN

showed signs of a towering ambition.
Even at that tender age he discerned
that. while there were a number Of
sources of power. the one that covered
the widest field was wealth. At any
rate, he saw persons living in fine
houses and driving about in style, and
he not only envied them. but resolved
that as soon as he was able to accumu-
late money it should be the object of
his life.
When Edward was fourteen he said
goodby to his father and mother and
went to the city to begin a career. Be
ing bright and ready at all times for
work, he found a situation and not only
kept it. but advanced rapidly. AS he
grew older there was no desire in
him for money in itself. but for the
power and prominence it would give
him. Except for the first few years
he spent in the city, he did not accumu-
late by saving. The fortune that came
to him was the result rather of daring
operations, for which he seemed to
have a genius.
After awhile Edward Wilkins had ac-
cumulated so much money that it seem
ed impossible he should ever be poor.
His safety lay in having so much capt.
tai that he could carry through any
scheme he undertook. If he wished to
buy all the corn in the country and
hold it at his own price he was able to
do so. Did ne choose to buy a rail-
way he could first depress the stock,
then purchase it and hold it at his own
valuation.
wilkins had no desire to exercise the
power his wealth gave him. He was
content with knowing that he possess
ed it. He did not care for political
preferment; he took no interest in in
fluencing the course of the government.
When the great financier was forty
years of age he had reached the sum-
NIT of his ambition. He had acquired
enormous power through his wealth,
but since the exercise of that power
would give him no enjoyment he had
come to the end of his desire. He was
like Alexander. who complained be-
cause there were no more kingdoms to
conquer.
When an active brain tires of what
has occupied and fed it there comes
a craving for something to take its
place. One such person will spend
years building a sumptuous residence,
which is more likely to be sepulcher
than a home. Another will turn au-
thor, taking comfort in giving to the
world theories for which it has no use.
wilkins, now that he had reached his
goal in half a lifetime, began to won
der what would be the end of the 9th
er half. After continued rise to the
summit would he descend again to end
his career in the valley?
One thing he had lived long enough
to recognize. Life appeared to him a
constant shifting. Nothing seemed to
endure unless it was inanimate, and
even that, though slowly. was continu-
ally changing its form. There were
mountains where there had been val
leys and valleys where there had been
mountains. Cities had been buried for
centuries, forgotten. then uncovered to
serve as curiosities. Whole sections
OF land had slid down into the sea and
passed out of sight.
What would become of his great for
tune? He knew that after his death
it would pass back into the great ocean
of wealth. But would he retain it for
the rest of his life? Now that he had
achieved it he mo longer valued it and
cared not so much what was to be-
come of it as what was to become of
him. Enough to give him the ordinary
comforts essential to old age was all he
desired. But that much was of great
moment to him.
One night he dreamed a vivid dream.
He dreamed that he returned to the
farm and was a boy again. Yet he
possessed all the experience he had ac-
quired His ambition was gone. He
said to himself: ''Here 1 am, and here
1 wish to remain. My body is not as
it was, full of life. 1t is tired. All 1
desire is rest
1t was a strange dream, this old
spirit in a young body. 1t made
marked impression on him at the time,
but gradually passed out of his mind
with other forgotten things.
When Wilkins found that he had at
tanned his desire he bethought himself
what he could do to replace the object
he had lost. Like many other rich men
under similar circumstances, he decid-
ed to build himself magnificent resi-
dence. He had long owned the farm
on which he had been born. His ia
Their and mother had died there, and
he had no use for the place. So the
house was shut up and the land left
untitled, though he gave orders that
the house and fences should be kept
In repair. The farm marked his be
ginning; the palace he was about to
build would mark his end.
He spent a year on designs for his
residence. then began to build. -Four
years passed, and it was not finished
Indeed, he did not wish it finished.
He chung to building it for something
to occupy him. When it was complete
and he moved in he seemed lost in it.
1t was big enough for hundred fami-
lies, and there was only himself to
use it.
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