THE BURDEN OF RICHES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 132, 14 January 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE BURDEN OF RICHES.

Bv ASHLEY STERXI

Tkero is no one, I suppose, of small or moderate means who has not, at one lime >r another, speculated as to what lie would do ii he had (sufficient worldly wealth to enable him to pay hit, rent, rates, and taxes without feeling the difference; or to indulge in asparagus, orchid-, caviare, and an expensive

motor-car where other lesser mortal! have to put up. with t»wrnip-tops Vlichaelim.s daisies, potted bloater and u thud-cla-ss season-ticket. More

.>ver, ! further suppose that all of us who were not fortunate enough to be horn with silver, gold, or radium spoons in our mouths, or who have not amassed riches in our businesses or professions, are still striving to attain that slate of affluence which, millionaires inform us, is fraught with constant worry and anxiety, but from which they (the millionaires) seem so loath to free themselves.

personally I receive the statements of men like Mr. Rockebih or Mr. ("arnefeller, to the effect that they were never happier than when they were in receipt of half a crown n week, for which they had to work eighteen hours a day, not merely with a grain of salt, but with a whole crnctful of condiments. Life on an income of a million a year may indeed be an anxious and worrying one, but at the same time one must not lose sight of the fact that to be anxious and worried as to how io find an outlet for an income tine already possesses is a vastly different kind of distraction from that which arises from life on an empty stomach, with clothes only fit for pen-wipers, children crying for buns, and rent so far in arrears that, from the landlord's point of view, it may well he described as "lost, but not forgotten."

Yet, up to a certain point, I feel 1 can sympathize witli the millionaire over what he facetiously calls hits "'troubles." ft must lie infinitely galling to his highly sensitive- millionaire nature to feel that, though he has the means, he lacks the anatomical accommodation to carry more than four heavy and luxurious meals a day; that social etiquette prohibits his decorating his person with more than a limited quantity of gold and jewels; that the wearing of more than one fur-lined overcoat simultaneously in irksome; that he can only be se.i-6i'ck in one palatial yacht at a time; and that, m i-p : tc of his wealth, his frail body is siill liable to he attacked by the same cheap and vulgar brand of microbes which invade the system or the poorest and humblest Labour member The truth of the matter is that ven few rich men are able to differentiate between luxury and comfort. Nntv, were I rich, 1 should not fall into t!:;s error. There are two tilings, and two thing-: only, in wire!] 1 should indu'gc mys'lf, and these are not luxuries, but simple, lowly croatuie-coinforts. The of my money ! should devote towards establishing a Home of Rest for tlie Private Secretaries ol .Millionaire-. Firstly, then, 1 would keep a box of. ay, a thousand collar-studs upon my dressing-table, so that 1 should no longer have my daily humiliating experience ef gnvelluig on the floor and under ley bed, and reducing my head to a state of pulp against the project'ons -f excessively hard wood which furniture-makers (\ believe, vengcftiily and purposelv) u- ? for tin- manufacture of bedroom furniture Nor shouM I have to emerge from my loom with one pin perforating the nape of my w'. k and another punctui ing my huynx—tortures wlmli i normally have to endure until i can see!; relief at :'ie n art st haberdasher's. Secondlyj I would keep a box of mat -lies chained and p allocked to every mantelpiece in the house. Only the habitual smoker can thoroughly appro ciate the comfort to be di lived from i ! n plan. The sole pi rson in my own ! unie v- i.o ever seems to have a-iv matches i- the housemaid, who goes about the place with every hole and cranny of her co-hune distended with match-boxes. But if ever 1 have tie lemerity in as!-: her if -she •:• in oblige me with a luitcli. she never produces ov>o from her p -rson, but cheerfully rum do-.wi three flights of stairs to the 1: li-ln 11, and fetches ine .' i'llM. 11 'W I. ix. 1 strike one, and place the remainder on a chair or a table; but ulien. a few minutes later. I require them agiin. they have van shed—gone. of course j to swell the secret hoard ei.uitlh't ng against llie day when -\\<- i-p -;;-;-. the ini'knni:!. Happy milkman ! I'll- re w II be no stint of matches Mi soni> years in his household. Nor. now I come to think of it. will he ever know the lack of a < ollar- tud : for 1 lever subsi ([iiently si i rw ■ again upon the two 1 lose every morning, and since the housemaid "does'' my room. does not h. rself wear collars, and has, moreoM ■:. been with me for seven vi ,u's it is char that she has amass.-d a dowry of ."..lid best mixed studs. May Mr. t 'udkley Waters live up to ihem '.