MONEY.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 38, 15 December 1894, Page 3

MONEY.

Observe: I lay this piece of yellow earth on the table —I contemplate you both; the man there —the gold here. Now there is many a man in those streets honest as you are, who moves, thinks and- reasons as well as we do ; excellent in form, imperishable in aoul, who, if his pockets w'ere three days empty, would sell thought, reason, body and eoul too for that little coin. Is that the fault of the man ? No !It is the fault of mankind, fl-od made man—behold what mankind have made a god.— Lyttok. For days an almost irresistible desire has urged me to write about money. Money ! The subject which of all others I particularly dislike, and from which it impossible to escape. There is a very common fallacy that money is the most powerful thing in the world. It is nothing of the kind. Money is no more power than fatness is stx-ength, and, when one does not know bow to use it, it is perhaps the least powerful thing for happiness and the most powerful for misery that one can have. Take the case of a rich old man surrounded by friends (P), such as money can purchase. Not only does he see through their sordid motives and hate them, but he suspects the good who would be true, and often leaves his money to the very falsest. It is happiness men desire, and they think if they had money they would be happy, losing sight of the fact that happiness is not to be purchased. Longfellow sings : ■Whoreunto is money good ?■ Who has it not wants hardihood ; Who has it has much trouble and care : Who once has had it has despair. I once heard a man say “If I had plenty of money,” —this with a lordly air begotten of the mere idea —“ I would give a lot away. I would go up to a man and say, “ Here, poor man, here’s ten shillings for you.” And I astonished him by saying—*l And 1, if I were the man, would fling it in your face, and tell you 1 valued my own independence far more than your money.” It struck me very forcibly then that the possession of money would make many men simply unbearable they would ride rough-shod over everyone’s feelings, and feel that the fact that they owned money justified them. With so many of those around us the chief consideration seems to be. ; —“ How much is he worth meauing how much money has he got —not how much good is there in him. Surely this is alow standard to judge our fellow creatures by, and one tenable by only vulgar minds. Then again we see men who are known to have a few pounds more than their neighbours, looked up to and tolerated, though we know right well that if they were to lose their money the world would be able to see no good in them, and what is now only eccentricity would then be madness or something worse. W T e are all too apt to lose sight of the fact that the best men and women are to be found among those who have a very scanty share of this world’s goods, for nothing brings out the good that is in us like the struggle against adverse circumstances.

A few years ago when business in Invercargill was dull, and our daily papers cantained melancholy lists of bankrupt notices, among those who suffered by the failures of others was a man who had a delicate wife—really delicate —not with the delicacy of disinclination for work, which affects so many women. When she saw how hard things were for her husband, she decided that she, too, would bear her share of the burden, so to save the cost of wages she discharged her servant and bravely faced the unaccustomed work. For weeks she suffered the most agonising pain, caused by the strain on unused muscles, and none but those who have had it to bear know what a terrible, unceasing pain it is. At times she was tempted to say “ Life is too hard,” and to give in, hut she stuck to it like a woman of real grit, often crying quietly when alone,-but always showing a brave, cheerful face when others were by. In the course of time the pain eased off ; the work, through use and more capable management, seemed lighter, and at last what had been such a trouble became quite a pleasure, and she, who had been a comparatively useless member of society, became one of the cleverest and most* helpful. The lesson was a hard one, but it increased her real worth a hundredfold. Linda.