1 6 A Rich Poor Man 



raiment, and shelter need be but slight. At 

 present we put a fictitious value upon labor as 

 a moral exercise apart from results. One hun- 

 dred years ago our Puritan ancestors doomed 

 here and hereafter the man who held to any 

 but the most dreary and dreadful beliefs ; sun- 

 light, moral as well as physical, to them partook 

 more or less of the nature of sin. To-day we 

 are in danger of erring similarly with regard to 

 work. One fetish is taking the place of an- 

 other. I deny that the man who prefers his 

 lobster boat to the banker's desk, who would 

 rather know the habits of the clam than the 

 price of lard in Chicago, New York, and those 

 other places, is in danger of deterioration, or 

 that his example is vicious. Let all the world 

 follow your advice, say the wiseacres, and we 

 should drift back to savagery. 



That eminent financier, Mr. Jay Gould, is 

 said to have remarked, in a fit of depression, 

 or perhaps in an attempt to discourage envy of 

 his millions, that his money gave him nothing 

 more than some clothes to wear, a house to 

 live in, and some little luxuries. Some of my 

 critics will undoubtedly exclaim: "Look at 



