CHAPTER XXVII. THE RETIRED 

 RICH NEED NOT DIE 



iN France and Germany it was customary, 

 before the war, for a man who had "made 

 his pile" to become a rentier — that is, one 

 who has retired from his office or professional 

 work and just vegetates, enjoying the rest 

 of his life in the pursuit of health, happiness, 

 and some pet hobby. During my travels abroad 

 I often came across men who had written 

 "rentier*' after their names in the Swiss and 

 Italian hotel registers, and often I was surprised 

 to see how young some of them were. Asked 

 about this, one of them answered frankly that 

 he saw no reason for remaining in the treadmill 

 when his income allowed him to roam the world 

 unfettered. ''Besides," he added, "I wanted to 

 give some one else a chance." 



In America there are no idle rich. Every 

 merchant, banker, doctor, lawyer, works like a 

 steam engine pulling a freight train up the 

 Rocky Mountains till his doctor cries his warn- 

 ing, "Stop or die." But, alas! When any of 

 these men do retire, not having anything to 

 occupy their minds, they are tormented by 

 boredom, all their faculties become rusty, and in 

 a year or two they die anyway. That is what 

 we read every other day in medical and other 

 newspapers. When rich men retire because of 

 advancing age, we are assured, it is too late for 



