138 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



away, and very fit. Who- whoop at last ! 

 Those were halcyon days ! Why, oh, 

 why will they not return ? 



I am not too ambitious, but without 

 some of that commodity you*re nowhere. 

 I have no ardent ambition to be a 

 millionaire. There have been four or 

 five of those jokers either commit suicide 

 or gone broke this very year. I enter- 

 tain a strong conviction that the happiest 

 are those who just acquire a nice little 

 bit more wealth than they start with, 

 and not too much. About ;^20,ooo 

 would fit me to a nicety, and back in 

 the old home. The little farmer of 100 

 acres who presently becomes master of 

 200 acres is happy ; so is the mechanic 

 or artisan who builds a house and pays 

 for it, or who, having two or three 

 houses, plays them up into a nice little 

 row of houses. Not much pleasure in 



