82 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



tions, and fussy teas; of the liberty to do 

 nearly as you like, and go where you please, 

 and enlarge upon Mrs. Grundy as roundly 

 in words as you are sure to do in thought. 

 Poverty throws a man on himself, and he 

 is happiest and best when he is making 

 the most of himself. His pleasures, being 

 simple and intellectual, are lasting. He is 

 relieved of a lot of worry about yachts, 

 starch, balls, dresses, precedence, and fluff; 

 and he does n't have insomnia because the 

 papers failed to get his name " among 

 those present " at the dinner to Lord de 

 Livrus. There is a man who struggled 

 for years to get into the set that calls it- 

 self society and strangely overweens itself 

 because Jenkins hangs on its skirts and 

 reports its breathings in the public prints. 

 Ever since he got in he has been wonder- 

 ing why he did it. We are all rainbow- 

 chasers. The pains of poverty, where they 

 occur, depend on the width of the gap be- 

 tween a victim's material aspirations and 

 his possessions. The poorest people I 

 know are bankers and speculators with 

 yearly incomes of $50,000 or so, and two 



