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steps of ascent and descent from one to the other are of 

 easy gradation, they mingle as they join. It is certain that 

 the divisions are not in their nature permanent. There is 

 no gulf that may not be crossed. The divisions are un- 

 marked by the possession by some of a great source of 

 wealth, hopeless of attainment by others. Wealth and 

 luxuiy if enjoyed by anj', have been reached through in- 

 dividual activity or enterprise, far reaching foresight, and 

 years of toil and thrift and self-denial. No one can chal- 

 lenge them as seized and appropriated from what was a 

 common heritage, or as founded upon a denial of that 

 equality of rights and privileges which far exceeds in value 

 any wealth of nature. Their possession does not incite 

 the jealousy and enmity of the many, nor are the advan- 

 tages which it confers conceded with that sullen acqui- 

 escence that marks submission to a wrong. It rather 

 serves as a stimulus to endeavor for all, as a shining goal 

 for which the contest is a fair and generous rivalry. The 

 pathway which has led to it is plain to all. It is natural 

 to humanity to yield to men with willingness and admira- 

 tion what has been won through superior qualifications, or 

 has come to them through good fortune, or as an inherit- 

 ance from the past ; and if as a result, there comes in time 

 a class in society separated from another with some sharp- 

 ness of distinction, such a class is not an element of dan- 

 ger in a republic, but of strength and cohesion. It is an 

 ever present argument against unrest and turbulence, for 

 it holds always in its hands the rewards of peace and gen- 

 tle ways. It has never denied any man's justice or right,- 

 and looks all other classes in the face fearlessly and speaks- 

 only words of encouragement. Its members have made 

 the wealth they enjoy and know its value, or it has come 

 to them from ancestors who so made it, and who have left 

 witli their legacies the lesson of thrift and economy. The}^ 

 are guiltless of the offence of lavish and vulgar expendi- 

 ture. Orders of nobility and titled husbands for tlieir 

 daughters they rarely purchase. Ostentation and display 



