LEAF AND TENDRIL 



of water, and have taken away the power of many 

 busy, peaceful wheels. The ideal condition is an 

 even distribution of wealth. When you try to give 

 away your monstrous fortune, to open your dam, 

 then danger begins, because you cannot return the 

 waters to their natural channels. You must make 

 new channels, and you may do more harm than good. 

 It never can go now where it would have gone. The 

 wealth is in a measure redistributed, without en- 

 riching those from whom it originally came. Few 

 millionaires could face the questions : Have you 

 rendered a service to your fellows in proportion 

 to your wealth ? Have you earned your fortune, or 

 have you grabbed it ? Is it an addition to the wealth 

 of the world, or a subtraction from the wealth which 

 others have earned ? The wealth that comes to a 

 man through his efforts in furthering the work of 

 the world and promoting the good of all is the only 

 worthy wealth. 



Beyond the point of a moderate competency, 

 wealth is a burden. A man may possess a compe- 

 tency ; great wealth possesses him. He is the victim. 

 It fills him with unrest; it destroys or perverts 

 his natural relations to his fellows; it corrupts his 

 simplicity; it thrusts the false values of life before 

 him ; it gives him power which it is dangerous to 

 exercise; it leads to self-indulgence; it hardens the 

 heart ; it fosters a false pride. To give it away is 

 perilous ; to keep it is to invite care and vexation of 

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