THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
13 
the pressing needs of others in order to secure 
unlawful gains. Their manner of accumulation 
having been such that a true sense of honor had 
been outraged, and their personal generosity too 
scanty to awaken any lasting gratitude, they 
could only hope to linger a while in public 
thought by some plan that would carry the de¬ 
ception beyond the period of their own sordid 
lives. So, when they could clutch their gold no 
longer, they beguiled posterity into an unde¬ 
served remembrance by erecting some monu¬ 
ment of stone, thereby keeping alive a name 
that would otherwise have gone into just obliv¬ 
ion. These instances are so numerous that I 
am afraid to make trial of my poor weak nature, 
lest I should add another to the ignoble cata¬ 
logue. No, no. Lew; that question is fully set¬ 
tled : I would rather be a poor hod-carrier or 
a wandering trapper of the Plains than give 
my life to mere money-making. Getting wealth 
seems to be a passion that feeds on its own 
success—more requires more. Having already 
enough for all real wants, and a little to spare, I 
shall be no seeker after filthy lucre; so we may 
drop that subject.” 
“ All right, Charley,” answered his friend. “ I 
2 
